Her Charming Heartbreaker (6 page)

From the corner of her
eye, Eddie saw Theo brush his hand across his chin before keying in
a message. No sooner did he hit send, than Claire Muldoon’s gaze
dropped to her phone.

Okay. That didn’t look
like a coincidence.

But what did it
mean?

Claire had been born
and raised in Eden and apart from a year spent traveling around the
world, she’d always lived in the same house a short distance from
town. There had been a time when Eddie had thought Claire would
leave Eden for good and had wondered what she’d do with the house
which sat on a couple of acres of land with an uninterrupted view
of the mountain ranges and the lake. But apart from a few trips to
Melbourne every now and then, Claire had chosen to make her life
here. In fact, soon after her yearlong trip overseas, she’d started
working at Eden’s one and only hairdressing salon and had
eventually bought out the owner who’d wanted to retire and
travel.

“Don’t take this the
wrong way,” Theo said, “But from now on, I’ll be having my
breakfast here. The coffee is the best I’ve ever had.”

“You’re so polite about
it.”

“And you’re
overwhelmingly cheerful about my news. If I didn’t know better, I’d
say I’ve just made your day.”

She cupped her chin in
her hand and smiled. “You’re all take and no give, so you can keep
guessing.” Eddie held her smile in place. She should have been
overjoyed to hear she wouldn’t have to avoid him in the morning
but, over the last couple of days, they’d made some progress. Now
she wouldn’t mind getting as much Theo time as she could before he
left. Then maybe she’d find out why he was exchanging text messages
with Claire Muldoon.

The thought was drowned
out by another stream of messages.

“Sorry, I wouldn’t
normally do this while I’m with someone…”

“Well, that puts me in
my place. I’m not someone worthy of your full attention,” she said
keeping her tone light even as her stomach dipped. What was that
about, she wondered? It felt like disappointment… or worse.
Anxiety. A fish getting away type of anxiety...

He shook his head. “I’m
sorry, I really need to take care of this. Under different
circumstances, I’d try to postpone it, but it’s the reason for my
trip here and it’s...” he frowned.

“Not going the way you
want it to?”

“I was going to say
time sensitive. And it could be going better, but I guess I’ll have
to bide my time,” he said. “Okay. All done for now.” He set the
phone down and smiled at her.

“Oh, goodie. I have you
all to myself again.”

Chapter Five

“The last customer of
the day just left, so we shouldn’t have any interruptions. I’ll put
the closed sign on the door just to make sure. Come in.”

“Thank you for agreeing
to see me.” Theo strode inside the hairdressing salon before Claire
Muldoon could change her mind, and she looked about ready to do
just that with her arms crossed over her chest and her face set in
granite.

This was a move in the
right direction, a step closer to sealing the deal, he thought
trying to remain in a positive frame of mind. Claire had sent him a
text message suggesting an appropriate meeting place and time. Her
choice, of course. The fact she hadn’t wanted anyone overhearing
their conversation made sense. Insisting they meet at the salon,
however, made him wonder why she was reluctant to meet him in
private. He had expected to visit her at home…

“This will look more
convincing if you get a hair cut,” she said and gestured to one of
the chairs.

“I only recently had
one.”

“No need to look so
worried. I’m qualified—”

“I’m sure you are.”

“Well, it’s either my
way or…”

He sat down. The hard
set of her mouth didn’t bode well. Nor did the fact she’d been
reluctant to speak with him. That rang too many warning bells. He
hoped it didn’t mean she had good reason to not want anything to do
with Jon Kendrick. If she had gone to all this trouble to tell him
face to face…

Never take no for an
answer. Even from a woman about to wield a pair of sharp
scissors.

She stood behind him,
her arms still crossed and pressed against her chest. “I rarely
watch TV so I had no idea Jon had been in an accident.”

It had taken a couple
of text messages to establish that fact. “I was in London when it
happened. At first, it was touch and go. The internal
bleeding—”

She drew in a sharp
breath and rested her hands on his shoulders.

“He’s fine. It’s all
under control now,” Theo assured her.

She appeared to relax,
but only marginally.

“You’re the first
person he asked about.” He hadn’t meant to reveal that fact, not
yet. Not until he knew more about her, but considering how
reluctant she’d been to speak with him, he decided he needed all
the leverage he could get.

Her eyebrows drew down.
“I don’t understand. I met him ten years ago,” she shook her head.
“I’m surprised he still remembers me.”

“He usually stays in
touch with… his friends. Did you have a falling out?”

The hint of a smile
appeared. “Your father’s much too nice for that to ever happen.”
She reached for a comb and tapped it against the palm of her hand.
After a moment, her lips stretched into a sincere smile. “I met him
on the set of one of his movies. It was the chance of a lifetime
for me. A friend works as a make-up artist and needed some help.
The moment I met your father, we clicked. We enjoyed each other’s
company and then it was time for me to come home. I knew what I was
getting into. Jon’s not into long-term relationships.”

True, Theo thought.
Although divorced, his parents had remained friends. They’d been
teenagers when they’d met at acting school. Within a year, his
father had won a major role in a film. Then, within a few months of
that, his mother had fallen pregnant. Marriage had never been on
his parents’ agenda, but they’d both agreed to it for the sake of
their old-fashioned parents...

“You never considered
keeping in touch with him?” he asked.

“I walked away but… I’d
developed feelings for him. Knowing he didn’t do permanent, it
would have done me more harm than good to stay in touch. Let’s face
it, Jon Kendrick is a lovely and considerate man but he is obsessed
with his career.”

Instinct told him to
put everything on the line and not miss his chance. Go for broke.
“He wants to see you, Claire. It would mean a lot if you would go
to him.” If she’d wanted to exploit her relationship with Jon, or
become a hanger on, Theo reasoned, she would have done it long ago.
“How soon can you leave?”

“What?” Her eyebrows
shot up and she shook her head. “I can’t. No, no I can’t do
that.”

* * *

“He’s into older
women.” Eddie drained her glass of champagne and slumped down on
the sofa. Sophie Wright had called an emergency girls’ get-together
to discuss her final wedding plans and they’d all decided to meet
at the pub. When she’d seen Sophie arrive with a box full of cakes
to sample and a couple of dresses for her to try on, she’d changed
the venue to her private apartment.

“If we keep this up,
I’m going to crash here tonight,” Sophie said as Eddie poured them
each another glass of champagne.

“Be my guest. I can
easily polish off another bottle.” And in the process, perhaps
forget about the last couple of days. If she hadn’t played around
with the idea of having a fling, she wouldn’t feel the need to
drown her sorrows.

“I wouldn’t dream of
letting you drink alone, but you have to promise me you’ll try on
at least one of the dresses first. I know you. You’ll wait until
the last moment to find something to wear to the wedding and not
even care if it looks good on you or not.”

“When did we decide
green was my color?”

“It’s not green. It’s
jade. I also brought along the aquamarine blue just in case.”

“Theo’s eyes are blue,
like the deepest part of the ocean.” Eddie shot upright and slid to
the edge of the sofa. “That came out wrong. I promise I’m not
pining. The thought is running around my head in a loop and I can’t
stop it.” She brushed her hand across her stomach. The quivery
sensation wouldn’t go away, and if she hadn’t already drunk half a
bottle of champagne, she’d be jumping around the room trying to get
rid of the excess energy inside her. She hadn’t been able to stand
or sit still all day, the need to do something… to say something
nipping at her heels. Spending more time than she absolutely had to
with Theo Kendrick had been a bad idea. Now she knew she liked him.
She liked looking at him, she liked engaging with him…

“You feel like you’ve
missed your chance.”

Eddie laughed. “When in
fact, I didn’t stand a chance. You can’t change a person’s
predisposition, or is it predilection? Clearly, he has a thing for
mature women and I… well, I throw darts and hunt boars and work in
a pub.”

“You can’t be sure they
were texting each other. Wait and see what he’s like tomorrow. For
all you know, he might have been getting in touch with his broker.
Men like him do that a lot.”

“Maybe. Whatever. I
don’t know.” She groaned. “I’m a mess.”

“I’m sorry I suggested
having a fling with him. I take full responsibility for seeding the
idea.”

“Your idea was harmless
enough. Unlike mine… For a while there I thought since disasters
come in threes I should get that third disastrous relationship over
and done with, but then my optimism kicked in and I wondered if I
could be third time lucky.” There had to be some sort of rule of
thumb she could follow. Something to guide her. “What if my life is
actually ruled by Murphy’s Law? Whatever can go wrong, will go
wrong.”

“You shouldn’t allow
your life to be dictated by an adage.”

The sudden rap on her
apartment door should have had her jumping to her feet armed and
ready with a welcoming smile, but instead Eddie called out, “Come
in. Tonight’s freak show is a free-for-all.”

Joyce entered, and
striding toward the middle of the room, she took a bow. “Ladies, it
finally clicked.”

“Um… cue drum roll?”
Sophie asked.

“Yes, that would be
appropriate, but we should wait for Helena. I passed her in the
hallway. She just stopped to take a phone call.”

“This is a foot tapping
moment,” Eddie said draining another glass.

Then Helena arrived.
“You’ll never guess—”

“You need to wait your
turn. I was here first,” Joyce said.

Helena made a lips
zipped sign and sat down next to Eddie.

Joyce drew in a deep
breath. “Okay, here goes. Jon Kendrick.”

“The Hollywood movie
star,” they all said in unison.

“None other.”

Eddie shrugged. “What
about him?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”
Joyce asked.

Sophie held up the
empty bottle of champagne. “Not to us. Our mental capacity has been
somewhat diminished.”

“Jon. Theo. Kendrick.
Do I need to spell it out?”

“Are you saying they’re
related?”

Joyce gave a vigorous
nod. “Father and son. Theo keeps himself out of the limelight, but
I found a photo of him in one of the weekly gossip rags.” She drew
out her copy and opened it to a dog-eared page. “There,” she said
tapping the picture.

“You’re pointing to a
profile and a grainy one at that.”

“He’s standing several
steps behind Jon Kendrick, but it’s definitely him.”

“There’s only one way
to know for sure. We’ll have to ask him,” Sophie said.

Joyce shook her head.
“We can’t do that. It would be so un-cool. People like him want
their privacy.”

“Sure they do.” Eddie
rolled her eyes. “And that’s why you racked your brain trying to
uncover his identity and even teased him about it.”

“That was then, this is
now. We can’t let him know that we know.”

“Straight from the
mouth of someone who hasn’t had a drink yet,” Eddie said as she
poured Joyce a drink.

“Do you think he’s in
the movie business?” Helena asked. “Maybe he’d here to scout for
talent.”

Eddie shook her head.
“You came in late, so you missed the latest. Theo Kendrick came to
Eden looking for Claire Muldoon. He’s into older women. Not that
there’s anything wrong with it.” Nothing other than the fact she’d
been thinking a great deal about Theo and how maybe she should
consider doing something outside of her comfort zone. Eddie
wondered if she could clock up the experience, or at least the
attempt at an experience, as her third disaster. Then she’d be free
to get on with her life. She could almost see a flicker of hope at
the end of the tunnel.

Helena bit the tip of
her thumb. “That explains why I saw him go into the salon. And
after Claire let him in, she flipped over the closed sign and
pulled down the shutter. Oh, that was my news.”

Eddie turned to Sophie.
“Those cousins you mentioned yesterday, do you have photos of
them?” At some point, Eddie had to accept her fate. But first, she
had a few butterflies in her stomach to drown.

* * *

“There seems to be a
case of sensitive eyes this morning,” Theo said as he watched Eddie
trudge into Joyce’s café wearing dark sunglasses and a wide brimmed
hat.

“We had a pajama party
last night,” Joyce said. “It got a bit wild.” Joyce set his coffee
down and then leaned against the back of a chair.

“You’re slurring your
words.”

“No surprise there. My
thoughts are slurred too. Mind if I join you?” Joyce asked as she
pulled out a chair. “It’ll take me a while to crank myself up into
action.”

“Room for one more?”
Eddie asked when she reached his table.

“Good morning. How’s
your head?” For someone emerging from a night of indulgence, she
sounded perky and looked… as enticing as the first day he’d seen
her. Theo frowned. Sifting through his first impressions, he had to
admit he had found her attractive.