Eclipse Bay

late-night entertainment to other folks.”
    “Kaitlin wasn’t exactly shy about her own sexual activities. I can’t see her going out of her way to protect the reputations of the men she dated, either. If she went to the trouble of hiding that lingerie and those videos to protect a boyfriend, she must have had big plans for the poor guy.”
    Rafe hesitated. “Kaitlin’s supreme goal in life was to marry someone with enough money to help her escape Eclipse Bay.”
    “So, maybe this particular boyfriend had money. Maybe she saw him as a hot prospect for marriage.”
    “Why hide the undies and the tapes?”
    “Who knows? Maybe he was already married. Maybe she wanted to protect him because she was hoping he’d get a divorce and marry her. Maybe—”
    “Whoa,” Rafe said. “Lots of maybes here.”
    She made a face and planted her hands on her hips. “You’re right. Got a little carried away there for a minute, didn’t I?”
    “Imagination is a wonderful thing. But in this case it’s wasted. It’s been eight years. We’ll never know for sure what happened to Kaitlin that night. Like Walter said, that’s probably just as well.”
    Reluctantly she pulled her thoughts back to the matter at hand. The instant she refocused on her chief problem, her irritation returned.
    “Let’s get something clear here,” she said. “You’re not going to do anything to Dreamscape until you and I have come to some agreement about how to handle the legal aspects of Isabel’s inheritance.”
    Rafe pondered the view of the hall. “I could open the restaurant in my half of the house.”
    “That’s crazy. There’s no way you can turn half of this place into a restaurant. How would we divide the kitchen? What about all the people who would use my half of this hall to get to your restaurant? And who gets the solarium?”
    “I thought it would make a nice dining room. In the summer I’ll set up tables outside on the veranda, too.”
    “Not without my permission, you won’t. Rafe, you just can’t run roughshod over the legal technicalities of this inheritance. We’re talking several hundred thousand dollars worth of mansion here. We have to settle things first. You know that as well as I do.”
    “Well,” Rafe said a little too casually, “speaking of settling the minor details, I’ve got a suggestion.”
    Sensing danger, she went very still. “What is it?”
    “How about a partnership?”
    She stared at him, momentarily speechless.
    “You?” she managed at last. “Me? Partners in Dreamscape?”
    “You don’t think it would work?”
    “What about last night? Are you just going to pretend it never happened?”
    “What’s last night got to do with it?”
    Suddenly she could no longer breathe. “ Everything . How can you talk about a business partnership after—” She waved a hand, unable to finish the sentence.
    “Ah.” Understanding lit his eyes. “You’re worried about us mixing business with pleasure?”
    There was a distant ringing in her ears now. Was that all it had been to him? A pleasant interlude? She struggled to regain her composure.
    “Aren’t you?” she asked in as cold a voice as she could manage.
    “Well, sure,” he said far too readily. “Naturally I’ll have a problem with it because I’m a Madison. Madisons always have problems when they get their financial affairs mixed up with their sexual affairs. But it shouldn’t be a stretch for you. You’re a Harte. You can compartmentalize.”
    He was goading her, she thought. She had to get out of here before she lost it. Hartes did not do that kind of thing. Not in public, at any rate.
    “You’re right,” she said. “I could probably handle it. But as you just pointed out, you’re a Madison. You’d screw it up for sure.”
    She spun on her heel and walked swiftly outside. Winston, ever faithful, trotted out of the kitchen to follow her. Together they went down the front steps without a backward glance.
    She yanked open the car door. Winston bounded inside and took up his post on the passenger seat. She got in behind the wheel and slammed the door shut.
    The last thing she saw in her rearview mirror was Rafe lounging against the porch railing watching her roar out of the driveway. He had enjoyed seeing her come so close to the edge, she realized. He had deliberately pushed her, just to see what would happen.
    A wave of uncertainty swept through her. All of her grandfather’s warnings about Madisons flashed through her