conviction. “I’ve helped both large and small companies throughout the western United States enhance their strengths and eliminate their weaknesses. Sometimes, it takes an outsider to get an objective analysis. And my suggestions have usually produced sizable profits.”
She leaned back in her swivel chair, which offered a squeak of protest. “Well, I guess they don’t pay you the big bucks for nothing.”
He grinned a wide grin—the first she’d seen crossing his face and one that instantly brought to mind Hester Goodbody’s words about her former pupil: He was a charmer.
Yes, Jane could see it now. And, she told herself, she could also pay that charm no mind. If she wasn’t quite as successful at that as she hoped to be, the last thing she wanted to do was let him know it. She sat silently while the old alarm clock standing on one of the file cabinets ticked off several seconds. “Could be you just might wind up earning your free stay here,” she went on at last in the most offhand manner she could summon.
Still grinning, he replied, “At the rate I normally charge for my services, it would take me less than a day to do that.”
“Humph.” Again she fought a war with her curiosity before it won out. “How much do you usually charge?”
The figure he named had her eyes round. “For a day?”
“Mmm-hmm. Plus expenses, of course.”
No wonder he could afford to drive a fancy sports car and wear suits that had never come off a rack. His parents might be well-to-do, but he seemed to be making his own way—and doing a bang-up job of it. Jane had to respect that, even if she didn’t plan on saying as much. “What happens after your research on the resort’s competition is done?”
His grin faded and his expression became all business. “Then we put our heads together and come up with a marketing strategy to take advantage of what I’ve learned.”
Once again she couldn’t fault the wisdom of his plan. He obviously knew what he was doing. She was the one who’d have to meet the challenge of keeping up with him. For all that she’d gotten good grades, she had never considered going on to college after high school. None of the Pitts had a college education.
Adam Lassiter, on the other hand, had probably not only aced his classes but wound up with a degree. Maybe more than one. And even beyond being educated, he could well be judged as having earned the title “expert.”
But only when it came to business, she reminded herself. In other areas, she could lay claim to being an expert. And maybe a demonstration was in order.
“I take it you and Sam also came here to spend some time outdoors,” she said. “Since you’ve made a start on your research this evening, how about a little fishing tomorrow?”
He hesitated for a beat. “Tomorrow?”
“Sure.” Thunder rumbled in the distance as she propped an elbow on the table and set her chin in the palm of her hand.
“Maybe it’ll be raining,” he replied after another hesitation—and with what just might be a hint of hope that would happen. “I remember how often storms whipping down from the mountains used to blow through Harmony in the summer.”
She shook her head. “The rains are late this year. It’s been thundering a ways off for the past several evenings, but we haven’t had a drop lately—and the forecast on the radio this morning was for more sunny skies tomorrow. I can take you and Sam out on the lake and give you a few pointers in the fishing department. That’s what I did for years when my great-aunt was still in charge around here—act as a guide on and off when visitors requested one.”
He released what sounded like a resigned breath, then set his jaw, as though having resolved to tackle something he was hardly eager to do.
“All right,” he said.
“Good.” She shoved back her chair and got to her feet. “I keep our extra fishing equipment in the storage room,” she explained with a nod at a doorway off one side of the office. “I’ll pull out what you two need first thing tomorrow and meet you here at five o’clock.”
His eyes widened for a second, then narrowed in a flash. “Five in the morning?”
She held back a smile. “That’s when the fish start biting.”
He let out another breath, pressed a few keys that made the computer screen fade to black and closed the laptop with a snap. “I suppose I’ll turn in,” he said, rising.
“A smart man probably would,” she told him, doing her best to maintain a bland expression.
He picked up the flashlight lying on the desk, switched it on and turned off the lamp. Seconds later he was locking the outside door behind them. As he aimed the flashlight down the gravel path, they walked toward his cabin. At the porch, a faint glow spilled through the front windows, over the rocking chair set beside the door. Several yards away, an owl hooted in the trees, the only sound in the quiet surroundings.
“Well, I guess this is where we part company,” she said.
He flicked off the flashlight. “Want to take this with you?”
She shook her head. “I can do without, especially with the stars out. Even when they’re not, I don’t have much trouble. I know my way around this place.”
He didn’t argue the point. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“At five,” she cheerfully reminded him.
Even in the dim light, she didn’t miss his fleeting grimace before he held out his right hand in an apparent effort to put things back on a businesslike basis. “Good night.”
“Good night,” she said, and placed her hand in his for the first time. As she’d expected, his palm was warm and dry and not at all rough to the touch. What she didn’t expect—despite the ease with which he’d handled the large cooler earlier that day—was the solid strength underscoring his light grasp. Or how the feel of his bare skin against hers would affect her.
Because it did.
Jane dragged in a steadying stream of cool air and pulled her hand away. Get moving, she flat-out ordered herself. And while you’re at it, get your head screwed on straight.
Obeying at least that first command, she turned and continued down the path that would fork off to her cabin. With firm determination to betray nothing out of the ordinary, she didn’t so much as toss a backward glance over her shoulder. Still, there was no denying the blunt truth that she had felt some sort of…attraction, she guessed would describe it. One that all boiled down to male and female. She’d seen too much of nature’s ways to fail to recognize it.
Good grief, for that brief yet humming moment when their palms had touched, she’d been in danger of being bowled over in the most barnyard-basic way by Adam Lassiter—probably the fanciest man she’d ever met. As a plain woman, she knew down to the familiar ground under her feet how foolish that was.
She’d only made a fool of herself once before over a good-looking male, and that was so far back it didn’t really count. Not that she didn’t recall the times she’d let Bobby Breen sweet-talk her into the back seat of his old Chevy convertible. Or how he had moved on when a prettier girl took an interest. Still, she’d survived that stinging rejection and come out the wiser.
All she had to do was keep that in mind from now on when dealing with a slick consultant. He probably wouldn’t be sporting any charming grins come morning, Jane assured herself. More likely, he’d be half-asleep.
She, however, was used to getting up early. And she could be chipper, too, at that time of day. Which she would be tomorrow, she vowed. She wasn’t letting anyone in on the fact that if she and Adam Lassiter had shaken hands during his first visit to Glory Ridge, she might never have encouraged him to spend part of his summer here, much as she needed some savvy business advice.
No, she wasn’t letting anyone