Return To Rose Cottage: The Laws of Attraction

“Is that the man you hit?” Maggie asked.

Ashley nodded.

“No last name?”

“He didn’t offer one,” Ashley said, then remembered the exchange of notes. Maybe he had written it down. “Wait. Here it is. Madison. Josh Madison.”

Maggie’s expression turned thoughtful. “There were some Madisons who had a summer place not far from Rose Cottage. I think Grandma knew them. Maybe he’s related to them. That would certainly explain why he was on that road. Melanie and Mike might know him.”

“I suppose that’s possible,” Ashley said. “But he said he was local.”

“Maybe he is now,” Rick finally chimed in. “But I don’t recall the name, and I talk to a lot of people around the area. I could ask Willa-Dean next time I go to Callao for lunch. That girl knows everybody, especially the single men.”

Ashley shook her head. “No need. I doubt we’ll even cross paths again, unless he changes his mind about me paying for the damage to his car.”

Maggie grinned. “Why so interested, Ash? Is he gorgeous? Sexy?”

“Nice,” Ashley said, refusing to be drawn into a discussion of Josh Madison’s appeal. Nice was safe. Nice didn’t stir up hormones.

Unfortunately, Josh Madison was a bit more than nice. As rattled as she’d been by that stupid accident, she’d noted that he was sexy and gorgeous, just as her sister had guessed. Not that Ashley cared, of course. Men were the last thing on her mind these days. But accepting that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate a fine specimen when one happened to cross her path, even if this one was clearly not her type.

After all, he’d been dressed in a faded T-shirt and equally faded jeans, with boat shoes and no socks. It wasn’t a look that appealed to her. She was drawn to men in designer suits and expensive imported footwear. She was drawn to men who reeked of ambition and success. Josh Madison looked…normal. Just an everyday guy. Ashley didn’t do ordinary.

Not that she’d done all that well with the overly ambitious type, either. The one serious relationship in her life had been with a man every bit as driven to succeed as she was. He’d worn all the right clothes, gone to all the right places, been seen with all the right people.

But Drew Wellington turned out to have this nasty habit of lying to her, hiding things from her such as the supposedly unimportant detail that he had a high-school sweetheart back home whom he saw every chance he got. He’d also failed to mention that his old flame was pregnant with his child.

Not that he intended to marry her. She wasn’t suitable, he’d tried to explain to Ashley when she’d discovered his tawdry little secret. Ashley was the woman he wanted to marry.

She wasn’t sure which part of that had made her sickest, the lying or the snobbery, but the betrayal had all come flooding back to her in that courtroom a week ago when she’d realized that her ex and Tiny shared a common lack of familiarity with the truth. What was it about her that made people think they didn’t have to be honest with her? Did they think she was too stupid to discover the lies, or that she wouldn’t care if she did?

Either way, she definitely hadn’t done so well with her one foray into love of the proper kind. Still, that didn’t mean she was ready to start compromising her ideals for a man utterly lacking in style and ambition, even if that did make her into the very kind of snob she claimed to despise.

Which was unfortunate, she concluded when Melanie and Mike arrived not five minutes later with Josh Madison in tow. Her heart promptly began the kind of enthusiastic staccato rhythm she hadn’t felt in years. Josh had cleaned up nicely. His hair was damp and spiked with gel, his cheeks were smooth and he’d changed into chinos and an expensive knit shirt with a designer logo emblazoned discreetly on the pocket. He was still wearing the disreputable-looking boat shoes, though, and no socks.

“Look who we found,” Melanie announced cheerfully. “We ran into Josh on our way over and invited him to tag along. He’s our neighbor. You guys must remember the Madison house. And Josh remembers Grandma Lindsey. Hope you don’t mind, Maggie, but we didn’t want to leave him on his own. I know you always cook enough for a mob.”

Ashley frowned at Maggie, who was struggling unsuccessfully to contain a chuckle.

“I think it’s great,” Maggie enthused. “I just hope you didn’t run into Josh the same way Ashley did earlier. I doubt his car could take another encounter like that.”

Melanie’s eyes widened as she turned from Josh to Ashley and back again. “Ashley is the person who hit you?”

Ashley turned her scowl on Josh. “Couldn’t wait to spread the word, I see.”

“Actually, I didn’t volunteer anything. Mike noticed the dent and asked about it,” he said. “Would you have wanted me to lie to him?”

She sighed at that. “Of course not.”

He regarded her speculatively. “I hope it’s not going to make you uncomfortable having to sit across a dinner table from me?”

Ashley frowned. He seemed to be relishing the prospect of causing her a little discomfort. “Absolutely not,” she lied.

Josh grinned. “You can always think of it as that penance you were so anxious to exact from yourself earlier,” he suggested. “Though don’t think tonight will get you off the hook on that other dinner you promised me. I’m counting on that.”

Maggie and Melanie stared at them, clearly fascinated by the exchange. They were going to make way too much of this, Ashley could tell. She needed to defuse their speculation as quickly as possible.

“Whatever,” she said with a very deliberate shrug of indifference. “I can stand it if you can. I’m used to uncomfortable situations.”

“She’s used to staring down prosecutors,” Melanie explained. “She’s very good at it.”

Josh’s grin spread. “A lawyer. I should have guessed. It explains a lot.”

Normally she would have challenged him on a remark like that, but Ashley was in no mood to be drawn into the kind of passionate debate that might be misinterpreted by her sisters as some sort of chemistry. Instead, she reminded them mildly, “But right now, as I have been repeatedly told, I’m on vacation.” She turned her gaze on Maggie. “By the way, I’m starved. Didn’t you say something about dinner when you invited us over here, Maggie? Or was that some bait-and-switch thing?”

“See, there you are in lawyer mode again,” Maggie retorted. “How are we supposed to forget if you can’t?”

Ashley could see her point. “I’m working on it,” she swore. “I really am.” But something told her it was going to be easier said than done.

When she glanced at Josh, she caught a commiserating look in his eyes. It seemed as if he actually under stood what she was going through, and that made her wonder if she’d totally misjudged him. Then again, maybe that kind of sensitivity merely went along with being nice. Neither were traits with which she had a lot of experience. Drew had been smart and savvy and sophisticated, but definitely not nice. Her male colleagues were brilliant and clever but rarely nice, and hardly ever sensitive or considerate.

“Something tells me there’s a story behind that,” Josh said quietly, his expression thoughtful.

“Not one we’re going to get into tonight,” Maggie said decisively. She turned to Ashley. “Since you’re so anxious to eat, Ashley, you can help me in the kitchen. Rick, get Josh a glass of wine.”

Ashley reluctantly followed her sister into the kitchen. She knew precisely what was coming, especially since Melanie was right on her heels.

“First day in town and you find yourself a keeper,” Maggie taunted as she handed Ashley another place setting.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Ashley retorted. “We don’t know anything about him.”

Melanie beamed. “That’s why it’s so nice that you have all this time on your hands to change that.”

“Even if I were interested—and I am definitely not saying that I am—what makes you think Josh doesn’t already have a girlfriend?”

“Oh, please,” Maggie said. “Have you seen the way the man looks at you? It’s as if he can’t quite believe his luck.”

“Drew used to look at me like that, too,” Ashley commented wryly.

“No, he didn’t,” Maggie responded, her voice laced with derision. “Drew looked at you as if you were a particularly valuable possession he’d acquired along with his BMW and his Rolex.”

Ashley couldn’t deny Maggie’s take on the past, but she rolled her eyes anyway. “Could we just get through dinner with the least amount of humiliation possible? Do not try to foist me off on Josh like some pathetic thing who needs to be entertained.”

“I won’t have to,” Maggie said confidently. “You’ll see. Josh strikes me as the kind of man who’ll take things into his own hands if he gets the slightest bit of encouragement from you. Hasn’t he already gotten you to agree to have dinner with him?”

“Yes, but—”

“I rest my case,” Maggie said, her triumph plain.