He led her to his truck and helped her into the passenger side. As they rode in comfortable silence, Andrea felt her eyes growing heavy and knew she’d be out as soon as her head hit the pillow.

When they reached her cottage, Marco walked her to her door. And she automatically invited him in.

“Would you like to come in? I could make coffee.”

He smiled. “I’d love to, but I’d better not. You need your sleep.”

“Okay. Goodnight, Marco and thanks so much, for dinner and driving all the way out here.” She hugged him and he seemed surprised at first, then hugged her back and dropped a kiss on her forehead.

“Sleep well, Andrea. It was a fun night.”

Chapter 6

Paula wasn’t sure what she thought about David Connolly. He certainly knew what he was doing. He was as gifted with a spreadsheet as she was, and he knew the hotel industry inside and out. She asked him one morning over coffee how he’d become such an expert.

“I went through the Four Seasons management training program right out of college and worked in several different properties. Then I went back to school for my MBA and went into consulting. With the hotel background, they put me into that niche and sent me out on the road with some of the senior consultants. Our typical assignments are two to three months and we see the same issues come up over and over.”

“You travel so much. Do you ever get sick of it?” Paula couldn’t imagine living that lifestyle. She knew most consultants flew out on Sunday and home on Friday. She wouldn’t want to do that short term, let alone all the time. But she’d always been a homebody. She liked being at home, and close to her family.

“Sometimes. It’s okay most of the time. The work is interesting.” And then he’d changed the subject. And that’s why she wasn’t sure about him. One minute he was reasonably friendly and the next he was distant and almost cold. Sometimes he looked a million miles away. She wondered if The Whitley was boring to him, too small to be a challenge.

“We must be small compared to the size hotels you usually deal with.”

“Yes, it’s on the smaller side. But we deal with hotels of all sizes.” He smiled. “It was nice to come here. To come home to Nantucket. I don’t see my parents often enough. And they are getting older.”

“How are they? I think you mentioned your father still works as a lawyer?”

He nodded. “He does. He has an office downtown and he works from home some.”

“And your mother?”

“She’s fine. She doesn’t work.” He stood, signaling that the coffee break was over.