to guard her from the worst of current culture.
Mandy nodded, small face serious, and Rachel could practically see her storing that information away. Then Mandy pinned Colin with an assessing gaze.
“You don’t look like an ogre,” she observed.
“I’m not,” he said quickly. “That was a joke, because Benj ran off when I came in.”
“He didn’t run off,” Rachel said, exasperated at the turn the conversation had taken. “He’s gone to the kitchen for some lemonade, that’s all. Mandy, you can go and have a snack, too, while I talk to Mr. McDonald. Then we’ll get back to work.”
With a lingering glance at Colin, Mandy walked toward the kitchen and disappeared from view. And, Rachel trusted, from earshot.
She turned back to Colin, hoping he’d take the hint and make this visit brief. She found him surveying her quizzically, making her uncomfortably aware of her frayed jeans and the oversize old shirt of Ronnie’s she’d found in the closet. Why couldn’t he have come when she was looking her best, not her worst? Not that she cared, she reminded herself.
“Trying to protect your daughter from my bad influence?” he asked.
Rachel felt her cheeks grow warm. “What makes you think that?”
He ignored the question, taking a casual step closer to her. She’d thought the past ten years hadn’t changed him much, but she was suddenly aware that he was taller and broader than he used to be. The athletic boy had matured into a man.
Physically, maybe. Somehow she guessed that the teenage hell-raiser wasn’t far under the civilized surface.
“You always did think I was a bad influence on Ronnie, didn’t you?” Those cool gray eyes pinned her in place, and Rachel found her pulse fluttering erratically.
She’d had good reason to know it, but before she could attempt an answer, he stepped back with a rueful smile.
“Never mind. There’s seldom any point in revisiting the past, is there?”
“I guess not.” Too bad she did so much of it, especially now.
“Anyway, to business. You know I’ve taken over my dad’s real estate firm, don’t you?”
“No, I didn’t.” She hadn’t been back long enough to get caught up on all the local news, and this particular item was a surprise. “What happened to the guy who said he’d never come back to this one-horse town?”
“He grew up.” Colin clipped off the words, as if that might be a sore subject. “So Amanda Mason left this mausoleum to you, did she?” He sent a disparaging glance around the high-ceilinged hall, a few shreds of floral wallpaper still visible that Rachel had missed in her scraping. “Was that her way of punishing you for marrying her precious boy—to saddle you with this white elephant?”
“I don’t know what was in her mind,” Rachel said carefully. Colin didn’t need to know how astonished she’d been to be contacted by her mother-in-law’s attorney after all those years of pointed silence. “But it was very kind of her.”
“Kind?” He looked at her as if she were crazy. “How would you like to list it with me?”
“List...?” Her mind went blank.
“Put it on the market.” He said the words slowly, as if she were deficient in understanding. “You probably know it’s a terrible time to be selling, but I think I can still get a decent price for you, as long as you’re not expecting the moon and the stars.” He paced toward the stairwell, as if mentally measuring the hallway.
Real estate market, of course. “That’s kind of you, Colin, but I don’t plan to sell.”
Colin stopped in midstride, turning to give her an incredulous look. “You can’t intend to live here.”
That was a comment she’d made to herself a number of times in the past month, but hearing him say it made her bristle. “Why not? It’s my house now.”
“It’s a wreck,” he said bluntly. “I don’t know what Amanda was thinking, but she let the place go in her final years. You’d have to sink a fortune in it to get it back the way it was, and I don’t suppose she left you that.”
“No.” Just the house, a small yearly amount to pay the taxes and enough in a trust fund for Mandy’s education.
“Well then, the only thing to do is sell the place.” He made it sound as if she had no choice, but she did.
“I’m not going to sell. I’m going to run it as a bed-and-breakfast.”
Colin stared at her, expressionless. “You’ve got to be kidding,” he said finally. “Unless you’ve got an independent income, you can’t expect to get by that way.”
Rachel lifted her chin. Too bad she hadn’t stayed on the ladder, so she could look down at him. “Mandy and I will be fine, thank you. Mason House should go to my daughter, and I intend to keep it running until then.”
“You’ll be lucky if you don’t starve, the pair of you. Jeannette Walker does okay at The Willows, but she’s been at the B and B business a long time.” He shook his head, turned away in frustration and then spun back.
“Look, did Ronnie leave you anything at all to fall back on?”
She stiffened. “I can’t imagine why you think you have the right to inquire into my finances.”
Colin’s eyes narrowed. “I have the right to be concerned about my best friend’s child.”
“You saw Ronnie...what—once in ten years? I hardly think that qualifies you as a best friend.” She stopped, took a breath, forced down the angry words that, once spoken, could never be taken back.
“That should put me in my place, right?” He gave her a crooked smile. “But I’ve never been very good at taking hints.”
“Colin—” Should she apologize? But she hadn’t said anything but the truth.
“Not very good at minding my own business, either.” He walked to the door and then glanced back at her, hand on the knob. “I’ll be around, Rachel. I promise.”
The door closed behind him, leaving her wondering why that promise should sound remarkably like a threat.
* * *
COLIN HADN’T EVEN reached the steps of the wraparound porch when the truth reared its head. He’d messed up badly, antagonizing Rachel instead of gaining her cooperation. The mixture of guilt and something he hesitated to call attraction had played havoc with his self-control.
Not that Rachel had controlled her temper very well, either. She’d come a long way, it seemed, from the shy, innocent little Amish girl she’d been. Her heart-shaped face and sky-blue eyes still had a slight hint of vulnerability, though, and even with her blond hair pulled back, no makeup and wearing a baggy shirt, he’d felt...well, something.
But this Rachel had given back as good as she’d gotten,
