It wasn’t love. No way. No way.
His heart was pounding. He couldn’t breathe. His chest felt tight.
He stared down at his shaking hands and realized he’d never felt pa
nic like this before. Not even knowing he had someone’s life in his hands. His job was something he’d trained long and hard to do, but this? Nothing had trained him for this.
He forced himself to breathe slowly and think calmly and analytically.
“I’m not in love, Gramps. And I won’t pretend I am just to please you. I have to get back to Boston.” He stood up and dug his keys out of his pocket. Dropped them. Cursed under his breath as his grandfather’s brows rose.
“Are you all right? Because normally you have the steadiest pair of hands I’ve seen.”
“I’m fine. But I have a busy week. I’m making up time.” And at least back in Boston people wouldn’t be making ridiculous suggestions.
“Drive carefully. Your grandmother worries about you.” Walter stood up, rubbing the base of his back. “Sometimes you think you don’t want something, and then it turns out you were wrong. Has that ever happened to you?”
“No, it has not.” Sean ground his teeth. “I do not love her.”
“I was talking about my log splitter.” His grandfather glanced over to his new toy. “What were you talking about?”
Sean felt as if he were being strangled. “I have to go.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
ÉLISE SMILED AS she wound a scarf around her neck and added discreet jewelry.
It was family night, and Sean was coming home.
If anyone had told her at the beginning of summer that he’d be joining them for family night she wouldn’t have believed it, but now that he’d healed the rift with his grandfather it was a natural next step to spend a little more time at Snow Crystal.
“Et donc, even two very stubborn men can eventually be persuaded to talk to each other.” She beamed at herself in the mirror and swept lip gloss over her mouth, relieved that the O’Neil family were sailing in smoother waters. The Boathouse was a success, the resort itself wasn’t exactly booming but it was stable, Walter was relaxed, Alice was her old self and Elizabeth had a new bounce in her stride.
And as for her—
Her heart pumped a little bit faster.
It had been a week since dinner and Sean hadn’t been in touch but that didn’t worry her. She hadn’t been in touch with him, either. They didn’t have that sort of relationship. She enjoyed his company—what woman wouldn’t?—and it was true their friendship had grown over the summer into something she would never have predicted, but that was simply because they’d spent so much time together.
She was pleased for Walter’s sake that he was coming to family night. For herself, it didn’t bother her either way.
Convinced of that, she took the stairs down to the kitchen and then stopped when she saw him standing in the open doorway. His shirt was unbuttoned at the neck and his eyes were tired.
“Sean! I wasn’t expecting you. I was on my way over to the house. How was your drive?”
“Long. Hot. Can I come inside?” Without waiting for an answer, obviously tense, he walked into her kitchen and closed the door. “How are things here? Gramps all right?”
“He is doing well! And things here are good, I think. A little busier than usual. The Inn is fully booked for the next three weeks, the café is doing well, Jackson says bookings are up for the winter.” She wondered why he was standing so far away from her and then realized she was being ridiculous. He’d come home for family night, not to indulge in hot sex in the forest. “Kayla has been really happy with the media coverage and she’s negotiating for me to do a guest cookery slot on local TV.”
“That’s great.”
“Yes, I must try not to say merde on camera or Kayla says she will kill me.” She had a feeling he wasn’t listening. “Walter is so pleased with his log cutting machine. It was a good choice. You are very clever, I think. And Tom has been helping us out in the garden so that’s been a real help for Elizabeth.” She wondered how Sean would react to the news but he didn’t seem to be listening. Instead, he stared out of the window at the lake.
“That’s good.”
She studied his profile, admiring the straight sweep of his nose, the strong lines of his jaw. “Is something wrong?”
“No. Yes.” He turned and his gaze collided with hers. “Let’s go outside.”