Deal Breaker Read online

  “You really can’t stand the thought of being married to me, even if it’s for only a few months.”

  More like she feared being married to him for that short a time. How could her heart not be involved?

  “Well, no,” she said, “it’s not you—”

  “Then it is settled, right?” He held out his hand as if for a shake on it. “Deal?”

  The way Bryce was smiling at her made the dimple pop into his cheek. Although she was no longer a teenager, she’d never grown immune to that smile. Her stomach fluttered in response.

  “Deal,” she said, slipping her hand into his. “With the caveat that you consider it a loan. I’ll pay you back every penny.”

  Unprepared for the tug on her hand, Hailey found herself pulled into Bryce’s arms.

  “Then let’s seal the deal with a kiss.”

  He took her breath away…literally. With his mouth over hers, she couldn’t breathe. Her pulse went wild and her knees went weak. If he wasn’t holding her, surely they would give out and she would slip to the ground.

  Then he lifted his head and looked down into her eyes. “Sorry. I saw Croft watching us. I figured I’d better make it look real.”

  A statement that quickly sobered her. No matter that her feelings might get involved, Bryce’s only interest was in his business.

  BRYCE felt Hailey stiffen before she stepped out of his arms. Frowning at her reaction—surely she didn’t think he would force anything more on her—Bryce glanced over his shoulder to see Croft coming down to join them.

  “I think he’s going to want to go with you.”

  “Croft? Where?”

  Realizing Hailey was a little muddled, Bryce knew it was his fault for kissing her without warning. The color in her cheeks was heightened, a pretty contrast to her yellow sweater and slacks, making her irresistible. Not liking the thought that he might not be able to resist any woman, he took a small step back, gave them both some breathing room.

  “Croft will want to go to Widow’s Peak,” he explained. “The reason I thought to come down here to talk was that afterward, you could use one of our speedboats to get to the estate. That way you’ll get a full perspective of the property.”

  “You can’t ask me to take Croft—I’m lucky you got permission for me to take a look and I need to concentrate on the property itself.”

  “I’m not asking. I’m simply warning you that he’ll expect it.” Hearing the other man’s footsteps on the blue stone walkway, Bryce moved his face closer to Hailey’s and lowered his voice. “James Croft is aggressive about anything he wants. I just want you to know that I’ve got your back.”

  Croft came into view, saying, “I thought I saw you two down here. Ready to take out one of the boats?”

  “Hailey is about to.”

  “Perhaps I can come along. I haven’t seen the lake view of all these magnificent estates.”

  “I can take you on the other boat,” Bryce said.

  “Is there some reason we can’t all go together?”

  “I’m actually on the clock,” Hailey said.

  “Showing a property?”

  “Looking at one.”

  “Not Widow’s Peak?”

  “As a matter of fact, yes.”

  Just as Bryce had predicted, Croft said, “Then I’d certainly love to come along.”

  “I was only able to get Mike Anderson to agree to let Hailey go,” Bryce said.

  “Besides, I need to go through the place alone so I can concentrate.” Hailey glanced across the water toward Widow’s Peak. “I want to give the Anderson brothers a full evaluation of what work needs to be done to speed up a sale. And of course, I want to give them a preliminary estimate of what we might ask for it. It’s business.” She turned back to Croft. “I’m sure you understand.”

  Bryce could see that Croft didn’t want to understand. His spine grew ramrod straight and his narrow face appeared pinched. Croft liked orchestrating everyone around him, and apparently his not being able to do so was frustrating him.

  Croft was saying, “Maybe if you call Anderson back and tell him you have a potential buyer—”

  Bryce cut him off. “I already tried that. He was specific that only Hailey had permission to enter the house.” Bryce regretted subjugating Hailey to the man, and he was determined to shield her as much as was possible. “Sorry, old man. Let Hailey get things set with the Andersons first.”

  Then Hailey chimed in. “Assuming I do get the listing, I promise you’ll be the first to see the place when it goes on market.”

  Croft’s expression showed his continuing disappointment, but he said, “I guess I’ll have to be content with that and a ride around the lake in the other craft.”

  Bryce sighed his relief. Crisis averted.

  HAILEY sped the boat across the lake to Widow’s Peak. A member of the Lake Geneva volunteer rescue squad that helped boaters or swimmers who got into trouble, she knew the lake like the back of her hand.

  As the boat hit a series of wakes created by other crafts that had crossed her path, she rode them out, still berating herself. She should have known better than to think Bryce was kissing her simply because of some primal attraction he couldn’t resist. He’d made it very clear that this marriage thing was strictly business—and instigated by the conservatism of his potential partner in a new development.

  So why did his kissing her for Croft’s benefit sting so much?

  Bryce was going to save her brother, and that’s all she wanted, right? It was definitely all that mattered. Her schoolgirl crush had been quashed eons ago, and the last thing she wanted was to resurrect it.

  She forced away all thoughts of Danny and Bryce as she approached the dock. More than a hundred feet above her, the three-story, Queen Anne–style mansion with a wraparound porch and crow’s nest facing the lake dominated the point.

  A thrill shot through her.

  She’d never before had a chance to list a property with more than a century’s worth of history behind it.

  After docking and securing the boat, she started up the stairs. Only when she got close enough to see details of the house did she realize the poor shape it was in. The pale yellow paint was peeling in places, the wraparound porch had a broken rail and one of the frosted first-floor windows had been replaced by plywood.

  Just as she’d suspected—a recluse, Violet Scott hadn’t kept the house in proper repair.

  Pulling her digital camera from a pocket, Hailey began taking photographs. These wouldn’t be for the sales presentation, simply to remind her of what needed to be done if the Andersons wanted top dollar. Then again, putting money into the old place was chancy. Someone might want to buy it simply to raze the place and build something more modern. The idea went against her grain. The house was part of the area’s history and there weren’t many of the old places left.

  Anxious to get inside, to see if the interior met or bettered the promise of the exterior, Hailey made for the front porch. Bryce had told her Mike said the key would be under a big rock set to the right of the porch off the drive. She found it easily.

  As she placed one foot on the first step, however, a chill immediately shot through her, making her hesitate. Concentrating, she tried to define the cause of her sudden edginess. Her pulse was humming and her chest felt tight. For some reason, she didn’t want to go inside.

  Her sense of the house was oppressive, as if something terrible had happened here. But that was crazy. Violet had been in her seventies. The medical examiner had said she’d died quietly in her sleep in her own bed. Her heart had simply given out.

  Unable to shake off her uneasiness, realizing that for good or bad, her “magic” had returned—she needed to concentrate on the positive—Hailey stepped up onto the porch and unlocked the front door.

  Sadness nearly overwhelmed her…her heart felt as if it were breaking…while tears gathered in her eyes…

  Good heavens, what was wrong?

  Perhaps what she sensed
was Violet’s deep loneliness, Hailey thought. The woman had been a recluse for more than a decade. Someone who’d cut herself off from everything and everyone surely had been depressed. That had to be it.

  Still, when Hailey stepped inside, something more bothered her. The negative feeling intensified and she suspected that someone had actually died here. But why was her reaction so intense? She’d been in other homes where lives had been lost. People dying in their own beds certainly wasn’t unheard of. But this emotion sweeping through her was somehow darker. It immobilized her. Made her want to turn around and leave the house.

  It took some arguing with herself, but in the end, Hailey chose to stay. Someone was going to sell this house, and she needed the sale to revitalize her business, not to mention her personal finances. Bryce was going to save Danny this time, but what about the future? She had to be prepared.

  Trying to push the ominous feeling aside, she made her way through the downstairs, taking photos of everything: several parlors, a dining room large enough to seat at least two dozen people, a music room, a library, a kitchen big enough to be in a restaurant. The details were spectacular. Chandeliers, fireplaces faced with intricate tiles in every room, glass-enclosed cases filled with books in the library. This was no ordinary house. In every way, it harked back to the days when such homes were called cottages but were in reality the summer mansions of the truly wealthy.

  The house seemed to be caught in a time warp, the only concession to modern conveniences a heating system that allowed the owner to live here year-round.

  Feeling more at ease as she explored, Hailey ascended a spectacular staircase to the second floor with its ten bedrooms, most of which were fully furnished with dusty antiques. In the middle of the hallway parallel to the lake, she noted a door with glass insets. Through the glass, she could see the staircase to the crow’s nest.

  But as she moved toward the stairs, she came to the doorway of what must have been Violet’s room and couldn’t pass it up. Two walls of windows—one with a door to the second-floor wraparound porch—had such stunning lake views that Hailey stopped to catch her breath. And the room itself was equally lovely, with a canopy bed and dressers that harked back to Victorian times. A sitting area in a bay held two upholstered chairs and a small table with a framed photograph of Violet and a man who must have been her husband, Tom. Hailey could imagine them sitting here for morning coffee while planning out their day together.

  The bath was equally exquisite, with a huge claw-foot tub, intricately tiled walls and floor and windows with transoms of stained glass. A small glass-doored cabinet held lavender-colored linens and the bath products all were scented violet, obviously the late-owner’s little indulgence.

  Who wouldn’t be impressed by this house?

  Yes, it needed work, but the potential was there.

  “It would be a crime if someone bought this place simply to tear it down and build something new and sterile by comparison,” she murmured aloud.

  Another sensation flowed through her: warmth that felt as if someone or something had heard her and approved. In addition, the scent of fresh violets teased her nose.

  “Violet?” she called out in a soft voice, certain that Violet Scott’s spirit must still be in this special room that she’d obviously loved. “Are you here?”

  Warmth pushed at her, as if the late owner were trying to make her move. Hailey went with the flow and found herself standing before a beautiful hand-carved antique rosewood desk set before a window.

  “Is there something you want me to see?” she asked, suddenly feeling as if her hand was being pulled toward the center drawer.

  Hailey opened it, but before she could look inside, she heard a scuffle behind her. She whipped around to see Mike Anderson standing in the doorway, glowering at her. Although he was shorter and wider, he looked like his older brother Ray. He even wore a Hawaiian shirt, but he paired it with chinos rather than shorts. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem nearly as friendly.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing, pawing through my aunt’s personal things?” he asked, his visage dark with anger.

  “Sorry.” She popped her hand away from the drawer. “I just felt like there was something I should see inside. Something that would give me more insight to the house.”

  Mike reached around her and slammed it shut so hard that a thick lock of dark hair fell over his tanned forehead. “So it’s true. I heard you were a whack job, but considering how people around here like to amuse themselves with gossip, I figured that’s all it was. Plus I trusted McKenna not to run a scam on me.”

  Insulted, she gaped at him. “I am not a whack job. And I’m not running any scam. I run a legitimate business.”

  Mike stepped into the room, got too close for her comfort.

  “Were you or were you not ‘talking,’” he said, middle and forefingers to emphasize quotes around talking, “to Aunt Violet before I interrupted you?”

  Hailey swallowed hard. “Okay, I was. I felt her presence and—”

  “Felt her?” Mike repeated. “She’s been dead and buried for weeks now!”

  Feeling trapped, Hailey was glad when Ray appeared in the doorway.

  “Hey, what’s going on?”

  Mike made a sound deep in his throat that sounded like a growl. “I can’t believe you want a looney who talks to dead people to represent this place.”

  Ray’s eyes widened as he zeroed in on her. “You talked to Aunt Violet?”

  “More like I felt her presence, that she approved of my finding the place such a treasure.”

  Ray looked around the room as if expecting to see his aunt. “Is she here now?”

  Hailey shrugged. “I don’t think so. At least I don’t feel her.”

  “Let’s get out of this room,” Mike said, pushing Hailey toward the door.

  “I haven’t finished looking around. I never even got to the third floor.”

  “You’ve seen enough.”

  Indeed she had. Rather she’d experienced enough. She almost told the brothers about the dark sensation she’d gotten on the floor below, but then she figured doing so would kill the deal before it was struck. She followed Mike down to the first floor and stopped in the foyer.

  “I just want to say that I have strong feelings about a place and its history. Usually people like my insights.”

  “Not me,” Mike said. “If you ask me, it’s downright creepy.”

  “That’s an excuse, Mike,” Ray countered, his focus now on his brother. “You just aren’t ready to let the place go. I, on the other hand, am.”

  Fearing they were going to get in an all-out battle, Hailey stepped in. “The question is whether you want me involved with the sale, whenever you decide the right time has come.”

  “Why not?” Ray gave Mike a look that kept him quiet for the moment. “It wouldn’t hurt to get your thoughts on how you would handle the sale. Come up with a price and a plan and we’ll talk.”

  Relieved that she hadn’t blown it, Hailey said, “I’ll be able to give you my thoughts later in the week.”

  “Why wait?” Ray asked.

  “I’ll be in Chicago for a few days. With Bryce.”

  “He said something about that,” Mike muttered. “About you two needing a marriage license and a judge. Kind of a rush getting married so fast after getting engaged, isn’t it?”

  Hailey hoped her smile looked real when she said, “Not when you’re in love.”

  Chapter Four

  Bryce slipped the plain gold band they’d bought earlier that afternoon next to the engagement ring on Hailey’s finger. Rather than a diamond, she’d chosen a sapphire stone the same deep blue as the blouse beneath her white suit jacket and the small bouquet of asters in her other hand.

  She was simply stunning.

  “I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the judge said. “You may kiss the bride.”

  Bryce took Hailey in his arms and leaned down to brush his mouth over hers. Her lips parted,
but she kept her beautiful if confused blue eyes open and locked on him as if she didn’t quite trust him. He wanted to tell her everything would be all right now, but James Croft had insisted on being a witness to the rushed wedding, so he simply kissed her—soundly—as much for himself this time as for his potential backer. He couldn’t help himself. He knew the marriage was supposed to be business only. That didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy himself a little.

  He saw her eyes flutter closed, felt her weight sway against him. His pulse picked up and he pulled her tighter so that her breasts crushed against his chest. His flesh responded as any man’s would and he deepened the kiss. Her arms snaked up around his neck and a faint sound of pleasure escaped her.

  And brought him back to reality.

  Pulling his mouth from hers, Bryce tried to tell himself it wasn’t Hailey—it was simply that female company had been sorely lacking in his life lately. He gave her a quick wink to assure her it was all a game to impress Croft. Her eyes widened slightly before dropping so that she wasn’t looking at him at all. Bryce started.

  She was upset, but why? Because he’d kissed her? Or because he’d made light of the fact?

  Aware that the judge was waiting to perform the next ceremony, Bryce shook the man’s hand and said, “Thank you,” then placed an arm lightly at the small of Hailey’s back and rushed her out of the courtroom.

  Right behind them, Croft cupped their shoulders and said, “How about I buy the newly married couple the best steak dinner in the city to celebrate?”

  “We can’t,” Hailey said, pulling away to face Croft. She gave Bryce a panicked expression. “We already made plans.”

  “But I thought we could talk about Widow’s Peak. So did you run into any ghosts there?”

  Bryce knew that as much as Hailey wanted to make that sale, right now she was simply anxious to take care of Danny’s debt. “Sorry, old man,” he said, wondering at Croft’s obsession with the place possibly being haunted. “We really do have plans.”

  Croft’s smile faded. “Fair enough.”

  “But we can break bread in the morning.” Wanting their relationship to look believable, Bryce pulled Hailey close into his side. Didn’t the guy get a newly married couple might want to be alone? Of course their alone time wouldn’t consist of the usual. “You wanted to get together at ten, right?”