Susan Mallery - Falling for Gracie

“I can ignore the however-many bedrooms this house has, and the library and the antiques, but the kitchen is tough to walk away from.”

“Make me an offer,” he said.

She leaned against the counter. “I don’t think I have enough in my checkbook.” She tilted her head. “You’re not kidding, are you? You’d sell this place.”

“Sure. It’s not my home.”

“Where is home?”

“Whatever rig I’m on at the moment.” He pulled up a bar stool by the large island and offered it to her. He took the second stool for himself. “I’m used to sleeping in cramped quarters with six other guys working rotating shifts. An oil rig is a twenty-four-hour-a-day operation.”

She couldn’t imagine such a place. “You said something about the South China Sea. How did you get there from here?”

“When I took off, I headed north and ended up in Alaska working on a sports fishing boat. I met a couple of guys in a bar. They were looking to hire a crew for a rig they’d just bought from an oil company. The big guys said there wasn’t any more oil. These two didn’t agree.”

“You went with them just like that?”

He grinned. “For a piece of the action. Lucky for me, they were right. The work is damn hard, but it’s worth it. I learned all I could and took over the second rig they bought for a bigger share. Ten years later I was a partner and we were a company to be reckoned with.”

“Bad boy makes good. You must be proud.”

He shrugged. “It’s how I make my living.”

“But you’re running the bank now.”

“Right. The bank.”

She glanced around at the large kitchen. “This isn’t anything like you’re used to, is it?”

“There’s a lot more square feet. I don’t know. The old house is pretty empty. There are dozens of rooms I’ve never seen.” He rubbed his fingers across the island countertop. “My mom would have liked it, though. She grew up here.”

“Really? I didn’t know that. Why didn’t…”

Gracie pressed her lips together. Not her business, she reminded herself.

Riley looked at her. “You can ask. The reason she and I didn’t come here when we moved back to Los Lobos is that her brother, my uncle, never forgave her for marrying my father. Her parents had passed away when she was pretty young and her brother, Donovan, had raised her. She ran off with my father when she was maybe seventeen. Donovan told her to come back or she would be cut off without a cent. She chose love over money.”

She wanted to say that sounded so romantic, but there was something in Riley’s voice. Something that made her hold back.

“What happened?” she asked.

“She got pregnant and lived in a run-down house in some dusty town in Arizona for ten years. The love of her life never bothered to marry her and one day, when I was nine, he disappeared. We came back here. I think she wanted to reconcile with her brother, but good old Donovan wouldn’t have any part of it.”

His expression tightened and his mouth thinned.

“You can’t forgive that,” Gracie said softly.

“It’s one item in a long list.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It all happened a long time ago.”

“But still.” She slipped off the chair and moved close enough that she could rest her hand on his forearm. “I wish I could make it better.”

In a matter of seconds, everything changed. Gone was the wounded guy and in his place was a predator. His eyes darkened, his body tensed and she would swear that the temperature in the room climbed about twelve degrees.

Riley stepped down and reached for her, but instead of pulling her close, he coiled his hand around her hair.

“Not a good idea,” he told her.

She had to swallow before she could speak.

“Um, what’s not a good idea?”

“Making me feel better. You’re not my type.”

He wasn’t pulling her hair, but he wasn’t letting her go, either. She felt completely in his control, which was kind of thrilling.

“So what is your type?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Volunteering?”

“Curious.”

“Sure you are. Okay-I like women who are easy. What I call the three F’s.”

“Three F’s?” What? “I can probably figure out one of them,” she said, assuming it had to be the F word. “What are the other two?”

His dark eyes seemed to invite her closer. She felt compelled to move toward him until they were almost touching. Almost, but not quite. Funny how Riley had been so nice to her that she’d forgotten he could also be dangerous.

He leaned into her until he could whisper in her ear. “Are you sure you want to know?” he asked, his breath tickling her.

She nodded.

“Find her, fuck her, forget her.”

“Oh.” She didn’t know what to say or even what to think.

“You’re not someone I could forget,” he murmured. “You’re the kind of woman men buy flowers for, and rings. You’re the kind of woman a man wants to make love with. That’s not my game, Gracie. Never has been.”

He straightened and released her hair. “You should probably go now.”

“What?” Go? Leave? She shook her head and stepped back. “Right. Good idea. Excellent idea.”

She felt like a small bird being charmed by a swaying snake. The side of her brain in charge of personal preservation told her to run. But the rest of her wanted to find out how it would feel to be seduced by the likes of Riley Whitefield.

She stared into his eyes. He was so gorgeous, and a great kisser. Maybe he could just kiss her one more time. Maybe…

“If I start, I’m not going to stop,” he said flatly.

She jumped with the realization that he could read her mind, then turned and dashed out of the kitchen.

The trip home happened in record time. She longed for some quiet and a cup of tea as she sorted through what had just happened. But when she pulled into the driveway of her rental, she saw it was not to be. Vivian stood on her front porch.

“ANOTHER FIGHT with Tom?” Gracie asked as she got out of her car and walked toward the front door.

Vivian actually looked shocked. “How did you guess?”

“Gee, I don’t know. I guess I took a stab in the dark.”

She figured her comment was sarcastic enough, although what she really wanted to say was “I knew something was wrong because the only time you ever bother with me is when you want something.”

Gracie opened the front door and led the way inside. While her rental was light and bright and more than served her needs, she couldn’t help remembering Riley’s amazing house. Ah, well. One day, if she was ever rich and willing to live in Los Lobos again. Of course she figured the odds of the latter happening were even more slim than winning the lottery.

“So,” she said as she filled the kettle with water, then set it on the stove. “What happened?”

Vivian sat at the kitchen table where she immediately poked at several decorative flowers drying there.

She picked up a rose and promptly crumbled it in her fingers.

“Sorry,” she said, and set the bigger pieces back on the table. She rubbed her fingers on her jeans. “It’s Tom, like you said. He’s graduating with his MBA and we’re getting married.”

“I think I knew that,” Gracie said as she pulled out a plastic container filled with loose tea and set it next to two mugs.

“He’s interviewed for a few jobs in L.A. and I thought he was going to take one, but I just found out he’s thinking about accepting a position at the bank.”

There were several banks in town-branches of large multinational conglomerates, but when a local referred to “the bank” there was only one. Riley’s.

“That’s interesting,” Gracie said, wondering if Riley knew. She doubted he worried about entry-level hiring, even in management, so he might not know about Tom.

“It’s not interesting, it’s horrible,” Vivian wailed. “I don’t want to stay here for the rest of my life. I want to leave and see other places. You got to go. Why can’t I? I can’t believe he would consider the job after all we’ve talked about.”

Vivian began to cry. Her sharp, high-pitched sobs competed with the whistle on the kettle and won.

Gracie didn’t bother pointing out that she hadn’t exactly wanted to leave Los Lobos, that instead she’d been sent away in disgrace. After all, Vivian wasn’t looking for logic.

Gracie scooped tea into two steeping spoons and dropped one in each mug. She carried them to the table and sat across from her sister.

“So call off the wedding,” she said, not all that interested in the outcome of the conversation.

Vivian dropped her hands to her side and stared at her. “What?”

“Call off the wedding. If you’re so unhappy, don’t marry Tom.”

“But I have to marry him. We’re engaged. We’ve ordered invitations. Do you know how much this is costing?”

Gracie had a good idea. “You’re still at the deposit stage. Most of it is refundable.”

Vivian looked at her as if she were a complete idiot. “I’m not canceling the wedding.”

“Then you need to talk to Tom about his plans. His job is about more than just him if it affects where you live.”

Her sister shrugged, then touched one of the roses. “Will you make flowers like this for my cake?”

“If you’d like. I haven’t decided. I’ll sketch up something in the next couple of days.”

“They’re really beautiful. You must be super talented.”

“I work hard.”

Vivian sipped her tea. “Tom says I don’t work hard enough. He says we both have to be saving to buy a house, but right now I’m saving to pay for my wedding dress. Teaching just doesn’t pay that much, which is why I’m working part-time in the hardware store.” She sighed as if life were too much for her.

“Would you teach if you moved to L.A.?” Gracie asked.

“I guess I’d have to. But if Tom got a good enough job, I could just stay home.”

“You’re going to start a family right away?”

“No. What does that have to do with anything?”

Gracie didn’t have an answer for that. In her world, husband and wife were partners, pulling equally toward a mutual goal. Obviously that wasn’t Vivian’s idea of a good time.

Maybe Gracie was old-fashioned and outdated. Maybe that was why Vivian and Alexis had men in their lives and she didn’t.

“I’m not the right person to come to for advice,” Gracie said.

“I guess I need to talk to one of my friends, then,” Vivian said. “Mom is completely crazed about the wedding and Alexis is so self-absorbed she can’t see anyone else but herself.” Her baby sister leaned close. “You’re not like that, Gracie. You think about other people.”

Gracie didn’t know what to say. “Gee, thanks. I’m so glad you think so.”

“I do.” Vivian patted her arm, then stood. “I gotta run. I still don’t have the shoes to go with my dress and I’m going into Santa Barbara to check out that new bridal shop. Don’t forget the family meeting tomorrow. We have a lot to discuss. Have a good one.”

She practically bounced out of the room.

Gracie collected the mugs and carried them to the sink.

What had just happened? How could Vivian go from fighting with Tom to shopping for their wedding in less than five minutes? Gracie might not be an expert on the subject, but she was willing to go out on a limb and say the girl wasn’t grown-up enough to be marrying anyone.

Not that it was her decision.

She returned to the table and carefully moved the flowers, then pulled out her sketch pad. She might as well get the cake design done. Even if the constant on-again, off-again wedding ended up being officially off, she could always put the design in her portfolio.

THE NEXT AFTERNOON Gracie drove to her mother’s house. She had sketches for several wedding cakes, along with some ideas about pretty but inexpensive centerpieces. As she pulled up in front of the house, she wondered if she was trying too hard. Should she continue to participate, even when it was clear she was only free labor, or should she walk away? Riley had said that family would screw her every time, but she didn’t want to believe it. With her aunt and uncle gone, her mom and her sisters were all the family she had. If she didn’t belong with them, she would be well and truly on her own.

She collected her portfolio and stepped out of the car. She’d barely started up the walkway when she heard someone call her name.

“Gracie! Oh, Gracie!” Eunice Baxter walked off her porch with a speed that belied her eighty-plus years. “I saw the picture in the paper the other day.”

Gracie’s shoulders slumped. Of course she had. “Hi, Mrs. Baxter.”

The old woman beamed. “You looked so pretty. And Riley, my oh my, he’s a fine male specimen. That earring.” The beam turned into a giggle. “Very sexy.”