Free Moonlight on Monterey Bay by Sally Goldenbaum

frowned against the feeling. Maddie was really getting to him now. Next thing he knew he’d be talking to ghosts.
    “The papers?” Maddie was saying. She looked up at him, into his dark, pondering eyes. “These are the agreements with our subcontractors that Joseph would like you to sign. Why don’t you sit here and look them over while I get us some tea, and then you can be on your way before it gets too late.”
    Sam took off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves, then sat at the round oak table in the window bay and sorted through the papers, scrawling his name on the bottom. But he couldn’t concentrate on papers or subcontractors. The house was so much like the woman who lived in it that he had the odd sensation of being surrounded by her. He could feel her, smell her, touch her.
    When Maddie brought in the tea, she discovered he had moved over to the sofa, settled his long frame into the soft cushions, and closed his eyes. Eeyore slept comfortably at his feet.
    “Are you asleep?” she whispered.
    One eye opened. “I’m just relaxing.”
    “Okay, but don’t fall asleep, Sam. You still have a drive ahead of you.”
    “Right.”
    “But I’m glad you’re relaxing. You certainly don’t do much of that.”
    Sam lifted one brow.
    “Well, it’s obvious.” She put the tray down on the glass coffee table and sat beside him. “Santa Cruz will be good for you. It’s hard not to relax here.”
    “There is a kind of spell about this place.”
    “I know. That’s why I’m here.”
    “I thought you were a native.”
    Maddie’s laugh was low and soft. “Maybe I lived here in another life and I simply found my way back, I don’t know. But I do love it here. Santa Cruz has given me something important. I came here looking for it, and I found it.”
    Sam watched her eyes deepen as she spoke. They were like the sea, a pool of light and color that was always changing. Now, in the dim light of the small room, they swam with emotion. He wanted to ask what brought her here and what caused the flickering emotion in those remarkable eyes. But years of caution, of avoiding connections, stopped him, and instead he asked, “What has it given you, Maddie?”
    “Myself,” she said simply.
    Sam nodded. “How long have you been here?”
    “Five years. A lifetime—” She filled a teacup and extended it to him.
    Her fingers brushed his hand accidentally and Sam felt a rush, a melting deep inside him. He took a deep breath and leaned back into the couch. “So you didn’t come here for the job with Joseph?”
    “No, not a job. I came here … to live.”
    Sam lifted one arm to the sofa back and restedit there. She moved when she spoke and her long thick hair brushed against the bare skin of his arm. He didn’t move.
    “Anyway, Sam,” Maddie went on, her voice picking up, “I think once your house is done, you’ll see that East of the Ocean can be a tonic for you, a soothing, wonderful—”
    Sam’s concentration flagged and Maddie’s words began to float about his head. Soothing and wonderful … hell, he felt that way right now, here, in this small, plain house. His fingers dropped to her shoulder and touched the smooth bare skin. He felt her sharp intake of breath.
    “Sam, I—” she began.
    “Yoo-hoo, Maddie!”
    Sam pulled his hand back. In the next second a door banged and glass rattled.
    Maddie turned toward the hallway. “Hi, Lily.”
    A pretty blond woman a few years older than Maddie stood in the doorway. Her eyes shifted from Maddie to Sam, then widened in delight. “Well, hello there! I didn’t know Maddie had company.” She grinned and walked in, flopping down in an oversized chair.
    “Lily, meet Sam; Sam, Lily Thorpe, a good friend. Lily lives next door with two beautiful kids and the best husband in the world.”
    “All sound asleep,” she said. “I got the kids bathed and bedded, then settled down with Jack to a wonderful, romantic dinner with wine and candles andeven