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you manage a property on the riverfront.”
    Actually, he owned half a dozen of them, but since he knew which one she was interested in, he saw no reason to belabor the point. “I do.”

    “I was wondering if the owner might be interested in selling?”
    “No,” he said, relieved that he’d had all day to practice saying the word. Otherwise, seeing Gracie MacDougal’s crestfallen expression might have had him waffling.
    “Absolutely not,” he added for good measure.
    “But…” Clearly taken aback, she peered at him intently. “Are you sure?”
    “Very sure.”
    “Couldn’t you at least ask?”
    “No need to,” he insisted.
    “Aren’t you doing the owner a disservice by not taking my offer to them? In fact, isn’t that illegal?”
    He shrugged. “I don’t think so.”
    “You don’t even know what I’m willing to pay.”
    “Trust me, it won’t be enough.”
    “The place is a shambles.”
    That was true enough. Kevin had been meaning to get over there and make a few repairs, cut the grass, maybe even trim the hedge. Had he done so, though, Aunt Delia—actually, his great-aunt on his mother’s side—would have wanted to go along for a nostalgic visit to her home and the next thing he knew she’d be demanding that he let her move back there. He couldn’t allow it.
    The sad truth was, Aunt Delia had no business being on her own anymore. She forgot to take her medication. She left the stove on. She wandered off and left the front door standing wide open. It was a wonder she hadn’t been robbed blind. Kevin had never known what to expect when he’d driven over to visit. Most of the time he hadn’t liked what he’d found.
    Finally, eighteen months ago he’d insisted Aunt Delia move in with him. He’d actually managed to make itsound as if she were the one doing him a favor. By now, she’d probably figured out that he’d bamboozled her, but they’d both grown comfortable with the new arrangement. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t love to be back in that drafty old house again. Nope, he couldn’t risk going near the place and she wouldn’t allow him to hire a stranger to do the work, not without being there to supervise. It was a Catch-22 of the first magnitude.
    “There’s nothing wrong with the place that a little spit and polish cleaning wouldn’t fix right up,” he insisted.
    “Then why don’t you take care of it? It’s a crime to allow it to go to ruin. It’s probably riddled with termites and overrun with mice.”
    He grinned at her unconscious shudder. “Then I’m surprised you’d want to buy it,”
    “I would fix it up,” she said,
    She made the declaration in that haughty little way that made him want to scoop her up and kiss her until she went weak in the knees. He settled for an indifferent shrug.
    “Sorry, it’s not for sale.”
    “I’ve been checking into real estate prices in the area and I’ve come up with a ballpark figure that I think is reasonable,” she went on as if she hadn’t heard him. She snatched a piece of paper off of his desk and scribbled a figure on it, then shoved it in front of him.
    “Nice ballpark, if I were playing, which I’m not.”
    Scowling at him, she scratched out the amount and wrote another. Kevin stared at the paper and managed to hide his admiration. She’d pretty much nailed down the current market value and tacked on an extra ten thousand. She’d been one very busy woman since hitting town.Most people undervalued the property around here because the town had been slow in grasping its own potential. This outsider had apparently seen it right off. Since she was playing fair with the money, he wondered if she’d be honest about a few other things.
    “Tell me, Gracie MacDougal, why are you so hot to buy that particular house? Do you have a husband and half a dozen kids stashed away somewhere?”
    “I don’t see how that’s relevant.”
    “It would give me a clue about why you’re interested in such a huge old house.