Welcome to Serenity

His tone hinted that any suggestions he might want to make right now wouldn’t be offered in the spirit of the holidays. Jeanette totally sympathized.

Howard, however, took the ball and ran with it. Within an hour, he’d assigned Mary Vaughn to speak to all the choirs in town. Ronnie had been designated to investigate new decorations. That had left dealing with prospective vendors for Jeanette.

“Tom, you’ll work with her on that, right?” the mayor said, to Mary Vaughn’s obvious disappointment.

“Of course,” the town manager said, giving Jeanette an impudent wink.

“Then I’d say we’re well on our way to having the best Christmas festival Serenity has ever seen,” Howard chirped cheerfully. “Good job, everyone. Same time next week.”

“We’re meeting weekly?” Jeanette asked, horrified.

“Well, of course we are. We have to stay on top of this, don’t we?” Howard replied. “I might be Santa around here, but I can’t do this without my little elves.”

Tom looked as if he wanted to jab his ballpoint pen straight into the mayor’s heart. Jeanette understood the emotion.

“He’s not worth the time in jail,” she murmured as she passed by.

To her surprise, his lips twitched. “You sure about that?”

“Now that you mention it, no. Check with me again next week. I might supply the pens.”

5

When Jeanette finally made it back to The Corner Spa, she was edgy and more annoyed than ever with Maddie for getting her involved in the Christmas festival. Two hours wasted every week from September all the way until the event itself in early December! Ridiculous. On top of that, Maddie had gently chided her just now for her attitude toward Tom on Sunday night. She’d expected it, but that hadn’t made the experience any less annoying. She was still muttering about it when she ran into Helen in the café.

“Ah, there you are,” Helen said cheerfully. “How did the committee meeting go? I hear the new town manager is very hot.”

Jeanette scowled at her. “Not you, too,” she grumbled, turned on her heel and marched into her office. “I’ve heard all the rave reviews I can bear from Dana Sue and Maddie.” Along with that humiliating lecture on her rudeness Sunday evening and how inappropriate it was for someone in business in Serenity to be unwelcoming to the new town manager.

Before she could shut the door, Helen stepped in behind her. “Okay, I obviously said the wrong thing. Mind filling me in on why?”

“Here it is in a nutshell,” Jeanette said, working herself back up to a full head of steam. “I do not want to be fixed up. I do not want Maddie, Dana Sue and you getting any crazy ideas about me and Tom McDonald. If and when I decide I want to date, I’ll find my own man.”

Helen’s shrewd eyes twinkled with amusement. “Got it,” she said.

Jeanette’s scowl deepened. “You are not taking me seriously. Why don’t any of you take me seriously?”

Helen’s expression sobered at once. “Oh, sweetie, we do. Believe me, when it comes to anything you have to say about running a spa, we take you very seriously.”

“But not about this,” Jeanette accused. “Not about my love life.”

“It’s just that you sound so much like we did right before we landed in marital bliss,” Helen said.

Jeanette sighed heavily. “Yeah, that’s what Dana Sue said, too.”

“We’ve all been there.”

“Where?”

“In denial.”

“How can I be in denial? I’ve crossed paths with Tom McDonald three times. He’s not my type. He’s a little too uptight and stuffy.” The comment was far from the truth, but there was no way she was going to say he had a cute dimple and a charming way about him: it would only add fuel to the fire.

“That’s not how Maddie described him. Or Dana Sue, either.”

“How did they describe him?” she asked, her curiosity piqued.

“Tall, handsome, smart and sexy. He has a dimple. I think it was Maddie who noticed that.”

“Oh, I never noticed,” Jeanette lied. “But anyway, I don’t think that’s enough on which to base a lifelong commitment.”

“Probably not,” Helen concurred. “Did I mention rich? Word is, his family’s loaded. I think I’ve crossed paths with his parents at some charity events in Charleston.”

“That is not a recommendation,” Jeanette said. “If I cared about money, I’d have stayed at Chez Bella in Charleston. Besides, if he’s really rich, why is he here in Serenity working for peanuts? Did they disinherit him? Or is this his good deed for the century? And what would a rich man want with a woman who gives facials?”

“And massages,” Helen added, clearly fighting a grin. “Don’t forget you also give excellent massages, and I can certainly see the appeal of that. Erik has suggested more than once I take lessons from you.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, you know what I mean. A rich man, especially one from old money, would want some debutante, a woman with social connections, which I clearly do not have.”

“Good,” Helen said. “I have no idea why Tom McDonald does anything. We’ve never met. Why don’t you ask him?”

“Because that would imply a level of interest I don’t have,” Jeanette said stubbornly. “Now, if you don’t mind, I need coffee with caffeine, not the herbal tea we serve here. I need to brew it behind closed doors. And I have clients waiting.”

Helen grinned. “On my way. Never let it be said that I stood in the way of this place making more money.” She was about to leave, when she turned back. “Hey, why don’t you come over for Sunday dinner next week. Everyone’s coming.”

Jeanette narrowed her gaze. “Everyone?”

“Maddie, Cal and the kids. Dana Sue and Ronnie. Maddie says Ty might be home, and Dana Sue’s trying to see if Annie can get home from college for the weekend. And in case you had any doubts about it, Erik will be cooking, not me. We won’t die of ptomaine poisoning.”

“Good to know.” Jeanette debated the merits of attending a party where her love life could be examined yet again. Of course, the advantage would be that she could defend her position and keep them from pulling anything sneaky. “Okay, sure,” she said at last. “Can I bring anything? Wine? Soda? Lemonade? A pie?”

“Forget the pie. Erik’s a pastry chef. Any pies or desserts on the premises are his. I tried bringing home a frozen cobbler one night and didn’t hear the end of it for a month. How about some tequila? I’m making margaritas.”

“Oh, boy,” Jeanette said. “The lethal ones?”

Helen grinned. “Are there any other kind? Especially since none of us is pregnant or nursing at the moment. See you around four, okay?”

“Works for me,” she said, though she didn’t entirely trust Helen’s recitation of the guest list. Something told her that Helen wouldn’t be above inviting Tom just to see if the rumors about his good looks were true—and maybe to initiate a little meddling of her own.

Mary Vaughn sashayed past an outraged Teresa and into Tom McDonald’s office just before lunchtime without an appointment.

Her plan was to ask him something about the Christmas festival, then work her way around to asking if he had lunch plans.

As she stepped across the threshold, though, she came to an abrupt stop. He wasn’t in his office. She whirled around and glared at Teresa.

“He’s not there.”

“I could have told you that if you’d slowed down for half a second,” Teresa said, a glint of satisfaction in her eyes.

“Where is he?”

“He had a meeting out of the building.”

“When will he be back?”

“It’s hard to say. Shall I tell him you stopped by?”

Mary Vaughn debated what to do. If she didn’t explain what had brought her, it would be all too obvious to anyone with half a grain of sense that she was here on a personal mission. She knew perfectly well that everyone in town thought she was man-crazy. The truth was there’d only been one man in her entire life who had made her a little crazy and that was Ronnie Sullivan. Now that she’d lost him twice to Dana Sue, it was pretty much past time to give up on that particular dream. It had caused her nothing but heartache.

Her marriage to Sonny Lewis had been totally on the rebound, a fact she regretted every single day of her life. She hadn’t been a bit surprised that their marriage had barely lasted ten years. What had surprised her was that sweet, easygoing Sonny was the one who’d ended it. She’d had a daughter she adored and a successful career that gave her financial independence. Being married to Sonny had given her the respectability she’d craved since childhood. She probably would have drifted along contentedly for a lot longer if Sonny hadn’t forced the issue.

“You made up your mind yet?” Teresa asked, snapping her back to the present.

“About what?” Mary Vaughn asked blankly.

“Do you want me to tell Tom that you stopped by or not?”

“No,” she said. “Thanks, Teresa. I’ll catch up with him sooner or later.”

Teresa murmured something that sounded a whole lot like, “I’ll be sure to warn him,” but her expression was perfectly innocent when Mary Vaughn turned to give her a penetrating look.

“You have a good day,” Teresa said.

“You do the same,” Mary Vaughn said with even less sincerity.

Outside Town Hall, she was about to cross Main Street when she saw Tom getting out of his car. She brightened immediately.

“Hello there,” she called out. “I was just looking for you.”

For an instant he looked confused, but then recognition apparently dawned. “Mary Vaughn, isn’t it?”

“You have a wonderful memory,” she said. “I’m sure it must be so confusing when you first move into a new town. Not that I’d know, of course. I’ve lived here all my life. There’s not a nook or cranny of Serenity that I don’t know like the back of my hand. The same with the people who live here. I know all their dirty little secrets.”

“Oh?”

She flushed under his vaguely disapproving gaze. “Not that there are that many dirty little secrets, of course. I just meant that I know everyone real well. I could give you a crash course, if you like. In fact, if you have the time, I’d love to buy you lunch over at Wharton’s or Sullivan’s. Sullivan’s is the best we have to offer. Have you eaten there yet?”

“I have,” he said. “It’s terrific and I appreciate the invitation, but I’ve had a jam-packed morning and the afternoon doesn’t look much better. I’ m just going to have a sandwich at my desk. I think Teresa has already ordered it.”

Mary Vaughn backed down at once. “Another time, then. How’s your house hunting going, by the way? Howard told me you’ve been looking. I’d be happy to show you some properties. I could fax over the material on the ones you might like.”

“Do that,” he said. “But I’m not sure when I’ll get to them. I’ll call you, okay?”

She bit back a sigh. She was striking out on all fronts today, but she’d live to try again. After all, that’s what she did. She put on a cheerful smile and survived. She’d been doing it her whole life and there wasn’t a soul in town who’d ever guessed how good she was at covering up her problems.

“Call anytime,” she told him with her sunniest smile.

Then she walked away with her back straight and her pride mostly intact.

“Did Mary Vaughn get her claws into you?” Teresa asked the minute Tom walked into his office.

“What?” he asked distractedly. “Mary Vaughn? I just ran into her on the street. I’m not even sure what she wanted.”

“You,” Teresa said, following him into his office. “She wants you. Didn’t I warn you about that the other day? Trust me. I’ve seen that glint in her eyes before. Last time, she was after Ronnie Sullivan, but Dana Sue put a quick end to that.”

He looked up. “Teresa, I’m not interested in gossip.”

But he had been aware of Mary Vaughn’s interest. She’d asked him to lunch. Her offer to show him real estate had seemed like an afterthought.

He had no interest, however, in sharing this with Teresa. “The only thing she’s interested in,” he said, “is selling me a house.”

Teresa rolled her eyes. “Men!” she muttered with a huff. “Your sandwich is on your desk. Ham and cheese on rye. I had ’em add some lettuce and tomato, so you can pretend it’s healthy.”

“Thank you. Give me fifteen minutes before you put any calls through, okay?”

“It’s my lunch hour, too. I’m sending the calls to the answering service,” she informed him.

Better yet, Tom thought. He took a bite of his sandwich and the lukewarm soda Teresa had left with it, then picked up the phone, dialed the number for The Corner Spa and asked for Jeanette. He had legitimate business to discuss and a new strategy for rattling her. He was looking forward to giving it a try.

When she picked up, she sounded frazzled.

“You busy?” he asked. “This is Tom.”

“I’m in the middle of a treatment. Can I call you back?”

“Will you?”

“Of course,” she said, sounding miffed. “Unless, of course, you’re calling to ask me out, in which case, I’ll say no now and save us both the time.”

He laughed. “While I would love to ask you on a date, I’m not sure my ego could withstand another rejection. I wanted to get together to discuss this vendor business for the festival.”

“Really?” She sounded skeptical.

“Cross my heart,” he said. “Howard’s going to be on my case about this any day now and I want to be prepared.”

“You want to meet about business,” she repeated. “In your office?”

She sounded suspicious, but also perhaps a little disappointed. That was exactly what he’d hoped for.

“Or wherever suits you,” he said blithely. “I can come there or we can meet for coffee. I don’t think that could be construed as a date. Your choice.”

She was silent for so long he thought maybe he’d lost the connection. “Jeanette?”

“I’m thinking,” she said. “Come here at six o’clock. We can have some iced tea on the patio. The place is pretty quiet at that hour.”

“You’re going to let me come into The Corner Spa?” he asked with feigned amazement.

“Actually, I’m not. You’re going to come around the outside and meet me on the patio. There will be no males sneaking into this place on my watch.”

“Darn. So close,” he said with not-entirely-feigned disappointment. “I’ll see you at six.”

“Right,” she said, already sounding distracted again.

“Jeanette,” he said, “I’m looking forward to it.”

He was already hanging up the phone, when he heard her shouting, “This is business!”

“Whatever you say, darlin’,” he murmured as he hung up. “Whatever you say.”

“Business!” Jeanette muttered to herself at least fifty times as the afternoon sped by. If Tom was coming over here on business, she’d eat a jar of their most expensive moisturizer. He’d used the festival to get past her no-date rule, the sneak! Well, she was on to him. If he didn’t start talking business five seconds after his arrival, she was kicking him out. She might have to call on Elliot to provide the muscle, but he’d be so out of here.

“You look ticked off,” Maddie said, popping her head into Jeanette’s office just before six. “Anything I need to know?”

She was not about to explain that Tom was coming to the spa for business. Maddie would laugh her head off.

“Nope. Everything’s under control.”

“Okay, then, I’m heading home on time for once. See you tomorrow.”

“Have a good evening.”

“You, too. Any special plans?”

“Just a business meeting,” Jeanette replied, and then could have kicked herself. While she had a certain amount of autonomy in running the spa services, she usually kept Maddie apprised of any decisions or meetings on the horizon. She should have avoided mentioning the stupid meeting at all.

To her dismay, Maddie halted in her tracks. “What kind of business meeting?”

“Not spa business,” Jeanette told her. She sighed. Might as well spit it out. “Christmas festival business.”

Maddie’s eyes immediately got a wicked gleam, which was exactly why Jeanette hadn’t wanted to tell her. She didn’t need the amusement or the speculation.

“You’re meeting with Tom, aren’t you?” Maddie said gleefully. “Good. Maybe you can make amends for the other night.”

“Don’t you dare make anything out of me seeing him tonight,” Jeanette ordered.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Maggie said, grinning. “You can tell me all about it tomorrow.”

Jeanette glared at her retreating form.

On her way to the patio, she stopped to pick up a couple of teas and the last two scones in the case. If Tom wasn’t on time, she intended to eat both of them.

Fortunately for her dress size, he slipped around the side of the building right on the dot of six. He cast a dramatically wary glance around. “Is it safe? Any wild and naked women out here?”

“You are so not funny,” Jeanette said.

“Well, you have to admit that closing a place to men just invites all sorts of speculation about what goes on here,” he said as he pulled out a chair across from her and sat down. “Is one of those scones for me? Preferably the one that has more than three crumbs left?”

She shoved it ungraciously in his direction. “Traditional scone with real currants, not raisins.”

“Excellent.”

He gave her a slow, lingering appraisal that made her blood heat.

“How was your day?”

“Busy,” she said tersely. Then mindful of Maddie’s admonishments, she asked politely, “And yours?”

“Busy,” he echoed. “Mary Vaughn came to call.”

Despite herself, Jeanette bristled. “Oh? What did she want?”

“Teresa says she’s after my body. What do you think?”

“I wasn’t there. I couldn’t comment,” she said more irritably than she intended. It shouldn’t matter to her one darn bit what Mary Vaughn and Tom did. And hadn’t she thought they’d be a perfect match?

“I thought she was there to try to sell me a house,” he admitted.

“Men!” Jeanette murmured.

He chuckled. “That’s pretty much what Teresa said.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“You asked about my day.”

“So, no nefarious reason, like trying to make me jealous?”

“If you’re absolutely certain you don’t want to go out with me, how could I possibly make you jealous?” He actually managed to utter the question with a totally innocent expression.

“You can’t,” she assured him. “That doesn’t mean you won’t keep trying to change my mind.”

“My ego’s far too fragile to keep risking rejection,” he said.

“Ha!”

“Well, it is,” he insisted.

“You swore you were coming here to talk business,” she reminded him. “Talk.”

“I’m not sure I can talk on an empty stomach. Isn’t it time for dinner?”

“I just gave you a scone. That should tide you over for the fifteen minutes you’re going to be here.”

“We’re on a timetable?”

“I am.”

“You are one tough cookie, you know that?”

“I pride myself on it,” she said.

“In that case, let’s get to it.” He snapped open an expensive leather briefcase and shoved a list across the table.

She noticed that his hand was large and just a little callused, not the hand of a man who spent all of his time behind a desk. She could imagine this hand touching her. The thought made her blood heat again.

Oblivious to her reaction, Tom went on, “I found this in a file. It has the names of vendors going back for the past ten years. Any reason not to ask them all back?”

“None I can think of,” she admitted, a little taken aback that he’d actually listened to her and gotten down to business. She forced herself to focus, as well. “Should we put an ad in the area newspapers or send out a press release soliciting some new vendors? Otherwise it may start to seem as if no one else can participate. Plus, it’s always good to have new blood. It helps to shake things up. The more vendors the better, I always say. It gives people a reason to come back year after year to spend their money.”

Not that she was one of them. She hadn’t attended the Christmas festival once during the three years she’d lived in Serenity. Even so, as hard as she tried, it had been impossible to tune out all the chatter about it.

“Good idea about getting some fresh faces in here,” he said approvingly. “We’ll probably have to go the press release route, since I don’t think there’s money for that kind of advertising. We need to spend that budget on promoting the event itself.”

In exactly fourteen minutes, he snapped his briefcase closed and stood up. “Well, my time’s about up. Thanks for meeting with me.”

Jeanette was completely thrown by his abrupt end of the discussion, though she couldn’t imagine why. She was the one who’d put a time limit on the meeting.

“Did we cover everything you wanted to cover?” she asked.

“Pretty much. I’ll keep you posted on the responses. I suppose at some point we’ll have to start thinking about mapping out locations for the vendors to set up, but there’s no hurry on that. Howard would probably prefer it be done tomorrow, but realistically November’s soon enough. We should have all the vendor responses in by Thanksgiving.”

“Okay, then. Have a nice evening.”

“You do the same.” His gaze sought hers and held it. “Oh, hell,” he muttered, then bent down and kissed her, not on the cheek as she’d anticipated, but on the mouth…with feeling.

Before she could react, maybe slap him silly, he was gone. She released a deep sigh. It was probably just as well. One more second and she’d have kissed him back like there was no tomorrow. So much for her theory that she was totally immune to men in general and this man in particular. Apparently her hormones had not enjoyed the drought.

6

His impulsive decision to kiss Jeanette had been a very bad one, Tom concluded as he left The Corner Spa. He was restless and edgy with no way to work off the sexual tension. Since he wasn’t dressed for running, he decided he could at least walk back to the Serenity Inn, though he doubted that would help. If anything, it would give him too much time to think about how soft her lips had been beneath his, the way she smelled of flowers and sunshine, the little sound she’d made in the back of her throat that proved she wasn’t immune to him, after all.

“Damn,” he muttered, getting stirred up all over again. This was bad. He had plans for the rest of his life and they didn’t include staying in Serenity forever. He’d been very careful in the past to keep his relationships casual and uncomplicated. Jeanette had complication written all over her.

Thankfully, before he could get too worked up over the unexpected twist of fate, his cell phone rang, promising a distraction.

“Yes, hello,” he said, hoping he didn’t sound as desperate as he felt.

“Tom, it’s Cal.”

He nearly sighed with relief at the distraction. “Cal, I meant to call you earlier about your Little League proposal. I wanted to let you know that I haven’t had time to get to it, but I haven’t forgotten.”

“Not a problem,” Cal assured him. “Actually, I thought maybe you’d like to hang out with Ronnie Sullivan—you know him from the festival committee, I think—Erik Whitney from Sullivan’s and me tonight. We’re going to toss around a football in the park, maybe have a few beers after. Interested?”

“How soon?” he asked eagerly.

“Twenty minutes,” Cal said. “We’ll be by the gazebo. Can you meet us there?”

“Absolutely,” Tom said. “I just need to drop off my briefcase at the inn and change.”

Thank heavens, he thought as he stuck his cell phone back in his pocket. He hoped these guys took their games seriously. He figured it would take a solid hour of hard sweat and a whole lot of inconsequential guy talk to work the memory of that smoldering kiss out of his head.

Two hours later, Tom was drained of thoughts and energy. These guys played even a casual game of football with an intensity that had challenged him. He was also on his second beer, which had loosened his tongue.

“So, what’s the story on Jeanette?” he asked before he could think through the consequences of bringing up her name with these particular guys. “You all know her, right?”