The lobby was cool and serene, awash in soft colors and green plants, soothing music drifting through the air. The desk clerk greeted him with a warm smile. “Mr. Martin! We weren’t expecting you today. How nice that you chose to visit The Delaford.”

“I don’t have a reservation. I was just in the area and thought I’d see if you had a room. Anything will do.”

The desk clerk glanced over at her computer. “We have two suites and several deluxe rooms available. Which would you prefer?”

“I’ll take the suite. For a week if that’s possible.” Kel pulled out his credit card and handed it to her. “I’m hoping you can help me. I’m looking for…Darcy. Do you know her?”

“Miss Scott?”

“Tall, brunette, very pretty. Really great legs.”

The clerk nodded. “That sounds like her.”

“Yes, Miss Scott,” Kel said. “Darcy Scott.” He noticed the name of the hotel behind the desk. The Delaford Resort and Spa. A Scott Hotel Property.

“Of course I know her. Would you like me to get her for you?”

“No,” Kel said, deciding to bide his time before their next meeting. “But I would like to know how to get hold of her if I need her.”

“Just call the front desk and ask for the manager.”

“The manager,” Kel repeated. Beautiful, sexy, intriguing Darcy Scott was the manager of The Delaford. He hadn’t expected that. Kel pointed to the sign. “And does her husband own the hotel?” It was a clumsy way to gather information, but he had to know the score.

“Oh, no,” the clerk said. “Sam Scott is Darcy’s father. Darcy isn’t married.” A few moments later, she handed him the key. “I’ve put you in the Bennington Suite. It has a lovely terrace that overlooks the lake. Just take the elevator to the third floor and follow the signs. The bellman will bring your luggage, and if you don’t mind, I’ll send up our manager of guest services and she can arrange for any services you’d like scheduled.”

Though a massage would go far to relieving the constant ache in his shoulder and a long soak in the whirlpool sounded like pure heaven, Kel had other priorities. He wasn’t here for his health; he had come for peace of mind. And the only person that could provide him with that was Darcy Scott.

“I look forward to my stay,” Kel murmured with a smile.

2

DARCY CLICKED ON the Lake Country Real Estate website and navigated to the photos of the four-bedroom, three-bath house on Crystal Lake. She re-read the description as she had so many times over the past few weeks. Wide, wrap-around porch, Victorian gazebo overlooking the water, original boathouse. But even the thoughts of buying her dream home couldn’t take her mind off Kel Martin.

She glanced down at her arm, at the spot where he had touched her. In that single, ordinary moment, at that brief contact, she realized that she’d never really gotten over him. He was nothing more than a stranger to her, yet if he took her hand and led her into his bedroom, she’d be hard pressed to refuse him anything.

How could a man have such an incredible hold over her? Was it Kel? Or was it just loneliness? While she’d been engaged, she’d barely thought of him.

She ran a hand through her hair. That wasn’t entirely true, she admitted to herself. There had been more than a few times that she’d caught herself reliving that night in her mind.

With a frustrated sigh, Darcy turned her attention back to the website. Kel Martin was part of her past. This house was her future.

The house, a sprawling shingle-style cottage, sat on a lovely piece of lake frontage, almost directly across the water from The Delaford. “West Blueberry Lane,” she murmured. In a few months, that address could be hers-if she gathered the courage to make an offer on the place.

Darcy had lived in a suite at the resort since she’d arrived two years before, never quite sure how long she’d be staying. But it was finally time to force her father’s hand. Either the job at The Delaford was hers to keep or it wasn’t-and if it was, she was going to make some major changes in her life. She was going to buy a house and put down some roots.

No more waiting around for Mr. Right. No more putting her life on hold in the hopes that Prince Charming was waiting just around the corner. Darcy closed her eyes, another image of Kel Martin invading her thoughts.

Yes, he was handsome and, yes, they’d spent an incredible, unforgettable night together. But Darcy was five years older now and much wiser. One night of passion could never guarantee a lifetime of happiness, no matter how alluring that fantasy might be. If she was meant to spend the rest of her life with a man, then he’d have to find her. She was tired of looking for him.

The door to Darcy’s office crashed open and Darcy spun around in her chair. Amanda stood in the doorway, breathless. She grabbed the door and slammed it behind her, collapsing back against it. Fanning her face with her hand, she drew a deep breath. “Guess who’s at the reception desk?”

Darcy’s stomach twisted nervously. “My father?” She wasn’t ready for him yet. She hadn’t worked out exactly how she would word her demands. Talking to Sam Scott was like playing chess. She had to plan her attacks and anticipate his responses.

“No!” Amanda cried. “Guess again!”

A flood of relief raced through her. “I don’t know. Arnold? J.Lo? Madonna? We cater to a celebrity clientele here. Famous people don’t impress me much anymore-you know that.”

“Kel Martin. You know, the guy we saw today in the chocolate shop. He’s here and he’s planning to stay for a week.”

Darcy gasped and jumped up from her chair. “You didn’t give him a room.”

“Of course I didn’t. Olivia did. She’s working the front desk.”

“No, no, no,” Darcy cried, wringing her hands. “He can’t stay here. You have to go back out there and tell him Olivia made a mistake. There are no vacancies; we have a huge group coming in. He’ll just have to find another place to stay.”

“Why would I do that? We have two very nice suites sitting empty this week. His money is as good as anyone else’s. Plus, we have the pleasure of looking at that gorgeous face for seven days and nights. It’s a win-win situation, wouldn’t you say?”

“It’s a disaster waiting to happen,” Darcy insisted.

“Why?”

Darcy shifted nervously. Amanda was not going to give up on this without a good reason. But did Darcy really want to tell her the whole story? “I once stuck my tongue on the playground jungle gym in the middle of a Chicago winter,” she finally said.

Amanda frowned. “What?”

“And I home permed my hair the night before my senior prom. I majored in paleontology in college. I bought my very first Gucci bag with rent money. I’ve made some really stupid mistakes in my life.” Darcy paused. “And, about five years ago, I had a one-night stand with Kel Martin.”

Amanda’s eyes went wide. “You slept with Kel Martin?”

“We didn’t sleep. We spent the whole night…getting busy. The next morning, he left and I never saw him again. Until about a week later, when I saw his photo in the newspaper and found out who he really was.”

Amanda’s jaw dropped. “Wait, you didn’t know who he was when you slept with him?”

“He said he was new in town and I don’t follow baseball. I picked him up at the bar at the Penrose. We went to his room, had fantastic sex and that was it. End of story.”

A gleeful smile spread across Amanda’s face. “End of Chapter One. Beginning of Chapter Two Kel Martin takes a room at The Delaford.”

“Now you know why I can’t have him staying here. I’ve never been able to get that night out of my mind.”

“Maybe you could rekindle your romance or have a nice tidy little affair. You haven’t had a man in your bed for a long time. If you don’t get a little practice once in awhile, you’re going to forget how to do it.”

“We never had a romance. It was just lust, two people scratching an itch.”

Amanda crossed the room and put her arm around Darcy’s shoulders. “Better stock up on calamine, Darcy, because that itch just booked a room for a week.”

“I’ll just inform him that we can’t possibly accommodate him for that long. Besides, I don’t have time for sex right now. Daddy is coming at the end of the week and everything has to be perfect. We’re going have a heart-to-heart discussion about my future at The Delaford and my plans to run his company after he retires.”

“But you’ve always been great at multi-tasking.”

“You’re no help at all,” Darcy muttered as she walked through the office door.

She had always wanted a career working for her father. Darcy had spent her childhood trying to please Sam Scott. She got the best grades, participated in all the proper activities in school. She’d even managed to get herself into an Ivy League college. Yet nothing she did could change the way Sam Scott looked at his daughter.

Since she was a child, he had stressed the importance of Darcy making a good marriage, not a good career. Instead, he’d steered his two sons into the family business. But Darcy’s two older brothers had been uninterested in working for their demanding father, instead founding successful business ventures of their own.

When Darcy had been invited to step into her father’s world, she’d been thrilled with the opportunity to prove her worth. But it was only after she’d taken this job that she’d realized her father had no plans to let her keep it. Sam Scott still insisted that Darcy’s primary focus ought to be finding a husband, preferably one interested in stepping into the family business.

Neil Lange had been the perfect choice. He had managed her father’s Beverly Hills hotel and, to Sam Scott’s delight, had shown an immediate interest upon meeting Darcy. Darcy had allowed herself to be swept her off her feet and, for a time, had thought she was in love. But she’d delayed setting a date for their wedding.