hadn’t brought it up. And he probably shouldn’t have asked anyway, but the question came out before he could stop it. “What are your needs?”
A slight narrowing of her eyes told him she didn’t miss the double entendre, though he hadn’t meant it that way. She answered the question directly. “I decided to expand the ice cream parlor to include a café, a little more healthy and upscale than a coffee shop. Even though I took on a partner, we needed an infusion of capital. The simple answer is that I need the money to pay back the business loan.”
“I see.”
“Josie, my other boarder, has been here for a few months. I’ve known her for a long time and this arrangement works for her. She’s a widow and doesn’t want the responsibility of a big house. When she wants to travel, she can go without worrying about the house she left behind. For the other room, you’re my first. Tenant, I mean.” A becoming flush crept into her cheeks. “Someone from your company who knows my brother contacted him about your housing dilemma and he put them in touch with me.”
“And still you investigated me.” One corner of his mouth curved up.
“It never hurts to be cautious.”
Sloan couldn’t argue with her about that. “So who is your brother?”
“Brady O’Keefe.”
“Hmm.”
She frowned. “Do you know him?”
“Not personally. But I know the name. He did some computer and website work for my company.”
Sloan also knew the guy was pretty well off. The way Maggie had emphasized the word need when talking about money, he was pretty certain her brother hadn’t been involved in raising the capital to expand her business.
“You look puzzled about something, Sloan.”
“I am. But it’s none of my business.”
“Probably not.” She shrugged. “Ask anyway.”
He nodded. “I know your brother by reputation and he has a few bucks. Yet you didn’t get the expansion loan from him.”
One of her eyebrows rose. “How do you know that?”
“Because you said you need money to pay back the loan. I don’t think your brother would pressure you or put you and his niece out on the street if you fell behind on payments.”
“No.” She smiled. “But I wanted to do this on my own. My way.”
“And what way is that?” Not the easy way, Sloan thought.
She glanced at the photograph, then back at him. “When Danny and I opened the ice cream parlor, Brady wanted to help us, but my husband refused. He appreciated the offer, but it was important to him to do it on his own. A respect thing. Some might call it macho male pride.”
“I see.”
“He said it was human nature for people to not appreciate things they didn’t have to work hard for. So we poured our heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears into the project. Our phase one. The plan was always to expand and open the café, but there was a setback when he was killed in Afghanistan.”
“I’m sorry.” Stupid words. So automatic and useless. Why wasn’t there something to say that would actually help?
“Thank you.” She slid her fingers into her jeans’ pockets. “Danny’s gone, so I’m carrying on the dream. The way he would have wanted—without my brother’s help.”
“With three sisters, I can say with certainty that my instinct would be to write a check if they needed it. Brady probably feels that way, too. So how’s he taking this loan thing?”
“You’d think I gave his computer a particularly nasty virus.” She grinned. “Still, I think he’s secretly proud of me.”
Sloan didn’t doubt that. What brother wouldn’t be proud of a sister like her? It would have been easy to let herself be taken care of after losing her husband, but she hadn’t. She was raising their child and running an expanded business plus taking in boarders. Doing things her way. And it was a good way.
She glanced at his empty hands. “I assume you have luggage. I’ll show you to your room, then bring your things up.”
“Thanks, but I’ll get everything.” His way wasn’t to let a woman carry his stuff, especially when that woman looked as if the first stiff breeze would blow her away. He admired her independence, but he did things his way, too. “There’s a lot and some of it is heavy.”
“Okay. Follow me.”
Now, that he didn’t mind doing, because she had an exceptionally fine backside. Aside from her obvious external attributes, there was a lot to like about his new landlady. Smart, straightforward, self-reliant. Salt of the earth. He would bet his last dime that she wasn’t a gold digger.
He almost wished she was.
* * *
The next morning Maggie settled her crabby daughter in the high chair beside the round oak kitchen table. After giving the little girl a piece of banana, she whipped up a batch of biscuits and popped them in the oven. When the idea had taken hold to rent out the upstairs rooms, she’d come up with a different breakfast menu for each day of the week. Today was scrambled eggs with spinach, mushrooms, onion and tomato. Fried potatoes. Country gravy for the biscuits. And blueberries. This was one of Josie’s favorites and made one wonder how the older woman stayed so trim. Could have something to do with her being tall and the brisk walk she took every morning after rolling out of bed.
Maggie hadn’t seen Sloan yet this morning and was just the tiniest bit curious about what his favorite breakfast was and how he stayed in such good shape. The snug T-shirt he’d had on when checking in yesterday had left little to the imagination, and the man had a serious six-pack going on. Ever since she’d opened the door, her nerves had been tingling, some kind of spidey sense. It was like the princess-and-the-pea story she read to Danielle. Even when he wasn’t near, she knew he was under her roof.
He wasn’t model handsome, but there was something compelling in his eyes, which were light brown with flecks of green and gold.
“Mama—” The single word was followed by the sound of a splat.
Maggie looked up from stirring the country gravy and saw that Danielle had thrown her banana on the floor. Very little had been ingested, but the little girl had mangled the fruit pretty well.
“Want some Cheerios, sweetie?”
“Cookie—”
Some words came out of this child’s mouth as mangled as that banana, but cookie wasn’t one of them. It was tempting to give in and let her have a treat. Just this once keep her happy so the first breakfast with their VIP guest would go smoothly and convince him she knew what she was doing in the B and B business. But her maternal instincts told her that was a bad habit to start.
“Good morning.” Josie walked into the kitchen freshly showered after her exercise. She was in her early
