Love in the Vineyard (Tavonesi #7)(42)

“Watch out,” Cara said as they entered the roomy, beautifully laid out kitchen. “Neither the nanny nor I have had a chance to pick up after Casey. He can spread toys out faster than we can chase him. He has his father’s genes for speed.”

Cara lifted the boy from a young woman’s arms. “Thank you, Tina. You deserve a break for a few minutes. I’ve got him.” She smoothed a hand over Casey’s hair. “Say hello to Natasha,” she prompted.

“Truck,” Casey said, pointing to a fire truck turned upside down near the kitchen counter.

“He hasn’t learned social skills yet,” Cara said with a laugh. “One day beautiful women will catch his eye before trucks do, but I’m hoping I have at least a decade and a half before that happens.”

She allowed Casey to wriggle from her arms. He tore across the room with the unsteady gait of a toddler, his full focus on the object of his affection.

“They grow up fast,” Natasha said, remembering the blissful but difficult time when Tyler had been about Casey’s age. She’d been on welfare then. It’d been the only way to be a full-time mother and avoid sending Tyler to a second-rate day care.

“Too fast for my liking. I swear, I blink and he’s taller. But if Ryan’s any indication, he’ll always be a boy at heart.” She turned to Natasha. “Adrian is another sort altogether. He sometimes seems so serious. Like the weight of the world is on his shoulders. Have you known the Tavonesi family for very long?”

“I met Adrian a few weeks ago.”

“You’ll find they’re a heartfelt bunch. They’re a tight-knit family, but very welcoming.” She bent down and offered Casey a piece of an oatmeal cookie. “I hadn’t realized you were new to the area.”

She hoped Cara wouldn’t dig for more information and was relieved when Cara began to tell her stories about the Tavonesi clan. About how Adrian’s family had moved to California after the death of their mother. About how they’d breathed new life into Casa del Sole and now led the county efforts to transition into organic farming. Natasha had had no idea that Adrian and his extended family were such a force in the community.

Natasha helped Cara pile cookies on a tray and squeeze lemons into a pitcher and found herself envying Cara’s evidently comfortable relationship with the Tavonesi family and the people of the small town of Albion Bay.

Cara handed her the pitcher and the tray. “Would you take these out to the barn? If I don’t put Casey down for a nap, we’ll never get any sleep tonight.”

Tonight. Natasha’s thoughts snapped back to her foolish agreement to have dinner at Adrian’s.

What in heaven’s name had she been thinking, agreeing to go to his place for dinner? Not in the plan, Natasha. Not even remotely in the plan.





Natasha’s thoughts continued to war as she drove Tyler and Brandon back into town. When she dropped them off at the Exeters’, Monica had a happy smile on her face and thanked Natasha effusively. She and her husband must’ve had a darned good afternoon.

Having Monica as an ally rather than a detractor seemed like a good thing since Natasha planned to keep Tyler in the same school as Brandon the next year. And the boys would be playing on the same summer league team. Better to have allies than enemies.

Her nerves were still jangling as she navigated back to Inspire. Nothing about the day had gone as she’d planned. She hadn’t given her carefully crafted speech over at Ryan’s, telling Adrian all the reasons why it was important that they be no more than colleagues and friends. Instead they’d shared a few world-shaking kisses that were now going to make what she had to tell him that much harder.

When Natasha returned to Inspire, Mary filled her in on Cara’s story. It had hit all the local papers. From Mary’s report, Natasha discovered that she wasn’t the only one uncomfortable with wealth disparity. But Cara’s situation was the reverse of Natasha’s—Cara had tried to hide the fact she was an heiress. And if she hadn’t fallen in love with Ryan, she might’ve succeeded.

Natasha decided not to change out of her jeans. Showing up at Adrian’s house in a dress would make their dinner look like a date. She considered calling him and telling him she had more work than she’d planned and couldn’t come, but this evening was her opportunity to explain, to set things straight, to let him know that while she thought the world of him, she had to draw the line. For Tyler’s sake.

And she’d have to stay at least ten feet away from Adrian, or her hormones would build a bridge between them and march across it on their own.

Why did the man have to be so darned handsome? So disarmingly charming? So crazy sexy? And so ridiculously rich? Why couldn’t he have been just a carpenter or a vineyard manager? Or even a simple successful mechanic?

Yet then he wouldn’t have been Adrian. His life circumstances had made him, just as hers had made her. If he wasn’t the man he was, they might never even have met.

One comment that stuck in Natasha’s mind and kept reeling around over and over was the one Cara had made about fate.

“Fate’s a funny thing,” Cara had said as she’d stared out the kitchen window toward the barn that housed the batting cage. “Who would ever have imagined I’d fall in love with a guy who throws, catches and hits balls for a living?” She’d munched on one of her homemade cookies before handing off the tray to Natasha. “But life has a way of helping us find just the right person—that is, if we don’t get in the way.”