A Hamilton Family Christmas - Donna Kauffman Page 0,96

making a habit of that whenever he was around. Of course, like the gentleman he wasn’t, he didn’t shift to give her more space.

“I’ve been back almost four years now. I’m surprised, if you’ve been doing homework on me, that you don’t already know why I came back.”

“I know your best friend was quite ill.”

“Yes. I came back to help with her business, and ... be here for her.”

There was such compassion in his eyes then, she almost couldn’t believe it was the same grinning man of a moment ago, shamelessly using his charm and his accent to woo her good favor.

“God rest her soul,” he added, with quiet sincerity. “I’m sorry for your loss, Melody. The world doesn’t often see fit to populate our paths with those who become near and dear to us. It’s a shame, indeed, to lose a single one of them.”

He was standing so close, and sounded so damn ... earnest. She wouldn’t have thought he had it in him, but as close as she was standing to him, she was pretty sure she’d have been able to detect even the slightest hint of artifice. She wanted to ask who he’d lost, why his understanding was so keen. But the words wouldn’t come. She didn’t want to get to know him in that way. She didn’t want to care about him.

“Th-thank you,” she stammered, groping for the anchor her frustration and anger had provided her thus far with him . . . and coming up empty-handed.

“Was this her shop, then?”

“It was,” she said, hearing the clipped tone in her voice. But at his continued look of sincere interest, she finally relented. “I’d helped her set it up a year or so before, and came back to help her run it when she became too weak to handle the workload.”

“What was it you gave up to come back?”

“You mean, what did I do for a living before this? I thought you checked up on me.”

“I asked after you with the innkeeper, the lovely Mrs. Crossley, but we were interrupted by new guests arriving before she got much further than telling me about your friend. I haven’t had time to do more than that.”

“Ah.” She wasn’t sure how she felt about his asking around town about her. “Well, I was born here, I left, I came back. Having been gone, I have a much greater appreciation for exactly what Hamilton has to offer. I’m afraid I don’t see the tourist draw that you do. Nor do I think that’s the right direction to push our town.” One corner of her mouth kicked up. “Sorry, ‘village.’ ”

To his credit, he smiled too. While her non-answer had diverted their conversation from the more serious direction it had been heading, it didn’t do anything to create the distance she so badly wished to reestablish between them. Getting him out of her personal space would be a great place to start ... she just didn’t seem to be able to accomplish it.

“You’d like for your hometown to stay just as it is for the remaining years of your life. I can understand that, the sentimental attachment, the security that comes with the familiar, the trusted. But what you don’t see is that if Hamilton doesn’t reach forward, it will sink hopelessly into the past. And that won’t allow you to thrive. Not as you could, if you’d be willing to embrace new ideas. I’m no’ looking to destroy your home, Melody. I’m looking to expand on it, improve it, and with that, give you a greater opportunity for bigger successes.”

“You seem to forget I did do my homework. I’ve seen the befores and afters of some of your handiwork.”

He didn’t seem remotely abashed by either her pronouncement or her clear lack of respect. He also seemed entirely too close to her. Still. She could see the tiny, darker flecks that tinted his almost translucent green eyes, could see that he had, indeed, broken his nose at some point. And there was a hairline scar that ran along the top of one eyebrow, and another still, high on his forehead, clearly indicating she hadn’t been far off in her assessment of him as a competent, or at least willing, brawler.

“Some places required more work than others to shore up the foundations,” he responded with the ease of someone who was quite used to defending his work.

It made her wonder how often he had to do that very thing. But rather than make