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“Well, you’ve seen her naked,” Mrs. Keller continued as if she were discussing an intriguing plot point in her latest novel. “If this were the 1800’s, you three would have had to marry her. All I’m asking is that you take her as your date to the Davenport Ball. That means you got off easy,” Mrs. Keller smiled deviously. “And be glad no true gentleman is around to defend Miss Harding’s honor and challenge you to a duel.”
“Grandmother, this is not the 1800’s, and our lives are not one of your romance novels,” Gage said, and while there was zero trace of humor in his voice, his tone, silky smooth with just enough roughness to set her nerves tingling, came off as if he were trying to reason with a child.
Besides all that, how could they not be in awe of their grandmother? She was a legend.
That’s what made Mrs. Keller even more fascinating to Allison. Caroline Keller was a world-renowned author of more than two hundred Regency romance novels. Allison had read every single one of them. Being a librarian, could she have landed a cooler landlady? No, she could not.
“Who says it can’t be? You’ll take Allison to the ball because I decided you needed a date. And also, you three need to have some fun. You're looking as serious as Daniel was at this age. And it'll only get worse. Look at her. She is charm-personified. Trust me. I think it’s a wonderful idea.”
Charm personified? Nope. Allison was more like inept nincompoop personified for not being able to control her canine companion better. They seemed to agree more with her own character deduction than with her grandmother’s charming one.
“It’s not, grandmother, a wonderful idea. Can we get back to business?” Reid said.
“No. Take Allison to the ball— “
“Mrs. Keller,” Allison said for the first time. What was even going on right now? “I don’t think— “
“Nonsense,” the older woman said without waiting for Allison to finish her sentence. “It’s settled. Allison is exactly what you three boys need. And the Davenport's library is a marvel. Make sure you see it. You'll love it, Ally, darling."
“I can assure you, grandmother, we do not need a girl who is in nothing but a towel and flip-flops and dirt on her face who chases her deranged dog around the garden. A dog called Horse.”
“Excuse me, but it’s high-end mud on my face, thank you very much, and it came in a gold sachet,” Allison said, turning up her chin. Really? That was her comeback? Well, it was hardly stellar, but still.
Just who did they think they were anyway? She’d rather chase Horse again. No. She was lying. She never wanted to chase after her dog again.
“Let me put it this way. If you do, I’ll sign off on the land. Allison, if you don’t, it will pain me tremendously, my sweet darling girl, to have to look for a new tenant.”
Allison’s mouth hung open. Her afternoon had gone from ridiculously crazy to monumentally bizarre. And now she was in the middle of a stare-off with three disturbingly handsome men. And an unfair one since it was three against one.
How was this happening?
“Fine,” Zac finally said after a giant pause.
“Then it’s settled.” Mrs. Keller clapped her hands again, beaming from ear to ear. “Oh, this is going to be fabulous. Cheers, my darling,” she said to Allison, tucking a tendril behind Allison’s ear as if that would make any difference to her appearance.
Mrs. Keller, dressed in her signature cool linen pants suits, her hair a sea of wavy silver, then stepped from the gazebo and headed toward Blossom Manor, the enthralling mansion against a backdrop of a panoramic mountain range.
Alone, Allison faced her three grandsons. They’d somehow come together and stood side by side, their hands in the pockets of their suit pants. Their stance, wide and intimidating,
For a minute, she wanted to rub her eyes to make sure she was really seeing what stood before her.
They were so far above her, so far out of her league, that it actually made her dizzy. Or just ditzy; she couldn’t tell which.
Their gazes hadn’t left her. Suddenly she became intimately aware of the hotness coursing through her, like rivers of fire inside her. She smoldered under her towel as their gazes drilled into her. Her nipples hardened even more, and the ache inside them left her restless. Her thighs were now uncannily slippery. The throb in her lady bits was too pronounced for her to ignore. She was a volcano on the verge of eruption.
Her body had never reacted like this before. She would know. After numerous failed attempts at dating, only since it was the one thing all her friends ever talked about, she remained unimpressed and happily single.
Okay, so maybe she talked too much and had a habit of knocking things over without provocation. If they wanted chic charm and sleek confidence, she wasn’t their girl. So she opted to put her head down, worked her ass off, flew through college, and just got a job as a librarian at a small, old, dusty, nearly forgotten library tucked into the small town of Rosemary’s Glare, at the age of twenty-three. And she was still very much a virgin.
Maybe her body’s response to them was because she hadn’t ever seen men like them in real life. The men who strolled into the library were over eighty years old and mostly cantankerous, except for one or two who tried unsuccessfully to flirt with her over war biographies before they forgot what they were doing. Yes, she was utterly forgettable that way.
After finding Blossom House and meeting Mrs. Keller, she was prepared to live her life exactly the same way, day in and day out, with Horse by her side, knowing she would be ecstatically happy until she died. She had a dream job, lived in her dream house, and had a pet she loved more than life itself. It was all good.
Now this.
Three indescribably handsome men, luxury, and profound wealth stemming from every breath they took turned her world upside down and her body into a wanton furnace.
Whoa.
