CHAPTER SEVEN
E
LISSA sat at the kitchen table, staring at her hands twisted together on the checkered cloth. In her mind's eyes, she didn't see the tablecloth nor her fidgeting fingers. She was witnessing a much more disturbing vision.
She was recalling the dance last night, when she had almost allowed Alex D'Amour to kiss herâ
again!
Was she going batty? What had possessed her to lift her chin in invitation? She was angry with herself for her rashness. The romantic lighting, or the soft music, or the gaiety of the party must have made her lower her guard.
Thank heaven, at the last second she'd managed to push him away and march off in a huffâhowever shaky her legs may have been. His irritating expression lingered in her brain. That sardonic grin. Clearly he'd decided he could come to town, take away her home, her business andâand have his way with
her
as a little bonus!
She had a pretty good idea he didn't think that, now. The only thing she'd said to him since the dance had been a muttered, “How do you carry the weight of your conceit around with you all day?”
She heard a scraping sound and realized she was no longer alone. Helen was opening the back door and the twins, in matching red snowsuits, were scampering outside. Helen didn't have on a coat, so it was obvious she was allowing the girls to go romp in the snow alone.
Alone?
“What are you doing?” Elissa demanded, fear racing through her. “You're not letting them go out there by themselves, are you?”
Helen looked at her sister with a confused frown. “What?”
Elissa jumped up and dashed to the door to watch. the girls. “Never mind. I'll go with them. Run and get my coat from the stairway hall.”
Helen started to speak, but Elissa waved her on. “Please! I don't feel good about letting them run around un-unchaperoned.” She had almost said unprotected.
Helen shook her head at her sister, then spun to get the coal From the window in the back door, Elissa watched the twins playing in the snow, squealing with delight. They were so sweet, so dear. She would never forgive herself if anything were to happen to them.
When Helen returned she lay the coat around Elissa's shoulders. “What do you think my babies are going to do, run off and marry the first couple of two-year-old boys they meet?”
Elissa struggled to maintain a calm facade, as she shoved her arms into the coat sleeves. The threatening letters loomed in her mind. On the off chance a nutcase was out there, she didn't want her nieces near enough to be harmed. On the other hand, chances were the letter writer was no real threat. Preferring to err on the side of caution, but refusing to worry her sister unnecessarily, she hedged. “It's just that...I've heard there are some... some rabid deer in the area.”
“Rabid deer?” Helen echoed, sounding dumbfounded. “I've never heard of rabid deer.”
Elissa hadn't, either.
Why had she blurted deer?
Why hadn't she said dogs or at least squirrels? But it was too late now. “Just the same, I'd rather they not go outside alone.”
Helen seemed hesitant. “Well, maybe it is better if somebody's with them. Only I have to make some calls to get stuff ready for Damien's birthday party, tomorrow.”
“You go make your calls. I'll watch the girls.”
Helen squeezed her sister's fingers. “Thanks. It'll only be for fifteen minutes. I told them they could make angels in the snow. That way they'll be good and tired for their naps.”
Elissa pulled open the door. “I'll keep an eye on them. Don't worry.” Both Jack and Damien had left for New York today Jack to handle a problem at his New York restaurant, and Damien to do a book-signing. This was no time to start planting worries in Helen's mind about stalkers or threats. She pasted on a teasing grin. “I'm pretty sure no rabid deer will wander by. But better safe than sorry. Right?”
Her sister scanned Elissa's face and seemed mollified by what she saw. She smiled. “Right. So, go make angels in the snow with your nieces.”
With a nod, Elissa was out the door like a shot.
She wasn't dressed for making snow angels, so she sat on the back stoop, watching the girls as they romped and squealed and tumbled. A click at Elissa's back told her the door was being opened. “Now, Helen,” she said, without turning, “I am perfectly capableâ”
“Of avoiding me,” Alex finished for her. “I know.”
Elissa twisted around to scowl at him, a most unwelcome surprise. Nevertheless, her heart took a foolish leap. “What do you want?”
He held up her boots. “Helen thought you might want these.” He scanned her loafered feet, where she'd cleared a spot in the snow for them. “It's a little cold out here for those shoes.”
If he were anyone else on earth, she might admit that her toes were grateful for the boots, but since he wasn't anyone else on earth, she turned her back on him.
Much to her regret, in a few seconds, he was sitting on the step beside her. “Here.”
The boots thudded into the snow near her feet.
When he said nothing else, she glanced his way. He was watching the twins, his expression somber.
“What's the matter, don't you think they're the most darling girls in the world?” She experienced a rush of petulance. His plan might be to ruin her, but he'd better not find fault with her nieces. That was unthinkable.
He shifted, snagging her gaze. “You're afraid for them, aren't you?” He indicated the twins with a nod. “You think the letter writer might hurt them.”
He took up so much space on the stoop, she didn't have a choice but to allow his arm to brush hers. Deciding she didn't need his touchâeven coat to coat she yanked on the snow boots and bolted up. “I'm not afraid, just cautious.”
He stood, too. His long lashes made a narrow frame around silver eyes. “You're expecting them to be kidnappedâor worse.”
Hiding her fear and her absurd attraction to him, she spat, “Let's just say that by your interference into my life, I've discovered how unpredictable and brutal Fate can be.” She waved toward Gilly and Glory. “Those babies are precious to me. If I want to be overprotective, it's my business.”
“You're a lousy liar, Miss Crosby.”
She shot him a deadly look. “Your opinion doesn't interest me, Mr. D'Amour.”
A shrill cry rang through the frosty air, and black dread filled Elissa's soul. She scanned the backyard and saw only Gilly.
“Glory!”
she cried, and ran toward the sound as a second cry filled the air.
Rounding the side of the house, Elissa saw her niece stumbling through the snow toward the fence.
“Glory!” she called, catching up to her niece. “Are you okay?” Lifting Glory into her arms, she cried, “What happened?”
Glory's cheeks were pink from exertion and cold, her face animated. She flailed little mittened hands toward the forest. “Bunny! Bunny! I want bunny!”
“She was chasing a rabbit,” Alex said, relief evident in his voice.
Elissa saw tracks in the snow and knew it was true. Inhaling to slow her racing heart, she hugged her niece to her. “Did you see a bunny, sweetie?”
Glory nodded, her cool cheek like velvet against Elissa's jaw. “Can I have bunny, Auntie Lis? Can I?”
Elissa lowered the twin to the snow. “It's a wild bunny, Glory. You wouldn't want to take it away from its family, would you?”
Glory's forehead puckered. “Fam'y?”
Elissa managed a smile. Apparently her niece had never thought of animals as having families. No doubt that was because Helen had rescued so many little creatures, Glory thought all animals wanted to live in houses.
Elissa squatted down so that she was eye level with the toddler. Lovingly she smoothed a dark curl under her red hood. “Now go play. The bunny's gone home.”
Glory scampered off to join her sister in a fresh area that needed little snow angels. Elissa watched as she spread her pudgy arms and plopped onto her back in the snow, scooting her legs in and out as she moved her arms up and down.
Weakness invaded Elissa's limbs. She didn't know if it was relief or delayed reaction to her fear. All she knew for sure was that, all of a sudden, her troubles of the past two weeks had become too much to bear, and a sob issued up from her throat.
Trying to hide her emotions from the ever-vigilant Mr. D'Amour, she spun toward the woods where the rabbit had vanished. Rummaging in her coat pocket for a handkerchief, she managed to swallow a second sob, but couldn't staunch her tears.
She heard Alex's muffled curse and knew he hadn't missed her anguish. Before she could react, he was standing before her, his hand extended, holding a neatly folded handkerchief. “Dammit, Elissa. You have to tell your family. You can't run an inn, worry about being murdered and play watchdog for your nieces. There aren't enough hours in the day. You'll go crazy.”
She yanked a wrinkled handkerchief out of her coat pocket, ignoring his overture. “Go
away.
” She blew her nose, loudly, even if it wasn't ladylike. Darn him for being there, anyway! Swabbing her eyes, she jammed the handkerchief back into her pocket, feeling more in control. “If you'll recall, you're trying to
steal
my home. If that isn't enough reason to get upset, I don't know what is.”
“Dammit, Elissa, I'm not going to throw you out into the snow,” he growled. “You can have time to relocateâa month should be sufficient You simply can't take any reservations after the first of the year.”
“And people say you're not a prince!”
“Dammit. I
own
this place. What do you expectâ”
“No!
You're wrong,” she interrupted. “You have to be wrong! This inn means everything to me!”
Though his eyes flared, he didn't respond. With a small, frustrated shake of his head, he pivoted away.
Retrieving the hanky from her coat pocket, she dabbed at her eyes, sucking in several deep breaths. The cold air in her lungs felt good. She needed the sting of reality to clear his scent from her nostrils and the clouds of attraction from her brain. She hated the man, for heaven's sake! She hated what he was doing to her and she hated his arrogant attitude that he couldn't be wrong. But worst of all, she hated whatever it was that had gone haywire in her that made him seemâseem so irresistible. And dam the man, he knew how he affected women. He knew he could make her weak for him, even after everything...
Slamming her fists into her pockets, she got hold of herself. She would show him. She was not giving up her inn, and she was not turning away guests. She was not telling her employees they would be out of a job in a few days, and she was not planning to stop taking reservations. Business would go on as usual.
Most importantly of all, she was
not
going to let his charisma affect her. For once in his life, Alex D'Amour, was going to get a rude awakening. He was going to be wrongâabout a lot of things!
Fuming, she whirled toward the backyard, but stilled at the sight of the tall, handsome man pulling the giggling girls around on one of the brand-new Christmas sleds that had been leaning against the house. Confounded, she watched him run through the snow to the squealing delight of the twins.
What was his motive? She knew him too well to believe he had any desire to entertain small children. And she would never believe he was doing it as a favor to her. Now that
was crazy
! No, most likely, he was only perpetuating the hoax that they were friends. That had to be it. Helen had come outside onto the small porch and was grinning and waving.
The man was good.
Â
Damien made it back the next day just in time for his birthday party. He and Jack had completed their various projects and made connections at the Springfield airport, riding back together in Damien's rented BMW.
The idea of a party didn't enthuse Elissa. She would have begged off, but she knew she would have seemed terribly antisocial, spending Damien's birthday hiding in her office. Still, Alex's nearness, his heady scent and his speculative gazeâwhich seemed always to be trained on herâwas driving her to distraction.
More than once, that day, she'd experienced a bizarre need to touch him, though she'd resisted. And at breakfast, she'd found herself breathing so deeply of his aroma she'd grown light-headed, almost toppling into his lap. What kind of a fool was she? How could she be attracted to the one man who could take everything she loved away from her?
Though the idea of spending more time in the same room with Alex than absolutely necessary was the last thing Elissa wanted to do, she found the party quite enjoyable. Jule was through for the day as head housekeeper, and had changed into a pretty yellow warm-up. Her husband, Hirk, was there, and had brought little Milhouse. The darling two-year-old played quietly before the fire with the twins. Several of the guests joined in the fun, eating cake and singing “Happy Birthday” to Damien Lord. They were obviously excited to be included in a party for the eminent author and political columnist.