All too soon, she’d come home to an empty house, with only the memories of laughter and arguments and conversations to keep her company. Her gaze swept the familiar front room, lightly touching on the books haphazardly stacked in bookshelves and piled on tables. The handmade quilt her late grandmother had fashioned draped across the back of the sofa. The stone fireplace Mike had built when he and Grandma had first taken over the Angel family home. Scarred wooden floors, pale peach walls and the scent, as always, of evergreens.
Ivy’s heart was in this old house. In this farm. In every tree on her acreage. And she would do whatever she had to do to protect every last seedling out there.
“At least tell me how you think working for this guy is going to help the situation any,” Mike said, catching her attention.
“It was actually Mr. King’s lawyer’s idea,” she said and continued despite Mike’s snort of derision. Everyone in the county knew how Mike Angel felt about lawyers. “Mitchell Tyler is his name and he was very nice when he called last week. You know, right after Sheriff Cooper came out to see us about the latest complaint?”
“I remember.”
And judging by the look in his eye, the memory only fueled the flames of his anger. Being told by the local sheriff that the new guy in town was out to get you was not something anyone wanted to hear.
“Anyway,” she said, trying to distract her grandfather from his anger, “Mitchell explained that he needed to hire Tanner a housekeeper and that he thought it would be a great way for me to convince Tanner that I’m not his enemy. He thinks that if we just get to know each other that Tanner might be more willing to listen to reason.”
“Tanner.” Mike snorted. “What kind of name is that, anyway? And Mitchell. Who names these people?”
“I like the name Tanner,” she said. “It’s masculine and strong and—” She broke off when she caught her grandfather’s raised eyebrows.
She sighed. “The point is, Mitchell’s trying to talk Tanner into relaxing and to stop making the complaints. But he says if I can worm my way into his good graces that could help the situation.”
“And how did he hear about you? This Mitchell, I mean.”
“Remember, I met him several months ago when he was up here delivering building permits and things for the crew that redid Mrs. Mansfield’s house for Tanner.”
“Harriet Mansfield. Now that was a good neighbor.”
“Yes, but she’s gone and Tanner’s there now. We have to make him like it here, Pop, or he’s going to make trouble for us.”
“Like to see him try it,” her grandfather muttered.
“Well I don’t want to see him try it,” Ivy said, leaning forward until she could meet her grandfather’s steely blue eyes with her own. “He’s rich and powerful and crabby. Not a good combination to have in an enemy.”
“And you’re gonna turn him around, are you?”
“I’m going to try,” Ivy told him.
“If you fail?”
“I won’t,” she insisted. “Tanner’s not a bad guy, Pop. He’s just too…closed up. I’m going to open up his world for him.”
Her grandfather’s eyes narrowed on her thoughtfully. “You’re not thinking of maybe…”
“Maybe what?”
“You know. You’re young and pretty. He’s young and rich.”
“POP!”
“Wouldn’t be the first time a woman’s head was turned by a rich, powerful man.”
“I don’t care about his money. And I’m not looking for romance.” She shook her head. “I already had my shot at true love.”
Her grandfather chuckled. “You really are young, Ivy, if that’s what you think. You loved David, I know. But it won’t be the last time you love, I sincerely hope. There’ll be someone else for you along the road. Just don’t look for it where you’ll only find disappointment.”
She flushed a little, remembering that swamping sensation of heat she’d felt at first sight of Tanner King. How just looking into his eyes made her stomach swim and her knees go weak. How the sound of his voice had seemed to shiver along her nerve endings.
But Mike was right, she told herself. Being Tanner’s friend, introducing him to life in a small town and with any luck getting him to be less of a Scrooge was one thing. Romance was something else entirely. Men like him didn’t go for women like her. And if they did, it wasn’t a long-term commitment they were thinking about.
“I promise,” she said softly. “I’m not looking for anything from Tanner except a cease-fire.”
Mike studied her for a long minute, then patted her cheek again. “Well then, I say Tanner King doesn’t stand a chance. Once Ivy Angel Holloway gets going, there’s not a power on earth to stop her.”
Four
The next morning, Ivy and Mike were in Cabot Valley Bank to talk about the balloon payment due on the loan she had taken out. She was as nervous as a child at the dentist waiting to get a cavity filled.
While she and her grandfather sat quietly, the bank manager, Steve Johnson, looked over their loan papers with a slow shake of his head. Finally, he looked up and met her gaze.
“Thanks for coming in, Ivy,” he said. “I just wanted the three of us to have a sit-down to talk about the due date on this loan.”
“Trust me when I say that I know the payment is almost due,” she told him and was grateful when Mike reached over and gave her hand a pat. “It’s not going to be a problem.”
She sincerely hoped.
Ivy had taken out a big loan to improve and expand the farm, and she’d gotten a terrific interest rate—because she’d agreed to a huge balloon payment that would come due all too soon. If she didn’t pay up, she could lose everything. The moment that thought entered her mind, she shoved it away and buried it. No room for bad karmic thoughts, she told herself.
Besides, as long as the big wedding they had scheduled came off without a hitch, there wouldn’t be a problem.
“Steve,” Mike said softly, “I’ve known you since you were a kid sneaking onto the farm at night to play hide-and-seek with your pals.”
Steve squirmed uneasily in his chair. “That’s—
“My point is,” Mike said, “you know the Angel family well enough to know we never fail to pay our debts.”
“Of course I know that,” Steve answered.