took a bite of her grilled redfish. “That may be true in Houston. It’s not the case in Laramie.” She paused long enough to meet Holden’s encouraging glance, then asked Jeff, “Why do you want LRE so badly?” He had been calling her every few months since Percy died, asking if she wanted to sell.
He added butter to his baked potato. “I specialize in acquiring businesses with no internet presence and taking them online. LRE would be my biggest acquisition yet. I see great potential for growth. In fact, you could stay on if you want, Libby, because I’m not going to be there more than once a week—if that—and I’ll need someone to manage it.”
“Thank you for the offer, but—no. I’m selling because I want out.”
“You’re planning to leave the area, then?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Libby saw Holden tense. “Yes.”
Jeff leaned toward her. “What about the house? Are you interested in including it in the sale? ‘Cause I’m going to need someplace nice to stay when I’m in town.”
Libby hesitated. How did she feel about that? “We could negotiate,” she said cautiously. “If the price is right, of course.”
“Can I see it tonight?” Jeff asked eagerly, while Holden tensed even more.
Ignoring his obvious disapproval, Libby shrugged. “I suppose a brief tour would be okay.”
Victorious, Jeff smiled. “Then let’s do it!”
They talked more as they ate. No one wanted dessert, so as soon as the check was paid, they went out to their vehicles. Libby took the lead in her Range Rover, with Jeff following in his Maserati and Holden trailing behind in his pickup truck.
Her self-appointed protector looked even grimmer when they arrived at the house.
The first thing that caught Jeff’s eye was the Lowell photo gallery that lined much of the foyer and both walls of the grand front staircase. “Wow.” He stopped at the framed pictures of three generations of Lowells, then he studied Percy and Libby’s wedding photo.
“You were awfully young when you got married.”
She had been. “Twenty-two. Right out of college.”
“And you were married how long?”
Libby noticed Holden studying the photos, too, with the familiar mixture of grief, guilt and sadness. “Almost eight years.”
Jeff turned back to her. “I can see why you want to sell,” he told her empathetically. “Residing here must feel like living in a mausoleum.”
Aptly put, Libby thought.
“The tour?” Holden said, looking irritated again.
Libby inhaled and braced herself for another slew of questions from the ambitious businessman. “Let’s get started,” she said. So I can put this evening—and the onslaught of confusing emotions—behind me.
HOLDEN KNEW LIBBY WAS ticked off at him. And maybe he was overstepping his bounds. But when Jeff Johnston asked to see the second floor …
“Not a good idea.” Holden moved to block the way to the stairs.
Jeff turned to Libby with a goading smile. “I thought the two of you weren’t involved.”
“We’re not,” she said, a hint of color coming into her cheeks.
Maybe not in the traditional way, Holden thought. But they were linked through Percy’s memory. And he had made a promise not to let anyone take advantage of his best friend’s widow. A promise he would continue to carry out until his dying day.
“Actually, we are,” he stated flatly.
Libby’s jaw dropped in shock. “I can’t believe you just alluded to that,” she said, glaring at Holden.
It didn’t matter, he thought, because Jeff clearly believed him, not Libby. And Johnston’s obvious respect for another man’s territory would keep him from making an untoward pass at Libby, at least for now.
“I’m going to head out,” Jeff said, his demeanor slightly less personal as he backed off. “But I’ll be in touch.”
“I look forward to it.” Libby’s tone was crisp and businesslike. Spine stiff, she walked him to the door.
As soon as he’d left, she whirled back to Holden and inhaled, the action lifting the soft curves of her breasts. A pulse worked in her throat as she kept her eyes meshed with his. “You had no right to tell Jeff Johnston he couldn’t go up to the second floor.”
Holden found himself tracking the fall of honey-colored hair swinging against her shoulders and caressing the feminine lines of her face. Wondering if it was as silky to the touch as he recalled, he asked, “You were really going to let Jeff Johnston see the bedrooms?”
“No, of course not.” Libby propped her hands on her hips and sent him a chastising look. “Not without having a chance to tidy up and get the property ready to show!” She inched closer, inundating him with a drift of cinnamon perfume. “But that’s not the point, Holden.”
Desire sprang up within him, as surely as irritation had. Reminding himself she was off-limits for a whole host of reasons, he returned carefully, “Then what is the point?”
Their eyes locked, providing another wave of unbidden heat between them. “You intimated to him that you and I are having a fling.”
“No.” Holden savored her nearness, and the pleasure that came from being alone with her, in a way they hadn’t been for months now.
He turned and wandered toward the cozy family room in the back of the house. “I said we are involved,” he corrected, as he passed another row of photos, of Percy and Libby together, involved in all the outdoor activities Percy loved.
Reminded that Libby was once his best friend’s wife, Holden shoved his hands in the pockets of his wool trousers and drawled, “I just didn’t say how we are involved.”
She stepped out of her heels and stood holding the sexy shoes, as if she wanted to lob them at his head. “Same difference,” she snapped.
Holden let his glance drift down her spectacular pantyhose-clad legs to her toes. “Really?” His gaze returned slowly and deliberately to her face, pausing on her lips, before moving to her long-lashed green eyes. Ignoring the threat of the stilettos, he leaned closer still and dropped his tone to a husky whisper. “‘Cause I don’t remember anything sexual or romantic happening between us.”
Libby sniffed and sent him a quelling look. “Only because you came to your senses and put a stop to it.”
Wanting something wasn’t the same as taking it. Particularly when they both had been lost and hurting, searching for any way to end the pain.
As it turned out, Holden recalled soberly, neither of them could have lived with that.
Curtailing his rising emotions, he shrugged.
