With This Kiss (7 page)

“Sean, well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes? I heard you were back but didn’t get a chance to feast my eyes on you yesterday. Stand still and let me get a good look at you.” Mrs. Higgins, the inn’s head chef, grinned at him, her eyes twinkling. “I can see that you are still just as much of a heartbreaker as you always were.”

Knowing better than to get into it with the woman who used to change his diapers when he was a baby, he said, “Are there any of your delicious scones left?”

She nodded to a tray beside her. “I just pulled a new batch fresh from the oven. How many, sweetie?”

Only Mrs. Higgins would call him sweetie. And, strangely, it was okay when she did it. Because he knew she was one of those very rare people who was just as nice as she seemed. No hidden shadows. No secrets.

“How about four?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Got a big appetite today, don’t you?”

“I’d like to bring some out for Rebecca, too.”

Her expression softened. “Such a sweet girl, isn’t she? And so good with the guests. Although I’ve always thought there’s a little bit of wicked waiting inside of her to get out.” Not waiting for him to reply to her offhand comments, she said, “In that case, let me just add a pot of her favorite tea.”

Sean could smell the roses from the leaves the chef put into the pot and something else that he was sure he was getting wrong.

“Is there maple syrup in that tea?”

“Oh, yes. It’s a new tea she’s been experimenting with. For the festival.” She handed him the tray. “Her idea to launch the festival was a smart one, no question about it.”

Biting back his questions for the time being, he thanked her and carried the tray back out to Rebecca. She looked up in surprise as he placed the scones and tea in front of her.

“Are you hungry?”

Given the way her mouth tightened at his question, he had a feeling that if she knew it was his idea to bring the scones out to her that she’d refuse them. He shouldn’t care if she did. Then again, he didn’t want his all-important innkeeper to faint from hunger at the front desk, either.

“Mrs. Higgins said these were your favorite.”

“They are. Thank you,” she said as she picked one up.

“I wanted to tell you, my secretary found Stu’s letter.”

“I knew he had to have contacted you,” she said, clearly relieved to hear it. “Did he tell you anything about his whereabouts?”

“No.” Damn it. “Just what he’d said in his note to my parents.”

“I’m sorry. I know you were hoping for clues.”

Sean felt a pang of guilt at what he wasn’t telling Rebecca—that Stu had, in fact, said more.
“It’s my fault. Treat Rebecca kindly, she deserves it.”

Reminding himself that he had nothing to feel guilty for and that she was the one who hadn’t answered his direct questions last night, he forcefully returned his focus back to business for the time being. He’d quiz her on his brother again soon enough.

“How have things been going here at the inn with Stu gone?”

She poured two cups of tea and handed him one. It smelled surprisingly good, like being out in the large maple grove behind the inn.

“Good. Busy, but good.”

“Mrs. Higgins mentioned a maple festival?”

Even though she clearly felt uncomfortable around him, Rebecca’s face lit up. “Oh, yes, it’s going to be wonderful.” She reached under the counter and handed him a well-designed flier, putting the rest on a stack on the corner of the check-in counter. “It’s going to be a day of nonstop maple syrup, maple cookies, maple candies.” She lifted her cup. “Even tea. I’ve found some incredible vendors the past few weeks. I really think people are going to love being able to tap the maple trees themselves. I had someone come out and do a demonstration for me a few weeks ago and it was really fun.” She tapped on a spreadsheet she had in front of her. “Just a few more details to iron out and the festival should be smooth sailing in two weeks.”

Sean quickly scanned the flier. “How are you managing to run the inn by yourself and put on this festival at the same time? Especially with Stu gone?”

“Honestly,” she said, “it hasn’t been easy. But I’ve been pulling it all off so far.” She gave him a little smile that made his heart do funny things in his chest. “Besides, who needs sleep? I figure I can do a little reverse hibernation after the snow thaws and the festival has passed.”

“What are you going to do if a ball drops, Rebecca?”

She was about to take a bite of her scone when he saw his question register. Holding it halfway to her mouth she said, “Excuse me?”

“I understand that you’ve been managing to pull everything off thus far. But what’s going to happen when you have a problem with one of your festival suppliers and you’re needed to deal with an emergency at the inn? What if, say, two of the cleaning staff call in sick and you’re needed upstairs as well as downstairs and you’ve got a vendor waiting for an answer to his question?”

Her flush disappeared as her face paled. He felt bad about poking holes in her plans, but looking for problems—and solving them before they happened—had been a big part of his career.

“I suppose I’ll have to deal with that if it comes,” she said slowly. “And hope that it doesn’t.”

He shook his head. “You should hire someone to deal with the festival and focus on your job at the inn.”

She frowned at him. “No. No way. The festival is mine. It’s the first thing besides running the inn that I’ve ever really felt proud of.”

He couldn’t believe the way she continually spilled her innermost thoughts and feelings. He would never—ever—admit to anyone the kind of things she was admitting. Was it some sort of trick to get him to back off on asking questions about Stu?

Telling himself it had to be a trick, that no one could possibly be this devoid of pretense, he said, “I’m afraid I don’t see how the situation can continue for much longer. You’re clearly exhausted. And I’d hate for the inn to suffer because you’re focused on some festival.”

Anger lit her delicate features. “First of all, Stu trusted me with the inn while he was gone. I would never let any part of it suffer. Second, it’s not just
some festival
. The Tapping of the Maples Festival is going to do great things for this town and the inn. And third, considering Stu is the owner of the inn, I’m going to ask you to respect his wishes and let me run the inn as I always have, thank you.”

Her strength surprised him, yet again. And the way her cheeks were flushing, her eyes flashing as she held her ground, made her even prettier.

Sean knew why Stu hadn’t told her the full truth. He’d asked his brother to keep his involvement in the inn quiet. Just another half-lie to add to all the others.

Looked like it was time for there to be one less secret.

“Actually, Stu and I own the inn together. All these months, you’ve actually been working for both of us.”

R
ebecca felt her eyes widen at the news. She narrowed them again as she glared at Stu’s far-too-attractive brother.

It was just one surprise after another around here, wasn’t it?

“Why didn’t Stu tell me you owned the inn with him?”

She wished Sean looked guiltier about the way he’d sprung the news on her. He was clearly a very astute businessman, and yet he hadn’t found a very nice way of giving her this information, had he?

“I never planned on coming back to run it, so it wasn’t relevant.”

Last night, he’d told her he’d sold his business and that he was looking for something new to work on. Is this what he’d meant? Oh, no, she wasn’t sure she could work with a man like him bossing her around.

She dropped her untouched scone back onto the china plate with a loud clack. “No, I suppose it wasn’t relevant to you,” she said, not bothering to keep the sarcasm, or anger, from her voice. “Only to your employees who had no idea you were Stu’s silent partner all these years.”

A muscle began jumping in his jaw and she waited for him to defend himself, to point out to her that Stu was just as much at fault for not telling her the truth.

Instead, he said, “Now that the situation has changed, I’ll need you to show me everything about running the inn.”

She couldn’t stop her eyes from widening at the thought of having to spend big chunks of time in close quarters with Sean, teaching him the ropes of the inn he owned but clearly never had any interest in learning about.

For the first time since Stu had left, she finally let herself be good and angry at him. How could he have done this to her, to Sean, giving them no other choice but to have to deal with one another?

Just then, a couple came down the stairs carrying a baby. “I hope we didn’t keep anyone up last night,” the woman said, an apologetic smile on her face. “Janie has some trouble sleeping out of her usual crib.”

Her husband was trying to manage all of their bags and the car seat and bottles on his own, but Rebecca could see what a difficult time he was having, especially considering half of the bags weren’t quite zipped all the way and a diaper was about to fall out.

She was incredibly glad for a reason to move away from Sean. “Don’t worry about a thing. Your room was in the corner and I’m sure no one heard her crying. If it would help, I’d love to hold her for a moment while you get your things packed up and into the car.”

“Oh, that would be wonderful,” the woman said, fortunately not at all reticent about handing the sweet baby girl over.

Rebecca’s heart squeezed as she looked down at big
blue eyes and a sweet little mouth. “Hey there, pretty girl. I hear you’re quite the traveler.”

The little girl started to fuss and the mother frowned and said, “I can take her back.”

“I took care of three little sisters. I miss holding a baby. I miss making them laugh.” As she spoke, she was quick to reposition Janie and get her giggling with funny faces.

The young couple were kneeling over their bags trying to do a quick reorganization while neither of them had their hands full when the phone behind the counter started ringing. Rebecca automatically shifted the baby to the crook of her right arm and picked up the line.

“Oh, yes,” she said a moment later. “We’d love to be a part of your wedding plans in July. I’m a little bit tied up now, could I call you back in a few—” She paused, listened. “Oh, I see. You need to do it right this second?”

Sean was standing a handful of feet away, watching her on the phone with narrowed eyes. Feeling as if he was judging her performance—now that he was her surprise boss, and all—a devil landed on her shoulder.

Before she could stop herself she said, “I’d be more than happy to book it all with you right now. Could I put you on hold for ten seconds and then we’ll get started?”

When they agreed, she put the phone down, walked over at to Sean, and handed him the baby.

“Could you take her back to her parents?” She looked over the couple, who had half of their things spread out across the rug and looked exhausted. “On second thought, I’m sure they’d be much happier if you could just keep her entertained for a few minutes.”

Sean looked utterly, supremely uncomfortable. But,
amazingly, the little girl was snuggling in closer to him, her soft blond hair falling across his upper arms as she gave him an adoring coo.

Rebecca almost snorted at how quickly he had the baby caught up under his spell. Although, in some ways it did make her feel a bit better to know it wasn’t just her. In any case, she didn’t have time to wait for his answer before getting back on the phone and burying herself in wedding planning.

By the time she got off the phone, the couple and baby were gone. But Sean remained.

She’d never pushed at a boss like that, never deliberately gone and done something she knew would get her in trouble. But, for some crazy reason, he’d brought that out in her. A little bit of daredevil. It hadn’t been on any kind of grand scale, but frankly, she was more than a little surprised to realize it was there at all.

And, even crazier, instead of apologizing for it and trying to start over on a better foot, another devil jumped onto her other shoulder and had her saying, “So, when do you want to start?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Start what?”

She didn’t bother holding back her smile. “Your training.”

Sean didn’t like cute. He never had.

He wanted the people he worked with—men and women both—to be direct. To the point. But never teasing. And never, ever cute.

So then why was he constantly wanting to grin around this woman? Especially when he should have been focusing on the fact that she was keeping things from him.

Distrust had always been his fallback. Now was no time to change his MO, not when the welfare of his brother was at stake.

Looking just as wary as he felt, she explained, “When I first came to work here, I shadowed Stu for a few days,” she told him. “Rather than trying to find snippets of time to sit down and try to tell you everything about the way the inn operates, it will probably be easier—and better—for us to work together.”

Sean hadn’t shadowed anyone since his first internship at a venture house in college. The thought of following Rebecca around the inn was laughable.