Her Charming Heartbreaker (10 page)

“Think about what you
want and don’t worry how others will feel or whether or not they’ll
support you.” Her grandmother stood up. “By tomorrow morning you
might have a different outlook. Who knows what you’ll dream about
tonight?”

What if she dreamed of
something she knew she couldn’t have?

“Meanwhile, keep a
happy thought and assume everything will sort itself out.”

* * *

Theo set his menu down
and looked up at Joyce. “What do you mean I’m banned?”

“This is a friendly
establishment and we reserve the right to be selective.”

“Since when?” He sat
back and folded his arms across his chest. “I had no trouble being
served yesterday.”

“It’s a new rule and I
wasn’t here to enforce it yesterday.”

“Are you saying I don’t
meet the criteria?”

Joyce tilted her head
as if in thought. “Nope.”

“Since when? I’ve been
cordial. Approachable. Agreeable. I put myself at your disposal,
letting you have fun at my expense.”

“You’ve been
tight-lipped.”

“That’s it? My need for
privacy breached your conditions of entry, which by the way, are
not displayed anywhere. I’m sure there’s a law stating the
requirement—”

“If you have any
grievances, then I suggest you take them up with management.” Joyce
looked around the cafe, and then turned back to him, the edge of
her lip lifted. “Oh, I guess that’ll be me.”

“So who else is on this
blacklist?”

“So far, only you.”

He brushed his hand
across his chin. Clearly, she was having him on. But he’d play
along. “I’ll wait for Eddie. See what she has to say.”

“Harassing other
patrons will incur the wrath of…” she bit the edge of her lip.
“Others.”

“Others? You mean, word
will spread.”

“We look after our
own.”

“You’re serious.” It
had to be some kind of joke. He could easily imagine Eddie and
Joyce concocting this farce in order to have a laugh at his
expense. Pushing him until he broke and he told them everything
they wanted to know. And using his one weakness—the coffee she had
introduced him to—to do it. “I think I’ll wait for Eddie and hear
what she has to say.”

“You don’t know?”

“What?”

“Eddie’s gone.”

* * *

Theo stood outside The
Gloriana looking up at the windows on the top floor. Did he expect
to see Eddie popping her head out the window like some warped
version of a fairy tale or worse, a Shakespearean play?

She hadn’t mentioned
going away. Then again, why would she? They’d had regular
conversations, skimming the surface, never getting too personal.
Yet, since his arrival in Eden he’d been learning more and more
about her. He knew she didn’t have aspirations. And shortly before
he’d come to Eden, she’d had a bad experience with one of the
locals, no doubt resulting in her slightly off game of darts.

He also knew she was
liked by everyone. While he had no doubt she could stand her ground
and hold her own, from the way people at the pub talked about her,
anyone would go to battle for her. Claire Muldoon had given him a
brief rundown on the people who called Eden home and had talked
about Eddie sharing the same generous heart and a strong sense of
community as everyone else.

Joyce banning him for
being tight-lipped couldn’t be a coincidence. It had to be
backlash, he thought wondering if Eddie had confided in Joyce.

He shouldn’t have
kissed her. Even if it had only been an expression of his
gratitude.

The first time, but not
the second...

He’d kissed her deeply,
unleashing, uncoiling a need he hadn’t wanted to admit he’d been
harboring. He was no stranger to lust at first sight, but he’d
never acted on it. Like his father, he enjoyed the build-up of
anticipation, entertaining possibilities, taking one step at a
time. Never rushing. Always savoring.

He’d known she was
trying to move away from a bad chapter in her life. Had he
complicated things for her? Had she read too much into his kiss?
Had he been sending her the wrong signals? Was he kidding himself?
He had to at least own up to the truth. He’d wanted to kiss her
since the first day he’d seen her.

“What are we supposed
to be looking at?”

Theo turned and found
three pairs of eyes looking up at the building. The three Faydon
brothers. Matthew stood with his hands hitched on his hips. Mitch
leaned against Theo’s convertible, his feet crossed at the ankles.
While Markus had his arms crossed and his eyebrows drawn down into
a deep scowl.

“Is someone threatening
to jump off the roof?” Matthew asked.

“I was looking at the
figurehead.” Theo shifted his gaze from one of the windows to the
figurehead of a voluptuous golden haired siren. “It’s an odd
ornament to have in a pub. How did you come by it?”

“Frederick Charles
McIver Faydon sailed The Gloriana from England to Australia back in
the early days of settlement. The ship sunk off the coast, but
eventually he salvaged the figurehead. When he came inland to
settle in Eden, he brought it with him.”

Mitch cleared his
throat. “Rumor has it you moved out of The Gloriana and straight
into Claire Muldoon’s—”

Theo turned toward
Mitch. Their gazes held for long seconds, then Mitch shrugged.

Matthew cleared his
throat. “Mitch actually meant to say you were seen out on the road
kissing Eddie.”

“Don’t tell me. Now I’m
banned from the pub.”

Chapter Eight

“Make up your
mind.”

Eddie sat in her car.
She’d reached the end of her grandmother’s driveway, and now...

Her fingers tapped on
the steering wheel like the tick-tock of a clock measuring another
second of indecision. She watched several cars drive by. Everyone
seemed to know where they were going. “I only need to point in the
direction I want to go.” And she’d be off, somewhere, she didn’t
know where. She’d tried breaking free of her routine by walking out
on everything she knew, but she hadn’t been able to switch off her
thoughts. No matter what she did, she’d never be able to get away
from herself.

“And I shouldn’t need
to run away.” Stay here long enough, she thought, and the world
will come to me. As if to mock her, a car drove past. A bright,
shiny, red convertible.

“What the—”

Theo had left Eden.

He was half way across
an ocean, she didn’t know which one, but it had to be one of the
big ones, putting several time zones and a lifetime’s distance
between them.

She slapped her open
palm against the steering wheel. “No. No. No.”

Checking for traffic,
she gritted her teeth, put her car into gear and the pedal to the
metal. But her little car didn’t have a hope in hell of catching up
with his…

“Pretentious, sleek,
turbo charged—”

She growled her
frustration out of her system, slowing down before she embarrassed
herself by pushing her car too hard and breaking down.

* * *

“Lunch first and then
I’ll drive you over to your friend’s place,” Theo said as he held
the door of The Gloriana opened for Ben.

“Sure, that’d be
great.”

The previous day, the
Faydon brothers had subjected him to a serious, shoot from the hip,
line of questioning requiring yes or no answers. A fair enough
system, Theo had thought. No demands for details. Although, the few
uncertain I-don’t-know answers he’d given them had nearly banned
him from The Gloriana. They’d also deprived him of a few hours
sleep.

If he had the chance,
would he kiss Eddie again?

Too much had been
happening in the last couple of days to know for sure, but once he
saw her again...

Theo brushed his hand
across his face. Joyce had made a point of telling him, in a not so
subtle dramatic way, that Eddie Faydon had left town. It had taken
a bit of doing, with some wrangling thrown in, but in the end she’d
caved in and had explained Eddie had gone to visit her
grandmother.

Yes, but...

Would he kiss her
again?

Mitch had laughed
saying there could only be one answer. While Markus had shaken his
head and had told him the answer had better be no.

“Mom’s having lunch on
the plane, right?”

Theo set aside his
muddled thoughts and smiled down at Ben. “She sure is.” They’d been
up since before the crack of dawn and after an early breakfast,
they’d hit the road driving to Melbourne so that Claire could catch
her flight to L.A. The six-hour round trip had him beat, but Theo
felt too relieved to care. The fact Claire had trusted him to look
after her son still surprised Theo, but he knew it had a lot to do
with how she’d felt… or still felt about Jon Kendrick. Of course,
there was no getting away from the blood is thicker than water
reality. Ben was his brother. They hadn’t told him yet. Claire had
insisted on doing it in her own time, and only after she’d had a
chance to talk to Jon.

Theo had sensed her
nervous excitement and the quivery anticipation as the reality of
what she was doing sunk in.

Mission accomplished.
Finally. The rest was up to his father. He’d either wrap up loose
ends and push for a favorable outcome or learn to live with his
regrets.

Meanwhile, Theo had to
hold the fort and somehow navigate his way around looking after a
nine-year-old boy. He had zero experience with kids so he’d decided
to adopt the better safe than sorry approach. In other words, he’d
think twice before speaking. “You know it’s all right to miss your
mom.”

The young boy threw his
head back and sighed. “We’ve been apart before. I go camping and on
school trips all the time.”

In fact, he had one
coming up and according to the ‘to do’ list Claire had drawn up,
Theo had to make sure Ben had everything packed the night
before.

“Can we sit at the
bar?” Ben asked.

“Um. Sure.”

“Mom never lets
me.”

“Hang on a sec—”

“Only because we always
come here with other people and they like to sit at a table. It’s
all right, she won’t mind.”

Theo had the feeling
he’d been passively manipulated. “Maybe you shouldn’t boast about
it to your mom when she comes back. You know, let it be our little
secret.” He’d kept his voice low, yet he knew he’d been overheard,
like he knew he was being watched. Turning, he met a pair of large
chocolate brown eyes. They bounced from him to Ben. Back and forth,
as if she couldn’t believe her eyes.

Eddie’s expression
shifted from cautious to curious. Then her cheeks turned a deep
shade of crimson and her expression withdrew into a reasonable
impression of nonchalance.

“Hey, Eddie. Mom’s gone
to L.A. She’s on a plane right now. One of the big ones. And she’s
flying first class.”

“And she left you
behind?” she asked, her lips stretched into what looked like a
forced smile.

“She’ll only be gone
for a few days. There wasn’t any time to organize a passport for
me.”

“Where are you
staying?”

Ben shrugged. “Home.
Theo’s sleeping on the couch.”

“The lumpy couch?”

Ben laughed. “Yeah.
Until the new one comes. The couch makes him groan in the
morning.”

“I bet it does.” She
leaned on the counter. “Sorry to do this to you, buddy, but in the
absence of your mother someone has to. Have you washed your
hands?”

Ben rolled his eyes and
threw his head back. Then with a groan, he slid off the barstool
and did his best impersonation of a zombie as he walked toward the
rest rooms.

Eddie turned to
him.

“It’s a long story,”
Theo said in response to her raised eyebrow and unspoken
question.

She cleared her throat,
her eyes zigzagging across his face. “I figured as much. And I’m
guessing you still can’t go into details.”

He wasn’t sure how
Claire would feel about everyone knowing she’d had a fling with Jon
Kendrick all those years ago. Her story to tell, Theo decided and
shook his head. “Claire’s doing a favor for a friend who’s
sick.”

“It must be a very good
friend for Claire to leave her son in your care.” She clamped her
hand over her mouth. “I really should stop that. Sorry. Cross my
heart, I won’t toss any more fishing for information remarks.”

“I’ll forgive you if
you pour me a beer.”

She lifted a finger.
“And that’s your quota for the day since you’ll no doubt be driving
Ben back home.”

“I’ll take what I can
get.”

“It’s like that, is
it?”

“I’m all out at sea and
not sure what I’m doing, so yes, it’s like that. I haven’t spent
much time around kids.”

“Men are only grown up
versions of kids. You’ll be fine. Just do guy things.” She shrugged
and turned her attention to pouring his drink.

“I hear you’ve been
away,” he said.

“And I thought you’d
gone away.” She put her hand up. “Sorry. I’m doing it again.”

She set his beer down
on a coaster and poured some juice for Ben.

“Your meals shouldn’t
be too long.” She turned to leave.

“We haven’t ordered
yet.”

“Ben always has a
burger with the lot. You’re having one too.”

He was?

“And don’t use cutlery.
Eat with your hands. Otherwise Ben will think you’re weird.”

“I didn’t realize I was
seeking his approval.”

“You should be.” Again,
she turned to leave.

“Um. Do you think we
could catch up?” he asked.

She gave him a
noncommittal shrug. “We’re bound to bump into each other if not
here, then at Joyce’s.”

Theo cleared his
throat. “I’m not sure we’ll see each other at the café.”

“Why not? Ben and
Claire always have breakfast there on Sundays. I’m guessing she
wants you to stick to a routine.”