Sealed With a Kiss (30 page)

John didn’t need to be told twice. Half of
the town’s reporters were inside the bar wishing Logan a happy
birthday. The other half would be waiting by their phones for a
late night story. If photos of them made The Bozeman Chronicle’s
most wanted page, Rachel wouldn’t speak to him again.

He held Rachel’s hand and pulled her out of
the bar, hoping no one noticed the guilty look plastered across
their faces. As soon as they were outside, he looked for Tess and
Logan. If they were with the birthday boy, it might give them some
cover.

Grant tapped him on the shoulder. Or maybe
not. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about the fire alarm,
would you?”

John was saved from answering by the arrival
of the fire trucks. Three fire trucks to be precise. And two police
cars, four police officers, and an off-duty doctor who was asking
if anyone needed help.

John hung his head in shame.

Rachel kept hold of his hand and hid behind
his back.

Grant kept his beady-eyed stare on him.
“Well?”

“It didn’t say the door was alarmed.” John
tried to whisper, but with close to two hundred people standing on
the sidewalk, a fire alarm screeching through the air, and the
engines of the trucks turning over, it wasn’t exactly easy to have
a quiet conversation.

Someone finally turned the alarm off. The
split second of silence was followed by the noise of a lot of
people talking at once. They wanted to get back inside. The bright
lights of the emergency vehicles pulsing around them didn’t make up
for the food, music, and drink waiting inside the bar.

John saw Charlie’s yellow hard-hat move in
front of the crowd. A team of firefighters, wearing face masks and
oxygen tanks, disappeared into the building. He had a feeling that
the people standing outside would be here for more than a few
minutes.

Tess stood beside Rachel. “I wonder what
happened? We couldn’t smell any smoke, but you never know with old
buildings. It could be an electrical fault in the ceiling or
anything. I hope the birthday candles didn’t set the smoke alarms
off.”

“I don’t think that was it.” Rachel chewed
her bottom lip. “Do you think the firefighters will be much
longer?”

“I don’t know. If this snow keeps falling,
most of Charlie’s customers will go to another bar. It won’t matter
how long the building is closed for.”

Rachel looked at John. “I’ll be back in a
minute.” She let go of his hand and disappeared into the crowd.

Tess looked confused. “Where’s Rachel
gone?”

John had a good idea of what she was about to
do. “It’s confession time,” he muttered as he followed Rachel. He
just hoped the Fire Chief had a better sense of humor than the
owner of the bar had.

***

The next day, Rachel had barely walked into
Angel Wings Café when Tess made the first Facebook comment.

“How does it feel to be a star?” Tess asked
from behind the counter.

Rachel closed the door and ignored the
curious glances being sent her way. “I thought you finished work at
one o’clock?”

“I do, but Kate couldn’t come in, so here I
am. Your photo has got more than a thousand likes.”

“Sshh,” Rachel said quietly. “I don’t want
more people knowing about it.”

“It’s too late,” Tess whispered back.
“Everyone already knows.”

Rachel looked over her shoulder. Half a dozen
people enjoying hot coffee, delicious food, and a good helping of
gossip, grinned back. “Hi, everyone.”

Doris Stanley, one of the most influential
cogs in the local gossip wheel, stood up and walked across to
Rachel. “Well, I for one applaud what you did. Telling the Fire
Chief what you’d done took a lot of courage, especially after what
happened the last time you made the headlines.”

Doris winked at Rachel. She supposed that in
a roundabout way it was meant to be reassuring, but Rachel found it
a little unsettling.

“You were always too good for Jeremiah. And
just look at what he’s done with his life since he left you at the
altar…”

Rachel felt morally obliged to remind Doris
that she’d been the one who’d left Jeremiah, but Doris wasn’t
leaving room for interruptions in her speech.

“…he went and married a young girl nearly
half his age and just as scatter-brained as he was. Well, I say all
the best to them. He missed his chance with you, Rachel, but John
will appreciate you. He’s such a kind man. Do you know that he
sponsored the reading program at the local high school? And not a
word to anyone about his generosity. That’s the type of man that
any woman would want to go out a fire exit door with.”

There was a general murmur of agreement and a
nodding of heads around the café. Rachel looked helplessly at Tess
for moral support.

Doris must have noticed Rachel’s discomfort,
but not the cause of it. She gave Rachel a quick hug. “If you ever
need advice about men, come and see me. My husband is one in a
million, but every now and then even Mr. Stanley and I have
disagreements. Do you know that we’ve been married fifty-six years
this June?”

Rachel sat in a chair in case Doris gave her
another hug. “That’s wonderful. Congratulations.”

“It’s not all hard work, mind you. We have
had some lovely times…”

Tess stepped forward with the coffeepot.
“Would you like another cup of coffee, Doris?”

Doris’ cell phone beeped. “Another coffee
would be very nice, Tess.” She glanced at the message and smiled.
“Would you look at that? Mr. Stanley has just posted the most
delightful photo of you on Facebook, Rachel.”

Rachel’s mouth dropped open. She fumbled in
her bag for her phone before Doris decided to sit at her table and
show her the picture.

Tess was one step ahead of her. She left the
coffeepot on Doris’ table and pulled her cell phone out of her
pocket. She frowned at whatever she was looking at then passed the
phone to Rachel.

Rachel took one look at the photo, then
dropped her head into her hands. It was worse than the photo of her
talking to the Fire Chief. Her face had flamed redder than a ripe
tomato when he’d asked why she’d been going outside. After
stumbling her way through the feeblest excuse she’d ever heard, the
Fire Chief had let her off the hook with a warning. But more
importantly, he’d let everyone back into Charlie’s Bar and
Grill.

The Fire Chief was happy because he didn’t
need to investigate the alarm, Charlie was happy because he had a
full bar again, and she was happy because she’d made everyone else
happy. Except John, but they’d learned a valuable lesson. Stay
clear of fire exit doors and photos of the President.

And now she’d learned another valuable
lesson. Try not to look adoringly into a billionaire’s eyes when
you were surrounded by a room full of reporters. It was like
putting a goldfish in a swimming pool full of sharks. Not a pretty
sight.

She glanced back at the photo and winced.
John was leaning over her, his gaze locked on her eyes, soaking in
whatever she was saying. It was the kind of photo that would keep
the gossip columnists happy for the rest of the year.

The doorbell tinkled and Rachel wiggled
further down into her seat, hoping whoever it was kept walking
toward the front counter.

“Nice photo,” Dan Carter said as he passed by
her table. The Chief of Police had been at Logan’s surprise party.
Rachel had assumed that he hadn’t spoken to John or her because
he’d felt sorry for them. From his smile, she’d say it was more
like he’d wanted to get back into the bar before he froze to
death.

“I never did ask you what you’d been doing in
front of the fire door. Thanks to Jake, I don’t need to bother,
now.”

Rachel looked at the photo and frowned. Jake
Stanley hadn’t mentioned anything about why they were there. There
wasn’t even a caption, thank goodness. She closed her eyes, then
opened them, pretending to see the photo for the first time.

Dan was right. The photo didn’t need words to
explain what was happening.

She was doomed.

The doorbell tinkled again. She didn’t know
Tess’ cafe was so busy at this time of the day.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Tess whispered
as she passed her table. “And it’s not usually this busy at four
o’clock. You’re pulling in everyone who wants to see the woman
who’s captured a billionaire’s heart.”

“I haven’t captured anyone’s heart.” Rachel’s
voice was as close to a hysterical whisper as anyone could get.
This was ridiculous.

“Wait in the kitchen for me if you need some
peace and quiet. I’ll close the café in ten minutes.”

Rachel decided to take Tess up on her offer.
She was almost at the kitchen door when Tess said something that
made her run for cover.

“The love fest is over, folks. Drink your
coffee and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

A collective sigh filled the café. As soon as
she was through the doors, Rachel headed over to the coffeepot. Hot
chocolate wouldn’t cure what was ailing her. Even coffee was a poor
substitute for what she needed to do.

If Tess was right, John’s name would be
hitting the headlines on more than the Bozeman Community Facebook
page. She needed to see him and work out how they could fix
everything before it got worse.

And based on what had happened with her
ex-fiancé, she knew it could get a lot worse.

***

John closed the document on his computer.
Even though the people responsible for the Oracom deal were in
prison, they were still waiting for their trial. He wouldn’t sleep
well until they were convicted and permanently put behind bars.
Until then, he’d assigned a new team of bodyguards to watch Bella
and Rachel.

Tanner had enjoyed working from Montana, but
on Monday he was going to be delivering a Senator’s daughter to
Washington DC. Sometimes, the contracts that seemed the most
straightforward weren’t, and this was one of those times.

Maddie Steinbar was eighteen-years-old, a
perfect student, the perfect daughter. Her one indiscretion with
another senator’s son had caused a media frenzy six months ago.

She’d been sent to live with her cousins in
Montana, and her father’s strategy for, ‘out of sight, out of
mind,’ had mostly worked. Until the senator’s son joined his
girlfriend in Montana.

Now Tanner had the unenviable task of taking
Maddie back to her father. Maddie didn’t want to go. Her boyfriend
didn’t want her to go. But the Senator wasn’t taking no for an
answer.

A knock on his office door startled John out
of his thoughts. Tanner stuck his head around the corner of the
doorframe. “Did you want to see me, boss, before I head home?”

“Were you able to make the delivery this
afternoon?”

Tanner nodded. “The paintings arrived
undamaged and on time. Are you sure you don’t want me to guard
Rachel?”

“You’ve been working long hours for the last
couple of months. I appreciate everything you’ve done for us, but
Connor will make sure Rachel’s safe tonight.”

“Does she know you’ve kept a surveillance
team on her?”

John shook his head. “And she won’t know if
Connor and Jeremy do their job well. Have a good night.”

“I plan to.” Tanner pushed away from the
doorframe, then reappeared two seconds later. “Did you see the
Facebook page?”

“Gloria showed me.”

“They were good pictures. Pity about the room
full of reporters.”

John threw his stress ball straight at
Tanner’s smiling face.

Tanner caught it before it hit him. “You’ll
have to work hard if you want to get to know Rachel better.”

“Do you know something that I don’t?”

“Tank and I guarded her for weeks. She’s
practical, down to earth, and cares about people. It will take more
than a handsome face to make her see the possibilities.”

John didn’t want to ask Tanner what he meant.
He didn’t need to. “I’ll see you when you get back from DC.”

Tanner lifted his arm in a mock salute and
headed down the corridor. His heavy boots echoed in the empty
corridor, reminding John that it was time to go home. He turned off
his computer and stood up. Bella would have made dinner with Mrs.
Daniels. She’d be setting the table, waiting impatiently for him to
walk in the front door.

“Hi.”

John froze. Rachel’s face was flushed a soft
pink from the cold. Her eyes were a brilliant blue and gleaming
under the knitted hat she’d pulled on.

“I’m sorry if I startled you. Tanner was
coming out of the building when I arrived. He let me straight in. I
hope that’s okay?”

John wasn’t worried about Tanner. Right now,
his only worry involved a steady stream of Facebook posts that had
been appearing all day. And a small, but critical inability to say
something intelligent to Rachel.

“Thank you for the daisies. They were
lovely.”

“I’m glad you liked them.” When he saw the
first Facebook post at six o’clock this morning, he’d gone online
and ordered her a bouquet of flowers. It was supposed to be an
apology for the media frenzy that would follow. By the time the
next photos hit Facebook, he was beginning to think he should get
down on one knee and simply propose to her.

Whoever had taken the photos had known what
they were doing. They’d captured everything that had been left
unsaid. The photos had opened his eyes, made him realize just how
much he wanted Rachel to be part of his life.

He moved from around the back of his desk.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have opened the fire door.” Tanner thought
it was Rachel who needed to see the possibilities in their
relationship. He’d been wrong. John was the one who’d refused to
see what was staring him in the face.

“You don’t need to apologize.”

Rachel pulled her hat off and John stared at
the blonde halo of hair that fell around her shoulders. He stuck
his hands in his pockets and refocused his brain. There were things
he wanted to know. Things that would make a difference to what
happened next.