bit back the sharp retort on the tip of her tongue and nodded slowly, afraid of what she might say if she spoke. She held her breath, praying that Jess would be as diplomatic. When she glanced at her sister, she discovered Jess looked furious, but at least she remained silent.
For the moment, he had them both over a barrel and they all knew it. Once the board went along with this insane plan of his, though, Abby was convinced he’d be satisfied with the victory. After that, she could make him see reason. She was sure of it.
Then again, she’d learned a long time ago that a man whose pride had been damaged could turn into a fierce and stubborn adversary. For now, anyway, Trace Riley held all the cards, so she and Jess were going to have to play the game his way … at least until she could come up with a new set of rules, and then make him believe that he’d come up with them all on his own.
Outside the bank, Jess stood on the sidewalk, trembling. She whirled on her sister.
“What the hell just happened in there? I thought you were on my side.”
“Of course I’m on your side,” Abby said, looking genuinely bewildered by Jess’s attack. “This was all about keeping you from losing the inn.”
“I might as well have lost it,” Jess snapped. “He’s put you in charge. Way to go, sis!”
Abby frowned. “Jess, calm down. Let’s go to Sally’s for a cup of coffee and talk about this. We need to plan our strategy.”
“Strategy for what? Getting your name on the deed?”
“Jess!”
There was a flash of hurt in Abby’s eyes, but Jess didn’t feel like relenting. She was spitting mad and she needed someone to take it out on. Her sister was the most obvious choice, since Jess couldn’t go back inside the bank and start pummeling Trace. Even in her fury, she knew that would be counterproductive.
“I should have let Mick handle it,” she said. “He’d have made a couple of calls and the bank would have backed down. I might have had to listen to his I-told-you-so’s from here to eternity, but that would have been better than being stabbed in the back by you.”
Temper flared in Abby’s eyes, and Jess knew at once she’d gone too far.
“That’s it,” Abby said, her tone icy. “I came down here because you asked me to. I didn’t create this mess, but I found a way out of it. I convinced Trace to go along with it, so you could keep the inn.” Her scowl deepened. “And now you want to blame me because Trace put a condition on his terms for not foreclosing? Did you hear me ask for this? Didn’t you hear me tell him no? Do you honestly think I want to be tied to Chesapeake Shores for who knows how long, when my life is in New York?” She shook her head. “It really is true—no good deed goes unpunished.”
With that, she turned and walked away. Guilt flooded through Jess. Abby was right. She hadn’t asked for this outcome. And maybe, just maybe, if Jess hadn’t kept the fact that she was going to be dealing with Trace from her, Abby would have expected something like this and could have come up with a different strategy. As it was, she’d been blindsided, exactly as she’d warned Jess she didn’t want to be. And Trace had clearly gone back on his promise not to let his personal feelings interfere with the bank’s decision. No way had this been about anything except getting even, forcing Abby to remain in contact with him, just so he could … What? Humiliate her? Date her? She hadn’t figured that part out yet.
Jess drew in a deep breath, then ran after her sister. “Abby, wait!”
Abby didn’t even slow down. In fact, she was in such a fit of temper that she’d just stormed right past her rental car. Jess finally caught up with her in the next block.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “It wasn’t your fault. I know that. He just made me so furious.”
“Join the club,” Abby said dryly. “Why didn’t you tell me Trace was working at the bank and that he was involved in this? You knew, didn’t you?”
“Not when I called you,” Jess swore to her. “He hasn’t lived here in years. Right before you got here, he came by the inn to look things over. That’s the first I knew about him being back in town, much less working at the bank. I was afraid if you knew, you’d bail on me.”
Abby lifted a brow. “Don’t you know me better than that?”
“I had no idea how deep the bad blood ran between the two of you. You never said why you broke up with him. Everyone in town knew you broke his heart. What no one seemed to know was why, or if maybe he’d broken yours, too. You never wanted to talk about it. Remember, I asked about a million times until you told me if I mentioned him one more time you were going to stop calling home?”
“You really were a pest,” Abby said, but her lips quirked at the reminder. “Okay, I suppose I understand why you didn’t want to tell me I’d be dealing with a man I’d dumped.”
“Let’s not forget that I did try to tell you,” Jess reminded her. “Dad arrived home, remember?”
Abby nodded. “I remember.”
Jess extended an olive branch. “Want to go have that coffee, after all? I’ll treat.”
“With what?” Abby retorted. “Every penny you possess has to go into the inn. I’ll treat.”
Jess grinned. “Fine by me, but just so you know I’m ordering two eggs, bacon and waffles, too. My stomach was too queasy for me to eat breakfast before the meeting. Now the whole infuriating discussion has left me famished. How about you?”
“If Sally served liquor, I’d have a double shot of something, but since she doesn’t, waffles sound good,” Abby replied.
They were silent until they got to the café in the next block. When Abby reached out to open the door, Jess put her hand on top of her sister’s, then waited until Abby met her gaze. “I really am sorry for what I said.”
Abby sighed. “I know.”
Jess studied her sister, then grinned. “Bet I know something you don’t know.”
“What’s that?”
“Trace Riley still has the hots for you.”
“You’re crazy.”
Jess shook her head. “Know something else? I’m almost a hundred percent certain it works both ways.”
Abby drew herself up until her back was ramrod-straight, her expression regal and dismissive. “You could not be more wrong.”
Jess wasn’t impressed by her sister’s performance. “We’ll see.”
In fact, watching the two of them trying to deny what was obvious to any observer, might be just about the only amusing part of this entire messed-up situation.
Abby was in no mood for the interrogation that awaited her at home. Gram and Mick were going to insist on hearing every detail about the meeting, and she wasn’t sure she had the stomach for filling them in. Of course, it had occurred to her more than once that one sure way of extricating herself from the situation would be to let her father step in. Even Jess had mentioned
