“No.”
He took the tumbler from her and their fingers brushed. Her hands were cool and unblemished, he noticed, her fingers long with no nail polish. He almost turned his hand to take her fingers in his but she pulled her hand back quickly. She blushed as she tucked her hand into the back pocket of her jeans. There was something innocent about her and he didn’t understand it. She was so bold most of the time.
But every time they touched, it popped up.
“So...tell me about you,” he said.
She tipped her head to the side studying him. “Why do you want to know?”
“I want to be able to give the police as much information as I can on my blackmailer,” he said sardonically. “It’s called getting to know someone.”
“Oh, you just don’t strike me as someone who does small talk.”
“You’re making me regret asking.”
She threw her head back and laughed, and a shaft of desire went through him. On the surface there was nothing about Indy Belmont that should have attracted him, yet here he was getting turned on.
“You know about my showHometown, Home Againso I’m guessing you mean here in Gilbert Corners. I own the bookshop across the way as well as a Victorian house over on Maple. I thought Gilbert Corners would be a nice place to live and work for the next few years,” she said.
“Is it?”
“Well, there was this curse...”
He shook his head at her. She gave him a sheepish grin. “Sorry. I love it here. I mean my house needs more work than I expected and the foot traffic in town isn’t as lively as I’d like, but I do a good business online, so I’m good. We’ve already filmed me making over the bookshop and Java Juice. So next up we’re focusing on my Victorian house. I’ve been hunting for authentic pieces from that era to fill the rooms.”
“And you’re fixing up the town too?”
“Yes, that’s what my show is about. Well, I’m trying. I mean, this town should be a weekend tourist destination and no one gets off the train here,” she said. “Half the businesses on Main are closing down. I have friends who own their own businesses who I want to open shops here, but right now... I don’t blame them for saying no.”
He finished his iced coffee and put the tumbler on the ground. “So will you stay here after you finish fixing it all up?” He gestured to everyone working in the park.
“I don’t know. What about you?” she asked.
Her answers felt...pat, like she was hiding something. Her show was successful; when he’d gone back home after the cook-off he’d watched a few episodes, getting turned on watching her work in her overalls and making molding with a table saw. Not what he would have classified as one of his turn-ons but his erection said otherwise. “What about me?”
“Why did you leave Gilbert Corners?” she asked.
He shut down. He might like her and he planned to have her in his bed. But he never discussed his past. “That’s not small talk,” he said.
“Why not?” she asked in that soft, gentle way that he was coming to like a little too much. If she’d been demanding he would have walked away, but there was a genuineness to the question he wouldn’t ignore.
“It’s complicated,” he said at last.
“Was it because of the accident? I heard your grandfather died right after you’d recovered. That would make it hard to come back here,” she said.
She’d given him an acceptable reason for not wanting to be here. He could just smile and nod, but the fact was he didn’t want to lie to her. “No. It’s because of my grandfather himself. The old bastard made me miserable, and I want nothing to do with anything that he loved.”
She stared at him for a moment than nodded. “I’m sorr—
“Let’s get these rosebushes planted. Our groundskeeper used to water the ground before planting. I’ll get a watering can.”
He turned and walked away from her and the conversation. The last thing he wanted to discuss was his grandfather or this damned town. No matter how much Indy turned him on, he needed to finish this up and get out of town.
The sun was hot, and he heard the sound of kids laughing and playing, and all he could remember was how quiet and somber Gilbert Manor had been when he’d first arrived there.
Indy was starting to get a better picture of why the Gilberts had left Gilbert Corners. If Conrad hated his grandfather...maybe the other cousins did as well. But he was gone now and there was no reason for Conrad to stop coming here. Of course she hadn’t been able to make herself go back to campus after...well, after. So she knew that a place could often hold memories that logic couldn’t help her get beyond.
Except that Conrad looked like someone who didn’t have those kinds of issues. Which she immediately chided herself for thinking. She knew better than to judge him based on his life. Everyone had stuff in their past that they were dealing with.