Chapter Three
Harlan didn’t buy Savannah’s claim that she wasn’t pissed about their past. He’d seen something in her eyes, a flash of anger that was there and gone so fast he thought he’d imagined it. Maybe he had. He still felt like a shit for what had happened all those years ago.
Harlan had been married, divorced and involved in a number of relationships over the years. Not one of them, not even in the beginning of his marriage, had made him feel like he had when he’d been with Savannah.
They’d been eighteen years old. Hell, he’d undoubtedly romanticized the whole thing in his mind. Who knew what would have happened if he hadn’t been forced to break up with Savannah? Odds were fifty-to-one that they’d have broken up within the year anyway.
But it was the manner and the timing that got to him. And to Savannah too, he’d bet. At the time she’d been devastated. He’d known it—hell, all he’d had to do was look at her. But there hadn’t been a damn thing he could do about it. Not without making his family pay the price.
That was then and now, in the present, the two of them should be able to have a decent business relationship. She would be his employee. Nothing more.
Business. That’s why he’d been flirting with her, right?
Give me a break. She’s beautiful. Stunning, even.
So? A lot of women were beautiful. Women he’d dated. His ex-wife. Many of his girlfriends. Most of them had been pretty, if not show-stoppers.
“But they weren’t Savannah,” a feminine voice said.
A feminine voice that was not Savannah’s. Great. Now he was hearing voices. Female voices. And smelling…lavender. What the hell? That was at least the second or third time he’d smelled lavender since he’d arrived at the party.
“Do you smell lavender?” he asked Savannah.
She raised an eyebrow. “Yes. I’ve been smelling it practically all night.”
“Me too.”
“That’s odd. Avery and Rachel didn’t smell it. At least, not when I did.”
“I thought you might be wearing a lavender fragrance.” He leaned closer and sniffed. Not lavender but she smelled great. Sexy, alluring… Forget it, Sullivan. You are not going there.
“No.” She held out her wrist. “Not even close.”
Because it was there, he smelled it. His gut tightened at the heady smell of her and the sight of her smooth, bare skin. No bangles, bracelets or any jewelry other than an unusual aquamarine ring on her finger. What he really wanted was to kiss her wrist and keep going until he reached her mouth.
Why don’t you?
There went that damn female voice again. Harlan answered the annoying voice, regardless of the fact that he wondered if he’d lost it. Because she wouldn’t go for it. She’d probably coldcock me.
“Definitely not lavender,” he said, easing away from the gut punch of her fragrance.
Savannah shifted and grimaced. “This floor isn’t the softest thing I’ve ever sat on.”
“I can get another coat.”
“I don’t think anyone would appreciate me using their coat as a blanket or pillow.”
He got up and held out his hand. “Here.”
“Oh, no,” she said, shaking her head. “There’s no way I’m trying to get up until someone rescues us. I had a hard enough time getting down here once. I’ll probably split my dress if I try it again.”
Harlan grinned. “Wouldn’t want you to do that.” He picked up the coat he’d been sitting on that he thought was Logan’s. “Here you go.” He folded it over a couple of times, then gave it to her. “Sit on that and see if it helps.”
She managed to wedge it underneath her butt. “That does help a little. What are you going to sit on?”
He laughed. “The floor. A little dirt won’t hurt me.” He sat down beside her.
Her dress covered her legs. He tried not to stare at her cleavage but that was nearly impossible. Her coat hung off her shoulders, open over her chest, and the smooth, pale skin above the bodice of her dress looked soft, sexy, and very tempting. “It doesn’t look like we’ll be getting out of here anytime soon,” she said.
“Might as well relax. Someone will want their coat sooner or later.”
“I suppose so. But if they don’t hurry I’ll miss the silent auction announcements and Avery will kill me.”
“She’ll understand. It’s not as if you did it on purpose.”
She lapsed into silence, then said, “Have you—”
“Tell me—” Harlan said at the same time. “You go ahead,” he said with a laugh.
“Have you been building houses since you moved away?”
“No, but I’ve been in construction most of the time. Not all of it building houses. I bounced around a while, working construction for different companies. Eventually I started my own company and here I am.”
“Somehow I doubt it was as easy as you make it sound.”
He smiled. “No, it wasn’t easy. But it was fun. And challenging.”
“You’ve been in Dallas all this time?”
“No, just the last seven or eight years. I’ve lived all over Texas.”
She shifted, pulling her coat closer around her shoulders. “What made you decide to come back to Whiskey River?”
“My brother Travis told me about your boss wanting to sell Whiskey River Construction. Both he and my sister have been after me to move back here for a long time. And I was ready for a change. I’ll still build houses, but there are a number of other projects here that I’m interested in.”
“Oh, what are they?”
“A winery and the airport, to name two. I might build a house on spec. See how well that goes.”
“I know your brother and his friends are expanding the airport. We extended the runway for them, but Bill decided to retire after that and didn’t want to take on anything else.”
“Travis brought me up to speed. Expansion of the airport will be one of my first jobs here. Along with the winery.”
“I guess it isn’t rumor, then, that Elijah Lane wants to build a winery and Logan Calloway is backing it.”
“No, it’s true. I’m going to build the structures, once they decide exactly what they want.”
“The three of you were friends back in high school, weren’t you?”
“Yes. Still are. We kept in touch, loosely.”
“I never knew them other than by sight. But we didn’t know each other’s friends, did we?”
“No.” They’d only been interested in each other. Besides, they’d been anxious to keep their relationship secret so they’d never gone out with each other’s friends. They hadn’t exactly run in the same circles, anyway. “Have you lived here in Whiskey River all this time?”
She nodded. “A lot of it, but not all. I went to college in San Antonio. I lived there briefly after I married too. Once we got divorced I came back here and I’ve been here ever since.”
“I figured your father would have convinced you to come work for him.”
She laughed. “He tried. But I was never interested in banking, which I told him ages ago. Much to his disappointment.”
“I’ll bet.” Harlan could see that really chapping the old man’s ass.
“It took him awhile but he finally accepted that I like my work and he doesn’t have a say in the matter.”
Harlan hid a smile. Somehow he didn’t think Taylor would be pleased about Whiskey River Construction’s new owner. He wished he could see the old man’s reaction when he found out his precious daughter was not only working with, but also working for Harlan Sullivan, the kid from the Barrels he thought he’d gotten rid of years ago.
*
“Finally,” Savannah said when she heard noises at the door.
“Savannah, are you in there?” Avery called, pounding on the door.
“Avery, thank God! Yes. We’re locked in.”
Avery rattled the doorknob. “I’ll be back. I’ve got to find the key.”
“Hurry,” she said, struggling to get up. Being so close to Harlan after all this time was harder than Savannah would have imagined. The man had only gotten better with age.
Harlan had risen to his feet and held out a hand to her. She took it, thankful for the help. But once she was upright she stumbled and he caught her against his chest. His very hard chest. He must have muscles that don’t stop. She looked up into his eyes. Those beautiful dark green eyes.
“Sorry,” she said, moving away. She could have sworn she’d felt someone push her. Which was, of course, impossible since they were the only two people in the room.
“Do you smell—”
“Lavender?” he finished for her. “Yes. Again.”
“That is so strange.” She shook her head. “I thought it was the Lavender Dreams display at the silent auction at first, but it wasn’t. And this is the second time we’ve both smelled it in here. I can’t imagine why. There’s no way we should be smelling it in here.”
Avery swung open the door. “The key wasn’t hanging where I thought it was. I guess whoever locked you in moved it too. Who could have done that?”
“No idea, but thanks for rescuing us.”
“I couldn’t believe you’d run out on me. Is this why you missed the silent auction?” Avery asked Savannah.
“Of course. You know I wouldn’t have missed it otherwise. Did you find someone to take over the coatroom for me?”
“Yes. Regina will be here in a minute.”
“Regina? How did you manage to get her to agree?”
Avery gave her a mischievous smile. “I have my ways.”
Harlan got his phone out of his pocket. “Still dead, damn it. I can’t pull up the weather app.”
“No need,” Avery said. “Rachel left early. With Elijah Lane.”
“Eli? I didn’t know she even knew him.”
“I introduced them earlier.” She raised an eyebrow. “I guess they clicked.”
“Looks like.”
“Anyway,” Avery continued, “Rachel’s babysitter called and she took off. But she texted as soon as she could and said the weather service has issued a travel ban for all but emergency vehicles. The severity of the storm surprised them. Plus it came on very suddenly. Rachel and Eli made it into Whiskey River but she texted and said the highway department has closed all the roads. And the road from the inn to 2766 that Rachel and Eli left on is pretty well impassible now. Some of the guests who left just a short while ago turned around and came back.”
“2766 is closed?” Savannah asked. “The weather got that bad this quickly?”
“Look outside,” Avery said, waving at a window.
Savannah went to the window with Harlan following. During the time they’d been locked in the coat closet, the scene outside had transformed into one from White Christmas. Except it wasn’t Christmas yet, there was a coating of ice everywhere, not snow, and the Hill Country didn’t have storms like this. Certainly not in early December.
“Looks like you were right,” she said to Harlan.
“There’s talk about the weather but I think we should make an announcement,” Avery said. “And then we need to find something to do with everyone.”
“I’ll ask the Harwoods how many people they can put up. I don’t think the inn is particularly full, but finding room for two hundred or more people will be tough.”
“Some of them will undoubtedly leave,” Harlan said. “People don’t always pay attention to weather warnings.”
“Yes, except the road to the highway is impassible, so they won’t have a lot of choice. I suppose a four-wheel drive could get through, though.” Savannah called and spoke to the desk clerk, who had the manager call her back. There were twenty-two available rooms, plus several living spaces in the main house as well as in each building. People would need to double up but Mr. and Mrs. Harwood promised to find room for everyone who stayed.
Savannah brought Avery up to speed about the inn. “So, who’s going to announce what’s going on?”
“You,” Avery said.
“Oh, no,” Savannah said, shaking her head. “Rock, paper, scissors.”
Her friend agreed grudgingly. Of course, Savannah lost and Avery left before she could protest. She saw Harlan watching her. “Don’t you dare laugh.”
“I’m not laughing. I’m impressed with your ability to get things done.”
“I haven’t gotten anything done yet. People are not going to be happy.”
“What can I do to help?”
“Make the ice go away?”
“Sorry, no can do. What else can I do?”
“Go over to the main house. Mrs. Harwood will give you a map of the available rooms and buildings, and the number of people each one will hold. She’ll also have sign-up sheets. Everyone can argue among themselves about who gets which bed or couch in their appointed building.”
After Harlan returned with the requested materials Savannah went to the stage and took the microphone. “Hi, everyone. I have an announcement to make. The weather channel has issued a severe winter storm warning for the area. We’re in the midst of a severe ice storm. Rural Route 2766 back to Whiskey River is closed to all but emergency vehicles. And according to some of our guests who left before we were aware of the warning, the road from the inn to 2766 is impassible. They had to turn around and come back. Police ask everyone to stay where they are and not drive until the weather is past. Which we hope will be sometime tomorrow.”
Everyone started talking. She heard grumbling, but it sounded as if most people were accepting the situation and deciding to make the best of it. Not everyone would, of course.
She tapped on the microphone. “If I can have your attention. I’m going to tape several maps of the grounds to the walls where everyone can look at them. We’re going to put each building’s sign-up sheet on a separate table. The name of the building and the maximum number of people who can be assigned to each one is written on each sheet.”
After Avery and Harlan finished laying out the sheets, Savannah pulled Avery aside. “What’s up with Rachel? You said she left because the babysitter called?”
“Yes, Mrs. Claus said Katie was really upset so Rachel took off, naturally. But she said Katie was fine by the time she got home.”
“I’ll try to call her later, although cell phones don’t seem to be working well. At least, mine and Harlan’s don’t. What about yours?”
Avery pulled it out, looked at it and grimaced. “Not good either. Maybe another carrier will work better.”
“I hope so or there’s going to be a mad rush to use the inn’s landlines to alert people’s babysitters to what’s going on.”