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Molly winced. “After seeing that ad this morning, I don’t either.”

“Then we have a deal?”

She visibly wavered. “What about my family? What do I tell them?”

Sam began to relax. He might not know much about romancing women—women, Sam found, usually chased him—but he knew a lot about making deals. Anticipating questions that might arise was key to a successful negotiation. And he’d anticipated this one from Molly. Nobody who lived in Payne more than a few days could help noticing the closeness of the large Flynn clan. Molly’s father owned a popular downtown restaurant where two of his sons-in-law worked with him. And all five of the Flynn daughters still lived in town. One was a teacher. Another was a lawyer. Two were stay-at-home moms. And then there was Molly. The only one of the five not yet married, she was widely known as the family rebel. Molly was the youngest of the girls. She was tight with her sisters and wouldn’t be comfortable deceiving them.

Sam met her gaze across the desk. “Tell them the truth,” he said. “Tell them that we met here. That sparks flew. That we determined we had some mutual interests, and that we’ve decided to explore them to see where they lead us.”

Molly gave him a blank look, then burst into laughter. “They’re not going to believe that.”

Irritated by her casual dismissal, Sam frowned. “Why not?”

“Because, in a million years I wouldn’t say something like ‘we decided to explore our mutual interests.’ Geez, Sam, I’ve never decided to get involved in a relationship in my life.” She shook her head. “I’m more the jerk-open-the-door-and-run-on-in type. I hurtle into relationships. I don’t decide myself into them.”

He understood her point. Yet, one of the things that fascinated him about Molly was that he didn’t find her impulsiveness annoying. He’d known women he would have called impulsive, and for the most part, he’d found them flaky and irritating. But Molly seemed to have an energy, a certain vim—that made everything she did seem engaging and enticing. “What would you like to tell them?” Sam asked carefully.

Molly worried her lower lip between her teeth for a few seconds. “I don’t want to lie.”

“I can understand that.”

“But you also have to understand—I don’t know—I guess I’ll make it up as I go along.”

“May I assume, then, that you agree?” he asked quietly.

Molly hesitated a moment longer, then nodded. Standing, she extended her hand. “We have a deal, Mr. Reed.”

He folded her hand in his and took the opportunity to skim his thumb over the pulse in her wrist. “I think you’d better start calling me Sam.” He glanced at his watch. “And we’d better get moving. I don’t want to be late for this meeting.”

Chapter Three

Sam slid a glance at Molly as she sat beside him in the conference room of the mayor’s office. She was studying a sheaf of papers the mayor’s secretary had handed Sam when they’d arrived for the meeting. And she was worrying her tongue between her teeth again.

He watched her tuning out the nasal voice of the management contractor the town had hired to oversee the development of a rail, air, and shipping distribution hub. If successfully built and managed, this hub could soon triple the size of the small town of Payne.

But Sam had several suspicions about the project, especially about the management firm and the bidding process. He knew from editorial meetings that Molly shared his suspicions. Reviewing the public documents himself, he had thus far turned up nothing. Molly had been badgering him for an assignment for weeks, but he’d evaded her, primarily because he didn’t want to send up warning flags for the mayor’s office.

There wasn’t an influential citizen in Payne who didn’t understand that Molly was no ordinary small-town journalist. If the mayor had something to hide, he sure wouldn’t want Molly looking for it. And the wary glance Sam had gotten from the mayor’s assistant when he and Molly arrived for the meeting had confirmed his suspicions.

“Mr. Reed,” the young woman had said, studying Molly with a sharp gaze. “The mayor didn’t mention you were bringing anyone.” She had tipped her head toward Molly. “Hello, Molly.”

“Jean,” Molly had said coolly. She’d slipped her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. Sam could never figure out how Molly managed to look professional and sophisticated in jeans and a sweatshirt—which appeared to be her attire of choice. The only time he’d seen her in a dress was the day she’d had to attend a midday funeral. She’d come to work wearing a dark brown dress that did something incredible to her figure and her coloring. The hem had skimmed her knees, and though the dress itself was nothing other than sedate, it didn’t look sedate on Molly.

He’d had a hard time concentrating that morning at the editorial meeting. She’d kept crossing her legs, and he’d kept staring at the way her shapely legs tapered down to a pair of conservative heels. He’d asked himself repeatedly what the hell he was thinking. Sam had decided there was a very good reason for Molly to stay in jeans and sneakers. The sedate brown dress had been bad enough. Anything more seductive might do him in.

When they’d arrived at the town offices, Molly had looked squarely at the mayor’s assistant and waited for Sam to explain her presence at the meeting. Sam had seized the opportunity. “Molly and I have lunch plans,” he had said casually. “I figured if she came with me to the meeting, we could just leave from here.”

Jean’s perfectly shaped brows had disappeared beneath the sweep of hair over her forehead. “I see,” she said. “Well, I suppose I could ask—”

“I’m sure Fred won’t mind,” Sam had insisted, referring to the mayor. “This is just an informational meeting, isn’t it?”

Jean had hesitated slightly. “Yes.”

Sam had taken the folder of briefing papers from her and handed it to Molly. “Then I’m sure there’s no problem.”

Left with no reasonable rebuttal, Jean had shown them into the conference room.

As usual, Sam had been the first to arrive. He took a seat to the right of the mayor’s designated chair at the head of the table. Molly had waved the folder at him with a dry grin. “You’re good, Sam.”

Sam had accepted the throaty compliment with a clench in his gut. He was looking forward to hearing her tell him that under more intimate, and more private, circumstances. “I figured you were going to make them nervous. That’s the main reason I didn’t want you looking into this before.”

She’d seemed surprised. “You suspect something, too?”

“For weeks,” he’d confirmed.

“You could have just told me that, you know.”

At the note of irritation in her voice, Sam had shrugged. “I wasn’t ready.”

He sensed Molly struggling with frustration. “You know what your problem is, Sam?”

“No, but I assure you plenty of people have tried to figure it out.”

She ignored that. Her eyes were sparkling. He’d noticed weeks ago that Molly’s eyes always sparkled in proportion to her passion. He felt another clench in his gut as he considered what she’d look like with her hair rumpled and her face flushed in the aftermath of passion. “Your problem,” Molly said pointedly, “is that you don’t trust people. Life’s more rewarding when you trust people.”

“I’ve heard that,” he said noncommittally. He’d indicated the seat across from him to the mayor’s left. “Why don’t you sit over there? That way, we can see all the faces and compare notes later.”

“Divide and conquer?” She’d made her way to the other side of the table.

“Something like that.”

Molly had nodded thoughtfully. “How nervous do you think it’ll make the mayor if I study these briefings during the meeting?”

“Extremely,” he’d assured her. “That’s what I think. You listen, I’ll read.”

Now, an hour later, true to her word, Molly had said nothing since greeting the mayor, the director of development and public works, and the lawyers and the front man for the management firm. She’d settled into her chair and begun to read systematically through the information in the folder.

The mayor, Sam noted, continued to slide nervous glances in her direction. The tip of Molly’s tongue had appeared between her teeth about thirty minutes ago. She’d started flipping back and forth between pages in the folder as if comparing information. Sam observed one of the development lawyers thumping his pencil on the conference table in obvious agitation.

“I really just wanted to bring you up to speed, Sam,” Mayor Fred Cobell told him. “It’s like I told you in the beginning, this project is going to mean a lot to the future of Payne.”

“Without a doubt,” Sam agreed.

Ed Newbury, the Director of Transportation and Public Works, nodded avidly. “And the Sentinel can have a huge influence on how people perceive it.”

Sam saw Molly bristle. He steepled his fingers beneath his chin. “We have every intention on reporting about the phases of the project,” he assured them.

The development firm’s spokesman laughed nervously. “Positively, I hope.”