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when he was younger. He was so handsome—big town heartthrob, football hero, the works.”
    They all glanced over to where the Neanderthal now lugged another bush toward some unsuspecting helpers who Tamra figured were probably about to get yelled at for being in his way.
    â€œHim?” she asked, not bothering to hide her skepticism. Okay, he had nice arms—muscular, tan—but otherwise . . . “That’s hard to imagine.”
    Then Christy lowered her voice to inform Tamra, “He’s been in war. In Afghanistan.”
    And Tamra tipped her head back slightly. “Ah—so that’s what’s wrong with him.”
    When everyone just stared at her, clearly aghast, shesaid, “I don’t mean to be cold, but I’m not sure going to war gives someone a license to be rude to every person they meet. And I don’t want anything to do with him.”
    Which was when Cami made a slightly troubled face and said, “Well, that could be a problem.”
    And Tamra blinked. “Why’s that?”
    â€œBecause I just hired him to build the golf course you’re designing.”

She began to feel hot and as contrary as she had ever felt in her life.
    Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
Chapter 3
    T AMRA FELT her eyebrows shoot up. “Him?”
    Again, everyone just stared at her.
    â€œWhat?” she said, defending herself.
    â€œHe’s a veteran,” Christy said, almost as reverently as if they were in a church. Tamra supported veterans and appreciated their sacrifice, but that didn’t mean she was going to let one treat her like crap.
    â€œAnd he gave me a reference,” Cami added, “which I called and who spoke highly of him. Apparently he’s a great worker and knows what he’s doing. Once we get the concrete poured, he should be able to do everything else we need. With your help.” She added that last part with hopefully raised eyebrows.
    And Tamra just stood there. The fact was, whoever did this job was someone she’d be working with closely. From erecting a small hut for money collection and equipment storage to laying the Astroturf for the holes to constructing the miniature features foreach—which Tamra had designed to look like Coral Cove landmarks, she would work hand in hand with this guy.
    No matter what he’d been through, he seemed like a jerk. A jerk with nice arms maybe, but still a jerk. She didn’t particularly want to spend the entire autumn butting heads with some ass who thought she was a princess just because she didn’t like rudeness. And though she was being paid for her work on the golf course, most of what she’d done this summer for the town had been on a volunteer basis, and she’d been generous with her time and skills. So she knew she’d be within her rights to tell Cami she just couldn’t work with him and that she’d have to find someone else.
    She flicked another glance his way in time to see that he’d dropped the next sizable bush pretty much right in the middle of where other people had been working and that they all stood there looking after him with the same stunned expression she probably had. Because he was a Neanderthal.
    But when she glanced back to Cami, her friend’s eyes still glimmered with hope. And a look that said, You’d really be helping me out if you can do this. She even added, through slightly clenched teeth, “He’s within the budget I promised Jack. Most guys with any experience aren’t.”
    Tamra loved Coral Cove. It was the best home she’d ever had—the only home that felt real to her. The few people in the world who she cared about, and who cared about her in return, lived here. And the reason she’d been happy to give of her time to the town was because she valued her warm, safe seaside haven so much.
    And this golf course was about bringing new business to the town.
    And she was a team