Accidental Bride(32)

But the Victorian architecture was gorgeous and intricate, and Peter loved the house just as much as he had from a distance.

Kelly was starting to get out of the car almost before Peter put it into park. “Oh, my God, look at that porch!” She was running around the other side of the house as Peter was climbing out of the car. She called out, “There’s a back porch too! And a balcony on both the second and third floors!”

Peter followed her, feeling just as excited as Kelly did. The house felt like an old friend. And it would be absolutely perfect for a bed and breakfast. One of those outbuildings could be converted to a separate cottage.

“It’s called Eden Manor,” she said, beaming at him when she saw him approach. “Don’t you love it?”

“Yeah,” he admitted. “I do.”

She peered at his face and evidently recognized that he was serious. “It would be perfect for a B&B.”

“Yeah. I was just thinking that.”

“I wonder how much it costs.”

“It doesn’t matter. There’s no way I can afford it.”

“But it’s not in great shape. They’d have to take that into account in the price.”

“Yeah, but even if I could afford the down payment, I’d never have enough money to fix the place up.” He sighed, trying to be as reasonable as he sounded but unable to keep his heart from racing. “Look at the siding. It’s not just that it needs to be painted. A lot of this wood has rotted out. And that’s just the outside. It would probably take a fortune to fix this place up.”

Kelly sighed, but then she climbed the front steps and pressed her face against the window, using her hands to block out the reflection. “It doesn’t look too bad inside.”

He came up to look too and had to admit that the interior wasn’t in as bad shape as he’d expected. “I can’t afford it, Kelly. I’m going to have to start with something small and move up from there.”

Her shoulders slumped, but she nodded, making it clear that she understood. “It would have been perfect for you.”

It would have been perfect for them, but it was obvious that the possibility of making something out of this beautiful old house with him never even crossed her mind.

She came over to take his arm as they started back to the car. “It’s not that far from Savannah,” she murmured, sounding like she was talking to herself. “It would be easy to visit you here.”

He took comfort in the fact that she obviously didn’t like the idea of him living far away from her. “Eh. I’ll probably stick around Savannah.”

She smiled up at him, although there was something almost bittersweet in her expression. “There won’t be anything so perfect there.”

“How do you know?”

“Because there won’t be anything this perfect anywhere else.” She sighed and glanced back at the house. “What you need is an investor.”

“If you’re thinking about Mitchell or James, then just forget about it. I’m not going to take money from your sisters’ husbands—not even to buy this property.”

She had a thoughtful expression on her face as they got back into the car. “I know that. I wasn’t thinking about them.”

He frowned. “Who were you thinking about?”

She shook her head and gave him a wide smile. “It doesn’t matter. We should get going, shouldn’t we?”

Of course, they needed to get going, but Peter couldn’t help but wonder if she’d had a particular investor in mind.

***

A few hours later, Kelly came out of the bathroom, ready for bed.

The bed and breakfast was pleasant, clean, and comfortable, and she was relieved that Peter hadn’t spent too much money on the room. They’d obviously have to share a bed, but they’d been doing so at home now for the last few nights, and it hadn’t been too strange.

It was actually kind of nice, going to sleep with Peter beside her, waking up in the middle of the night and hearing him breathe. She’d never slept with someone like that before, and she hadn’t expected to find it so comforting.

If occasionally she found herself all hot and bothered about being so close to Peter when he wasn’t wearing many clothes, then she was doing a decent job of keeping that a secret.

It was nice to have a husband. And even nicer that it was Peter.

She wore a thin camisole—a little prettier than the tanks she normally slept in—and a pair of pale blue cotton pajama pants. She’d unbraided her hair and brushed it out loose, and in the bathroom she’d had the silliest desire to wear some sort of slinky nightgown, to make herself pretty, sexy. For Peter.