A Small-Town Homecoming (17 page)

She arched again, straining for one final, agonizing, glorious moment on the keen edge between anticipation and abandon. And then the world exploded in strobes of sheet lightning and pounding thunder and sensation and Quinn’s hoarse, ragged cry as he tensed and pistoned into her.

Q
UINN LAY
motionless, staring at the shadows rippling across Tess’s ceiling, one arm crooked beneath his head and the other resting across her long, narrow waist. Her hair tickled his chin, but he was afraid to move. Afraid if he did move, she’d stop running her fingernails in teasing circles around one of his nipples, or pull her soft thigh from the top of his, or shift away from his side. Or that she’d climb out of bed and leave him behind in the rumpled spread he’d pulled over them to form an intimate cocoon.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt the comforting weight of another body pressed like this against him, the gentle heat of a woman’s skin against his. Right now, he thought it had to be the best feeling in the world.

Well, the second best, anyway.

“I hope you like overcooked meat and cold potatoes,” Tess said.

“My favorites.”

“Good. That’s what I made for dinner.”

He stroked his hand down her spine. A long, elegant sweep. The womanly flare of hip, the incredible curves beyond. “I’m sure it’s great.”

“Mmm.” She leaned up to press a soft kiss to his cheek. “Like the sex.”

He froze. He hadn’t thought of what they’d shared as sex. He’d been making love to her. Clumsily, perhaps, as eager and impatient as a schoolboy, but with as much affection as he could safely convey.

Anything more would have spelled disaster, for both of them.

He skimmed his fingers up into her hair. “Sex happens to be another of my favorites.”

She sighed and snuggled closer. “I hate to move from this particular spot, but I should be a better hostess and not keep you waiting for your meal.”

“No complaints about the hostess so far.” He moved his hand from her waist to her breast. “I wouldn’t mind skipping dinner and going straight to the dessert course.”

“Tempting.” She rose on one elbow. “I find you very tempting, Quinn.”

“Same goes.”

“I don’t suppose you’d be interested in an affair.”

He should have expected the up-front talk. He should have been grateful she was the one doing the asking—any man in his place would have been thrilled. But her suggestion—and his reaction to it—annoyed him. “I’d be willing to consider it,” he said.

She stilled, and he hoped he hadn’t offended her.

“It’s hard for you, isn’t it?” she asked a few moments later. “With Rosie, I mean.”

Rosie.
He hadn’t given her a thought during the past hour. And now that she was suddenly there again, between them, he wanted to share her with Tess.

His daughter had been full of Tess on the drive to the party. Where Tess had taken her shopping, what Tess had said about her hair, how Tess had dropped hints
about her wardrobe, why Tess had suggested the charm bracelet for Alana’s gift.

He wanted to ask Tess whether she thought Rosie would like a similar bracelet for a Christmas present. He wanted to know if she liked his daughter. If she thought she might find a way to someday, somehow, care for Rosie.

If there was going to be two women in his life, it would be damn difficult to keep them separate. He didn’t want his daughter to be just another item to consider when discussing the logistics of a love affair. But if they were going to have an affair—and he desperately wanted to—the subject of Rosie was bound to come up.

He sighed with a mix of confusion and guilt. “Single fatherhood does tend to complicate things. Not that I’ve had all that many offers for an affair lately.”

“We can figure something out, I suppose.” Tess stood and righted her lamp on a bedside table. “If you want to.”

“Tess.” He sat up, extended a hand and waited until she placed hers into it. And then he tugged her down on the bed, cupped her chin and pressed a sweet, gentle kiss to her mouth. “I want you. More than ever.”

Her fingers circled his wrist. “Same goes.”

S
HORTLY AFTER
six the following morning, Quinn awoke in Tess’s bed, his empty stomach complaining loudly. He stole a few minutes to stare at his lover, enjoying the sweep of her dark lashes over her curvy cheeks and the swell of her plump lower lip. In sleep, her features softened and relaxed, she looked younger, nearly delicate.

More beautiful than ever, and he hadn’t thought that was possible.

His stomach rumbled again, and he eased from the bed, stepped into his jeans, slipped from her room and wandered through her house in search of the kitchen.

He’d made it as far as her bathroom last night, where they’d stumbled, laughing, to make love in her deep, cast-iron tub. And she’d escaped from his arms temporarily to tend to the remains of her dinner and carry crackers and cheese back to the bed for a midnight picnic on the sheets. But he’d been focused completely on her, and he hadn’t noticed his surroundings.

Now, in the soft light of an early summer morning, her choices of paint and pattern hammered at his senses. A riot of jewel-bright colors burst from the French impressionist prints on her walls to flood her rooms with light and life. Flowers burst from vases and scented the rooms, and piles of fat pillows beckoned with promises of comfortable seating on curvy sofas and chairs. Sassy, whimsical touches—the orange glass crab crouching on a stack of books, the sad-eyed iron hound guarding a doorway—kept things casual.

Her personality enveloped him, and he stood silently and let it soak in like the sunshine beyond her windows.

He’d missed out on a good dinner, he discovered when he walked into her sunflower-yellow kitchen, saw the scraped pots and pans and caught a whiff of the lingering odors. And it appeared he’d miss out on breakfast, too, he discovered after checking her refrigerator and pantry.

He supposed he could run to the store for some cereal. His turn to do the cooking. He could bring her one of those candy-flavored coffees she drank by the gallon.

And he could detour past Tidewaters, check out the
site. Especially since he’d be making a late start on the job this morning.

If he got lucky, he wouldn’t be starting the morning’s chores until the afternoon.

Q
UINN NOTICED
the jagged tear in the southern stretch of fencing at the job site before he’d completed his turn into the street.

And he smelled the leak before he spied the ugly edges of the cut lines. The stink of it hung in the air, heavy and sour, making his gut clench even before he’d spied the ominous stain spread over the damp ground. Hydraulic fluid. Gallons of it, he imagined, emptying from the tool carrier’s tubes. And exactly how much this latest criminal assault on his equipment would cost in dollars and delays, he couldn’t begin to imagine.

Rage roared through him, obliterating the spiraling despair before it could swamp him and take him down. He muttered a vicious curse as he tugged his phone from his pocket and hit an automatic-dial button. “Tess. Get down here.”

She agreed and disconnected without asking any questions, and he was grateful she’d chosen not to press him for more information.

He squatted on his heels and stared at the ground beneath the tool carrier, careful to keep a safe distance from the edge of the spill. Whoever had done this had known exactly what to do, precisely how to deliver the most damage with the least effort. Quick, neat, efficient. Disable a vital piece of equipment. Tear up the site. Tie up the project for weeks—maybe months—during the cleanup. A cleanup that could cost hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of dollars. Guarantee
headlines that could turn public opinion against Tidewaters before it opened.

Rising, he stared at the shifting ripples of the bay. And then he stooped to grab a fist-size stone and pitched it with all his might and all his frustration and all his fury into the gunmetal-gray water.

T
ESS SIPPED
her drive-through coffee, curling her hands around the hot cup and wishing the warmth of the drink could banish the icy dread layered beneath her skin.

A few yards away, Quinn huddled with the men who’d arrived in the police cruiser and the city vehicle and the county van and the state Department of Fish and Game truck. She had no idea how much longer they’d stand there, gesturing and making notes on clipboards. Or how much longer she’d have to wait for their decisions about Tidewaters’ future.

Overhead, gulls swooped and jeered, their harsh voices grating on her nerves. Everything seemed brittle and cold this morning, although the sun was erasing the last of the morning mist ahead of schedule and the temperature was inching toward midsummer range.

She’d been so warm, so cozily content and relaxed a few hours ago, snuggled deep in her soft bed and wrapped tight in Quinn’s embrace. So filled with drowsy what-ifs and dreamy plans, concerned with nothing more important than where to go for coffee and whether Quinn liked his eggs poached or scrambled.

She and Quinn should be in bed together right now, she thought with a pang of regret, scattering pastry
crumbs in her sheets as they refueled for another session of lovemaking. Yet that lovely, soft-focus image seemed to blur and distort, as if she viewed it through a long, warped tunnel. At this moment, in this place, with the heavy odor of the spill tainting the sea air, the intimacies and whispers of last night seemed to have taken place years in the past.

Now she watched her lover prowl a wide perimeter around his vandalized equipment. His face was taut with worry and his eyes shadowed as he listened to the engineer from En-Tech. Were there signs of seepage near the southwest corner? They weren’t discussing tearing down that bearing wall and digging out the foundation, were they?

She turned and stared at the building—their beautiful, wonderful building. Its pristine skeleton and patches of plywood skin, bright with promise in the sunlight, stood solid and secure a safe distance from the ugly smear on the ground.

It was a safe distance, wasn’t it?

Quinn left the group behind and strode past her, headed toward his office trailer. “How are you doing?” he asked in a gruff, tight voice.

“Just for the record,” she answered as she sipped at her drink, “I don’t do mornings.”

He paused, and a corner of his mouth lifted in the ghost of a smile. “Just for the record, it doesn’t matter.” And then he climbed the trailer steps and closed the door.

She could follow him. She could badger and pester and pry some more information out of him. He should have some more for her by now, considering how long
he’d been in conference with the others. But she knew tests would have to be run, estimates made.

And she was afraid to learn the answers to her questions.

Geneva exited the Tidewaters building and slowly picked her way over the uneven ground to join Tess near the trailer. She glanced at her watch. “How much longer do you think this will take? I told Maudie I’d meet her for brunch today. We have wedding plans to discuss.”

“Can you cancel?” Tess sipped again and then tugged her sweater around her middle and rubbed one hand along one arm. “I’m sure Maudie would understand.”

“I don’t see the need for all three of us to stay. And it appears that Quinn has matters under control.” Geneva frowned as a voice crackled over the radio in the nearby patrol car. “As much as any of this can be under control, at any rate. Disgusting,” she muttered. “Beyond contempt.”

Tess shivered. “He can’t stay. He’ll need to pick up his daughter soon.”

“Is she home alone?”

“No. She’s at an overnight party.”

“Couldn’t he arrange for someone else to do it?” Geneva asked. “Couldn’t you, perhaps?”

“No. He should be there for her. It’s important for Rosie to—” Tess knew she’d said too much when her grandmother aimed a sharp, assessing look in her direction. “It’s important,” she finished lamely.

“I don’t know whether to be pleased or dismayed that you’re taking such an interest in your general contractor’s personal life.”

“He’s not my contractor—he’s yours. And don’t trouble yourself on my account. Or his.” Tess set her cup
on her car’s hood and shoved her hands into her sweater pockets. “It probably won’t last long.”

“No. It seems these things never do.” Geneva held out her hand. “Loan me your phone, please, Tess dear, so I can arrange a later date with Maudie.”

Geneva took the phone and wandered toward her car for some privacy, and Tess scowled and hunched her shoulders. She hated the way Mémère could make her feel as if she were five years old and covered with incriminating cookie crumbs. She was a grown woman, and if she chose to indulge in an affair, that was her decision to make. There was nothing wrong with enjoying the occasional adult relationship while she was waiting for the right circumstances and the right partner.

When she finally settled into marriage, it would be for all the right reasons—reasons that included the likelihood of financial stability and a suitably sophisticated groom. Someone who’d be a perfect match for her, in style and sensibilities. With no children thrown into the bargain. Getting used to having a man in her life would be tough enough without tripping over a smart-mouthed kid.

And if she was feeling a little wistful about the idea of Quinn going off by himself to pick up Rosie and hear all about the party…well, that was just part of the normal morning-after sentiment that was sometimes a by-product of the night before. It happened. Sometimes. Sort of.

Okay, not like this, maybe, but it was to be expected. It had been a long time since her last lover, and Quinn had been…exceptional.

She snapped out of her daydreamy mood as a green compact edged through the gate. “Shit.”

Geneva returned the phone and nodded toward the approaching car. “Is that who I think it is?” she asked.

“It is if you think it’s that Channel Six weasel Gregorio.”

“I’m glad I stayed.” Grandmère straightened and donned her regal attitude. “I believe I have a few things to say this morning, if Mr. Gregorio will be so kind as to listen. On the record,” she added with a frosty smile.

G
ENEVA SET ASIDE
Monday’s edition of
The Cove Press
when Quinn walked into the Crescent Inn. He spoke to the cashier, nodded at her response and then strode down the aisle in Geneva’s direction. Tall, athletic, purposeful—a rugged, good-looking man, a man who never asked more of his employees than he was willing to do himself. Very much like her own husband when she’d first met him, Geneva mused as he neared her table. “Good morning, Quinn.”

“Good morning.” He slid into the booth opposite her and murmured his thanks as he took the menu from Missy. “Thank you for meeting me this early,” he told Geneva. “I seem to be making a habit of disturbing your mornings lately.”

“I’m an early riser, and not much disturbs my sleep at my age.”

She gave Missy her order and waited for Quinn to give his. After Missy had filled his coffee cup and left to see to the needs of another group across the room, Geneva leaned forward. “Let me begin our discussion by informing you that I intend to keep you on as my general contractor at Tidewaters. And that I also intend to see that building finished as my granddaughter designed it, no matter how long it takes or how much it costs.”

“It might cost everything you’ve got.”

She smiled tightly. “I have a great deal.”

He settled against the booth’s cushioned seat. “My insurer is getting nervous about my coverage. I can’t promise I’ll be able to keep my certificate.”

“Which means the bank will withdraw its part in the financing.” Geneva raised her cup to sip her tea. “And I’ll be left to fund the entire project.”

“That’s a huge risk, considering what’s happened so far.” Quinn stared out the window. “I don’t know if I can accept your offer.”

“You’ve already done so. I have a contract proving it.”

“I guaranteed a certificate of insurance as part of that agreement.”

Geneva lowered her cup to its saucer. “I choose to ignore that clause.”

One corner of Quinn’s mouth quirked in one of his fleeting half grins. “Makes me a bit hesitant to continue working with someone who can choose to ignore the fine print on a contract when it pleases her.”

Geneva relaxed back in her seat, enjoying their exchange in spite of the circumstances. “You should learn to take advantage of a weakness or an opportunity when it presents itself.”

“Maybe I’m hesitant to do that, too,” he said, “considering my history of being the party with the weaknesses and lost opportunities.”

“Misplaced honor, Mr. Quinn?”

“Just Quinn. And yes, I misplaced my honor a long time ago.”

They exchanged mild, understanding smiles as Missy brought their breakfasts. His troubles hadn’t diminished his appetite, Geneva was relieved to notice.

“I’ve asked my investigator to speak with Reed Oberman,” she said when Missy had left.

“What information does he have for the police?”

“Not much. But he does have a witness.”

“To the vandalism?”

“To some suspicious activity.” Geneva sipped her orange juice. “However, this witness isn’t the most reliable source. It’s the gentleman who spends so much of his time on the docks, fishing. Ed Morton.”

“I know Ed. He may be a little strange, but I’ve never known him to rant or hallucinate.” Quinn frowned. “Still, it doesn’t help our case when the only witness so far is known to most people in the Cove as Crazy Ed.”

“No, it doesn’t. But I’m inclined to believe Ed, considering the way the information was obtained.” Geneva glanced beyond Quinn’s shoulder at the rest of the room, checking to make sure she wouldn’t be overheard. “The investigator was very careful not to ask any leading questions. There wasn’t much Ed could tell him, but he did say he’s seen a blue truck near the site, late in the evening.”

“How late?”

“After midnight.”

“After midnight it’s too dark to tell what color a truck is,” Quinn pointed out.

“Ed said there’s a very distinctive sticker on the rear fender.” Geneva leaned forward. “Do you know of anyone who drives a blue pickup truck?”

“Yeah.” Quinn’s eyes narrowed. “I do.”

“Does this person have any motive for sabotaging Tidewaters?”

“I thought so, at first, but now…” Quinn shook his head. “The spill doesn’t fit. It doesn’t help him, not the way he was looking for help. And he’s not smart enough to figure out something like that on his own.”

“Are you saying he might have been responsible for the first two incidents?”

“I’ve never considered the damage to the backhoe to be anything other than criminal mischief. Guess I should reconsider.” He gave her a hard look. “But I’ve always had my own suspicions about how Ned got hurt.”

“I’ll arrange for you to meet with my investigator.”

Geneva chatted pleasantly with Missy for a few minutes when the young woman returned to ask if their breakfasts were satisfactory, and she chose to maintain the same conversational tone when Missy had left. “How is your daughter?” she asked Quinn.

“Looking forward to the start of summer vacation.” He forked up a piece of waffle. “Friday is the last day of school. I haven’t figured out yet what to do with her. She keeps insisting she’s old enough to stay by herself, and I know she’s right, but not in this case.”

“How old is she?”

“Ten.”

“Ah, yes. I recall that age. Too old for a babysitter, but not old enough to be without supervision for an extended period of time.” Geneva smiled. “Parenthood is never easy, particularly when it’s done alone.”

“My wife never complained,” he said.

Geneva admired his attempt at fairness. “Your ex-wife,” she clarified.

“Yes.”

“I heard she’s in Oregon.”

“That’s right.”

“And yet Rosie is with you.”

“It’s my turn.”

“To avoid complaining,” Geneva said as she lifted her tea for another sip.

“I’m lucky to have my daughter with me,” he said. “I intend to keep her.”

“In spite of the fine print?”

He leveled a bland gaze across the table, and Geneva knew she’d stepped into dangerous territory. “We were discussing,” she said, “the difficulties of keeping her supervised during the summer. Have you looked into any educational programs or camps?”

“No.”

“Have you asked Tess for help?”

His gaze sharpened. “Why would I ask her?”

“Because she might know of something,” Geneva said casually. “I understand she’s recently spent some time in the Adams Elementary School office.”

His face lit with amusement. “Yes, she has.”

“She seems quite fond of your daughter.”

The amusement faded. “I suppose so.”

“Have you asked her?”

“We don’t discuss Rosie.”

“Perhaps you should,” Geneva said. “My granddaughter may surprise you, Quinn.”

“She already has,” he said with an unreadable expression.

“Good.” Geneva lifted her napkin to her mouth. “I believe that’s all I wanted to discuss with you today. If you’ll excuse me…”

He rose as she exited the booth, and they exchanged polite goodbyes. She noticed, as she drove away, that he was still sitting in the booth, staring out the window.

The man had a great deal on his mind. Tess alone was enough to make any man sit and stare, pondering, for quite a long while.