Free Dawn in Eclipse Bay by Jayne Ann Krentz Page A

Arrangements. The company is out of business. You’ll have to get your last date somewhere else.”
    Gabe started up the steps. “Nobody takes my money and leaves town without delivering the goods.”
    â€œFor crying out loud.” Lillian leaned a little farther out over the rail. “This is ridiculous. You can’t possibly be serious about one lousy date.”
    â€œWhen it comes to business, I’m always serious.” He disappeared into the house.
    â€œThat’s my brother for you,” Rafe said, mockingly apologetic. “Could have written the book on how not to get screwed in a business deal. He fixates, you know?”
    Before Lillian could tell him what she thought about Gabe’s business style, Rafe, too, vanished beneath the overhang.
    â€œWell,” Hannah said thoughtfully. “This is an interesting turn of events.”
    â€œThis isn’t interesting, it’s seriously aberrant behavior.” Lillian continued to look uneasily over the railing into the now-empty drive. “You think maybe Gabe’s gone a little nuts or something in the years since he left Eclipse Bay? Maybe the stress of building his business empire has been too much for him.”
    â€œI don’t think it’s the empire building that’s making him act weird,” Hannah said. “I think it’s the fact that he’s a Madison.”
    â€œI was afraid you were going to say that.”
    â€œSomething tells me there’s more to this story than your failure to live up to your end of a business contract.”
    â€œBelieve it or not, things started out fairly normally when Gabe signed up with Private Arrangements. I had stopped taking new clients but he seemed serious and determined. I figured okay, he’s not exactly an old friend of the family, but he certainly qualifies as a longtime acquaintance, and we are sort of connected because of you and Rafe and all. I thought, what the heck? I still had the names of several nice women in my files.”
    â€œWhat went wrong?”
    â€œWhat can I say?” Lillian held out both hands, palms up. “Gabe became the client from hell.”

    â€œWe’ve got no choice but to move out for at least three weeks,” Hannah said an hour later. She passed a large ceramic bowl across the table to Lillian. “The Willis brothers have sent us straight into remodel hell. It was bad enough when they were doing the plumbing.”
    â€œThey kept shutting off the water without warning and we had to cope with a stack of bathroom fixtures in the front hall for ages,” Rafe said. “I started having nightmares featuring endless mazes of gleaming porcelain commodes.”
    â€œWe keep assuring each other that we’re lucky to have the full attention of the Willis brothers,” Hannah said.
    â€œThere’s a new wing being built up at the institute and we were worried for a while that the folks up there would lure Torrance and Walter away. Fortunately they called in outside contractors.”
    â€œWe made it through the endless commodes phase,” Rafe concluded, “but there’s no way we can live here while they refinish the wood floors and paint the rooms.”
    â€œI can see the problem.” Lillian gripped the bowl in one hand and served herself a large helping of Rafe’s dill-and-yogurt-laced cucumber salad. “The dust and fumes would be bad for Winston.”
    â€œWouldn’t do us much good, either,” Rafe said dryly. “Besides, we need a vacation before we open for business. We’re going down to California to tour some wineries in the Napa Valley. It will be a good opportunity to finalize my selections for the wine list that we’ll be using in the restaurant.”
    â€œAnother astounding coincidence.” Gabe dipped the edge of a wedge of sourdough bread into the fragrant curried potato stew on his plate. “I’ve decided to take some time