Healed with a Kiss (Bride Mountain 3)

Only one person knew about her trysts with Logan—her best friend, Paloma Villarreal. Despite living in different states since Alexis had returned from New York to Virginia to start her new career, she and Paloma had remained in close contact, still sharing secrets during long, candid phone conversations. Paloma had been intrigued to hear that Alexis was seeing someone. Being somewhat of a commitment-phobe herself, she totally understood why her friend was so leery of getting too emotionally involved. She didn’t ask too many questions, leaving it up to Alexis to decide how much to share. They respected each other’s privacy, a trait Alexis valued highly after growing up with a mother who wasn’t big on boundaries.

Alexis’s mother, who had no clue about Logan, had spent the past year and a half throwing one single doctor or lawyer after another in her only daughter’s direction, pointing out in frustration that Alexis was rapidly approaching thirty without a respectable marriage prospect in sight. No matter how many times Alexis asked her mother to butt out of her social life, her mom still managed to work in a few nags each time they were together.

She loved her maddening mother, and truly believed all the pushing and stage-mothering had been well-intended. Paula Healey loved her children—maybe a little too much—and wanted only the best for them, even if it meant stepping in to handle their affairs herself if she thought it necessary. She was the very definition of a “helicopter parent.” Alexis tried to remind herself of those things whenever her mom drove her crazy. She supposed her exasperation was normal, considering. Their family had always been complicated, to say the least.

She locked her car door by habit after taking out the leather tote that held her computer tablet and other business items. The afternoon was cool but sunny, requiring no more than a light jacket over her thin sweater and slacks. The first green shoots of spring had appeared here and there in the gardens, and she spotted a few very early daffodils in the beds.

A bright yellow sports coupe drove into the parking lot and stopped in front of her. Paul Drennan, Bonnie’s new husband, opened the driver’s door, climbed out and leaned back against the car with his arms crossed over his chest, smiling down at her from his six-foot-four height. He looked more like a rangy cowboy than the high school math teacher she knew him to be. She would bet he was the subject of more than a few teen fantasies, she thought with a faint smile, remembering a harmless crush she’d once had on a high school history teacher. “Hello.”

“Hi, Alexis.” He glanced around the otherwise empty parking lot. “Are you looking for Kinley and Bonnie?”

“I’m expecting clients to arrive shortly, and then we have a meeting with Kinley.”

He nodded. “She’s probably inside. Bonnie’s at the hospital with her brother, but she should be back soon if you need to see her, too.”

Alexis felt her diaphragm give a little jerk. “Hospital?”

“Yes. Zach, a college student who works part-time for Logan, had to have an emergency appendectomy today. He was working here this morning when he doubled over. Logan rushed him to the hospital in Zach’s car, then stayed with him while contacting the kid’s family. Bonnie went to pick up Logan an

d check on Zach, who’s going to be fine, by the way. She called to let me know what was going on.”

She busied herself for a moment by unnecessarily adjusting her glasses on her nose, speaking with what she thought was credibly casual concern. “That must have been scary for all of them. I’m glad Zach is going to be okay.”

She didn’t want to think too hard about her instinctive reaction at hearing that Logan was at the hospital. Something about the way Paul had worded the comment made her believe initially that Logan was the patient, and her mind had immediately filled with scenarios of accidents he could have suffered while working around the grounds. She reminded herself that she and Logan had only a casual relationship, so she had, perhaps, overreacted a bit—but then she reassured herself that it was only natural for her to be concerned for a friend’s well-being. Everything was still comfortably under control. She didn’t have to worry that she was letting herself care too much for Logan.

“Here are my clients now,” she said as a dark sedan with a familiar driver pulled into the space next to her own.

Paul opened his car door again. “Kinley should be waiting inside. Have a good meeting.”

“Thank you.” She waved as he drove around the side of the building toward the downstairs apartment he now shared with Bonnie. Then she turned to greet Sharon Banfield and her newly engaged daughter, Liberty, who were here for a tour of the wedding facilities.

Kinley was her usual enthusiastic, briskly professional self, welcoming the Banfields and Alexis to the inn, giving a quick overview of the services offered to potential clients and their out-of-town guests, then taking them on a complete and informative tour of the inn and the grounds. She greeted the few guests they passed with a warmth that seemed quite genuine while showing Liberty and her mother all their inn’s amenities without a high-pressure sales pitch.

After a walk through the gardens, where Kinley described the flowers that would be in bloom in early June of the following year, the date Liberty wanted to reserve for her wedding, she led them into the newly constructed ladies’ dressing room and restroom beneath the wide back deck. Kinley’s visible pride in the new facilities made Alexis smile, especially since she knew just how much work Logan had put into pleasing his sisters with those recent additions.

And speaking of Logan...

She looked around with everyone else when he came from the side of the inn, wearing his work clothes of jeans, boots, T-shirt and gray jacket, his dark hair looking disheveled. She had become an expert at hiding the punch of reaction she always felt when she saw him in front of other people, and she was confident no one knew that beneath the tailored jacket she wore with her spring-green sweater and charcoal slacks, her heart was beating a happy tap dance.

He nodded, not a hint of special interest on his face when he included Alexis in his greeting to the group. “Ladies.”

Kinley introduced Logan to Liberty and her mother, then added with a wave toward Alexis, “And of course you already know Alexis.”

“Yeah, sure. How’s it going, Alexis?”

“Very well, thank you. I heard you had some excitement around here today.”

“One of my crew took ill, had to be rushed to the hospital. He’ll be okay, though.”

“I’m happy to hear it.”

“My brother is the one who supervises outdoor setup for the weddings,” Kinley explained to their visitors. “He and his crew decorate the gazebo and gardens as requested, place the rows of folding chairs for guests, basically anything having to do with the outdoor part of events that isn’t hired out to outside contractors.”

Liberty smiled eagerly. “My friend Mandy had her wedding here last spring—she had the Tuscan theme? Very Italian, and it looked amazing.”

Both Kinley and Logan nodded in recognition of the reference. “It was a pretty wedding,” Kinley said to Alexis. “Mandy wanted lots of grape clusters and wine bottles and brick-red and olive-green buntings. She even managed to find a few oak wine casks for decoration. Logan set them in place where she wanted them and then we arranged groupings of candles and wine bottles on them with artificial grapes draped over the sides.”

“Sounds lovely.”