Read What the Heart Knows: A Milford-Haven Novel - Book One for Free Online Page A

talk to. But he didn’t like the idea of invading her privacy, nor of deceiving her in any way.
    Kevin watched Jack wince as he took a sip of his hot coffee, then explain, “It means you be sure to let me know the moment Samantha re-opens the investigation, because I have a little something prepared for the press.”
    “What’s that?” asked Kevin dutifully.
    “Oh, just a little marriage we used to have.” Jack wiped the coffee from his mustache, but Kevin thought he was also trying to conceal a smirk.
    “No kidding? You used to be married to Samantha?”
I didn’t mean to say that so loud
.
    Just then, Sally appeared with their food. “Well, here we are—eggs, toast, and for you some muffins. And how about a warm-up on those coffees?”
    Jack Sawyer looked daggers at Kevin. To Sally, he barked, “Yes, yes, thanks, and that’s all.”
    He issued it like an order, which Sally didn’t seem to have heard. “Let’s see, how about some marmalade?”
    “I said that’d be
all
for now, Sally.” He could feel tension creasing the corners of his mouth.
    “Right! Well, I’m right here if you need me.” Sally hummed again as she hurried off to handle the next customer.
    Digging into his eggs and biscuits voraciously, Jack allowed the first few bites to take the edge off his hunger. Calmer now, he remembered to admonish his over-eager employee. “Kevin, I expect you to keep that
quiet
about Samantha.”
    “Oh, okay.” Kevin was ever so slowly dribbling honey ontoone side of his biscuit. “So it’s a surprise?”
    Jack couldn’t stand to watch the deliberate slowness of Kevin’s work with the honey, and at his employee’s comment he choked down a laugh with a morsel of bacon. He washed down his last bite with a swallow of coffee. Once again wiping his mustache, he said “Yes, you could say that.”
    He began to smile at the prospect of damaging that reputation Samantha held so dear.
The thought of getting back at Samantha so poetically is delicious
. “In any case,” Jack continued, enjoying the way the words felt in his mouth almost as much as he enjoyed Sally’s home cooking, “it’ll be common knowledge soon enough.”

    By the time Jack reached the Sawyer Construction Company he’d had his breakfast and was ready to tackle the day—a day he figured was likely to start with battling Samantha.
    Most of the company’s actual work was on-site, but it did maintain offices in town—a three-room suite in the Plaza building, which had an elevated courtyard facing Main Street and employee parking slots at the rear of the building. Jack pulled his truck into his spot.
There’s Kevin’s truck. How did he manage to beat me here again?
Jack marched across the courtyard and into the outer office without so much as a glance in either direction.
Kevin must be in the kitchenette making coffee
.
    Jack saw the blinking light on the office answering machine. Sure enough, this must be the message Samantha’d promised would greet him at the office. He hit the
Play
button and ground his teeth while he listened.
    Nothing grated on him more than her voice—unless it was her tone. She’d
advise
him? He walked into his private office and closed the door. Using the added charge of annoyance for fuel, he dialed her number.
    She answered on the first ring. “It’s Jack, Samantha.” Giving her no time to get a word in, he continued, “I figured you’d call. Had time to digest your morning grapefruit yet? Or was it prunes? I forget.”
There are certain advantages to having lived with the woman
.
    “I’m not going to let you ruin a perfectly good morning,” she snapped. “And by the way, I’m not about to let you ruin another perfectly good hill either.”
    “Oh, really?” countered Jack. “And who do you think makes the decisions at this company?”
    “Well, if it were me, you’d adhere to the Environmental Planning Commission’s rules.”
    It was just like her to start spouting rules.
That was one of our