The disapproval in his face pinched her. Joe had high standards, and he was disappointed in himself.
“Yeah,” she said, “and let’s not forget the Comet Inn. Sarah already hates my guts, and she doesn’t even know we’ve been sleeping together.”
Joe’s face grew even grimmer. “Tell me about it. Vince isn’t happy with me, either. In fact, everyone’s been walking on eggshells around here.”
Nina bit her lip as she realized how much damage this was causing Joe. Damn. He’d put his business at risk to be with her, the business he’d built from scratch and worked so hard at. The business that employed people and generated income for the town. The business that paid for his sister’s college education and his grandmother’s care.
Joe wasn’t like Nina. He didn’t have an inheritance or rich connections to fall back on. Everything he had he’d earned on his own. People relied on him. People needed him.
She turned to Joe, her throat tight. “Looks like we’ve been selfish, huh?”
He stared at her, then crossed the small room and held her shoulders. “We just got carried away.” He paused and drew in a breath. “God, did we get carried away.”
“But we should stop, shouldn’t we?”
“Yeah, we should,” Joe said, “even though I don’t want to.”
The conflict in his face seared her. She had lied to him about her identity and slept with him knowing he wouldn’t have if he knew she was a Beaumont. And she was still lying. The enormity of her deception suddenly frightened her.
Gulping, Nina twisted out of his grasp. “It was bound to end anyway.”
He stilled, and his expression grew enigmatic.
She should have left it at that, but maybe she was trying to justify her deception. “I mean, this thing between us, it was never going to develop into a full-on relationship. Right?”
His face turned rigid. “I’m not looking for a relationship.”
The blunt reminder put her in her place. She was good enough for a brief fling, but not worthy of official girlfriend status. Well, maybe she deserved it for her lies.
Nina pressed her hands on the desk she was leaning against and forced herself to meet Joe’s eyes. The prospect of not kissing Joe again, of not sharing the sweetest intimacies with him, left her feeling hollowed out and more than a little abandoned. That scared her. Joe had become an important part of her life so quickly. How had she let that happen?
“Maybe I should leave.” The words jerked out of her.
“Leave?” He sounded bewildered.
“Yeah. Maybe I should find another job.”
She had to return to San Francisco after the Food and Wine Festival anyway, and now Joe had given her a convenient out. Even though it hurt like crazy, this wake-up call was a relief. Now she had a good reason to leave Hartley, and he’d never know who she really was. Her guilty conscience festered at the continued subterfuge, but what good could come from confessing now? He’d never forgive her if he found out, but this way she could keep her memories of him and of this little town and all the people she’d met.
Joe’s eyes were dark. “I don’t want you to leave.”
“But it’s the best decision for both of us. I’ll wait until after the festival.”
He shook his head but said nothing, just stared bleakly at her.
She gulped, her throat raw. “We can still be friends while I’m here, can’t we?”
“Friends.” He heaved in a breath. “Yes. Friends.”
“And I’m still going to help you at the B&B tomorrow. I want to,” she added as he started to object. “You need all the help you can get.” And maybe it would ease some of her remorse.
“Okay.” He sighed as if in defeat. “Thanks. I’d better go now.”
She stood stiffly to attention and watched as he opened the door.
“I’ll see you out there.” He tilted his head to indicate the public areas of the inn.
“See you there,” she choked out.
Then he was gone.
…
Nina was relieved when Vince turned up on Monday to lend a hand. She and Joe had driven out to his B&B in awkward silence, and as soon as they’d arrived he had given her the task of clearing the gutters of the back porch, a one-man job, while he had quickly disappeared somewhere else.
He greeted Vince, and the two men started hammering something at the front of the house.
Nina, perched on a ladder, continued scooping out handfuls of dead leaves from the gutters. Restoring this mansion would be a huge task, but she could see it would make a fantastic B&B. Already she could visualize it in all its restored glory, a gracious, elegant residence that was also relaxed and comfortable. Her fantasies grew wilder and included Joe and herself, working together to bring the B&B to life.
She was so lost in her daydreams that it took her a while to notice the raised voices coming from the front of the house. She clambered down her ladder and hurried through the house. The front door stood wide-open, but when she saw who was outside, she skidded to a halt, her stomach diving.
Two men in black suits faced Joe and Vince. The man in charge, the one who stood in front with shades balanced on his head, was instantly recognizable to Nina. He was Perry Stevens, one of her father’s smarmy, overambitious underlings, who made Nina’s skin crawl.
And right now she could not let him see her.
She shrank back into an alcove beneath the staircase from where she could still glimpse what was happening outside.
“Come on, Joe,” Perry said in his usual oily manner. “It’s a generous offer. You’ll be able to pocket a handsome profit. All you have to do is sign this contract.” He held out a sheaf of papers, a smirk on his face.
Joe stepped right up to him, rigid with fury, and thrust his head at Perry so that the smaller man faltered back. “The answer’s still no. Do I have to tattoo that on your dumb forehead before Carson Beaumont gets the message?”
Perry tittered nervously. “Hey now, no need for that.”
Joe grabbed the contract from Perry’s fingers and stuffed it into the guy’s jacket. “You have two minutes to get off my property.”
“Maybe I’ll come back when you’re not so busy—”
“Yeah, come back any time and say hello to my shotgun.” Joe jabbed his forefinger into Perry’s chest, causing the man to stumble back. “Now get lost.”
Face pale, Perry turned and signaled to the other man. The two revved off in a cloud of dust.
Nina pressed a hand to her mouth as she fought down nausea. She knew how her father operated. He’d tasked Perry to get Joe to sell, and Perry, always eager to suck up to her dad, would try just about anything. He was relentless, a Rottweiler who wouldn’t let go once he’d clamped his jaws.
Joe and Vince were talking in low, tight voices, and before she could move they were in the hallway.
“Nina?” Vince approached her. “Did you hear all that?”
Nodding, she stepped out of the alcove. “I couldn’t believe it. That was awful.” Both men looked grim. She looked anxiously at Joe. “You don’t really have a shotgun, do you?”
He shook his head, then sighed as he raked his hair, his frustration evident. “No, and I shouldn’t have sunk to that, but those Beaumont jerks are feral.”
And she had Beaumont blood flowing through her veins. She shivered with dread at the thought of being outed.
“Don’t worry,” Joe said, misinterpreting the reason for her distress. “I’m not going to do anything stupid.”
Vince grunted. “Maybe you should think about getting a business partner.”
“A business partner?” Joe raised his eyebrows at him.
“Yeah. If you can’t get money from the banks, maybe you can find someone who wants to invest in your business.”
“But I don’t want someone else interfering in my plans.”
Vince lifted his shoulders. “Maybe not, but at least you’d have a business, right? Anyway, it’s something to think about.” He walked off, leaving Nina alone with Joe.
“What do you think?” Joe asked her.
She couldn’t answer for a moment. She was too busy thinking about her trust fund and how she would love to invest some of that money in Joe’s venture. But of course she couldn’t do that, not without revealing who she really was.
“I think it’s worth considering,” she said slowly.
He didn’t speak, and the atmosphere became heavy and uncomfortable. His face was drawn, as if he hadn’t slept well, and his dark eyes were enigmatic. But he was still Joe, and the hold he had over her was stronger than before. She longed to put her arms around him and comfort him. Wished she could bury her face in his chest and inhale his scent deep into her lungs. And when she caught the glimmer in his eyes, she knew he felt the same needs, the same regrets, and the same pain of denial.
“It’ll be okay,” Joe said.
She wasn’t sure what he was referring to—the problems of his B&B or their broken affair—but she nodded anyway. Maybe Joe was right. Maybe everything would work out okay, though she couldn’t see how.
Chapter Twelve
In the next few days, Nina had little time to brood as preparations for the Food and Wine Festival ramped up. Joe was busy with the organizing committee, while Sarah ruled the kitchen like a stressed kaiser, bawling out commands to her staff. The pressures on Joe must have been enormous, but he appeared to handle every minor and major crisis with aplomb, and she never once saw him lose his cool, though he must have wanted to at times.