True Love Read online

  “And we’re back to Ken. So what’s this about not telling Alix that her father trained you?”

  “I’m caught in the middle,” he said and told her about his first meeting with Alix. “I had no idea she recognized me, then Ken called and laid me out for lying to her.”

  Lexie slid a ham and cheese omelet onto a plate. “So that’s why you’re spending an entire week holed up with her? To make up for lying to her?” She poured two cups of coffee.

  “I didn’t want her to leave the island, because I knew I’d get blamed for running her off.”

  Lexie took bread out of the toaster and slathered it with the jam Toby had made. “Is that it? The whole, entire, and only reason you’ve not left this house for days?”

  Jared cut into his omelet and took his time answering. “It started out that way.”

  “And now?” Lexie took a seat across from him.

  He looked at her with eyes that seemed to spark flames. “Now Ken’s the reason I keep my hands off her.”

  “Oh, my,” Lexie said, leaning back in her chair. “You haven’t fallen in … you know, with her … have you?”

  “I’ve known her for less than a week,” Jared said, frowning.

  Lexie sipped her coffee and watched her cousin, fully aware that he’d not answered her question. Dilys said that Jared had never recovered from his father’s premature death. Lexie had been told how Jared and his mother had both nearly lost their minds when Six died. Jared had been angry at the world, while his mother had sunk into a depression that no counseling or pills could get her out of.

  Then Ken Madsen had shown up and given the boy an outlet for his rage. But nothing and no one had been able to revive Jared’s mother. She’d died soon after her son graduated from high school.

  Since then, Jared had been the family loner, living in two worlds, even using a different name off-island.

  “And you’re doing all this out of respect for Ken?” Lexie asked.

  “I owe him, don’t you think?”

  “We all do,” Lexie said, smiling at her cousin. She and Toby weren’t the only people Jared had helped. He’d given friends and relatives jobs, had subsidized the mortgages of two destitute cousins, and he’d stayed with Aunt Addy at the end of her life. “So when are you going to tell Alix the truth about you and her father?”

  “I’m not,” he said. “It’s not my place to tell her. Besides, she just found out that Victoria comes here every year.”

  “She didn’t even know that?”

  Jared shook his head.

  Lexie got up to get the coffeepot. “Did you tell her about Victoria?”

  “No.” Jared grinned. “She saw the bedroom, called it the Emerald City, and she knew it was her mother’s.”

  Lexie laughed as she refilled their cups and sat back down. “I think you need to protect yourself here. When—not if—Alix finds out the truth about her father and you, she won’t be happy that you kept such a big secret from her.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Jared said. “I’ll call Ken and say I want permission to tell his daughter about his visiting here because I’m so hot for her that my fingertips ache. That when she leans over me to look at a drawing her breath smells so good I want to swallow her whole. The way her body moves inside her clothes makes me sweat.” He looked at his cousin across the table. “You think if I tell Ken that truth he’ll give me his blessing?”

  Lexie could only blink at him.

  “Is there any more toast?” Jared asked. “Toby’s jam is great. Alix will like it.”

  Lexie took a few breaths to recover herself, then got up to get the bread. “I think …”

  “I’m open to suggestions,” he said.

  “You didn’t actually promise Ken to keep your hands off her, did you?”

  “I did.”

  “Oh, my goodness. You have to get him to come here so he can tell Alix the truth. Then you’ll be released from your promise.”

  “That should go over well,” Jared said. “Ken shows up and I immediately carry his daughter off to bed.”

  Lexie thought for a moment. “The question is, how does Alix feel about you?”

  Jared grimaced. “I’m her teacher. Although she doesn’t listen to me much. You want to hear what she’s doing?”

  “Sure.” Lexie didn’t let him see her surprise. She’d never heard her cousin talk about any of the women he dated, but then he didn’t stay with them long enough to even remember their names. He had never brought one of them home to Nantucket, never introduced one to the family.

  “While I was out on my boat, she and Izzy broke into my office.”

  “The one you never let anyone into?”

  “That’s the one.” He looked up as his grandfather appeared behind Lexie.

  She turned around, but saw no one. “What is it?”

  “Nothing,” he said, but he knew his grandfather was warning him not to tell too much. “I think Alix must have seen some of the drawings I did for small structures because she designed a chapel. She even found some card stock and made a model. I saw it hidden in a cabinet and it was great. Original. Perfect. I’m going to try to get some of my clients to build it and give Alix full credit for it. A great start to her career, right?”

  “It sounds wonderful. What did she say when you told her?”

  “She hasn’t shown me the model,” he said.

  Lexie nodded. “She couldn’t very well admit she sneaked into your office. Maybe you could hint that you don’t just do big buildings.”

  “I did, but it got no reaction from her. Maybe tomorrow I can—”

  “You won’t have time,” Lexie said. “I’m here because we need to talk about this weekend. But go ahead and tell me about the chapel.”

  “There isn’t anything else to tell. She hasn’t mentioned her design and the model’s no longer in the cabinet.”

  “Why don’t you tell her you saw it and that it’s great?” Lexie said.

  “It would seem like I was snooping. I think there’s a reason she won’t show it to me, but I don’t know what it is.”

  “If it were me,” Lexie said, “I’d be terrified that you’d think it was awful. Sounds like she wants to impress you, but what if you see something done by her and you hate it? That would really hurt.”

  “I pretty much told her I’d give her a job at my firm.”

  “She probably doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that,” Lexie said.

  Jared finished his toast, picked up his empty plate, and put it in the sink. He was frowning as he thought about what Lexie had said. “What were you going to tell me about this weekend?”

  “What are you going to do about Daffy Day?”

  “Same thing I always do, I guess,” he said.

  “Stay home bent over a drawing board?”

  “More or less.”

  “You’ve spent all this time with Alix, working, drinking rum, but you’ve not made a pass at her?” Lexie asked.

  “Not a touch.”

  “No long, lingering looks?”

  Jared smiled. “Not any that she saw.”

  “Even though you’re very attracted to her?”

  “You and Dilys! Are you two trying to make me feel bad? What are you getting at?”

  “I’m just trying to see this from Alix’s point of view. This pretty young woman has spent nearly a whole week being rejected by a man known for … what can I say? … having numerous women in his life. But he—you—has fed her lots of rum but not so much as made a move toward her. And tomorrow she’s going out with Wes.”

  “Wes?”

  “Your cousin? My cousin? Remember him? Young, handsome Wes Drayton who inherited two acres out in Cisco and plans to build a house because he’s ready to settle down and have kids? That Wes?”

  “Are you trying to say that Wes and Alix might get together?”

  “Wes hasn’t shut up about Alix since he met her. Yesterday he spent an hour with Toby planning the daffodil decorations for