Merry and Bright (16 page)

“Come on,” Edward said on a laugh. “You love big money as much as I do, you big CPA geek.”

Yeah, he did. Or had. But big money meant dealing with people he didn’t always like or respect, and in return, he would turn into someone he didn’t like or respect, either, he felt it.

“If you walk away,” Edward warned, “we’re done. No crawling back when you decide you miss my millions.”

“I won’t miss it.”

“Is this Hope’s doing? Because she has that effect on people. Trust me, she drives them crazy. Just come back, and—”

“I’m snowed in. And she’s not driving me crazy.” Well, she was. She really, really was, but in a good way. “Good-bye, Edward.”

“Hey, you tell her she still has to pay. I’ll come up and get that money myself if I have to. You tell her that.”

Danny hung up and looked at himself in the mirror over his dresser. Hair neat. Glasses in place. Shirt pressed and tucked in.

Jesus. He really was a fucking CPA geek.

Well, he’d just made a huge life change, he could certainly make a few more. He untucked his shirt, then laughed at himself. Wow, what a rebel. Shaking his head, he made his way downstairs. Lori had asked him to come back down, promising him a surprise in the living room, a surprise he sincerely hoped had something to do with the smell of something
delicious
baking. Stacking wood for two hours had made him as hungry as he’d ever been. Or maybe it was quitting his job.

Or maybe it was a certain stubborn, proud B&B owner who stirred him up in both a very good, and very bad, way.

He heard the banging, then turned the corner into the living room.

Hope stood on a six-foot ladder, wielding a staple gun and hanging a string of Christmas lights. She wore her usual, a long-sleeved tee and hip-hugging jeans. This time she’d added a tool belt to the mix, which was strapped around her waist and immediately made him hot for some reason. She had an iPod strapped through one of her belt loops, earphones in her ears, a Santa cap on her head.

And she was singing at the top of her considerably tone-deaf lungs, which had him grinning. The woman could do anything, which made her quite possibly the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.

Yeah, he’d made the right decision to quit, because there was no way he’d ever pull out the rug from beneath her.

She deserved more.

Knowing she couldn’t possibly hear him through the music blasting in her ears, he walked into the room, getting in her line of sight just as she executed a little ass shimmy that made him laugh.

When she saw him, she jumped. “Sorry,” he said as she pulled out one of the earplugs. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t.” Couldn’t. That was the underlying message she wordlessly imparted. “Lori’s bugging me to finish decorating.”

“She told me to come to the living room.”

Hope’s eyes narrowed as she gripped the top rung of the ladder. “She did, did she?”

“Yes.”

“Well, you’ll have to excuse her. She got married and her brain turned to mush.” She stretched out some more lights to hang.

He reached up to help hold the lights for her. “Weather forecast is looking pretty nasty,” he noted.

“Hopefully it’ll hold.” She used the staple gun on the lights, then looked down at him. “I’m sure you have other people to gouge the soul from.”

“Is that what I’ve done, gouge your soul?”

“No.” She sighed. “I do realize you’re just the messenger.”

“Was. I
was
the messenger.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I quit my job.”

“What?”

“Yeah. I’ve known for some time that I’ve been needing a change.”

She stared at him. “You quit your job.”

“I’m thinking of starting my own business, where I get to pick my clients.” He was looking forward to that. “A small accounting and financial service—right up my alley.” And under those circumstances, he could see himself on the
other
side. The good side. Fighting for this woman. This smart, sexy, stubborn, gorgeous woman whose only crime had been to trust a member of her family.

“Are you crazy?” she asked, backing down the ladder. “Have you seen the news? We’re in a thing called a recession. Now’s not a good time to be without a job.”

“I’ll be okay. Hope, about your loan.”

“I’ll be able to pay it.”

“How?” he asked frankly, worried that Edward would do exactly as he’d just promised and come here himself. He slid a hand on her arm. “I saw the For Sale sign on the adjacent lot to this one, which you also own.”

“Well technically, the bank owns it. But if it sells before I get my money back, then everything’s good.”

Except that properties weren’t moving, not in this market. “What if you got investors to buy your lot?”

“Look, I realize that you no longer work for Edward, and frankly, that says a lot about you, but I’m not about to blindly trust you. I’ll do this.
My
way.” She reached into a bag for a fistful of greenery and looked around for a place to hang it. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Lori insisted on this stuff going up.” She headed for the huge, tall mantel.

“It’s mistletoe.”

“I think I’d know mistletoe.” She stretched up to hold the stuff in place while she nailed it with the gun.

He waited until she’d reholstered the staple gun, until she’d turned to face him before putting a hand on the mantel on either side of her. Leaning in close, until their lips were only an inch apart, he waited for a reaction.

Her gaze dropped to his mouth and went to half mast.

He loved how she put herself out there, no façade, no hidden agenda. It was one of the most attractive things about her, and he shifted even closer. His mouth brushed her cheek now, then the corner of her lips, and when her hands came up to grip his shirt, he kissed her.

She immediately leaned into him, making that same soft sigh of pleasure she’d made last time, the one that made him instantly hard. She tasted like warm, sweet, giving female, like forgotten hopes and dreams, and when she moved against him and slid her tongue to his, he thought he might die of the pleasure.

“Okay,” she murmured, pulling back, eyes still closed. “Maybe it’s mistletoe.”

He ran his thumb over a smudge of dirt on her jaw and let out a rough breath. “Yeah.”

“That stuff should come with a warning.” She turned, and with her tool belt slapping against her hips with every step she took, she walked out of the room.

6

H
ope strode into the kitchen and headed straight for the sink, where she downed a full glass of cold water.

It didn’t help.

She stared out the window at the still falling snow and put a hand on her heart to keep it from leaping right out of her chest, because holy smokes.
Holy smokes
could that guy kiss. She set down the empty glass and found Lori standing in the doorway grinning at her.

Hope sighed. “Saw that, did you?”

“Seriously. You ever hear of behind closed doors?”

“I know. God.” At least no guests had been roaming about.
Real professional, Hope
.

“Look at it this way.” Lori gave her a thumbs up. “You’re doing a helluva job with that evil plan to make his visit miserable. I bet he hated that torturous tongue lashing you just gave him.”

Hope thunked her head on the cabinets. “My evil plan is kaput.”

“Good. Why?”

“Because he quit. He’s going to start his own business, one where he doesn’t have to suck the soul out of people.”

“Wow. Good for him. You got to him.”

Yeah. And damn if he wasn’t getting to her . . .

She shoved away from the counter and headed toward her office.

“Where are you going?”

“To bury myself in paperwork.” Anything to avoid reliving the past few minutes, which had been fantasy-worthy, and definitely worth reliving—neither of which she wanted to face. “And like you were helping me make him miserable. You were too busy manufacturing ways to get us together.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lori said innocently.

“You locked me out of the house earlier. You sent him to the living room where you knew I’d be. You—”

“Wow, you’ve got quite the imagination.”

Hope rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. Play innocent. Just stop playing me.” She hit her office, where she spent the next few hours trying to rob Paul to pay Peter, and unable to do that, did her best to handle the money situation so as to make every creditor happy.

An impossible feat.

With a sigh, she closed her eyes and tried something she hadn’t tried since she’d been four and in church with her mother. She clasped her hands together and bowed her head. “God? Do you think you could do me a favor? If you help me, I promise I’ll . . .” She hesitated, wracking her brain for a worthy offering. “I’ll stop fantasizing about Edward’s speedy death.” She opened her eyes, peeked at her bank balance, and sighed in disappointment.

As usual, she was on her own.

She turned to the window, where she saw not just the snow, falling much more lightly now, but Danny, walking the perimeter of her property while simultaneously looking down at a large piece of paper in his hands.

What was he up to now?

She should just ignore him. But she could no more do that than stop thinking about how he’d kissed her. How he’d held her face and looked into her eyes before and after as if . . .

As if she meant something to him.

The thought brought a lump to her throat, which pissed her off. Pushing up from her desk, she shoved on her knit cap and grabbed her coat. Because he might have kissed her as if she was the most important thing to him at that moment, but right now he had something else on his mind.

And she wanted to know what.

And . . . and maybe, just maybe, she wanted to see if he meant something to her, too.

So she headed outside, but the cold slap of air on the porch knocked some sense into her and she hesitated.

What was she doing?

She didn’t need to talk to him, she needed to ignore him. And repeating that like a mantra, she turned back to the door.

Which was locked.

“Dammit, Lori!” But the door remained locked. With a sigh, she headed toward him.

Danny walked through the snow, squinting behind his fogged-up glasses as he checked the plot map in his hands to the lot Hope had up for sale. It ran adjacent to the B&B, most of it a hill overlooking the valley far below.

A stunning view.

He knew from Hope’s business plan that she wanted to build a sledding and tubing area here. She’d need equipment for the tow lift, maybe some lights to operate at night, and the sleds. Cheap—relatively speaking—and it would give her a nighttime activity for guests. Plus, she could charge for the activity and bring in additional income. He liked it, he liked all of it, and could now see the draw, see what kept her here.

The potential was amazing.

He’d always loved the city life, everything about it; the traffic, the noise, the availability of fast food . . . but he could admit, there was something to this, too. Something wild and almost savage, and incredibly soothing at the same time.

Through the falling snow he caught sight of someone standing on the back porch. Jeans, a white down jacket, snow boots . . . that frown.

Hope.

She was walking toward him with purposeful steps, and at the sight of her a mix of heat and wariness hit him. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this way about a woman before; the intense need, mixed with a deep, abiding affection.

As he dealt with the onslaught of emotions over that, he caught yet another movement. Something small, brown . . . a dog. A brown Lab, he thought, bounding up to play with him. Danny crouched low, encouraging it to come up to him—

Whoa.
It wasn’t a dog.

It was a
bear cub.

He straightened and stared in shock down at the cub, now frolicking and rolling in the snow at his boots looking like the cutest thing he’d ever seen. But even he, a certified city rat, knew baby bears didn’t travel alone.

And sure enough, as he looked up at Hope still coming toward them, he saw the momma bear behind her, heading for the equipment shed and trash box between him and the B&B. Even as he registered that, Hope came to a stop and slowly turned.

And came nose to nose with the momma bear. “Oh, shit.”

In answer, the bear puffed itself up and let out a low but unmistakable growl.

Danny leaped forward and let out a primal yell born of sheer terror, accompanying that with waving his arms like an idiot; that’s what he’d read one was supposed to do with bears in the wild. Be big and strong and intimidating.

God, he hoped he was looking big and strong and intimidating.

He frightened the baby bear, who cried out and leaped forward to the closet tree, which it scaled in a matter of two seconds all the while whimpering for its momma—

Who turned to the new threat and looked at Danny as if maybe he was a twelve-course meal and she was suddenly starving.

Danny grabbed Hope and tugged her behind him.

Oddly enough, his life didn’t flash across his eyes. Probably because Hope shoved free of him and clapped her hands loudly. At the sound, the momma bear let out a low chugging noise in her throat, along with two long lines of drool from either side of her throat as she eyed Danny.
My, but you look delicious
—

“Sorry, but he’s mine,” Hope told her and clapped again. With one more growl, the bear lumbered slowly off, stopping at the tree for her baby.

“Damn,” Hope said. “I must give good trash. That’s the fourth time this week she’s been by.”

Danny would have answered but he couldn’t. His legs were masquerading as overcooked noodles, and he sat so abruptly on the steps of the equipment shed that his glasses half slid off.

“Danny? You okay?”

Since he wasn’t at all sure, he lay back and stared up at the gorgeous sky. Snowflakes fell on him. One hit him on the nose.

“Danny?”

“Yeah.”

He heard her swear softly and drop to her knees at his side, her gloved hands running over him as she tried to figure out if he was hurt.