“I don’t care if you’re sitting on top of your own mountain, you won’t bare your claws on me. Now I’ve been as patient as I know how to be these last few days, but you’ve mooned around and snarled around here long enough.”
“Then maybe it’s time I should think about going home.”
“That’s your decision to make. Oh, shake yourself loose, Jo Ellen,” Kate ordered with a snap in her own voice. “The man’s only been gone a week, and he’ll certainly be back.”
Jo firmed her jaw. “I don’t know what, or whom, you’re referring to.”
Before she could stop herself, Kate snorted. “Don’t think you can out la-de-da me. I’ve been at it more years.” Kate sat down on the bed where Jo was sprawled under the pretense of selecting the final prints for her book. “A blind man on a galloping horse could see that Nathan Delaney’s got you in a dither. And it’s likely the best thing to happen to you in years.”
“I am not, in any way, any shape, any form, in a dither.”
“You’re more than halfway in love with him, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if he’d gone off like this to nudge you over the rest of the way.”
Since that hadn’t occurred to her, Jo felt her blood heat to a boil. “Then he’s made a very large miscalculation. Going off without a word is hardly the way to win my affections.”
“Then do you want him to know you’ve been moping around here the whole time he’s been gone?” Kate lifted a brow as she saw the flush of anger heat Jo’s cheeks. “There are plenty who’d be happy to tell him so if you keep this up. I’d hate for you to give him that satisfaction.”
“I don’t intend to give him so much as the time of day, should he decide to come back.”
Kate patted Jo’s knee. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Wary of a trap, Jo narrowed her eyes. “I thought you liked him.”
“I do. I like him very much, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think he deserves a good swift kick in the rear end for making you unhappy. And I’d be mighty disappointed in you if you gave him the opportunity to crow over it. So get up,” she ordered, rising herself. “Go on about your business. Take your camera and go along. And when he comes back, all he’ll see is that your life went on without him.”
“You’re right. You’re absolutely right. I’m going to call my publisher and give them the final go-ahead on the last prints. Then I’m going to go out, take some new shots. I’ve got an idea for another book.”
Kate smiled as Jo scrambled up and began to pull her shoes on. “That’s wonderful. You’ll have pictures of the island in it, then.”
“All of them. People this time, too. Faces. No one’s going to accuse me of being lonely, of hiding behind the lens. I’ve got more than one facet to me.”
“Of course you do, sweetie pie. I’ll get out of your way so you can get to work.” All but vibrating with the pleasure of success, Kate strolled out. Maybe now, she thought, they’d have some peace.
***
THE adrenaline carried Jo through that day and into the next. It fueled her, this new ambition. For the first time in her career, she hunted up faces with enthusiasm, began to study and dissect them. She thrilled at the way Giff’s eyes twinkled under the brim of his cap, the way his hand gripped a hammer.
She hounded Brian in the kitchen, using charm when she could, threats when she couldn’t, to draw the right expression, to produce the right body language.
Lexy was easy. She would pose endlessly. But Jo’s favorite shot was one of Lexy and Giff, the foolishly happy expressions on their faces as Giff swept Lexy up to spin her in circles just on the edge of the garden.
She even trooped after her father, using silence to lull him into relaxing, then capturing the quiet thoughtfulness in his face as he looked out over the salt marsh.
“It’s time you put that thing away.” Sam’s brows drew together in irritated embarrassment as she aimed the camera at him again. “Run along and play with that somewhere else.”
“It stopped being play when they started paying me. Turn just a little to the right and look out toward the water.”
He didn’t move a muscle. “I don’t recollect you ever being such a pest before.”
“I’ll have you know I’m a very famous photographer. Thousands cheer when I aim my lens.” She clicked quickly when a faint smile tugged at his mouth. “You’re so handsome, Daddy. And you look so masterful out here.”
“You’re so damned famous, you shouldn’t have to flatter people to get their picture.”
She laughed and lowered the camera. “True enough. But you are handsome. I was taking some shots over at Elsie Pendleton’s. The Widow Pendleton,” Jo added, wiggling her eyebrows. “She made a point to ask after you. Several times.”
“Elsie Pendleton’s been looking for a man to replace the one she buried since she tossed the first handful of dirt on his coffin. It ain’t by any means going to be me.”
“For which good sense your family thanks you.”
