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Mace didn’t comment; he simply shut the truck door behind her and headed for the main entrance. The double doors were made of thick glass, and a closed sign dangled in one of them.
Mace punched a series of numbers into a pad on the outside wall, and the locks gave way with an audible buzz.
He pushed one of the doors open and held it for Kelly.
Inside, the silence was complete.
“Where is everybody?” she asked, stepping past Mace into a reception area furnished with comfy chairs and sofas. The art on the walls was quality stuff, with a distinctly Western theme, and the floors were wide-planked hardwood, held in place by pegs instead of nails.
“We just shipped a major order. I gave everybody except the field crew a few days off.”
“Generous of you,” Kelly commented, feeling slightly disconcerted. Mountain Winery was a small venture in comparison to other wineries. If her company couldn’t count on a steady supply of the product, Dina and the board of directors would lose interest in an alliance, fast.
Before Mace could respond, a beautiful woman, around sixty, appeared in a nearby doorway. She was fit, and she wore jeans, a tank top, boots, along with a knowing smile. “My son is definitely generous,” she said affectionately. “But he’s also a hardheaded businessman. Once harvest rolls around, the whole outfit will be working overtime.”
“Mrs. Carson?” Kelly asked, extending a hand as she approached.
The woman’s grip was firm as they shook hands. “Blythe,” she corrected. “You must be Kelly Wright. May I call you Kelly?”
“Um, sure,” Kelly said. She’d read up on Blythe Carson before she left LA, a routine part of her preparations, but there was precious little information about her online, and the few pictures she’d seen fell far short of the reality. It was hard to believe this woman was the mother of three grown sons and the legal owner of a ranch valued at many millions of dollars.
Blythe smiled. “Well, Kelly, are you feeling better? According to Mace, you’ve had a rough time since you arrived in Wyoming.”
Kelly looked back over one shoulder, meeting Mace’s eyes, then turned to face his mother again. “I had a close call,” she said, “but I was lucky. Your son came along just in time.”
Mace said nothing. There it was again, that reticence. Did the man even have an ego?
“None the worse for wear, then?” Blythe asked. Her voice was like music, though it had a husky quality, too. Considering her beauty, her charm, her kindness—considering everything about her—it seemed incredible that she hadn’t remarried after her first husband’s death.
Blythe must have loved Mace’s father very much.
“None the worse for wear,” Kelly confirmed.
Blythe looked past Kelly to Mace. “I’m out of here,” she said. “It’s been a long day.”
“See you at home,” Mace said.
“If you know what’s good for you,” Blythe went on, “you’ll invite Kelly to stay for supper. Harry’s counting on it. She’s been cooking most of the day.”
“I guess that depends on Kelly’s plans for the evening,” Mace told her, his tone so noncommittal that Kelly didn’t know whether he wanted her to accept or refuse.
Her plans, such as they were, included room service, a bubble bath and reading in bed.
Compared to a family dinner, the prospect seemed not merely dull, but lonely, too.
Blythe didn’t press for a decision. She simply told Kelly she’d enjoyed meeting her, gathered her belongings and left the winery. Outside, the MG purred to life.
Kelly turned back to Mace. According to her extensive research prior to the trip, Mace was the sole owner of Mountain Winery, but as she’d learned from experience, the internet wasn’t always reliable when it came to cold hard facts. If Blythe was a partner in the business, that would complicate negotiations—and Mace had used the word “we” several times in reference to the enterprise.
Mace seemed to be reading Kelly’s mind. “Mom helps out when she can. Since her father’s a vintner, she knows a lot about winemaking.” He paused. “I’d like her to be present at one of our meetings. Maybe the day after tomorrow?”
“Of course.” Kelly had come to Wyoming to talk business, but at that moment, she was strangely reluctant to do so. She’d liked the easy banter, enjoyed feeling like a friend instead of a glorified sales rep with a bullet-point agenda.
She immediately bristled at the thought. A glorified sales rep? Where had that come from?
“Come on,” Mace said. “I’ll show you where the magic happens.”
As he spoke, he put out a hand, and Kelly took it. His fingers and palm were callused; here was a man who did hard physical labor, despite his net worth—which had to be considerable.
Mace gave her fingers a gentle squeeze, then led her through the same doorway Blythe had come through minutes before, into a long corridor. There were offices on both sides, Kelly noticed, a total of four.
Three of the doors were closed, but the last stood ajar, revealing a desk, a couple of computers and stacks of file folders and printouts piled everywhere.
Mace caught Kelly sneaking a peek and grinned. “It looks like the aftermath of the Johnstown Flood in there,” he said, “but I know where everything is.”
Kelly hoped the low lighting in the corridor hid her blush of embarrassment. She wasn’t a snoop, she wanted to insist, but she bit her lip to hold back the declaration. “That,” she retorted, “is what they all say.”
“Nevertheless,” he said, “it’s true.”
They moved on to another set of doors and, once again, Mace held one open, gesturing for Kelly to go inside.
The room was massive, the walls lined with gleaming equipment and, in contrast, row upon row of wooden barrels. The space was climate controlled, and the machinery gave a low, continuous hum.
The loading bay was visible from where they stood, and two men were working there, stowing the last few crates of wine in the truck Kelly had seen earlier.
“Hey, boss,” one of the men called with a wave.
“Hey back at you,” Mace responded.
The second man closed the doors on the back of the truck, slid a metal bolt into place. “Gotta get on the road,” he said. “Nice to see you again, Mace.”
Mace nodded cordially and the man jumped to the ground, climbing into the driver’s seat and starting the truck. The other man rolled down the door of the loading bay and walked toward Mace and Kelly, rubbing his hands down his blue-jeaned thighs as he did.
“Who’s the pretty lady?” he asked good-naturedly.
Mace made the introductions. “Kelly Wright, meet Tom Harper.”
Kelly and Tom shook hands. The man had a thick head of dark hair, bright brown eyes and a great smile.
“Tom is the proverbial jack-of-all-trades,” Mace told Kelly. “As you’ve just seen, he isn’t above loading trucks, but his official title is wine master.”
Tom acknowledged Mace’s remarks with a slight nod. “Kelly Wright,” he said musingly, making a lighthearted pretense of trying to place her. Then his eyes flashed with a smile. “That’s right,” he said, all but snapping his fingers in that now-I-remember way. “You’re the damsel in distress.”
Mace glowered at him. “Hardly,” he said.
Kelly smiled, amused at Mace’s reaction. “That would be me,” she told Tom, “though, as you can see, I escaped the dragon unharmed.” She turned and batted her eyelashes at Mace. “Thanks to the prince here.”
Tom chuckled. “In case you’re wondering, my boss—aka, the prince—didn’t say a word about what happened the other night. My wife’s a nurse, and she was on duty when Mace brought you to the hospital.”
Kelly vaguely remembered telling Dr. Draper all about what had happened while she was being examined in the emergency room. A nurse had been present, as well—Mrs. Tom Harper, no doubt.
Mace gave Tom a benign but pointed look. “Must be about quitting time,” he said.
Tom ignored Mace’s annoyance, although he must have noticed. “Good to meet you, Ms. Wright,” he said. “And I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks.” Kelly smiled, liking the guy more with every passing moment. “And it’s Kelly, not Ms. Wright.”
“Guess I’d better run,” Tom said.
“Best idea you’ve had yet,” Mace grumbled.
Tom laughed, said his goodbyes and left the winery through a side door.
“Nice guy,” Kelly said when she and Mace were alone again.
“Yeah,” Mace agreed, finally lightening up a little. “Except for his big mouth.”
Kelly laughed. “Relax. I know you didn’t brag all over town about saving the poor, silly California woman from certain disaster.”
Even though you did save me, like it or not.
Twice.
Mace glanced away, sighed, muttered something to himself.
“Why are you so sensitive about this?” Kelly asked, serious now.
He turned his head, met her eyes. “It was no big deal,” he said.
“It was to me,” Kelly told him, still solemn. And when Mace didn’t reply, she spoke again. “What’s really going on here, Mace? Why are you so touchy about taking any credit for what you did?”
He was silent for a long time, although he never looked away from her face. Then, after another sigh, deeper than the last and more exasperated, he said, “Because I don’t want you thinking you owe me anything in return. You said thanks and that was enough.”
Kelly was at once intrigued and frustrated. “Are you afraid I’m going to follow you around from now on, adoringly, babbling words of gratitude?”
Mace seemed taken aback. “No,” he said.
She wasn’t letting him off the hook. “What, then?”
He rested his hands on her shoulders, his touch light, even tentative. “All right,” he muttered. “It’s just that I think something might be...starting. Between us, I mean. And I’m not talking about any business deal here.” He drew a long breath, released it. “Maybe it’s just my imagination and I’m making a damn fool of myself, but if we have a chance, the two of us, we need to be equal partners from the start.”
Kelly stared at him, momentarily speechless.
When she finally found her voice, it was barely more than a whisper. “It’s not your imagination,” she murmured.
That was when he kissed her.
CHAPTER FIVE (#u55a14d5e-4b5f-50a2-8e95-30ba2ed3acd7)
THE TOUCH OF Mace’s mouth was gentle, warm, more promise than demand.
More question than answer.
It never occurred to Kelly to push him away, or turn her head. No, she rose onto the balls of her feet, became neither giver nor recipient, but part of the kiss itself, part of Mace, as he was part of her.
He didn’t use his tongue, though she would have welcomed that—and a lot more. She felt charged in every cell, as if she were dancing on an arc of lightning.
When Mace broke the connection, Kelly plunged from the heights like a skydiver without a parachute, half expecting to strike hard ground and shatter into pieces.
Mace cupped her right cheek in his hand, thumbed away a tear she hadn’t known was there.
Kelly couldn’t speak. The ordinary world felt thick around her, as though she’d been caught in a mudslide, or quicksand, and might be sucked under at any moment.
Reflex made her grasp Mace’s shoulders, hold on for dear life.
He covered her hands with his own.
“Are you okay?”
“Um, I think so,” Kelly murmured, loosening her grasp on Mace by degrees as she settled back into herself. There were so many questions she wanted to ask—had he felt the power of that kiss, the way she had, or was it just another flirtation to him, soon to be forgotten? And if he had felt it, what did it mean?
“If that was too much, too soon...”
“No,” Kelly said so quickly that heat stained her cheeks. Then, again, more slowly, “No.”
Mace drew Kelly close, kissed the top of her head. “This might be a good time to show you the vineyard,” he said.
Kelly allowed herself to lean into him, just a little. To rest against the hard width of his chest, listen to the steady thud-thud-thud of his heart.
It had been so long since she’d taken shelter in a man’s arms, felt safe there.
“This would be a very good time to see the vineyard,” she said with laugh.
They left the winery then, neither one saying a word, and after Mace had punched in another code to lock the doors, they headed for the leafy rows, the vines rimmed in the last fierce light of the day.
Mace didn’t hold her hand as he had before, but their arms brushed against each other at intervals.
Kelly had that strange, otherworldly feeling again, although it wasn’t urgent, like before, when Mace had kissed her. She wondered if she’d bumped her head, after all, when her rental car went off the road, and done something to her brain, something the scans hadn’t picked up.
They walked along the rows in comfortable silence, and Kelly reveled in the scents of leaves and fertile dirt and ripening fruit. She’d visited so many other vineyards, in so many other places, but, strangely, this one seemed all new.
Maybe, she thought, it wasn’t the vineyard that made her want to put down roots right here in this rich soil and simply grow, like the plants all around her, to blossom in spring, flourish in the summer heat, bear fruit in the fall, stand leafless and vulnerable in the winter snow.
It was a crazy, whimsical idea, completely unlike her.
If this strange mood continued, she decided, she’d follow Dr. Draper’s advice and seek medical help.
In the meantime, though, she intended to savor the experience.
