"Look over to the right, Kevin! Mr. Morgan's here!" She hooked a lock of wet hair behind her ear and gestured toward the slightly built, bespectacled accountant setting up a chair in the sand.
"Not this again."
"Really, I think you should follow him-"
"I don't care what you say. He does not look like a serial killer!" He yanked off his sodden T-shirt.
"I'm very intuitive, and he has shifty eyes."
"I think you've lost your mind," he muttered. "I really do. And I have no idea how I'm going to explain that to your sister-a woman who happens to be my boss."
"You worry too much."
He spun on her. She saw fire in those green eyes and knew she'd pushed him too far.
"You listen to me, Molly! Fun and games are over. I've got better things to do than waste my time like this."
"This isn't a waste of time. It's-"
"I'm not going to be your pal! Can you understand that? You want our relationship to stay out of the bedroom? Fine. That's your prerogative. But don't expect me to be your buddy. From now on you entertain yourself and stay the hell away from me!"
She watched him stomp off. Even though she probably deserved a little of his anger, she still felt disappointed with him.
Summer camp was supposed to be fun, but Daphne was sad. Ever since she'd capsized their canoe, Benny had been mad at her. Now he didn't ask her to spin around in circles until they got dizzy. He didn't notice that she'd painted each of her toenails a different color so they looked like they'd been dipped in a puddle of rainbows. He didn't squish his nose and stick out his tongue to get her attention or burp really loud. Instead, she saw him making stupid faces at Cicely, a bunny from Berlin, who gave him chocolate rabbits and had no flair for fashion.
Molly set aside her notebook and made her way to the sitting room, taking along the newest box of Say Fudge. She dumped it into a milk-glass bowl that still held crumbs from yesterday's fudge. It had been four days since she'd overturned the canoe, and each morning since then she'd found a fresh box sitting on the kitchen counter in the cottage. It sure eliminated any mystery about where Kevin had been the night before. Slytherin!
He'd done everything possible to get away from her except the one thing he should do-move back into the B &B. But his aversion to being around Lilly was worse than his aversion to being around her. Not that it mattered much, since they were hardly ever in the cottage at the same time.
Depressed, she shoved a piece of fudge into her mouth. It was Saturday, and the B &B was full for the weekend. She wandered into the foyer and straightened the pile of brochures on the hall console. The job ad had appeared in the paper, and Kevin had spent the morning interviewing the two best candidates, while Molly had shown the B &B guests to their rooms and helped Troy with the new cottage rentals. Now it was early afternoon, and she needed a writing break.
She stepped onto the front porch and saw Lilly kneeling in the shade at the side of the front yard, planting the last of the pink and lavender impatiens she'd bought to go in the empty beds. Even wearing gardening gloves and kneeling in the grass, she managed to look glamorous. Molly didn't bother reminding her she was a guest. She'd tried that a few days ago when Lilly had appeared with a trunk full of annuals. Lilly had said she enjoyed gardening, that it relaxed her, and Molly had to agree that she appeared less tense, even though Kevin continued to ignore her.
As Molly reached the bottom of the stairs, Marmie lifted her head and blinked her big golden eyes. Since Roo was safely inside with Amy, the cat rose and walked over to rub against Molly's ankles. Although Molly wasn't a cat person like Kevin, Marmie was a winning feline, and the two of them had developed a distant fondness. She loved to be held, and Molly bent down to pick her up.
Lilly gave the earth around the seedling a sharp little slap. "I wish you wouldn't encourage Liam to keep showing up for breakfast every morning."
"I like him." And you do, too, Molly thought.
"I don't know how you could. He's rude, arrogant, and egotistical."
"Also amusing, intelligent, and very sexy."
"I hadn't noticed."
"I believe you."
Lilly lifted a diva's eyebrow at her, but Molly wasn't intimidated. Lately, Lilly sometimes seemed to forget Molly was the enemy. Maybe the sight of her working around the B &B didn't fit the actress's image of a spoiled football heiress. Molly thought about confronting her again as she'd done in the herb garden over a week ago, but she didn't feel like defending herself.
Each morning, Liam Jenner appeared in the kitchen to have breakfast with Lilly. They bickered while they ate, but they seemed to argue more to prolong their time together than for any other reason. When they weren't bickering, their conversations ranged from art and their travels to their observations about human nature. They had everything in common, and it was obvious they were attracted. Just as obvious that Lilly was fighting it.
Molly learned that Lilly had been to his house once and that he'd started a portrait of her, but Lilly refused his repeated requests to return and sit for him. Molly wondered what had happened at the house that day.
She carried Marmie over to the shade of a big linden tree near where Lilly was planting. Just to be perverse, she said, "I'll bet he looks great naked."
"Molly!"
Molly's devilry faded as she saw Kevin jogging toward the Common from the highway. As soon as he'd finished his interviews, he'd changed into a T-shirt and his gray athletic shorts, then taken off. Even when they served breakfast together, he barely spoke to her. As Amy felt duty-bound to point out, he spent more time talking to Charlotte Long than he spent talking to Molly.
All week he'd been killing Lilly with cool politeness, and Lilly had been letting him get away with it. Now, however, she jabbed her trowel in the ground. "You know, Molly, I've just about run out of patience with your husband."
That made two of them.
Molly watched as he slowed to cool off. He bent his head and rested the palms of his hands on the small of his back. Marmie spotted him and stirred in her arms. Molly gazed at the cat resentfully. She was jealous. Jealous of Kevin's affection for a cat. She remembered the way he stroked Marmie's fur, those long fingers sinking deep… sliding down her spine… It gave Molly goose bumps.
She realized she was blindly, utterly furious with him! She hated the fact that he'd spent the morning interviewing strangers to take over the campground. And what right did he have to act as if they had a genuine friendship, then dismiss her just because she'd refused to go to bed with him? He might pretend he was angry because of the incident with the canoe, but both of them knew that was a lie.
Impulsively, she turned around and set the cat against the trunk of the linden tree they'd been standing beneath. A squirrel stirred in the branches above. Marmie flicked her tail and began to climb.
Lilly caught the action out of the corner of her eye and spun around. "What are you-"
"You're not the only one running out of patience!" Molly glanced up to see Marmie scramble higher. Then she called out. "Kevin!"
He looked over.
"We need your help! It's Marmie!"
He picked up his stride and hurried toward them. "What's wrong with her?"
She pointed into the linden tree, where Marmie had climbed out on a branch high above the ground. The cat yowled her displeasure as the squirrel scampered from sight.
"She's stuck and we can't get her down. The poor thing is terrified."