Torchlight (9 page)

Julia continued to read, completely absorbed in her ancestors’ world. After an hour, she glanced up at Trevor, who looked back at her sleepily.

“I love your time warp, but I have to admit I’m getting tired,” he said. “I think I’ll go finish the dishes and then turn in. The plumbers are coming early in the morning.” Sitting there watching her read was like pure torture.
Look, but don’t touch
, Miles had warned. And all he wanted to do was touch her, caress her cheek, kiss those lips.

“I’ll finish the dishes. It’s the least I can do—you cooked me such a marvelous meal. And fixed the water!”

“With some help from the guys.” He stood. “Okay. I’ll be a poor host and let you at the dishes.”

“It will give me another chance to gawk at the water,” she said with a smile. “It’s amazing how you appreciate something like running water when you’ve been living with ol’ rusty for a while.”

“There’re a lot of things you notice you miss when you have to go without it.”

They walked together to the door. Julia shivered slightly at the cool night air upon her neck.

Trevor noticed her tremble and fought the urge to take her in his arms. What was it that drew him? She was beautiful, to be sure, but he had met hundreds of attractive women in his travels.
Why this one, Father?
His anguish consumed him; Julia’s heart clearly belonged to
another. She was his boss, nothing more. He closed his eyes and imagined Julia embracing him, returning his eager kisses.

“Trevor?” Julia questioned, noticing his closed eyes.

He started and blinked. Swallowing hard, he said with a melancholy tone, “Good night, Julia.”

“Good night.”

He paused with his hand on the door handle. “Julia?”

“Yes?”

“Do you think we could do this again? I enjoyed the company and sharing the Donnovans’ story, but I don’t want to cross any lines. I want you to be comfortable too.”

“Thank you. I think … I think we could.”

Trevor smiled as he walked out the door and headed for the cottage. But as he walked, he couldn’t help but wonder if he should keep on walking. Because back there, at the house, was surely trouble.

Tara turned off the lights and locked the door to the restaurant. Now that it was spring again, she could walk home in the evenings. She enjoyed the cool night air after a long shift in the humid kitchen.

Ben emerged from the shadows and began to follow her, undetected. It was his habit to see that Tara got home safely. But for some reason he could never tell her or escort her openly.
It’s easier and safer this way
, he told himself.
We’re just friends.
It had really gotten complicated last summer. Their friendship had deepened over the past year as Ben had shared with Tara his struggles over raising a teenager alone. Mike and Tara were crazy about each other. She was a logical and attractive choice for the widower.

But whenever Ben saw her laugh, his mind spun crazily back to times he had watched her laugh with Sharon in the kitchen of his own home. Sharon. He wondered if the ache in his heart would ever end.
Oh, Sharon, I miss you.

He justified his reasons for following Tara home, for eating at her restaurant three times a week, and for often visiting her at the house on Saturdays with Mike.
It’s for Mike. The boy needs a mother figure around.
But Ben had to admit, he enjoyed Tara’s company too. The thought of her moving away threw him for a loop. He stared at her diminutive figure, bundled in a fisherman’s coat, and concentrated on quietly keeping pace with her. He wouldn’t confuse the issue by outwardly escorting her home.

During his second weekend in Maine, Miles slept at a tiny inn, refusing to stay at Torchlight, which was again without any running water while the crew worked on the upstairs plumbing. He tried to talk Julia into staying with him, but she refused, ignoring his obvious insinuation.

“Come on, Julia, we’re practically engaged.”

“But we’re not really engaged, are we, Miles? And even if we were, I still wouldn’t sleep with you.”

“Hmm. Can I help it if I find you incredibly attractive? But play by the rules; I respect that. In any case, it’s not sanitary to live in a place without water. Come into some semblance of civilization. Stay with me. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“No, thank you. We’ll have water back in a few days, and in the meantime, I’ve made do with a shower at Tara’s every couple of days. I reserved some water for sponge baths before they shut off the main. Really, Miles, where’s your sense of adventure?”

He looked at her askance. “I could ask the same question, but I’ll ignore that comment because I don’t want to ruin our weekend together. We have some wonderful plans.”

“We do?”

“Well, don’t look so surprised. Your old Miles has a trick or two up his sleeve.”

She smiled at the glint in his eye. “Such as …?”

“I’m going to show you the town.”

“Miles! I’d love that. I haven’t had much of a chance to see anything, with all the work to be done here at Torchlight.”

“Good. Then it’s a date.”

He was moving to kiss her when Trevor walked in the front door. Miles scowled at him as he and Julia parted. “Don’t you knock?”

“Good to see you, too, Beckley. Guess you didn’t realize, this house is my work zone. Julia stays in her room if she wants privacy.” He looked at his boss for the first time. Trevor clearly understood he had broken up a romantic moment and was doing his best to stifle a smile. “That’s still the arrangement, right?”

Julia shifted, obviously uncomfortable with the way Trevor was drawing her to his side of the sparring. “That’s true—”

“There you have it. Straight from the boss’s mouth.”

He brushed by as Miles bristled. “Isn’t it a bit late for work?”

“I get paid for overtime.” Trevor’s eyes twinkled with mischief. He headed toward the kitchen to meet the plumbers in the basement, but paused in the doorway. “Oh, and Miles, too bad you haven’t been around more. There have been all sorts of interesting developments lately.”

Miles glared back at him.

“Would you two knock it off?” Julia asked, looking from her agitated boyfriend to her general contractor.

Miles’s face was an angry red, and the veins on his temple bulged. He looked at Julia accusingly as Trevor disappeared. “What’s been going on around here? Has he made a move on you?”

“No. Of course not.” She shifted uncomfortably. “We’re just friends. We’ve shared a few evenings of reading and such, but that’s it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Miles!”

“I’m sorry, but something about that man drives me crazy. I think he’s after you, Julia.”

She looked toward the door and back to Miles. “Even if he were, I wouldn’t return his feelings. The man is a wanderer.” She embraced the man she had known for over a decade, dated for the last four years. “I prefer to know that the man I’m interested in will be around, not to wonder when I wake up if he’s off to some new territory.”

Miles studied her in his arms, wondering if she was trying to convince herself just as much as she was trying to convince him.

“I’m not surprised you two don’t get along; you’re so different. But I would have thought the two of you would be mature enough to get along. For my sake at least.”

Miles softened, inhaling deeply. “I’ll try. I’ve certainly dealt with his type before.” He paused in the entry.

Julia changed the subject. “You could put on your jeans and help us out here tomorrow morning. There’s plenty to do.”

Miles smiled down at her. “There’s a part of me that wants to do
just that. But I have business calls to make, letters to fax. Meet you back here at five?”

Julia’s disappointment was evident. “Miles, are you ever going to help me?”

He took her chin in his hand and raised her face gently to meet his. “This is your dream. Chase it if you must. But do not expect me to. I have my own dreams. Isn’t it enough that I visit, take part in the dream a little? Better than not at all, right?”

She sighed. “Five will be fine.”

T
hat afternoon Julia was working upstairs, removing molding to be refinished, when she heard a large freight truck pull up front.
What on earth is being delivered now?
She walked downstairs and opened the front door.

Trevor was already outside, talking to the driver and his assistant. He looked up and grinned at Julia.

“My luggage!” he explained excitedly. “Bring it around the side,” he directed the driver and followed them toward the cottage.

Julia watched as the truck, loaded with several large trunks, three sizable wooden crates, and two suitcases, pulled forward.

“Where’d it come from?” she called to Trevor’s back.

“Nepal,” was all he threw back over his shoulder.

Miles arrived promptly at five, showing up at her door with a glamorous bouquet of spring flowers—purple irises, barely open, bright yellow daffodils, tulips of violet, soft pink, and pale yellow, and fragrant stock of several shades.

“Why, Miles, I’ve never known you to give me anything other than red roses.”

“I thought it was time for a change,” he said with a wink. “Spring flowers, symbolic of a new era for us.” He leaned close and gave her a deep, searching kiss. Julia settled into his arms, longing to feel intimate with him, but the kiss did little for her heart. She
gave him a tentative smile.
It’s as if I’m giving him a smiley sticker for effort
, she chided herself. She turned and set the flowers in a glass of water, deciding to arrange them in a vase when they returned. Resolutely she took his proffered hand and stepped out of the house.

As Miles and Julia walked out onto the porch toward the Lincoln town car he had rented, Trevor drove past them on his motorcycle with a wave.

Julia stopped and watched him go.

“Julia?” Miles questioned, closely watching her.

“Trevor didn’t say he was going anywhere.”

“Does he tell you everything?” Miles asked.

“Not everything. But my goodness, Miles, we’re working close together. We talk.”

“Is that all you do?”

She turned to confront him. “Are we going out for our date, or are you going to grill me about Trevor?”

Miles looked from Julia to Trevor’s departing figure, then opened the car door. “Shall we?”

Julia got in without a word. Why was she concerned about where Trevor was going? It was certainly none of her business. What was her business was Miles. Her dear, sweet Miles. The man with whom she had won sailboat races and danced until dawn at countless parties. He was the man she needed. Stable, strong. Hadn’t he been with her for four years? If that didn’t prove his devotion, she didn’t know what would.

Mike, watching Julia and Miles pass through town, entered the restaurant with a puzzled look on his face. The speed was only twenty miles per hour down Main Street, making every passerby gawking material. “Why does Julia hang out with that dweeb?” he asked Tara, nodding his head toward the door.

“Dweeb?”

“The rich guy who cruises through town in those fancy rented cars.”

“She thinks he’s the one for her.”

“Why? I mean, I like Jessica, but if she acted as hoity-toity as Julia’s boyfriend does, I wouldn’t spend time with her.”

Tara dished up a bowl of chowder for the always-hungry boy. “Sometimes adult relationships can get complicated.”