ScandalandSin (2 page)
Authors: Lynn LaFleur
Whether he knew her or not didn’t matter.
Rye didn’t mix business with pleasure. While he loved where he lived and couldn’t
imagine living anywhere else, there was a downside to a small town. Everyone
knew everyone and loved to talk. Dax had no problem sleeping with the local
women. Rye preferred to travel to other towns to find lovers. It made things
less…messy.
The Coleman family had endured one scandal
over seventy-five years ago, plus his own personal scandal three years ago. Rye
wouldn’t do anything that might cause embarrassment to his family for the third
time.
* * * * *
Alaina slid behind the steering wheel of her
car and blew out a deep breath. She’d been surprised to see Rye and Dax instead
of their father Kenneth at Coleman Construction. She hadn’t considered the fact
that the father had passed the company down to his sons. It had taken some
quick thinking on her part to pretend she didn’t know them. She couldn’t admit
her true identity, not yet. If she did, the company would never agree to
refurbish Stevens House.
The brothers were even more handsome than
they’d been sixteen years ago. And neither of them had recognized her.
That was probably a good thing. She was
here on business, not to chase after hunks, even one she’d had a crush on as a
teenager. Besides, it had been so long since she’d been with a man, she
wouldn’t know what to do. Sex was highly overrated anyway. Making love usually
left her frustrated instead of rolling around the bed in orgasmic bliss.
Alaina snickered at that last thought. It
sounded like a line from a really bad book.
Her cell phone chirped as she pulled away
from Coleman Construction. She pulled over to the side of the road and dug
through her large tote, hunting for the phone she misplaced at least twice a
week. Finally locating the electronic nightmare, she tugged it from her tote
and flipped it open. She smiled when she saw her housemate Emma Keeton’s name.
“Hey you.”
“Hey you back,” her friend said. “How’s it
going? Did you buy the house?”
Alaina laughed. Emma’s enthusiasm was one
of the reasons Alaina adored her. “I haven’t even talked to the owner yet.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? I’m ready
to start my new job.”
Ever since Alaina had told Emma and her
other best friend and housemate, Kelcey Ewing, about her plan to open a
bed-and-breakfast in Lanville, they’d hinted about working for her. Kelcey was
a whiz with numbers and organization. Emma could create something delicious
with little more than flour and water. Yet Alaina worried their friendship
would suffer if they went to work for her. She’d rather hire complete strangers
than lose the two women who meant so much to her.
“I have an appointment with a local
contractor to look at the house at one-thirty to see if it can be repaired.”
“What if it can’t? Will you start looking
at other houses?”
“No. It’s that house or nothing.”
“Why? What’s so special about that house?
There have to be other houses you can refurbish. Or think about building brand
new. That might even be cheaper.”
Alaina hadn’t told her two best friends why
Stevens House was so important to her. She hadn’t wanted to say or do anything
that might jinx her buying the house. “You know the cost doesn’t matter.”
“Yeah, I know, but you need to be
reasonable too. You haven’t even met this contractor and you’re going to
believe whatever he tells you?”
“Actually, I
did
meet Rye Coleman.”
“Rye, huh? Sexy name.”
“It fits him. I swear the gods were having
an orgasm when they created him.”
“Oh yeah?” Alaina clearly heard the
interest in Emma’s voice. Her friend’s radar always picked up an attractive
man. “Maybe I should drive down there and help you research that house.”
“I think you’d better stay right there in
Dallas and do the job you have now.”
“You’re no fun.” Emma sighed dramatically.
“If you won’t let me see the sexy contractor, I guess I’ll go to work. Call me
the minute you know about the house. I’ll give my boss notice.”
Alaina winced. “No you won’t. Lanville is a
lot different from Dallas, Em. There can’t be twenty-five hundred people in the
whole town. No nightclubs, no fancy restaurants, no—”
“I don’t care. I want to help you. Kelcey
and I both want to help you. That’s what friends do.”
A lump tightened Alaina’s throat. Kelcey
and Emma had been there for her for years, always available any time of day or
night. She couldn’t ask for better friends. “You are not going to give up your
job in that beautiful restaurant. And Kelcey certainly isn’t going to give up
her job that pays a hundred grand a year to work for me. It’s insane for you to
even consider it.”
“Maybe I’m sick of the job in that
beautiful restaurant. Maybe I want a change, just like you.”
“This would definitely be a change.”
“Hey, you’re talking to the gal who can
always find a party. If I can’t find one, I’ll make my own.”
Alaina chuckled. She’d always loved Emma’s
positive attitude.
“Go look at the house,” Emma said. “Find
out if it really is your dream. Then let me and Kelcey know. I’m already
sorting recipes and planning menus.”
“Em—”
“Stop worrying so much. It’ll give you
wrinkles. Go meet your hunky contractor. If he’s as gorgeous as you say, you
should push him into a corner of that house and attack him.”
“I do
not
attack men.”
“You need to attack more and worry less.
There’s no law that says you have to marry a guy just because you fuck him.”
“I know that.”
“Then let go and have some fun. Forget
about the three or four dates you think you should have with a guy before you
get naked with him.”
Alaina couldn’t help chuckling. When Emma
got on a track, there was no getting her off it. “I’ll think about it.”
“Great! Call me as soon as you know
something.”
“Deal.”
Still smiling, Alaina closed her cell phone
and dropped it back in her tote. She looked up in time to see Rye slowly drive
by her car in a dirty pickup. He nodded his head when their eyes met. She
returned the nod and continued to gaze at him as he drove past her. He watched
her in his rearview mirror.
Her heart thumped heavily in her chest.
Alaina sat up straighter in her seat. She
couldn’t let herself become distracted by a handsome face and incredible body.
She’d softened for a moment in Rye’s office, when they’d talked about
It’s A
Wonderful Life.
It had been easy to imagine curling up on a couch in front
of a fireplace, wrapped in Rye’s arms while they watched the old movie. Once
the movie was over, they’d make love on the carpet in front of the fire. She’d
be willing to bet her first year’s profits that Rye was an incredible lover.
It was a nice fantasy, but couldn’t
possibly come true.
She planned to concentrate on her career and Stevens
House. Nothing else mattered. If her hormones didn’t like that, too bad. Men
and sex were out.
Including the hunky Rye Coleman.
Chapter Two
April 6, 1937
I overheard the Sullivan sisters talking
in the drugstore today. The old biddies love nothing more than to gossip. They
were talking about Charlotte Vandorn and her “problem”, as Stella described it.
Stella said she’d heard Charlotte was pregnant and didn’t know who had fathered
her baby. Sophie said she’d heard Charlotte knew who the father was, but
refused to tell anyone. Her parents were so embarrassed, they could barely show
their faces in town.
I remember seeing Charlotte two days ago
while I watched
him
. She was one of the women who had avoided looking at
him. She’d walked near the edge of the sidewalk, her head down, not making eye
contact with anyone. She didn’t even look up when he spoke directly to her.
I wonder if he’s the man who fathered
her baby. If so, he is even more vile than I thought.
I have to keep Laura away from him.
* * * * *
Rye led the way around the outside of the
house with Alaina close on his heels. They didn’t have permission to go inside,
so he could only check the exterior for now. They trudged through weeds and
cactus that were almost as tall as Alaina’s knees.
“Why can’t we go inside?” Alaina asked once
they reached the back of the house.
“Because we don’t have permission and that
would be trespassing.”
He heard her blow out a breath. “Who would
know? We’re in the middle of the boonies on a dead end road.”
“
I
would know. I don’t trespass.” He
stopped and turned to face her. She almost ran into him since he’d stopped so
abruptly. “And you don’t trespass as long as you’re with me.”
A guilty look flashed through her eyes
before she lifted her chin. “Of course not. I wouldn’t think of it.”
Rye almost grinned. Alaina May had spunk.
He liked that.
“What do you think?” she asked. “Is it worth
repairing?”
Hands on hips, Rye studied the back of the
house. What little paint remained had faded over time to a dull gray. Several
shingles were missing from the roof, leaving gaping holes. Boards had been
nailed over broken windows on all three floors and in the turret. Porch posts
were split or missing. The back door also had boards nailed across it and hung
at an awkward angle from a broken hinge.
It must have been a magnificent house in
its time. It would take several months of work, but Rye saw the potential. The
house could be repaired to look exactly how it did one hundred years ago.
Despite the large fee his company would
make, Rye wasn’t sure if he wanted to do the job. Not on
this
house.
“You’re looking at a lot of money, Alaina.”
“I didn’t think it would be cheap. But it
can be done, right?”
“I’ll say yes, but I’ll know more when I
see the inside.”
“Do you know who owns it?”
Rye nodded.
A huge smile spread over Alaina’s mouth.
“If you know the owner personally, there’s no reason why we can’t go inside.”
She headed toward the porch steps. Rye
grabbed her arm to stop her. “Alaina, I promise you, the owner won’t like it if
we go in without talking to her.”
“Be real, Rye.” She waved a hand toward the
boarded-up back door with the large hole in the bottom. “You think teenagers
haven’t crawled through that hole and gone in there to drink or smoke pot or
have sex?”
“I’m sure they have. But we aren’t
teenagers, Alaina. We’re adults and we know better.”
“Okay, okay. Sheesh, work on my conscience,
why don’t you?”
Rye grinned. She definitely had spunk.
“I’ll call the owner and find out if she’ll see you. I can’t promise she will.
Bella Olinghouse isn’t known for doing favors.”
* * * * *
Alaina had always thought “Olinghouse”
sounded like the name of someone who was filthy rich. One look at the mansion
that Rye pulled up to confirmed her belief. It stood three stories high and
made her think of a castle instead of a house. She was surprised it didn’t have
a moat surrounding it.
Bella hadn’t lived in this house sixteen
years ago. Alaina had learned through her research of the old Victorian that
Bella’s husband died from cancer fourteen years ago. Bella must have had this
monstrosity built shortly after her husband’s death.
She knew little about the woman or her history.
Alaina had been thirteen when she and her mother moved away from Lanville. Her
family hadn’t traveled in the same social circles as the Olinghouses and the
Stevenses.
Rye had told her on the drive here that
Bella Olinghouse was a cantankerous woman who rarely smiled. Alaina had been
sure she could charm the woman into selling that house for practically nothing.
Now she wasn’t sure. A woman didn’t live in a mansion like this without knowing
how to manage her money. She’d probably want a fortune for the old house, even
though it looked like it would fall down in the next windstorm.
“It’s nice of her to agree to see me.”
“It’s weird,” Rye said. “I’ve never known
her to be so agreeable.” He faced Alaina after parking his truck, his left arm
over the steering wheel. “A maid will answer the door. She’ll take us to the
living room, where Bella will be sitting on her throne.”
From the twinkle in Rye’s eyes, he had to
be teasing. “Throne?”
“It looks like one, I swear. The woman
thinks she’s a queen. She won’t stand, she won’t offer her hand. Don’t offer
yours ‘cause she won’t shake it. She believes handshakes pass too many germs.”
Alaina couldn’t remember Bella’s age, but
she had to be on up in years by now. “How old is she?”
“Late eighties. Maybe ninety. She’s lived
in Lanville all her life. Her family owned the bank—and a big percentage of the
town—for three generations. She’s still a shareholder at the bank, and still
owns most of the buildings downtown as well as a lot of land. The city council
jumps at her command. So does the county judge. She’s a powerful woman.”