Heart and Sole (7 page)

What the hell was he doing? He’d forgotten his mission, which was to take over her family’s business and put his grandfather in charge. If he slept with Maddie, emotions would get tangled, and he’d be obligated to back down on the business. The injustice done to his grandfather would never be righted. He could not choose another one-nighter with her—no matter how mind-blowingly sensational—over his honor, his family.

When he re-entered the camper, Maddie was dressed in boxer briefs and a T-shirt, rummaging intently through her cosmetics bag.

Nick quietly shut the door behind him and leaned against it. She didn’t even look up so he spoke. “That was a…mistake.” He announced it like one of his pronouncements at a business meeting. Cool, rational, and deadly.

“Yes, of course,” she said but he’d seen her cringe, just as surely as if he’d caused her physical pain. She scoured his face for a sign that he was lying, or kidding, or
something
, but he kept his expression neutral.

He gave his best I-don’t-give-a-flying shrug. “We were just messing around, and I got carried away. Close quarters and all.”

She yanked the blanket off the bed. “You can take the bed,” she said, then threw it down on the hard, short banquette.

He should have let it go, let her go, but his heart compelled him to act, and he flew after her in two barefoot strides. His arm caught her elbow and whirled her toward him.

Her eyes glinted with anger; he saw it even in the dim light. It was hard, even now, not to gather her up and kiss her senseless, drag her down onto the bed and not come up until he’d finished exploring every last curve and valley.

His muscles actually trembled. Why was he always a flash of a second away from losing control with her? Like that one fine night when they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Years and years of bound up feelings finally let loose. For that one and only time, he’d felt a glimmer of hope that maybe the past didn’t predict the future, that there really was forgiveness and mending and fresh chances.

But that had only lasted until the phone rang at dawn.

Maddie stood there staring at him. His hand still clung to her arm as though he feared she would bolt like a scared rabbit out of the camper and into the woods. She shrugged it briskly away. “Business is business, right, Nick? From now on, let’s just keep everything else out of it.”

She thought he was unfeeling, some kind of sociopath who pulled family businesses out from under people for pleasure. She couldn’t have been more wrong.

His gaze locked on hers. Raw emotion registered, lust and sadness and torment, and for a raw, brutal instant, Nick felt it all run through his heart like a blade.

He did feel, and she had no idea how much.

He tugged the blanket from her hands. “I’m taking the seat. Good night.”

As soon as this god-awful weekend was done, he’d force himself to forget her. It would be easy, because she’d hate him for real when all was said and done.

Chapter Seven

Two wet, naked cowboys tore around the corner of the blue-shuttered, two story colonial at the end of Morning Glory Lane. Maddie turned off the ignition of the Honda Accord that, thanks to Nick, had magically appeared outside of Doris’s at eight a.m. and had gotten them to Buckleberry Bend by lunchtime. She took a moment to enjoy the look on Nick’s face, which was a cross between
please-God-can-I-go-home
and
no-one-told-me-I-had-to-deal-with-children-this-weekend-too
.

She’d slept poorly in the camper, and it had nothing to do with the comfort of the bed. She knew he’d tossed and turned most of the night too. Today during the drive they’d kept the conversation sterile and innocuous. It would be a relief to be with her family and get some libido-killing distance between them. Nothing would happen if she played it safe and didn’t lead them into any untoward situations.

“Maddie, look, about last night…”

She turned and tried not to look into his intense brown eyes, tried not to remember how they’d flamed with desire when he’d fisted that towel and whisked it away like an artist revealing a prized painting. “Close quarters, romantic firelight stories…our hormones just ran away from us.”

“It would be wrong to let our physical attraction for each other get in the way of business,” he said.

“I agree. Besides, my posse’s here to protect me if you try something like that again.”

Nick’s face wore a look of sheer panic. “Your what?”

“Don’t worry…” Maddie said as the little boys ran yelling and screaming up to the car. “They’re only three.” The cowboys smacked their hands on the windows, one on each side. “On second thought, those squirt guns
might
be loaded.”

Maddie ran out of the car and scooped up the first blond-haired little boy. The straw cowboy hat drifted off as she twirled him in the air, and he shrieked with laughter. “Hi, Alex.” She kissed him on top of his sun-warmed head.

“You’re wet!” she said, putting him down.

“And nekked!” he said.

“Yes, you are at that.”

“Aunt Maddie, Aunt Maddie!” his brother Logan cried as he plowed forward and wrapped his own dripping wet self around Nick’s leg.

“Not Aunt Maddie,” Nick said with relief as he reluctantly patted the mass of blond curls.

Nick stood a little stiffly, looking like he wished he were anywhere else. Precisely how Maddie wanted him to feel. Maybe his conscience hadn’t completely flown the coop.

Alex tugged on Nick’s cargo shorts. Heartbreaker blue eyes looked up and took everything in. “Are you Aunt Maddie’s boyfwend?”

Logan, always discriminating, didn’t wait for an answer. He drew his gun and stared shooting.

The water pelted Nick in the neck. Nick shot Maddie a glance that said,
who is this kid? Devil’s spawn?

Maddie shrugged. “They’re not usually this wound up. They must be excited.”

The next round hit her in the middle of her T-shirt.

The perpetrator giggled a madcap laugh, delighted and perverse as any deranged criminal.

“Okay, Squirt. You are
so
going to get it.” Maddie kicked off her flip-flops and charged toward the little shooter, whooping up her best battle cry. The little boy screamed and dropped his gun, then darted toward the rear of the house with Maddie in full pursuit.

Footsteps pounded behind her. When she glanced back, it wasn’t Alex but Nick, dangling buck-naked Alex upside down over his shoulder, both of them hollering right along through the tree-covered yard.

For the second time in two days, Nick’s laughter caught her off guard. Effusive, contagious.
Fun.
Something she hadn’t had in quite a while.

“Daddy, daddy, daddy!” Logan squealed. Rounding the corner to the backyard, Maddie saw the puzzled expression on her older brother Derrick’s face as he sat up in his lawn chair, his newspaper scattering on the breeze. Logan jumped into a baby pool and waded through it before catapulting himself into his father’s arms.

“Aunt Maddie’s attacking me,” he fake whined.

Maddie reached the pool, which had pictures of red and blue cartoon fish emblazoned on the bottom. She reached across to grab Logan but lost her balance and slipped on the smooth latex bottom, landing on her butt in the middle.

Logan giggled.

“Okay, you’re gonna get it!” She stood, dripping wet, and swooped up her nephew, taking him down with her into the shallow pool. Alex tore away from Nick’s arms and jumped in after them.

“Let’s splash Aunt Maddie!” one of them screamed.

Before she could cry foul play, Logan and Alex thrashed around the pool, stirring up enough water to create a small tsunami while Nick supplied them with water toys.

“You all are ganging up on me!” she said through a curtain of water that was splashed and kicked at her by tiny hands and feet going full force. “This is
not
fair.”

In self-defense, she grabbed hold of Logan’s squirt gun and blasted Nick in the chest. A wicked glint in his eyes, he scooped up a bucket full of water and dumped it on her head.

The shock of icy water cascading onto her hair and flowing down her back momentarily paralyzed her. But she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if he got off scot-free. So she pretended outrage, standing in the middle of the pool and flapping her hands. Just when Nick thought the fight was over, she stepped out and gave him a full body hug, plastering her sopping wet self against him.

Her intent was to make him wet. Make him pay as she splashed waves of water onto his fine Italian loafers, pressed her wet head solidly against his cheek and wrapped her arms around his premium polo.

“Whoa there, what are you—” His body tensed in surprise and shock. His arm went protectively around her waist to prevent them from toppling. Their gazes locked and Maddie froze for she wasn’t sure how long. She found herself staring into eyes containing fascinating shades of chestnut and cocoa and lovely little golden flecks she’d never noticed before. Tiny little crinkles gathered in the outside corners, a maturing trait that made him a thousand times sexier than when he was younger.

She was chilled and hot at the same time. Her heart knocked against her chest loud enough to block out the noises of the little boys’ laughter. She’d meant only to make him sufficiently wet to pay for his bad deeds. Except now it seemed as though
she
were the one paying.

She looked away, and her gaze lit on his wrist. “Your Rolex is wet. Is it ruined?”

He wiped it on his pants, which were damp. “Nah, it’s pretty indestructible.”

Her brother cleared his throat. “Alex, Logan! Out now to dry off before your mother gets home!”

The screen door to the house slammed.

“What on earth is going on here?”

Maddie looked up to see the most elegant woman south of the Mason-Dixon line looking like a Talbot’s ad tapping her red pumps, showing off her still-trim figure in red capri pants and a navy sleeveless blouse.

“Gran!” Grandmother Amelia, she’d wanted to be called, but that had quickly gotten shortened to Grandmeel when they were kids since no one could say such a heinous mouthful.

“Madison?” Grandmeel’s steely gaze took in her dripping wet hair, soggy clothes, and bare feet.

It shouldn’t have hurt that her own grandmother didn’t move to hug her. “Oh. I—I’m sorry, Gran.” That awful word
screwup
echoed in her mind. She should have made a more proper entrance, and she’d acted like one of the little kids instead.

Nick had crossed his arms and wore a dark frown. Either he was bristling at her undignified behavior or her grandmother’s iciness, she couldn’t tell. Or maybe he sensed he’d be the next to fall under her scrutiny.

The boys flopped out of the pool like wet fish and bounded to their mother, who stood next to her grandmother, holding a towel for each of them.

“Hey, Jenna.” Maddie waved, remembering to suction-extract her wet T-shirt from her skin before anyone commented. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Nick staring.
Too late.
Oh, well, her face was already red from Grandmeel’s disapproval.

Fortunately, Jenna spoke. “Derrick, why are these boys naked as newborns? And I’m sure you failed to put sunblock on their nether regions.”

“Daddy told us to be naked and proud,” Logan said.

“Nekked and pwoud,” echoed his cohort in crime.

Jenna rolled her eyes, but bit back a smile.

Maddie had never seen her big brother, the two hundred twenty-pound Army Captain fresh from Fort Bragg, look sheepish. “I’m sorry, baby,” he told his wife. “I must’ve dozed off for a sec, and when I woke up, they’d taken off their suits and were streaking around the yard.”

“Enough apologizing. Let’s get this mayhem under control.” Grandmeel waved her hands about like she was conducting a symphony. Maddie swallowed past an obstruction lodged in her throat. This was not the homecoming she’d imagined, with her mom and dad and sister and brother welcoming her lovingly into their arms. Nick would see the loving tenderness they all had for one another, agree to stop pursuing their company like a rabid dog, and mission would be accomplished. She wasn’t that naïve, but she’d at least hoped her family would appear sort of normal.

Gran stepped carefully on the lawn, avoiding placing her shiny red shoes in any wet spots. Her perfectly made-up face turned as bright red as her lipstick as she came to a halt in front of them and turned to Maddie. “Why in God’s name would you bring a Holter here?”

Nick bristled but cast a weary eye over Amelia’s outraged form. Maddie spoke quickly to diffuse the bomb about to blow.

“Um, because we’re friends, Gran. Nick is here to…give us some ideas about the company. He specializes in business financial planning.”

Business decimation more likely, but of course she couldn’t say
that
.

“A pleasure to see you again, Mrs. Kingston,” he said with a surprisingly relaxed grin. But Amelia Scarlett O’Hanlon Kingston was having none of it. She looked like she’d been bitten by a snake….and the venom was spreading.

Her usually cool grandmother looked shaken. “You are the spitting image of your grandfather when he was your age.”

Maddie feared she was going to reach out and touch Nick’s face. She studied every feature carefully, as if she didn’t trust her own senses. As if she were seeing a mirage.

At last she turned to Maddie. “Madison, you’ve shown your usual poor judgment in bringing this traitor into our midst. Surely, he can stay in town at the bed and breakfast.”

“Amelia, come cool off with some sweet tea.” Maddie’s mother ran out of the house with a tray containing a pitcher of tea with bobbing lemon slices and a huge plate of cookies. Maddie could bet the business they were warm, too. Mom baked when she was stressed, and Amelia had always been a continual burr in her sneaker.

Her mom wore a frilly pink and green apron over jean shorts and flip-flops. She brushed an errant curl off her forehead as she stepped down onto the deck.

A big black-and-white dog bounded alongside her.

“Hughie!” Madison ran forward to embrace the dog she’d rescued her senior year in high school and soon found herself covered with licks and kisses. Hughie could always be counted on to provide the affection Grandmeel lacked.

Amelia spoke to Maddie’s mother. “I thought you were at the hosp—”

“Well, I’m back now,” Rosalyn Kingston quickly but cheerily cut her off. “C’mon, everyone, let’s have some refreshments.”

Maddie ran to take the tray from her mother, but Nick had already set it on the wrought-iron patio table. She hugged and kissed her mother and exchanged a look that said, “one disaster averted.”

Too bad there were too many to count ahead.

“Don’t worry. I’ve spiked her tea,” her mother whispered in the sweetest southern drawl ever. No one would suspect this gentle, unassuming woman doubled as a badass judge on the county’s district court.

“Nicholas. It’s been way too long.” Despite him being wet, Maddie’s mother enveloped him in a warm hug Maddie hoped would erase her grandmother’s cold welcome. Even if Nick was a rat at heart, he’d fulfilled his side of the bargain and didn’t deserve to be treated inhospitably.

Rosalyn held him at arm’s length, studying him like a mom checks for drips of ice cream on her toddler’s chin. “Let me have a look at you. My, you’ve grown up handsome. And Maddie tells me you’re quite successful. Your grandfather must be so proud.”

“Mrs. K.” Nick positively beamed under her scrutiny. Another surprise. Maddie recalled her mother always had a soft spot for Nick, but this was the first time she saw the feeling was absolutely mutual.

Amelia scowled at the show of affection and grudgingly took a drink.

Maddie was grateful for her mother’s kindness and gave her a big squeeze to prove it. “Madison. My baby,” her mother crooned, and Maddie found herself the current object of her mother’s encompassing affection. “We are so excited to see you and so delighted Nick is here. In my opinion, it’s about time.”

Maddie started to say “Mom, we’re just friends—” but the words died in the crush of her embrace. She marveled at her strong mother, who had handled Dad’s illness mostly on her own these past months.

“It’s so wonderful to have you kids home this weekend. Too bad Liz couldn’t make it.”

“At least she has a great excuse.” Her overachieving big sister was off eradicating polio in West Africa with Doctors Without Borders. Liz had signed up right after her divorce finalized six months ago, eager to leave the tiny town where she couldn’t help but run into her police chief ex at every turn.

“How long are you here for, Nick?” Derrick came forward to shake Nick’s hand. Nick raked back his wet hair before he extended his own hand. Despite the fact that he was pretty much soaked from his head to the toes of his expensive soggy loafers, he seemed remarkably composed.

“Just for the weekend.”

“Well, we appreciate your trying to help Madison with this crazy scheme of hers.”

Maddie turned to Derrick. “What crazy scheme?”

“You know. Taking over the company without any business experience.” He turned to Nick. “I told her we should have let Al take the helm, but she’s so stubborn—”