that, not yet. You need to experiment, have fun, get it all out of your system before you’re ready to settle down. There is nothing I’d like more right now than to sleep with you, but I’d get too involved, and I’d be the one who would end up getting hurt. Not to mention,” he adds sadly, “you’re leaving in two weeks’ time.”
“I wouldn’t hurt you,” Daniel says, looking Matt straight in the eye. “If anyone’s likely to get hurt, it would be me.”
“No,” Matt says. “I think you’re wonderful. I think you’re exactly the kind of man I’ve been waiting for, but it isn’t the right time for us. You need to play the field, and then perhaps we can see how it goes, if, of course, you ever come back to Nantucket.”
“You could come to Connecticut,” Daniel offers.
“I could,” Matt says. “And maybe I will.”
“Oh God,” Daniel groans. “I was really looking forward to seeing you without clothes on.”
Matt laughs out loud. “I’m sure you will, just not tonight.” His face turns serious. “Know this, Daniel. I’m saying no not because I don’t like you, but because I like you too much. I hope during the rest of the time you’re on the island we see each other, get to know each other better, maybe see whether it’s worth staying in touch, because God knows, people come and go here, never to be heard from again.”
“You’ll be hearing from me,” Daniel says. “Without question. Thank you, Matt. I’ve never met anyone so honest, so straightforward. I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”
“Yes, you could,” Matt says. “It’s just easier when you have support. Come on,” he says, shaking his head. “You’d better go before I change my mind.”
“You sure?” Daniel raises a flirtatious eyebrow at him, the first time in his life, perhaps, that he has done anything in a flirtatious, suggestive way.
“No.” Matt laughs. “But I think it’s the right thing. Don’t forget to warn Nan about Mark Stephenson, and ask her if it’s okay for Stephen to call her.”
Mark Stephenson turns down Nan’s offer of a martini. This time it’s all business, no pretending this is a social call, no more pretending he is a nice guy who is simply doing Nan a favor out of the kindness of his heart.
He had thought that Nan was the last of a dying breed, which in many ways she is, but in thinking that she was isolated enough in her house on the bluff to not realize the true value of property on the island of Nantucket in 2007, he was very much mistaken.
Mistaken too in thinking Nan would believe he wanted the house for his family, would somehow be more amenable if she thought he wouldn’t knock it down.
Of course he’s going to knock it down. He hasn’t slept these last few nights, thinking of the money he could make from the Powell property. He could get four, even five houses there. Huge shingle houses, all the amenities, sell them for a cool six or seven million each, still making an enormous profit even after the building costs, which are now as inflated as everything else.
He would build what all the new money wants these days. Their interpretation of a beach cottage, but for millionaires. Gunite pools, high-speed covers to keep their small children safe, kitchens that are equipped with everything, even though it is rare for the wives to actually cook.
His men are already lined up to tear down the house, he’s made preliminary calls to the architect he works with, letting him know, confidentially, that there’s a huge project in the works in Sconset, on the bluff, that he should start thinking about dividing a property of approximately nine acres into building lots.
It didn’t take the architect long to figure out which house he was referring to, even though, naturally, no names were mentioned.
He will have to pay market price to Nan, this much he now realizes, but this project could make him a very rich man. This project could put him up there with the highest-ranking builders on the island, ensure he would never have to worry about money again.
“I’ve done the numbers,” he says, sitting down on the sofa next to Nan, and pulling out a sheaf of papers. “You’re right about the other properties and what they’ve sold for. I’ve pulled all the properties in Sconset that have sold during the past year, and I’m happy to go through them