Be My Love Song (6 page)

All of West’s reservations receded as if they were pulled
away by the ebb of the tide. He growled, pulling her closer still, his mouth
devouring hers. The woman he held in his arms was hungry and he wanted to give
her what she craved.

He pressed himself to her, his erection hot and hard between
them, giving her the urge to ask for even more. She ground her lower body
against his, craving something she’d never had…

But she wasn’t going to have it tonight.

West pulled back, his breathing harsh. Touching his forehead
to hers, he nuzzled her cheek. “We’d better stop. While I still can.”

What if she hadn’t wanted him to stop? Didn’t she get a
vote? Guess not. “Okay. Do we put the pillows between us now?”

“No.” He snorted, hoping he was telling the truth. “I have
more self-control than that. Turn over.” He directed her to place her back
against his front. “Rest now. We’ll sort all of this out tomorrow.” He kissed
her neck, and she settled into his arms with a sigh. “Thank you for the tickets
to sail on the Elissa.” He realized they were genuine now, as genuine as she
was. “I don’t think I’ll share those with Rod.”

“I’m glad you like them. They were given to me by the
chamber for my volunteer work. When you’re out at sea on the tall ship, you can
remember me.” Noticing the time on the clock, she saw that it was after
midnight. “Thank you, Weston. This is the best Valentine’s Day I’ve ever had.”

“Valentine’s Day isn’t over yet, it’s only just begun.”

“True.” Although, it would be over for her once the sun rose
and he slipped from her life. The only connection with him she’d have would be
the hotel renovations. There wouldn’t be any more chances to sleep in his arms.
“But this is one night I’ll never forget. I’m just sorry I used you.” Then, it
hit her. “I wonder what happened to Rod?”

“You didn’t use me.” West tightened his arms around her.
“And I don’t care what happened to Rod,” he whispered. “I’m just glad he didn’t
show up.”

Downstairs…Elaine stretched and handed Rod his shirt. “You
are one talented man.”

He took it, pulling it over his head. “You’re not so bad
yourself, Cupid.”

Elaine glanced nervously in the corner, making sure her bow
and arrows were well hidden. “Elaine, my name is Elaine.”

Rod leaned down to kiss her. “I don’t care what your name
is, I like you so well, I’m going to wave the fee.”

With a sly smile, she sat up, grabbing the sheet to cover
her ample assets. “You can never put a price on pleasure…or love,” Elaine
purred, glancing up at the ceiling. “Madeline Cross, you owe me one.”

* 
*  *

When Madeline woke, she felt like a million dollars. The sun
was shining bright. She’d never slept better in her life. “West.” Rolling over,
she couldn’t wait to touch him one more time.

The other side of the bed was empty. Of course.

But, there was a note.

Maddie’s heart sank. Well, it was fun while it lasted. She
picked up the note and read…

Maddie,

Sorry I had to run, but I had some
important things to take care of. Thank you for an amazing evening and for your
hospitality. I enjoyed myself and you more than I can say.

You’ll be hearing from me soon.

West

“Shoot,” she whined, falling over. Would she ever know what
it was like to be loved?

At least she’d shut Morgana up—for a little while.

Kicking the covers off, she got up to face the day. No
sooner was she dressed that the normal excitement of the Windswept took over.
Guests had questions, lots of questions. The sink in one of the second floor
bathrooms stopped up. Another guest swore she saw the eyes in one of the
paintings move in her room. Still another man threw his back out and Madeline
had to bring in a chiropractor for an emergency house call.

“You know how he did that, don’t you?” Tilly whispered. “Bedroom
acrobatics.”

Madeline smiled. “Lucky woman.” She was jealous. She
would’ve given most anything to have had some undercover action with Weston.

As they walked from the elevator to the lobby, Madeline
checked her phone messages. She was hoping against hope that Weston would call,
but that was just wishful thinking. He’d wait for her to contact him about the
plans. Later, she’d have to examine how much all of the work was going to cost.
Hopefully she’d be able to afford it.

“Magpie!”

Tilly groaned. “Your royal pain-in-the-ass bellows.”

Maddie grinned. “You’ve got her pegged.” When they arrived
in the lobby, she was shocked to find not just her sister, but her mother and a
man she assumed was Hugh Beaumont standing and waiting. Juliana had the same bored,
judgmental expression she always wore and Hugh was eyeing the ceiling like he
was trying to determine how hard it would be to pull down.

“Madeline Mercy Cross, what in God’s name are you wearing?”

Juliana’s outburst caused Maddie to look down at her attire.
She wore a perfectly respectable pair of whitewashed jeans and a pink
turtleneck sweater. They weren’t designer, but they were comfortable.
“Clothes?”

“Hugh, try to look beyond my stepdaughter’s gaucheness and
see her good breeding. I know there’s evidence of it in there somewhere.”

Her tone cut into Maddie like a piece of glass. “Mother…”
She protested. When her eyes met the investor’s, she felt his gaze smear across
her flesh—that’s exactly what it felt like—a smear. Now, she understood. Hugh
Beaumont was a dirty old man. “What can I do for you all? May I offer you a
drink?’

“Later.” Juliana waved her hand dismissively. “Right now, we
don’t have time. Hugh wants to take a look at the property, walk around
outside. He brought a surveyor with him.”

Anger washed over Madeline like the rushing surf. “Windswept
is not for sale.” As she faced her mother, her sister and Hugh Beaumont, Maddie
realized she stood alone.

“It is if I say it is.” Juliana’s words dripped with ice. “I
was the wife of Martin Cross.”

“And I was his daughter,” Madeline countered.

“Not his only daughter,” Morgana added coldly.

Hugh Beaumont held up his hand. “Madeline, I’m sure after
you hear my proposal, you’ll agree my vision is the best for this prime piece
of property. How about we have dinner this evening? I understand you don’t have
a date for Valentine’s. We could take care of…business.”

Her eyes clashed with Morgana’s before she answered Hugh.
She wasn’t acknowledging his reference to a date. “I don’t need to hear your
proposal, this is my home. Whatever vision you have means nothing to me.”

“Don’t be rude, Madeline,” her mother snapped.

“I didn’t mean to be rude.” Maddie hugged herself tightly.
“How do I make you understand that I can’t let you do this?”

Morgana stepped right up and got into her face. “We have a
lawyer who can make it happen, Maddie. If you think you can stop us, you’re
delusional. But then we knew that…if you think you fooled me last night with
that fake boyfriend, you’re wrong. I saw through you two like a clear piece of
glass.”

A feeling of hopelessness swamped her. What was she going to
do? Madeline couldn’t find words to argue with her family. After all, they were
right. She was alone.

“Madeline! Madeline! Come to the desk,” Tilly called.
“There’s something up here you need to see.”

“Excuse me.” She turned to make her escape, grateful for
whatever awaited her.

As she walked, she wiped the corners of her eyes. Maddie
didn’t want anyone seeing her cry. When she looked up, the sight that met her
eyes made her gasp. There was a huge bouquet of beautiful dark red roses
sitting on the counter. “Wow, someone’s in for a thrill.” She smiled, going up
to inhale their fragrance. “Did you page the lucky woman?”

Elaine propped her elbow on the desk and wagged her finger.
“Yes, we did, pretty lady. The flowers are for you.”

Chapter
Six

Madeline stared agog at the three dozen long stem roses.
“For me?” She shook her head. “Are you sure?”

“This is your name on the card.” Tilly handed it to her.

“Maybe they’re for a guest and they just put my name on the
front because it’s being sent to a room or something.” She fumbled with the
envelope.

“Read the card.” Elaine pressed.

Maddie was afraid to, but she pulled it out and squeezed her
eyes shut, held it up and looked.

Dear Maddie,

Thank you for last night. These
roses reminded me of your beautiful lips.

Love, West

“HOL-LEE-Sh…” Tilly breathed.

Madeline read the card again. She smiled. Weston had sent
her flowers!

“Give me that.” Morgana snatched it out of her hand. “Ha!
Did you send these to yourself?”

“No, I didn’t.” She protested. “West sent them to me.”
Maddie grabbed the card back. Her sister would not take this joy from her, she
wouldn’t let her. Weston was a kind man who understood her predicament. He was
probably trying to pay her back for the Elissa tickets. Either way, Maddie was
grateful. They couldn’t have arrived at a better moment.

“Likely story.” Morgana sneered. Her mother and Hugh
Beaumont observed from a distance, then strolled outside. It didn’t matter. She
picked up her beautiful flowers and placed them on the desk in her office.

In a few minutes, Tilly came in, a worried look on her face.
“Hey, boss, what’s that creepy old guy doing here? He’s walking around outside
with a metal detector.”

“I don’t know.” She didn’t want to think about her problems,
she just wanted to look at her roses. “Maybe he’s hunting loose change.”

“Maddie, it’s more than that, isn’t it?” Tilly pressed,
worried.

“Yea.” She nodded, laying her head on her desk. “I’m sorry,
but yes, it is.” Maddie explained to her friend. “They’re trying to force me to
sell. Plus, I have to do the safety upgrades required by law. Both of those
things together have me all worked up. Weston brought the proposal for the
upgrades last night.”

“I can see your business meeting was fruitful.” Tilly
teased, touching one of the velvety blooms.

“He’s a nice guy.” Maddie tried not to make a big deal out
of it. Nothing would come of last night, other than a business
relationship—hopefully—and an awkward attempt to get her sister off her back.
“I just need to examine the estimate and see if I can rake up enough money to
take care of it. I don’t think Morgana and Juliana will agree to fork over
their half. If this is done, I’ll have to accomplish it on my own.”

“Bastards,” Tilly muttered. “Do you want me to go upstairs
and get the plans so you can study them?”

“Yea, you might as well. I guess I need to know what I’m up
against.” While she fretted, she walked to the window to see what her
traitorous stepmother was doing outside with Hugh Beaumont. He was talking to
another man and pointing down the beach. Juliana was lounging in the sunshine,
sipping one of Maddie’s drinks, and Morgana was staring up into the air. What
was she looking at?

She eased closer to the door. Several of her guests were all
pointing to the sky. Elaine came running in from the outside. “Madeline,
Madeline, you’ve got to see this!”

“What?” She couldn’t imagine what was going on.

“I was taking a picnic basket out to the couple from room
twenty-six. They’re riding one of those tandem bicycles down to the pier.”

Elaine was so out of breath that Madeline patted her on the
back. “Is there something wrong? Do I need to call for help?”

“No, no, you need to come see this.” She took Maddie’s arm
and started pulling. “The plane, the plane…”

“You sound like that short little guy from
Fantasy Island
,
Elaine.” Maddie laughed. But when they got outside, everyone was pointing and
she looked up to see what they were gawking at.

Elaine crossed her arms and hugged herself. “Isn’t it grand?
This is his second pass.”

At first, Maddie didn’t understand what she was seeing. And
then the plane got closer. There was a long streamer flying from the plane’s
tail. “What does it say?”

Laughing, Elaine hugged her. “Read it for yourself?”

“Oh, my God!” Maddie couldn’t believe her eyes. The red
banner waving behind the plane read in big white letters: Madeline Cross, will
you be my Valentine? Go to your phone. Love, Weston Rogers.

“Really, Maddie.” Morgana sneered. “This is taking your
desperation a little too far.”

Maddie whirled, unreasonable happiness rising up to thrill
her heart. “Eat your heart out, Morgana. I’ve got a real, honest to God
boyfriend!”

* 
*  *

Her heart was still singing when she ran back to her office.
Tilly had brought the blueprints and the attached proposal, but Maddie was too
excited to look at them. Instead, she stared at the phone with a pounding heart
and bated breath. “Call, please call, please call,” she whispered. None of this
made sense, but it was exciting. Weston’s unbidden attempts to cement their
performance touched Madeline’s heart. He didn’t have to do this. She was so
grateful, she almost cried.

Ring! Ring!

Maddie, weak with relief, sank down into the chair and
snatched up the receiver. “Windswept, this is Madeline, may I help you?”

“Yes, you can help, Maddie-sweet. Did you get my
Valentines?”

With a silent squeal, she spun her chair in a circle. His
voice sent chills all over her body—from her nose to her toes. “I did. Thank
you so much for the flowers. I think they are the most beautiful things I’ve
ever seen.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “You didn’t have to do that,
but I’ll treasure them and Morgana was green—even if she wouldn’t admit it.”

“Beautiful flowers for a beautiful woman. And I didn’t do it
for Morgana.”

Madeline blushed. “Well, thank you, it was a very sweet
thought! And the airplane banner, I can’t believe you did that for me, thank
you so much.”

Her heartfelt amazement warmed him. “You’re welcome. Last
night took me by surprise. I enjoyed being with you. Would you have dinner with
me tonight?”

His invitation caught her off guard. “Why?”

West chuckled. “Why do you think?”

“Oh…” He was still trying to help her with the Morgana
problem. “You don’t have to do that, you know.”

“I want to.” West insisted. “Don’t you want to go out with
me?”

Was she crazy? “Why, yes, of course, West. I’d love to go
out with you.” Maddie pinched herself, just to make sure she was awake.

“Great, I’ll pick you up at seven. We’ll have dinner, then
go back to my place for drinks on the sunroom overlooking the beach. How does
that sound?”

“Heavenly. This will be a perfect Valentine’s Day.” She
tried to sit still, but her whole body was quivering with excitement. “I’ll be
ready and thank you for doing this for me.”

“My pleasure. Thank you for agreeing. I can’t wait.”

Once he hung up, Madeline hugged herself. She glanced at the
clock. “I have eight hours to get ready. Is that enough time?”

Till stuck her head in the door. “Barely. Sorry, I was
shamelessly eavesdropping. What will you wear?”

“Wear?” Madeline got a panicked look on her face. “I need to
go shopping!”

“Yes, you do. But you also need to look at that proposal.”
Tilly pointed to the papers on Maddie’s desk.

She huffed out a breath. “You’re right.”

For the next half hour, Madeline read and reread the
estimates, laws, proposals, and costs. Finally, she laid her head on the desk
and quietly beat it with her fist. “I’m going to lose it. There’s no way I can
come up with this amount of money on my own.”

Tilly, who had been going back and forth to the desk to take
care of guests, was now standing at her side. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, unfortunately. If Mother and Morgana would pay their part,
I could swing half. But they’re not going to agree to it. I’m going to have to
go to the bank and get a loan.” Madeline felt like she was about to cry. “If I
don’t, I’m going to lose my home, Tilly!”

“Is West trying to gouge you?”

“No, he wouldn’t do that. He even included the costs of
other building projects they’ve brought up to code. This is just a lot of
work.”

Tilly hugged her. “Stop fretting. Today’s not the day to
worry about it. It’s Valentine’s! Let’s tell Elaine to handle the desk and you
and I hit the Strand and make you sexy. You can be like Scarlet O’Hara and
worry about all of this mess tomorrow.”

* 
*  *

“Do you really think it looks good?” Madeline turned in
front of the mirror, first one way and then the other. The dress was simple, a
short red sheathe with a sparkly shawl. Or at least it was simple till one saw
the back, all bare except for a couple of thin jeweled straps crossing over.
She and Tilly had made a day of it. Maddie was sporting a sexy new haircut,
seductive red nails and she’d had spa treatments from one end to the other.

“I think it looks fabulous. Now all you need are some do-me
heels and barely-there underwear that will be more fun for him to take off than
it is for you to put on.”

Madeline shivered. That wasn’t the way the date would go,
but it was nice to dream. “Is this happening?” She held Tilly by the arms and
playfully shook her.

“Yes, Miss Maddie, it is. And you deserve it.”

“I think I’ll take this one.” She pirouetted in front of the
mirror again. “Now, let’s hunt a thong!”

The girls had a blast examining what was available in
intimate wear. “I don’t think you’ll be able to wear a bra. How about pasties?”
Tilly held up a pair and waved them around.

“No, I don’t think so.” Maddie laughed. “I’m pretty small, I
think I can use the shawl to cover me up if I get cold.”

“Or turned-on.” Tilly teased. She looked at her watch. “My
goodness, look at the time. We need to get a move-on or Cinderella will be late
for the ball.”

“Oh, that will never do. I don’t want to keep my Prince
Charming waiting.” They took the packages and raced to Maddie’s car to head
back to the Windswept. Once they were on the road and had settled down enough
to think, curiosity got the best of Maddie. “Tilly, you wouldn’t know anything
about another man showing up around dinner time last night, would you?”

Tilly cleared her throat and chewed her bottom lip. “Well,
there was this guy I saw coming out of the break room behind the check-in
counter about dawn. He looked quite satisfied and Elaine was smiling all
morning.”

“Huh, how strange.”

Looking at Madeline, Tilly narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

“Fate is a funny thing, Tills.” She laughed, deciding there
was no use hiding what happened from Tilly. They were friends and the truth
would eventually come out anyway—especially if she was able to get the loan.
“Yesterday, when my sister was pressuring me about selling Windswept, she just
got on my last nerve. Her eternal song is how pathetic I am since I don’t have
a man in my life. Something snapped.” She clutched the steering wheel. “Anyway,
I hired an escort to throw Morgana off and make her think I had a boyfriend. I
knew it wouldn’t keep them from badgering me about Windswept, but I was just so
tired of her baiting and innuendoes.” She paused to make a turn. “I gave the
escort a name to use, Weston Rogers.”

Tilly laughed. “Why?”

“Because when Morgana pushed me and I lied about having a
boyfriend, I used West’s name. He had been on my mind because of our phone
conversations and I just pulled it out of thin air.”

Shaking her head, Tilly grinned. “I’m getting the picture.
The real Weston Rogers showed up and you thought it was the escort. Later,
Elaine nabbed the real escort for herself.”

“What a tangled web we weave.” Madeline sighed. “Anytime I
ever try to lie, I end up making a mess out of things.”

“I don’t know, Maddie,” Tilly answered thoughtfully. “This
might have all worked out exactly like it was supposed to. I think Cupid had a
hand in this. When the real Weston Rogers came to your door, what did you do?”

“Well, you had told me he was sending someone to drop off
the drawings, I wasn’t expecting him to actually show.”

“Exactly, fate intervened. Now, answer my question.”

Maddie sighed and laughed a little. “I grabbed him and kissed
him so hard he turned blue.” She blushed, remembering all the kisses she’d
shared with West.

“And that’s why you got three dozen red roses.”

Well, not really, but she wasn’t going to argue about it.
Once they’d returned to Windswept, Maddie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Juliana met her at the door with Hugh in tow. “Where have you been?”

“Shopping, I have a date tonight.”

“Surely not with the instigator of that spectacle in the
sky?”

Watching her mother, Maddie concluded she had all the appearance
of someone who had a broomstick stuck up her butt. “Yes, his name is Weston
Rogers, a local architect. The one who is preparing to help me get Windswept up
to code.” Okay, she was being unrealistically optimistic, but she wasn’t going
to just cave in and give up.

Hugh gave Juliana a look, then came to her rather quickly
for a gentleman of his age, and took Madeline by the arm. Before she knew it,
he was leading her from the lobby to the dining room. “Let’s speak frankly,
shall we?”

Tilly tried to follow, but Juliana stopped her. “I’ll see
you up in your room to help you get ready in a bit, Maddie,” she called.

“Okay, Tilly.” She nodded at her friend and employee, then
turned to face Mr. Beaumont. “I really don’t have time to speak frankly or
otherwise.”

“Make time.” He backed her up against the wall near the
fireplace. They weren’t touching, but Maddie could feel his clammy breath on
her face. “Your mother and sister can force this issue. They’re already drawing
up the sale papers. It would behoove you if you cooperated. In fact, I can make
it worth your while. If you’ll consent to sign the papers and evacuate the
premises within thirty days, I’ll tell you the real reason I want this
property.”