brother let out a grunt then exclaimed, “Oh, that’s right. Yes, it is.”
Knowing her brother’s nonjudgmental nature would lead him to befriend a janitor as easily as a fellow summa cum laude—or fall in love with and marry a wonderful girl with a very different background than theirs—Ashley refrained from inquiring about his friend’s field of study.
Another dirt clod dropped from Mr. Wild’s person and made Harrison retract his arm and check the underside of his no longer entirely white dress shirtsleeve.
Ashley struggled to contain a baleful sigh. “What brings you to the estate this morning?”
“Other than omelets with a pretty girl? Well, let me see…” His words trailed off as he glanced at Harrison.
Harrison gave a slight nod. “Mac’s going to help me with the Dover Creek Mill modernization.”
“Really,” Ashley murmured as she opened her day planner, surprised at herself for having missed one of Harrison’s business contacts. Her father counted on her to be on top of such things. Heaven forbid Mac had been around six months ago when she’d coordinated Harrison and Juliet’s wedding. She’d be mortified to have failed to invite him, because clearly he and her brother were on good terms. And as he had intimated earlier, she would have remembered if she’d seen him at the ceremony, whether she’d met him or not. Mac Wild was not a man easily forgotten.
Harrison regained her attention by slapping Mac on the shoulder, dislodging more filth. “That’s right. Mac, here, or better known as Wild Man at Harvard, is my—” he gave his friend a head-to-toe look “—my Environmental Specialist. As a favor to me, he’s going to do an impact study of the changes I want to make at the mill.”
Ashley nodded, not surprised that Mac Wild would make a career out of something involving dirt. The man clearly was not averse to the stuff. His choice of transportation to what undoubtedly was an arranged, early-morning, casual meeting with Harrison before her brother left for his trip made sense for an earth-conscious guy. As far as Mr. Wild’s taking free rein with the Rivers’s home and hearth…Perhaps he felt his friendship with Harrison gave him greater privileges.
She heaved a sigh of relief. Not only was his presence explained, but her contact with the man would be minimal. Thank goodness. The last thing she needed right in the middle of planning Harrison’s two-year-old son Nathan’s christening was Mac Wild’s disturbing come-ons. Her hands were blessedly full as it was keeping her family’s traditions thriving and everyone from floundering beneath their social and philanthropic obligations, as her mother had done before she lost her battle with cancer.
Her gaze involuntarily flicked past the front of Mac’s bike shorts and her suit became too warm once again for the mid-May morning. Yes, it was a good thing she wouldn’t be subjected to Mr. Wild’s presence often. She didn’t have the time nor inclination for distraction.
After living her entire life in Harrison’s towering shadow, she wasn’t about to jeopardize her father’s notice and approval by losing her focus now.
And a man, especially one who could very well be cut from the same cloth as Roger, wasn’t worth the risk.
Or the heartache. Discovering Roger had been using her had rocked her to her soul. She would never, ever, open herself up to that kind of hurt again.
“Oh, hey, Ash.” Harrison drew her gaze. “I know you’ll want to kill me for springing this on you—” To his friend he gave a conspiratorial aside, “She runs a tight ship, and likes to do that whole gift-basket, arrange-for-all-your-needs-in-advance type of thing.”
Mac gave a sage nod in response, an oddly knowing look in his hazel eyes as his gaze traveled over her.
A sense of doom gripped Ashley.
To her, Harrison said, “But ol’ Wild Man is going to be our houseguest for oh…” He raised questioning brows at Mac.
Mac’s gaze fastened on hers, a predatory gleam making his eyes glow to a deep topaz. He neatly supplied, “No less than a month.”
Ashley dug her nails into the pliable leather of her day planner but forced her expression to remain pleasant. She silently chanted the Three P’s again.
Propriety, Presentation, and Principle.
“That’s right,” Harrison concurred. “No less than a month. Since he’s doing this study as a favor to me, and all, he’ll be staying here with us.”
Mac reached out and pried one of Ashley’s hands off her day planner, sending her body temperature through the roof. “And it’ll be enjoyable, I’m sure,” he practically purred before bringing her knuckles to his wonderfully sensual lips for a soft-as-you-please kiss.
For the first time in her highly refined adult life, Ashley wondered just how cold the McKenzie River, running smooth and deep at the edge of the house’s vast lawn, was this time of year. And if it would be cold enough to help her resist the temptation of Mac Wild.
Chapter Two
Mac watched Ashley’s perfectly bowed, lightly glossed and achingly kissable lips pucker ever so slightly before she made a visible effort to shift her features into a pleased expression. If he hadn’t been staring at her mouth he would have missed it. He pulled a sardonic grin.
Then he realized that for the exceedingly proper Miss Ashley to show even that much displeasure meant she must be heaving with it on the inside. Now, he knew he wasn’t that distasteful. Mud washed off, for saints’ sake.
She pulled herself up and flashed him a brilliant smile that he suspected would have knocked him to his knees if it had been a little warmer around the edges and had reached her deep-lake blue eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t know in advance about your arrival. You would have received a much warmer—er—hospitable reception.”
He smirked. Things certainly didn’t need to get any warmer between them. “No worries, sunshine. The less pretenses, the better, as far as I’m concerned.” The pretenses of dating had landed him in this nightmare in the first place.
His mood sobering, he turned to Harrison. “Do you have a minute, or are you on your way to the office? I know you’re the big boss, now, but you do still work Fridays, right?” They needed to get their story down so no other surprises threatened this so-far perfect escape from Stephanie and her attempt to use outright lies and scandal to land herself a MacDougal.
Harrison put a hand on Mac’s shoulder. “Boy, you must be tired. I’m not going in to work today. Remember I told you that Juliet, Nathan and I are heading down to the amusement parks in southern California for two weeks? I couldn’t wait any longer to take my little man to Disneyland.”
Mac ran a hand down his cheek, wiping off dirt stuck to his whiskers. “That’s right.” He was tired. Had been since he’d discovered his family intended to use the situation with Stephanie to force him to settle down.
He couldn’t. His heart was seared with the oath he’d made on the worst day of his life, and he wasn’t about to break it for the likes of Stephanie Thorton-Stuart. Even though Harrison was leaving, Mac had come anyway because he wasn’t here for a social visit. He was here to hide.
Thankfully not noticing Mac’s seriousness, Harrison chuckled. “I think Juliet is about as excited as Nathan. She’s never been there before, so she’s vowed to hit every attraction in the place. Nathan will probably sleep through half of it.”
A surprisingly soul-wrenching envy that his friend’s true love was alive and kicking broadsided Mac. Only practice kept him from doubling over with the ache. His throat constricting, he asked, “Nathan’s…two now?”
Still oblivious, Harrison grinned and his chest swelled up, definitely the proud pop. “Two and cute as all get out. We don’t have to leave until later this morning, so you’ll get to meet Nat and his gorgeous mama. Assuming, of course, they ever get their act together