When Jamie had come out of the mist, he had seemed as if he could be her answer.
But wasn’t he the kind of man who a lot of women probably thought was their answer? By his own admission his very own sister said he had made capturing hearts a game. Besides, here was the truth: people needed to provide their own answers!
She had to steel herself against that abundance of charm and confidence. She had to steel herself against the cry of her own heart.
“What are you doing here?” she asked him again.
“I was sent here. To talk to you.”
Sent here. She was still some kind of assignment. “Oh,” she said, and tossed her braid over her shoulder, “punishment. You let the charity case get away.”
His expression darkened. “It was never like that. Vivian Ascot has amazing instincts. She hasn’t gotten to where she is in business on her inheritance alone, believe me. You have something she wants, and I’ve been sent to get it.”
Jessica actually felt disappointed. He was here for business, not because he had missed her. Not because he had thought of her every day. Not because those thoughts had crowded out all else and filled him with an insane sense of longing. Not because his life had suddenly felt as it was lacking and as if he needed to change everything.
“What does she want?” Jessica had tried to get in touch with Vivian since she and Daisy and Aubrey had figured out that was who their benefactress was. They all had. But as Daisy had put it, “You’d think she was the Queen.”
Her security was impenetrable. They couldn’t even tell if Vivian knew about their multiple social media attempts to reach her, or if they had all been relegated to the spam pile.
“She—we, JHA—want to see, firsthand, how you are making that bookstore such a phenomenal success. If you won’t come to work for us, we’ll come to you. We’re hoping you’ll agree to let us use your bookstore as a model. We’d compensate you, naturally.”
The only part that interested her was the “we.” JHA. Not me. Not I.
“It’s unnecessary to compensate me,” Jessica said stiffly. She also realized she was slightly miffed that he wasn’t here to beg her to change her mind. “And it was unnecessary to come here. I could have sent you any information that you needed.”
“You could have,” he agreed.
“But that wouldn’t have been a punishment, then, would it?”
“This isn’t a punishment. I asked to come. I wanted to see you in your own environment.”
She studied his face, and found she could not meet the steadiness of his gaze. She could feel her heart spinning crazily. He was here because he wanted to be. A woman not as determined to find her own way as Jessica was could read way too much into that.
She, accidentally, looked at his lips. She remembered the taste of them and felt dizzy with longing, weak with a need to throw herself at him, feel his arms come around her, cover his face with tiny kisses, tangle her hands in the silky gray of his hair.
Instead, she brushed by him and headed back down the trail, fast.
“Those shoes are ridiculous for a hike in the mountains,” she called to him over her shoulder.
“Believe me, I already figured that out.”
“You want to see how my bookstore works? You want to use it as a model? Fine. How long are you here for?”
“I thought I’d stay the whole day tomorrow, and leave the following morning,” he said, his tone cautious.
“Perfect. You can get some firsthand experience with the model—and not the kind of model I assume you’re used to, either.”
“What kind would that be?”
“Long-legged, photogenic.” She noticed he did not deny it. Of course he was the type that dated models! No surprise there. “Story time is tomorrow at ten. You can lead it.”
“I’m not that good with kids.”
“You have a nephew.”
“At a distance!”
“That’s just sad.”
“Look, Jessica, I’m trying to tell you I’m not a kid person.”
Maybe what he was really trying to tell her was that he was not husband material. Good grief! Was she looking at him like he was husband material?
“You read them a story. You don’t have to be good with them.”
“How old are they?”
“Three to five.”
He looked nonplussed. “Don’t you need a criminal record check, or something? To work with kids?”
“Working with them is overstating it. Don’t worry, their mothers will be there.”
Ogling the super cute guy from the big city who had I date models written all over him.
“Is there a gang of them?”
“We don’t have gangs in Timber Falls,” she told him, straight-faced. “Expect five or six kids.”
Then, knowing in those shoes he could never catch her, she started to jog down the trail.
“Are there bears out here?” he called after her.
“Yes! And cougars.”
“Cougars?” he said, and inserted a theatrical hopeful note into his voice.
“Not that kind, you pervert.”
“That’s right! A pervert. I should not be asked to work with children.”
She wanted to be indifferent to him, but it was impossible. “Also, the odd wolf. Definitely coyotes.”
“You’ll be sorry if I get eaten, Jessica Winton! Who will lead story time then?”
She didn’t turn back to him. She didn’t want to let him see her smiling. She didn’t want him to know just how easily she was charmed by him.
“Are you going to at least offer to take me out for dinner?” he called. “I did that for you.”
“You thought of it as a punishment,” she reminded him.
“You can think of it the same way.”
Somehow, she could not. “I have plans for tonight.” This was not exactly the truth, unless watching TV was considered a plan, but there was no sense him thinking she was just going to set her life aside since the big, important man from
