Dawn in Eclipse Bay

chapter 24

Gabe was thinking of shutting down the computer and walking to Lillian’s cottage to join her for lunch when he heard the sound of a car in the drive.

He opened the front door and saw a large black Lincoln come to a halt in front of the steps. The man behind the wheel wore a dark, inexpensive suit and a single gold earring. A hired driver.

The rear door of the vehicle opened. Sullivan Harte got out of the car.

This did not look promising.

Sullivan said something to the driver and then started toward the front porch.

“I didn’t know you were in town,” Gabe said.

The tip of Sullivan’s cane hit the first step. “We need to talk.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.” He held the door open. “Is this where you tell me that if I manage to sucker Lillian into marrying me you will make certain that she never inherits a dime’s worth of Harte Investments?”

“Not quite.”

Sullivan went past him into the house.

Gabe glanced at the limo. The driver had pulled out a paperback novel and appeared to be content to remain where he was.

Gabe followed his uninvited guest inside and let the door close behind him.

“Coffee?”

“I could use a cup.” Sullivan surveyed the desk where Gabe had left the laptop and a stack of papers. “You really trying to run Madison Commercial from here?”

“I’m not trying to run it. I am running it from here. Technology is amazing.” Gabe went into the kitchen.

“How long can you afford to stay away from the office?” Sullivan demanded.

“Long as I want.” Gabe poured a cup of coffee and carried it into the living room. “Did you come here to talk about the wonders of modern techniques for long-distance management?”

“No.”

“Didn’t think so,” Gabe said.

Mitchell slammed the newspaper down with such force that the little table vibrated on its spindly legs. He scowled at Bryce, who had just walked into Incandescent Body with the news.

“What the hell do you mean, Sullivan Harte is in town?”

“Saw him sitting in the back of a limo a few minutes ago,” Bryce said. “Passed me while I was at the gas station. Must have flown into Portland and hired a car and driver there. Thought you’d want to know.”

“Damned right I want to know.” Mitchell grabbed his cane and levered himself to his feet. “Where was he headed?”

“Took Bayview Drive. Could be on his way out to the Harte cottage.”

“Or he could be headed toward the old Buckley place where Gabe is staying.” Mitchell tossed some money on the table. “What do you want to bet that he came here to try to scare off my grandson?”

“Forget it. I never take bets on Hartes and Madisons. Too unpredictable.”

Lillian studied the fresh canvas propped on the easel while she finished cleaning the last of her brushes. It was the start of a portrait of Gabe based on the sketch she had made of him in her Portland studio. All brooding shadows and hard, bright light, it was the first real work she had done since she had arrived in town. She was pleased with it. She had been in the zone this afternoon. About time.

She set the brushes in a holder to dry and looked at her watch. She was startled to see that it was nearly two o’clock. Gabe had said he would come over around noon for lunch. As usual, she had lost all track of time while she was in that other place where the vision reigned supreme.

Maybe he had been delayed by business or a phone call.

She looked out the window. There were whitecaps on the bay and no rain in sight. She could use some fresh air after such a long stretch of work. The overstimulated sensation that always followed a particularly good session in the studio was making her restless. She needed to get out and work it off. A walk along the bluffs would do the trick. She would probably run into Gabe on his way here.

She indulged herself in a brief, romantic picture of herself flying into his arms on the top of a windswept bluff. Gulls would be wheeling overhead. His dark hair would be ruffled by the crisp breeze. She would be sexy and free-spirited in a gossamer dress and bare feet.

That image made her wonder if she ought to take time to change out of her paint-stained jeans and long-tailed denim shirt. Then she remembered that it was only about fifty-three degrees outside and that there was a lot of rough gravel on the bluff path. Forget the gossamer dress and bare feet.

She put on a pair of scuffed running shoes, took a black denim jacket out of the hall closet and left the house through the mudroom door.

Outside, the scene on the bluffs was very much as she had envisioned it, blustery and invigorating. The bay was a dramatic sweep of quietly churning seawater. The town was picturesque in the distance. The air was clear and bright. The only thing missing was Gabe. There was no sign of him on the path.

An uneasy feeling coiled around her, pushing aside the zesty anticipation. By the time she emerged from the trees and found herself near the back porch of the old Buckley place a dark foreboding had settled on her.

She walked around the side of the house to see if Gabe’s car was in the drive. It was. So was another vehicle, a dark limo complete with a driver behind the wheel. The chauffeur did not notice her. He was deep into a paperback.

She told herself to relax. Obviously business from out of town had caught up with Gabe. But for some obscure reason the anxiety didn’t dissipate. Things felt wrong.

She returned to the back door, opened it quietly and moved stealthily into the kitchen. If Gabe was wheeling and dealing with an important client she did not want to interrupt.

The low rumble of voices from the other room made her stop short. She knew those voices. Both of them.

Suddenly everything made sense. Outrage flared. She rushed to the doorway.

Sullivan and Gabe were seated on the sofa. A leather-bound binder and a stack of computer printouts were arrayed on the low table in front of them.

“Granddad, how dare you?”

Sullivan looked up swiftly, peering at her through a pair of reading glasses. She could have sworn that he turned red.

“Lillian.”

Gabe said nothing. He took one look at her and lounged back into the corner of the sofa, one arm stretched out along the top of the cushions.

She ignored him. Her entire attention was focused on Sullivan.

“What in the world are you doing?” Her voice cracked. “No, don’t bother explaining. I know exactly what you’re doing.”

Sullivan blinked owlishly behind the spectacles. “You do?”

“It’s as obvious as those papers on the table.” She walked a few steps closer. “You’re here to try to buy off Gabe. Or maybe you want to scare him off. Which is it?”

“Now, honey,” Sullivan said in placating tones.

She was vaguely aware of the sound of a large vehicle arriving in the drive. She ignored it.

“You think he wants to marry me so that he can get his hands on a chunk of Harte, don’t you? What are you offering him to get out of my life? Or are you threatening him?”

The front door crashed open. Mitchell stormed into the house.

“Who’s threatening my grandson?” he roared. He came to a halt, brows bristling, jaw clenched, and glowered at Sullivan. “What do you think you’re doing, Harte?”

“Things aren’t quite the way they look,” Sullivan said.

“I don’t believe that for one minute,” Lillian declared. “You’ve been talking to Mom and Dad, haven’t you? They told you I was seeing Gabe and you just leaped to the conclusion that he was after me because of H.I.”

“Speaking of leaping to conclusions,” Gabe said mildly.

She glared at him. “Stay out of this. It has nothing to do with you. This is between me and Granddad.”

“And me.” Mitchell jabbed a thumb at his own chest. “Don’t forget about me. I’m involved in this thing, too.”

“Sure,” Gabe said dryly. “Don’t know what I was thinking.”

Lillian whipped her attention back to Sullivan. “I realize you feel you’re acting in my best interests. I know everyone believes that Gabe is after a piece of Harte. But that is absolute nonsense.”

All three men stared at her.

“Nonsense?” Sullivan repeated carefully.

“Yes. Nonsense.” She swept out a hand. “He would never marry for business reasons. He’s a Madison. They don’t do things like that.”

Sullivan cleared his throat. “Always heard that Gabe, here, was a different kind of Madison.”

“Not that different,” she shot back. “And what’s more, you can’t buy him off or scare him off. Madisons don’t work that way.”

“She’s right,” Mitchell said. “If Gabe wants to marry her, you won’t be able to get rid of him with money or threats.”

“Which brings up a very crucial issue,” Lillian said. “As I told Mom on the phone, Gabe has never asked me to marry him. Isn’t that correct, Gabe?”

“Correct,” Gabe said.

“What’s this?” Sullivan grabbed the handle of his cane and used it to haul himself up off the sagging sofa. He turned on Gabe with a thunderous expression. “I was under the impression that you were serious about my granddaughter. If you think I’m going to stand by while you shack up indefinitely with her, you can think again.”

“Wasn’t planning to shack up indefinitely,” Gabe said.

Mitchell beetled his brows. “Just what are you doing here, Sullivan?”

“Before we were so rudely interrupted,” Sullivan said, “I was presenting a business proposition to Gabe. Of course, that was when I was still under the impression that he intended to marry Lillian.”

Mitchell eyed him with deep suspicion. “What kind of business proposition?”

Gabe looked at Lillian. “Your grandfather was outlining the financial advantages of marriage to you. You come with one-third of H.I., you know.”

“Theadvantages?” Lillian stared at Sullivan. “You mean you’re trying tobribe him to marry me?”

“I just wanted him to understand that we’d be happy to have him as a member of the family,” Sullivan said mildly.

“Well, shoot and damn.” Mitchell whistled softly. “Got to hand it to you, Sullivan. Didn’t think you had that much common sense.”

Lillian was aghast. “You weren’t trying to buy him off. You’re here to try to buy him for me. This is the most mortifying thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life.”

Sullivan stiffened. “What’s mortifying about it? I thought you wanted Gabe.”

“For heaven’s sake, Granddad. It’s like you’re offering him a dowry to take me off your hands. If he marries me and gets a chunk of H.I., everyone will say he did it for the money.”

“Which is why I turned down the deal,” Gabe replied softly.

She swung around to face him. “You did?”

“Shoot and damn.” Mitchell waved a hand. “Why did you go and do something dumb like that? You coulda had the lady and one-third of H.I. That’s what we call a win-win situation.”

“What choice did I have?” Gabe gestured toward the papers on the coffee table. “If I sign those Lillian would always wonder if I married her for her inheritance.”

“No, I wouldn’t,” Lillian said quickly.

Gabe looked at her. “I appreciate your faith in me but I’m afraid I can’t accept you and one-third of H.I., too. I just finished explaining that to Sullivan.”

“What if I just give up my shares in H.I.?” she asked.

Sullivan glared at her. “I’m not about to let you walk away from your inheritance, young woman. Wouldn’t be right. I worked my tail off to build that company. I did it for you and Hannah and Nick.”

Her refusing a third of H.I. would be a terrible blow to him, she realized.

“Evidently I’m fated to be doomed by my inheritance,” she muttered.

“Depends,” Gabe said.

She looked at him, hope rising. “On what?”

“There is a way around this. If you agree to marry me and if your family insists on endowing you, so to speak, you can put your share of your Harte inheritance into a trust for any children we might have. Okay with you, Sullivan?”

Sullivan looked thoughtful. “One way to handle it, I guess.”

Joy flowed through Lillian, bringing a rainbow of colors.

“No problem,” she whispered.

Gabe got to his feet. “You’ll do it? You’ll marry me?”

Neither Mitchell nor Sullivan so much as twitched. It was, Lillian thought, as if the whole world was holding its collective breath in anticipation of her answer.

“Well, sure,” she said softly. “I mean, what else can I do after you turned down the chance to get your hands on a chunk of my family’s company? It’s such a truly Madison-style gesture. But I really don’t want you to feel that you have to do this. It’s not necessary, honest. I know you’re not a fortune-hunter.”

He gave her his slow smile, showing just a hint of teeth. “Honey, if I want Harte Investments, I’ll buy the whole damn company when your dad puts it on the market in a year or two.”

Everyone stared at him in dumbfounded silence.

Lillian met Sullivan’s eyes. He grinned. She felt the laughter bubble up inside.

“Yes, of course,” she gasped between giggles. “Why didn’t I think of that. It’s no secret that H.I. will be up for sale soon. You can buy it outright when Dad retires. No fuss, no bother, no need to get married.”

“Trust me,” Gabe said. “it would be a whole lot simpler that way.”

Mitchell grunted. “Never thought of that.”

“Probably because business is not your forte, Mitch,” Sullivan growled. “It was obvious right from the start that Gabe didn’t need to marry Lillian to get his hands on Harte. All he has to do is wait a few years and do a buy-out.”

Gabe wrapped his fingers around Lillian’s wrist. “Come on, let’s go someplace where we can discuss our private affairs in private.”

He opened the porch door and led her outside into the bright afternoon light. Together they went down the path toward the rocky beach.

Neither of them spoke until they reached the bottom.

“You’re serious about this?” she said at last.

“Never been more serious in my life.” He tightened his hand around hers. “Did you mean it when you said you’d marry me?”

“Yes. But you don’t have to give up a share of Harte Investments for me. I mean, I appreciate the grand gesture but it’s not necessary. Really.”

“It’s necessary.”

“Why?”

He stopped and pulled her around to face him. “Because I’m a Madison. A Madison does things like turn down the offer of a third of a multimillion-dollar company for the woman he loves. It’s in the genes.”

The woman he loves.

“Oh, Gabe.” The brilliant colors of happiness splashed through her, effervescent and glorious. She went into his arms. “I love you so much.”

He kissed her.

Except for a few details such as the fact that they were on the beach, not on the bluffs, and she wasn’t barefoot and there was no gossamer gown, the scene was just the way it had been in the romantic fantasy she had conjured up when she had set out to meet him on the path.

Perfect.

Sullivan surveyed the seating options in Mitchell’s living room and chose the recliner that provided a view of the bay. He lowered himself into it with a long sigh and looked out at the water. The light was starting to go. He never liked this time of day.

“We came mighty close to screwing that up pretty bad, didn’t we?” he said.

“What’s with thiswe business?” Mitchell settled into the other well-worn recliner. “You’re the one who damn near screwed things up. What the hell did you think you were doing trying to buy Gabe with a chunk of H.I.?”

“You’re the one who told me I was supposed to fix things.”

“You don’t fix things between a Madison and a Harte with a business contract.”

“Seemed like the logical thing to do. Pretty clear that Lillian wanted him and I just wanted to encourage him to see the benefits of marriage to her.” Sullivan stretched out his legs, wincing when his joints protested. “How do you stand this damp, cold weather all year long?”

“I’m used to it. You’ve gotten soft living down there in Arizona.”

“Not soft, smart. If you had any sense you’d move to the desert, too.”

“I like it just fine here in Eclipse Bay.” Mitchell rested his head against the back of the chair. “You figure to drive back to Portland tonight?”

“Had enough driving for one day. Knees stiffen up when I sit in a car for a long period of time.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Mitchell absently rubbed one of his own knees. “Occurs to me that if you’re gonna hang around town for a while, you might as well stay here with me.”

“Why would I want to do that?”

“If you stay at the cottage you’ll get in the way of Gabe’s courting.”

“Maybe I’ll take you up on that offer. Don’t want to interfere with the lovebirds.” Sullivan chuckled.

Mitchell eyed him suspiciously. “What’s so funny?”

“Just thinking about what the folks in town will say when they find out that I’m your houseguest.”

“Huh.” Sullivan grinned. “Probably figure we’ll try to knock each other’s teeth out.”

“Probably.”

“Now that’s settled, maybe I should fill you in on some of the stuff that’s been happening around here.”

Fifteen minutes later Sullivan was ready to explode. “Why the hell wasn’t I told about the break-ins? I didn’t have a clue that Lillian was in danger.”

“Take it easy. Like I just said, everything is under control. Gabe took care of Flint for you.”

“I should have been informed.”

“Gabe put the fire out before anyone realized just how big it was.” Mitchell heaved himself up out of his chair. “Bryce will have dinner ready in a while. I generally have a glass or two of something beforehand. As I recall, you used to do the same.”

“I haven’t changed.” Sullivan watched the darkness close in over the bay. “A little something at this time of day helps a man relax.”

“That it does.”

Mitchell went to a cabinet, hauled a bottle out of a cupboard and splashed whiskey into two glasses. He brought the two drinks back across the room and handed one to Sullivan without comment.

They drank their whiskeys and watched the darkness thicken outside the window.

After all these years, Sullivan thought, it was good to sit here and share the twilight with the one other person in the world who understood why this was such a bad time of day.

“They say the memories fade as you get older,” Mitchell said after a while.

“They lie.”