The Bachelor Boss (17 page)

How had she found herself in such close proximity to such a nearly perfect specimen of manhood after all these long, lean years of widowhood? Hannah wondered this as she dug deeper into the basket.

“This is still half-full. What else could Irene have packed in here?” She lifted a 9 X 13 pan from the flat bottom of the basket and carefully lifted the lid.

“Chocolate cake!”

Happy Birthday, Hannah!
was emblazoned in pale buttercream frosting across the chocolate fudge.

“And more chocolate. The whole bottom of the basket is covered with candy bars.”

“Danny’s contribution, no doubt. He knows my weaknesses.”

“You have weaknesses?” Ty acted shocked. “Other than your driving abilities, I mean.”

She swatted at him playfully. “You should act more surprised that I have strengths,” she teased.

“I have no doubt of that, Hannah. In fact, I...” He bit off whatever he was about to say and instead pointed at the cake. “Cut me a slice of that, will you?”

She probably had chocolate all over herself and she didn’t care. The nice thing about Ty—and something she’d appreciated in Steve—was that he liked her without artifice.

When she’d announced once that she was going to the drug store to refill some prescriptions for Lily and buy herself some makeup, he’d asked her why. “You look good the way you are. Don’t mess it up.”

He’d blushed and backtracked immediately. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to tell you what to do. I just think being natural... Go ahead, don’t listen to me.”

In the end, all she’d purchased was some soft pink lip gloss and a new clip with which to tie back her hair. If Ty, Danny, Lily and Irene all liked her the way she was, why, as Ty had said, should she mess it up?

“Want to take a walk?” Ty inquired.

“Actually, what I’d love to do is wade in that brook.” She pointed to the burbling stream a few yards behind them.

“The rocks are slippery.”

“I brought pool shoes along. They have excellent treads.”

“And I have tennis shoes in the trunk that will grip the rock. I guess we’re all set then.” He rose languidly and held out his hand to her. “Let’s go.”

They each changed shoes, then his hand engulfed her smaller one as he led her toward the water. She felt delicate and feminine next to him. Oddly, she also felt safe. That was how it had been with Steve. As if nothing could touch her when she was with him.

The water, which was mountain runoff, felt colder than she’d expected as it swirled around Hannah’s ankles. Once, a small silvery fish swam over the top of her foot and she would have sworn another nibbled at her toe. She romped and frolicked like an otter until she felt the bottoms of her rolled-up pants getting damp. Her already-curly hair was a mass of red ringlets. And if she was a playful otter, then Ty was a big, calm golden retriever, patient, tolerant, vigilant, watching her with pleasure. They hiked in the stream as far as they could before growing too cold and turning around and returning to their picnic spot. He kept her hand tight in his.

She dropped onto the blanket spread on a bed of pine needles, puffing. “That was hard work, keeping my balance in all that water!”

“Tired?” Ty took off his wet shoes and squeezed the water out of his socks.

“I am. Maybe I will take that siesta after all.”

“You do that.” He dropped onto the blanket beside her and to her surprise, pulled her close and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “Happy birthday, Hannah.”

“Very,” she purred as she curled on one corner of the coverlet and laid her head on her folded hands—and then nothing.

* * *

He watched her sleep. She made little faces as she catnapped, smiling softly, wiggling her nose, once even arching her eyebrows. It was as entertaining as a dozen movies. She reminded him of Danny as she slept, a beguiling innocence radiated from her.

Hannah captivated him. She was steady and strong for Lily, understanding and helpful to Irene, patient and loving with Danny and far more compassionate and tolerant with Trisha than Ty thought he could ever be in her situation. And uncomplaining. Whatever any of them dished out, including him, she took in her stride. She was fragile and bold, delicate and sturdy, funny and serious, a most complex personality.

He shouldn’t try to analyze it, but that was easier than admitting the realization that he was falling in love.

He groaned a little and she squirmed in her sleep before going still again.

Anita was still there, drifting on the edges of his consciousness, but he’d thought about her less lately. It was as if she was releasing the hold she had on him. But he knew it wasn’t that. Anita would never have wished for him to grieve as he had, to shut off that part of his life. She’d loved him too much. He’d done that to himself.

And now there was Hannah.

They’d had an inauspicious beginning. But her natural beauty and subtly beguiling ways had charmed him since the moment she’d moved into his house.

Ty tucked his hands beneath his head and closed his eyes. God’s ways were not man’s ways. This was just one more bit of proof of that.

He awoke to a tickle under his nose.

Hannah was there, fanning a bit of green fern in his face and humming. He sat up sharply.

“What time is it?”

“Almost five.”

“Have you been awake long?”

“About a half hour. I had another piece of my birthday cake. This mountain air makes me famished. I could eat a steak right now and still not be full!”

“We didn’t pass all that many restaurants on the way up, but we’ll go down another way. I know just the spot.”

She must be really hungry, he thought, for she immediately began gathering things up to put in the car. She had dirty feet, tangled hair and a smudge of chocolate frosting on her nose. She was beautiful.

The road down the mountain that he chose was far more winding and precarious than the way they’d come up. He found himself thinking of ways to keep Hannah in his company just a little bit longer, before he had to share her with the rest of his household. Ty found the spot he was looking for and pulled into the parking lot of a low, rambling wooden building with a faded sign that said EATS on it. The building hung just on the edge of a fast-moving creek, which they could hear when Ty opened his window.

“This doesn’t look very promising,” Hannah said, squinting in the oncoming dusk. Once the sun set it was very dark in the mountains.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Ty turned off the motor and hopped out. “Come on.”

The building didn’t look much more promising on the inside, Ty thought, but he remembered it as his grandfather’s favorite restaurant. He was willing to give it a chance for old times’ sake. A tiny woman wearing an enormous apron and white orthopedic shoes exited the kitchen. She was followed by man in his late fifties wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. The shirt didn’t quite make it over his generous belly.

“Tyler Matthews! Is that you?” The woman ripped off her eyeglasses and began to polish them on a corner of the apron. “It’s been a month of Sundays since I’ve seen you.”

“Hi, Rita,” Ty said.

“You’re still a picture of your grandfather only even more handsome! I knew you were going to be that way from the time you were a little boy. You remember my son, Jerome, don’t you?”

The man waved a spatula at them.

“I certainly do. Is Eddy here?”

Rita looked sad. “He passed on four years ago. We miss him, but he’s having more fun in heaven than the rest of us here on earth. And your grandparents?”

“Gramps is gone, but Lily’s still Lily.”

“Did you come here for dinner? Or just out of curiosity?”

“Both. I was hoping you might still be here, but I didn’t really expect it. I meant to drive up much sooner.”

“You’re in luck. I’ve got a rib eye in the back with your name on it. I’ll add a portobello for fun and do a little balsamic reduction and we’re ready to go. Have a seat anywhere.”

Hannah’s eyes were big when they sat down. “A balsamic reduction? Here?”

“Again, don’t judge a book by its cover. Rita came up here to open her own place years ago. She was a cook at a classy restaurant and just decided she wanted a more natural life. They don’t look fancy, but it’s by choice. Lily always said Rita liked to give her money away. A lot of charities have benefited from Rita’s success.”

“Amazing. Just like this entire day, simply amazing.”

She said it again when a pear salad with blue cheese arrived.

“Look at these au gratin potatoes,” Ty commented. They were so rich that Rita should have been a cardiologist on call. Next came roasted asparagus with parmesan and sea salt, melt-in-your-mouth steak and a strawberries and crème concoction that left them both begging for mercy.

Hannah leaned back in her chair and groaned with pleasure. “What a perfect spot and meal and company.” She bit her lip. When had she decided Ty was perfect for her, anyway?

“More coffee?” Rita wielded a pot.

“That was the perfect meal,” Hannah told her. “The most wonderful birthday meal anyone could have. In fact, this has been the ideal birthday.” Her face glowed, punctuating her sincerity.

When they left, Ty slipped a hundred-dollar bill beneath the plate as a tip. Rita hugged him good-bye at the door.

“You’ve got a honey, there,” she whispered in his ear. “Don’t mess it up.”

Rita’s warning echoed in Ty’s ears all the way down the mountain. There wasn’t much to mess up at this point. They were two people exploring their feelings, that’s all. Did either of them want it to be more? He needed to find out.

After they’d pulled into the garage and carried the quilt and basket into the house, Hannah, glowing from both sunburn and happiness, turned her face to his. “That was the best day I’ve had in ages! Thank you so much. I gladly welcome getting a year older for a day like this one.”

Gently, Ty lowered his mouth to hers and gave her a sweet kiss. What he’d expected to be pleasant made Fourth of July rockets go off in his head.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“M
r. Matthews, I...”

“What is it, Melanie? I thought I told you I didn’t want to be interrupted.”

The secretary smiled. “I just wanted you to know that your grandmother has called three more times. She doesn’t give up easily, does she?”

“She doesn’t give up at all, ever. Did you make sure that she’s okay?”

“I did what you said. I asked if I could talk to her caregiver, who said she was fine. She was having a hard time distracting your grandmother from hitting redial. She wanted you to know that the caregiver—Hannah, right?—is going to take Mrs. Matthews to her friend’s house for the afternoon, so you can get some work done.”

“Thanks, Mel. I promise to improve my mood ASAP Since Lily’s going to be busy, why don’t you bring in that big stack of files you wanted me to look at?”

He’d done something today that he had never done before in his life. He’d refused to talk to his grandmother. Not refused in a bad way, he told himself. He’d simply told his secretary to screen his calls and tell Lily that he would be tied up today and that he wouldn’t be picking up the phone.

Lily, however, wasn’t accustomed to being ignored and wasn’t about to take no for an answer.

He scraped his hands through his hair, leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, exhausted. He hadn’t slept last night, had done his run an hour early and was out of the house before anyone had stirred. That was fine with him. He didn’t want to talk to Hannah until he had his head straightened out. Yesterday he’d walked right into the fact that he was falling in love. There was no denying it anymore. He was head over heels in love with her.

He should have run the other way when she hit his car. Now she was battering something much more important—his heart.

Ty thought back to yesterday, to their time together in the mountains. It had been a long time since he’d had a day like that. Hannah St. James was easy to love. She was beautiful, sweet, compassionate, smart and somehow both vulnerable and strong. And stuck in the past.

With all that love she had to give, it was natural that Hannah had chosen to be a caregiver—for Danny, Trisha, her clients and now Lily. That provided plenty of people on whom to spread the devotion from that big, warm heart of hers. It satisfied her need to nurture and supported her well-developed fear of giving that love to a man who wasn’t Steve.

She’d deny it, he knew, but he could tell when he’d kissed her. Even though she’d responded warmly, she’d held back slightly, like a boxer pulling punches.

The reason he recognized it was because Ty had done it himself. It was not unlike a nervous flyer thinking he could get on an airplane and yet not letting his full weight down. He’d restrained a part of his heart for years, knowing he wouldn’t settle for a marriage that was less than the 60-year love affair his grandparents had had. With Hannah, he’d let his guard down and she’d promptly snuck beneath his defenses.

She was only the second woman who’d ever made him think that a marriage like that of Lily and his grandfather was possible. But Hannah was even more skittish than he.

All he could do was hash it out with God and wait for Him to make the next move. If Hannah was ever going to leave her late husband in the past and look to the future, Ty felt it would
have
to be by divine intervention.

When Ty finally did return to the house, Lily wasn’t home, but Hannah was.

“She asked Irene to drive her somewhere,” Hannah greeted him. She waved her hands helplessly. “I told her I’d do it, but she insisted that Irene be the one and that Danny go with them.”

“Now what is she up to?” Ty’s voice was weary. He could take anything his job or company threw at him. But this emotional roller coaster these women insisted on bringing him on was going to be his undoing.

“Danny didn’t seem to know why she wanted him to come along either, so I think he’s in the dark.”

“Worse yet. Whenever Lily scooped me up and my grandfather didn’t know what we were up to, it was usually trouble for him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s just say that no young boy needs a scooter, scuba gear
or
a BB gun.”