Down by the River Read Online Free Page B

a second look at himself. His cousin Roger and all Jack’s friends had feted him with black balloons and an over-the-hill party. Jack had gone along with the joke in good humor, of course, but he’d hated it, too. Fifty, at one time, had sounded ancient to him. And now it was his age.
    He looked at his watch. He was really late for his appointment with that lady, Grace Conley, at the Oakley Bed-and-Breakfast. His mother had set the meeting up yesterday without realizing how much time the closing with Lanier might take. He knew no way to reach the woman once she’d left her motel either. She didn’t provide a cell phone number. Jack tapped the steering wheel in annoyance.
    In a goodwill effort, he’d sent Ashleigh to let the woman in at the Oakley and to explain why he was running late. With his mother at the doctor’s, the only temp he’d found to cover the phones this morning was Ashleigh Anne Layton. Jack grinned at the memory of talking to her earlier. Cute little number who worked the bar at the Shady Grove on Burke Hollow, but hardly professional office material. Still, Ashleigh offered other attributes. Jack whistled at the thought.
    Checking his watch again, Jack shrugged. That Conley woman probably isn’t a serious prospect anyway, he decided. Ma said she was a widow with grown kids, over here from Nashville to see one of them at a recital at the college. Most likely one of those women who likes to look through houses when she’s bored.
    He glanced at his watch once more as he headed down the highway toward the River Road. Already an hour late. She’d probably left in a huff long ago. People seldom understood the real estate business and why it wasn’t always easy to be right on time for an appointment. It was hard to judge how long each appointment would take.
    Pulling into the driveway that wound down to the Oakley, Jack saw Ashleigh’s little Volkswagen, but no other car. He blew out a frustrated breath. Ah, well. Maybe if the woman was halfway serious she would call back. He’d like to turn over the Oakley place for Mavis Oakley. It had sat on the market for over three years now. A pricey property on the river, and a bed-and-breakfast at that, it would take a special kind of client to buy it. The place needed a new business owner. It would hardly suit a family.
    Jack saw Ashleigh Anne waiting for him on the porch as he pulled up to the house. She waved at him with two fingers and sent him a blatantly invitational look. That girl was a cute little trick and well knew it. She wore a short skirt today that barely covered the bottom of her hips.
    â€œI guess our client isn’t here now.” Jack sighed and started up the porch steps.
    â€œNot right now.” Ashleigh rose languidly to her feet and then strolled over to stand close to him with a suggestive smile. “It looks like it’s just you and me here right now, Jack Teague.”
    She looked up at him provocatively, knowing he could see right down the front of her tight little shirt. The girl proved hard to ignore, and that was a fact.
    â€œYou haven’t dropped by the Shady Grove to see me lately, Jack.” She moved closer and ran a finger down the v of Jack’s shirt, fiddling with the top button. “I’ve missed you.” She nipped at his chin with her little teeth, stirring up his blood.
    Delighted at his obvious reaction to her, she pressed closer to him, hoisting one of her legs to wrap it around his. Jack sucked in his breath. Ashleigh was never a girl to beat around the bush. Perhaps he wasn’t so old, after all. He grinned. Ashleigh certainly didn’t seem to think so.
    Jack reached around to catch Ashleigh’s firm little fanny in his palm, and then heard an intake of breath. Looking through the screen door into the house, he saw a vision of a woman on the stairway.
    Mercy, but she was a knockout. And classy to boot. She wore some sort of floaty, silky blue