A Sexy Time of It (Harlequin Blaze #396)

May 15, 2008 Manhattan Linc Mathews plucked the shilling out of Neely's hand and scrutinized it. While she'd poured out the story of her visit to Mitre Square, he'd made them each an espresso at the coffee bar, and he'd listened to every word without interrupting. They were seated opposite each other on leather couches in the front room of the brownstone. It had always been Neely's favorite room. Until her grandmother's death a year ago, the space had functioned as a formal parlor where Cornelia entertained her friends from the neighborhood. The coffee table separating Neely from Linc had been the site of countless Scrabble games and hands of euchre. She'd even been invited to participate in them. Now the room provided a cozy setting for the bookstore that she and Linc had created and named Bookends. The idea for the bookstore had been born out of desperation. When Cornelia had become ill a year and a half ago, Neely had taken a leave of absence from her graduate work in library science to nurse her grandmother. Although she'd been aware that the illness was draining Cornelia financially as well as physically, she hadn't realized the seriousness of the situation until her grandmother's death. She'd not only inherited the home she'd grown up in, she'd also become responsible for two years of back taxes and Cornelia's medical bills. And she didn't even have a job. The attorneys had advised her to sell the brownstone. Neely had balked at the suggestion. Not only did she love the place with its airy ceilings, intricate carved cornices and expanses of honey-colored parquet floors, but she also felt that if she sold the house, she was somehow letting Cornelia down. So she and Linc had put their heads together to come up with a solution, and Bookends had been the result.After all, she knew books and loved them. And Linc was a good salesperson, as well as a certified accountant. He'd had some money put aside to invest. And she'd taken the funds her grandmother had left her, paid off the medical bills, put some money down on the taxes and then used the rest of it to open the store. Together, she and Linc had redesigned the parlor, lining the walls with books and adding groupings of comfortable couches and chairs so that customers would feel as if they were invited to linger, to read, to drink coffee, and most importantly, to come back. It had been a year since the doors of Bookends had opened, and they'd worked six days a week together to build a good-size customer base, starting with the neighborhood. And finally their reputation had spread uptown so that they were getting a tourist trade, as well. The taxes were paid off, and she and Linc were each drawing a comfortable salary. But deep down in her heart, Neely had known from the start that running a bookstore wasn't her destiny. Becoming a librarian hadn't been her destiny, either. It was just something to do. All through college and her first semester in grad school, she'd felt as if she were treading water, waiting to figure out what she was really supposed to do. Finally, Linc set the coin down on the table in front of him and met her eyes. "It looks authentic." "It is." She'd already searched through images on the Internet and had convinced herself that the coin was genuine. He nodded, then returned his attention to the shilling. Neely glanced around the room. At eight-thirty, with light pouring through the windows, her experience in Mitre Square seemed far less real--more like a dream. But it hadn't been. She'd actually been there. And a man she couldn't see had chased her. "Well." Linc rested his hands on his knees and leaned back in his chair. "I suggested that you bring proof and you did. I guess you'd call it an example of--be careful what you wish for." "There's a part of me that really wanted you to pooh-pooh the coin and tell me that I'm crazy." Linc met her eyes squarely. "There's a part of me that wants to do that.Summers, Cara is the author of 'A Sexy Time of It (Harlequin Blaze #396)', published 2008 under ISBN 9780373794003 and ISBN 0373794002.