Her Charming Heartbreaker (13 page)

“I don’t want to ask
what you’re thinking about because I’m afraid the answer will make
me green with envy,” Joyce said as she strode around the café
counter and headed for the door.

“Eye candy,” Eddie
said.

“Not fair. I didn’t
ask.”

“Hey, where are you off
to? I’ve got an hour before the lunchtime crowd descends on the pub
and I can’t face it without some caffeine in my system. Start
pouring.”

“Susan will help you
out. I’m trotting down to Brilliant Baubles. They’ve got new stock
in.”

“What’s the hurry? That
stuff is not going anywhere. No one around here shops for antiques
except you.” Eddie forgot about her need for coffee and followed
her friend out the door. “Is there something I don’t know about?
Like a new owner?”

“I wish. Bradford might
have taken over from his uncle, but he doesn’t have the same
passion.”

“He doesn’t need it.
He’s got good looks.”

“And a snarly
attitude,” Joyce said. “He hates it here. And he hates people going
into his shop and rummaging.”

“You mean window
shopping.”

“Nope. He called me a
bull in a china shop and all I did was pick up a vase to look at
the bottom. Anyway, I found out he’s expecting a new consignment of
crockery and I want some new tea cups.”

“I’m definitely tagging
along for this.”

“Do you think I need a
bodyguard?” Joyce asked.

“Not you. But he
might.”

They reached the
antique store at the end of the street and peered inside the
window. “What did you mean by being green with envy?” Eddie
asked.

Joyce pressed her nose
to the window. “You’ve gone from annoyed because everyone was
talking about you and Adam to his eyes are the color of the ocean.
You’re daydreaming about Theo. Sure, he’s taken but it’s nice to
have someone to dream about.”

“Does that make me a
bad person?”

“You’re feeling
guilty.”

“Wouldn’t you?”

“There’s no harm in
it.” Joyce shook her head. “It’s like craving something you know
you can’t have. It goes away eventually. Meanwhile, no one gets
hurt.” Joyce growled under her breath. “There’s a crate and he
hasn’t unpacked it. He’s doing it to taunt me.”

“Maybe Bradford has a
thing for you.”

“Bradford? Have you
ever had a conversation with him?”

“Not that I
recall.”

“At one point, I
thought he had a speech impediment but then I heard him on the
phone and he sounded fine. Like I said, he only ever snarls at me.
Fancy sharing a cup of coffee with someone like him? Think about
it. At best, men are good for fifteen minutes foreplay and five
minutes for the deed. What is one supposed to do with them the rest
of the time?”

“Something tells me I’m
about to witness a crime.”

They both turned and
were met by a pair of disapproving eyes.

“You,” Joyce said and
pointed a finger at Theo. “You’re going to help me. Go in and ask
to see…” Joyce looked inside the shop. “A fainting couch. Bradford
has one in the back room. You get him to show it to you, and you
keep him talking and away from the front of the shop.”

“Sounds like I missed
my chance to shuffle off,” Theo said.

“Yes. Now just do as I
say or risk losing your coffee privileges again,” Joyce warned.

Theo chortled. “This
reeks of fall guy. And why does it have to be a fainting couch?
Doesn’t he have something… something more manly in the back
room?”

Chapter Ten

“You’ve been initiated
and you fell for it hook, line and one ton sinker. They own you now
and they’ll make you do things…”

Theo eyed the display
of whiskey bottles. He rarely indulged, but the promise of
temporary oblivion called to him. Remembering he’d be picking Ben
up from school in a few of hours, he drained his glass of water and
asked for another one. “They needed help. I could hardly turn my
back on them.”

Bradford laughed into
his beer. “They blinked their big puppy eyes at you?”

Not exactly. In fact,
Joyce had snapped an order and he’d... Damn it, her coffee was
good. “They’re not that bad. In fact, they’ve kept me
entertained.”

“Make sure they don’t
turn you into their entertainment.”

“What are they going to
do? Use me as their lapdog?”

“Worse. They’ll use you
as their gopher. Oh, wait, they’ve already done that.”

“You’ve lived in this
town for a year. What did the girls make you do?”

Bradford drained his
glass of beer. “I’ve stayed out of their way and when Joyce comes
into the store, I ignore her, she ignores me. We have a good
understanding.”

“Playing hard to
get?”

“It’s a small town and
I’m attached to my privacy. Same as you.”

Theo looked down at his
glass and shook his head. “Holding on to my privacy has so far cost
me a ban. But I’m currently in their good books. They needed you
out of the way. You understand it was nothing personal. I depend on
my shot of caffeine and Joyce’s coffee is beyond compare.”

“I know what you mean.
It’s my staple. Some people have type O blood. I have type C. As in
C for caffeine. Besides, Joyce knows better than to try anything
with me. Then again,” Bradford smiled, “I never tried to get inside
her friend’s pants. Hell, Eddie Faydon, of all people? And yes,
word reaches even those who don’t want to hear them.”

Get inside her pants?
It had only been a kiss. Yeah, and if he’d held her in his arms for
one more second, it would have turned into a public display of
raunchy affection, right then and there by the side of the
road.

“Her brothers must be
on the warpath,” Bradford said, his voice lowered. “How are you
holding up?”

“How do you think? I’ve
got three brawny guys eyeballing me all the time.”

“You could take them
on.”

“I’d rather not. I hear
their grandmother owns a double barrel shotgun. She might come
after me.”

“She’s a sweet lady.
But you’re probably right to play it safe.” Bradford checked his
watch. “Joyce must be done ransacking my store.” He sighed and
taking a deep breath, he pushed off his barstool.

“Good to meet you,”
Theo said.

“Likewise, and stop by
the store any time.”

Theo considered giving
the girls a heads up phone call, but he figured they could look
after themselves. Besides, he didn’t have Eddie’s cell phone number
and he wasn’t about to ask one of her brothers for it.

With only a couple of
hours to kill before he had to get behind the wheel and drive
again, he ordered a late lunch and turned his attention to
business, checking his messages and touching base with his virtual
assistant. Now that the Claire situation had been sorted out, his
mind felt less cluttered so he thought about reading a new play his
mother was considering.

His father was on
track, and expected to make a full recovery. Thanks to Claire’s
presence, his health and mood had improved by leaps and bounds. He
was due to be released from hospital in a couple of days and was
looking forward to finishing his recuperation at his Sierra Nevada
ranch.

Theo settled in front
of the fireplace and looked around the bar. This was as good a
place as any to kill some time and try to keep his thoughts away
from whatever Eddie was getting up to.

He hadn’t minded being
dragged into their cat and mouse game. Unlike Bradford who appeared
to remain an outsider, Theo had found it easy to adjust to the
rhythm of life in Eden.

Glancing around the
pub, he made eye contact with a few people, nodding and smiling.
He’d only been here a short while and already the place was
starting to feel familiar. He was no stranger to making himself at
home in foreign cities. But once his business was completed he
always moved on, like the proverbial rolling stone, his life always
in transit, splitting his time between L.A., New York and London
and whatever other place he needed to be in.

He’d never felt the
need for a fixed address and he could work around his own schedule.
Most of his business could be carried out on the phone. A couple of
years before he’d turned his attention to film production as a
sideline business. In the short time he’d been involved in the
business he’d had a few low budge films turn into box office
successes, so his projects were never short of financial backing.
Now he could afford the luxury of being selective as well as
setting his own pace.

In fact, the previous
year he’d slowed down, spending quite a lot of time in New York
cultivating a relationship, which had eventually run its course
when the woman he’d been involved with had called it off saying
she’d met someone else. At the time, Theo had wondered if that had
been her way of trying to push the relationship to the next level,
but she really had been trying to get rid of him because she’d
reconnected with an old flame. Last he’d heard, they’d married and
had a baby on the way...

Was that the same fate
awaiting his father? Claire had been his old flame. His father
wasn’t giving anything away, but his tone was enough to suggest
Claire had been the tonic he’d needed. She’d been keeping in touch
with Ben via Skype and despite missing her son, she’d looked…
vibrant. Glowing. In love?

Claire had told him
she’d had feelings for Jon Kendrick—loose ends of her own. What if
this all went a step further? What was he thinking? Of course, it
would. The moment Jon found out about Ben...

Theo straightened. He
had a nine-year-old brother. He’d have to make a few significant
adjustments to his life like widening his circle to include Ben.
He’d also have to learn to engage with him without succumbing to
the generation gap. It would be a steep learning curve and he
couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. So far, he’d actually enjoyed
hanging out with Ben. He was easygoing and surprisingly
entertaining.

Theo brushed his
fingers along the edge of his chin. From now on, he’d be building a
relationship with him and that meant staying in close touch. He was
used to traveling from country to country, allocating his time
between his parents. Spending more time with Ben meant he’d have to
add Eden to his itinerary. And that meant he’d be seeing Eddie
regularly.

Then again, once his
father found out about Ben, he’d want to meet him and push for
something more permanent. In fact, Theo had been expecting an all
hands on deck call from his father to organize it.

Theo hadn’t questioned
Claire’s decision to keep her son’s existence a secret. He’d seen
no point. He only hoped Jon didn’t fly off the handle and do
something stupid like resenting her.

Whatever happened, Theo
knew Ben would be welcomed and loved...

* * *

“Burning question
coming up,” Joyce said.

Eddie abandoned her
lookout post by the front door of Brilliant Baubles and stepped
back inside the antique store. “Go for it.”

“I swear Bradford is
hiding the tea cups from me on purpose.” Joyce wiped some dust off
her hands and straightened.

“You were going to
ask...”

“Oh, yes. Ben and Theo.
They seem to be getting along nicely.”

“No surprise there.
Otherwise Claire wouldn’t have left Ben in his care.”

“Have you noticed
something about them? Does anything significant scream out at
you?”

Eddie pretended to
study a small bronze statue. Wincing, she nodded. Of course, she’d
noticed. The same hair and eye coloring, the same shaped face with
the strong jaw and firm chin, although with Ben it was something
he’d yet to grow into, but the makings of it were there.

“Do you think it’s safe
to assume?” Joyce asked.

“They look... related.
It could be a coincidence.” And she had no business talking about
it.

“I’m thinking… if Ben’s
nine years old, then Theo must have met Claire when he was twenty…
twenty-two, or thereabouts. Don’t get me wrong, she looks great for
forty-five and I remember her looking absolutely fantastic at
thirty-five. Well… good on her.”

“That’s a lot of
jumping to conclusions but, yeah, good on her.”

“Do you think he’ll
stay?” Joyce asked. “I’m assuming he didn’t know about Ben. Maybe
he’s trying to decide what role he’ll play. He must have a life
somewhere. You know, a job. Also, his father’s a famous movie star.
Wouldn’t it be great if Theo stayed and then Jon Kendrick came to
visit?”

Stay? “You’re jumping
the gun. Not every man takes full responsibility for their....” she
couldn’t bring herself to say it, or even think it.

“What if he decides to
hang around, do the right thing by Claire and marry her? How do you
feel about that?”

Her stomach tensed.
“I’ll get used to the idea. He’s not a bad sort and he brightens up
the place.”

“Yes, but how will you
feel
?” Joyce insisted.

Eddie threw her hands
up in the air. “It’s not as if we actually had sex.” And just as
well. She didn’t think the experience would be something she’d
easily forget. That one taste of his mouth had stirred her body to
attention so quickly she could still feel the little aftershocks.
Granted, she had been alone for a long while, but even before he’d
kissed her, she’d felt something unfastening inside her, like a
knot loosening up in readiness for...

“Pity.”

“Hey, he’s only been
here a short while. What sort of desperate sex maniac would that
make me?”

“
It
happens. Right time, right place. Right man. Next thing you know,
clothes are being ripped off and—”

“If you ladies are done
browsing
, I’d like to have my shop back.”

They both turned to
find Bradford leaning against the front door, one foot over the
other, his arms crossed, his face expressionless. How long had he
been standing there listening?