Chance nodded. “I understand she’s in charge of public relations for the organization. I wanted to get her ideas on where I should photograph and when.”
“Well, she should be back any minute,” Derek said, seeming partially mollified by his explanation. But Chance hadn’t been entirely untruthful. Rill had told him Sherona was the person he should contact in regard to the brochure. He’d been chomping at the bit to meet her, however, ever since he knew the identity of the glistening goddess he’d blessedly glimpsed. The fact that his contact at Body and Soul and the woman at the lake were one and the same made Chance feel like Lady Luck herself had just dealt him a dream poker hand.
Chance had shared with Rill—in a highly edited form—his experience of seeing a beautiful woman swimming in Orchard Lake two days ago. They’d been sitting together on the front porch of Rill and Katie Pierce’s large house, enjoying the slow, cautious crawl of evening into the forest. Rill had asked him a few pointed questions about the female’s appearance.
“That was Sherona Legion, the woman I told you to talk to about the photos,” Rill had said in an unequivocal tone as he sat back in the Adirondack chair and took a sip of his iced tea.
“How can you be so sure it was Sherona Legion?” Chance had asked, amused.
Rill had given him a droll glance. “You think there are a lot of women who live in these parts who match the description you just gave me?”
Chance had taken a swig of his beer and stared thoughtfully at the lavender blue evening sky. “There aren’t a handful of women on the planet that could match what I saw out at Orchard Lake yesterday.”
Rill’s eyebrows had gone up at that. “That’s quite a compliment coming from a globe-trotting photographer who can expertly testify about the identities of the most beautiful women on the planet.”
Chance had rolled his eyes at that and glanced toward the front door. They were expecting Katie to join them at any minute. “Don’t say things like that in front of your wife. She’ll think I’m a worthless root and never let me visit you again.”
“Katie can make up her own mind as to your character without my input. She won’t hold the fact that you’re the heir to the Hathoway fortune or your popularity with the ladies against you unless you give her cause to,” Rill had said with a smirk. He had grown a little more serious when he registered Chance’s scowl. Chance liked Katie, considering her a brilliant light to Rill’s dark, quirky brilliance. He didn’t want her to hate him.
“Katie can see through a stereotype if anyone can. She’s done her own struggle against being stereotyped as the blond Hollywood rich girl. Besides, she knows a few things about the truth behind the image from her brother,” Rill had said, referring to Katie’s celebrity sibling, Everett Hughes.
“And from being the wife of a famous director, I assume,” Chance had said dryly.
Rill had just shrugged at that.
“I’ll have the daily special and a glass of iced tea,” Chance told Derek presently. Derek nodded and glanced sideways when the grouchy-seeming older man stood.
“You done eating, Errol?” the gray-haired man asked the thin man.
Errol nodded.
“Come on. I’ll drive you home, then,” the older man said with gentle gruffness, surprising Chance a little. The two men had sat at separate booths. Chance wouldn’t have guessed they were acquaintances. The thin man wearing the cap set down his fork with an obedient gesture that reminded him of a child.
“That’s for both of us,” the older man said as he set some money on the counter.
“Thanks, Monty. Don’t forget the bread Sherona set out for you, Errol,” Derek said, waving at a paper bag sitting on the counter. Errol scooped it up as he passed, the gesture looking familiar.
“Have a good one,” Monty said.
“See you later, Monty, Errol,” Derek said as he checked his watch and opened the refrigerator door.
The man called Errol trailed after Monty through the front door. Chance realized belatedly that all three of the other occupants of the diner knew one another as intimately as extended family. Sherona Legion’s diner appeared to be the tiny town’s communal kitchen and dining room.
He looked around eagerly when he heard a sound behind the counter. Sherona walked through a swinging door tying a white half apron around her hips.
“Okay, I’m back. You can go. Mike is waiting for you in the front of the Trading Company,” she said breathlessly to her brother. She gave her apron strings a final tug and glanced up, seeing Chance sitting there. She froze.
“Hello,” Chance called.
If she wore any makeup, Chance couldn’t see it. She didn’t need it. Her lips, for instance, which had fallen open in shock upon seeing him, were a lovely, natural dark pink. She certainly didn’t need any artifice to make them any fuller.
Or sexier.
Belatedly, Chance realized Derek was glancing uneasily between his sister and Chance as she gaped at him.
“I don’t really have to go for a while,” Derek said stiffly.
Sherona blinked and straightened, yanking her gaze off Chance.