LITMIR.BIZ

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yard. Annabel caught sight of them and trotted awkwardly across the lawn, gazing up at them with wretched appeal.

      “She looks even fatter up close,” the man said, bending to pet her.

      Gina watched, liking the way he caressed the dog. His hands looked strong and competent, but very gentle. She realized she was staring and turned away quickly to cross the yard, heading for the shaded flagstone terrace.

      “Is all the landscaping authentic Victorian, too?” he asked.

      “Most of it. Lady Edgewood had a lot of shrubs brought over from Scotland, and they do quite well in this climate. There’s even some heather growing on the slope up there. Of course, I’ve added other perennials, and Mary has a big garden that provides most of our vegetables during the summer. And we make all our own jams and preserves.”

      “Enchanting,” Alex Colton said sincerely, looking around at the shimmering lake, the blue-shadowed mountains on both sides of the valley and the roofs of the little town of Azure Bay in the distance. “Really beautiful. I think this summer is going to be good for us.”

      Gina watched him, struck by the sadness in his face. He looked utterly worn-out, she thought with a rush of sympathy, despite his obvious physical strength.

      “I was sure,” she muttered, rummaging in the pocket of her shorts, “I had a master key somewhere. Now what did I…”

      Gina felt a growing embarrassment as he watched her place the contents of her pockets, item by item, on a stone retaining wall. There were two polished stones that she’d found on the beach that morning after her swim, as well as a piece of flint that could possibly be a chipped arrowhead, and a length of bent wire she planned to use on the shed door until Roger could find a lock.

      But the key didn’t emerge. She went on lining things up on the wall, ignoring his amused glance.

      A lottery ticket she hadn’t found the time to check on yet, two feathers, a recipe for peach chutney jotted on a table napkin, a couple of pieces of toffee wrapped in gold foil, a tiny plastic replica of Batman, a pocketknife with a wooden handle, a miniature compass in a gold case—

      “A compass!” he exclaimed, picking up the little object. “Does it work?”

      “Of course,” Gina said briskly. “Ah, here’s the key,” she said in relief, sweeping the other things back into her pockets.

      “Why do you carry a compass?”

      “You never know when you might get lost in the woods around here. A compass is a really handy thing to have.”

      His eyes sparkled. “You’re just like a ten-year-old boy. Pockets full of interesting stuff. I like that, Miss Mitchell.”

      He handed Gina the compass and she returned it to her pocket, trying hard to look like the mature and professional manager of a successful business. But it had been so unnerving to have him examining that row of objects.

      She resolved to clean out all the junk from her pockets as soon as Alex Colton left and to try harder in future to refrain from picking up every interesting thing that caught her eye.

      “Is the patio room occupied at the moment?” Colton asked. “I’d hate to barge in on somebody.”

      Gina shook her head. “There was a couple here for two days, but they left yesterday morning. I’m afraid they complained to Roger that Annabel was making a lot of noise,” she added.

      “Steffi is going to love Annabel,” Colton said with a fleeting grin. “Although,” he added, “there’s a very real danger she might be tempted to sneak some food to the poor thing.”

      “Oh, goodness, I hope not.” Gina unlocked the door. “Roger does that all the time. Mary gets very upset with him.”

      “I think,” he repeated, following her into the room, “I’m really going to like this place.”

      He was immediately charmed by the patio room, which had a curtained window seat, a walk-in closet and a small en suite bathroom.

      “Perfect,” he declared. “I’ll take this room, as well as the gold room, all right?”

      “You haven’t even asked about the price,” Gina said, leading the way back into the yard.

      “I’m sure you’ll be fair.”

      Gina paused by the retaining wall and looked up at him. “How can you be sure of that?”

      He hoisted himself onto the stone ledge and smiled at her. “Because you carry feathers and a compass in your pocket.”

      She hesitated, feeling awkward.

      “Sit here with me, Miss Mitchell,” he said, patting the sun-warmed stone beside him. “I do have a few more questions about the hotel.”

      “Gina,” she said automatically, settling on the ledge a couple of feet away from him. “We’re all on a first-name basis here.”

      “Gina,” he repeated. “And I’m Alex.”

      He extended his hand. She shook it, pleased by the strength of his grip.

      “It’s nice to meet you, Alex,” she said formally. “I hope you’ll enjoy your stay at Edgewood Manor.”

      “Yes,” he said, leaning back, his hands braced against the stone. “So do I. We could certainly use a holiday.”

      He closed his eyes in the sunlight. Gina stole a glance at him, once again struck by his look of strain and weariness.

      “When will you be arriving?” she asked.

      “On the first of July, right at the beginning of the long weekend. I’ll book both rooms for all of July and August, but Steffi might choose to visit a school friend for the first week or two of July, so she’ll arrive later than I do.”

      “I see.” Gina wondered why he didn’t say “we.” Maybe his wife would also be staying home until their daughter was ready to travel to Azure Bay. But it seemed odd that he would come by himself, ahead of his family.

      “What’s the daily routine here?” he asked, bending to pet Annabel again as she huddled by their feet, nibbling one of her paws disconsolately.

      “Well, there aren’t any rules. We serve breakfast at eight o’clock, and Mary leaves fruit and baked goods in the dining room all day for guests who like to nibble. Tea is set out in the library from about four o’clock on. Guests are welcome to build a fire in the drawing room or the library on chilly nights and go anywhere on the property that’s not marked exclusively for staff.”

      “How large a staff do you have?”

      “Mostly just Mary and Roger and me. But in July and August, our busiest months, I also hire a couple of college girls from town to help out.”

      “What about the evening meal?” Alex asked.

      “The staff eats here, but we don’t serve anything to the guests. They usually choose to walk or drive into town for dinner. It’s less than half a mile, and there are several restaurants catering to tourists, including a really good seafood place. They also have a Chinese restaurant and a pizza place that both deliver, if you prefer to stay and eat at the hotel.”

      “Sounds great.” He glanced up at the vine-covered facade of the old mansion’s other wing. “Can we see the room where you were working from here?”

      Gina pointed. “The gold room’s that second-floor balcony up there under the dormer.”

      Alex squinted into the sunlight. “Ah, yes. Would there be an electrical outlet on the balcony?”

      “No, but there’s an outlet just inside the door. I particularly remember,” she added, “because I had to take the plate off today to paper around it.”

      “Good. I’ll probably work out there most days if the weather’s nice.”

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