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CHAPTER ONE

A FAT WINTER ht over the old stone and brick of the inn on the square In its beaht-penny copper of the roof glinted The old and newand happy e

Its s stayed dark on this Dece its secrets in shadows But in aBoonsboro’s Main Street

As he sat in his truck at the light on The Square, Owen Montgomery looked up Main at the shops and aparthts winked and danced To his right, a pretty tree graced the big frontof the second-floor apartment Their future innkeeper’s teance

Next Christht, they’d have Inn BoonsBoro covered hite lights and greenery And Hope Beaumont would center her pretty little tree in theof the innkeeper’s apartment on the third floor

He glanced to his left where Avery MacTavish, owner of Vesta Pizzeria and Family Restaurant, had the restaurant’s front porch decked out in lights

Her apartment above—formerly his brother Beckett’s—also showed a tree in theOtherwise the ere as dark as the inn’s She’d be working tonight, he thought, noting the movement in the restaurant He shifted, but couldn’t see her behind the work counter

When the light changed, he turned right onto St Paul Street, then left into the parking lot behind the inn Then sat in his truck a ht, have a slice and a beer, hang out until closing Afterward he could do his walk-through of the inn

He didn’t actually need to walk through, he reminded himself But he hadn’t been on-site all day as he’d been busy with other omery Family Contractors’ business He didn’t want to wait untilto see what his brothers and the crew had accomplished that day

Besides, Vesta looked busy, and had barely thirtyNot that Avery would kick hi—probably More than likely, she’d sit down and have a beer with him

Teht, but he really should do that quick walk-through and get home He needed to be on-site, with his tools, by seven

He cli out his keys Tall like his brothers, with a build leaning toward rangy, he hunched in his jacket as he walked around the stone courtyard wall toward the doors of The Lobby

His keys were color-coded, so his brothers called anal, and he deemed efficient In seconds he was out of the cold and into the building

He hit the lights, then just stood there, grinning like a moron

The decorative tile rug highlighted the span of the floor and added another note of charm to the softly painted walls with their custoet about leaving the side wall exposed brick And their mother had been dead-on about the chandelier

Not fancy, not traditional, but solobes centered over that tile rug He glanced right, noted The Lobby restrooreen-veined stone sinks had been painted

He pulled out his notebook, jotted down the need for a few touch-ups before he walked through the stone arch to the left

More exposed brick—yeah, Beckett had a knack The laundry rooanization—that would be Hope’s hand; her iron will had booted his brother Ryder out of his on-site office so she could start organizing

He paused at ould be Hope’s office, saw his brother’shis rough desk, the fat white binder—the job bible—some tools, cans of paint

Wouldn’t be ain

He continued on, stopped to bask at the open kitchen

They’d installed the lights The big iron fixture over the island, the smaller versions at eachWarranite paid co stainless steel appliances

He opened the fridge, started to reach for a beer He’d be driving shortly, he reminded himself, and took a can of Pepsi instead before he made a note to call about installation of the blinds andtreatments

They were nearly ready for them

He ain

The mantel Ryder had created out of a thick old plank of barn wood suited the old brick and the deep open fireplace At the moment, tarps, more paint cans, more tools crowded the space He h the first arch, then paused on his way across The Lobby to ould be The Lounge, when he heard footsteps on the second floor

He walked through the next arch leading down the short hallway toward the stairs He saw Luther had been hard at work on the iron rails, and ran a hand over it as he started the climb

“Okay, pretty daeous Ry? You up here?”

A door shut smartly, made him jump a little His quiet blue eyes narrowed as he finished the cli with hiive either of them an excuse to snicker

“Ooooh,” he said in host I’m so scared!”

He , saw that the door to Elizabeth and Darcy was indeed closed, unlike that of Titania and Oberon across from it

Very funny, he thought sourly

He crept toward the door, intending to shove it open, juive whichever one of his brothers was playing games a jolt He closed his hand on the curved handle, pulled it down smoothly, pushed

The door didn’t budge

“Cut it out, asshole” But he laughed a little in spite of himself At least until the door flew open, and both porch doors did the same

He smelled honeysuckle, sweet as summer, on the rush of icy air

“Well, Jesus”

He’d host, mostly believed it After all, there’d been incidents, and Beckett was adah he’d named her Elizabeth in honor of the room she preferred

But this en’s first personal, up-close, and unarguable experience

He stood, slack-jawed, as the bathrooain

“Okay Wow, okay Um, sorry to intrude I was just—” The door slammed in his face—or would have if he hadn’t jumped back in time to avoid the bust to his nose

“Hey, coot to know me by now I’m here almost every day Owen, Beck’s brother I, ah, come in peace and all that”

The bathrooain, and the sound made him wince “Easy on the et it”

Clearing his throat, he pulled off his wool cap, raked his hands through his thick, bark brown hair “Listen, I wasn’t calling you an asshole I thought it was Ry You know my other brother Ryder? He can be an asshole, you have to adhost”

The door opened a crack Cautiously, Owen eased it open “I’ to close the porch doors

We really have to keep them closed”

He could ad in the eave him the jitters, but he shoved the cap into his coat pocket as he ot to the second door, he saw the lights shining in Avery’s apartment over the restaurant

He saw her, or a flash of her, move by the

The rush of air stilled; the scent of honeysuckle sweetened

“I’ve s out at Avery’s s “Beckett says you warned hie—Saetting married—Beck and Clare You probably know that He’s been stuck on her most of his life”

He shut the door now, turned around “So thanks again”

The bathrooht his own reflection in the mirror with its curvy iron frame over the vanity

He had to ad up in tufts froe

Autoain to try to calm it down

“I’ notes We’re down to punch-out work essentially Not in here, though This is done I think the creanted to finish this rooet a little spooked No offense SoI’o See you—or not see you, but”

Whatever, he decided, and backed out of the room

He spentfro to his notes A few times, the scent of honeysuckle returned, or a door opened

Her presence—and he couldn’t deny it—seeh now But he couldn’t deny the faint sense of relief either as he locked up for the night

FROST CRUNCHED LIGHTLY under Owen’s boots as he juggled coffee and donuts A half hour before sunrise, he let hiht to the kitchen to set down the box of donuts, the tray of take-out coffee, and his briefcase To brighten the mood, and because it was there, he s Pleased by the heat and light, he stripped off his gloves, folded them into the pockets of his jacket

Back in the kitchen, he opened his briefcase, took out his clipboard, and began to review—again—the agenda for the day The phone on his belt beeped, signaling the ti

He’d finished half a glazed donut by the time he heard Ryder’s truck pull in

His brother wore a Montgomery Family Contractors cap, a thick, scarred work jacket, and his need-, padded in, sniffed the air, then looked longingly at the second half of Owen’s donut

Ryder grunted, reached for a cup

“That’s Beck’s,” Owen told hilance “As is clear by the B I wrote on the side”

Ryder grunted again, took the cup ulp he eyed the donuts, opted for a jelly-filled

At the thump of DA’s tail, Ryder tossed him a chunk