Gracie nodded. “It was the last place I could remember being totally carefree.”
“I guess you’ve gotten out of the habit since then.”
“You could say that,” she said, thinking of the sixteen-hour days she put in at the hotel, three hundred sixty-five days a year. No wonder Max missed her. She’d been a blasted machine, operating on automatic for years now. She hadn’t just burned out. She’d incinerated.
“Don’t worry. This problem isn’t life-threatening,” Kevin reassured her. “I can have it corrected in a few weeks, tops. I’ll give it my undivided attention.”
Gracie was sorely tempted to give in. It might he nice to learn to play. It might be especially nice to be taught by an expert.
It would also be dangerous. Kevin Patrick Daniels rattled her. In no time at all, she might forget all about the house she wanted to buy so she could start a new life.
“Thanks anyway,” she said. “I’m content with my life just the way it is.”
He shrugged. “Whatever you say, sweetheart, but that wistful expression on your face suggests otherwise.”
The man was entirely too intuitive where she was concerned. It made her nervous. If only she could read him as well. She was beginning to get the uncomfortable feeling that she’d sold him short, that there were depths to Kevin Patrick Daniels she hadn’t even begun to see. Underestimating an adversary was very risky, indeed. She’d approached this whole project far too impulsively, just as Kevin had suggested earlier. She needed time to reassess, do a little of her own research.
She was competitive and driven by nature. She had foolishly assumed that getting her hands on that old Victorian gem was going to be a snap. Now she knew otherwise. Her blood raced in anticipation of the all-out battle ahead.
“Why the smile?” Kevin asked.
“Nothing,” she assured him. She wondered how he’d react if he knew she’d been envisioning the day when she managed to steal that house right out from under him.
6
There were a lot of provocative things about Gracie that Kevin couldn’t forget during a long, restless night, but one particular thing lingered in the morning. He couldn’t imagine a life as singlemindedly focused on career as hers had apparently been. Not that all work and little play had made her dull, but he’d never known anyone more in need of shaking up.
Fortunately, he’d grown very adept over the years at making the impulsive gesture, at doing the unexpected, at seizing the moment. Perhaps it was his way of compensating for the amount of responsibility that had been heaped on his shoulders. He’d been determined never to let it weigh him down. He’d learned to steal every minute he could for himself.
Plus, he’d discovered that it gave him a certain advantage over his more uptight competitors, whether in business or for the affections of some woman. Business opponents often misinterpreted his devil-may-care attitude for a lack of attention. Women simply enjoyed the spontaneity he brought into their lives.
After a rigorous workout in the gym he’d had installed off his bedroom, he showered and went down to the dining room to give the matter some more thought over his regular breakfast of scrambled eggs and country ham. He figured the workout just about balanced the cholesterol intake.
“You’re on the go early,” his housekeeper noted as she set his plate in front of him. “You going to Richmond for business meetings?”
“Not today, Molly.”
“Couldn’t sleep, then?” She studied him worriedly. “Is something on your mind?”
He grinned ruefully at the woman who’d been watching out for him since he was barely toddling around the house. She was plump from too much of her own country cooking and unrepentantly gray-haired with curls like corkscrews, thanks to the home perms with which she periodically stunk up the whole house. No one on earth, though, had a bigger heart.
“Someone,” he conceded with some reluctance, knowing exactly where the admission would lead.
Her expression brightened. “A woman?” she asked as she pulled out a chair and sat down opposite him. “Tell me.”
“Not a chance. You’re a worse meddler than Aunt Delia.”
“I’ll bet it’s that pretty little thing who was here day before yesterday,” she concluded without so much as a hint from him.
“How on earth did you know about her? It was your day off. I know for a fact that you were visiting your son in Washington.”
“People talk.”
“Aunt Delia, I suppose.”
“She seems to think this one might have staying power.”
“Aunt Delia needs to learn to mind her own business.”
“She says you went out with her again last night.”
“We had dinner, not an orgy.”
Her gaze narrowed. “Watch your tongue. I don’t want to hear about any orgies you might be having.”
“I’m not having any,” he protested, then gave up. “Tell me something.”
Her expression instantly turned serious. “If I can.”
“If you wanted a woman to learn to take time out to smell the flowers, what would you do? Send her roses?”
“Never,” she declared at once. “Too ordinary.” Her expression turned dreamy. “If I had the money, which you do, I’d plant a whole garden for her.”
“You can’t be serious.” He studied her expression. “You are serious, aren’t you?”
“Of course. If she has her own garden, she can’t help but take the time to smell the flowers. And every time she does, you’ll be on her mind.”
Kevin chuckled at the logic. “Perfect. Molly, you are a treasure.”
“Well, of course I am.” She stood up and started for the kitchen, then paused. “One other thing, though.”
“What’s that?” Kevin asked distractedly, already making plans.
“Do the planting yourself. Don’t go hiring somebody to do it.”
“Molly, I don’t have time to plant a garden, to say nothing of the fact that I don’t have the first clue how to go about it. Besides, it sounds an awful lot like hot, sweaty work.”
“A little sweat won’t kill you. As for the rest, talk to Mr. Sparks. He can tell you what to do. He’s been landscaping this place for
