the Finkles laughed with delight.
“I think you’re right not to rush into anything,” Annie said. “Even though the place is getting to be too much for us—look at the flower beds and the paint, disgraceful—we’re in no hurry to sell. I’d feel better if I found exactly the right place for us to move on to first.”
“Very wise,” Sam murmured, not daring to look at the man beside her.
“We’re thinking a condo, but I haven’t seen one I like yet. They’re all so—”
“Generic,” Sam provided. She, too, had looked at condos before finding her own charming apartment, with the storefront beneath it, so suited to her needs.
The one she was about to throw away. Because she couldn’t do this. Not if Ethan promised to buy the whole of Main Street, St. John’s Cove. She liked these people and hated herself for being a part of this pretense. Samantha’s business meant a lot to her, the world to her, in fact, but she realized she wasn’t prepared to sell her soul for it!
“Exactly,” Annie said. “Plus, so many of them seem to be prisons for old people. I don’t want to retreat from the world. That’s part of what bothers me here. Since we retired and spend so much time here, it seems too isolated. I want to be part of the community. Maybe have a little rug shop, where I could meet people every day.”
“Well, I guess we all need to think about it for a bit,” Sam said, nearly choking on her cheer. She finished her tea in a gulp that was very un-Mrs. Ballard-like and got up from the table. “It was so nice meeting you, Annie. Artie. Darling.”
But it was Waldo, getting used to being called darling who fell in beside her as she went up the crooked walk beside the cottage to the car. She didn’t even glance back over her shoulder at the house of her dreams.
Or to see if Ethan Ballard, pretend fiancé, had followed her.
CHAPTER FOUR
“S ORRY ,” Samantha murmured.
“Don’t give it a thought.”
He was surprised that he meant it. Ethan Ballard should have been furious. The Finkles had been ready to do some preliminary talking about the property, which was everything he’d hoped for and more. Even the cottage, which he had thought from the Internet pictures would be only worth knocking down, had lots of potential.
He told himself people loved the old saltboxes, and he could knock down interior walls to create a more open space, add windows, expand the house toward the rear. But even as he tried to convince himself that, he wondered if part of how charmed Samantha had been with the old place had rubbed off on him. There was no way she was a good enough actress to have pulled off the enraptured look on her face, the light in her eyes, as she had moved from room to room.
But it was probably all a moot point now. He might never get a chance because the little minx sitting beside him, stroking her dog furiously, had done her best to nix the deal.
But he was aware he did not feel furious with Samantha.
More like cautious of her. He had felt something stir in him when she had touched him so possessively, and felt it stir again at an even more powerful and primal level when she had talked about sitting in that living room with a baby at her breast.
Even though she’d clearly been trying to get his goat, the picture had taken on a life of its own inside his mind, and somehow the baby she held had been his.
That, even though he was a man who had never given one single thought to having kids, or to domestic bliss. When he’d been engaged to Bethany he’d been too young to think that far ahead. Bethany had never said a single word about children. He’d been her ticket to Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous , not a ruined figure and responsibility.
But there was something about Samantha Hall that made a man not just think of those things, but yearn after them.
Plus, at tea with the Finkles, when Samantha had stunned him by declaring they needed time to think about it, Ethan felt as if he had
“I think you’re right not to rush into anything,” Annie said. “Even though the place is getting to be too much for us—look at the flower beds and the paint, disgraceful—we’re in no hurry to sell. I’d feel better if I found exactly the right place for us to move on to first.”
“Very wise,” Sam murmured, not daring to look at the man beside her.
“We’re thinking a condo, but I haven’t seen one I like yet. They’re all so—”
“Generic,” Sam provided. She, too, had looked at condos before finding her own charming apartment, with the storefront beneath it, so suited to her needs.
The one she was about to throw away. Because she couldn’t do this. Not if Ethan promised to buy the whole of Main Street, St. John’s Cove. She liked these people and hated herself for being a part of this pretense. Samantha’s business meant a lot to her, the world to her, in fact, but she realized she wasn’t prepared to sell her soul for it!
“Exactly,” Annie said. “Plus, so many of them seem to be prisons for old people. I don’t want to retreat from the world. That’s part of what bothers me here. Since we retired and spend so much time here, it seems too isolated. I want to be part of the community. Maybe have a little rug shop, where I could meet people every day.”
“Well, I guess we all need to think about it for a bit,” Sam said, nearly choking on her cheer. She finished her tea in a gulp that was very un-Mrs. Ballard-like and got up from the table. “It was so nice meeting you, Annie. Artie. Darling.”
But it was Waldo, getting used to being called darling who fell in beside her as she went up the crooked walk beside the cottage to the car. She didn’t even glance back over her shoulder at the house of her dreams.
Or to see if Ethan Ballard, pretend fiancé, had followed her.
CHAPTER FOUR
“S ORRY ,” Samantha murmured.
“Don’t give it a thought.”
He was surprised that he meant it. Ethan Ballard should have been furious. The Finkles had been ready to do some preliminary talking about the property, which was everything he’d hoped for and more. Even the cottage, which he had thought from the Internet pictures would be only worth knocking down, had lots of potential.
He told himself people loved the old saltboxes, and he could knock down interior walls to create a more open space, add windows, expand the house toward the rear. But even as he tried to convince himself that, he wondered if part of how charmed Samantha had been with the old place had rubbed off on him. There was no way she was a good enough actress to have pulled off the enraptured look on her face, the light in her eyes, as she had moved from room to room.
But it was probably all a moot point now. He might never get a chance because the little minx sitting beside him, stroking her dog furiously, had done her best to nix the deal.
But he was aware he did not feel furious with Samantha.
More like cautious of her. He had felt something stir in him when she had touched him so possessively, and felt it stir again at an even more powerful and primal level when she had talked about sitting in that living room with a baby at her breast.
Even though she’d clearly been trying to get his goat, the picture had taken on a life of its own inside his mind, and somehow the baby she held had been his.
That, even though he was a man who had never given one single thought to having kids, or to domestic bliss. When he’d been engaged to Bethany he’d been too young to think that far ahead. Bethany had never said a single word about children. He’d been her ticket to Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous , not a ruined figure and responsibility.
But there was something about Samantha Hall that made a man not just think of those things, but yearn after them.
Plus, at tea with the Finkles, when Samantha had stunned him by declaring they needed time to think about it, Ethan felt as if he had
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