Husband In Harmony. Sharon Swan
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tub. They returned to the kitchen and found Jane still emptying a tall grocery bag. “I put the cereal, bread and canned stuff in the cabinet by the stove,” she said. “Candy bars are in the top drawer next to the refrigerator.”
“I could use a candy bar,” Sam mumbled with a sidelong glance up at his father.
“You can have one,” Adam said. At least, he reflected with more than a little irony, his son hadn’t lost his appetite.
Sam made his choice and took a seat at the square, Formica-topped table. He stared out a side window at a high wall of deep green forest and seemed to get lost in his thoughts.
Jane continued with her project. After pulling out a long, narrow box, she squinted at the label. “This looks like spaghetti, but I’ve never seen this brand before.”
“It’s imported from Italy,” Adam explained.
“Oh.” Her lips quirked. “Should have known.”
There was no reason for that comment to put his teeth on edge, Adam told himself as he opened the cooler and hauled out a gallon of milk and a six-pack of the cola Sam favored. He set a short supply of the bottled spring water he liked on the counter, then reached in and retrieved one of the bottles of wine he’d removed from a chrome rack in his large, modern kitchen that morning.
Jane’s gaze landed on the wine as she folded the now-empty grocery bag. “I guess that’s imported, too, huh?”
“Yes.” The word came out more clipped than he’d intended. He gave himself a second to regroup, then asked, oh-so-casually, “Do you like wine?”
She met his eyes. “When I’m in the mood for alcohol, I mostly drink beer—and not the imported kind.”
Of course she would. And so would many of the people who had occupied this cabin before him, Adam imagined. Well, he was different. And he wasn’t going to apologize for it.
“To each his own,” he said.
“Mmm-hmm.” She turned, reached into the remaining grocery bag and began to stack salad fixings on the counter. “I think you forgot the lettuce,” she remarked after a moment.
“There’s lettuce.” Adam set down another bottle of wine and pointed to a leafy green bundle. “That’s romaine.”
“Oh, a fancy lettuce.”
Jane didn’t roll her eyes as his son had earlier, but Adam had little doubt she wanted to. That threatened to put his teeth on edge for a second time. “I can handle the rest of the groceries,” he told her.
“Okay.” She stepped away from the counter and looked at Sam. “Bye for now,” she said with a friendly smile that became merely polite as she returned her gaze to Adam. “You can get settled in the office whenever it suits you.” She pulled two keys from a jeans pocket and handed them over. “One’s for this cabin. The other’s for the office if I’m not around.”
He dropped them into one of the front pockets of his new shirt. “I’ll show Sam the rest of the resort before I fix dinner. I may get a chance to set up at the office later tonight.”
Jane nodded. “If you need anything that I haven’t thought of, my cabin’s not far away. Just start walking toward the lake and take a left when you come to a small fork in the path. The place is hard to see through the trees, but it’s easy enough to find when you know it’s there.”
“Does yours have a name, too?” Sam asked after a last swallow of his candy bar.
“Sure does. It’s Pitt’s Pride.”
Appropriate, Adam thought, more than suspecting that Jane Pitt had her share of pride and then some, as her great-aunt had probably had before her. “I’ll find it if I have to,” he said.
“Flashlight’s in the bottom cabinet next to the sink,” she told him. “Be sure to use it if you’re roaming around after dark. Won’t do anybody any good if you wind up getting lost in the woods.”
Adam crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at her, his gaze narrowing. “I don’t plan on getting lost,” he replied firmly. He, too, had his share of pride. More than enough to reject even the remote possibility of losing his way.
Shrugging, she gave the items stacked on the counter a last look and headed for the porch.
“Way out of his element,” he heard her mutter before the screen door shut behind her with a thud.
JANE DIDN’T REALLY EXPECT to see a light on in the office when she went for a walk after dinner. She’d already watched the sunset from her kitchen window—something that had become a habit well before she’d switched cabins and moved into Pitt’s Pride after Aunt Maude was gone. To her, taking in that eye-pleasing sight and following it up with a quiet stroll just as the stars were making their appearance was the best way to end the day.
But despite how she favored spending her time before retiring for the night, she’d figured the resort’s new arrivals would take another tack and turn in early on their first evening at Glory Ridge. Apparently, she was wrong, because someone was in the office, and it could only be Adam Lassiter.
She could just continue on her walk. Truth was, he’d probably prefer it. She’d noticed that he’d been far from thrilled with her comments on his grocery choices, not to mention her suggestion that he might get lost in the woods. Then again, she could always act as if she’d noted nothing and give in to the growing urge to see what he was up to. In the end, curiosity won out and had her investigating.
She found him seated behind the desk, his attention fixed on his laptop computer. The white glow from its small screen, together with the brass banker’s lamp at his elbow, provided more than enough light to make out his chiseled profile.
“Hi,” she said with deliberate casualness as she leaned in the doorway. “I thought maybe you’d leave the computer stuff until tomorrow.”
He glanced her way. “It seemed wiser to get a start on my research, since I had some time to myself. With no television up here, Sam decided to head off to his room and read for a while.”
“What does he like to read?” she asked. Reading had always been a pleasure of hers.
His mouth slanted wryly. “Science fiction, what else.”
“Hmm. Well, it fits right in with rockets and spaceships,” Jane allowed. With that, she took several steps forward, pulled out the remaining chair and sat facing her consultant behind the card table backed up to the front of the desk. “It’s none of my business, I’ll admit, but he looks a long way from pleased to be spending part of his summer here.”
He studied her for a moment. “I don’t know how much experience you have with children—”
“Not a whole lot,” she readily conceded, breaking in. “My sister has a son around Sam’s age. And kids have visited Glory Ridge off and on. Other than that, I haven’t spent much time with the younger set, but—”
It was his turn to interrupt. “I hope you’ll recognize that having been Sam’s father for eight years, I do have considerable experience, at least where he’s concerned.”
And how my son feels is my concern, not yours. He didn’t voice those words, but she heard them anyway. And hadn’t she already admitted Sam was none of her business?
“Point taken,” Jane said. She changed subjects. “What kind of research do you plan on doing?”
His broad shoulders, which had stiffened for a minute, relaxed. “First thing on the agenda is to check out the resort’s competition—exactly who’s located where, what they charge and what they have to offer. Then I’ll try to dig a little deeper and find out who’s making a consistent profit, who’s not and why. Once that’s done, I’ll have a better idea what this place is up against.”
She ran her tongue around her teeth. “Sounds like