“I don’t,” he said through gritted teeth. He didn’t want to.

“Business won’t suffer,” she assured him. “I can be up at the house in under five minutes.”

If he didn’t get the hell out of here right now, he was going to find out the answer to that robe question of his, and then Mary Kelley would have the upper hand on him and he couldn’t have that. He turned away from the window and stalked across the tiny space. “Thirty will be fine.”

She studied him, her brows slightly knitted. “What’s the plan for the rest of the day?”

“We have a few hours of good light left. Maybe…scouting a location for the party?”

She looked surprised. “I would’ve thought you’d want it at the house.”

“I’m not sure what I want,” he said tightly. “I’d like some options.”

Her expression now impenetrable, she nodded. “All right. Well, I’m finally going to take that shower I’ve been looking forward to since this morning, and I’ll meet you out front in thirty minutes.”

The thought of Mary naked under a waterfall of hot water had Ethan sucking in oxygen, but not enough: his lungs constricted with pain. She was going to take off that robe, not him. She was going to touch her skin, not him. Women could be masters at torture, but this woman had it down to a science. His gaze shot to the small bathroom to his right. So white and clean and sweet.

His entire body charged with electricity, Ethan turned away and headed back down the stairs.

“We could always walk into town,” Mary suggested as she sat in the back of a small black buggy, outside the gates of their rental house.

Glaring at the docile horse, Ethan slowly shook his head. “Nope.”

The carriage driver looked straight ahead, smart enough not to get involved, but Mary wasn’t afraid to incur the wrath of Ethan Curtis. The late-afternoon sun was starting to mellow into a stunning orangish pink and if they didn’t get a move on they’d be scouting locations for the party in the dark.

“Are you going to climb up here or not?” Mary asked as she watched Ethan sidle up to the chestnut mare.

“Just give me a minute,” he uttered crossly, reaching out to stroke the animal’s mane as he whispered something to her Mary couldn’t hear.

When he finally climbed into the buggy and dropped down beside Mary, she was curious as hell. “So, what’s up with you and Shirley?”

“It was personal.”

The driver clicked his tongue a few times and they were off down the dirt road. “Did you ask for her hand in marriage?” Mary asked, grinning. “Oops, sorry, I mean her hoof?”

“We were just having a little discussion, that’s all.”

“About?”

“Manners.”

Mary laughed. “Did you have a drink before we left the house?”

Ethan crossed his arms over his chest and reclined back in his seat. “I don’t want her throwing us, that’s all.”

“The driver said she’s as docile as they come.”

“That’s what they’d like you to believe,” he muttered dryly.

“They?”

“The driver and…Shirley.”

Again she laughed. “What in the world are you talking about?”

“I’m not all that into horses, okay?”

“Oh, c’mon. Everyone loves horses. How could you not like horses? It’s un-American.”

“Okay, they don’t like me,” he grumbled.

“You need therapy,” she said as they passed another horse and buggy on their way to town. The air had chilled considerably since their arrival, and Mary scooted just a little closer to Ethan. “All right, I’m listening. Tell me the whole sad story.”

“What story?”

“Give me a break.” She inched even closer to him so their legs were touching. “You’ve got to be freaked out for a reason-what’s the story?”

On a curse, Ethan lifted his arm, dropped it around her shoulders. “I was ten. It was Sammy Bishop’s birthday party and this sweet and supposedly ancient horse named Izabo was there giving rides to all the kids. With everyone else, she walked slower than a turtle, it was almost funny, the parents were actually referring to her Iza Slow. But as soon as I got on her back it was Kentucky Derby time.” He lifted up his left forearm. “I fell and broke my arm in three places.”

Mary let her head relax against his arm, knowing full well how totally inappropriate they were both being. “That was a fluke thing and it happened one time. You can’t hold that against-”

“Then when I was fourteen,” he said as the buggy took a deep hole and they bumped against each other. “My girlfriend dragged me to the circus. Everything was fine until the horse and rider came out. Jezebel the Great freaked out halfway through her routine and stormed the stands.”

“No way.”

“Oh, yeah. And who do you think she headed straight for?”

“Okay, I’m beginning to see a pattern,” Mary said, laughing, the scent of lake water heavy in the air.

“I broke two ribs.”

Without thinking, Mary reached over and ran her fingers down the length of his rib cage only stopping when she heard his sharp intake of breath. “Feel fine to me.”

His heavy-lidded gaze held hers. “Well sure, they’ve healed now.”

It was a good thing that the driver stopped then, or Mary believed Ethan might’ve leaned in and kissed her, and she also believed she would have kissed him back. They got out in front of a fudge shop and started walking up Main Street, which had a similar architectural feel to New Orleans, though the scents in the air were totally different. As they passed shops, restaurants and art galleries, Mary missed Ethan’s arm around her, the strength of him, and she silently wished he’d take her hand, lace her fingers with his.

“You know what?” she said as they walked to the west end of downtown where the pedestrians were fewer. “I don’t think it’s really about the horses not liking you.”

“Oh, this should be interesting.”

“I think it’s a sex thing.”

A dark brow lifted over one eye. “Come again?”

“Izabo, Jezebel and Shirley,” she pointed out. “It’s a female thing. Females have this reaction to you.”

Ethan processed this for a brief moment, then burst out laughing. “How the hell did I get mixed up with you?”

She tossed him a taunting smirk. “Do you really want me to answer that?”

They continued down the street, passing a lovely old church, a library and a quaint soda shop-which Mary considered for the party, then quickly deemed too informal. Several blocks down, closer to the water, Ethan pointed to a lovely, small, intimate hotel called the Miran Inn. “What do you think of this place?”

Cocking her head to one side, Mary looked the inn up and down. “It’s beautiful, but hotels have been done to death. Not to mention the fact that three of the ten potential clients we’re throwing this party for own inns on the island.”

“Right.”

“Don’t you want something interesting and surprising? Something the spouses actually want to come to?”

“Yes.”

Mary had been contemplating something since they’d arrived here, and she wanted to pull it out now. “Let’s go.” Grabbing his hand, she tugged, urging him to follow her.

“Where?”

“Just follow me.”

Mary led him off the main street and down a short hill to a bluff, onto the sandy beach. Overhead the gulls were calling on each other to share their fish, and several tourists were taking pictures of a beautiful lighthouse in the distance. Releasing his hand, Mary walked down to the water’s edge and lifted her hands to the fading sun. “Perfect,” she called, turning back to face him. “A barbecue on the beach. Intimate, casual, great food-and no horses involved.”

Ethan glanced around, then slowly nodded. “I like it.”

“Great,” she said excitedly. It would be her first beachside barbeque and she was going to make it a day to remember.

Ethan came to stand beside her, a look of admiration in his eyes. “I have to admit, you’re great at what you do, you know that?”

Her hair whipped around her face. “Thank you.”

He tucked one thick blond strand behind her ear, then let his thumb retreat across her cheek. “Very smart, very intuitive. There’s just one problem.”

Her expression froze. “What’s that?”

“You’re too beautiful for your own good. A man couldn’t get you out of his mind no matter how pissed off he was.”

“Don’t you mean ‘is’?” He was too close. She could feel the heat off his body, and there was no denying the desire in his eyes.

His fingers left her cheek and slid down her neck, pausing at her collarbone. He didn’t move for a moment, and his face looked rigid, as if he was contemplating what he’d just done. Then he dropped his hand and shook his head helplessly. “I’m sorry. I…I have to get back.”

Electricity was shooting through Mary’s body like fireworks, but she fought for control and nodded once. “Of course.”

“I have a dinner meeting.”

“And I have a guest list to study.”

They walked side by side, up the bluff and back to Main Street to catch a cab.

“You’ll be all right on your own tonight?” Ethan asked as one pulled up in front of them.

Mary climbed into the cab and this time sat close to the door. “Have been for the past twenty-some years,” she uttered softly.

“What was that?” Ethan asked, not having heard her muffled answer.

She released a heavy sigh. “I said, I’ll be just fine.”

At night on Mackinac Island something wonderful happens. As the sun sets slowly and exquisitely against the water, the sounds of nature hum rhythmically through an invisible speaker. Forget expensive sound machines to soothe you to sleep, opening a window and stretching out on the bed was all Mary needed for a relaxing evening.

Well, that and some food…and a glass of wine.

With several pillows behind her head, Mary grabbed the delivery menus she’d garnered from the buggy driver and flipped through them. Beside her on the table was the guest list she now knew backward and forward, and she was ready to chill out. She paused on the page of an Italian menu that sounded pretty good and grabbed her cell phone off the bedside table. But before she had completed dialing the number, there was a sharp rap on the door downstairs.

She glanced at the clock. Would Ethan really be done with his dinner meeting by eight-thirty? Maybe it was Harold, come to discuss the history of each barn stall and let her know that Man O’War once sired a foal here. Laughing at her idiocy, Mary loped down the stairs and hauled back the barn door.

Ethan Curtis leaned against the door frame looking incredibly handsome in jeans and a black long-sleeved T-shirt, his sharp jaw dusted with stubble.

“Everything okay?” Mary asked, amusement in her voice.

“Yeah,” he began, then took it back. “Well, no. There’s a problem up at the main house.”

“Seriously? What is it? Did a pipe burst or something? These older houses are notorious for plumbing problems no matter how new the pipes…”

“No. It’s not the pipes.”

“Fireplace smoking?”

“No.”

She just loved it when he was forthcoming. “Well, what is it? Can’t figure out which bed to sleep in?”

His eyes darkened. “Something like that.”

Instinctively she took a step back, but only managed to knock her heel against a bucket and feel like a clumsy oaf. “How did your meeting go?”

“Good, fine, boring,” he said, his gaze moving over her. “They’re looking forward to the barbecue.”

Mary nodded, her mouth suddenly numb. If he would only just grab her, make this easy on both of them.

“Oh…” Ethan pulled a plastic bag from behind his back and handed it to her. “I thought if you hadn’t eaten…”

“Thanks. I was just about to order something.”

“Now you don’t have to.”

Many different ways of asking, “Would you like to share this with me?” popped into Mary’s head, but she rejected all of them. After all, he’d just come from dinner with clients. “Well, I’m going to go and enjoy this.”

“Okay.” He didn’t move.

She raised a brow at him and tried to apply a professional tone. “Do we need to discuss anything or can it wait until morning?”

He walked past her into the barn, his hand brushing over hers as he took the takeout bag from her. “You know what? I don’t think it can wait.”

Ten

Ethan hadn’t been kidding about the dinner he’d just had with two potential clients. The food had been ordinary, the conversation bland, and somewhere around the caprese salad, he’d hoped for a fire in the kitchen so an immediate evacuation would send him back to The Birches.

Mary followed him up the stairs to the loft, her tone warily playful. “Something tells me that inviting you in may turn out to be dangerous.”

“Perceptive,” he said over his shoulder.

“So if you come in, can we talk about the menu?”