Magnolia Bride. Tara Randel

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      “Are things so bad?”

      “Not bad. More like difficult. The usual Grainger women drama.”

      “As usual, Dad is wise to stay far, far away.”

      The urge to run away welled up in her, but she squashed it for Juliet’s sake. Maybe a few minutes to gather her muddled thoughts would shore up her resolve. “Okay, ladies, before we get busy, I have to make a couple of quick business calls. Be back in a few.”

      She turned on her heel, hurried out of the room and back down the hallway, hoping she wouldn’t run into Dane. Before entering the foyer, she stopped and peeked around the corner. No ex-husband. Expelling a breath, she rushed past the main desk, heading to the veranda for some fresh air and to place the phone calls she promised her boss she’d make. She’d just reached for the door handle when she heard a slow masculine drawl behind her. “Leaving so soon?”

      * * *

      DANE KNEW NEALY would never miss her sister’s party. That meant he’d be seeing her again. His regret over how he’d ended things with her had entailed a lot of emotional upheaval, but still he maintained he’d made the right decision to end their marriage before it really started.

      What else could he have done but file for an annulment after their impetuous act? Once they’d said their “I do’s,” the enormity of the situation had sunk in. There was no doubt in his mind he’d been head over heels in love with Nealy, but marriage? At eighteen, he’d had nothing to offer her. No way to support them financially or emotionally. How could he not have considered the consequences? Because he’d let the roller-coaster ride of young love blind him to reality instead of considering what Nealy needed—security and a man with a solid future.

      He’d done the right thing by walking away. It had been the hardest decision he’d ever made, more so because he knew he’d hurt her in the process. Yeah, he hadn’t missed the surprise and hurt in Nealy’s eyes when she’d bumped into him a few minutes ago. She’d never been very good at hiding her emotions. From him, anyway. But she was here now, so how was he going to handle the situation? If her body language and angry tone were any indication, she didn’t plan to make any encounters between them easy.

      She let go of the door handle and faced him, her lips pressed together, a sure sign she was annoyed. “Do you make a habit of stalking your guests?”

      “Only the ones I haven’t seen in over a decade.”

      “There’s a reason for that.”

      “I’m well aware.”

      Coming back to Cypress Pointe to purchase the hotel had been a calculated risk, like returning to the scene of a crime. But when the hotel had gone up for sale, Dane couldn’t resist. After a mere few hours of debating the wisdom of buying a property holding so many memories of love gone wrong, he broke down and placed an offer. It had taken a lot of hard work to get the place looking even better than its former glory, but once he’d started, he never looked back.

      Nealy stood with her arms crossed over her chest, one foot tapping. Yeah, she still had all the pent-up energy that got them into one scrape after another when they were kids. “Don’t you have some hotel stuff to keep you busy?”

      He grinned at her, encouraged by the flicker of interest she tried to hide. “At the moment, you’re my top priority.”

      She narrowed her eyes but the gesture didn’t scare him off. She still had the power to make his heart pound with just one glance.

      Mahogany-colored hair, cut in wavy layers, swung around her shoulders and down her back. Dane remembered the texture, and his fingers itched to touch the thick tresses. Her slender build admirably filled the suit she wore and he smiled at her choice of footwear. She always did have a flair for the unexpected.

      The subtle scent of peaches accosted him, just like that long-ago summer. He also remembered the luscious bubblegum gloss she’d constantly applied to her lips. The bubblegum fad of her youth had faded, but in its place had grown an incredible woman. He could sense she was the whole package. He liked this version of Nealy. A lot.

      “How long are you in town?” he asked.

      Her chocolate-brown eyes filled with suspicion. “I don’t think it’s any of your concern.”

      “Just being courteous.”

      “And while that’s very gentlemanly of you, I’m sure we’ll be too busy to see each other during my stay.”

      “Look, I know this isn’t easy for you. I’m sure you feel—”

      “I’m trying very hard not to feel anything.”

      He didn’t like hearing those words. She couldn’t have lost all feeling for him, could she? The angry glint in her eyes told him otherwise.

      “I don’t blame you for hating me. I was mad at myself for a long time.”

      “I don’t hate you. I hate what you did to us.”

      He nodded. “I wanted to talk to you again. Try to make things right.”

      She raised a dubious eyebrow. “As evidenced by all the phone calls.”

      “I couldn’t. At first, it was too soon. Before long, too much time had passed by.”

      “Yeah. Twelve years to be exact.”

      “Are you saying if I’d reached out, you would have talked to me?”

      His lips thinned into a mulish line.

      “Just what I thought.”

      From the moment he and Nealy eloped, the situation had gone downhill. He’d been reeling over the loss of a baseball scholarship to the University of South Florida because of a rotator cuff injury. His parents, always at each other’s throats, were talking divorce. They spent more time arguing and not enough time focused on their kids. Consequently, he’d missed deadlines to apply to other colleges and scholarships. Spending a wild summer with free-spirited Nealy had been just what he needed to deal with his shattered reality. They’d both been of age, and could legally marry, but running off didn’t mean they’d made the brightest move of all time. Look at his parents. They’d married young and couldn’t stand each other now. All Dane knew at the time? He was crazy in love with Nealy and the minute she turned eighteen, they’d stolen her dad’s car and taken off.

      At least her parents hadn’t pressed charges once they returned home.

      “Well, lucky for both of us,” she said, “I’ll be very busy while I’m here. Besides, we don’t have anything to talk about.”

      “I need to clear up some things. I think you do, too.”

      “As a matter of fact, I do.” She pointedly glared at him as she swung open the lobby door. “But not today.”

      He watched her shapely figure disappear behind the door. He turned just as Josh Hamilton, his head landscaper and handyman, strode across the lobby toward him.

      “Hey, Dane. Got a minute?”

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