A Convenient Proposal

Chapter Five

“How do you do?” Arden realized that the phrase really didn’t make much sense in this day and age. But at least she’d said something. “Nice to meet you” really wouldn’t have worked.

Griff’s ex-fiancée was having more trouble. Her gaze had not left his face, except for a brief flicker in Arden’s direction. Her mouth kept opening and closing, reminding Arden of her one visit to Sea World.

Zelda cleared her throat. “Where have you been?” Her voice remained hoarse. “Your family has been worried sick.”

“Thanks for your concern, but we’re all doing well.” Griff’s half smile—in fact, his whole face—seemed frozen. “I understand you’ll be walking down the aisle on Valentine’s Day.”

“That’s right.” Zelda lifted her chin. “We’re mailing the invitations this week. I’ll be sure you get one.”

“Don’t forget to write ‘and guest’ on the envelope. I wouldn’t want Arden to sit home by herself that night.”

“Of course not.” Zelda flashed a brittle smile. “I’ll have to tell Al you’re back in town. He’ll be watching out for you.” She took hold of Mrs. Talbot’s arm. “Now, if y’all will excuse us, we’ve got a dress fitting.”

With a tug, she started her mother along the sidewalk at a fast march. Looking back over her shoulder, she said, “Nice to meet you,” but turned away quickly before Arden could reply.

Keeping his arm around her shoulders, Griff began walking in the opposite direction. Arden had no choice but to go along, almost jogging to keep up with his long, fast strides.

As they approached an intersection, she thought he might plunge blindly into the street, so she leaned backward and planted her feet, hoping to slow him down, at least.

“Griff,” she said at the same time. “Griff, stop.”

To her relief, he did. After a couple of seconds, his arm fell to his side and he turned to her. “Sorry about that. Are you okay?”

“Are you?”

He wiped a hand over his face. “I could use a drink, but I’m not going to find one in this town until after noon. How about more coffee—or tea, hot chocolate, whatever—and a big dose of something sweet?”

“Lead the way.”

A few steps took them to the door of the shop on the corner, which he opened. “This is Patty’s Place. As a little kid, Miss Patty started baking goodies with her parents. Now she runs the shop, along with her daughters, Pam and Peg, and her husband Pete.”

Arden gave him a skeptical look. He crossed his heart with a finger and then held up his hand. “I swear. Their last name is Pierson.”

She followed him to an empty table, where he pulled out a white wrought-iron chair for her. “I suppose Patty and Pete couldn’t help falling in love. Or that his name was Pierson.”

Griff nodded as he sat down. “And once it’s gone that far, why not have fun?”

“True.” Glancing around, Arden noticed the curtains on the windows, printed with purple and yellow pansies on a background of purple stripes. The walls of the shop had been painted a pale lavender and hung with large flower posters in which one color predominated. The menu, clipped into a holder in the center of the glass-topped table, had been printed and bordered in that same color.

“Purple,” she said, looking at Griff. “Patty, Pete, Peg and Pam like purple.”

His true, relaxed grin finally appeared. “When life hands you lemons…”

“Make grape juice?”

He laughed. “Exactly.”

Before the echo of his laughter had died away, a young woman scurried up to their table. “Griff Campbell—welcome home!” She leaned over to give him a hug. “When did you get back?”

“Just yesterday.” He hugged her in return, mouthing “Pam” over her shoulder to Arden. “You’re growing up too fast. What year are you in now?”

“I’m a junior.” She straightened her apron, made from the same fabric as the curtains.

“Majoring in…?”

She rolled her eyes. “Chemistry, but don’t remind me. I’ve still got pages of problems to work on before school starts back next week. It’s so good to see you, though. Mom only had to bake half as many pumpkin cheesecakes as usual last fall. She didn’t know what to do with herself.”

“I’ll try to catch up this year. Hey, Pam, let me introduce you….” He gestured toward Arden. “This is Arden Burke. Arden, Pam Pierson.”

They nodded to each other. “Glad to meet you,” Pam said. “What can I get for you this morning? We just pulled some pumpkin bread out of the oven and glazed it with cream cheese icing.”

“That sounds terrific.” Griff looked at Arden. “What would you like?”

They ordered coffee, tea and two servings of the pumpkin bread, which appeared almost as soon as Pam had left the table, carried by Patty, herself.

“Griff Campbell, stand up and give me a proper greeting.” She was very tall, big-boned and full-bodied, with a braid of blond hair wrapped around her head and the signature pansy apron. “You don’t take off again without saying goodbye, you hear?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he mumbled from somewhere deep within her embrace.

In the next moment, Peg—also aproned—and a man as tall and big as Patty—Pete, of course—joined them at the table. Introductions and catch-up took several minutes, until Patty shooed her family back to the kitchen.

“Ten pound cakes,” she said, pulling a chair over and sitting down between Griff and Arden. “For the dinner dance at the club this weekend kicking off parties for Al and…” Her voice trailed off. “Sorry, Griff.”

“No problem, Miss Patty.” He took a sip of coffee. “We just ran into Zelda on the street, as a matter of fact, and no tragic gestures ensued. We’ll all be polite and get through this thing just fine. Besides…” He reached across and took Arden’s hand. “I’ve got myself a winner right here. You won’t hear any sour grapes from me.”

Patty’s plain face broke into a smile. “I’m so glad. The town was really torn apart when you left. Zelda had her supporters, of course—mostly her mother’s friends and their daughters—but lots of folks were mad as anything that she’d treated a good man like you so wrong. Some folks gave her a really hard time about it.”

Griff frowned down at his plate. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“The bitterness faded,” Patty assured him. “Folks are back to normal, more or less.” She looked at Arden. “Dr. Griff is a favorite around here. As is Doc Campbell, who has saved the life of a pet for just about everybody in town. We were all pleased to have his son come back to work with him, after watching him grow up and all. He was here most afternoons after school for twelve years, always asking for a peanut butter cookie and a glass of milk. Got so I’d just run a tab, and his dad would pay it at the end of the week. ’Course, my Queenie got sick then—heartworms, the nasty things—and Doc treated her and kept her for me for six weeks until she could come home and be herself again. After that, the Campbell kids got their cookies for free.”

She slapped the pansy-covered apron across her thighs and surged to her feet. “They probably forgot about those cakes and I’m gonna have to start all over again. Good to see you, Griff.” Her hand fell heavily on his shoulder. “And I’m so glad to meet you, Miss Arden. Come back as often as you can.”

Patty made her way across the room, speaking to other customers as she went, before vanishing behind the tall display cases of pastries and baked goods at the back. Arden sipped her tea and enjoyed every last crumb of the delicious pumpkin bread, but Griff, she noticed, simply played with his.

“You’re not eating,” she said. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m not sure. This last hour was…” He shrugged without finishing the sentence.

His reaction confirmed for Arden the extent to which he still cared about Zelda.

“You handled yourself well, especially since you didn’t have any warning.” She could only imagine how she would react if she ran into Andre, her ex, on the street. “I would probably have run screaming in the opposite direction.”

“Well, I didn’t scream, anyway.” A rueful smile curved his mouth briefly. “I could have been more—what’s a good word?—nonchalant.”

“She was upset, too. I doubt Zelda or her mother noticed your tension.”

He sat for quite a while without speaking, turning the handle of his coffee mug from one side to the other. Finally, he stirred. “I hate to hear that folks gave her a hard time.”

“You would expect your friends and family to be upset on your behalf, wouldn’t you?”

“Well, Al and Zelda were my closest friends.” He shrugged. “Did they need to be punished for falling in love?”

Arden sat forward. “That’s the price they pay, isn’t it? Should they hurt you so deeply and have no repercussions?”

His surprised look made her aware of how agitated she sounded. “You’re quite fierce about it. Almost as if you’ve been in the same situation.”

Now she was the one staring at her plate. “Well, yes, I have been. I was engaged. He was unfaithful. So I broke it off.”

Four teenagers came in the door at that moment. Giggling and chattering, they arranged themselves at the table next to Arden and Griff.

“Be right back,” he told her, and went to the register. He tried to argue when Peg refused to allow him to pay for their order, but gave up gracefully in the end. “Free flea spray,” he promised over his shoulder as he walked back to Arden, “for that long-haired princess of yours.”

He pulled her chair out as she stood up. “They have a Pekingese,” he said as they walked out. “So I’ll just have to pay for the pumpkin bread in kind.”

“That’s nice of you.” She glanced back at the door as it closed, and laughed. “I didn’t notice when we went in—the door is purple.” A delicious, eggplant hue.

“Yep.” With a hand at the small of her back, he indicated they should cross the street. As they arrived at the opposite curb, he glanced up and said, “That’s new.”

Arden followed his gaze, but not his train of thought. “What’s new?”

“Hear that chirp? Since I left last summer, they’ve added sound to the crosswalk signals.”

She hadn’t heard anything. But she could pretend. “Oh…yes. I think that’s supposed to assist people with impaired vision.” The deaf, like her, would be able to see the flashing Walk and Don’t Walk signs.

“Right. There’s always something new to spend tax money on. Anyway, since the worst has already happened, let’s get this tour started and enjoy the morning. What do you say?”

“Excellent.” Especially if that meant she didn’t have to reveal any more details about her past. Griff had taken her statement about Andre at face value, then moved on. He didn’t pursue the issue, which was exactly what she wanted.

The less he knew about her, the better. And the less she depended on him, the easier she would find her return to Florida.

Because no matter how pretty the town of Sheridan might be, Arden didn’t intend to stay one minute longer than she absolutely had to.



GRIFF PLAYED TOUR GUIDE for the rest of the morning, recounting as much town history and as many anecdotes as he could remember about the buildings and the people. Sheridan was a pretty place in the spring, with masses of azaleas and dogwoods in bloom, or in summer with the crape myrtle trees blooming pink on Main Street and pots of flowers on every doorstep and porch. They were close enough to the mountains that autumn could be gorgeous, once the leaves began to change.

Winter seemed austere in comparison, with the grass turned brown and only the pine trees providing any green. Of course, there were many, many pine trees.

But without the decorative plants, the architecture of Sheridan came clearly into focus and, as a result, Griff preferred this time of year in his hometown.

“The first settler arrived in 1764,” he told Arden. “And by the 1800s a thriving little town had been built. According to local mythology, General Sherman passed within twenty miles on his way to Atlanta, but since the town was named for another Union general, he marched by without doing any damage.

“So we’ve got some nice antebellum houses still standing.” He halted in front of the iron gate guarding the Statler mansion. “This one dates to 1846. Tobacco brought in a lot of money, even in those days.”

Arden nodded. “Beautiful. Hard to maintain, but lovely.”

“Nowadays the family lives in New York most of the time. Watch out,” he said, catching her around the waist as she stumbled. “This sidewalk is rough in places.”

He started to move on, keeping his arm around her, but noticed that she glanced back at the big house.

With a deep breath, she turned away. “You’re quite the history buff, aren’t you? Is that your hobby, when you’re not doctoring animals?”

“I can’t help soaking it in.” They crossed the street to the entrance of City Park. “I’ve been hearing these stories all my life. And, yeah, when I do have time to read something besides vet journals, I tend to choose history.”

A bench stood beside the footpath not far from the gate and Griff steered them in that direction. “Would you like to sit down?”

Arden smiled. “Perfect timing. My new boots are still stiff.” She perched on the seat at an angle, looking out over the park. “I can imagine this view in summer—the trees leafed out and the flower beds full of blooms, the fountain in the center…it must be glorious.”

“Sheridan’s pride and joy.” He stretched both arms along the back of the bench. “This whole side of town used to be part of the Statler estate, and they donated the land for City Park.”

“Does it ever snow here?” She gestured to the downhill slope before them. “That looks like a great hill for sledding.”

“About once every ten years we get a snow deep enough to build snowmen and use a sled. Hasn’t happened in quite a while.”

“Maybe it will snow while I’m here,” she said, turning in place to lean against his arm. “Living on the ocean, I do miss snow, sometimes.”

Griff curved his body toward hers. “Judging by that condo of yours, you could take long vacations in Switzerland, if you wanted to.”

Arden shook her head. “I’m not much into traveling these days. Certainly not that far.”

He took her left hand in his. “And does that reluctance have anything to do with the cheating fiancé and the broken engagement?”

She stiffened in his arms.

“I know, you figured I would let it drop. But we’ve been engaged three whole days. You should know me better by now.”

“I…” Her exasperated breath was a puff of steam in the cold air. “I thought you had learned to respect my privacy.”

“I grew up in a small town. Nosiness is part of my genetic makeup. Are you going to tell me about this jerk?”

She hesitated a long time. “He was twelve years older, very handsome,” she said eventually. “I really wanted to be careful, not risk too much in the relationship until I was certain, but…almost before I realized, we were involved…intimately. Getting engaged seemed like the right thing to do. But then I—I found him with someone else. Someone I’d trusted.” She paused again. “I threw a huge tantrum, he retaliated by telling me how many other women he’d betrayed me with and asked for his ring back.”

Griff couldn’t resist the urge to chuckle. When she looked at him indignantly, he said, “I can’t imagine you in a temper tantrum.”

“Not pretty, I assure you.” She drew a deep breath. “We were at a hotel in…in Italy. I threw his ring in the pool and wished him good luck finding it. Then I left and flew home.”

“Good move! Your reaction to being dumped was much stronger than mine.”

Her cheeks flushed bright pink. “It was childish. But, really, he deserved to lose something for treating me so badly.”

“I agree. Did he find the ring?”

She shrugged. “I haven’t heard.”

“What about the person you caught him with—did you deal with her?”

“We had a…discussion. But we haven’t spoken since.”

Her voice reminded him of one of their earlier conversations. What was it…?

Then he remembered. After the dream that had caused her to cry, she’d said, “We’re estranged.” About her mother, in that same tone.

Griff sucked in a quick breath. “Your mother? He cheated on you with your mom?”

In the next instant, Arden was on her feet and walking away.

Catching up, Griff didn’t try to stop or even slow her down. He walked along, hands in his pockets, as they traversed the entire length of the park—about a mile. And when she finally slowed, he did, too.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “That’s more pain and insult than one person should ever have to bear.”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t deserve such treatment.”

She jerked to a stop and stared up at him. “Why do you say that?”

He shrugged. “I blamed myself for Zelda dumping me. I’m guessing you wondered at least once if you’d done something to provoke the way he behaved.”

As he watched, her gray-green eyes filled with tears. “I tried to be what he wanted…”

Griff put his arm around her shoulders and turned her so they could walk back toward town. “Lucky for you, he showed his true colors before you married him. You don’t have to try anymore, because you’re all any decent man could want. And you should believe what I’m saying without question.”

“Why?”

He stopped under the bare branches of an oak tree, shifted to stand in front of her, and cupped her face with his palms. “Because I am your fiancé. I know what I’m talking about.”

She managed a small chuckle. “I guess that’s as good a reason as any.” Then she clasped his wrists with her own strong fingers. “And what about you? Have you decided to believe that you didn’t deserve being dumped a week before your wedding?”

“Well…”

“And that you didn’t do anything to drive Zelda away?”

“No fair, turning my own advice around on me.”

“Oh, yes, it is fair. Zelda could have been honest with you much sooner and made the entire issue less painful. Maybe she couldn’t help falling for Al. But she didn’t have to wait so long, either. Do you see that?”

Arden’s fierce gaze and the determined set of her chin were pretty convincing. “I might be able to see that.”

“Good.” Her mouth softened into a smile.

Griff couldn’t resist taking the chance to sample the curves of that smile with his own lips. He’d always thought smiling kisses offered a special kind of pleasure.

What he hadn’t bargained for was the way even the lightest touch from Arden’s mouth could stir the coals of desire into an open flame. One minute they were sharing light caresses, smooth and easy…but the next minute, smooth and easy got buried under a hot flow of need.

And then a runner breezed past them. “Geez—get a room, why don’t ya?”

Griff loosened his arms, which had somehow gotten wrapped around Arden’s body, and allowed her to back up. She spent a few seconds releasing her grip on his sweater in the process.

“We’ll keep walking, instead,” he said. Hearing the roughness in his voice, he cleared his throat. “Though I like his basic concept.”

Arden nodded. “Walking is good.”

They returned to the Harley, and Griff was just pondering the best place to have lunch when his cell phone vibrated.

The number on the screen was his dad’s private cell phone.

“Excuse me,” he told Arden, then answered the call. “What’s up?”

His afternoon plans got shot to hell with three sentences.

He nodded, though Jake couldn’t see it. “I’ll be right there.”

Arden gave him an inquiring look as he closed the phone.

“Dad’s in surgery with an emergency and an office full of clients,” Griff explained, handing her the smaller helmet. “And he just got a farm call that’s also an emergency, of the life-threatening kind. I’m going to have to go out there.”

“Of course.”

He blew out a frustrated breath. “I don’t even have time to take you back to the house. I could call Kathy—”

“Let’s just go where you need to be,” Arden said. “Don’t worry about the extra baggage.”

Grinning, he climbed onto the bike. “Yes, ma’am.”

A five minute ride got them to the clinic, where Toni, one of the vet techs, was standing by the back door. “Your truck is loaded,” she told him, after a curious glance at Arden. “Stacy Winfrey got the horse to the barn and she’s waiting for you.”

“Thanks.” He took the keys she offered. “Toni, this is Arden Burke. Can you show her into my office, get her something to eat and make her—”

Arden put a hand on his arm. “Could I come with you? I’ll stay out of the way.”

Griff frowned. “This is not a good call. It’ll be messy. We might lose the animal.”

She straightened her shoulders. “I’ll be okay. I won’t make a fuss.”

He didn’t have time to dither. “Get in. I’ll phone,” he told Toni, and slid behind the wheel.

“Not the first case I would choose to come back on,” he muttered, more to himself than her.

But Arden had heard him. “What happened?”

“This is a breeding farm with about fifty mares and a bunch of stallions, including this one—Rajah, a Thorough-bred. They paid well over a quarter of a million for him.”

“Dollars?”

“Oh, yeah. The handsomest guy you’d ever want to see, but on the high-strung side. Today, he decided to go through a board fence.”

She put a hand over her mouth. “Oh, no.”

“Now he’s got a piece of board in his chest. My job is to get it out and sew him up good as new.”

“Do you think you can?”

“Maybe.” He pulled in a deep breath. “If we all pray hard enough.”