Blush Duo - Marriage Under the Mistletoe & The Christmas Inn (27 page)

CHAPTER SIX

L
UKE
 
TRIED
 
NOT
 
TO
 
LET
disappointment take hold as he
watched Marnie retreat up the stairs. The truth was he didn’t want her to go.
For the past hour he’d feigned interest in the hall decorations, checked the
dining room twice and basically stuck close to the front door, waiting for her
to return. Even the staff had left him alone—waiting, he supposed, to see what
he’d do when Marnie came back to the inn.

Then he’d blown it because he couldn’t find it in his heart to
let go of his fear that he wasn’t ready for a relationship, that letting Marnie
into his life was risky. After all, she had deceived him—although perhaps not
intentionally—by letting him believe she was married when she wasn’t.

As for the matchmaking efforts by the staff, he realized they
were acting out of genuine kindness and a desire to see him happy. He
appreciated their wanting him to be happy, but he was struggling to hold up his
end of the bargain. A few moments ago, he’d shot a hole in their hopes by
standing there like an ox, saying nothing. Was he afraid of being hurt? Or had
he simply not been able to shake the feeling that there was something about
Marnie’s behavior that continued to trouble him?

Or was he simply out of practice when it came to making
conversation with a beautiful woman? He’d never had a problem talking to a woman
in his entire life. Actually, most of the time he didn’t have to do much talking
because the women did it for him. Anna was the first woman who had drawn him
out, seen beyond his outgoing facade to find a man who had lived a pretty lonely
existence despite the fact that he never lacked for women or friends.

For the first time since Anna’s death, he found himself
attracted to a woman, and he didn’t seem to be able to do much about it. Why
hadn’t he simply asked her what he’d wanted to ask? What held him back?

“Daddy!” Ethan squealed, racing toward him, his arms flung
open.

Luke scooped him up, hugging him close, pleased as usual to see
his son. “What are you up to? Were you helping to make cookies again?” he asked.
“How many did you eat this time?”

“I painted a picture for you. In your office,” Ethan said,
bristling with indignation.

Mary came along behind him. “I was about to get Ethan his
dinner before I put him to bed, but he wanted to see you first.”

“Daddy, we’re having chicken fingers. You want some?” His
bright smile returned, lighting the room.

“No, partner, not tonight.” His gaze moved to Mary, who gave
him a quizzical smile. He always ate with Ethan whenever he could, but tonight
he was restless, edgy.

“Why?” Ethan placed his hands on his father’s cheeks and
pressed while he looked up into his eyes. “You like chicken fingers.”

“I do, but not tonight,” he said, trying to smile around his
pinched cheeks. Luke seldom was able to resist the pleading look in Ethan’s
eyes. “Daddy’s got something he needs to do tonight.”

“Are you going out in the snow? Can I come?” Ethan asked.

“No, I’m not going out in the snow, and neither are you.”

“All right,” Ethan said, his eyes downcast, his voice full of
genuine sadness. He pushed away, his signal that he wanted Luke to put him down.
“See you later.”

“Enjoy your chicken fingers,” he called to Ethan as Mary took
his hand and led him down the hall.

Ethan made a growling sound and smiled at his father over his
shoulder.

He loved his son with every fiber of his being, a love that was
as deep and powerful as it was unexplainable. He’d had no idea how much having a
child could change his life until Ethan was born. He envied Jack and Lindsay.
His friends had so much to look forward to with the impending arrival of their
baby. He’d always planned to have a house full of children, and he certainly
never planned to have Ethan grow up as an only child.

Unable to shake the unsettling feeling that he should have
asked Marnie to have dinner with him, he headed for the bar.

* * *

M
ARNIE
 
LOCKED
 
THE
 
DOOR
,
and dragged out her laptop and paperwork, prepared
to tackle Scott’s questionnaire once and for all. Pretty sad when a woman had to
seek solace in a questionnaire, but that was how it worked in her world this
snowy evening. She sure couldn’t appear at the bar and upset the boss, or the
bartender. No, never that. And yes, she was feeling sorry for herself, but she’d
earned the right to a little self-pity.

She shuffled through the papers until she found the
housekeeping one she’d started to fill out, and found a section on the
air-conditioning unit. She put a call in to the desk to ask that someone come
and check her air-conditioning unit. The questions on the form were directed
mostly at how technician behaved, how long it took to answer the call, how long
the technician spent in the room and what the result was as it pertained to the
condition of the unit. Simple enough.

She was still reading over the questions when the technician
announced his arrival with a light tap on the door. He introduced himself as he
entered the room. “I’m Kevin Bailey. I’m not sure what you need checked on your
air-conditioning unit.” He nodded to the window and the snow fluttering over the
glass.

Idiot!
“I meant to say the heater.
It’s all part of the same unit, right?”

“Yeah,” he said, glancing doubtfully at the unit under the
window. “But according to my records here, the unit was checked two months ago.
Did you have a specific problem?”

What was she supposed to say to that? There was no problem. “I
couldn’t seem to get the heat to turn on,” she lied. She hadn’t attempted to
turn it any higher than the automatic setting, but come to think of it, the room
did seem a little chilly.

She climbed on the bed out of his way as he took the cover off
the unit and peeked inside, flipping a switch and poking around.

He opened his tool kit and withdrew a pair of pliers, then
unhooked a wire out and examined it closely. “Hmm,” he said, sounding puzzled.
“The wire is frayed.” He sat back on his heels and looked up at her. “It’s
possible that because this room is to be renovated, a full check of the system
wasn’t done, or someone was careless. Whatever the reason, you might have
started a fire with this—” he held the wire up for her to see “—if you’d tried
to turn the heat any higher.”

“Really,” she said, imagining what could have happened if she’d
been there that afternoon, felt chilly and tried to turn up the heat before
taking a nap.

“You can’t stay in this room tonight. I’ll have to shut the
unit down until it’s fixed. I’ll speak to Luke about it, and I’m sure he’ll find
you another room.”

She’d have to report this. The instructions on the survey
emphasized guest safety and this was a major deficiency on that front. Darn!
Given how well the rest of the inn was cared for, she hadn’t expected to have
something serious to report on his inn that could reflect badly on Luke’s
management.

“Thank you,” she murmured, worried for Luke and what this might
mean for him when Advantage got the survey results.

She closed the door behind Kevin and leaned against it for
support. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t lie about what she’d discovered,
but that didn’t stop her from wishing she could. A hotel manager had to put the
safety of his guests first, the same as any other business that catered to the
public. More than ever, she wanted to give up on the survey, and enjoy the rest
of her stay here, and face her brother’s displeasure when she got back to
Boston.

She was still leaning on the door when someone knocked.

Had they arranged for her to change rooms that quickly? “Who is
it?” she asked.

“It’s Luke.”

Her heart jumping into her throat, she opened the door and
stood back. “Did you come to show me to my new room?”

He gave her a quick nod before glancing past her. “Kevin told
me what he found, and I want to apologize. The unit was checked, but obviously
not carefully enough. We’ve had some cancellations due to the storm. Mary will
arrange to move you down to an empty room for tonight. If our guests are able to
get here tomorrow, we’ll have to move you back up here. But in the meantime,
they’ll fix your unit and you’ll get to experience the kind of luxury we’re
known for around the area.”

His apologetic smile warmed her body in all the right places.
“That sounds perfect.”

“And I also want to invite you to have a drink at the bar with
me.”

“A drink?” A drink would almost certainly lead to dinner, and
who knew where else after that? And now that fate had granted her a fancy room
with the implied promise of a big bed, she gave her fantasy life full reign. He
would ply her with liquor; she’d eat her fill of beautifully prepared food,
after which they’d make their way upstairs hand in hand....

But before she went for a drink she needed a couple of minutes
in the bathroom to get changed, apply a little makeup. She could be dressed in a
matter of seconds. She glanced around and to her horror spotted the open laptop
and the files containing the survey questionnaires scattered across the bed.

He mustn’t see them. Wedging herself between Luke and the bed,
she smiled brightly. “I would love to have a drink with you, but first I need to
change my clothes and freshen up a bit.”

“You don’t have to dress up for me.” There was that smile
again.

“But I’ve been out shopping and didn’t get a chance to change,
and it would just feel better. You don’t mind, do you?”

“No, of course not. Meet you in the bar when you’re ready,” he
said, backing out the door, his eyes aimed at the piles of paperwork on her
bed.

When the door was safely closed behind him, she gathered up the
forms and her laptop and put them away in the bottom of her suitcase. There was
no way she wanted him to discover what she hadn’t had the guts to tell him.
Worse still, if he found out on his own…

She couldn’t let herself think about all that right now. After
all, she’d been invited for a drink, and she deserved to have a little fun in
her life. Once dressed, she finished packing her things for the move downstairs
and zippered her suitcase shut for good measure—just in case they decided to
change her room for her while she was out.

* * *

D
OWN
 
IN
 
THE
 
BAR
, L
UKE
 
settled on a stool and accepted the Scotch and soda Jack passed him.
“You were right. She seemed very pleased that I asked her to have a drink.”

“See? I told you. She was probably waiting for you to ask
her.”

Encouraged by Jack’s words, he grinned. “You think so?”

“Absolutely. You should have asked her to have dinner with you
when you met her at the door.”

Was he that obvious?
“So everyone
knows I planned to ask her to dinner when I met her at the door.”

“Why do you think the lobby was empty when you walked in with
her?” Jack rolled his eyes.

“Well, I’ll be damned.”

“We’re just looking out for your happiness, since you seem
determined to avoid it. Francine says that Marnie was asking about you when she
was at the spa getting her massage.”

“And about the operation of the spa, or so Francine told me.
Francine says she likes her, finds her easy to talk to,” Luke offered, taking
another sip of his drink, remembering that he was the one who asked for Marnie’s
opinion of the spa’s operation.

“Yes, everyone likes her around here.”

“Especially Ethan.”

Jack laughed. “If Ethan likes her, what more can you want?”

“There’s still something about her that bothers me.”

“Hot and bothered?” Jack asked, his voice edged with
laughter.

“I’m going to ignore that for the moment.”

“I’ll let you off this once.” Jack assumed a serious
expression. “Are you talking about what went on here in the bar last night?”

“No. Well, maybe a part of it. But did you know that she was
checking for dust in the library? And when I asked her about it she claimed it
was simply a habit she’d picked up when she ran her salon.”

“So, she likes to ask questions, and she checks for dust, so
what? If you want my opinion, I think you’re simply afraid to go out with her.
You’re making excuses, that’s all.”

Luke rubbed his chin as he stared at his friend. “Me? Scared?”
he bluffed.

“Yes. You. Scared. When I saw her today on my way here she
looked like one unhappy lady.”

“And you think I’m to blame for that?”

“Possibly. She’s a single woman sleeping alone at an inn
hosting a couples getaway, and you’re the only unattached male here.”

“So, I win by default?”

“No! Look, get your head out of your business for once, and
start paying attention to life. This woman is here. You’re here. And you could
do a whole lot worse than a beautiful, unattached woman who could probably use a
little cheering up.”

“So, you’re saying we’re a couple of people desperate to spend
the evening together?” Luke teased as he eyed his friend over the rim of the
glass.

“Cut it out, man! I’m only saying that it’s time you found a
woman for yourself. No more eyeing mine,” he kidded, polishing a wineglass
before hanging it on the rack.

“How is my favorite woman doing, by the way? Any labor
pains?”

“No, but I’m not taking any chances. I’m picking her up on my
break and bringing her up here to stay the night. The last thing either of us
needs when this baby decides to arrive is for her to be at home and me to be
here, and the road between us to be blocked with snow.”