Page 26 of Winter Vows

She peered at him over the top of the menu that had been handed to her by an overtly curious waitress. “What do you call this?”

“I brought you into town to look at property. That’s it. End of story. I’m doing you a favor,” he said. “This is definitely not a date.”

“Feels like one to me,” she said. “But, of course, you’re the expert.”

The waitress tried unsuccessfully to choke back a laugh. At Hardy’s fierce look, she swallowed hard and asked, “Can I get you two something to drink? Maybe cool things off?”

“I’ll have a beer,” Hardy said. “What about you, Trish?”

“Herb tea, if you have it.”

“Sorry,” the waitress apologized. “Anything nonalcoholic or decaf?”

“Orange soda.”

Trish nodded. “Fine. I’ll have that.”

When the waitress had gone off to fetch their drinks—and probably tell everyone in the place about the very provocative conversation she’d overheard—Hardy stared hard at Trish. “Back to our discussion. You can ask any woman I’ve ever been out with if I misled her in any way. There’s not a one who can say I did.”

“That doesn’t mean you didn’t stir up hopes and then leave them unfulfilled,” she said. She made it sound like an accusation of attempted armed robbery or worse.

“Darlin’, I made it my business to fulfill their every little desire.”

She made a face. “I am not talking about sex.”

“Well, I am.”

“Of course you are.”

Hardy hadn’t been struck by so many verbal blows in such a short period of time in all his years of going out with women. Of course, that was probably because he avoided the smart-mouthed variety like Trish as if they carried the plague. He had to concede, though, that the exchange was invigorating. It was also stirring up a whole lot of fascinating images of how explosive Trish would be in bed. If she was that passionate in conversation, it followed that she’d be a regular vixen in bed.

Too bad he would never find out.

Why not? his charged-up and thoroughly frustrated hormones screamed.

Because Trish was also about permanence and happily ever after. Any fool could see that. That made the two of them as incompatible as oil and water, fire and ice. He would just have to keep reminding himself of that before he started something they’d both regret, something that proved to her that he deserved his reputation as a low-down scoundrel.

Seven

“The space was absolutely perfect,” Trish enthused as she and Kelly curled up at opposite ends of the sofa and sipped on cups of chamomile tea later that night. Despite the difference in their ages, Trish felt as comfortable with the older woman as she would have with one of her friends from home.

She certainly felt more comfortable than she would have with her own mother.

“Then you think you might actually stay?” Kelly asked, her expression neutral, as if for once she didn’t want to influence Trish’s decision.

“I’m definitely considering it,” Trish said. “I love the town. I think it would be a great place to raise Laura. I am a little worried about chasing Willetta off, but she swears she’s ready for the move to Arizona.”

“And Hardy? What did he have to say about this?”

Trish’s exuberance faded. “He didn’t say a whole lot, at least not about the store. I doubt we’ll be seeing all that much of each other.” She couldn’t hide the note of regret that crept into her voice, but it perplexed her. How could she regret not seeing a man who embodied everything she despised? What sort of perversity had her wishing that things could have been different, that he could have been different?

“Why on earth not?” Kelly demanded. “You two didn’t have a fight, did you?”

Trish shook her head. “Let’s just say tonight was an eye-opening experience.”

“In what way?”

“Well, I’d heard bits and pieces of the gossip, of course,” she began.

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