Miss Prim's Greek Island Fling
“Thank you,” the other said, his pleasantness making up for his friend’s remoteness. “That’s very kind. We are hungry. It would be dinnertime where we are from.”
That accent, Maddie decided, could melt bones. Plus, there was something about him, a deep graciousness, that went with beautifully manicured hands, the perfect haircut, the fresh-shaven face. Despite the khakis and sport shirt, this was not your ordinary let’s check out the hiking and fishing type of man who spent a week with his guy friends in the mountainous Oregon village.
“Have a seat anywhere,” Sophie invited them. “We don’t offer dinner—we’re just a day café. We close at three o’clock. But we have a great breakfast. I’ll bring menus. Unless you want to look at the display case?”
“Menus, thank you.” Again, it was the younger one who spoke.
Sophie nearly tripped over herself in her eagerness to get the men menus as they took a table by the window. Maddie ordered herself to get busy. Still, even as she filled cream pitchers, she was aware of that man, reluctantly feeling as if she had been given an irresistible reprieve from the worries that crowded her waking moments.
“So, in what exciting part of the world is it dinnertime right now?” Sophie was back. She hugged the menus to herself instead of giving them out.
The big man looked at her, irritated at Sophie’s question. His look clearly said, Mind your own business.
“Scotland,” the other said, flashing Sophie an easy smile.
Maddie felt her heart dip at, not just the perfect teeth, but the natural sexiness in that smile, a heat that continued to his eyes, making the sapphire in them more intense.
“I thought so,” Sophie said sagely, as if she was a world expert on dialects. “I detected a certain Braveheart in the accent. Your car is dreamy. I’m Sophie. And you are?”
Maddie put down the cream. “Sophie, if I could see you?” Obviously, she was going to have to give a lecture on being a little more professional. Dreamy car and introductions, indeed.
“In a sec,” Sophie called.
“I’m Ward,” the younger man, the one with the amazing presence, said easily.
The other said nothing.
“Lancaster,” Ward filled in for him, giving him a look that might have suggested he be friendlier.
“Lancaster, are you by chance a policeman?”
Both men’s eyebrows shot up.
Really, Maddie needed to step in, to stop this inquisition of customers, to take this opportunity to brief Sophie on professionalism, yes, even here in Mountain Bend. But if Sophie found out what Lancaster did, wouldn’t it follow that Ward might volunteer what he did, as well?
There was something about him that was so intriguing, some power and mystery in the way he carried and conducted himself, that he had made Maddie aware there was a whole world out there that did not involve baking scones, fretting about bills, or watching helplessly as your world fell apart and your hometown declined around you.
Ridiculous to feel as if hope shimmered in the air around a complete stranger.
Because wasn’t hope, after all, the most dangerous thing of all?
That, Maddie told herself, was the only thing she needed to know about the man who had entered the little main street coffee shop.
Not that he was a reprieve from a life that had gone heavy with worries.
No, that he was the exact opposite. That all her worries would intensify if she followed this lilting melody humming to life in the base of her being—the one that coincided with his appearance—to where it wanted to go.
She touched the gold chain on her neck. It was a pendant made with a gold nugget that her father had found a long time ago and given to her mother. Touching the pendant usually had the effect of grounding her. Sometimes, Maddie even imagined her father’s voice when she touched it.
What would he say, right now, if he were here and saw her in such a ridiculous state over a man she had only just laid eyes on, to whom she had not even spoken a single word?
Something, she was sure, practical and homespun. Whoa, girl, go easy.
But she did not hear her father’s voice, not even in her imagination. Instead, the pendant seemed to glow warm under her fingertips.