Her Seven-Day Fiancé. Brenda Harlen

he acknowledged. “And I’ve noticed that you always sidestep personal questions.”

      “Orange,” she told him.

      “Why orange?”

      “That’s an even more personal question.”

      “Tell me anyway,” he urged.

      She picked up her pace and turned onto Peregrine Lane, and for a minute, he didn’t think she was going to answer.

      “Because it’s the last color you see as the sun dips below the horizon at the edge of the ocean,” she finally responded.

      “That’s right—you’re a California girl, aren’t you?”

      “Former California girl,” she amended.

      “Why’d you trade sand and surf for northern Nevada desert?”

      She shrugged. “It was time for a change.”

      “Sounds like there’s a story there.”

      “Did you date Belinda Walsh, too?”

      “I don’t think so,” he said, a little warily.

      “She teaches English at the high school,” Alyssa explained. “And she looks for hidden meaning in everything.”

      “That’s not a female thing?”

      She sent him a disapproving glance. “Belinda was talking to another teacher in the staff room one day, explaining the symbolism in a poem her class was studying. She claimed that the blue curtains fluttering in the breeze were representative of the author’s depression. I suggested that perhaps the author just happened to be writing in a room that had blue curtains.”

      He grinned. “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar?”

      “And sometimes orange is just the color of a sunset,” she confirmed, waving to him as she made her way to her door.

      Clearly that was all she intended to say about the subject, but as Jay made his way up the stairs to his own apartment, which occupied the two upper floors of the building, he wasn’t entirely convinced. In fact, he suspected there was a lot more going on with the sexy schoolteacher than she wanted anyone to know.

      He did know that she left her apartment at precisely seven twenty-five every weekday morning to head over to Westmount, and she usually returned home by three forty-five in the afternoon. The only exceptions were Wednesdays, when she monitored Homework Help in the library after school, and the second Monday of every month, when there was an afternoon staff meeting. She didn’t, as far as he could tell, date very often—or maybe not at all.

      Which piqued his curiosity for two reasons: first, she was a beautiful woman, and second, she was new to Haven. Either of those factors would appeal to most of the single guys in town; the combination would prove almost irresistible. This led Jay to believe her presence at home most nights was a matter of choice. But why?

      Was she involved with somebody back in California? Was she nursing a broken heart? Or was she simply not interested in any of the guys she’d met?

      It wasn’t in his nature to ignore an intrigue, but he didn’t like being distracted by thoughts of a woman.

      So rather than admit that he was, he pushed all thoughts of her out of his mind and focused on getting ready for work.

      * * *

      Alyssa turned off the water, grabbed a towel from the bar and briskly rubbed it over her body. She knew, without looking at the clock, that it was 7:00 a.m. She knew because she was a creature of habit who awakened every morning at six and had her shoes laced up, ready to head out the door, ten minutes later.

      She wasn’t a competitive runner—not like her sister, Cristina, had been. But she enjoyed challenging herself to go a little farther, a little faster. After too many years of being told to be careful, to slow down, because she was fragile and weak, she had a lot to prove—if only to herself.

      She’d started running three years earlier, just a short jog at a moderate pace, to see if she could. And then she could do a little more—and a little faster. Now she was strong, she was fit and she was determined to live her life on her own terms.

      She ran for herself. It wasn’t really a secret, but it also wasn’t something she’d shared with anyone else.

      Until Jason Channing.

      Somehow, eight weeks earlier, she’d acquired a running partner she didn’t need or want. And despite her less-than-welcoming demeanor at the start, he’d continued to show up, until she’d found herself not just enjoying his company but looking forward to it.

      But at the same time, being around her upstairs neighbor also left her feeling a little...unsettled.

      Of course, if rumors were to be believed—and in the eight months she’d lived in Haven, she’d discovered that they usually were—he had a similar effect on most of the female population in town. Because not only was he unbelievably handsome and charming, he was educated, motivated and rich. Not that he flaunted his wealth. In fact, it was only through a conversation with Mrs. Powell, the resident of 1A, that she’d discovered he owned the triplex they all lived in.

      Still, it had taken her a while to accept that the cause of her unsettled feeling was most likely physical attraction. But what woman wouldn’t feel some kind of stirring in her blood when she was around a good-looking guy? And Jason Channing was undoubtedly that. Referred to as “Charming” by the women in town, he was six feet tall with broad shoulders, dark hair, deep blue eyes, a square jaw and an easy smile that never failed to make Alyssa’s toes curl inside her running shoes.

      So although she couldn’t deny that she was attracted, she was thankfully smart enough to realize that he was way out of her league. And that was okay, because when it came to the dating game, she was content to sit in the bleachers and watch others play.

      Someday she might be ready to suit up and hit the field, but after so many years of being “coached” by her doctors and parents, she just wanted to call her own plays for a while. Which was why she’d finally moved away from the well-meaning but stifling attention of her family.

      Eight months later, Renata Cabrera still hadn’t let up in her campaign to get her youngest daughter to come home. Her latest effort, begun when Alyssa was home for the Christmas holidays, had been a reintroduction to Diego Garcia. He was “handsome and single” as her mother had promised, but Alyssa simply wasn’t interested.

      Unfortunately, Renata refused to believe it, and Alyssa couldn’t remember the last conversation she’d had with her mother without some mention of Diego. Most recently Renata had suggested that he might be traveling to Nevada to help his cousin, who lived in Elko and had recently split from his girlfriend, move out of their shared apartment and into his own. Alyssa hated to think that her mother had encouraged Diego to make the trip—or to think that she had any kind of personal interest in him—but she couldn’t disregard either possibility.

      With her travel mug of coffee in one hand and car keys in the other, Alyssa had just stepped onto the driveway when her phone rang. Only one person ever called her early in the morning, so she didn’t need to glance at the display to know who it was.

      She unlocked the car door and set her coffee in the cup holder on the console before pulling the phone out of her purse and connecting the call. “Buenos días, Mama.”

      “I’m just calling to remind you that Diego’s going to be in Nevada this weekend,” her mother responded without preamble.

      Alyssa closed her eyes and quietly banged her head against the open door. “I didn’t realize those were firm plans.”

      “Then you weren’t listening,” Renata said.

      “I’m working this weekend,” she reminded her mother.

      “You’re working tonight,” Renata acknowledged. “And Diego said he would stop by this Diggers’ place