emptied into the foyer where she waited.
He made the action look effortless. “My room’s all the way at the back.”
“No problem. I had plenty to keep me
occupied.” She held up the fistful of brochures before she slid them into her
purse.
“Did you decide where you wanted to
eat?”
“I think so. They recommended a little
place just down the road.”
When Makenna told him she was driving a
convertible, he opted to let her drive. She laughed at the totally masculine
response to a sports car. They found the restaurant without incident and
settled into a cozy little table near the windows.
“Where are you from?” the hostess asked
conversationally as she handed them their menus and slid a basket of warm bread
onto the table.
“Central Texas,” Hardin answered, not
bothering to explain they weren’t a couple.
“Oh really? That couple over there is
from Texas, too. Small world, isn’t it? You’re welcome to help yourself to
cheese and crackers, served in the bar, just through there. Your server this
evening will be Neil. He’ll be with you shortly.”
“Thank you,” Makenna smiled. She glanced
at the couple sitting across the room. “Hey, I think they were on our flight,”
she told Hardin. “I had them pegged as celebrating their twentieth wedding
anniversary. I wonder what the odds of that are, all four of us on the same
plane, ending up in the same town?”
“I’d say pretty good, considering this
is a popular resort town. And you’re forgetting, New Hampshire is like twenty
eight times smaller than Texas. The entire state could fit inside our Hill
Country region.” He pulled a yeasty roll apart and stuffed it into his mouth.
He chewed and swallowed, continuing with his theory. “It would be about like a
plane landing in Austin, and four or more of its passengers ending up in
Fredericksburg. Odds would be pretty favorable.”
“I guess.” Makenna shrugged, reaching
for a crusty slice of bread from the assorted basket. “Just seems like a huge
coincidence, especially when you factor in that you and I are in the very same
hotel.”
“Coincidence,” he allowed. He raised his
water glass and tipped it against hers. Claiming her eyes with his piercing
blue gaze, his voice slid over her like warm molasses. “Or fate.”
Completely mesmerized, Makenna clicked
her glass to his and murmured, “To fate.”
Their server appeared, sporting a bottle
of Chardonnay. “Compliments of the couple by the windows.”
“Oh, how sweet!” Makenna beamed, looking
over at their fellow Texans. She waved her appreciation, while Hardin nodded
and expressed a vocal “thank you” across the room.
“I suppose we really should invite them
to join us,” he told her with a resigned sigh, as the waiter poured their wine.
“It looks like they are just ordering,
too. Why don’t we invite them to have dessert with us,” Makenna suggested.
Hardin raised an approving eyebrow at
her artful compromise. To the waiter, he said, “Would you be so kind as to
relay the lady’s wishes to the other couple? We’d like them to join us for
dessert.”
“Certainly, sir.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“Not that I’m all that eager to share
you with someone else,” Hardin admitted as he pushed away his empty plate, “but
I guess it’s time to do the neighborly thing and invite our guests over for
dessert.”
Makenna wrinkled her nose in playful
distaste. “I think maybe you’re right.”
Right on cue, the waiter appeared at
their table to take away dirty dishes and re-set the table for four. Hardin
moved his chair close to Makenna’s. Stretching his arm along the back of her
chair, he let his fingers curl against her shoulders as he whispered
conspiratorially, “If they’re too boring, remind me of that phone call I don’t
have to make.”
“You’re incorrigible!” Makenna
admonished. Laughing, she bumped him with her shoulder, but was slow in moving
away as they watched the other couple approach.
Even
Kristene Perron, Joshua Simpson