Her Charming Heartbreaker by Sonia Parin

to be some kind of joke. He could easily imagine Eddie and
Joyce concocting this farce in order to have a laugh at his
expense. Pushing him until he broke and he told them everything
they wanted to know. And using his one weakness—the coffee she had
introduced him to—to do it. “I think I’ll wait for Eddie and hear
what she has to say.”
    “You don’t know?”
    “What?”
    “Eddie’s gone.”
     
    * * *
     
    Theo stood outside The
Gloriana looking up at the windows on the top floor. Did he expect
to see Eddie popping her head out the window like some warped
version of a fairy tale or worse, a Shakespearean play?
    She hadn’t mentioned
going away. Then again, why would she? They’d had regular
conversations, skimming the surface, never getting too personal.
Yet, since his arrival in Eden he’d been learning more and more
about her. He knew she didn’t have aspirations. And shortly before
he’d come to Eden, she’d had a bad experience with one of the
locals, no doubt resulting in her slightly off game of darts.
    He also knew she was
liked by everyone. While he had no doubt she could stand her ground
and hold her own, from the way people at the pub talked about her,
anyone would go to battle for her. Claire Muldoon had given him a
brief rundown on the people who called Eden home and had talked
about Eddie sharing the same generous heart and a strong sense of
community as everyone else.
    Joyce banning him for
being tight-lipped couldn’t be a coincidence. It had to be
backlash, he thought wondering if Eddie had confided in Joyce.
    He shouldn’t have
kissed her. Even if it had only been an expression of his
gratitude.
    The first time, but not
the second...
    He’d kissed her deeply,
unleashing, uncoiling a need he hadn’t wanted to admit he’d been
harboring. He was no stranger to lust at first sight, but he’d
never acted on it. Like his father, he enjoyed the build-up of
anticipation, entertaining possibilities, taking one step at a
time. Never rushing. Always savoring.
    He’d known she was
trying to move away from a bad chapter in her life. Had he
complicated things for her? Had she read too much into his kiss?
Had he been sending her the wrong signals? Was he kidding himself?
He had to at least own up to the truth. He’d wanted to kiss her
since the first day he’d seen her.
    “What are we supposed
to be looking at?”
    Theo turned and found
three pairs of eyes looking up at the building. The three Faydon
brothers. Matthew stood with his hands hitched on his hips. Mitch
leaned against Theo’s convertible, his feet crossed at the ankles.
While Markus had his arms crossed and his eyebrows drawn down into
a deep scowl.
    “Is someone threatening
to jump off the roof?” Matthew asked.
    “I was looking at the
figurehead.” Theo shifted his gaze from one of the windows to the
figurehead of a voluptuous golden haired siren. “It’s an odd
ornament to have in a pub. How did you come by it?”
    “Frederick Charles
McIver Faydon sailed The Gloriana from England to Australia back in
the early days of settlement. The ship sunk off the coast, but
eventually he salvaged the figurehead. When he came inland to
settle in Eden, he brought it with him.”
    Mitch cleared his
throat. “Rumor has it you moved out of The Gloriana and straight
into Claire Muldoon’s—”
    Theo turned toward
Mitch. Their gazes held for long seconds, then Mitch shrugged.
    Matthew cleared his
throat. “Mitch actually meant to say you were seen out on the road
kissing Eddie.”
    “Don’t tell me. Now I’m
banned from the pub.”
     
     
     

Chapter Eight
     
     
    “Make up your
mind.”
    Eddie sat in her car.
She’d reached the end of her grandmother’s driveway, and now...
    Her fingers tapped on
the steering wheel like the tick-tock of a clock measuring another
second of indecision. She watched several cars drive by. Everyone
seemed to know where they were going. “I only need to point in the
direction I want to go.” And