Chapter Three
Yep. It was the only plausible reason. She had stumbled over her own two feet in her chase after Horse, hit her head, and stepped into another portal. How else had Mrs. Keller just set her up with her grandsons?
Also, those were her grandsons? She never expected them to look like that. Not in a million years.
“Well, you’ve seen her naked,” Mrs. Keller continued as if she were discussing an intriguing plot point in her latest novel. “If this were the 1800’s, you three would have had to marry her. All I’m asking is that you take her as your date to the Davenport Ball. That means you got off easy,” Mrs. Keller smiled deviously. “And be glad no true gentleman is around to defend Miss Harding’s honor and challenge you to a duel.”
“Grandmother, this is not the 1800’s, and our lives are not one of your romance novels,” Gage said, and while there was zero trace of humor in his voice, his tone, silky smooth with just enough roughness to set her nerves tingling, came off as if he were trying to reason with a child.
Besides all that, how could they not be in awe of their grandmother? She was a legend.
That’s what made Mrs. Keller even more fascinating to Allison. Caroline Keller was a world-renowned author of more than two hundred Regency romance novels. Allison had read every single one of them. Being a librarian, could she have landed a cooler landlady? No, she could not.
“Who says it can’t be? You’ll take Allison to the ball because I decided you needed a date. And also, you three need to have some fun. You're looking as serious as Daniel was at this age. And it'll only get worse. Look at her. She is charm-personified. Trust me. I think it’s a wonderful idea.”
Charm personified? Nope. Allison was more like inept nincompoop personified for not being able to control her canine companion better. They seemed to agree more with her own character deduction than with her grandmother’s charming one.
“It’s not, grandmother, a wonderful idea. Can we get back to business?” Reid said.
“No. Take Allison to the ball— “
“Mrs. Keller,” Allison said for the first time. What was even going on right now? “I don’t think— “
“Nonsense,” the older woman said without waiting for Allison to finish her sentence. “It’s settled. Allison is exactly what you three boys need. And the Davenport's library is a marvel. Make sure you see it. You'll love it, Ally, darling."
“I can assure you, grandmother, we do not need a girl who is in nothing but a towel and flip-flops and dirt on her face who chases her deranged dog around the garden. A dog called Horse.”
“Excuse me, but it’s high-end mud on my face, thank you very much, and it came in a gold sachet,” Allison said, turning up her chin. Really? That was her comeback? Well, it was hardly stellar, but still.
Just who did they think they were anyway? She’d rather chase Horse again. No. She was lying. She never wanted to chase after her dog again.
“Let me put it this way. If you do, I’ll sign off on the land. Allison, if you don’t, it will pain me tremendously, my sweet darling girl, to have to look for a new tenant.”
Allison’s mouth hung open. Her afternoon had gone from ridiculously crazy to monumentally bizarre. And now she was in the middle of a stare-off with three disturbingly handsome men. And an unfair one since it was three against one.
How was this happening?
“Fine,” Zac finally said after a giant pause.
“Then it’s settled.” Mrs. Keller clapped her hands again, beaming from ear to ear. “Oh, this is going to be fabulous. Cheers, my darling,” she said to Allison, tucking a tendril behind Allison’s ear as if that would make any difference to her appearance.
Mrs. Keller, dressed in her signature cool linen pants suits, her hair a sea of wavy silver, then stepped from the gazebo and headed toward Blossom Manor, the enthralling mansion against a backdrop of a panoramic mountain range.
Alone, Allison faced her three grandsons. They’d somehow come together and stood side by side, their hands in the pockets of their suit pants. Their stance, wide and intimidating,
For a minute, she wanted to rub her eyes to make sure she was really seeing what stood before her.
They were so far above her, so far out of her league, that it actually made her dizzy. Or just ditzy; she couldn’t tell which.
Their gazes hadn’t left her. Suddenly she became intimately aware of the hotness coursing through her, like rivers of fire inside her. She smoldered under her towel as their gazes drilled into her. Her nipples hardened even more, and the ache inside them left her restless. Her thighs were now uncannily slippery. The throb in her lady bits was too pronounced for her to ignore. She was a volcano on the verge of eruption.
Her body had never reacted like this before. She would know. After numerous failed attempts at dating, only since it was the one thing all her friends ever talked about, she remained unimpressed and happily single.
Okay, so maybe she talked too much and had a habit of knocking things over without provocation. If they wanted chic charm and sleek confidence, she wasn’t their girl. So she opted to put her head down, worked her ass off, flew through college, and just got a job as a librarian at a small, old, dusty, nearly forgotten library tucked into the small town of Rosemary’s Glare, at the age of twenty-three. And she was still very much a virgin.
Maybe her body’s response to them was because she hadn’t ever seen men like them in real life. The men who strolled into the library were over eighty years old and mostly cantankerous, except for one or two who tried unsuccessfully to flirt with her over war biographies before they forgot what they were doing. Yes, she was utterly forgettable that way.
After finding Blossom House and meeting Mrs. Keller, she was prepared to live her life exactly the same way, day in and day out, with Horse by her side, knowing she would be ecstatically happy until she died. She had a dream job, lived in her dream house, and had a pet she loved more than life itself. It was all good.
Now this.
Three indescribably handsome men, luxury, and profound wealth stemming from every breath they took turned her world upside down and her body into a wanton furnace.
Whoa.
Did she forget what she looked like? Oh, she was hot all right, as in a sweaty, hot mess kind of way. Her hair had come undone from the loose knot she tied her tresses into, and now hung like a disheveled curtain around her. Her mud mask, which actually smelled good, had started to melt and drip down her face after her unexpected physical activity.
She was a scary, hot mess, like she had crawled out of a well or something in a horror movie. Oh, but did she forget that she had flashed them with her entire body?
The towel, which had served her so faithfully through a madcap chase after her dog, literally threw in the towel at the slightest snag of a bit of metal, leaving her naked.
Oh heck, they had seen everything.
Everything.
Louder for the deluded part of her at the back of her brain, that maybe they didn't. No. They had seen everything.
Okay. But this was good. She didn’t have to worry about making a good first impression since she had made her customary impression. Oh, she had impressed upon them all right, her boobs, her kitty-kat, everything—before she had the fortitude to just take cover and hide.
But fine. This was who she was. Chaos. She didn’t need to pretend to be anyone else. But did they really have to be so utterly good-looking? Like cold marble, sculpted to perfection. Chiseled jaws, hunter eyes—icy cold yet dangerously mesmerizing. Well over six feet, they were clearly muscular under their dark tailored suits, in that lean aesthetic way.
Yep. Out of her league. They wouldn’t give her a single glance on her best day, never mind a second glance if she had a complete makeover. Her foundation was simply inadequate to begin with.
Great. Now she didn’t have to keep up false appearances, considering her landlady had threatened to evict her if she said no.
Okay then.
They continued to stare at her as if she were their personal punishment bestowed upon them by their grandmother for whatever reason she needed to punish them.
“A car will come around for you at seven. Don’t be late,” Zac said before they all turned around and left the gazebo.
“You don’t be late,” she called after them, then cringed so badly at herself that she wanted to cry. That was what she decided to go with as a cool, witty retort?
She spun around, muttering her epic failure to herself.
It took her only one step before she realized that Horse hadn’t followed her. He was still sitting like a good boy, staring almost longingly at the backs of the three retreating men.
“Come on, Horse. Mommy forgives you.” But Horse didn’t move. He shifted around, wagged his tail, and looked like he wanted to bolt but seemed to be hypnotized to the spot.
Shockingly, he had dropped her panties on the floor, and she quickly picked them up and stuffed them into her towel.
She pulled and tugged, and she tried to pick him up but failed. She resorted to dragging him, but he was too heavy, and nothing else worked.
“Excuse me,” she shouted. “Can you unstuck my dog, please?”
Reid turned around and issued a single dominant word.
“Go.” And Horse jumped up and started to head toward their cottage.
She'd never be able to control him like that. Maybe her furbaby needed a dad. Or three.
What? No. If they were the dads and she was the mom, that would make them...
“Oh, god, Allison. Stop,” she said, mimicking Gage’s stern command, and instantly she fell silent.
She had more important matters to think about than playing house with the Keller grandsons and her dog, which was an outlandish thought to have.
What was she going to do about going on a date with all three of them? Nothing, she decided. She had already established that they had seen her at her worst. If she showed up with garbage on her head and wore a potato sack as a dress, they wouldn’t be the least surprised.
One date. A couple of hours, and then she would have earned herself one more reprieve to stay in the cottage. That was all she needed to do.
One date.
And by the looks of things, they would probably abandon her as soon as they entered the event. If she were them, she would abandon herself in the blink of an eye.
She wondered what food they would be serving. She’d occupy her time stuffing her face and take that as a win.