Free Summer Magic by Rochelle Alers

arms over his chest. “I suppose you’ll tell everyone that I’m the low-down, dirty bastard who walked out on Nina Smith a week before her wedding?”
    Caryn lowered her gaze, remembering the veiled, titillating rumors in the gossip columns about the man who’d jilted Nina Smith. She hadn’t paid much attention to her fiancé’s name; however, most African-Americans in North Carolina were directly or indirectly aware of who the Smiths were. The name was synonymous with insurance and banking.
    Her downcast eyes lifted slightly as she observed Logan through lowered lashes. “What went on between you and Nina Smith is your business, and only your business. And if anyone on Marble Island uncovers who you are, then I want you to know that it won’t come from me.”
    A slight smile tugged at the corners of his wide mouth before it blossomed into a full grin. The expression held her rapt attention, and she couldn’t help but return it. She marveled how stern and solemn his unsmiling face was, while on the other hand a smile softened his features wherein he looked like a different person.
    “Thanks for helping me out, friend.”
    She nodded demurely. “You’re welcome, friend.”
    Now that Caryn knew who Logan Prescott was, she also wondered what could’ve happened to make him walk away from Nina Smith. She had read enough about Nina’s father in
Ebony
and
Black Enterprise
to know the man ran his companies like a tyrant, while offering his employees excellentsalaries and generous bonuses to abide his sometimes questionable workplace policies.
    She recalled Marcia’s telephone message:
He’s gotten a lot of flack from her family, so I offered the house because there are not too many places he can go where people won’t recognize him. His photograph and the story made all of the major dailies
.
    Well, she hadn’t recognized his face, and she hoped not too many others on Marble Island would recognize him. Yes, she concluded, it would be healthier for Logan Prescott if he stayed on Marble Island for as long as he could.
    “What were your parents’ reaction to you calling off the wedding?” Her voice was low, barely a whisper.
    Logan shifted a sweeping eyebrow, his gaze fused with Caryn’s. “I suppose they were disappointed.”
    “You suppose they were?”
    He registered her incredulous tone. “My mother said whatever my decision, she supported me.”
    “You didn’t tell her why?”
    “I didn’t have to.”
    “What about your brothers, sisters, or your friends in the wedding party? They had to be as shocked as your fiancée.”
    “My friends also accepted my decision without elaboration. As to brothers or sisters, I have none. I’m an only child.”
    He’s spoiled
, Caryn mused. It was no wonder he did not know how to clean up after himself. And that also explained his sometime dictatorial manner. There was no doubt his parents, his mother in particular, indulged him, and at age thirty-five it had continued.
    “I’m not the unfeeling ogre you think I am,” Logan said quietly.
    A slight smile curved her full mouth. “How do you know what I’m feeling?”
    A smile crinkled his eyes, softening his stern features. “Your eyes give you away. They are truly the window to your soul, Caryn Edwards.”
    “What are they saying?”
    “I’m a monster.”
    Her expression sobered. She didn’t think him a monster.What she thought was that Logan Prescott was used to having things his way. If not his way, then no way.
    “I have no right to judge you. After all, I’m not the aggrieved party.” What she wanted to say was that she wasn’t the jilted fiancée.
    “How did your parents come to name you Logan?” she questioned, deciding to change the subject. She did not want to probe too deeply into Logan’s love life because she did not want to have to reciprocate in kind.
    “Logan is my mother’s maiden name. Her first name is Maeve.”
    “Maeve Logan. It sounds so beautiful. So Irish.”
    “And that she