“Hi, Kelly!”
“Hey, big sister, how’s it going?” Kelly Sanders sounded like she was down the street instead of calling from her home in London.
Keira didn’t even want to think about what kind of charges were going to be adding up on her cell phone. But she was so glad to talk to her younger sister, she wasn’t going to worry about it.
“Everything’s good,” Keira shouted to be heard over the band who, even now, was cranking up the decibels to ear shattering level.
“What’s going on?” Kelly demanded, then, after a heartbeat, whined, “It’s a block party, isn’t it? Everyone’s having a good time and I’m not there.”
“Yeah, but you’re in Europe. Really good times, remember?”
“True,” she said wistfully. “Usually I love it here, but I hate knowing life is going on at home without me.”
Well, that was typical Kelly. She had always wanted to be in the center of things. Even when she was a little girl, Kelly wasn’t satisfied with being in the background. Their mother used to say that Kelly had been born in a hurry and had just never stopped running.
Keira really missed her. They were each other’s only family now, and this last year, when Kelly had been living in England, Keira had had a hard time of it.
“I’ll tell everyone you said hi,” she said and glanced down the street, making sure Nathan hadn’t bolted for freedom. Nope, he was still there, sandwiched between the two very nice, very chatty older ladies. Keira grinned, leaned against the shingled wall of the flower shop and said, “So what’s going on?”
“Oh, Tony’s taking me to Paris for the weekend and I wanted to let you know I wouldn’t be home for our Saturday night phone call.”
Tony—also known as Stewart Anthony Brookhurst, was CEO of some huge conglomerate based in England and, for the last six months, the main topic of all of Kelly’s conversations.
“Paris, very nice,” Keira said and tried to keep the sigh of envy from slipping from her soul.
She’d had plenty of plans of her own years ago. She’d wanted to finish college, travel, see the world. But in the blink of an eye, her plans—her world—had changed. Not that she regretted being there for Kelly, for putting her own life plans on hold to see to it that her little sister went to college. She didn’t resent the fact that while she had stayed here, in the town she loved, Kelly had gone off on the adventures that Keira had once dreamed of.
And, if she did feel occasional spikes of envy jabbing at her, she’d managed so far to hide them from the sister she loved.
“I know,” Kelly said with a laugh. “Who would have thought that I’d be saying stuff like that? Paris for the weekend. But you know, K, I really love it here. I mean, I miss home and everybody, you especially, but I love living in London. I even like the rain!”
“I know.” She heard that love in Kelly’s voice every time they spoke. This was supposed to have been a one-year stint—a year that was almost over—in London, for the international bank that had hired Kelly right out of college. But Keira had been preparing herself for months now, to be ready for the day when Kelly announced that she would be staying in Europe.
Kelly loved everything about England and now that she was seriously dating a man who had been born and raised there, the chances of her ever moving back to Hunter’s Landing were slimmer than ever.
“So what’s going on at home, besides the party I’m not at,” she asked.
Keira shook off the gloomy thoughts that had settled over her like some sort of shroud and forced a smile into her voice. “We’ve got our first guest in the lake lodge.”
“Oh my God! You’re kidding! What’s he like? Did you see the inside of the place? Is it fabulous?”
Keira laughed. God, she missed her little sister. “Not kidding, he seems nice, saw the house, it’s amazing.”
“C’mon,” Kelly whined. “There’s gotta be more than that. You’ve been telling me about that house for a year now. So what’s it like?”
“It’s so gorgeous, you wouldn’t believe it. Awesome views of the lake—built of glass and wood and stone, and there’s a fireplace big enough to stand up in.”
“Oh, wow.”
“I’ll say.”
“And the guy?”
“What about him?”
“‘He seems nice?’” Kelly laughed. “Please. Give me more than that.”
More? What could she say? That he was arrogant and irritating and altogether too attractive? That she was spending too much time thinking about him when she should have been worrying about keeping him in the lodge long enough to fulfill the requirements of the will?
“What’s his name, at least,” Kelly demanded.
“Nathan.” There. That was safe information. “Nathan Barrister.”
“Whoa. Barrister? Like in the Barrister Hotel Barristers?”
“I don’t know,” Keira said with a shrug her sister couldn’t see. “I…maybe.”
“Nathan Barrister was in London a couple of months ago. Had a meeting at my bank. Tell me what yours looks like and I’ll tell you if it’s him.”
“Tall. Dark. Pale blue eyes.”
“Snotty twist to his mouth?” Kelly asked.
“Not exactly snotty,” Keira argued.
“Woo hoo,” Kelly crowed. “It is him. And you like him.”
“Dial it down, Kel,” Keira said, knowing it was way too late to put the lid back down on that particular box. Kelly was already enjoying herself.
“I don’t believe this. Nathan Barrister in Hunter’s Landing? That’s too funny.”
“Why’s it funny?” She stiffened at the amusement in her sister’s voice and felt like she should be defending the man for some reason.
“Well, he’s just such a stick. The man has no sense of humor and one look out of those eyes and you practically freeze over. And I saw my boss’s face after his meeting with Barrister. You remember I told you that my boss is mean enough to give the boogeyman nightmares?”
“Yeah…”
“When Barrister left his office, my boss was pale and shaking.”
“Oh.”
“Seriously, K,” Kelly said, her voice dropping. It was a strain to hear her over the crash of the band and the swell of laughter and conversation rising up over Main Street. “If you’re thinking about falling for this guy, don’t do it.”