with the absolute seriousness of his tone and the set of his jaw. “If you’d spoken to any of the residents of those places, Melody, you’d have heard how happy and excited they are about their prospects for the future.”
She sighed, and her shoulders slumped a little. He was good, she’d give him that. “Mr. Gallagher—Griffin—I—”
“Let me finish.”
She nodded, so caught up in his eyes, the mellifluous sound of his voice, the vibrancy that radiated from him when he spoke about what he so clearly believed in, that she couldn’t have looked away then if she’d wanted to. “Go on,” she said, ceding him the floor, if not the victory.
The tension in his jaw relaxed just a bit, as did his tone, but the vibrancy was no less potent when he spoke. “I’m no’ in the business of ruinin’ lives,” he said quietly. “I’m no’ here to make your life, or any of those who live here, more challenging, or diminish, in any way, the things you love about Hamilton. I come from a place where traditions are important, too. I consider all of that when coming up with my plans.”
She struggled to keep her head from becoming hopelessly fogged by him, to keep her thoughts clear, her arguments concise. “The pictures you have in the brochure make Hamilton look like some bright, shiny FutureWorld. You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear. We’re a dyed-in-the-wool, homespun-and-happy-for-it sow’s ear. We don’t want or need to be some kind of resort town getaway. Most of us are here because we like permanently being away.”
“Melody—”
“My turn,” she said, hoping he saw that she was just as earnest and sincere as he was. “We’re happy you’re here.” At his arch look, she said, “We are, Griffin. Truly. We’re happy that Lionel has someone he can trust to take over his business, so we can continue forward. With Trevor Hamilton bowing out, it’s been a great concern, where the future would lead without a Hamilton heir at the helm. But if you’d just work on growing Hamilton Industries, the town will grow by default.”
“But no’ fast enough.”
“What is the big rush? We’re not unhappy with our slower way of life. We all know we’re not going to get rich living and working here. We’re not failing as a town, so—”
His previously open gaze grew shuttered. And a whole new kind of alarm sprang to life inside her.
Her heart squeezed hard inside her chest. “Is there something you’re not telling me? Or all of us? Is something wrong at Hamilton Industries? Are we in some kind of trouble?”
“You’re on the brink of achieving a success like you never dared hope for.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the answer I bring, Melody. It’s an answer that will work.”
She looked into his eyes and realized he was not going to give her anything more. She understood. His loyalties lay with Hamilton Industries. But that didn’t mean she had to like it. “Perhaps you, and by extension, Lionel, should have more faith in the people who keep this town running. Why don’t you focus on the people who run your company?”
“It’s no’ mine as yet.”
“You know what I mean. Don’t underestimate us, Griffin. You’ll garner the kind of real loyalty and support you’re trying to charm us into, if you tell us the truth. We don’t scare off. And we don’t give up.”
“You’ve seen my list of successes, Melody, so I’m going to ask you, based on my track record, to trust that I know what I’m doing. I’m handling the situation the best way possible for everyone involved. Everyone.”
She sighed a little at that and tried not to be frustrated. Before, she’d been prepared to dislike him and cast him as the bogeyman, come to ruin her bucolic little life. It was harder to do now that he’d allowed her to glimpse the real man behind the charming Irish accent and glossy Power-Point presentation.
That man seemed sincere, smart, and very determined.
She broke their gaze, looked down, wanting, needing to regroup. And felt his knuckles beneath her chin, drawing her gaze back to his.
“I think you’ll find that my way isn’t a bad way.”
She looked into his eyes, wanting to find what she needed, so she could get past the ball of fear in her gut. All she knew, in her gut and in her heart, was nothing was going to be the same again. She knew it, just as surely as she’d known moving back here to be with Bernie, to take on a whole new life challenge, was the absolute right thing to do. She prayed like hell this was going to work out half as well. “I hope, for all of our sakes, that you’re right.”
“I am,” he said simply and without arrogance.
Standing, all but in his arms, their gazes locked, she felt connected in a way she hadn’t ever been before, and certainly wouldn’t have expected to be. She saw how easy it could be to trust him, to put her faith in him, let him lead the way, and believe everything would be okay. And she knew the townspeople would feel exactly the same way. Maybe her time in Washington had left her too cynical, too suspicious. But she strongly felt that she was right to protect what was hers, what she saw as the most valuable parts of the life that fulfilled and contented her. She hadn’t thought she was alone in those feelings. She’d heard the same sentiment over and over, expressed by everyone in town. But she saw what had swayed them and understood the temptation. Lord knows she felt it. But that didn’t mean she had to give in to it. Not when so much was at stake.
As she moved to break the moment completely, to shift away from him, do whatever she had to, kick him out if necessary, to regain her perspective—not to mention control over her own libido—he spoke.
“Do you know what I wish for, Melody?”
She smiled at him. She was finding it increasingly easy to do. Danger, danger, she thought. But she didn’t step back. “That I’d stop being a thorn in your side?”
His lips curved, and somehow, that half grin was sexier than all the sparkling, charm-filled ones that had come before it. He had offered it naturally, rather than as a calculated play.
“That, too, of course. But I’m referring to a rather more…insistent, immediate wish.” His gaze dropped to her mouth, then slowly returned to meet her eyes.
Her heart started an erratic tattoo inside her chest, and her skin had gone beyond warm and tingly to an almost steamy dampness that had nothing to do with the huge ovens cranking out heat. She should have stepped away when she had the chance. At the moment, she was rooted right to that spot.
“Which is?” The words came out as a damnably soft whisper.
The pupils in his clear green eyes expanded until they threatened to swallow up the rest. That darkness added an element that made him seem all the more dangerous.
“That I could court your favor quite personally, for reasons having nothing to do with business. And everything to do with kissing. Your lips tempt me. Mightily.”
She swallowed reflexively against the sudden tightness in her throat. “How…direct.”
“You wanted honesty.”
“If
