Matched by Moonlight

Bonnie looked toward the staircase again. “You couldn’t have been more wrong in predicting what the travel writer would look like, by the way. He’s, like, the opposite of an older man in a bow tie.”

Without looking up from her phone, Kinley gave a short laugh. “Yeah, I noticed.”

Bonnie flashed a grin. “I thought you might have. He certainly seemed to notice you.”

Remembering that moment when her eyes had met Dan’s upstairs, Kinley cleared her throat. Okay, so maybe there’d been a moment of awareness. For a couple of heartbeats, she’d been tempted to give him a sultry smile, toss her hair, maybe flutter her lashes a bit—the standard signs that a woman was interested. Or at least, as best she could remember. It had been so long since she’d flirted with anyone that she wasn’t entirely sure she still knew how. She had let the opportunity pass, both because it would have been totally unprofessional of her to flirt with a guest of the inn, and because of her vested interest in the review he would write.

Before she could respond to her sister’s teasing, a noise from the stairway alerted her that the subject of their conversation was on his way down. She gave Bonnie a quick look of warning, then turned with a bright smile to greet Dan as he joined them. She’d hoped a few minutes away from him would have gotten her past that initial jolt of attraction, but seeing him bounding lightly down the stairs made her breath catch again. Something about this good-looking guy just got to her in a way no one else had in—well, longer than she could remember.

He carried a small black bag that probably held a camera, reminding her of why he was here. She mentally crossed her fingers that the noises drifting in from outside meant her brother was already busily restoring the front of the inn. Surely Dan would be content to take shots of the other areas of the inn until the front was picture-perfect again.

Sliding her phone into her pocket, she motioned toward the dining room. “Bonnie just told me she has a fresh pot of coffee and some pastries set out for us.”

He nodded. “Sounds great.”

As she accompanied him and her sister into the other room, Kinley smiled somewhat smugly. Bonnie’s pastries were locally renowned, one frequent guest going so far as to term them “heaven on a plate.” Dan already seemed impressed by his suite. After tasting her sister’s coffee and pastries, followed by a carefully guided tour of the place, he would undoubtedly be convinced that the inn deserved a glowing write-up.

From this point on, she was going to make sure his only impressions were positive ones. Just as she would make sure to keep her unexpected attraction to him under firm control. She’d had much more luck with business than with romance in the past, and she would do well to keep that in mind when it came to her dealings with this sexy writer.

Chapter Two

Kinley and Dan had just been seated at a window table with their coffee and a plate of pastries when a tall, broad-shouldered woman barged through the side door, followed by a younger, smaller woman and a preschool-age boy. With a slight wince, Kinley recognized the older woman as Eva Sossaman, the mother of the weekend’s bride-to-be, Serena Sossaman, who looked embarrassed as she trailed after her fuming mom.

“There you are.” Eva pointed a finger accusingly at Kinley. “I need to lodge a complaint about the condition of the inn.”

Of course she did. All too aware of Dan sitting there watching, Kinley rose to deal with the notoriously difficult client. Maybe she’d jinxed herself when she’d wondered what else could go wrong today. Considering how many hours remained until bedtime, she didn’t even want to think about the answer to that mental question.

She called on all her professional training to greet the indignant client with a cheery smile. “Good morning, Eva. And Serena. What can we do for you?”

“We came to take some photographs for Serena’s wedding book,” Eva replied firmly. In all Kinley’s meetings with them since booking the wedding several months earlier, Eva had almost always been the one to speak up while Serena had pretty much acquiesced to her mother’s wishes. “We just saw the front of the inn and we are appalled. Surely you don’t expect our guests to be greeted by that mess outside.”

“There was a small accident this morning, but my brother is working on repairs now,” Kinley assured her. “He promised me that everything will be in place for the wedding. Your guests won’t even know what happened by the time they arrive Saturday.”

“I hope you’re right,” Eva snapped. “We’ve told everyone that the wedding venue is worthy of Serena’s wedding and I would hate to be proven wrong.”

“You won’t be,” Bonnie said, moving to stand closer to Kinley. “Everything is absolutely on track for the wedding and our brother will make sure the grounds are ready. Even the weather forecasts are perfect, which is always a gamble this time of year. Serena’s wedding is going to be beautiful.”

“Ladies, I’d like to introduce you to Dan Phelan,” Kinley said before Eva could voice any more complaints. “Dan is the writer for Modern South who contacted you about observing your wedding, Serena. Dan, this is our bride-to-be, Serena Sossaman and her mother, Eva.”

Eva’s scowl transformed immediately into a beaming smile, as Kinley had hoped it might. Barely giving Serena a chance to murmur a nice-to-meet-you, she nudged her daughter aside and offered her right hand to Dan in a regal gesture. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Phelan. We’re delighted to have you as a guest at my daughter’s wedding. I know you’ll write a lovely story about it. We’ve worked very hard for the past year planning every detail.”

Dan shook her hand only long enough for civility, though his tone was cordial enough. “I’m sure the wedding will be beautiful. But you should understand that I’m here to write about the inn and other local attractions, and why future couples would want to book events here. I’ll use your daughter’s wedding only as an example of the services offered here.”

A loud thump from the table made everyone turn instinctively to look. Eva’s almost-five-year-old grandson had helped himself to a pastry from the plate and was cramming it enthusiastically into his mouth, scattering crumbs and smearing glaze across his face. Added to the stress of the preparations for the rapidly approaching wedding, Eva was babysitting her grandson while his travel-agent parents were away on a business trip. Kinley had been assured by Eva that the trip had been unavoidable, but Serena’s brother and sister-in-law had promised to be back the day before the wedding. Eva sighed loudly. “Grayson, you know you’re supposed to ask Grandmother before you touch anything.”

The boy glanced at her, but didn’t slow down on his munching. Eva turned back to Dan. “Grayson is my son’s child. He is going to be the ring bearer, aren’t you, darling?”

“I’m thirsty,” the boy said around a mouthful of soggy pastry.

“I’ll get you a glass of milk,” Bonnie offered, pulling out a chair for him and offering him a napkin. “Eva, Serena, can I get you some coffee? Or iced tea, perhaps? Feel free to help yourself to a pastry, if you like.”

Taking advantage of the opportunity to escape, Kinley spoke to Dan. “Why don’t I show you around while Bonnie chats with Serena and her mother? If you ladies will excuse us.”

Without giving Eva a chance to detain them longer, Kinley took Dan’s arm to rush him out of the dining room and into the foyer.

He smiled knowingly at her when they were alone. “A challenging customer, huh?”

Because she would never gossip about a customer, Kinley merely smiled. “We do our best to satisfy even the most exacting client. I’m sure Serena and her mother will be very happy with the services we’ll provide for the wedding Saturday. Now, shall we begin our tour? I thought we’d start inside and then view the gardens.”

Taking her cue to change the subject, Dan slipped into a professional manner that matched hers. He removed a small camera from the bag he slung over his shoulder by a thin strap. “Maybe you’d like to stand beside the reception desk? I want to take some preliminary photos during our tour. I’ll try to capture the welcoming atmosphere of this foyer. That chandelier is great, by the way.”

Kinley automatically straightened her cardigan as she moved to the desk. Though she hadn’t been prepared specifically for photos today, she felt somewhat vindicated in her style choices by knowing her outfit was quite appropriate for a magazine shot. Maybe she’d have added a bit more color had she known, but this would do.

“The chandelier is original to the inn,” she said. “As is the desk.”

Dan was already focusing on her, his gaze fixed on the camera screen. She didn’t see how he was going to get the chandelier in that shot, but maybe he just wanted a close-up of her and the desk this time.

“I read the history of the inn you emailed me,” he commented absently, still looking at her image on the screen. “Built by your great-grandfather in the mid-1930s. He and his wife ran it until their son, Leo Finley, eventually took it over. Leo kept the inn open until his wife died some twenty years ago, after which it was closed until you and your brother and sister inherited the place.”

She smiled in approval. “You did read the history.”

After snapping a couple more shots, he looked up from the camera. “I try to be prepared.”

She nodded. “That’s my motto, too.”

He chuckled. “Why does that not surprise me?”

They grinned at each other in a moment of silent communication that felt oddly like bonding—as if they already knew each other, in a way, even though they’d met only an hour or so earlier. Brushing off such uncharacteristic foolishness, she stepped away from the desk and motioned toward the staircase as she went back into her tour-guide spiel. “We have five suites upstairs, the other four very similar to yours. Two handicap-accessible suites are on this main floor. We aren’t set up for children, so we accept only guests over the age of twelve. We direct callers with younger children to several local motels that are more family oriented.”

“A nice little perk for your guests who want to get away from kids,” he murmured.

She nodded and continued, “Bonnie lives full-time downstairs in the basement apartment. It’s accessible only from the outside, to keep it separate from the inn. Uncle Leo converted it into living quarters for himself and his wife many years ago, and that was where he continued to live even after he closed the inn. We had it renovated for Bonnie’s use. We use the attic for storage.”

“You don’t live here?”

Leading him toward the common parlor, she shook her head. “I spend the night downstairs occasionally, especially when we want to get an early start the next day, but I rent a house nearby.”

“And your brother?”

“Logan lives in the caretaker’s cottage at the back of the property, just down the hillside from the gazebo.”

Dan nodded thoughtfully. “So you all work together but you’ve managed to maintain private residences. Good idea.”

She smiled over her shoulder before entering the room they called the parlor. “We know that even the closest of siblings should give each other plenty of space, especially if they want to remain close.”

“I don’t have any siblings, myself, but that sounds like a reasonable philosophy.”

“We think so.” Entering the parlor, she greeted the couple who sat on one of the comfortable sofas, both studying the screen of a tablet computer one of them held. They looked up when she and Dan came into the room. “Dan, this is Travis Cross and Gordon Monroe, who are visiting us for a few days. Guys, meet Dan Phelan, a travel writer who’s staying in room 203.”