Read the book: «Suiteheart Of A Deal»

1

“OKAY, SO YOU’RE, ah, married, huh? Ah, let me see now…Oh, man! Would you look at the time? I have an important meeting in, ah, in less than, ah, I’m sure it’s in less than an hour….”

Rainey Miller laughed aloud. She couldn’t hold it in any longer. Never had she seen a man blush so deeply—or backpeddle so swiftly. The guy was too funny. He obviously wasn’t too bright, though.

Why would he assume that just because a woman was seated alone that she must be single? Everybody from around here knew that, aside from a few young chambermaids and reservations clerks, there were no single, available women at the Honeymoon Haven. Only couples in love, celebrating their honeymoon, or a major anniversary. This guy had to be a tourist.

When her spontaneous eruption drew curious stares from the other guests in the Haven’s quaint dining room, Rainey quickly withdrew into the shadow of the huge potted fern beside her table. The last thing she wanted was to attract the attention of the brain-damaged Lothario who had made her laugh in the first place.

For twenty minutes she had eavesdropped—unintentionally, of course—while the guy did his darndest to entice the stunning blonde seated at the next table. The plant enabled Rainey to watch the show, undetected.

And what a show it was! Hovering over the woman’s table, oozing testosterone, he had tried every dumb line in the book, right down to, “You remind me of somebody I used to know.” He had tried flattery, complimenting her on her beautiful blue eyes and sweet smile. He had offered her a “free” massage, whatever that meant. After telling him twice to get lost, the poor woman had finally been reduced to muttering, “Look, buster, I’m married. I’m on my honeymoon, and my husband will be here any minute!”

Romeo’s immediate and lightning-fast retreat was just about the funniest thing Rainey had ever seen. He might not be a Rhodes Scholar, but she would give him points for cheesy charm.

When he backed away from the table, she got a better look at the guy. My, but he was gorgeous. Tall and athletically built, with a mop of shoulder-length dark-blond hair fingered back from a classically handsome face. He had high cheekbones and full, sensuous lips that promised unspeakable pleasures. Rainey found herself staring at those lips and wondering how the blonde could resist them—married or not.

On second glance, Romeo didn’t look like a tourist. Rainey had spent all her childhood summers in this sleepy little town just west of Calgary. She could easily distinguish the locals from the imports. Everything about Romeo screamed local. The faded jeans, the unbuttoned flannel shirt over a dark-blue T-shirt, the scuffed hiking boots. Plus he had the wind-whipped complexion of an outdoorsman. The tourists usually had delicate city skin and were turned out in stiff new duds straight from the L.L. Bean catalogue.

Rainey sighed. Ever since her breakup with Trevor last month, she had hardly glanced at a man, much less noticed a finely sculptured mouth. One thing was for sure, if she ever got involved with another man, it definitely wouldn’t be someone like superstud here. She could tell just by looking at him that he was a flake. No sooner would you fall head over heels for the guy than he’d start mumbling that he just couldn’t make a commitment “at this time.” Meaning, of course, that he just couldn’t make one with you.

Or worse, he’d win your heart, then make a play for your best friend, the way Trevor had for Rainey’s friend, Dana.

Besides, Rainey wasn’t here to get caught up in another messy romance. She was here to take her rightful place as owner and general manager of the Honeymoon Haven, Canada’s most famous getaway for lovers, in the beautiful town of Bragg Creek, Alberta. She had worked hard for it and she was ready. Well, almost ready.

Learn everything there is to know about running a hotel, and when I pass on I’ll leave the Haven to you. That’s what Rainey’s childless great-aunt Lilly had told her when she was just a kid. Rainey took the offer seriously. She grew weary just thinking about the ten long years she toiled nights and weekends at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto while dozing through business courses during the day. It was a grueling life. No fun whatsoever. But she had done it. Lilly had passed away peacefully last week, and Rainey’s time had come. Now if only she could get over her terror.

She was wrestling with that emotion when Romeo finally spotted her. Oh, no. He was coming her way, mischief plastered all over his stubbled mug.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” he murmured, placing his hands flat on Rainey’s table and locking eyes with her. “A beautiful woman, all alone.” He gave her what he undoubtedly thought was an irresistible smile.

How charming. And what a waste. He had about as much chance of scoring with Rainey as he had of being abducted by aliens. Less, actually.

She glanced at her watch. It was nearly one o’clock. After a sleepless night followed by a turbulent, early-morning flight from Toronto to Calgary, she was exhausted. She had just enough time to catch a nap and freshen up before her three o’clock meeting with Lilly’s attorney. On the telephone this morning he had advised her of last-minute changes to Lilly’s will, changes he couldn’t discuss over the phone. She would shake Romeo off quickly. In the meantime, why not have a little fun?

She ventured a coy smile and nodded in the direction of the blonde. “Surely you must be exhausted from trying to pick up beautiful women.”

Romeo’s grin quickly dissolved into a pout. “Ouch! That wasn’t very nice, was it?” Recovering quickly, he added, “Besides, I never get tired of picking up beautiful women, especially women as gorgeous as you.”

While Rainey laughed, his amber eyes took in her dark, shoulder-length hair, her heart-shaped face, her slender neck and the cleavage showing just above the top of her scooped-neck blouse. Rainey knew she should have thrown the blouse away. She was a little too well endowed for it.

She shook her head. “You’re some piece of work, aren’t you?” It was a lame retort, but it was the best she could do. Rainey wasn’t intimidated by them, but neither was she used to guys like Romeo here. Sexual predators on the prowl. Trevor may have been a wolf, but he came across as a lamb.

Superstud cocked his head sideways and gave her a playful look. “I could be the man of your dreams, if you’d just give me the chance.”

A crazy thought popped into Rainey’s head: Honey, you are the man of my dreams; you just aren’t the man of my reality.

“Really, how so?” Feigning deep interest, she let her green eyes slide over him just as seductively as his had slid over her. What was the harm? He was about to strike out anyway.

He sighed wearily. “Well, first of all, let’s get one thing out of the way. Are you on your honeymoon?”

“Nope.”

His dark-blond eyebrows shot up. “Married?”

“Nope.”

He took a deep breath and made a big show of expelling it. “Whew, it must be my lucky day. Okay, then, here’s what would happen…” Before Rainey could object, he dropped into the chair next to hers. “We’d start the evening with a nice meal at the Bragg Creek Steak Pit. Ever heard of it?”

Rainey nodded. She and her parents had dined there at least once a week, all those summers ago. The food was fabulous.

“Terrific. Then we’d take a stroll through town, just so the locals could see what a good score you made.” He actually kept a straight face while awaiting her reaction.

Good score? Good grief! If this guy wasn’t the most arrogant, conceited jerk who had ever lived, Rainey sure would like to meet his competition. “Of course,” she purred. “That’s a given. Then what would we do?”

“Then we’d retire to my cottage out on Bear Road. Did I tell you that I own a beautiful cottage?”

“Nope. We hadn’t got that far. We were still in town, showing off my good score.”

He nodded earnestly. “Well, I do. Then we’d strip you down to your undoubtedly gorgeous birthday suit and I’d give you a long, slow massage. On the house, of course.”

At the mention of the words long and slow, Rainey felt a serious blush coming on. But hey, there was no way she was going to fall under the spell of this frivolous creature. No, sir. And what exactly did he mean by “on the house?”

She peeked at her watch again. It was almost time for the fun to end. “Need I ask what we would do after that?”

In a voice more seductive, more nakedly intimate than any voice she had ever heard, he leaned forward and murmured, “That’s easy. I’d make you forget every man you’ve ever known.”

Rainey blinked. For one fleeting moment, Mr. Insincerity had sounded almost, well, sincere. As if he couldn’t think of anything in the world he would rather do, or anyone he would rather do it with.

Whoa! Wait a minute. There you had it. There was the power of the hunter to entice his prey just before snaring, and then devouring, it. That she had been enticed, even for a millisecond, left Rainey feeling foolish. She wasn’t about to be devoured—not again. She grabbed her purse and stood to leave. There was no check to pay, of course. The owner of the Honeymoon Haven dined for free.

“Look,” she said curtly, “I have to run. It’s been fun chatting with you. Best of luck on the hunt.”

Jumping to his feet, Romeo seemed genuinely disappointed. “Hey, not so fast! I didn’t get your name. Let’s get to know one another.”

Rainey laughed derisively. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather not exchange names. I’m going to file this little encounter away under the heading ‘Anonymous.’ Or maybe ‘Meaningless.”’

He feigned devastation. “Meaningless? Now there you go again, hurting my feelings. I thought we had something here. I thought we really, you know, connected.”

Right, thought Rainey, I know what kind of connection you’re looking for! Shaking her head, she tried to ease past the flake without brushing up against him, but it proved impossible. The tables were placed too close together, and the huge potted plants between them didn’t help. She made a mental note to lose the greenery and reconfigure the room.

Romeo stood fast and she had no choice but to clutch one of his muscular arms, to steady herself as she made her way around him. It was either that or fall into the plant. “Well, you thought wrong,” she snapped.

He finally stepped aside and let her pass, but not before taking one last shot. “Hey, look, I meant what I said about wanting to get to know you. You give as good as you get. I like that in a woman.”

There it was again, that well-rehearsed sincerity. Rainey wasn’t buying it, but she was charmed nonetheless. She offered him a small, conciliatory smile. “Uh-huh, and I suppose you’re going to tell me now that I have beautiful eyes, and that I remind you of somebody you used to know.”

Thrilled to have captivated her a few seconds longer, he leaned forward and gushed, “You do have beautiful eyes. What are they? Green? Hazel?”

“Green,” Rainey called over her shoulder as she marched out of the dining room and into the wide corridor leading to the lobby. Why was she still talking to this jerk? And why was he following her? He’d given up on the blonde pretty quickly. Of course, she hadn’t cut him one inch of slack. Rainey should have known better than to flirt with a flirt.

Close on her heels, he declared, “And, for your information, you don’t remind me of anyone. You’re an original.”

Rainey abruptly stopped and turned around, and Romeo crashed into her. “Whoa there!” He grasped her forearms. When she didn’t fall, he released her, but not before lightly caressing the bare skin below her short sleeves. His touch felt strangely soothing.

“Look, buster,” Rainey muttered, sounding to herself like the exasperated blonde, “I’m tired and I have a very important meeting in less than two hours. It’s time for you to run along now.”

He lit up like a neon sign. “Hey, what an interesting coincidence! I, too, have an important meeting this afternoon. See, we already have something in common.”

As she turned smartly on her heel and headed for the lobby, Rainey muttered, “Oh, I doubt very much that we have anything in common.” When she reached the wide staircase leading to Lilly’s private apartment and the second-floor suites, Romeo was still on her tail, trying to persuade her that dinner at the Steak Pit, say, around seven, was definitely her best bet for tonight.

At her wit’s end, she confronted him one last time. “Surely you’re not going to follow me upstairs!”

“Aha! So you’re staying here at the inn. I may not know your name, but at least I know where to find you.” He grinned as if that were a major coup.

“Get lost!”

“Okay, okay!” Backing away, he raised both hands to signal defeat. “I know when I’m not wanted.” He tilted his leonine head sideways and wagged a finger at her. “But sooner or later you’ll be seeing me again. And I promise you won’t be able to resist me next time.”

“Oh, yes, I will,” Rainey said to herself as she climbed the creaky stairs. “You can count on it.”

STILL SHAKING HER HEAD, Rainey let herself into Lilly’s apartment—her apartment now—and locked the door behind her. She wouldn’t put it past Romeo to have followed her up the stairs. For all she knew, he might be the town nutcase. Then again, he might just be a harmless hustler. That was more likely.

Whew, but he was a hunk! Delicious was actually the word that came to mind. Too bad he was such a pest. She made a silent vow to avoid him at all costs. It probably wouldn’t be easy in a town of only five hundred people.

Strolling through the stuffy, eerily silent apartment toward the bedroom, she took her first good look at the place. The decor was floral and fussy, with an abundance of over-stuffed colonial furniture crammed together, and knick-knacks crowding every dusty ledge and tabletop. There were dozens of family photos in gilt frames, and worn cushions in every shade of pastel, and doilies and candles and incense and…Rainey did a double take. Candles? Incense? Seconds later, she spotted a Ouija board resting on a TV tray. Why on earth would Lilly have had a Ouija board?

Realizing she would have to redecorate, Rainey felt a sharp stab of guilt. How could she do that? This had been her beloved aunt Lilly’s home for nearly fifty years. Moving even a single picture would be sacrilegious. But what choice did she have? This just wasn’t her taste.

She went into the bedroom and kicked off her shoes. Lord, she was tired. There was so much to think about, so much to do. After her meeting this afternoon she would take a leisurely tour of the Haven. Frankly, the place seemed rundown. The paint in the lobby was scuffed and worn, and the carpet was threadbare in spots. She had already scheduled a meeting for first thing tomorrow with Hollis Harriman, the bookkeeper. In a brief exchange this morning, he had seemed anxious to show her the books as soon as possible.

Rainey suddenly realized just how demanding her new job was going to be. Everyone would be looking to her to make decisions and solve problems and provide inspiration. Her last position at the Royal York Hotel had been that of reservations supervisor. The job had required tact and patience, but it couldn’t compare with being general manager. With only thirty-two suites, the Haven was small stuff when compared to the Royal York, but, even so, the prospect of managing the entire operation, all by herself, was more daunting than she cared to admit.

A new feeling crept up on her now—loneliness. She was in a new town and she had no friends here, no family to provide support. Nobody to joke with, play with, confide in. She was truly alone.

She was also too tired to think about much of anything right now. After puzzling over it for a few minutes, she set Lilly’s old manual alarm clock for two-fifteen and fell across the bed, fully clothed.

She dreamed about a giant set of lips over dazzling white teeth, bearing down on her from above, ready to devour her one bite at a time.