Kate Hoffmann - Danny

“In the cave,” he said. “A big box of gold coins.” He squeezed her hand. “What are you going to do?”

She drew a deep breath. “What do you think I should do?”

“I think you should let Bartie keep his treasure,” Danny replied. “But I’m not the boss, you are.”

He watched as she thought through her options. Then she glanced up at him. “Why am I out here? There can’t be anything more important than moving the furniture into the house. You and Bartie get back to work on the rose garden.”

With that, Jordan turned on her heel and strode back inside, leaving Danny to wonder at what had just happened. She’d completely ignored everything he’d just told her-

He grinned, then walked back to the garden. There was a reason he loved Jordan and he had no doubt that his feelings weren’t going to change.

Odd how the prospect of falling in love had once scared the hell out of him. Now, it made him feel as though he was sitting on top of the world. Danny didn’t care that it had happened so fast, or that they hadn’t completely decided on a future together. Jordan wasn’t going home tomorrow, she was coming to live with him. Tomorrow, they’d start their life together.

Bartie was waiting for him, the box at his feet. “I guess you can just take that old metal box and everything inside it home, Bartie, and I’ll finish up in the garden. Jordan isn’t interested in anything you’ve found.” Danny pressed his finger to his lips. “But I wouldn’t go passing this story around the village or she might change her mind. Keep your good fortune to yourself.”

“I’ll do that,” Bartie said, reaching down and picking up the box. “Yes, I will. I’ll do that.” He pulled a coin out of the box and handed it to Danny. “Here. It will bring you luck.”

Danny watched as Bartie hurried off, the box tucked under his arm. He chuckled softly. Things had a way of working out just grand.

JORDAN STOOD IN THE DOORWAY. Her hair, twisted into a tidy knot earlier, now tumbled around her flushed face. Her clothes were dirty and wrinkled and she felt exhaustion overwhelming her.

“Almost done?”

She turned to look at Danny and smiled. “Almost. We’re just missing a sofa. Either it never got delivered to the warehouse or they misplaced it there. But that’s it. Everything else arrived in one piece, no scratches, no breakage.”

Danny reached out and gathered her in his arms. “Congratulations. You did it.”

“I did. Almost. I have to finish my paperwork tonight and email that to the office and then make a quick double check of my list and I’ll be done.”

“We should celebrate,” he said. “I’ll take you out tonight and we’ll have some fun.” He pulled the gold coin out of his pocket. “I’ve come into a little bit of money.”

She laughed. “Don’t show me that. I might ask where it came from.”

“You did a good thing,” he whispered, his breath warm on her hair.

“Right now, all I really need is a nice long foot massage, a hot bath and a warm bed.”

Danny grinned. “I can do that,” he said. “In fact, I’m good at all those things.”

Jordan kissed his cheek. “We’re back to the caretaker’s cottage for now. I’ll be out in a minute. I want to call your mom and Nan and see if they’d like to come tomorrow morning for a tour. And I have to track down that-” Her cell rang and she pulled it out of her pocket. “This might be my missing sofa.”

“I’ll see you in a few minutes,” Danny said. He wandered through the doors to the terrace and Jordan smiled as she watched him move. She’d worried for so long over the day they’d have to part, but now, all those worries had disappeared.

Her phone rang again and Jordan looked at the caller I.D. then winced. It was her father. She hadn’t spoken to him since their exchange of text messages earlier that week. She was in no mood to talk to him now. She groaned, still staring at the phone. “I don’t have time for this right now.”

She walked over to an upholstered bench and sat down, then answered the call. “Hello, Daddy. How are you?”

“It’s not your father, Jordan, it’s your mother. I want you to talk to your father and give him a chance to apologize to you. Don’t argue with him, just listen.”

“I don’t want to talk to him, Mom,” she said. “He made his decision and now I’ve made mine. And I’m all right with that. It’s for the best. It’s time for me to move on with my life.”

“It certainly is not!” her mother declared. “Here he is.”

“No, I don’t want to- Hi, Daddy.” Her heart began to pound in her chest and she took in a deep breath.

“Your mother wanted me to call. I’m sorry I was so unreasonable with you. And I’ve taken Matt off the hotel project and assigned it to you. You need to finish up this week and get back to New York.”

“Daddy, I’m not sure I-”

“I’m not going to beg you, Jordan. Just get back here and we’ll smooth things out. You’ll have your project and now you’re going to have to prove my trust in you is worth it.”

Jordan slowly shook her head. “I’ll be back in New York in a few days. I’ll talk to you then.”

Jordan turned off the phone and slowly walked outside. She found Danny in the cottage, sitting on the edge of the bed. His smile faded as his gaze met hers. “What’s wrong? Is your sofa lost, then?”

“My father just called,” Jordan said.

“Did he apologize?” Danny asked.

She shook her head. “He just offered me the hotel job. I guess after my mother heard that I quit, she was very upset. She was afraid I wasn’t going to come home so she told my father he had to give me the project.”

“Do you still want the project?” Danny asked.

“I-I don’t know.”

The expression on his face told her the whole story. This was what she’d wanted all along and now that it had been offered, Danny wasn’t at all confident that she would turn it down.

“Hey, this is good, right?” Danny said, forcing a smile. “This is what you’ve been working for.”

“I really wanted to earn it,” she said. “I didn’t want it handed to me like some bribe.”

“You did earn it.”

“No. I’m sure my mother threatened to divorce my father and take half his money. She does that when she doesn’t get her own way. Only this time she probably meant it.”

Danny grabbed her hand and pulled her down next to him. “You don’t have to make a decision right now. Think about it. You can take some time.”

“We’re going to be done here in a few days. The new owners will be here for Christmas. I’ve hired a housekeeper and a caretaker. After tomorrow, I’m finished. He wants me to start the new project next week.”

“Next week?”

She nodded.

“How long? To finish the project?”

“A year at least,” Jordan said. “It wouldn’t be like this project. I’d have a huge crew, lots of resources. It would be my first really major project for Kencor.”

“This wasn’t a major project?”

Jordan shook her head. “This is a private home. He called it my little decorating job. I could have done this in my sleep. Since I met you, I have kind of been doing it in my sleep.”

“This is bollocks,” Danny muttered. “How the hell am I supposed to compete with a feckin’ hotel in Manhattan?”

“I don’t want to go,” Jordan said. “You’re right. It is my choice. And if I choose to stay with you, my father will have to live with that.”

Danny pulled her into a hug, raining kisses over her face. “Tell me you really mean that,” he murmured. “Just tell me so I can put aside this sick feeling in my gut. I don’t want to lose you, Jordan. I’m not ready to let you go.”