What The Heart Finds (6 page)

“Comin’,”
a voice came from somewhere in the back before appearing out of a
stall.

Alec was tall and thin
with long dark brown hair, pulled back and in a messy bun toward the
crown of his head. He had a wide face, his strong bone structure
hidden slightly underneath a short, neat beard.

Lena turned to Emily,
shaking her head. “Please tell me there is at least one ugly
man in this town.”

Emily laughed, the sound
coming out husky and deep. “Not a one,” she said, still
smiling. “Alec, this is Miss. Edwards. She would like to learn
how to ride.”

“Well… I
don’t…”

“Great,” Alec
broke in, stepping close. He had almond-shaped eyes the color or
deep, bright green moss. “Thank you Emily,” he said, his
tone pointed. You are dismissed.

“Mmmhmm,”
Emily said, her eyes bright. But she quickly excused herself.

“So for a
beginner,” Alec said inspecting her body in the least-sexual
way possible. She felt like a specimen under a microscope. “I
usually recommend riding someone tame like Toby,” he said,
moving to stand in front of a gray horse with white spots. “he’s
gentle. Come over here,” he said, suddenly smiling at her,
amused at her reluctance. “he wont bite.”

Lena walked closer, her
hand reaching out tentatively. “Promise?” she asked
skeptically.

“Miss. Edwards,”
he started, looking amused. “I am more likely to bite you than
he is.” He stepped behind her, putting his hand on her wrist
and leading her toward the soft gray coat. “See? Gentle giant.”

Lena felt Alec’s
hot breath on her neck and fought to suppress the shiver she felt
down her spine. “Okay,” she said, her tone a little too
sharp. “what’s next?”

“Next we take him
out and show you how to get on him,” Alec said, reaching for
the lock on the stall.

She didn’t think
she would like it. She genuinely thought she would see it as a
complete gratuitous waste of time. But as soon as she lowered herself
down on the saddle, she felt like it had been something she had been
missing from her life. There was a moment, goading Toby into a slow,
comfortable canter, where she remembered work. What EM would think if
he knew she was taking an afternoon off to learn to horseback ride.
But it was his absurd plan that she pose as a guest and get
information. Guests took horseback lessons. It was research, she
comforted herself, knowing EM would never see it that way and
suddenly, for the first time, not caring.

She returned to her room
just before the first dinner seating, happily taking an awkward bath
in the tub that only allowed about half of her body in the water at a
time. Sitting down to her laptop, sore in places she hadn’t
worked out in ages, she opened her work email, her heart sinking at
one from EM himself with a simply question mark as the subject line.

I
expect more information than the state of the wallpaper and tile. -
EM

Lena closed her eyes, an
uneasiness settling in her stomach, making her lose her appetite
altogether. She had to get her stuff together. Yeah, it was nice to
have an afternoon to herself just enjoying an activity. But that
wouldn’t ensure success in her career. It wouldn’t pay
her bills. It wouldn’t make her look like a strong, competent
employee to Elliott Michaels. She needed to get her head in the game.

Sorry.
Had car trouble. Lost a day. Will have more results by morning. - LE

She
waited until the last dinner service had finished and went
downstairs, plopping herself down in the sitting room with a book on
local history opened on her lap. Emily pranced around the main floor
in her usual hyper-level of energy: tiding up the desk, running back
and forth with linens, re-shelving books. She eventually sat down in
one of the captain’s chairs, tapping her fingers furiously on
the arm for a moment before jumping up. Like it wasn’t possible
for her to sit still.

“Alright, I am
going to make some coffee,” she declared. “want some?”

Lena closed her book,
looking over at the clock. “Oh, no. I’ll be up all night.
I think I am going to go take a walk before bed, but thanks.”

Emily smiled, “Alrighty
have a good walk,” she said before bouncing off to the kitchen
to make coffee for energy she obviously did not need.

Lena waited a few
moments, walking over to the front door and slamming it. She walked
carefully down the hall, listening for a sign as to where Emily was.
There was nothing but silence for a moment before, “Damn it to
hell,” came from the kitchen, followed by a smashing sound.
Like a mug breaking on the floor.

Lena quickly scurried
past, slipping down the staff door and making her way down the
hallway. As she turned the knob for the office again, she was
one-hundred percent certain she was never meant for a job spying or
stealing or anything that required back-handedness. Her heart was
hammering in her chest, she felt cold and hot at the same time.
Freezing hot. She felt a hysterical giggle lodge in her throat at the
thought.

She dashed inside the
office, leaving the door open a crack so she could hear any activity
in the hall and turning on the light. It was a typical office, small
and cramped with a cheap wooden desk and metal filing cabinets. It
displayed much of the same organized chaos as the desk up front and
she wondered if that was all Emily’s doing.

Lena made her way over to
the filing cabinets, opening the first drawer and pulling out a
manila folder with Devon’s name on the front. Inside she found
hiring papers, copies of tax documents, medical forms. She scanned
the page, looking for the information EM wanted to know. What was his
salary?

She had just found the
number when she heard the hallway door open. Lena pushed the file
back into place, closing the door most of the way, and throwing
herself under the desk.

There was an insistent
jingling, the keys that Emily always wore attached to her waist. She
was rummaging around in the cleaning supply closet, presumably to get
something to clean up the mess she had made in the kitchen. But then
she was coming closer, her footsteps just outside of the door.

Lena put her hands over
her face, silently praying she would stay secret, her own breathing
sounded louder than usual and she wondered if Emily could hear.

The door swung open
slightly, but Emily stayed in the hall. “Hmm,” she said
to herself, reaching in and turning off the light.

Lena had about three
seconds of relief before she heard the door close. And lock. From the
outside.

She waited underneath the
desk for an agonizingly long time before she was sure that no one was
going to come back. She crawled out slowly, reaching in front of her
in the dark to make sure she didn’t knock anything over. She
looked around hopelessly for a moment before noticing a small crack
of light. There was a window.

Lena made her way over,
moving the shade up, and looking out so see if anyone was around on
the porch. Seeing no one, she slid the window half way up, sliding
onto the sill, straddling it for a second, her foot not quite
reaching the ground on the other side.

“That’s an
interesting way to exit a room.”

Six

Lena’s heart leaped
into her throat. Losing her careful balance, she fell hard onto the
porch. Great. Just great. She was caught. She pushed herself onto her
knees, rubbing at her sore elbow when she heard the laugh. The slow,
deep, unnecessarily sensual laugh.

She quickly jumped up on
her feet, closing the window quietly, and turning to face him. “Don’t
you have a home?” she asked, finding him strolling across the
lawn. The moon peeked out from behind a cloud, making his hair shine
and casting half his face in shadow.

“You know baby,”
he said, smiling slightly. “it’s pretty rude to sneak out
on a guy when he’s sleeping.”

Lena leaned forward,
brushing the dirt off her clothes as an excuse to not have to look at
him. “Have a lot of experience with women sneaking out, do
you?” she asked, pleased that her tone was even.

Eric look downward,
shaking his head, his hand at the back of his neck. Bashful, almost.
“I’m usually the one doing the sneaking,” he
admitted, looking up at her with a glint in his eye.

“Oh, Mister. Pillar
Of Morality… please teach me how to see the error of my ways,”
she drawled, watching with growing anxiety as he turned and starting
walking toward the porch. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone?
“How is my car?”

“Why?” he
asked, reaching the railing and swinging himself over. “In a
rush to get back to work?”

“As a matter of
fact…”

“Because it seems
like you haven’t even enjoyed your vacation yet,” he
said, sitting down on the railing casually.

“As a matter of
fact,” Lena started, taking a step back, finding herself
pressed against the wall of the inn. “I had horseback lessons
this afternoon.”

“Emily gave you the
bucket list speech, didn’t she?” Eric asked, his eyes
amused.

“Is there anything
she says that isn’t planned out?” Lena asked, feeling a
little more offended than she should.

“Well all the
cursing is usually off the cuff,” Eric laughed, talking about
her in a sweet, familiar way. “She’s just really good at
her job. Kinda have to be if you’ve been here as long as she
has.”

“How long has she
been here?” Lena asked, finding herself both personally and
professionally interested.

“Long as I remember
her actually,” Eric said, looking up at her. “She just
showed up in town one day when we were teenagers… demanded a
job at the inn. She’s just been here every since. She’s
been running the place for years… Marion was old and sickly
for a long time before she passed.”

“Were you close?”
Lena asked, feeling a rush of unexpected sympathy. It seemed like
everyone was close with everyone else.

“In the sense that
she chased me down and beat me with a broom once when she thought I
was interested in Em,” he said, smiling at the memory.

“I would have paid
to see that,” Lena said, finding herself smiling at the idea.

“You should do that
more,” Eric said, eyes soft.

“Do what more?”

“Smile,” Eric
said. “You’re always so composed. So… tense.”

“I’m not
tense!” Lena felt the embarrassment flood her fast and
unrestrained. She hated being called tense and edgy. She knew it was
probably an apt description for how she behaved a lot of the time,
but it didn’t stop the words from grating.

“Hell,” Eric
said, laughing his infuriating throaty laugh. “just look at the
way you’re standing. You look like you have a stick shoved…”

Lena felt her jaw clench,
swinging away from him and storming off. But he swung an arm out
quickly, grabbing her wrist. She froze at the contact, the pressure
firm but gentle. She stood that way for a moment, too angry to turn
and face him, too helpless to make him let go and walk away. Eric’s
thumb rubbed slowly back and forth against the sensitive insides of
her wrist, the sensation making her skin tingle.

“Come here,”
he said quietly.

No. She wasn’t
going to go to him. She was going to pull her arm free and march off
into the inn. And say something insulting in the process. That was
what she was going to do. But even as the thoughts formed, she felt
her feet turning toward him. His hand tugged slightly until she was
in front of him, standing between his legs as he sat.

His fingers snaked down,
grabbing her hand in his, slipping his fingers between hers. “I
didn’t mean to offend you,” he said quietly, his tone
almost a whisper. “I just meant… when you’re on
vacation… be on vacation. Let loose a little.”

“I have a lot of
responsibilities at…
“I’m sure you do baby,”
he interrupted. “but you’re not at work.”

His free hand slid slowly
up her thigh, the fabric suddenly feeling hot and itchy against her
skin. It lingered for a moment by her hipbone hollow before snaking
around her lower back. Lena looked down at him, her eyes heavy and
questioning.

His hand pushed against
her hips, moving her closer until there was barely a whisper of air
between them.

Lena felt the air hitch
in her chest, holding there as Eric’s gray eyes found hers and
he slowly started to stand. His hand fell from hers and she felt its
absence suddenly, a foolishly strong sensation of emptiness. Hers
fell numbly to her side as Eric’s moved slowly to her neck,
moving across it with an excruciatingly light caress of fingertips.
She felt the air escape her mouth slowly as her head fell to the
side, allowing him more access.

She felt herself sway
against him, her arm reaching up to settle on his shoulder. Her eyes
rose to meet him hesitantly, the heat building in her belly and
spreading out.

His hand moved from her
back, sliding up her body. Then both of his hands went to the sides
of her face, cradling it. She felt time slip away, moments or hours
passed, before she finally leaned slightly in. Wanting, asking.