Free Secrets and Seductions by Jane Beckenham Page A

could afford—just. “Good to hear from you. I’m just about ready for your crew to start picking.”
    “Sorry, Leah, but trouble’s brewing over at the Wexford property, so it means we’re going to get to you too late.”
    “Late! But you can’t. I booked you weeks ago, Howard, I need to get the crop in on time. Otherwise…” Leah looked behind her, noting Mac’s attention had shifted directly to her. Great. Now he’d think she couldn’t handle things, again.
    His brows rose. “Problem?”
    She forced her mouth into a tight smile and mouthed nothing , then made a quick exit out the front door and pulled it closed behind her.
    The scent of wild jasmine wafted up on a cool valley breeze that enveloped Leah as she sank onto a porch step. Beneath the canopy of moonbeams, she could make out the towering lushness of early flowering Pohutukawa, a sure sign the summer would be a good one.
    She took in the shadowed beauty of the trees and beyond and sighed. “When can you come, Howard?”
    “That’s just it. I can’t.”
    “But we agreed.”
    “Wexford is bigger. I gave you a discounted price due to your…um…circumstances, but money’s tight everywhere. I can’t turn Jake Wexford down.”
    “But you can turn me down.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    Leah heard true regret in Howard’s tone and couldn’t really be angry with him, despite the fact circumstances threatened to destroy her crop.
    She disconnected the call and dropped the phone to her lap. What now?
    She had to get that crop in; only then could she get rid of Mac. That was imperative for her sanity. Her… Lordy, she was about to think heart . How ridiculous.
    Okay, so the guy was sexy, in a devilish sort of way, but she couldn’t afford to play with the devil. Closing her eyes, she tried to blot all thoughts of Mac Grainger right out. She had a bigger problem to solve, but any hope of eradicating that man from the silent video playing in her head vanished the moment she heard him open the door and step up behind her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood to attention, the play of something akin to excitement skittering up and down her spine. She choked back the tumble of emotions rioting inside her. This was not the time for that sort of thing.
    “Leah?”
    Without looking at him, she shook her head, waving him away. “Go away, Mac. Please.” She pushed herself up from the porch step, not wanting to be forced to look into his too-knowing eyes.
    “What’s happened?”
    She sniffed, refusing to give in to the tears she knew were so close to falling. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
    “Why don’t you let me help?”
    “You’ve already done enough. Just leave it.”
    “I can’t.”
    “Really? Are you trying to play the knight in shining armor? That’s not what I expect from you. A new cap, perhaps?”
    “So there is a problem.”
    Damn. She should have kept her mouth closed.
    He stepped closer, and Leah found herself backing up to the porch railing. It dug into her back, a vicious reminder of reality, of what she could lose, of the situation Curtis had forced on her. Even from the grave, his bully-boy tactics reached out to her. She jammed her hands on her hips. “Like I said, it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
    “From what I heard…”
    Her stomach somersaulted. “You were eavesdropping?”
    “Call it concerned observance,” he said with a nonchalant shrug.
    “Oh, cut the caring routine, Mac. I don’t believe it. You’re only out for yourself and what you want. Just like Curtis. Look,” she said, sidestepping him, “I don’t have time for this. I’ve got to book another picking crew.”
    “Another one?” His hand snapped around her wrist, yanking her back to face him. “Why the hell haven’t you organized it already? From my understanding, crews are booked a year in advance.”
    Leah wrenched herself from his hold, the fingers of her left hand massaging her wrist. “I knew it!” She tossed her head back a fraction,