LITMIR.BIZ

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      Beck was flushed and disheveled, still in a trance. “Who’s Dana?”

      “My best friend!”

      Caught up in her panic, he cried, “I don’t know! Tell her the truth!”

      While they eyed one another with frenzied uncertainty, the message played on. “Rainey? Are you there? If you’re there, pick up, sweetie. Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you. I was away at a conference and—”

      “But what is the truth?” Rainey pleaded.

      “Tell her you got married this afternoon.”

      “I can’t do that! She’ll think I’ve gone mad!”

      Calmer suddenly, Beck folded his arms and declared, “Well now, that is pretty close to the truth, isn’t it?”

      Her hand still hovering above the receiver, Rainey made a sour face at him. Arghhh! Obviously she should have thought this through a little better. Trevor she definitely planned to tell about the marriage. But what about the others? In her rush to make her ex jealous, she hadn’t paused to consider that, sooner or later, everyone would have to be told about the ludicrous pact she and Beck had struck. Her mom, her dad, her best friend. Everyone!

      Oh, dear. It would have to be later. She just couldn’t deal with it right now.

      “Anyway, sweetie, it’s obvious that you’re not there,” Dana said as Rainey stared helplessly at the machine. “Call me when you get the chance. I miss you. Bye now.”

      The machine clicked off and Rainey looked at Beck. He was grinning. “When at first we do deceive…”

      “You’re not being very helpful!”

      “And you’re not being very realistic. Call her back. Tell her the truth.”

      “I can’t. Not—not yet, anyway.”

      Beck shrugged. “It’s your call, so to speak.” With that, he went into the bedroom and retrieved the suitcases. On his way back, he paused in the kitchen doorway. “I’ll meet you in the car. Call her, Rainey. Call her right now.”

      After the apartment door clicked shut, Rainey took several deep breaths to calm herself and dialed her old friend’s number. Dana picked up after the first ring and sang a cheerful hello.

      “Dana!” Rainey practically shrieked. Oh, dear, she had to get a grip. This was going to be hard enough.

      “Sweetie! How are you? I miss you so much.”

      “I’m fine. Terrific, really. I’m—I’m sort of in the middle of something right now, and I can’t talk for long. I just wanted to let you know that I’m okay.” Actually, I just married a perfect stranger. But don’t worry, I’m fine.

      “I’m so glad to hear it. I won’t keep you. I just…Rainey, there’s something I…”

      “Dana,” Rainey interrupted, “I’m moving. Today. To a house.”

      “Really? Why? I thought you had an apartment at the inn.”

      “I do. Er, I did. It’s kind of a long story. And, ah, I’m going to have a—a roommate!”

      “You’re kidding. Boy roommate or girl roommate?”

      “Boy. His name is Beck Mahoney. He works here at the inn. He’s a masseuse.”

      “A masseuse. How convenient. Is he cute?”

      Despite everything, Rainey laughed. “Oh, yeah. He’s cute, all right.” He’s a hunk, Dana. You have no idea.

      “What’s your new number?”

      Rainey recited the number. As Dana was jotting it down, she glanced anxiously out the window and spotted Beck putting her suitcases into the trunk of the Fairlane.

      “Listen, Dana, I really have to run. He’s waiting for me.”

      “Okay, okay. It’s just that…there’s something I really want to talk to you about. In fact, I was thinking about coming out there.”

      Coming out here? Oh, no! “Dana, that’s not a good idea. Not right now. I’ve hardly had time to get settled. My new job, this move, honestly, everything is crazy right now.”

      There was a brief pause. “Ah, sure. I can come out later, I guess.”

      Was it Rainey’s imagination, or did her old friend sound a little anxious? Maybe even frightened. They knew each other through and through. Oh, well, whatever was troubling Dana, it would just have to wait. “Can I call you later, Dana? Honestly, I’m rushed.”

      “Okay, I give. Take care, sweetie. And do call me.”

      Rainey promised she would.

      After hanging up, she took a few moments to gather her wits, then took one last look around the apartment. She would be seeing it again, but not like this. Soon, Lilly’s things would be cleared out and the renovation would begin. This felt like goodbye.

      Her whole life was starting to feel like that.

      RAINEY GASPED. “Beck Mahoney, you call this a cottage!”

      “Well, it was a cottage, originally. I’ve added a little space to it over the years.”

      A little space? Rainey couldn’t believe her eyes. All along she had pictured a cozy cabin with two rooms and a thatched roof. Something Goldilocks and the Three Bears might inhabit. This was a house and a half.

      Laughing with delight, she scrambled out of the Fairlane and gazed up at it with awe. It was a two-storey mansion of Laurentian design, similar in many ways to the inn. Built of cedar and stone, with tall windows and steeply pitched gables, it easily competed for glory with the tall, ancient spruce trees surrounding it.

      The trees swayed gently in the wind, birds chirping from within the depths of their wide, sweeping branches. Casting her eyes downward, Rainey spied a rabbit, half white, half brown, making haste to evade the sudden intruders.

      “So what do you think?” Beck asked, his voice full of pride.

      “I can’t wait to see it!” Rainey cried with a little more enthusiasm than was appropriate under the circumstances. She glanced nervously at Beck, but he, too, was looking at the house with awe. Rainey understood now why he couldn’t risk losing it. It was everything to him. In a way, it was the love of his life.

      On the ride here, he had been strangely quiet. Shy, almost. He seemed stunned. Blown away, Rainey assumed, by the fiery passion that had welled up between them this afternoon. Heaven knew she was surprised.

      Could two people with practically nothing in common get caught up in the throes of a physical attraction so powerful it rendered them both deaf, dumb and blind? Sure they found each other attractive. But Beck was the hunk of the century; that was Rainey’s explanation. What was his? He had more women than Carter’s had pills. Surely there was nothing special about her?

      Oh, boy. Beck’s women. Now there was a problem she hadn’t even considered.

      “Let’s go in,” he suggested, breaking into her thoughts. Inside, the house was even more impressive than outside. The living room soared to the full height of the structure, along with the massive stone fireplace that formed its magnificent centerpiece. Overlooking the living room was a big, open kitchen with stainless steel appliances and a generous work island. Behind it, Rainey found two small bedrooms, a laundry room and a half bathroom. Beck was using one of the bedrooms as a store room, the other as an office.

      Looking around, she saw that most of the furniture was old and cheesy. Real guy stuff. A retro, plaid sofa. Mismatched chairs. A wobbly kitchen table that looked like it had been salvaged from a junkyard. The wagon wheel coffee table was just about the ugliest thing she had ever seen. Men. Honestly.

      “Your room is upstairs,” Beck said. “Across from mine.”

      Rainey

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