Sweet Accord by Felicia Mason

Author:Felicia Mason
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2003-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“Have you lost your mind?”

He smiled up at her. “Maybe. Come on. I’m hungry.”

Haley had two choices: she could go with Matt or she could stand on the gazebo steps looking shell-shocked while almost two-hundred people looked on. Seeing as how being in the spotlight always made her a little queasy, she really had just one option.

She put her hand in Matt’s.

It was strong, warm and completely enveloped hers.

Catcalls and applause followed her progress down the steps of the gazebo. With a big grin, Matt bowed to the crowd, but he never let go of Haley’s hand or of his picnic basket. Haley thought she might die of embarrassment.

“Do you have to show off?”

He glanced at her. “Yes. I just got the best basket and the prettiest girl in Wayside, Oregon.”

Her blush of embarrassment became another kind.

“Where to?” he asked as the auctioneer began introducing the next lot.

“I have a quilt spread out over there,” Haley said pointing toward the far edge of the square, away from the crush of people but close enough to enjoy the band that would strike up again as soon as the bidding ritual ended.

Matt led the way to a well-worn blue, pink and white quilt. “Hmm, churn dash, right?” he said eyeing the pattern.

“Don’t tell me you quilt.”

He laughed. “Hardly.” While Haley smoothed out an edge, he settled the basket in the middle. A small two-quart cooler and a canvas tote bag were already there. “My grandma is the quilter. She has a couple of favorite patterns. That one,” he said with a nod toward Haley’s quilt. “And the double wedding ring.”

Haley glanced over at him at that, but she didn’t say anything.

“Everybody in the family who gets married gets a wedding ring quilt from her.”

“Do you have yours with you?”

He grinned and pointed at her with a nod. “Smooth.”

Haley shrugged. “You opened the door.”

He held a hand out to assist her in settling on the quilt. When they were both seated, Haley reached for the basket. “Let’s see what we have here.”

“Is that your way of saying you don’t know what’s in there? I just paid a hundred bucks for a mystery lunch?”

She smiled. “You did that anyway.” She reached for his hand. “Thank you, Matt. You didn’t have to be so generous with your donation. As a member of the committee, I thank you on behalf of all of us.”

He covered her hand with his other one and warmth spread through Haley.

“I didn’t get this,” he said with a nod toward the basket, “to make a donation to your cause.”

“Then why?”

“Because I seriously doubted you’d agree to a date with me otherwise.”

Haley snatched her hand away and sat up on her knees. “This isn’t a date.”

“What do you call it?”

“Lunch. A Market Days event. A charity benefit.”

He shook his head. “I could have bid on and won any one of those baskets. But there was just one that truly held my interest.”

“Pearl’s.”

“No, Haley Cartwright’s.”

“Matt, please.”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

He closed the distance between them and pulled her to him.

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