Kate didn't give her time to get worked up. 'Detective Hallinger would like a glass of iced tea.'
'He would? I'll get it for him.'
Kate followed her into the kitchen.
Dylan was making suggestions when she joined them again. She started for the sofa where Dylan was sitting and, deciding it would be better to keep her distance, changed her mind and headed back to the chair.
'You do understand why I'd rather Kiera and Isabel didn't know about this, don't you?' she asked. 'They're leaving Silver Springs tomorrow morning.'
'Dylan filled me in, and I agree,' Nate said. 'We'll keep this quiet for now.'
Isabel carried the iced tea in, handed it to Nate, and then told him it was a pleasure meeting him, and said good night. She shocked Kate when she kissed Dylan on the cheek. 'I hope you'll stay in Silver Springs awhile,' she said.
Nate called as she was leaving the room, 'Thanks for the tea, Isabel. That was very thoughtful of you.'
She turned and beamed with pleasure.
'You don't have to stay upstairs all evening,' he told her, thinking she was doing so to give them more privacy.
'Oh, I have a few phone calls to make.'
'Let me translate that for you.' Kate laughed. 'She's going to be on the phone for hours.'
Nate waited until Isabel was out of earshot, and said, 'She's a sweetheart. She reminds me of my first true love, Mary Beth Durst-weiller.' He shook his head and grinned. 'She broke my heart.'
He became serious again and returned to the business at hand. 'Okay, Kate. You said you hadn't been home all that long.' He was flipping his notepad to find a clean page.
'That's right.'
'So it shouldn't be too difficult to retrace your footsteps and tell me where you went, who you talked to…'
Kate thought it was going to be easy and quick to recount her activities from the time she'd returned to Silver Springs. Why, it wouldn't take more than ten, maybe fifteen, minutes.
Her estimation was off by an hour. Nate kept making her go back and start over. She knew he was hoping she'd remember something that would lead to some answers.
No such luck. The only lead was still the same. Reece Crowell.
Nate then wanted to talk about her company. She hated doing it, but she had to tell him about the financial mess she'd found. He was extremely interested in the terms of the loan.
'You don't seem too upset,' Dylan remarked.
'I was very upset at first… I had no idea my mother…'
'Yes?'
She couldn't bring herself to say anything that would give Dylan a negative opinion of her mother.
'… was struggling so. It was very insensitive of me not to notice how difficult it was for her. I also believe that when she took out the loan and used her assets as collateral, she didn't realize that my company was one of those assets.'
'What are you planning to do about it?' Dylan asked.
Now that she'd had some time to think about it, she had come up with several options. She didn't discuss them but simply said, 'I'll make some changes and work it out. I've got about three weeks, and that's plenty of time.'
Nate asked her a couple more questions and then thanked her for her help.
Dylan walked outside with him and stood in the drive talking for another ten minutes. Then he went to his rental car and got his bag out of the trunk. Kate held the door open as he carried it in.
'Where am I sleeping?' he asked. He locked the door behind him and headed to the stairs.
'Alone,' she answered.
'Okay, that's it.'
He dropped his garment bag, grabbed her hand, and pulled her into the living room. He let go of her but was still able to back her into a corner by simply moving closer and closer.
'What's going on with you? And don't even try to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about.'
The man could be intimidating when he wanted to be. He got that look in his eyes.
'It's… difficult… after Boston,' she stammered.
'Why?'
'Why? Because you're making me crazy.'
'Kate, start making sense. How am I making you crazy?'
'You're here,' she whispered. 'And you shouldn't be. In Boston… the night you showed up to keep me company and I came on to you and pretty much pounced on you…'
One eyebrow shot up. 'You pounced?'
'Lower your voice, please,' she whispered. 'Pounced, seduced,' she said. 'Call it what you want.' She tried to get around him to put some space between them, but he trapped her with his hands on either side of her. The message wasn't subtle. She wasn't going anywhere until she explained.
'You seduced me?'
'Yes, I did,' she said. 'I deliberately went after you. I shouldn't have, but I did.' She brushed her hair away from her face and looked into his eyes. He was so close she could feel his heat. She had the sudden, insane urge to kiss him again. Get over it, she told herself.
'Try to understand,' she said. 'I had just gotten some awful news, and I felt like my world was crashing in on me. Then there was Jordan's surgery… and I was so scared for her… and after…'
'Yes?'
'I went a little nuts. You were there, and I… you know?'
'You seduced me?' He was trying not to smile.
'Yes, I did.' She couldn't understand why he was having so much trouble comprehending what she was telling him. Had he already forgotten that night?
'I made the first move. I jumped your bones.'
'You're telling me you had a lot to deal with, and you went crazy?'
Hadn't she just said as much? 'Yes.'
He wasn't smiling now. 'Guess I was damned lucky I'm the one who showed up at your door with the pizza. Tell me something. If Nick had knocked on your door, would you have jumped his bones?'
She shook her head. 'No, of course not. He's married. You're not.'
His expression didn't leave her guessing. He didn't like what she was telling him. Tough, she thought. At least she was being honest.
'What happened was a mistake,' she continued, ignoring his frown. 'I shouldn't have…'
'Jumped my bones?'
She nodded. 'That's right.'
'I thought it was pretty great. Didn't you?'
'Do you need a testimonial?' She was actually trying to lighten the mood with her question because he was frowning so intently, and she was surprised when he nodded.
'Yes, I guess I do.'
'It was wonderful, but…'
'Now you regret it?'
'Dylan, try to understand. I shouldn't have come on to you the way I did. You're my best friend's brother. I'm going to be going back and forth to Boston quite a lot, and I don't want it to be awkward when I see you again.'
'So what was your game plan?'
She pushed against his chest, hoping to get him to move back, but he wouldn't budge. 'Answer me,' he demanded.
'I had hoped that I could come home and…'
'Pretend it never happened?'
'Yes.'
