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“So what is it now?”
“He thinks…oh, it doesn’t matter.” To Kate’s astonishment, Abby’s smile faded and she averted her gaze. “You know Alex.”
Kate didn’t. Not really. She had only met the man once, a year ago, when he’d driven up in a silver Viper to check on Abby and make one last-ditch effort to convince her to leave Mirror Lake.
But because Abby talked about her brother a lot, Kate felt as if she knew him. And what she knew—other than the fact that Alex Porter oozed confidence out of every pore and happened to be quite unfairly, in Kate’s opinion, drop-dead gorgeous—didn’t impress her very much. As far as she was concerned, Alex tried to control peoples’ lives the same way he did his hotels. With a lift of one autocratic eyebrow. That it seemed to work for the guy was another cause for irritation.
“Well, he must have said something or you wouldn’t be threatening to elope five days before your wedding,” Kate pointed out.
“It’s nothing to be concerned about, really. Alex had some…questions…about the reception dinner,” Abby finally admitted.
“It’s all set. You and Quinn approved the menu. I have everything ready…” Kate stopped. Something in Abby’s expression set off warning bells in her head.
Alex Porter didn’t have questions. He had doubts. Doubts that a woman who operated a small café had the ability to cater his sister’s wedding reception.
“He doesn’t think I can do it.” Kate wasn’t sure why, but the thought stung.
“That’s not it,” Abby said quickly. “Alex just wondered whether you had the time to act as my maid of honor and handle the food for the reception.”
No doubt he wondered more than that, Kate thought grimly. But just because the Porter hotels boasted award-winning restaurants didn’t mean they were the only ones capable of creating a memorable reception dinner.
“I told Alex that I trust you completely,” Abby continued. “Not only are you the queen of multitasking, you’re a wonderful cook.”
Kate was touched by her friend’s loyalty, but Alex’s assumption still rankled. She was forced to take her own advice when it came to dealing with stressful situations.
Keep your sense of humor.
“So what does he think is on the menu? Hamburgers and French fries?” Kate even managed a weak laugh.
Abby joined in. Sort of.
Kate’s mouth dropped open. “He thinks that all I’m capable of making are hamburgers and French fries?”
“Not really,” Abby murmured. Unfortunately, the look in her eyes flashed the words “yes, really.”
Kate could feel the freckles on the bridge of her nose start to glow. “He thinks the Grapevine is a greasy spoon.”
“It doesn’t matter what Alex thinks.” Abby’s chin lifted. “He’s never eaten at the café.”
So, yes! A greasy spoon!
“I told him that you’ve won awards at the county fair…” Kate stifled a groan. She knew her friend meant well, but a first-place ribbon for her triple berry pie and sour apple salsa wasn’t going to impress someone like Alex. “…and just because the café is small, it doesn’t mean that you deep-fry everything and sling hash—”
“Hash?” Kate squawked.
“Maybe he didn’t say hash.” Abby bit her lip.
The familiar gesture, the one Kate saw whenever Abby was trying to find a tactful way to say something—or not to say something—only led to one conclusion.
He’d said hash.
Abby must have recognized the look on her face. “Don’t change your mind about catering the reception,” she pleaded. “Alex will eat everything you prepare, and he’ll love it. I promise.”
The corners of Kate’s lips curved in a slow smile. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m not going to change my mind.”
Because Alex Porter would eat everything she prepared for the reception dinner…and a generous helping of crow, as well.
Play nice.
Those were Abby’s orders.
But Alex had found a loophole. His sister had been talking about her wedding day. If he arrived in town a few days early, technically those orders hadn’t taken effect yet.
The truth was, Alex Porter didn’t particularly care for orders unless he was the one giving them. And he didn’t care for orders issued by his kid sister, either.
Not, Alex grudgingly admitted to himself, that Abby was a kid. Not anymore. But it was hard not to think of her as the fragile, introverted girl he’d single-handedly raised after their parents died while returning home from a business trip.
One phone call from a sheriff’s deputy that night had changed the course of Alex’s life. At the age of twenty-two and six weeks shy of obtaining his bachelor’s degree, he had inherited the family estate, two hotels and the guardianship of his fourteen-year-old sister.
After the funeral, an attorney recommended that Alex “liquidate all the assets” in order to “disengage from the weighty responsibilities” that had been placed on him. Alex interpreted the ‘liquidating of all assets’ as polite legalese for disposing of the two hotels his parents had poured twenty years of their blood, sweat and tears into making a success. The “weighty responsibilities?” His only sibling.
He had dismissed the lawyer’s advice. And the lawyer.
There’d been little time to grieve as he took charge of the business and Abby, the only other remaining member of the Porter family. Over the years, Alex had done everything in his power to protect them both.
That’s why Abby’s decision to walk away from the family business—and, if Alex were completely honest, from him—the previous summer had been a difficult one to accept.
Alex realized now that he should have taken his sister a little more seriously when she claimed she had to follow God’s plan for her life. Whatever that meant. It was fine with him if people chose to look to God for direction, but Alex preferred to make his own plans.
But because he hadn’t paid attention, Abby had decided to follow the old adage “actions speak louder than words” to prove her point. A point Alex still thought she could have made without turning in her letter of resignation and buying a run-down lodge in northern Wisconsin.
He figured that Abby would get married one day, but he’d always assumed he would have a little more…input…about the details. Like who she married. And when. And where.
At the very least, he assumed she would agree to hold the ceremony in Porter Lakeside’s grand ballroom, surrounded by friends who moved within their social circle. But no. Abby had insisted on a simple wedding at the inn she’d opened; the guest list comprised a small group of people Alex didn’t even know.
His fingers tightened around the leather steering wheel as a gap suddenly opened in the wall of trees and revealed the small town his sister now considered home.
Mirror Lake.
There was nothing special about the place that he could see. Certainly nothing special enough to tempt a person to turn their back on everything the Windy City had to offer.
He cruised down the narrow, paved walkway called Main Street. The large pots of marigolds stationed at the foot of each streetlamp must have been part of a community beautification project of some kind.
Too bad it had failed.
A hardware store with hand-printed signs in the window advertised a two-for-one sale on garden hoses. Alex shook his head. Hadn’t these people heard of underground sprinkler systems? Next door, the plate glass windows of the variety store proudly displayed a blinding array of cheap sun catchers.
Alex decided it would serve Abby right if she received a dozen of the things as wedding gifts.
His gaze shifted to the third brick building in the lineup and snagged on a faded sign above the door.
The Grapevine Café.
Jerking the Viper to the right, Alex’s foot tapped the brake so the vehicle wouldn’t jump the curb and take out a pot of marigolds.
He cut the engine and stared at the old-fashioned diner in disbelief. Call him crazy, but for some reason, he’d pictured something with a little more curbside appeal. Something a little…bigger.
“What are you thinking, Abby?” he muttered. This was taking her friendship with the owner of the café—Kate Nichols—too far.
A memory, one that had lodged deep in his subconscious like a splinter, shifted and poked him again.
Almost a year ago, when he’d shown up at Abby’s bed-and-breakfast to make one final appeal for her to come home, he’d walked right into the middle of a renovation party. Alex had confronted the first person he saw—a young woman with a cap of flame-colored curls and eyes as green as a field of fresh clover—and asked where he could find Abby. Instead of taking him to his sister, the pixie had had the audacity to lead him to a dilapidated cabin down by the lake instead. Then she’d pressed a hammer into his hand, pointed to the roof and told him to “make himself useful.”
He hadn’t appreciated being told what to do. Especially by a petite, redheaded firecracker.
Alex had tried to put her out of his mind but that wasn’t easy when the name Kate Nichols popped up with annoying frequency during his phone conversations with Abby.
Business wouldn’t exactly be booming for the owner of a café in a town the size of Mirror Lake. If he knew his tender-hearted sister, Abby had felt sorry for Kate, put aside her misgivings and hired her to cater the reception dinner. It might explain the strain he’d heard in Abby’s voice when they had gone over the details for the reception the day before. Even with the simple wedding she was insisting upon, resources had to be limited.
Alex’s eyes narrowed on a tear in the striped awning that shaded the sidewalk.
Very limited.
He got out of the car and reached the door in two strides. According to a piece of cardboard taped to the window, the café opened for business at six o’clock.
Alex glanced at the TAG Heuer on his wrist.
Two minutes past six.
Great. He’d be the first customer of the day.
Chapter Two
The bells over the front door jingled as Kate piped neat rows of whipped cream over the top of a fresh strawberry rhubarb pie.
“Find a place to sit and I’ll be right with…”
You.
Kate felt a sudden disconnect between her brain and her voice when she spotted the man standing just inside the entrance, backlit by the early morning sun.
Alex Porter, in the flesh.
In her café.
She’d sat right next to Abby in church the day before and her friend hadn’t warned—told—her that Alex would be in Mirror Lake.
A week early.
Their eyes met over the counter and Kate’s heart did a backflip. As impossible as it seemed, the man was even more good-looking than she remembered.
She could see traces of Abby in the straight nose and high, smooth forehead, but the resemblance between the siblings ended there. Abby’s silver-green eyes were warm, as if lit from within. A smile always played at the corner of her lips, ready to bloom at a moment’s notice.
Alex’s features, on the other hand, looked as if they’d been chiseled from a hunk of granite. His eyes were the same shade of green as the jade paperweight on Kate’s desk. And just as cool. The fact that those eyes happened to be framed by ridiculously long lashes didn’t count.
Not at all.
Short, windswept hair, toasted a light golden brown from the sun, made him look more suited to the deck of a sailboat than an office. The khaki pants and lightweight cotton shirt he wore looked casual enough but Kate wasn’t fooled. Both looked as if they had been custom fit for his lean, muscular frame.
“Alex.” Kate found her voice again. “What a surprise. I wasn’t expecting to see you.”
Until the wedding.
“Abby sounded a little stressed out the last time I talked to her.” The rough velvet voice wielded an edge that immediately put Kate on the defensive. “I decided to drive up a few days early to help out.”
Kate knew better. Men like Alex Porter didn’t help out. They took over. And the guy probably didn’t have a clue that he had been the cause of Abby’s stress.
“Oh. Wonderful.” Just wonderful. “Abby will be—” insert tactful word here, Kate “—surprised.”
“Not for another hour or so.” Alex’s eyes narrowed when she didn’t respond. “The café is open, right? So you don’t mind if I sit down?”
“You want to eat here?” Kate blurted out.
Alex hesitated a split second too long. “Yes.”
This is Abby’s brother and she loves him, Kate reminded herself. For that reason and that reason only, she flashed one of her sunniest smiles. “You’re the first customer of the day so go ahead and sit anywhere you like.”
His gaze swept over the empty diner. In ten minutes she would be caught in the middle of the morning breakfast stampede; but judging from the skeptical look on his face, Alex doubted she would have another customer besides himself. All day.
Kate kept the smile pinned in place. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”
He gave a curt nod. “No cream or sugar.”
Of course not. We wouldn’t want to add something that might sweeten our disposition, now would we?
“No problem,” Kate said out loud. “I’ll be right back to take your order.”
As Alex stalked to the back of the dining area to claim an empty lair, Kate retrieved a carafe from the coffee station. Her hands were actually trembling. Not out of fear but frustration. She couldn’t believe that Abby shared the same DNA with this man.
Long lashes or not, Alex Porter was arrogant. Cold. Condescending.
And Kate knew exactly what had brought him to the Grapevine. He wanted to see for himself what Mirror Lake’s greasy spoon had to offer.
She searched her memory for an appropriate Scripture. One that would give her the self-control to pour the coffee into Alex’s coffee cup, not over the top of his head.
Lord, I know there has to be one. Or one hundred. But I’m coming up empty at the moment. Sorry.
Kate set his coffee down and whipped the pen out of her apron pocket. Smile carefully balanced in place. “What can I get for you?”
