to add Benjamin to the mix.
* * *
Benjamin returned to the bar, wondering what in hell had possessed him to kiss Vivian like that. She was still beautiful in a classy, natural way. Honey-blond hair, blue eyes, creamy skin that burned far too easily and a full pink mouth that had always tempted him. He shook his head. Must have been all those years of denial and restraint, he told himself, and picked up his messages as he headed for his office.
One message was from the McAllisters. They wanted to hold a party on a Sunday night. That would work, he thought. He just couldn’t set aside Fridays or Saturdays unless it was a dead weekend. The second message was from his sister. His heart clenched. “Please come get me,” the voice mail from Eliza said. “I ran out of gas.”
Benjamin took a deep breath. She seemed coherent. He could only hope she was okay.
Benjamin immediately responded to his sister’s message. His stomach clenched as it always did. “Eliza,” he said. “Are you okay?”
“I’m mostly good,” she said. “But I decided to go for a ride and ran out of gas.”
He stifled a groan. “Where are you?”
“I think I’m about twelve miles south of town,” she said. “I’m on Route 33.”
“Okay, I’ll head out. How much charge do you have on your phone battery?”
“Not that much,” she said. “Sorry. I just needed to take a drive. I was feeling cramped.”
Benjamin nodded. He had heard this story before. “I’m coming for you. Don’t use your phone for anything else.”
He walked to his SUV and started toward Route 33. He hoped Eliza was okay, but she didn’t seem overly panicked. She struggled with her illness, but she had seemed fairly even lately. Driving freed his mind from busy work enough to also think about his unexpected meeting with Vivian. Although he’d been tempted, he’d never thought he would kiss her. If he had, he’d never thought it would affect him after all this time. But it had. It damn well had.
He continued driving south on 33, but his mind kept gravitating back to Vivian. Why had her lips felt so good beneath his? Why did he want to kiss her again? No single encounter with a woman had affected him like this in a long time.
He shook off his thoughts. He would wake up tomorrow and put the whole thing aside. Right now, he needed to make sure his sister was okay.
Benjamin saw the headlights of his sister’s vehicle on the side of the road and pulled over. He got out of his SUV with the gas can he kept in the back of his car and strode toward her, immediately filling her tank. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.
His younger sister was wide-eyed and restless, but she nodded. “I’m okay.”
“You don’t look it,” he said.
She twisted her mouth. “I’m working on it.”
“Next time, call me before you leave the house,” he said, escorting her to her car.
“You ever just want to get in your car and drive forever?” she asked.
“Yeah, but there are people counting on me,” he said.
“You’ve always been the responsible one,” she said as she climbed into the driver’s seat.
“You’re getting there,” Benjamin said. “You told me you’re becoming. You’re on a journey.”
“Getting there?” she echoed with a laugh. “Sometimes I’m not sure about that.”
“Becoming,” he said. “You’re becoming. We’re all damn becoming.”
She met his gaze and grinned. “You believe in me when you shouldn’t.”
“I believe in who you are becoming,” he said. Someone had to believe in her so she could believe in herself.
“I’ll keep working on it,” she said. “Thanks for coming for me.”
Benjamin took a deep breath, got in his car and followed his sister home. On the way, however, his lips burned as he remembered kissing Vivian. She tempted him now more than ever. More than that time she’d invited him into the lake to skinny-dip with her.
He gritted his teeth and shook his head. Vivian was not in his future. She wasn’t for him. She never had been, and she never would be. He had responsibilities, and he’d learned the hard way when his fiancé had ditched him. His obligations and life in this small town would cramp the style of a Southern flower like Vivian.
* * *
After Vivian arrived at the lodge, she went to her room and took a shower. In other circumstances, this might have been an opportunity to reconnect with her sisters, but between her outing with Millicent and her encounter with Benjamin, she felt tapped out. All she wanted was a good night’s rest. It took mere seconds for her to fall asleep.
A few hours later, a sharp rap on the door abruptly awakened her. Vivian jerked upright in her bed.
“Missy! There’s been a fire,” Grayson called from the other side of the door.
Panic raced through her. “Oh, no. Please come in. What’s wrong?”
The door opened and Grayson lifted his hands in distress. “There’s a fire. One of the cabins is burning.”
“No! No!” Alarm hit her like icy water. “Did you dial emergency?”
“The fire department is on the way, but I don’t know if they’ll get here in time.”
“Let me get dressed and I’ll come right out.” Grayson left the room and she traded her pajamas for a pair of jeans, T-shirt and jacket.
Vivian raced down the hall past Grayson and pounded on Temple’s room. Within a few seconds, Temple jerked open her door. “What’s going on?”
“A fire in one of the cabins,” Vivian said. “Get Jillian.”
Vivian raced out the back door of the lodge, down the steps and across the back lawn to the cabin that was burning. She stared at it, wishing she could douse the fire. Thank goodness there were no guests. Surely she could do something.
Before she knew it, she felt Temple grab one of her hands. Jillian took her other hand. She stared at the fire and knew her sisters were staring into it, too.
“Why is it taking so long for the fire department to get here?” Jillian asked.
“We’re too far away,” Vivian said. “Up the mountain, and they’re down in the valley.”
“They should be able to get here faster,” Jilly said helplessly.
She and her sisters clung to each other as they watched the cabin burn. A fire engine finally arrived and sprayed the cabin, but it was too late. The cabin was a smoldering ruin.
Vivian couldn’t explain it, but
