Will straightened, apparently feeling the chill, and when he looked over at her, the smile dropped from his lips. In the crowded space, he only had to take a step back from the arc of hastily arranged folding chairs to be beside her, so now it was like they were awkward partners in one of those awful group project assignments from school, the ones where you had to get up in front of the whole class and pretend like one of you wasn’t harboring a terrible bitterness about the uneven work distribution.

Nora cleared her throat, determined to demonstrate—however false it was—that she was the prepared one. “We—”

“I don’t intend to cause any of you trouble,” he said, before she could really begin, and when she shot him an annoyed look she saw the way he’d put his hands up, a gentle, deferential surrender that looked obnoxiously earnest. “In fact I feel lucky I came by to find you all here, because I’d like to—”

“You’d like to explain that you’re taking advantage of a loophole?” Nora snapped, holding up his letter.

Marian made a little hmm! noise, like Nora had scored a point. She would’ve liked to feel encouraged by it, but the way Will turned to Nora—with his eyebrows raised in something like amusement, with his posture still so calm—it made her feel like he was the one winning. He knew he’d caught her flat-footed on those bylaws.

“Doesn’t strike me as much of a loophole,” he said, shrugging. “There’s no prohibition on owners operating short-term rentals. And I’m an owner.”

If she didn’t dislike him so much, she might’ve winced for him. Boy, he’d stepped in it there, acting like Donny had never existed.

“Listen here,” said Jonah. His voice was commanding, but he also weighed 130 pounds and was pointing at Will with one of his knobby, arthritic hands, so the effect was somewhat dulled. “I don’t think you need to be speaking to her that way. She’s in charge here.”

“Yes, sir,” Will said. “I understand she’s your association president, which is why I wrote to her first. But seeing as all of you have lived here for so much longer—”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Marian nearly shouted. “Nora’s been with us for twenty years!”

Even without looking over at him, Nora could feel that Will had turned to look at her. Her whole right side felt hot with his gaze.

For long seconds, no one said a word, and that’s because everyone was waiting for Will to respond. That’s how it worked when it came to Marian Goodnight: if she asked you a question, you answered it, and quick, too. Everyone knew that.

Everyone but Will Sterling.

“I thought you said you moved in last year,” he said, to Nora’s very hot right side.