The House on Blackberry Hill: Jewell Cove #1 (Jewel Cove) Read Online Free PDF Page A

are to be believed. The mansion is a town icon.”
    She took a step back, alarmed by his assertion of it being haunted, especially after her strange sensations at the cellar door and stairs. “If it’s such a gem, then why did it ever fall into such disrepair?”
    He shrugged. “Marian Foster turned it into a home for unwed mothers, and then she lived in it alone for years. Rumor has it she spent a fortune maintaining it before closing it up when she could no longer care for herself.”
    “How long ago?”
    “Ten years, easy. It’s stayed vacant since then as Marian insisted that it remain untouched. Some say she was a little…” He paused, searching for the right word. “Dementia, probably,” he said, quieter now. “Not crazy. Just not in the same reality, you know?”
    “And now she’s left it to me.”
    “Seems that way.” The tone of his voice made it sound like the fact only confirmed her aunt’s precarious state of mind.
    She met his gaze honestly. “Believe me, I’m just as confused as you are. I never met the woman. In fact, my grandmother Iris, Marian’s sister, never even mentioned having a sister. The Fosters never saw fit to give her a red cent when she was alive, so leaving it to me now is confusing to say the least. I didn’t even know Gram came from money. God knows we could have used a bit of it from time to time.”
    “You could be the one to come in and restore the house. Bring her back to her former glory. I’m pretty sure her bones are sound. She just needs sprucing up…”
    “With your help, of course.” She injected a fair dose of sarcasm into the words. It didn’t escape her notice that he referred to the house as “her.” Good grief.
    “Come here,” he commanded. Tom reached out and gripped her wrist, tugging her through the still open door and into the foyer.
    She shook his hand off. “What are you doing?” She put her fingers on the skin he’d touched. His hands were so big his fingers had dwarfed her tiny wrist. What was worse, she’d found it exciting, being tugged along in his wake. She hadn’t exactly felt threatened. She’d felt … exhilarated. That was more surprising than anything else that had happened today, and that was saying a lot.
    Their gazes clashed and she felt the strange swirling again. There was something in the dark depths of his eyes, some sort of awareness that made her breath catch in her throat. Finally he stepped forward, picking up her hand in a gentle way that sent her heart knocking against her ribs. “Trust me, okay?”
    She watched, fascinated, as Tom’s lips formed a sexy half-smile that did nothing to remove the heat in his gaze. With her hand cradled in his, Abby had the sensation of being enveloped—completely and utterly. It wasn’t just his size, but the sense of the muscled physique beneath the cotton shirt and his control over it. All that manual labor had honed him into a strong specimen of manhood, but there was something honest about him as well. And standing there in the foyer of her newly inherited home, Abby suddenly realized that she did trust him … to a point. She may not know Tom Arseneault but she knew he wouldn’t harm her.
    “We really did get off on the wrong foot,” he continued, as the moment stretched out.
    “Pun intended?” she asked, softening when his smile grew. Their gazes met for a few seconds more while things between them seemed to settle. “All right,” she granted softly, removing her hand from his and looking around the room. “Now, if you’d care to explain what you mean without hauling me from pillar to post, I’ll listen.”
    “I haven’t heard that particular tone since I was in fifth grade and was caught running through the school library by Miss Haines.”
    “Apparently the lesson bore repeating. What did you want to show me?”
    Something—amusement, respect, perhaps a combination of the two—gleamed in his eyes. “All right. For starters, look at this.” He reached