Madison Blair fended off a shiver as she stared down at the still aquamarine
water of the resort's penthouse pool. Sure, the Hearthside Inn kept the
Olympic-size swimming facility a comfortable 86 degrees, but that didn't prevent
Madison's moment of trepidation.
She didn't want to just swim, after all. Nope. A well-known international travel
writer, she wanted to follow her hidden sensualist's instincts for once and
skinny-dip the way women in Cancun or the French Riviera did. The way people at
exotic resorts all over the globe did when they weren't bogged down by reticence
and caring what other people thought the way Madison always had.
Maybe she could do it if she didn't totally skinny dip. She could just take a
lap topless and let the water caress her skin. It was three a.m. The chances of
her being discovered by a fellow insomniac were probably pretty small.
Just dive in! the voice inside her head shouted. When had she ever simply
plunged headfirst into any adventure, big or small? She had booked this week at
the Hearthside in order to indulge herself for a change. To take a few risks and
experience the kinds of exciting activities she normally only wrote about. And
after a day in the wintry wonderland of the Adirondack Mountains, Madison was
very ready for the heated pool.
She had a mere week before she needed to be back at her office in Manhattan. One
week to see if she could live for herself instead of everyone else in her life.
Dipping one toe into the warm water, Madison reminded herself that she'd already
ditched her no-commitment boyfriend and the dead-end relationship she'd been
hanging on to for two years. Surely that proved she was ready for some serious
change.
And she'd already booked an appointment at the inn's famous spa and salon
tomorrow for some blond highlights to her medium-brown hair and just about any
other beauty procedure they could dream up for her. She was evolving into
someone who could skinny-dip, damn it.
Lowering her fluffy white beach towel with the Hearthside's elegant monogram on
the corner, Madison bared her two-piece bathing suit to the empty penthouse pool
room and reached for the clasp of her halter top.
While she was evolving into that fearless skinny-dipping female, she would
settle for a topless lap. Bathing suit bottom firmly in place.
A woman had to start somewhere.
Allowing the purple Lycra top to slither to the concrete, Madison smiled at the
rush of power she felt over being half-naked and perched on the edge of the
pool. I am woman. Hear me roar.
Springing off her toes and into the water, Madison plunged into the pool and
straight to the bottom. Warm enough not to shock her body yet cool enough to
feel refreshing, the temperature was perfect. She stayed underwater and cut
through the wavy walls of blue with her arms, her hair floating all around her
like a mermaid's mane.
She smiled at the seductive sensation of water gliding over her naked breasts.
How easy men had it to swim without the constant tug of elastic at their
shoulders. This delicious freedom was what self-indulgence was all about.
Infused with a renewed commitment to her week of unrepentant decadence, Madison
reached the other end of the pool and propelled herself to the surface. Shooting
through the liquid ceiling, she breathed deep to fill her lungs.
And nearly sprang right out of her bikini bottoms.
Her eyes locked on a pair of men's black wing tips. Goose bumps that had nothing
to do with the temperature prickled her skin.
Frozen, Madison lifted her gaze from the leather shoe tassels to take in gray
flannel trousers. And gulp a very sexy crisp white shirt opened at the neck
to reveal a hint of muscular chest. A yellow-and-blue-striped silk tie looped
around his collar, unknotted.
A fantastically gorgeous man grinned down at her every inch of her with a
wicked gleam in his hazel eyes. "Little late for a swim, isn't it?"
Nathan Abrams jammed his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching out to the
nude nymph treading water below.
In his quest to find a little solitude around the close-knit Lake Placid
community, Nathan often frequented his favorite places at odd hours. Once, he'd
stumbled across an arthritic old man massaging his knee in the Hearthside pool
at three a.m., and then there'd been the time he'd run into a janitor enjoying a
swim after his late shift.
But not once in two years of nocturnal visits to the penthouse swim facility had
the investments broker-turned-Adirondack rafting guide encountered a naked
woman.
A naked woman who was sexy as hell with perfectly shaped pink nipples.
Obviously, he was dreaming. Or maybe he was having an exquisitely real episode
of wishful thinking. Either way, the vision was a very, very good thing.
The woman sank back under the water as quickly as she'd shot out of it, assuring
him this couldn't possibly be wishful thinking. He definitely wasn't ready to
lose sight of that glistening, lithe body just yet.
Now only her heart-shaped face remained above the surface as she pinned him with
a haughty glare from her chocolate brown eyes. "The Hearthside management
doesn't allow gawking at the bathers, you know."
She hardly talked like a vision. Nathan rubbed his eyes to try and recapture the
steamier version of the water nymph, but she continued to glower at him while
keeping those enticing breasts firmly under water.
"I'm sure they'd amend that rule if they started allowing skinny-dipping while
the pool is closed. Who could blame me for gawking?" It was difficult enough not
to stare at her now when she was mostly submerged. She probably didn't know it,
but the water was well lit.
And quite transparent.
He'd never be able to smell chlorine again without getting turned on.
"I am not skinny-dipping," she argued, her cheeks rapidly growing pink.
Lowering himself to one knee in front of her, Nathan moved closer. He studied
the depths of the water with interest. "Ah, yes. I couldn't see the purple
bathing suit bottom before, but now "
With a huff of outrage and a healthy splash kicked his way, the incensed mermaid
took off underwater in the opposite direction from where he stood. And through
her indignation, she effectively confirmed his growing suspicion.
She was all too real.
The night grew more interesting by the moment for Nathan.
Hand pressed to the cool tile, he watched her swim away while a drop of water
slid down his nose. In an effort to play the gentleman, he didn't follow his
baser urge to race to the other side of the pool and see if he could catch a
glimpse of her there, too. God knows his feet would have gladly sprinted had he
allowed them.
But if the woman in the pool was a living and breathing woman, Nathan Abrams
despite his two-year stint as a loner in the mountains had a good mind to ask
her out. And his chances of her saying yes would certainly be decreased if he
gawked any more. Or at least they would be if he was obvious about it.
He was admirably laid-back when she reached for a tiny scrap of purple fabric at
the far end of the pool. He even turned around when she tugged the material
underwater. No doubt she was tying on her top even now while he looked out the
oversize skylight into the snowy, star-filled night and pictured her.
In detail.
Just as he was patting himself on the back for his restraint, her voice echoed
through the enclosed pool area. "You know, a gentleman would have just left the
room."
Well, hell. Braving a glance over one shoulder, he saw her safely out of the
pool and wrapped in a fluffy hotel towel, probably well strapped into her
swimsuit beneath that. She used a second towel to dry off her shoulder-length
brown hair.
Growing more and more curious about his fellow night owl, Nathan rose to his
feet and dared a few steps in her direction. Wasn't it high time he got over the
wounds from his divorce and took a few chances on those of the feminine
persuasion again? The water nymph in front of him might look every bit as
beautiful as his ex-wife, but there was no way she could be as utterly
self-absorbed if she was hiding her penchant for swimming naked under cover of
night. Phoebe would have strut right through the lobby in her thong.
Besides, the sylph in the purple swimsuit wasn't local. If things didn't work
out with his first foray into dating again, he wouldn't have to stumble over her
everywhere he went in the small Lake Placid community. Not that stumbling over
her so far had proven anything but tremendously...pleasurable.
He sauntered in her direction. "Maybe. But then a real gentleman would probably
be choking on his own regret right about now, too." He arrived at the other end
of the pool, a few feet away from her. "I'd like to think of myself as more of
risk-taker than that."
She raised a censorious brown eyebrow in response, a last droplet of water
dripping from her temple straight down to her cheek.
"And I imagine any woman skinny-dipping at three a.m. has learned to appreciate
the allure of a few calculated risks in life." Nathan had all he could do not to
lean over and halt the drop in its path with his finger. "How about taking an
even bigger gamble and say you'll see me tomorrow night?"
She'd come to the Adirondacks for some adventure, hadn't she? Now, she stood
face-to-face with a sexy stranger dangling the chance to take a few risks.
Madison snuggled her towel a little closer to her body for two reasons. One, she
needed to remind her racing pulse that yes, she was decently covered now. And
two, she wanted to make darn sure she hid her body's reaction to the
mouthwatering man standing just close enough to send a pleasant shiver straight
through her.
But as tempting as it sounded to spend some time with the Adonis in Armani,
Madison refused to relinquish her mission for this week. She came to the
luxurious Hearthside Inn for some serious self-indulgence and some exceedingly
rare "Madison time." She couldn't afford to allow herself to get caught up in
some sexy stranger who'd stepped out of her fantasies. "I don't know if seeing
each other again would be such a good idea."
He shook his head. "I'm going about this all wrong, aren't I? Let me start
again. I'm Nathan Abrams."
Extending his hand to her, he waited expectantly.
Carefully transferring both ends of her towel into one fist, Madison shook
Nathan's hand with her other. "Madison Blair. And I have to say I'm a bit
embarrassed to meet you."
She felt the warmth build in her cheeks as the heat from his palm jumped to
hers. How mortifying to meet a fantasy man while so...underdressed.
Then again, maybe if she spent more time indulging her own needs and wants
instead of worrying about what the rest of the world thought, she wouldn't be a
bit embarrassed. She'd be thrilled for the chance to melt right into Nathan
Abram's hazel eyes.
The grin he flashed her stole her breath even as he released her fingers. "I'd
be lying if I said the incident in the pool was already forgotten. But I don't
think it's anything to be embarrassed about. If it makes you feel any better, I
went to a beach in Rio once and every woman in sight was wearing less than you
were when we met."
A well-traveled man? Now that sparked her interest even more. Her last loser
boyfriend hadn't known the difference between Sydney and Singapore. Nor did he
care to hear about it.
Still, she was here this week to work on a major attitude adjustment, not get
involved with a sexy stranger. "I'd love to be that bold," she confided,
surprised to share her most hidden secret with a man she'd never met. Odd what
insomnia and the solitude of the pool room at three a.m. could do to a person.
"But, actually, that's part of the reason I shouldn't see you this week. I'm
having a bit of a retreat to focus on some 'me' time."
And no matter how enticing Nathan Abrams might be, Madison wouldn't be swayed
from her mission.
She wanted "me" time?
Nathan heard the words but found them hard to reconcile with the half-shy woman
who'd raced for her halter top at the first sight of him. He knew all about
self-absorbed women who needed lots of "me" time. Hell, Phoebe's whole life had
been a me, me, me show from the moment he'd met her.
Surely this modest, brown-eyed mermaid in front of him wasn't the selfish
creature his ex-wife had been.
Still, Nathan knew better than to press. For now.
"Never let it be said I argued with a woman on retreat." Tugging a business card
from his wallet, Nathan handed it to her. "If you change your mind "
"I can't." Her voice was firm, but her dark eyes held a flash of regret.
Or so he hoped.
"I'm going to venture out on a limb here and say that I'm willing to bet you're
a woman who occasionally seeks a little adventure." Witness the skinny-dipping
incident. Heaven knew he wouldn't be forgetting it any time soon. "Take the
card, and then if you ever decide you're ready for another risk or two, you'll
know where to reach me."
"I have to warn you, I'm a cautious risk-taker, Nathan." Still, she reached to
accept his offering. "Otherwise, I would have been vacationing in Rio wearing my
thong on the beach instead of hiding out in the Hearthside pool room at three
a.m. for my little moment of indulgence."
He didn't dare get distracted by the thought of her in a thong or he wouldn't
sleep at all tonight. He barely stood a chance now after getting an eyeful of
Madison's naked breasts.
"A cautious risk-taker? Then I'll consider myself all the more flattered should
you ever change your mind about me." Pressing the card into her palm for a few
seconds longer than strictly necessary, Nathan felt a spark of heated connection
between them, a leap of pure electricity that sizzled him from the inside out.
"It's been a pleasure meeting you, Madison."
She pulled back as if she'd felt the shock as clearly as he had. Catching the
fullness of her lower lip with her teeth, she looked distressed for only a
moment before she tightened the towel a little more around her body and offered
up a faint smile. "Good night, Nathan."
It had been a good night, damn it. Turning on his heel, he left her to her swim
and wondered how he could see her again.
He had surely just been experiencing dating paranoia to think soft and sexy
Madison could ever be anything like his hard-as-nails ex-wife. He would find a
way to see Madison again and he didn't have any intention of waiting around for
her to change her mind.
First thing tomorrow, he had every intention of tracking her down. And sooner or
later, he would find a way to make her say yes. To indulge in some of
that me time with him.
Madison wandered around the lobby of the Hearthside Inn the next morning and
tried not to think about Nathan. She had another hour before her spa appointment
and she couldn't think of a single hedonistic activity to engage in before then.
Well, besides calling the number on Nathan's card and seeing if he wanted to
indulge her a little. Or maybe all day.
Pulling the card from her purse for the tenth time, Madison traced a finger over
the color graphic of a river raft and the bold black print. "Nathan Abrams,
Adirondack Rafting Guide."
A crazy profession for a man wearing Armani at three a.m. Not that it wasn't
intriguing. And Nathan had told her to call him when she was ready for
adventure. Had he meant adventure of the rafting kind? Or another sort of
escapade entirely?
Madison peered around the bustling lobby, half hoping she'd run into the man
who'd starred in all her dreams last night. Frustrated when she saw only skiers
getting ready to hit the slopes for the day, she noticed a small Sale sign
outside the pro shop.
Shopping was definitely a self-indulgence.
Seized with purpose, Madison charged into the store and stopped at the first
display case she spied. Sunglasses. Fine.
Convinced she was distracting herself from visions of broad shoulders in crisp
white linen, Madison didn't notice the woman staring at her from the other side
of the display case until a tortoiseshell pair of glasses was thrust in her
face.
"Try these on, chica. They are perfect for you." The woman was boldness
and attitude personified. Jewelry sparkled at her wrists and fingers. Long, dark
hair contrasted with her bright orange parka and dangling parrot earrings.
Madison took the eyewear and tried on the woman's selection. Glancing into a
mirror, she admired the cat-eyes shape of the frames. The lenses were
rose-tinted and put a happy glow on everything in sight.
"See? They are exactly what you need." The woman smiled her satisfaction. "I am
Ines Cordova, by the way. And I don't believe in shopping alone."
"Madison Blair. And I appreciate it." She had thought she'd been good about
giving herself a fresh perspective this week on her indulgence retreat, but her
efforts were greatly enhanced by rose-colored glasses. "Tinted lenses are a
great idea."
Ines tucked a strand of dark hair behind one ear, her bracelets jangling an
optimistic tune. "They'll put a little romance in your life. Just you wait and
see."
The two women moved toward the next display case to peruse headbands and hats.
Madison sighed, thinking about how much she'd always screwed up her love life.
"I don't know about romance. I'll just be happy to treat myself to a few new
experiences."
"Romance is always a new experience," Ines insisted, searching quickly through
the pile of wool and acrylic to pull out a pink cashmere headband and hold it up
to Madison's face. "And it's a state of mind. You romance yourself first and
then you'll be ready to find romance with someone else. My best friend is
getting married next week and she's living proof."
Madison had some serious doubts about Ines's approach, but she was too sensitive
to the woman's feelings to argue. Trying on the headband, she fell in love with
it immediately. "I never would have chosen pink. It's gorgeous."
"See what those glasses will do?" Ines winked as she picked up her own shopping
bags. "I need to go find a little romance of my own this morning, but don't you
forget what I told you. Taking a few chances on new experiences is a great idea.
Just don't forget to keep your eye open for romance, too. "
Madison watched Ines juggle her shopping bags out the door and into the main
lobby, where the woman met up with a tall bear of a man who hurried to take her
packages from her.
Definitely a gentleman.
Too bad the man Madison had in mind today had made no apologies for not being
more of a gentleman. But in light of her talk with Ines, Madison couldn't help
but wonder if she was being close-minded not to at least explore the undeniable
chemistry that had sparked between them last night.
She was here to take chances after all. Try new experiences.
And she had the feeling that Nathan Abrams was one experience that was simply
too good to pass up a better deal than even the two-for-one snowshoes on the
clearance rack.
"J. D., I hope you're pulling my leg." Trudging through the snowy backwoods,
Nathan studied J. D. Drollette, one of the few friends he'd made in his years in
the Adirondacks and also his only customer on this afternoon's final snowshoeing
trip.
J.D. was a popular radio talk show personality and local sports commentator in
the Lake Placid region, but off the air, J.D. appreciated a little peace and
quiet as much as Nathan did. The two had formed a friendship based on their
mutual love of the North Country. And shared addictions to snowshoes in the
winter, white-water rafting in the summer.
Now, they stomped through the soft white snow back to Nathan Tours headquarters
in a log cabin along the Saranac River.
J.D. shook his head. "It's no joke. I'm staying at the Hearthside this week and
all the staff has been talking about the New York magazine writer who's here to
check out Lake Placid. One of Wanderlust's best-known columnists checked into
the hotel yesterday."
Definitely not good news. At least not for Adirondackers who prized their
solitude the way Nathan did.
"But that doesn't mean he's here on assignment for the magazine. Maybe he's just
taking a vacation." Nathan adjusted the strap on his backpack filled with
emergency equipment in case of bad weather.
"It's a she." J.D. scuffed his shoe sideways to send a spray of snow across
Nathan's ski jacket. "And the Hearthside staffers say that's what a lot of
travel writers do when they want to get a fair story. They don't really
advertise their magazine affiliation."
"But everybody knows it anyway." It made no sense to Nathan. With any luck,
J.D.'s sources were dead wrong about all this. The last thing Nathan wanted was
to have his mountains turn into the next must-see destination in some chichi
travel publication. The Adirondacks definitely didn't need half of Manhattan
jetting in for long weekends and overpopulating the wooded serenity.
"Of course, everybody knows it anyway. The columnist is Madison Blair." J.D.
unstrapped his shoes just outside the cabin. "You coming?"
Nathan blinked. Tried to shake off the unwelcome surprise. "Madison Blair?"
Nathan couldn't have possibly heard that correctly. He shook snow off his head
as he covered the last few feet to his cabin.
For a crazy moment, he'd thought J. D. Drollette had just told him that the
well-known columnist who was doing a feature piece on the Adirondacks was
Madison Blair.
But surely Nathan was just daydreaming about Madison and her half-naked body too
much and he'd filled in her name by mistake.
"That's right. Madison Blair. Capital M. Capital B." J.D. slugged him in the
arm. "I thought you'd done some traveling yourself before you turned into a
hermit up here. You've never heard of her?"
Oh, he'd heard of her all right.
Just not in association with any big-league travel magazine. And he definitely
hadn't pegged her for a cosmopolitan jet-setter. Nathan had learned to give
spoiled city girls a wide berth.
Hadn't he?
Climbing out of his snowshoes, Nathan tromped through a foot of fresh powder
that had fallen today toward the cabin he'd built with his own two hands.
"Sorry, J.D. My travels for my investment firm usually involve hit-and-run stays
in the business district of cities in the Asian markets. And I don't think I
ever consulted a travel guide other than a street map." He had a hard time
picturing last night's blushing mermaid as a globe-trotting pacesetter for New
York's pampered elite.
Hanging both sets of shoes in the equipment shed outside the cabin, Nathan
assured himself Madison really was different. Special.
There'd been undeniable chemistry last night, no matter what the woman did for a
living. And if she was going to try to drag the sleepy Adirondack town into a
glitzy international spotlight, he owed it to himself and all the other
solitude-seekers in these mountains to convince her otherwise.
Before he could formulate a plan to locate a nocturnal mermaid before noon, the
door to his offices opened from the inside and Madison appeared, as if he'd
somehow willed her there.
Wearing mouthwatering ski pants and a come-and-get-me smile, she held the door
wide-open for him. "You're just the man I was looking for."
Madison shivered from the cold blast of air through the open door not to
mention the heat of Nathan's assessing gaze. She had only been waiting for
Nathan for a few minutes in the small lobby area of Nathan Tours, but it had
been long enough to make her edgy, nervous.
After her day of total self-indulgence at the Hearthside spa, she'd felt ready
to tackle the world. She'd charged over to the small log cabin that housed
Nathan's business with a great sense of adventure and purpose, but in those
moments of waiting, a few of her self-doubts crept back.
What if this man was more adventure than she could handle?
She watched as Nathan said goodbye to a friend he called J.D. a tall,
broad-shouldered man with a slow, deliberate step. And then, before she knew it,
Nathan had parted with his companion and was turning toward her, giving her his
complete, undivided attention.
It was a heady thing.
His hazel eyes missed nothing, his hot gaze making her heart kick up its pace.
But other than those sharp, steady eyes, Nathan bore little resemblance to the
man in perfectly creased Armani trousers from last night.
Today, he wore a blue parka and jeans with boots. As he closed the cabin door
behind them and unzipped his coat, Madison spied the gray T-shirt with a navy
and hunter green flannel shirt over top of it. He looked more like a lumberjack
than a scion of Wall Street the way he had last night.
Curious about the man and not quite ready to admit the purpose of her visit
Madison couldn't resist asking him about it.
"Flannel by day and Armani by night?" she prodded, hoping she wasn't being too
nosy. "Sort of makes a girl wonder which is the real you."
Hanging his jacket on the wooden coat tree by the door, Nathan's hazel gaze
wandered over her. Slowly.
A hungry fire leaped up inside her where there had been a slow sizzle.
He wandered closer, caused her skin to tighten and tingle. Plucking up her hand,
he studied her fresh manicure in Provocative Pomegranate and enclosed her newly
sloughed and smoothed fingers in his own.
"A half-naked mermaid by night and a spa maven by day." He grazed her palm with
his thumb, a tiny caress with maximum seductive power. "I could ask the same
question of you, Madison."
Nathan watched the progress of Madison's pink tongue over her lips and decided
he couldn't wait more than five minutes to kiss her.
"I asked you first, Nathan. Which is the real you the guy in the
power-executive suit or the proprietor of Nathan Tours?" Her voice held a note
of husky suggestion, but she couldn't hold his gaze.
Before he could frame a response in his sluggish brain that could only think
about how soon he could kiss her, Madison picked up one of his brochures from
the front corner of his desk.
"So you put together white-water rafting trips, extended hikes on the more
remote mountains, snowshoeing groups...." She roamed the page with a
journalist's eagle eye. "Do you get much out-of-town traffic through here?"
Oh, no. He wasn't going there. Nor would he expect a travel writer to appreciate
the merits of slow business in favor of overcrowded tour groups or socialite
participants who were more interested in the next high-end gift shop than the
beauty of the mountains.
"This isn't really my main business." He hoped it wasn't too obvious he was
avoiding the question, but he didn't want to run the risk of piquing her
professional interests by talking about his work as an Adirondack guide. "I've
been an investments broker since college." Reaching for the button on the gas
woodstove in the center of the small office that doubled as a lobby, Nathan
decided to redirect her before she did him any favors like putting his business
in her feature piece.
How convenient that he already had an idea in mind for how to distract her.
Tugging the brochure from her grasp, Nathan pitched the paper back on his desk.
"Is business really what you came here to talk about, Madison? Because
technically speaking I'm not sure that I keep office hours on the weekend."
And not so technically speaking, Nathan was more interested in finding out
something about Madison Blair outside of her work for Wanderlust.
Something about her penchant for swimming half-naked in public places would be
an interesting place to start....
"No?" She arched an eyebrow. Caramel highlights shone in her hair from the
firelight cast by the black enamel stove.
"No. But that's not to say I'm not happy to see you. On the contrary, I've been
thinking about you ever since last night." Nonstop, in fact. And in light of
that knowledge, Nathan couldn't help but wonder if his plan to distract her
wasn't totally selfish on his part. No doubt, he was rationalizing here in order
to do what he really wanted.
Which was to dive right into Madison Blair's dark eyes and cover her soft mouth
with his own.
Dive in.
Madison's knees felt just a little weak despite the sound pine floor of Nathan's
cabin beneath her feet. She repeated her new mantra to give herself courage.
Had he really just said he'd been thinking about her since last night? That very
interesting news, combined with the fact that Nathan had been staring at her
mouth for the past three seconds urged Madison to act. This was what she'd
wanted all along. This was why she came to his cabin today.
Dive in.
They moved toward one another at the same time, and before she knew it, she was
kissing Nathan Abrams. Not some soft, exploratory kiss either. No, when Madison
had decided to dive in, she didn't bother to hold anything back.
The log walls seemed to grow closer, increasing the intimacy of just the two of
them in the middle of nowhere. Together. Somehow her hands had found their way
to his broad shoulders. And she wasn't resting them against him so much as she
pulled him more tightly to her.
In the two years with her last boyfriend, she'd never once kissed him like this.
She felt consumed by fire and hunger so much so that it had to be obvious to
Nathan.
But then, Nathan was kissing her right back as if he wanted more much more
than a mating of the mouths. His hands slid beneath her open ski jacket to the
small of her back and the lavender cashmere twin set she'd splurged on for her
trip to the mountains.
And even though Madison might have initiated the kiss, Nathan's lips moved
against hers with exquisite thoroughness and a definite sense of possession.
Her breasts tightened against the hard wall of his chest. And she'd be willing
to guess that he felt it straight through two layers of cashmere and one skimpy
silk bra because he chose that precise moment to move one hand to cup her
through the material, his thumb tracing slow circles toward the center of one
peaked, aching nipple.
Sensation zinged through her, awakening every nerve and making her intensely
aware of the hard heat of him all around her.
A flood of heat rolled through her like a seductive wave and Madison realized
what she wanted to indulge in this week more than anything else.
One hundred percent pure, undiluted Nathan.
Nathan hadn't been expecting anything like this when he'd closed the cabin door
behind them.
Madison had seemed at times a little shy, or else interested in his business,
and then ka-bam.
Her lips told a whole different story.
If he stayed here any longer with Miss Combustible he'd be too far gone to do
anything but have her on her back inside of ten minutes. And no matter how hot
her kisses were at the moment, that was probably not what she'd had in mind for
a first date.
Pulling away with more than a little regret, Nathan found pleasure in seeing how
long it took for her eyelids to flutter open again. A solid three count before
she focused on him.
"I don't want to mess up the first date, Madison, but if we stay here..." He
nodded toward the open archway leading to his living quarters.
She swallowed hard. Nodded. "The kisses are pretty potent. You want to take a
walk through town? I heard they're gearing up for a big ice carnival this week."
Nathan wasn't taking any chances on Madison getting charmed by the ice
sculptures and the dog sled races. She'd have time enough to see those things
later in the week. When she wouldn't have much time left to write about them.
Wracking his brain for what they could do that didn't involve the curious eyes
of the rest of Lake Placid, Nathan got an idea as he looked out the window into
the crisp, clear night. "Do you like to ice-skate?"
Fifteen minutes later, Madison had strapped on a pair of skates from Nathan's
overflowing equipment shed and was gliding across the smooth ice of a frozen
pond for the first time in fifteen years.
Well, maybe gliding was stretching it.
She wobbled a little at first, finding her skating legs. And here or there the
stub of a tall reed poked through the pond to mar the surface, but other than
that, she sailed along on the skates' sharp blades, the night breeze lifting her
hair from her neck to fly in a dark banner behind her.
Raising her arms above her head, she let out a howl of joy. Even better than
diving into a pool half-naked, skating in the dark under a star-filled
Adirondack sky seemed all the more spine-tingling with a sexy tour guide on the
ice behind her.
As she wove around the pond reeds and skated closer to Nathan, Madison didn't
allow herself to weigh the consequences before she asked the question that had
been teasing the edges of her brain.
"So do you think if we spend a few hours out here getting to know one another,
we'll have earned the right to get back to the kissing?"
Nathan liked the way this woman thought and right now his thoughts were hot
enough to melt the iced-over pond under them.
The more he got to know her, the more he realized it was impossible not to like
Madison. She was conservative with a little wild streak. Adventurous without
being over the top. Having spent his entire adult life as an investor first in
the thick of New York's Financial District, and now from the comfort of a linked
computer Nathan could appreciate those qualities.
And he could definitely identify with the desire to return to their shared
kisses.
"I'm game if you are. I only thought we should leave the cabin if we didn't want
to rush things. But I bet I could be persuaded right back to where we left off
"
"Not yet. Leaving was a good idea." She skated around him. Stopped in front of
him. A small spray of ice kicked up on his pant leg from her skates and her
snappy turn. "Maybe we'd feel a little more entitled to those kisses if we got
to know each other better first."
He nodded, sensing the wisdom behind the plan even as anticipation steamed
through him. "Talk now, kiss later."
"Exactly." Her smile was a fine thing. Warm and sexy and just for him.
"So how do we pack a week's worth of dates into an evening? Not that I'm rushing
this or anything."
She drummed one finger against her chin while she gave the matter serious
thought. "How about the dating version of Twenty Questions? Or we could
interview each other. I'm a journalist in my real life, so I've got excellent
interview experience. Not that I'm rushing either."
"Of course not." He had to laugh. When had it been this much fun to be with a
woman? He couldn't even remember a time like this while he'd been dating Phoebe.
Too busy trying to build a perfect world complete with the ultimate job and the
ideal wife, Nathan had been in such a hurry to close the deal with a wedding
ring that he hadn't really considered whether or not marriage would make him
happy.
But with Madison...he couldn't help but think maybe he could be himself with
her, break down some of those walls of solitude he'd carefully erected after
Phoebe and her high-maintenance lifestyle had all but bankrupted him.
Financially, he'd recovered thrived even. But he hadn't been in any rush to
jump back into a relationship. At least, not until tonight.
Maybe tonight he'd be able to talk to her about her feature story on the
Adirondacks, about his reservations, and just put it all out on the table.
"You go first," he prodded. "I'll get a sense of how this fast-forward dating
interview process works from you and then I'll put you in the hot seat."
"Fair enough." She skated away toward the edge of the ice where he'd left the
thermos of hot chocolate and a blanket. "First question has anyone ever broken
your heart?"
It was sort of a romantic's question has anyone ever broken your heart?
Madison hadn't really known she was going to ask it until it fell out of her
mouth. Maybe Ines and her rose-colored glasses were rubbing off on her. Her grip
tightened around the thermos of hot cocoa.
But it was the kind of question that would clue her in to whether or not Nathan
Abrams had a heart. Because as far as Madison was concerned, that was a growing
problem with men these days. Too caught up in their own lives to put themselves
on the line for anyone else.
Her ex-boyfriend had gladly used their relationship to make his life easier
she dropped off his dry cleaning with hers every month and she served as a
low-fuss date for corporate functions he needed to attend. No doubt, he'd
probably viewed her as pretty damn convenient sex, too. But he'd never really
invested much emotion in her or thought about what she might need or want
from him in return.
"Well, Madison, you don't pull punches, do you?" He skated her way, taking his
time as he scrubbed a hand over his chest as if he well remembered the
heartbreak in question.
"Would you rather start small and work up? You know, tell me what your favorite
color is and all that?" She dropped down to the narrow split rail perched on a
couple of logs that served as a bench. Cracking open the thermos of cocoa, she
poured half a steaming cup in the plastic top.
"No. But be warned, I'm thinking if we start here we're bound to earn a trip
back to the cabin before too long." He brushed off the snow from his side of the
bench and took a seat next to her. The sexy smile he shot her way warmed her
insides far more than the hot chocolate.
"Then we're definitely on the same page." She handed him the stainless steel cup
and he took it, careful to drink from precisely the same spot that she had.
A shiver went through her that had nothing to do with the crisp February night
air.
"To answer your question," he started, handing the empty cup back to her. "I
don't know if my heart has ever been broken, but it's taken me plenty long to
bounce back after my divorce two years ago."
"You've been married?" Not that it was a bad thing. At least, unlike Madison's
last beau, Nathan wasn't afraid to dive in.
Nodding, he stared up at the sky. "For three years and two months. I knew I'd
made a mistake sooner than that, but it took me at least a year to admit to
myself I'd screwed up. And it took every bit of that time for Phoebe to spend
her way through all our credit cards. Nearly hitting bankruptcy made me realize
I needed to ditch my pride and haul out of there before things got any worse."
"I've heard a huge percentage of couples break up over money issues." Although
Madison couldn't imagine putting a price tag on love. Her new friend Ines would
be proud of her.
"But the more time that passes since the divorce, the more I wonder if we really
split up over money."
"Oh?" Madison arched an eyebrow, curious. Surely it showed sensitivity on a
man's part if he spent time strategizing how he could have made relationships
work.
"I think we both just made poor decisions when we decided to get married. We
went into it for all the wrong reasons and we didn't really know each other." He
shifted on the bench, turning toward her, sending her senses on high alert.
She hadn't been able to banish the thought of his kisses from her mind, but she
wasn't ready to forego the getting-to-know-you phase just yet. "You should have
used the fast-forward dating interview process," she teased.
He smiled back at her. "Which brings to mind a question, Ms. Blair. Has there
ever been a man foolish enough to break your heart?"
Madison bit her lip when he shot her own question back at her. She hesitated,
her breath huffing a small white cloud into the dark night air. Then she smiled.
"You sure I can't opt out of this for the 'what's your favorite color' line of
questioning?"
"If I had to stand in the line of fire, I think it's only fair you take a
turn." Besides, he wanted to know more about her. Wanted to share more of
himself with her. All evening Nathan kept thinking he needed to tell her his
reservations about the story she was writing, too. She could ignore them if she
wanted, but he owed it to her to at least be honest about how publicizing his
mountains made him feel.
The Adirondacks were like a hidden gift. If people were lucky enough to find
them, they deserved to be there. The mountains didn't need to be splashed all
over chic travel magazines to attract the kind of people who wouldn't fully
appreciate their simple, rustic appeal.
"I can honestly say I broke my own heart, I guess. I called it quits with the
guy I'd been seeing for two years just a couple of weeks before I came up here."
Damn. He probably should have gone with the favorite color question. "I'm sorry,
Madison "
"No. Trust me, this was a good thing. I was acting out both halves of our
relationship anyway, pretending everything was great for us when we had nothing
in common except maybe an aversion to the dating scene. I think we were both
comfortable with not having to be out there taking risks. But that's no excuse
for settling for someone who isn't really passionate about you." Her eyes
flickered his way when she mentioned the word passionate.
Damn, but he liked that. "So you're not going through a major rebound or
anything?"
"Definitely not. I booked a week at the Hearthside to prove to myself I could
take a few risks and think about myself for a change." She thumped her chest
with the sentiment, her parka absorbing the impact. "I'm done working to make
other people happy that is, people who don't really care if I'm happy in
return. No more doormat behavior from this woman-in-charge. I'm making my own
rules this week."
He held his hands up in mock surrender. "No arguments from me."
She laughed. "Sorry to get so fired up about it. I just need to remind myself of
my mission this week so I don't fall into old patterns. I figure if I remind
myself often enough, I'll follow through."
Nathan understood all too well.
And now he realized why he couldn't tell her his objections to her article
tonight. She was fighting her own personal battle to be more assertive. He'd be
a first-rate dirtbag if he turned around and asked her not to write a story for
her magazine because of what he wanted the Adirondacks to be.
He'd just have to get over himself and what he wanted. She deserved to make her
own decisions about what to put in her magazine.
Bottom line, after less than twenty-four hours, Madison Blair was growing more
important to him than his two-year attachment to the North Country. Nathan
accepted that easily. He just wondered exactly what he would do with her when
they returned to the seclusion of his cabin
.
Anticipation tripped through Madison as she took off her coat inside Nathan's
cabin. They'd talked for hours out on the ice. Now she knew a lot more about him
than his favorite color.
She knew he went to the Hearthside pool at three a.m. with regularity because he
needed to unwind from his long days running his business. He was as dedicated to
his work both his investments and his tour guide business as she was to
hers.
Madison had the feeling that he was probably a workaholic before his marriage to
the illustrious Phoebe, but that his brush with near-bankruptcy thanks to his
wife had made him even more professionally driven. His time spent snowshoeing
and white-water rafting were probably attempts to give himself some much-needed
downtime while working.
But right now, with Nathan pouring her a glass of his best amaretto they'd
learned through Madison's fast-forward interview process that it was their
mutual favorite drink she didn't want to think about Nathan's work or his
ex-wife.
Following his broad shoulders into the back half of the cabin, Madison slipped
through an archway behind the lobby area she'd seen earlier. He led her to a
studio area that wasn't so much a bedroom as it was a miniature short-term
living setup. The kitchen was no more than a two-burner range, fridge, and a few
cabinets. The living area probably doubled as the bedroom with a sofa, area rug,
and another gas woodstove built into the wall to look like a fireplace. Nathan
flipped the switch for the stove, and the cabin was filled with warm, flickering
light.
She wanted to ask him more about the place and whether or not he lived there in
the tiny studio behind his business, but Nathan clinked his glass against hers
before she had the chance.
"Happy anniversary." He took a sip of amaretto, the muscles of his throat
catching her eye while she wondered what he was talking about. "We've known each
other exactly twenty-four hours."
Glancing at the brass clock above the mantel, she saw the clock was just
striking three a.m. "We talked the whole night away."
"Tired?" His hazel eyes reflected the firelight. Or was he burning with a little
fire of his own, the way she was right now?
Madison took a mental inventory of how she was feeling right now with Nathan two
steps away from her. Her heart slugged a heavy beat against her chest. Her
breath came in shallow, quick gulps. And every inch of her longed for his touch.
"I don't think I've ever felt less tired, actually."
Nathan couldn't believe his luck. Madison stood in front of him, slowly sipping
her amaretto and watching. Waiting.
For him.
He'd practically buried himself up here in the mountains for two years, never
meeting anyone but inquisitive locals who wanted to know all about his business
and what his plans were for staying in the area. And then, the first woman he
met turned out to be someone as impatient and driven as him, who didn't want to
wait to take their relationship to the next level.
On top of that, Madison was a sexy sensualist who liked to skinny-dip.
What more could a man ask for?
Still, in spite of their mutual impatience, Nathan knew he shouldn't rush
tonight. Sliding her glass from her hands, he set their drinks on an end table
near the sofa and covered her lips with his own.
Silky and sweet, she tasted like the amaretto but hotter. Nathan drew her closer
by her shoulders, then couldn't resist traveling the length of her arms with his
hands. The lavender cashmere of her sweater was plush and soft, but he only
wanted to peel it away from her skin to touch her with nothing between them.
Forcing himself to take his time, he trailed his palms over her waist to rest on
her hips. She sighed with her whole body, from the little breathy catch in her
throat to the way she leaned all the more heavily into him, rubbed herself
against him.
And he didn't stand a chance of going slow. They had all night to take their
time. All week, if he had anything to say about it. Right now, he needed to act
on the fire burning inside them both before they caught flame right in the
middle of his cabin floor.
Her clothes disappeared as if he willed them away. Sweater, top, slacks, shoes
they must be strewn about the cabin somewhere, but all he could focus on was
what still needed to go. One yellow lace bra and one tiny scrap of yellow bikini
underwear.
And then she was perfectly naked, even more so than the first time he'd met her.
Nathan was pulling her to the floor with him, his own clothes long gone, too.
He'd tossed a chenille throw from the back of the sofa onto the floor and he
smoothed it out beneath them now, kissing Madison Blair's sexy, amaretto lips
the whole time.
He wanted everything to be perfect for her and he knew it probably wouldn't be
not this first time when he wanted her so badly he couldn't see straight. But if
he could make things perfect enough to entice her to stay all night or all
week he would definitely scavenge the patience and restraint to provide her
with every provocative pleasure her sensualist nature craved.
Right now, she urged him on with every breathless moan and impatient wriggle of
her slender body. And he was powerless to deny her. Or himself.
She stole from his hands the condom he'd grabbed from a drawer and rolled it on
him in one smooth stroke. That simple touch alone was enough to make him grit
his teeth for control. Steadying her thighs with his hands, Nathan eased his way
inside her, grateful she wanted this as much as soon as he did.
The silken heat of her drove him to the brink. He managed to stave off his own
satisfaction only by focusing every ounce of his thoughts on her. Her needs. Her
wants.
Ignoring the heady scent of floral fragrance and warm woman, Nathan concentrated
on finding just the right touch that would please her. Make her forget her own
name. He elicited gasps, moans, and sighs, but only when he plucked the sweet
center of her with his finger and thumb, and drew her nipple deeply into his
mouth did he find the hot button that made her whole body tense and tighten.
Victory poured through him for all of two seconds before his own release swamped
him, made him forget both their names.
And as he held her in his arms, his nose buried in her silky hair, Nathan
wondered if she would consider turning her retreat week into the most sensual of
adventures
.
Two days and three amazing, toe-curling nights had passed since Madison had
first walked into the cabin that served as Nathan's business base and his
emergency living quarters if the weather turned severe.
Of course, the small studio area in the back looked well lived-in now. Over the
course of the past three nights, Madison and Nathan had barely left the bed that
pulled out from the sofa. When they did, it was only to make love on the floor
in front of the fire. Or on the kitchen table. Or Madison's favorite in the
shower.
Now, Madison sat propped in bed while Nathan brought her breakfast on a tray
really a Pop-Tart on a cookie sheet and handed her a copy of the morning
paper.
He set the tray on the bed and kissed her, softly at first and then, as she
clung to him longer, more urgently.
"You know we can't," he whispered in her ear as he traced the bottom of her lobe
with his tongue. "I used the last condom on the kitchen table."
"I just want to give you incentive to hurry back," she whispered back, trailing
her hand across his lap.
He stood with a groan. "If you give me any more incentive I'll be too damn
light-headed to drive."
Satisfied she'd accomplished her goal, Madison waved him away, munching on her
Pop-Tart while she opened the morning paper and wondered if today would be the
day she needed to reenter the real world.
God, she hoped not.
Her time with Nathan had been exquisite. Not only had the days been a feast for
her senses and a thorough lesson in self-indulgence, they had also taught her
what was missing in her last relationship. And it was a hell of a lot more than
great sex.
Nathan asked her questions about her job, shared ideas about what he thought
made great places to travel. He went to her magazine's web site and read all her
archived columns when she was sleeping since he needed less shut-eye than she
did. Best of all, he listened to her rant about her trouble clinching her
long-anticipated promotion and gave her some great counter-strategy ideas.
Including offering up a few of her columns on a freelance basis to some other
publications. Nathan had asked if she thought they might stir her own company to
keep her under lock and key with the bigger title and salary she felt she
deserved.
In short, Nathan gave back all the things she normally gave in a relationship.
Being with him wasn't a one-way street. And he was oh-so-generous in the
bedroom
.
Just thinking about some of the things they'd done together made her blush
even when the man was ten minutes away at the closest pharmacy.
Distracting herself with the morning news, Madison's eye jumped to the headline
of an opinion column down one side of the local section in the daily paper
"Adirondacks Seek National Exposure."
Interestingly enough, the article chatted all about the commotion a certain
travel writer from Wanderlust was causing with her presence around town.
The columnist's opinion was that the locals should treat a certain Ms. Blair to
an Adirondack experience she wouldn't forget so that she'd say great things
about the region if she opted to do a feature story.
Most of the people the columnist had interviewed around town seemed to support
the push to garner national exposure for the area. All except one Nathan Abrams
who was quoted to have said he thought the mountains ought to remain New York's
best-kept secret.
And as a sharp ache started in Madison's heart, she suddenly knew exactly why
Nathan hadn't wanted her to step foot out of the cabin for the past two days and
three nights.
While she'd been thinking Nathan was the world's most thoughtful man to indulge
her every wish, he'd been carefully following an agenda of his own this week
to keep Madison satisfied and otherwise engaged.
As her blood started to boil, Madison shoved aside her half-eaten breakfast with
more than a little regret. Obviously, her week of "me" time had come to an end.
Nathan stood in line at the local One-Stop and cursed small-town life.
Much as he loved the Adirondacks, he really resented buying a box of condoms in
a store where he knew every single one of his fellow patrons. Snagging a
newspaper that he didn't need off a nearby rack, Nathan smuggled his purchase to
the counter.
Only to have his back slapped by a friendly tree limb otherwise known as J. D.
Drollette's right arm.
"Hey, Nate. Did you see you're a local celebrity?" J.D. thumped the newspaper on
the counter, causing the condom box to jump.
So much for discretion.
"Celebrity? No, I guess I missed it." He tossed a twenty at the cashier.
J.D. was already thumbing through the paper while Nathan took his change and
stuffed his illicit box in his coat pocket.
"You're right here." J.D.'s thumb stabbed the spot. "Ines says she met this
Madison Blair woman, by the way. Have you run into her yet?"
But Nathan scarcely heard him. His eyes scanned the column and his quote about
keeping the Adirondacks a secret. The reporter shouldn't have quoted him given
that he'd made the comment in the most off-hand way three days ago. And he
certainly hadn't known the woman was writing a story.
Of course, Madison wouldn't know that. And he'd left the paper on her breakfast
tray....
Hell.
He needed to come up with a plan. And damn it, he'd need to act fast. Madison
wasn't going to stick around to hear any lame explanations. She'd done so well
asserting herself this week, Nathan never would have guessed she'd once harbored
some pushover qualities.
Scooping up the paper, he punched J.D. in the arm on his way out the door. "Do
you believe in love at first sight, J.D.?"
His friend paused. Deliberated.
In the meantime, a petite Latino woman with long, dark hair and dangly feather
earrings poked her head around the end of an aisle, a fashion magazine in hand.
"Of course he believes in love at first sight," she interjected, scowling at
J.D. with a glare that could be only a lover's right.
J.D. smiled at her. Winked. And just then Nathan noticed J.D. was carrying a
copy of the newspaper, too and damned if it didn't have the corner of a condom
box peeking out from under it. "I think sometimes you just know."
Excellent. J.D. and Ines were proof he wasn't crazy.
"Are you guys going to be at the Ice Carnival today?" Nathan asked, one foot out
the door. He couldn't wait for an answer because he had to hurry if he was going
to pull this off. Instead he just shouted over his shoulder as the door swung
shut behind him. "I'm definitely going to need some backup!"
Madison parked her car and crossed the street to the annual Ice Carnival. She
definitely didn't want to talk to Nathan about what she'd read in today's paper,
so she was hiding out here for an hour before her plane left.
That's probably why she'd allowed a loser boyfriend to walk all over her and a
tightwad boss to withhold the promotion she deserved. Even after her retreat
week, she still stunk at confrontation. But the difference in the new Madison
was that she wouldn't stick around a situation in which she wasn't appreciated.
And especially not when she'd been duped.
Therefore, she was hauling out of Lake Placid on a two o'clock charter flight
and leaving behind the ice sculptures and igloos she never got to fully enjoy.
Cowardly? Maybe. But in her mind, she'd come a long way by being able to say,
This sucks, and walk away. Even if it practically ripped her heart out to
follow her new instincts.
She had no idea how she'd come to care about Nathan so much over the course of
three days, but she'd dived right in, damn it. Apparently her dating interview
process was hideously ineffective because she never would have pegged Nathan for
the kind of guy who would have stood between her and her work.
A cheer went up from a crowd on the ice twenty yards away. While Madison peered
over at the group of revelers with flashbulbs popping, her shopping buddy Ines
squeezed her way out of the throng and waved a purple-mittened hand.
"Madison, come here!" She ran over to Madison and dragged her closer to the
crowd. "Nathan Abrams just won the ice fishing derby!"
Madison ground her heels into the ice. She had no idea how Ines knew about her
connection to Nathan, but she wasn't waiting around to find out. And she
definitely wasn't waiting around to see...him.
Her gaze connected with Nathan's as the small crowd parted between them. Madison
recognized Nathan's friend J.D. at his side, along with several Hearthside Inn
staffers. And thanks to a mug shot in this morning's paper, she was even able to
pick out the columnist from the Adirondack News. It helped that the woman
wore a heavy camera around her neck and even now flashed a photo of Nathan with
his pile of fish.
Nathan took a step toward her, dragging every bit of the group's attention along
with him.
"I competed in ice fishing in the hopes of taking a first place prize today." He
talked to the crowd as much as he talked to her, this loner who had told her he
went to the pool at three a.m. to avoid people. "You know why I wanted to take
first place today, Madison?"
She arched an eyebrow, curious. Even though all of the first places in Lake
Placid wouldn't excuse his underhanded tactics for keeping her away from her
work while pretending to be besotted with her. The skunk.
"I needed a first place to get another quote in the paper." He reached for her
arms, wrapped his gloved fingers about her shoulders.
"Your last quote in the paper already said quite a bit."
"But this time, I wanted to be sure to add that me not wanting the Adirondacks
to turn into the next Vail or Aspen doesn't mean I don't want you to do your
job." He stared into her eyes as if there wasn't anyone around but them. The
same way he had stared into her eyes for the last three amazing nights. "And I
also wanted to be sure to say that just because I'm a loner doesn't mean I
expect you to be. Or that I'd ever hoard you all to myself. Unless you wanted me
to, that is."
Something warm and tender and oh-so-precious unfurled inside her. Slowly.
Carefully. Could she trust this man that she'd known for such a short time? "You
wouldn't?"
"I should have told you I'm not a rah-rah publicist type as far as the mountains
are concerned. But I didn't want to rain on your parade." He looked around at
his neighbors and friends as if finally aware they were there, too. "This was
your week, damn it. You should be doing what you want to do. I swear to you,
Madison, all the time we spent together that was just because I wanted to be
with you, not because I wanted to interfere with your work."
Maybe confrontation wasn't always such a bad thing. "If I do a feature on the
Adirondacks " A hopeful gasp rippled through the crowd. "And I'm not promising
I can, but if I do and Lake Placid turns into next year's hot spot, I'm pretty
sure that I can find you five more exotic, remote locales where we can run away
and be loners, Nathan." She edged closer to him, confident her instincts were
dead-on with this man. "I have the feeling you could use a vacation or two in
your work schedule."
Nathan smiled, a slow sexy smile just for her. "And I have the feeling I'm going
to indulge you in that, Madison Blair."
He kissed her for all of the town to see. Madison had no doubt who would be on
the front cover of the Adirondack News tomorrow morning.
She could already see the headlines "Local Couple Takes First Prize
"
The End