she said, “Six-thirty. I’ll be there.”
“I’m looking forward to it….” he said almost more to himself than to her.
Then he walked out into the bright October sunshine of a Colorado day while Nati watched him go.
And as she did, she recognized some very conflicting emotions roiling around inside of her—among them what seemed like it might be an eagerness to see Cade Camden again.
But she mentally stomped the feeling out like a cinder from a campfire.
At least she thought she did.
Until a moment later when there it was again…
Chapter Two
“Here’s the material for the next… And there you are again—this is the third time I’ve come into your office today and found you staring into space with that weird little smile on your face.”
Cade glanced in the direction of his open office door, where January was standing in the threshold.
His little sister was right: every time she came into his office today, she’d caught him staring into space. He’d basically wasted this entire day. He seemed to have Nati Morrison on the brain.
As for his smile?
He hadn’t even been aware of that….
“What are you daydreaming about?” Jani demanded.
“Ah, it’s just… You know… Nothing. It’s been a long week, it’s Friday, I guess my brain is starting the weekend a little early and taking me along with it.”
“Do you have big plans?”
“No. In fact I don’t have any plans.” He glanced at his watch. “Oh, but I do need to get out of here. I have that Morrison woman coming by the house to look at the wall and my place is a mess.”
“That Morrison woman…” Jani repeated, coming in and closing the door behind her.
All week long the Camden grandchildren had been discussing what their grandmother had asked of them. But they were always careful to do it so that nothing could be overheard.
They all agreed that amends should be made. But no one was eager for GiGi to send them on their particular missions. So there was some sympathy in Jani’s expression when she turned back to Cade as he began to clear his desk to leave.
“So you finally met her?” Jani asked, her voice somewhat hushed, even though there was no need to whisper. She’d crossed the office to stand facing Cade at his desk.
“I met her yesterday,” Cade confirmed. “You know what this week has been like—I didn’t get over to Arden until late yesterday afternoon.”
“How did it go?”
“Okay, I suppose. It was great until I introduced myself. Then things cooled—we were joking around a little but when she found out who I am… Well, like I said, it got a little chillier.”
“Did she throw you out of her shop?” Jani asked with some dread, as if she were thinking ahead to what she might encounter when it was her turn to do a good deed.
“No, but she might have thought about it,” Cade said. “There were a couple of pauses when I half expected her to unload on me or kick me out or something. But instead she just got less friendly, more businesslike.”
“So it was friendly before she knew who you were?”
“Yeah. Nati Morrison seems really nice. Sweet. Funny—”
“You liked her….”
“Sure. Yeah. You know…” Cade hedged.
“Pretty, nice body, if you’d met her in a bar you’d have bought her a drink?” Jani probed.
Cade laughed. “Probably,” he admitted, not telling his sister that in fact Nati Morrison was beautiful. And cuter than hell when she smiled and a tiny dimple appeared just above the right corner of her mouth.
He also didn’t tell his sister that Nati Morrison had silky, shiny hair. Or that she had flawless alabaster skin with a healthy little pink blush to high cheekbones. Or that she had a nose most women he knew would have paid good money to have surgically produced for them. Or that her lips were lush and lovely, and her big, round eyes were the color of the finest topaz—brown and bronze and gold all at once—incredibly beautiful, with long, long lashes.
And the body that went with it wasn’t bad, either—she was a compact thing at not much more than five feet three inches, with curves in all the right places and a tight round backside….
“Cade?”
Jani’s voice barely got through to him.
This was crazy—he kept zoning out into Nati Morrison Land…
He had no idea what his sister had just said, if she’d said anything at all.
“Sorry. Like I said, I’m in outer space today,” he apologized.
“I said that she must have at least some idea about what went on between H.J. and her family.”
“She knows that GiGi and her grandfather knew each other in Northbridge—I mentioned it and she finished my sentence. Whether or not she knows anything more than that is still a question. She could just be one of those people who doesn’t like us—you know how that is.”
They were all well aware of the two camps of opinions about their family—there were those who admired, respected and appreciated what the Camdens had achieved. And there were those who envied and hated them, and contended that their fortune had been built on the backs of the “little people.”
“Right,” Jani said, “Camdens are either titans of industry or despicable robber barons.”
“And sadly now we know that there could be some truth to that second opinion,” Cade muttered.
“Yeah,” Jani muttered. “But Natalie Morrison is going to do your wall?”
“I think so. That’s what she’s coming over to look at tonight. Then I suppose she’ll give me a price.”
“A million dollars?” Jani joked.
Cade laughed. “I guess we’ll see. That would be a way to get even with us.”
“Well, you better not keep her waiting,” Jani advised. Then she held up the papers she had in her hand. “This is the material for the next board meeting—that’s why I came in here in the first place. To find you lost in thought with a smile on your face—I’d forgotten about that smile….” Light seemed to dawn in Jani. “Is that what you’re thinking about today? And smiling about? Natalie Morrison?”
“Nati. She doesn’t like to be called Natalie.” He had no idea why he was
