get a move on they’d be scouting locations for the party in the dark.
“Are you going to climb up here or not?” Mary asked as she watched Ethan sidle up to the chestnut mare.
“Just give me a minute,” he uttered crossly, reaching out to stroke the animal’s mane as he whispered something to her Mary couldn’t hear.
When he finally climbed into the buggy and dropped down beside Mary, she was curious as hell. “So, what’s up with you and Shirley?”
“It was personal.”
The driver clicked his tongue a few times and they were off down the dirt road. “Did you ask for her hand in marriage?” Mary asked, grinning. “Oops, sorry, I mean her hoof?”
“We were just having a little discussion, that’s all.”
“About?”
“Manners.”
Mary laughed. “Did you have a drink before we left the house?”
Ethan crossed his arms over his chest and reclined back in his seat. “I don’t want her throwing us, that’s all.”
“The driver said she’s as docile as they come.”
“That’s what they’d like you to believe,” he muttered dryly.
“They?”
“The driver and…Shirley.”
Again she laughed. “What in the world are you talking about?”
“I’m not all that into horses, okay?”
“Oh, c’mon. Everyone loves horses. How could you not like horses? It’s un-American.”
“Okay, they don’t like me,” he grumbled.
“You need therapy,” she said as they passed another horse and buggy on their way to town. The air had chilled considerably since their arrival, and Mary scooted just a little closer to Ethan. “All right, I’m listening. Tell me the whole sad story.”
“What story?”
“Give me a break.” She inched even closer to him so their legs were touching. “You’ve got to be freaked out for a reason-what’s the story?”
On a curse, Ethan lifted his arm, dropped it around her shoulders. “I was ten. It was Sammy Bishop’s birthday party and this sweet and supposedly ancient horse named Izabo was there giving rides to all the kids. With everyone else, she walked slower than a turtle, it was almost funny, the parents were actually referring to her Iza Slow. But as soon as I got on her back it was Kentucky Derby time.” He lifted up his left forearm. “I fell and broke my arm in three places.”
Mary let her head relax against his arm, knowing full well how totally inappropriate they were both being. “That was a fluke thing and it happened one time. You can’t hold that against-”
“Then when I was fourteen,” he said as the buggy took a deep hole and they bumped against each other. “My girlfriend dragged me to the circus. Everything was fine until the horse and rider came out. Jezebel the Great freaked out halfway through her routine and stormed the stands.”
“No way.”
“Oh, yeah. And who do you think she headed straight for?”
“Okay, I’m beginning to see a pattern,” Mary said, laughing, the scent of lake water heavy in the air.
“I broke two ribs.”
Without thinking, Mary reached over and ran her fingers down the length of his rib cage only stopping when she heard his sharp intake of breath. “Feel fine to me.”
His heavy-lidded gaze held hers. “Well sure, they’ve healed now.”
It was a good thing that the driver stopped then, or Mary believed Ethan might’ve leaned in and kissed her, and she also believed she would have kissed him back. They got out in front of a fudge shop and started walking up Main Street, which had a similar architectural feel to New Orleans, though the scents in the air were totally different. As they passed shops, restaurants and art galleries, Mary missed Ethan’s arm around her, the strength of him, and she silently wished he’d take her hand, lace her fingers with his.
“You know what?” she said as they walked to the west end of downtown where the pedestrians were fewer. “I don’t think it’s really about the horses not liking you.”
“Oh, this should be interesting.”
“I think it’s a sex thing.”
A dark brow lifted over one eye. “Come again?”
“Izabo, Jezebel and Shirley,” she pointed out. “It’s a female thing. Females have this reaction to you.”
Ethan processed this for a brief moment, then burst out laughing. “How the hell did I get mixed up with you?”
She tossed him a taunting smirk. “Do you really want me to answer that?”
They continued down the street, passing a lovely old church, a library and a quaint soda shop-which Mary considered for the party, then quickly deemed too informal. Several blocks down, closer to the water, Ethan pointed to a lovely, small, intimate hotel called the Miran Inn. “What do you think of this place?”
Cocking her head to one side, Mary looked the inn up and down. “It’s beautiful, but hotels have been done to death. Not to mention the fact that three of the ten potential clients we’re throwing this party for own inns on the island.”
“Right.”
“Don’t you want something interesting and surprising? Something the spouses actually want to come to?”
“Yes.”
Mary had been contemplating something since they’d arrived here, and she wanted to pull it out now. “Let’s go.” Grabbing his hand, she tugged, urging him to follow her.
“Where?”
“Just follow me.”
Mary led him off the main street and down a short hill to a bluff, onto the sandy beach. Overhead the gulls were calling on each other to share their fish, and several tourists were taking pictures of a beautiful lighthouse in the distance. Releasing his hand, Mary walked down to the water’s edge and lifted her hands to the fading sun. “Perfect,” she called, turning back to face him. “A barbecue on the beach. Intimate, casual, great food-and no horses involved.”
Ethan glanced around, then slowly nodded. “I like it.”
“Great,” she said excitedly. It would be her first beachside barbeque and she was going to make it a day to remember.
Ethan came to stand beside her, a look of admiration in his eyes. “I have to admit, you’re great at what you do, you know that?”
Her hair whipped around her face. “Thank you.”
He tucked one thick blond strand behind her ear, then let his thumb retreat across her cheek. “Very smart, very intuitive. There’s just one problem.”
Her expression froze. “What’s that?”
“You’re too beautiful for your own good. A man couldn’t get you out of his mind no matter how pissed off he was.”
“Don’t you mean ‘is’?” He was too close. She could feel the heat off his body, and there was no denying the desire in his eyes.
His fingers left her cheek and slid down her neck, pausing at her collarbone. He didn’t move for a moment, and his face looked rigid, as if he was contemplating what he’d just done. Then he dropped his hand and shook his head helplessly. “I’m sorry. I…I have to get back.”
Electricity was shooting through Mary’s body like fireworks, but she fought for control and nodded once. “Of course.”
“I have a dinner meeting.”
“And I have a guest list to study.”
They walked side by side, up the bluff and back to Main Street to catch a cab.
