Welcome to Serenity. Sherryl Woods
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would definitely know.”
She climbed into her sporty little convertible, gave him a jaunty wave and drove off, leaving him in her dust. Being rejected by Jeanette Brioche was getting to be a little hard on his ego, which of course only made him more determined to win her over. He had a hunch he knew the rules of this game far better than she did and, in the end, he never lost. Not when something mattered to him.
Despite knowing that the Christmas committee would throw him into contact with the elusive Jeanette, Tom had hoped Howard would back off for a while. Unfortunately, when he arrived at work on Monday morning, it rapidly became evident that this was one area in which the mayor was highly efficient. Tom’s secretary beamed at him.
“The committee’s waiting for you in the conference room,” Teresa announced. “I’ve had coffee and doughnuts brought in.”
Tom frowned at her. “What committee? I don’t have a meeting on my calendar for this morning.”
Her smile never wavered. “Oh, dear, I must have forgotten to make a note of it on that calendar you insist on keeping yourself. It’s on the one I keep.”
“What committee, Teresa?” he repeated impatiently.
“Christmas festival, of course. I know Howard discussed it with you. He asked me to set it up.”
Sneaky SOB, Tom thought uncharitably. And as for Teresa and her annoying tendency to take orders from people like Howard Lewis, she did know more than anyone else about how this place operated. He needed her. Otherwise his career in public service in Serenity was going to be very short-lived. That might make his folks happy, but he didn’t want his career to falter even slightly because he’d offended a knowledgeable secretary within his first two weeks on the job.
“Okay, give me a quick rundown on the committee members,” he said, grimly determined to see this through. Once it was over, perhaps he could reconsider whether he was at all suited to a life of public service, after all. It had sounded darn noble once upon a time, but that was before he’d been confronted with making decisions about hanging snowflakes on the town green or whether Santa’s chair needed to be repainted with gold and adorned with glitter or whatever other little crises this committee dreamed up to waste his time. He was pretty sure nothing like this had ever been mentioned in any of his public-administration courses. And he definitely hadn’t run into this sort of thing during his tenure in the planning and finance departments of the other towns in which he’d worked.
He listened as Teresa described the makeup on the committee. In addition to Howard and Jeanette, the other two members were Ronnie Sullivan, who owned the hardware store on Main Street, and Mary Vaughn Lewis, the president of the chamber of commerce.
“You’ll want to watch out for Mary Vaughn,” Teresa added. “She’s bound to make a play for you. It’s what she does.”
Tom appreciated the warning, though he couldn’t help wondering if another woman’s interest might be just what he needed to spark a little life into the relationship he hoped to have with Jeanette. Then again, plans like that tended to backfire, he thought as he prepared to go to the meeting.
Jeanette sat at the conference table tapping her pen impatiently on the mahogany surface. She was thoroughly annoyed that she’d had to switch her entire schedule around at the spa to be here, but to make things worse, Tom was nowhere to be found.
Not that she was anxious to see him again. Dinner the night before had been awkward enough. She’d been rude, and she wasn’t likely to hear the end of it from Maddie anytime soon, either. Nor was she looking forward to more of Tom’s advances. She had a hunch he was persistent.
She turned to Mary Vaughn. “This is a waste of time,” she groused. “You could have sold another house this morning and I could have done two or three treatments. If the town manager isn’t here in five minutes I am out of here.”
Across the table Ronnie Sullivan, Dana Sue’s husband, winked at her. “Settle down, sugar. Things move at a slower pace in Serenity.”
“Tell that to Maddie,” she retorted.
He grinned. “The way I understand it, Madelyn is the one who sent you over here. I’m sure she knew what to expect.”
Discovering that Ronnie was on the committee had been a surprise. Dana Sue had never mentioned that. She wondered if Dana Sue had any idea that Mary Vaughn was on the committee, as well. No way, she concluded. If Dana Sue had known, she’d have been here herself, protecting her turf: Ronnie.
Jeanette stole another glance at Mary Vaughn, who was wearing one of her expensive designer suits, chunky gold jewelry and a diamond-encrusted watch that cost more than Jeanette made in a month. Suddenly she was struck by the thought that Mary Vaughn and Tom McDonald were an ideal match. Both professionals. Both go-getters. And both, apparently, on the prowl. Yes, indeed, that was the solution to her problem. Once those two met, Tom would give up on Jeanette and move happily on to more available prey.
Astonishingly, the idea didn’t hold nearly as much appeal as it ought to.
Finally Tom came into the room, looking no happier than she was to be here. She had to admit that dressed up for work in neatly pressed navy slacks, a blue-gray shirt the exact color of his eyes, gold cuff links and a tie that he’d already loosened, he managed to give a little jolt to her system even though he was definitely not her type. She preferred sexy, blue-collar guys who had absolutely no pretenses. Of course, based on past results, her taste was pretty questionable.
“Morning, folks,” Tom said in a slow drawl that gave Jeanette another jolt to her system. Darn the man. He smiled, introduced himself and shook hands with everyone at the table. His attitude was friendly enough with most of them, but turned a little frosty when he reached the mayor. “Howard,” he said curtly.
“Good morning,” Howard said, oblivious to the undercurrent. He and Ronnie seemed to be the only people one hundred percent happy to be here.
Next to her, as anticipated, Mary Vaughn was studying Tom with a look suggesting he might well become her next romantic diversion. Jeanette noted the way Mary Vaughn honed in on Tom’s left hand, obviously noting the lack of wedding band. She suddenly perked up, readjusting her suit jacket to expose a bit of cleavage. Jeanette sighed. Could she be any more obvious?
“Howard, since you called this meeting, why don’t you get it started,” Tom suggested. “I’m sure you have an agenda. Since I’m unfamiliar with the traditions here in town, I’ll just take notes today and chime in if a suggestion comes to mind.”
His tone hinted that any suggestions he might want to make right now wouldn’t be offered in the spirit of the holidays. Jeanette totally sympathized.
Howard, however, took the ball and ran with it. Within an hour, he’d assigned Mary Vaughn to speak to all the choirs in town. Ronnie had been designated to investigate new decorations. That had left dealing with prospective vendors for Jeanette.
“Tom, you’ll work with her on that, right?” the mayor said, to Mary Vaughn’s obvious disappointment.
“Of course,” the town manager said, giving Jeanette an impudent wink.
“Then I’d say we’re well on our way to having the best Christmas festival Serenity has ever seen,” Howard chirped cheerfully. “Good job, everyone. Same time next week.”
“We’re meeting weekly?” Jeanette asked, horrified.
“Well, of course we are. We have to stay on top of this, don’t we?” Howard replied. “I might be Santa around here, but I can’t do this without my little elves.”
Tom looked as if he wanted to jab his ballpoint pen straight into the mayor’s heart. Jeanette understood the emotion.
“He’s not worth the time in jail,” she murmured as she passed by.
To her surprise, his lips twitched. “You sure about that?”
“Now that you mention it, no. Check