In The Stranger's Arms

She was—quite literally—saved by the bell when the front door opened to admit Harriet Tuttle, president of the needlework guild, matriarch of local society and self-appointed keeper of the town’s morals.

Immediately Lang got to her feet. “Good morning, Harriet,” she said with a polite smile.

Harriet acknowledged the Vietnamese woman with a chilly nod before switching her attention to Pauline. Behind Harriet’s back, Lang rolled her eyes.

“I must get back,” Lang said.

“See you later,” Pauline replied before meeting Harriet’s beady-eyed stare with her best shopkeeper’s smile. “What can I do for you today?”

“I heard that a tree fell onto your carriage house during the storm,” Harriet said.

“Bad news travels fast,” Pauline replied, wishing the phone would ring. Not only was the older woman one of the worst gossips in town, but her husband was one of the Crescent Cove city council members who would be vetting Pauline’s application. “Actually it was a limb that fell, not an entire tree.”

Harriet sniffed as though she didn’t care to be corrected, even by the primary witness. “Who have you contracted to fix the damage?” she persisted as she glanced around. “Not that Steve Lindstrom, I hope?”

For a moment, Pauline was puzzled by Harriet’s apparent hostility. Blond, blue-eyed native resident Steve should fall within her narrow parameters of who was an acceptable member of their community—even though he was divorced, which probably earned him a black mark in her book.

Suddenly Pauline recalled hearing that one of Harriet’s sons had recently started his own construction business. Was that why she had stopped by—to drum up work for him?

“The repairs are really pretty minor,” Pauline explained, fingers crossed behind her back. “My new boarder is actually going to do them.”

Harriet’s bushy white brows arched above the silver frames of her glasses. Her upper lip curled with scorn, drawing attention to the thin mustache that adorned it.

“You hired a female contractor?” As someone who prided herself on knowing everything that went on in the town, she was well aware that Pauline only rented her rooms to women.

Until now, at least.

Before Pauline could reply, Harriet made an irritating tsking sound. “My dear, despite popular opinion, there are certain tasks that women will never have the strength or the dexterity to perform as well as men.” She patted her own bony chest. “When I was younger, I certainly wouldn’t have been interested in using tools,” she continued as though the term were something obscene, “or climbing ladders like some sort of monkey from the jungle.”

Pauline blinked away the disturbing image that came to mind of Harriet looking like a female Tarzan or wearing a hard hat and safety goggles as she cut through a sheet of plywood with a power saw. Although Pauline abhorred the notion of pounding people into narrow slots like wooden pegs, she couldn’t afford to alienate the old crone.

Knowing Harriet would consider it a blemish on Pauline’s character if she were to hear the truth from another source, Pauline pretended a calmness she didn’t feel. She rearranged some of the thread cutters and clip-on lights in the display case while she debated her options.

“Mr. Garrett is newly returned from California,” she finally admitted. “He needed a place to stay, so we worked an agreement.”

“Garrett?” Harriet echoed with a frown. “I don’t recall that name.” She sniffed again. “I certainly hope you know what you’re about.”

Pauline held on to her temper by reminding herself silently of just how much influence Harriet wielded in this town. Her family, the Barthropes, had been among the first settlers to the area—a fact she never let anyone forget.

Pauline made a noncommittal sound in her throat that she hoped would satisfy the old bat.

“How fortunate that you have the rooms over the carriage house,” Harriet continued. “A woman in your position must guard her reputation, especially after the unfortunate events in your past.”

Pauline nearly choked. Was Harriet referring to her parents’ accident or her own broken engagement? Pauline could hardly be held accountable for either of the two most heartbreaking events of her life, but it was obvious that to Harriet they were merely blots on her reputation.

Before Pauline could think of a suitable reply, Harriet leaned forward and tapped her arm. The touch of Harriet’s bony fingers sent a shiver up Pauline’s spine, but she resisted the urge to retreat.

“If you were to attract any further negative attention,” the old woman said with a cool smile, “I would be forced to oppose your application to the city council. After all, a person who sets herself up as an example to others must conduct herself in a manner that is above reproach.”

Chapter Three

Bertie straightened her long green dress over her considerable girth. “Don’t look now,” she muttered under her breath as the front door opened and she grabbed Pauline’s arm to prevent her from turning around. “A major hottie just wandered in. Probably got lost looking for Archie’s Pub,” Bertie added in a loud whisper.

Pauline had a pretty good idea who’d just arrived. She had summoned Bertie as soon as Wade had let her know he’d finished the supply list. Ignoring Pauline’s protests, he’d insisted on picking her up here rather than meeting her at Builders’ Supply.

Even though Pauline told herself now that she had only given in to his macho demands for the sake of expediency, a knot of anticipation formed in her stomach as she extricated herself from Bertie’s loose grasp. What would he think of her little business?

“That’s no hottie, it’s my new tenant,” Pauline replied drily before she pasted on her best welcoming smile. “Hello, Wade,” she said, ignoring Bertie’s gusty sigh. “I hope you didn’t have any trouble finding me.”

He removed his sunglasses and hooked them into the neck of his shirt. “No problem. Downtown’s where it always was.”

His smile stirred a visceral response in Pauline. Silently she agreed with Bertie’s comment. If his rangy build and lean, angular face weren’t enough to ensure him a spot on the all-time hottie list, the contrast between his black hair and light-gray eyes certainly was.

Ruthlessly she pushed the thought aside as Bertie muffled her giggle behind her hand.

“Bertie, this is Wade Garrett, my new boarder.” She stepped aside so the other woman couldn’t duck behind her. She knew that Bertie could be extremely shy around strangers because of her size.

“Hi,” Bertie murmured, her gaze dropping to the floor.

Instead of dismissing her with a glance, as sometimes happened, his smile widened and he stepped forward. When Bertie, who was barely five feet tall and nearly as wide, glanced back up, he held out his hand.

“Thank you for stepping in so I can borrow your boss for a couple of hours,” he told her gravely as he enfolded her hand in both of his.

Before Pauline could protest that their errand shouldn’t take that long, Bertie nodded her head like a Bobblehead doll. “She works way too hard.”

Wade leaned closer, causing her dark eyes to widen with alarm. “Maybe we can fix that,” he said in a conspiratorial tone before releasing her hand. “I invited her to lunch.”

Bertie’s answering smile transformed her round face. “That’s a good start.”

“Hey,” Pauline protested, “you don’t need to talk about me as though I weren’t standing right here.”

Wade and Bertie exchanged amused glances. “Testy,” he observed. “She definitely needs some fresh air.”

“Take as long as you want,” Bertie said. “I can manage just fine.”

Pauline knew she couldn’t win against both of them, so she grabbed her purse from behind the counter before they managed to embarrass her further.

When she noticed how intently Wade was looking around, she was tempted to ask if he was a secret stitcher, as she thought of men who hid their needlework hobby. Somehow the image of Wade working a cross-stitch pattern wouldn’t quite gel in her mind.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she told Bertie, making her escape without bothering to see if he was following her.

“Feel better now that you’ve asserted yourself?” he teased as he reached around her to open the front door.

The amusement in his voice irked her further. “I’ll feel better if my garage roof gets repaired before the next storm,” she snapped as she headed outside, only to stop abruptly when she realized she had no idea where he’d parked.

“So you’re going to be in a bad mood until it’s done?” he asked cheerfully as he led the way to his car, which was parked prominently in front of Lang’s shop.

Pauline had been about to insist that she wasn’t in a bad mood, but then she took a deep breath and reconsidered.