Chapter 7
“After we run the Boston Marathon together, Charlotte and I can start training for some triathlons. Hell, maybe we’ll find some dogs and try the Iditarod next,” Hudson said a few hours later, following Lincoln into the mill office, where they were meeting with their brothers. They needed to discuss whether they were ready for Anne’s visit the following day.
“For the last time, I didn’t say you couldn’t jog with my girlfriend,” Lincoln said, taking a seat as the rest of his brothers filed in. Hudson had been trying to get a rise out of him for hours, and Lincoln was going to lose his cool if he didn’t stop. “All I said was she bumped into you by accident this morning and jogged with you to be nice. Don’t expect it to become a regular thing.”
“Maybe it will become a regular thing. Maybe I’ll move right into that spare bedroom you moved out of, set up some weights, and Charlotte and I can exercise together, too. You have to be fit if you want to do an Ironman.” Hudson sat down across from him, and the others found seats as well .
“She’s not interested in you.” God, were they still in high school? Lincoln hadn’t had a conversation like this in over a decade and didn’t want to be having one now.
“You sure about that?”
“I’m positive.”
“Can’t be too careful. I think we’ve got chemistry. Hell, maybe I’ll buy a ring and pop the question…” Hudson trailed off as silence descended around the conference table.
“You done making an ass out of yourself?” Gage asked him.
“Yep,” Hudson said. He glanced uneasily at Lincoln, opened his mouth as if to say something, then shut it.
Had Hudson almost said, “Sorry?” Probably not, Lincoln decided, doing his best to tamp down his rising anger.
“Let’s talk about the internet,” Nate said loudly, turning the conversation to the real reason they’d gathered. “Carter? Any luck?”
Carter lifted his shoulders. “We can get the upgrade in August rather than September,” he said, “but that’s all the progress I’ve made.”
“That’s not good enough,” Lincoln said, grateful to get down to business. He hated that Hudson brought out the worst in him these days. “Anne made it clear how important a strong connection is.”
“Alice has offered part of her workshop at Two Willows free of charge as a temporary office,” Carter countered. “It has a solid internet connection. I think that’s the best we can do for now. How are the houses coming?”
“We’ll have three of them cleaned up by tonight,” Nate said.
“This whole community needs to shine when Anne gets here tomorrow,” Carter said. “Look around today and fix anything that needs fixing. We’ve got one chance to convince her to move her business here.”
“You know what we really need?” Hudson asked. “Old people.”
The rest of them fell silent at this startling remark.
“What for?” Nate finally asked.
“To keep Mom and Dad company when they come back.” Hudson shrugged, leaning back in his chair. “We should call up some of the old-timers. See if they want to buy the houses they used to rent, like Carolyn did.”
“We need workers. People to contribute to the town’s economy,” Lincoln argued.
“Seems to me we need a mix of people,” Hudson said.
“Hudson’s right,” Gage said. “Mom and Dad need people their age around.”
“They’re not exactly old,” Carter countered.
“They’re not young, either,” Gage said. “Hudson, that’s your new job. Start tracking down the people who used to live here and tell them our plans for the community. Maybe a few of them will want to return. Hell, maybe some of them will want a job.”
“I’ll get on it,” Hudson said.
Lincoln wished he’d tackle his real job first, but he was smart enough not to say so.
“I don’t know why I’m nervous, but I am,” Amanda said the next morning when Charlotte found her in the library. “There. Does the place look okay? Do programmers even care about libraries?”
“I’m sure Anne will love it. The real question is will she want to join our knitting club?” Charlotte teased her. Amanda wasn’t the only one spurred to frantic activity after Lincoln had announced that a tech start-up was interested in moving to Elliott Ridge. Carter had spent most of yesterday on the phone with the Ridge’s internet service provider. Hudson and Nate had spruced up three houses that each met Anne’s requirement for the number of bedrooms. Lincoln had wondered aloud more than once why Anne couldn’t rent two smaller houses, but the men had decided they’d better serve what she’d asked for.
“Women like to stick together,” Hudson had said at dinner last night when they were discussing the matter.
“Like when they all go to the ladies’ room at the same time,” Nate had said.
Charlotte had exchanged a look with Amanda across the table. How young were these women? She couldn’t imagine wanting to share a house with five adults at her age.
Still, she couldn’t blame everyone for being excited. They were hoping that after a month or two, the women would each want to buy a house in Lucy’s Corner.
“I hope they’re nice.” Charlotte was worried the influx of newcomers would change the dynamics on the Ridge. She felt like she’d stepped out of the larger world, and now it was threatening to spill back in.
Speaking of the larger world, she realized she hadn’t thought about Ivan in twenty-four hours. That was progress.
“I wonder if Dennis will accuse them of being part of his Calamity Year,” Amanda said.
Charlotte straightened. “Did he call you trouble ? That’s what he said when he met me. He told Lincoln he’d regret bringing me here.”
Amanda laughed. “He told Carter the same thing. Of course, he was right.”
“What do you mean?” Carter looked perfectly happy.
“I was on the run when I came here. Didn’t Lincoln tell you?” Amanda dusted another row of books.
“No.” Charlotte couldn’t imagine that. Amanda was the most normal-seeming woman she’d ever met.
“He probably didn’t want to scare you. It’s a long story,” she added. “Suffice it to say my father stole an important painting and planned to sell it. I got caught in the middle of it all and escaped with the painting here to Elliott Ridge. I thought no one would ever find me here. I was wrong.”
Charlotte’s heart stilled. She was hoping Ivan would never track her down. “What happened?” She pushed a book in so that it lined up with all the other ones in its row and noticed her hand was shaking.
Amanda closed her eyes as if the memory still pained her. “My plan was to return it to its rightful owners before any damage was done. I stashed the painting in one of the old buildings by the mine.”
“The ones that look like they’re sinking into the ground?” Charlotte asked in surprise. “Lincoln said they aren’t safe.”
Amanda nodded, opening her eyes again. “They aren’t, but it was just for a short time. I went back to get it as soon I figured out the logistics of returning it to the gallery it was stolen from. That’s where my father found me. He had a gun.”
Charlotte drew in a shocked breath. “How did he find you?”
“He asked around in town. People remember a stranger in a place as small as Chance Creek.”
“Oh, my god.” Suddenly chilled despite the warmth of the day, Charlotte hugged her arms across her chest. Ivan could ask around about her. He could find her, too. She should never have gone shopping in town or had coffee with Lincoln at Linda’s Diner. She should have stayed hidden here on the Ridge.
“He hustled me all the way down to the highway before I managed to make a run for it. Luckily, the guys had figured out something was wrong and came looking for me. Carter… shot him.”
“Amanda!” Charlotte was horrified. Amanda’s new husband had killed her father?
“He didn’t die,” Amanda rushed to add. “Carter just stopped him from killing me. My dad shot me, too. Winged me, I should say.” She touched her scalp. “I had to stay in the hospital overnight. It was a whole thing. ”
“I’m glad you’re safe.” Charlotte couldn’t take all this in. A trace of nausea swirled inside her, making her want to sit down until it passed. Would Ivan try to shoot her if he traced her here? For the first time, she faced the possibility.
After all, she knew he had a gun.
“I’m glad, too, believe me.”
“Where’s your dad now?” Charlotte wasn’t sure if it was okay to ask, but she felt compelled to know.
“He’s being held in custody until trial,” Amanda said. “He should serve time. He’s out of my life, that’s for sure. So is my sister. She helped him steal the painting.”
Charlotte’s heart went out to her. She could tell it hadn’t been easy for Amanda to turn her back on her family.
“Now it’s just me and my mom. And Carter and his brothers—and you.” She smiled. “I’m starting over. Building a new family.”
“I’m honored to be a part of it,” Charlotte said truthfully. The ground didn’t seem nearly as stable under her feet as it had before, however.
Toward the end of her time with Ivan, Charlotte had begun to realize not all his businesses were… legitimate. At first she’d thought those activities were simply unsavory rather than illegal. Maybe he placed some bets he wasn’t supposed to place—things like that.
Over time she realized it went deeper than that. She began to suspect Ivan’s racing activities were some kind of front. Men came to the house, but Ivan didn’t introduce her to them. Conversations fell silent when she walked into a room. Once she saw a large stack of bills change hands when no one knew she was there. She’d slipped out as silently as she’d come in, reluctant to admit her boyfriend might be involved in something nefarious.
Charlotte didn’t like to think of herself as stupid, but she’d been willfully blind to all of it for far longer than she liked to admit.
Amanda put the duster away and took a last look around. “I think I’ve done all I can for now. Let’s see what everyone else is up to.”
Charlotte did her best to push her uncomfortable thoughts away and focus on the present. “Where does Dennis live, anyway? I haven’t seen him since my first day here.”
“Supposedly he has a caretaker’s cottage, but I’ve never seen it,” Amanda said. “I think he’s actually a wood sprite in disguise or something like that. He’s never around when you look for him and always there when you don’t expect him. We should probably keep on his good side with offerings of bread and ale.”
“Does he eat meals with everyone?”
Amanda shook her head. “Not often. The man’s a mystery.”
“I guess so.”
Charlotte followed her, and they found the men in the cafeteria. According to Lincoln, Anne had been adamant about renting a car when she landed at the airport and driving to the Ridge herself .
“Ready for this?” Charlotte asked him.
“Ready as I’ll ever be. Wish Carter had managed to get those internet people out here sooner.”
“Anne already knows the situation, and she’s still flying in to see the place. I’m sure it will be fine.”
“We’ll see.” He smoothed a hand over her back. “At least you’re staying.”
She nodded and leaned against him. His strength gave her courage, and she reminded herself that she was surrounded by military men here. Surely she was safe.
“Something wrong?” Lincoln asked, but before she could answer, Nate said, “Here she comes!”
They crowded around to look out the windows as a cherry-red sportscar pulled up in front of the town hall. A woman with ice-blond hair got out. She was dressed in wide-legged linen pants and a matching structured jacket, belted at the waist over a white shell. She was younger than Charlotte had imagined, in her late twenties at the outside, but the lift of her chin and the cold way she surveyed them gave her an imperious air.
“I could never pull off that outfit,” Amanda murmured. “How is she not dirty already?”
“I don’t know,” Charlotte whispered back.
“Wow,” Hudson said.
The woman drew a leather handbag over her shoulder, shut the car door and strode up the walk toward the town hall.
Charlotte stayed with Amanda, while the men headed for Anne. “She looks… nice,” she ventured.
“I don’t know,” Amanda said. “ Somehow I can’t imagine her playing the game.”
“Or eating in the cafeteria.” Charlotte was grateful she wasn’t the only one with doubts.
“Or making love in a canoe.”
Charlotte turned to her. “Have you done that?”
Amanda just smiled mysteriously.
“We’re jumping to conclusions,” Charlotte declared, filing that interesting tidbit away for a later conversation. “We should keep an open mind.”
“I’ll do my best,” Amanda said.
Lincoln reached Anne just as another truck pulled up and Alice Sanders got out. She wore a flowy blouse over jeans, her dirty-blond hair twisted into a loose bun on top of her head. Lincoln remembered his mother commenting once that there was something fey about Alice, but later, after Alice’s mother died, Lincoln’s mom had had nothing but compassion for the Reed girls.
Today Alice seemed down to earth. She smiled broadly when she spotted Anne and went to fold her in a big hug.
“How are you doing, lady?” she asked. “Rocking the gaming world with that start-up of yours?”
“Trying to.” When Anne smiled, she looked much more approachable. Younger, too. At first Lincoln had assumed she was nearly thirty, but now he thought she might be only twenty-five or twenty-six. That was young to be in charge of a start-up, wasn’t it?
“Alice,” he said as he neared them. “Good to see you again.”
“Good to see you, too, Lincoln.” Alice gave him a hug, as well. “Anne, meet Lincoln Elliott—of the Elliott Ridge Elliotts,” she added with a snobbish lilt, followed quickly by a mischievous smile.
“Honored to meet you.” Anne went along with the joke, then sobered, as if remembering the dignity of her position. “Thank you for letting me come on such short notice,” she said frostily.
“No problem,” he said. “We’re happy to have you. We’re trying to build a community that has a diversified income base and is home to all kinds of movers and shakers.”
Anne lifted her chin again and took in the forested slope of the Ridge, the houses tucked among the trees. “It’s very remote, isn’t it?”
Alice seemed to be biting back a smile at Anne’s tone. “Come on, Anne, you have to admit it’s lovely here.”
“Still.” Anne gave an expressive shrug.
“It’s only forty-five minutes to town,” Lincoln said firmly. “And when we hit capacity, we’ll offer most amenities right here, including a general store, a bar and restaurant, and more.” When he spotted Charlotte and Amanda approaching, he made the introductions. “Alice, Anne—this is Charlotte Holmes. She’s a veterinarian, and she’s just moved to town. This is Amanda, Carter’s wife. You spoke to Carter on the phone.”
When the women had exchanged greetings, Lincoln introduced his brothers next.
“Anne, you’re leading a group of programmers?” Nate asked.
“Yes. I’ve been part of many creative teams and been lead programmer on several games,” Anne said. She named two Lincoln hadn’t heard of.
“When did you start working? When you were twelve?” Hudson asked. Nate elbowed him.
Anne ignored him. “I started my own company last fall,” she went on, raising her voice. “Got some investors interested. Now I have to make my seed money last until I can launch our first product.”
“Even in this day and age, women-led gaming companies don’t get funded very often,” Alice put in. “It’s imperative that Anne succeed, not just for herself but for all the other women entering the industry. The creative life is always a struggle. Anne is pulling off something very unusual.”
Lincoln noticed Anne didn’t seem too happy with the praise. She’d pressed her lips together as if not wanting to be reminded of the pressure she was under.
“That sounds exciting,” Charlotte said.
“It’s exhausting,” Anne said, then caught herself. “But invigorating. Nothing worth having is easy. I’m here to find a place where my team can work with little to no interruptions for the next fourteen months. We have very strict deadlines. Everything must be provided for my workers, and we must not be disturbed.”
“For fourteen months?” Hudson said. “Gotta relax sometimes, don’t you?”
“No,” Anne snapped. “No relaxing. Not on a project like this.”
Was it Lincoln’s imagination, or was there something a little manic in Anne’s tone? Fourteen months of constant work sounded like a grind. But if the women stayed here that long, they’d get so settled they would definitely want to stay.
“Anne is worried about meals,” Alice put in, “since there aren’t any restaurants nearby.”
“We can provide meals,” Carter said quickly. “For a fee, of course. We’re already feeding our mill workers lunch and dinner. We have a cafeteria that can accommodate many more people.”
A smile quirked Gage’s mouth, and he exchanged a look with Amanda, who opened her mouth, then closed it without commenting. Did she object to more mouths to feed? Gage had tricked her into taking on the position of head chef when Amanda had arrived, but Lincoln thought she’d grown to like it. He figured they could work something out later if she protested.
“My programmers require quality food,” Anne said.
“Our meals are excellent,” Carter said, in full salesman mode.
Amanda sighed.
“Do you have a husband? Kids?” Hudson asked none too subtly.
“I don’t have time for that.” Anne looked him up and down and turned away.
Hudson’s face fell, and Lincoln bit back a laugh. That set-down almost made up for all Hudson’s teasing lately—but not quite.
“Let me show you around,” he hurried to say before Hudson decided to lay on the charm regardless. “We’ll start at the town hall and then look at the houses that meet your requirements.” He moved to the front entrance, and everyone followed.
Anne frowned when she noticed the entourage they’d attracted. Lincoln stopped, sensing her discomfort. “All right, people. Carter and I will show Alice and Anne around. We’ll meet here for lunch, okay?”
“Of course,” Amanda said. “Charlotte, will you help me get the meal on? Gage, Nate, you’re needed at the mill, right? Hudson—you, too?”
“I know when I’ve been given my marching orders,” Hudson grumbled, heading off with his brothers. When everyone had dispersed, Lincoln led the way into the town hall.
“We were all excited to meet you,” he said to Anne to smooth things over. She nodded curtly, and he figured he’d better get on with the tour.
“This is our library.” He opened a door, gratified to see the large room looking so inviting now that Amanda had straightened it up. The tall windows let in lots of light. The window seats were lined with pillows, the shelves of books clean and orderly.
“No computers? That’s unusual these days.”
“We haven’t gotten that far yet.” Lincoln exchanged a glance with Carter. Did they plan to put computers in the library? “It’s an informal system. I’m not sure it’s worth the effort to bring our catalog online.”
“Hm. ”
“The community’s mailboxes are out here,” Carter said, leading the way into the foyer. “And here’s the cafeteria.”
Anne poked her head in and nodded. “Adequate.” She was all business again, no visible cracks in her facade, and he was beginning to think she was more bravado than businesswoman. He wished he could tell her there was nothing wrong in admitting you’d bitten off more than you could chew. It was when you pretended everything was under control—and it wasn’t—that the problems started, as he could personally attest.
Lincoln stopped himself from saying any of that out loud. He had no idea if Anne was qualified, and he’d been far younger than she was now when the Army had trained him for war—and even younger when he’d made his own mistakes with the family business. Anne’s decisions affected only her and a small number of programmers. She didn’t have an entire town’s livelihoods resting on her back, like he’d had when he’d pushed his father to take on those equipment loans. Besides, she was making a smart decision moving her group here to keep her costs down. There were few distractions on Elliott Ridge.
Outside, Lincoln took them by the buildings that had once housed the tiny hotel and restaurant and a general store. “The chapel is over there, but let me take you to see Elliott Lake before we go any farther.”
“We’ve got kayaks, a canoe, barbecue pits for cookouts,” Carter listed as they walked down the road, passed by house number1 and came onto the beach. “Of course, there’s always swimming.”
“My people won’t have time for stuff like that.”
“Ever?” Lincoln laughed, then sobered when Anne’s frown deepened. “What about on weekends?” She couldn’t mean for them to work for fourteen months straight.
“There’s no such thing as weekends in a start-up.” Anne sniffed. “Distracting,” she announced, waving a hand at the view. “It’s too pretty over here.” She walked toward the road.
Too pretty? Behind her back, Lincoln raised his eyebrows at Carter. Carter shrugged.
“Let’s go see the houses.” He’d thought to show Anne to the top of the Ridge so she could take in the whole settlement at once, but now he decided against it.
They’d picked three homes outside Lucy’s Corner to show Anne, since she was interested only in renting rather than buying. Houses13, 62 and 75 all met her basic requirements, but they were very different from one another. House number13 was straight out of a Gothic novel. Two stories high with a steep roof and dormer windows, it was one of the earliest structures built in the town and had once been a rooming house.
“Oh,” Alice exclaimed when they walked in the front door. “Here’s a kindred spirit for you, Anne.”
Anne looked around the entryway. “What do you mean?”
“I mean the first mistress of this establishment was hell on wheels, just like you. That’s what the house is telling me, anyway. ”
“I’m not hell on wheels,” Anne protested. She shook her head, regaining her composure. “You and your premonitions. All this house is saying is it needs to be brought into the twenty-first century. What’s the wiring like?”
Alice patted her shoulder. “Don’t knock my premonitions. You are hell on wheels, sweetie, but that’s why we like you.”
“You’ve heard of Clara Marshall?” Lincoln asked Alice. He didn’t think the Elliott Ridge ghost stories had made it down to Chance Creek. His mother had liked to collect information about the settlement’s inhabitants, and she’d written about a lot of it, meaning to publish a book someday.
“No. The name suits her, though. A real harridan? Her vibes are all over this house.”
“You got that right,” Carter said. “In the late 1800s, Clara Marshall ruled the bachelors who stayed with her with an iron hand and had strict rules that covered just about everything. Legend has it if she caught a tenant smoking in his bedroom, she’d wait until the following day, and after he left to work at the mill, she’d pile up his possessions outside and set them on fire. Her catchphrase was, ‘Better I burn your things than you burn the rest of us in our beds.’”
“Sounds fierce,” Alice said.
“Sounds illegal,” Anne said.
“Come see the rest of the place.” Carter ushered the women through the house, with Lincoln bringing up the rear. There was a large living room and a smaller parlor, both with fireplaces. The kitchen was small but modernized. The formal dining room had seen better days, but there was a full bathroom and a laundry room as well as a bedroom with its own parlor to round out the first floor.
“That was Clara’s room,” Lincoln said. “She had private quarters.”
“The wiring?” Anne asked again, an edge to her voice.
“The wiring was updated in the nineties,” Carter said. “It will handle anything you can throw at it.”
Anne sniffed, unimpressed.
Upstairs were five more bedrooms and two bathrooms.
“The tenants lived up here,” Lincoln said. “I think there used to be another bedroom where the bathrooms are now. Someone renovated the place.”
“What do you think?” Alice asked Anne.
Anne shrugged. “Adequate, I suppose.”
There was that word again.
“Let’s see some of the other places we want to show you,” Carter said.
The other two houses were in the newer part of town, one a raised ranch built in the seventies and the other a boxy colonial built about twenty years earlier. Anne toured them wordlessly, although Alice kept up a running commentary about their layouts and the dated decor.
“Well?” Alice demanded when they were through. “Are you coming to live here or not, Anne?” She turned to Lincoln. “Have you told her about my workspace?”
“I haven’t had the chance. I figured you’d tell her, anyway.”
“I was waiting until she came in person.” Alice turned to Anne. “While you’re waiting for better internet here, I have a space you can use as an office at Two Willows. No one will bother you, and we’ll set it up exactly to your specifications. You can join my family for lunch every day. We’d love the company.”
“We don’t take time for lunch,” Anne protested. “And travel in and out of town will eat up an hour and a half a day.”
“But think how cheap it will be,” Alice said.
“We have a van you can use. You can hold meetings on the way there and back,” Carter offered.
Lincoln bit back a protest. They’d had a van twelve years ago. His parents had left it behind when they moved to South Carolina. Had Dennis maintained it? They should check before making promises they couldn’t keep.
“See? The universe wants you here, Anne. It believes in what you’re doing, and it’s sent us all to help you.” Alice smiled. “Maybe you’ll even find love.”
Anne huffed out a disdainful breath. “Love? Why would I want that?”
“Everyone needs love,” Alice said gently.
“I don’t need love, but I do need a big house. A cheap one. What was the rent on number13 again?”
Carter gave her a number so low Lincoln nearly choked. Had he forgotten how much money they needed? Carter met his gaze over Anne’s head and mouthed the word women . He was right, Lincoln thought. They did need women, probably more than they needed cash.
“Of the three houses, this one has the best internet, such as it is for now, since it’s the closest to the town hall. You’ll still want to use Alice’s workshop until we get the upgrade in August,” Carter said.
Anne thought a moment. “Fine. I’ll take it.”
“I knew you’d say that,” Alice crowed. “You’re like Clara reincarnated. Welcome to Chance Creek, Anne. I’m so glad you’re going to stay.” She enveloped Anne in another big hug, but this time Anne allowed it almost cheerfully.
“Let’s go sign some paperwork.” Carter steered them toward the town hall. “We should make things official.”
“Do you think you’ll have to burn any of your people’s belongings?” Alice linked her arm through Anne’s.
“No one smokes anymore.” Anne lifted her chin as if the idea was preposterous.
“Clara was dealing with a bunch of unruly men,” Carter said. “I’m sure Anne’s female employees will be much more dependable.”
“Female employees?” Anne laughed. “I don’t have any female employees.”
“You don’t?” Lincoln stopped. Carter stopped, too.
“That game you’re making—Couture Campaign…” Carter trailed off.
“My customers might be women. That doesn’t mean my coders are. If they were, I wouldn’t be here.” When she noticed their blank looks, she laughed again. “Why do you think I’m coming to a backwater like this? Because they’re men . If I don’t lock them up in the woods, they’ll never get anything done.” Anne kept walking. “That’s why Elliott Ridge is perfect—there aren’t any women here.”
Lincoln caught up with Alice, who was struggling to hide a smile. “Don’t suppose you predicted this, too?”
“You didn’t say you wanted women.”
“But you guessed we did when we talked.”
“I brought you one ,” she said innocently.
“And five men. If this keeps up, there’s going to be a riot.”
“I guess that didn’t go as you expected,” Charlotte said to Lincoln that evening as she helped him saddle Colonel. Thorn was ready to go. Lincoln had offered to take her for a ride after dinner, and she’d gladly accepted.
“Not exactly,” Lincoln said grimly. “You could have knocked me over with a feather when she said her team was all male. Stupid of me to assume it would be women.”
“You and your brothers have women on the brain, that’s all.” They led the horses out of the stable. “I’m sure you’ll find some sooner or later.”
“Maybe Gage is right. Maybe no woman in her right mind would move out here. Present company excepted, of course. And Amanda and Carolyn.”
“Don’t forget Anne. I think plenty of women would love it here.”
“I hope you’re right.” Lincoln helped her into her saddle, climbed into his and led the way to a track that cut through the trees and circled the lake. Charlotte settled on her mount and found its swaying steps comforting.
“We won’t go the whole way; that would take hours,” Lincoln said. “The lake itself isn’t too large, but the path follows the coastline for the most part, so it winds in and out.”
“We should take a picnic sometime and make a day of it.”
“Definitely.”
He looked good on a horse, she decided. At ease but alert at the same time, his restless gaze scanning the trail, the woods and the lake. When she wondered what he looked like in uniform, a little zing of desire shot through her. Probably pretty hot.
A half hour later, Lincoln reined in. “This is as far as we should go tonight.” He dismounted, and Charlotte followed suit. They let the horses graze as they went to sit on a fallen log. When Lincoln took her hand, Charlotte leaned against his shoulder and took in her surroundings. The sun was still far above the horizon, but the angle of the light had changed. Night was drawing in. She shivered involuntarily.
Lincoln looked down at her. “You cold?”
“No, just a little… tired. I didn’t sleep well last night. ”
It was true enough. Her insomnia had returned with a vengeance. With the windows open to catch a breeze, she heard every noise small creatures and rustling leaves conjured up outside, and each time she’d wondered if Ivan or one of his men was creeping around looking for a way in. Too late she realized Lincoln might take what she said as an overture to invite himself back into her house.
“You know what I think about when I’m drifting off to sleep these nights?” he asked.
“What?” Did he think about her?
“What it would be like to have a wife.”
Charlotte tried and failed to think of an answer. “A wife?” she repeated.
He glanced her way and laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not asking. Just never thought about it much until Carter got married. Now I think about it all the time.”
“Really?” Did her voice sound normal? She sure hoped so. The most handsome man she’d ever met had taken her to a secluded lakeside vista and was talking about marriage. Another shiver traced up her spine, but this was a good one.
Lincoln nodded. “Carter and Amanda are a team. My parents are like that, too. Mom and Dad might bicker like any couple, but they always stand together against any outside threat. And they get things done. They divide up the work, consult each other—help each other.” He trailed off. “They never go to bed alone,” he added. “Marriage comes off as this stuffy institution, but it’s actually kind of radical when you think about it.”
“I think I know what you mean. It’s this thing everybody does, but somehow you never think you’ll be old enough—then suddenly you are.” Charlotte wondered if she was saying too much but couldn’t help continuing. “I’ve always wanted a partner. I want… a family.” She surprised herself by voicing that. “I didn’t let myself think about it when I was with my ex-boyfriend. He would have been an awful father,” she admitted. “I should never have been with him.”
“You’re not with him now.”
“Thank God.”
Lincoln smiled.
“What?” She wanted to touch him when he smiled like that, but she kept her hands to herself.
“Can’t help being glad you’re not missing him.”
“I’m not.” She studied him. “What about you? Are you missing anyone? Are there old girlfriends I should be worried about?”
“No,” he said firmly.
“Really? A guy like you hasn’t left any broken hearts around?”
“I’m the one who got my heart broken.” Lincoln made a face, as if regretting he’d said it. “Forget it. New topic.”
“Absolutely not. You can’t tease me like that. Who was she? What happened?” He sent her a dark look, and she fluttered her eyelashes back at him. “Spill it.”
“Fine,” he growled. “Only because it explains why Hudson and I… don’t get along.”
“I’m all ears. Hudson said it’s his fault. ”
Lincoln frowned. “He said that?”
She nodded. “He said he was trying to do you a favor, and he thinks he did, but he also messed things up and should have handled it differently.”
“He’s never said any of that to me.”
“I kind of asked him point blank,” Charlotte admitted.
“Remind me to call you if I ever need to interrogate someone.” Lincoln leaned back against the log and laced his hands together behind his neck. “It was when we were high school seniors. Things had already been rough around here for a while. We were all tense with each other, Hudson and me in particular. We had a history of falling for the same girl—and Hudson worked faster than I did.”
“Sounds annoying.”
“That’s putting it mildly. I should have tried harder, but instead I pulled back. Let him have his pick and tried to choose girls I didn’t think he’d go after.”
“Girls you didn’t really want to go after, either?” she suggested.
“Basically. That wasn’t fair to anyone. Women aren’t stupid.”
“No, we’re not,” Charlotte agreed.
“I got dumped by more of the girls I didn’t want to date than I got rejected by ones I did—who went for Hudson instead.”
“That doesn’t sound fun at all.”
“I got a little desperate,” Lincoln admitted. “Senior prom is a big deal in a small town. Some couples get engaged at prom. I’d barely dated at all that year, and things on the Ridge were beginning to fall apart. To block out all the chaos, I decided I’d fallen in love with Winona Shelton.”
“Decided? Oh, no,” Charlotte said.
“Oh, yes. Went to Thayer’s Jewelers and bought the only ring in the place I could afford, this sad little thing no woman would want to wear. Asked Winona to the prom, and she said yes.” He glanced her way. “Hudson had already asked Patricia Flynn. I never admitted to myself she was the one I really wanted to go with.”
“And you proposed to Winona?” She couldn’t even feel jealous since it was so obvious things hadn’t gone well.
“Didn’t get a chance to,” Lincoln said. “The day before prom I came home to find Hudson screwing Winona—in my bed.”
Charlotte gaped at him. “In your bed?”
“In my bed,” Lincoln repeated. To her surprise, he grinned suddenly. “God, he was an ass. But I was, too, now that I think about it.”
“What did you do?”
“Tossed the ring at her. Told her she’d made a big mistake. Told Hudson to join me outside and fight me like a man. Stormed out of there ready to beat the crap out of him.”
“Did you?”
“Hell, yeah—that was one of our worst throw downs ever. Dad and Gage finally broke it up. Dad sent Hudson to stay with friends in town for a few days. Mom drove Winona home. She was crying and begging me to take her back. She wanted that ring on her finger at prom. Needless to say I didn’t take her back—or go to prom. Hudson didn’t go, either, once Patricia heard what he’d done. It was a mess.”
“Why did Hudson think he was doing you a favor?” Charlotte couldn’t even imagine a scene like that. She had no siblings—no one to fight with. Maybe if she had, she’d have developed a backbone earlier in life.
Lincoln was quiet a moment. “Because I didn’t love Winona any more than she loved me, but if we’d made it to prom, I would have proposed, and she would have said yes. We would have married.”
“Maybe the two of you would have made a good life together.”
“No, we wouldn’t.” He met her gaze. “Winona’s on husband number three, and it isn’t because she missed her chance with me. Turned out Hudson wasn’t the only guy she slept with during the few weeks we were together.”
“Oh, Lincoln. I’m sorry,” Charlotte said.
“I’m not,” Lincoln said. “Chalk it all up to life experience. I found out what I didn’t want.”
“And you didn’t meet anyone during your time in the Army?”
“I had a couple of serious relationships. A few that were less so. I didn’t meet the one.”
“Have you been looking?”
“I’m looking now. Like I said, I want a wife. I want kids, too. All of it.”
His direct gaze held her in place. Was that a warning in his eyes? Or a promise?
None of it mattered when he bent nearer and kissed her. Caught up in the taste and feel of him, the way her body buzzed with anticipation when she leaned into his touch, all thoughts of the future fled her mind. When he gathered her onto his lap, she went willingly, her arms wrapping around his shoulders. This kiss was different from the ones that had come before. Deeper. Hungrier. She couldn’t get enough of him.
“Charlotte,” he murmured against her neck some minutes later. “I want you.”
“I want you, too.”
He met her gaze again, asking a question.
“Yes,” she said.