LITMIR.BIZ

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about coffee?”

      It was much too early for anything stronger. He could only hope a strong shot of caffeine would clear his uncharacteristically cloudy head.

      Kinley nodded and moved toward the door. “Join me in the dining room whenever you’re ready. We’ll have coffee, then take that tour I promised.”

      “I’ll be right down.” Maybe he’d splash a little cold water on his face first.

      * * *

      “Where is he?” Bonnie asked in an exaggerated whisper as soon as Kinley came downstairs. She had found her sister lurking in the foyer, presumably ready to duck out of sight into the kitchen if Dan had accompanied Kinley down. None of the other guests were around at the moment.

      Keeping her own voice low, Kinley replied, “He’ll be down in a few minutes for coffee and a tour. Fresh coffee ready?”

      Bonnie nodded. “I warmed some of the leftover breakfast pastries, too, in case he wants a snack.”

      Kinley gave her a thumbs-up sign of approval.

      “Can you believe he showed up this morning, of all days?” Bonnie shook her head in dismay. “He couldn’t have timed his arrival more inconveniently if he’d tried.”

      “No kidding,” Kinley murmured with a grimace. “A broken post and a sagging portico is hardly the first impression I wanted him to get of the inn. Not to mention that I’m going to have to rearrange my whole schedule now to work him into it today.”

      “Logan promised it wouldn’t take long to fix the front. He said most of it would be done by the end of today, by noon tomorrow for sure.”

      Kinley focused on the smartphone in her hand, on which she was busily making notes and rearranging scheduled time blocks. “I hope he’s right.”

      Bonnie looked toward the staircase again. “You couldn’t have been more wrong in predicting what the travel writer would look like, by the way. He’s, like, the opposite of an older man in a bow tie.”

      Without looking up from her phone, Kinley gave a short laugh. “Yeah, I noticed.”

      Bonnie flashed a grin. “I thought you might have. He certainly seemed to notice you.”

      Remembering that moment when her eyes had met Dan’s upstairs, Kinley cleared her throat. Okay, so maybe there’d been a moment of awareness. For a couple of heartbeats, she’d been tempted to give him a sultry smile, toss her hair, maybe flutter her lashes a bit—the standard signs that a woman was interested. Or at least, as best she could remember. It had been so long since she’d flirted with anyone that she wasn’t entirely sure she still knew how. She had let the opportunity pass, both because it would have been totally unprofessional of her to flirt with a guest of the inn, and because of her vested interest in the review he would write.

      Before she could respond to her sister’s teasing, a noise from the stairway alerted her that the subject of their conversation was on his way down. She gave Bonnie a quick look of warning, then turned with a bright smile to greet Dan as he joined them. She’d hoped a few minutes away from him would have gotten her past that initial jolt of attraction, but seeing him bounding lightly down the stairs made her breath catch again. Something about this good-looking guy just got to her in a way no one else had in—well, longer than she could remember.

      He carried a small black bag that probably held a camera, reminding her of why he was here. She mentally crossed her fingers that the noises drifting in from outside meant her brother was already busily restoring the front of the inn. Surely Dan would be content to take shots of the other areas of the inn until the front was picture-perfect again.

      Sliding her phone into her pocket, she motioned toward the dining room. “Bonnie just told me she has a fresh pot of coffee and some pastries set out for us.”

      He nodded. “Sounds great.”

      As she accompanied him and her sister into the other room, Kinley smiled somewhat smugly. Bonnie’s pastries were locally renowned, one frequent guest going so far as to term them “heaven on a plate.” Dan already seemed impressed by his suite. After tasting her sister’s coffee and pastries, followed by a carefully guided tour of the place, he would undoubtedly be convinced that the inn deserved a glowing write-up.

      From this point on, she was going to make sure his only impressions were positive ones. Just as she would make sure to keep her unexpected attraction to him under firm control. She’d had much more luck with business than with romance in the past, and she would do well to keep that in mind when it came to her dealings with this sexy writer.

      Chapter Two

      Kinley and Dan had just been seated at a window table with their coffee and a plate of pastries when a tall, broad-shouldered woman barged through the side door, followed by a younger, smaller woman and a preschool-age boy. With a slight wince, Kinley recognized the older woman as Eva Sossaman, the mother of the weekend’s bride-to-be, Serena Sossaman, who looked embarrassed as she trailed after her fuming mom.

      “There you are.” Eva pointed a finger accusingly at Kinley. “I need to lodge a complaint about the condition of the inn.”

      Of course she did. All too aware of Dan sitting there watching, Kinley rose to deal with the notoriously difficult client. Maybe she’d jinxed herself when she’d wondered what else could go wrong today. Considering how many hours remained until bedtime, she didn’t even want to think about the answer to that mental question.

      She called on all her professional training to greet the indignant client with a cheery smile. “Good morning, Eva. And Serena. What can we do for you?”

      “We came to take some photographs for Serena’s wedding book,” Eva replied firmly. In all Kinley’s meetings with them since booking the wedding several months earlier, Eva had almost always been the one to speak up while Serena had pretty much acquiesced to her mother’s wishes. “We just saw the front of the inn and we are appalled. Surely you don’t expect our guests to be greeted by that mess outside.”

      “There was a small accident this morning, but my brother is working on repairs now,” Kinley assured her. “He promised me that everything will be in place for the wedding. Your guests won’t even know what happened by the time they arrive Saturday.”

      “I hope you’re right,” Eva snapped. “We’ve told everyone that the wedding venue is worthy of Serena’s wedding and I would hate to be proven wrong.”

      “You won’t be,” Bonnie said, moving to stand closer to Kinley. “Everything is absolutely on track for the wedding and our brother will make sure the grounds are ready. Even the weather forecasts are perfect, which is always a gamble this time of year. Serena’s wedding is going to be beautiful.”

      “Ladies, I’d like to introduce you to Dan Phelan,” Kinley said before Eva could voice any more complaints. “Dan is the writer for Modern South who contacted you about observing your wedding, Serena. Dan, this is our bride-to-be, Serena Sossaman and her mother, Eva.”

      Eva’s scowl transformed immediately into a beaming smile, as Kinley had hoped it might. Barely giving Serena a chance to murmur a nice-to-meet-you, she nudged her daughter aside and offered her right hand to Dan in a regal gesture. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Phelan. We’re delighted to have you as a guest at my daughter’s wedding. I know you’ll write a lovely story about it. We’ve worked very hard for the past year planning every detail.”

      Dan shook her hand only long enough for civility, though his tone was cordial enough. “I’m sure the wedding will be beautiful. But you should understand that I’m here to write about the inn and other local attractions, and why future couples would want to book events here. I’ll use your daughter’s wedding only as an example of the services offered here.”

      A loud thump from the table made everyone turn instinctively to look. Eva’s almost-five-year-old grandson had helped himself to a pastry from the plate and was

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