Slumping against the wall by the open door, Riley felt somewhat bereft that whatever might have happened between the talented carpenter and her mother-in-law would never have a chance to occur. Poor Miles had been downrightvaliant. He’d kept after it until he couldn’t take it anymore.
She did wish the man had asked the question directly, though. But she couldn’t blame him for holding back. Annette was not the least receptive.
But then Miles said, “Now, about Arlington’s Steakhouse. I have a favorite table there, in a private nook…”
“Well. That’s, uh, nice…” Annette sounded totally confused. “But honestly, Miles, what are you getting at here?”
And at last, Miles came right out with it. “I’m asking you to have dinner with me, Annette.”
Riley had to slap her hand over her mouth to stifle a screech of pure delight. Miles was a champion, and this was huge.
Say yes, Annette!Riley chanted inside her head.Say yes! Say yes!
And then Annette announced flatly, “Miles. This conversation never happened. And we will never speak of it again.” Her heels clicking hard on the basement floor, she marched toward the open door beyond which Riley was lurking.
Riley ducked out of sight as Annette fled the bar and ran up the stairs to the lobby floor. Not wanting Miles to know she’d witnessed her mother-in-law’s cringe-worthy dismissal of him, Riley whirled on her heel and darted back into her office before the poor man could emerge from the bar.
As the day wore on, Riley kept thinking about sweet Miles and how he deserved a nice date with Annette. Riley loved her mother-in-law. She understood that Annette was a one-man woman. Like Riley, Annette had found her one great love and lost him. Neither Riley nor her mother-in-law ever planned to marry again.
But a woman ought to be able to enjoy a nice evening with a good guy now and then. A little romance was a wonderful thing, and Annette shouldn’t let this chance pass her by.
Riley headed up the stairs where she found Annette in her office off the lobby busily tapping away at her desktop computer. She was frowning at the screen.
“Hey.” Riley stepped into the comfortable, well-appointed room, shut the door silently and leaned back against it.
Annette glanced up from her hunt-and-peck typing. She was still frowning, but when she met Riley’s eyes, her expression softened, and she smiled. “Hey, you. What do you need?”
Riley stared at her business partner and thought how much she loved her. The two of them were a team, not only when it came to running their hotel but as a family, too.
And they’d both suffered terrible losses. Annette had lost her husband and then her only son. Riley’s parents had both died before she was twenty-one, her mom of heart failure when Riley was just ten and her dad in a landslide a decade ago now. As for TJ, he’d crashed his ATV and suffered a fatal head injury on a romantic camping getaway, just him and Riley—and no service on her cell to call for help.
“What is it, sweetie?” Annette looked worried now.
Riley blinked away a tear. “Just feeling a little bit sentimental.”
Annette got up and came to her. She took Riley gently by the shoulders. “About?”
Riley stared up at her, thinking that Annette was an imposing woman. Almost six feet tall, she wore her streaky blond hair cut in a feathered style with sideswept bangs. She always looked great, completely pulled together. “Annette,you are the best, and you deserve the best. I hope you know that.”
“Back at you,” Annette replied. “Double.” Now they were grinning at each other. “Come here.” Annette took her hand and led her to the two chairs bracketing a small table in the corner of the room. They sat down. “Okay. Whatever it is, talk.”
Where to start? “I saw you and Miles going into the bar downstairs earlier…”
Annette sat very still. Her green eyes sharpened. “Yes, well… Miles is going to add that extra shelving we talked about to the backbar.”
“Great. He is so talented—dependable, too. I like him a lot, you know. There’s something solid and trustworthy about Miles.”
Annette sat back in her chair. She asked dryly, “Have you been eavesdropping in the basement, Riley Jane?”
Busted. “Well, not on purpose…” She saw from the expression on the older woman’s face that Annette wasn’t buying her lie. “Okay, fine. I heard you talking. I heard him ask you out.”
“And you heard me turn him down, didn’t you?”
“I did, yes. And, well…Why, Annette? He’s a great guy. We all like and respect him. What’snotto like about Miles Crowne? That’s all I’m asking.”
“Of course I like Miles. He is a fine man. Where did you get the idea that I don’t like Miles?”
“It was when you turned him down. You were…curt. You said that you would never again speak of his asking you out.”
