Nick followed him inside, looking just as pissed off.

"Who would want to prevent this place from opening?" Annabelle asked, glancing at Nick.

"Beats me." Vaughn shrugged. "I just gave the police a list of anyone and everyone in my life. Let's see what they come up with."

"Speaking of people in your life, you got a phone call," Mara said.

"Who?"

"Laura." Mara glanced at Annabelle. "His ex-wife," she said by way of explanation.

Vaughn visibly stiffened. "What the hell did she want?"

Mara shrugged. "How would I know? I'm merely hired help. She wanted to speak to you and seemed completely pissed that I wouldn't interrupt whatever you were doing."

"Nothing's more important than what Laura wants, when Laura wants it," Vaughn muttered.

Annabelle raised an interested eyebrow.

"I'll get back to her whenever." He grabbed the paper from Mara's hand and shoved it into his pocket. "I've got more important things to deal with."

Annabelle nodded. "You sure do. While the police are handling the detective work, we need to focus on damage control. I've put in a call to the local television affiliate and a reporter's on his way over."

Vaughn's glare turned icy. "Why would you want to broadcast problems?" he bit out, all his frustration and anger spewing at her.

Nick and Mara looked at Vaughn and Annabelle with interested stares.

"Would you like to take this somewhere private?" she asked Vaughn.

He waved away her offer. "What I'd like is for you to explain."

She shrugged. "You're someone used to being in the spotlight, so you ought to realize the police blotter will have spread this news in no time. Wouldn't you rather we put out our story first and in as positive a light as we can manage?"

Nick cleared his throat. "She's got a point, Vaughn."

"Kiss ass," Mara muttered under her breath. But not low enough to be ignored.

Since now wasn't the time to make love not war between these two, Annabelle continued before anyone else could comment. "What I'd like to do is focus on your commitment to kids and education in a summer camp environment. Acknowledge that, yes, we've had some difficulties and delays, but we'll do everything in our power to open on schedule. After all, it's for the children, which ought to appeal to the viewers' emotions and make them think twice about canceling."

While she thought, she bit down on the cap of her pen. "I could use a quote from you in there," she said, addressing Vaughn. "Something about why these kids mean so much to you. We'll give the public a positive to focus on."

"This whole thing isn't about me or my reasons for what I do."

She sighed, exasperated. She'd come here two days ago and accomplished nothing professionally during that time because Vaughn refused to take her advice.

She'd give it one more try and then she'd have no choice but to leave him to sink his own ship. Or in this case, his lodge. "Look, you're a celebrity. And if you want people to care about this place and stick with you, they can't think you're in it for purely selfish or monetary reasons. Otherwise they'll pull their reservations from here and head up to Killington or the Poconos or someplace else where they don't have to worry about whether or not their reservations will fall through. So it's up to you," she said, hands on her hip. "Do we do this my way or do I leave you on your own and head back to the city tonight?"

Silence reigned. Annabelle knew he was fighting within himself.

"Isn't it enough that I'm helping children? Do we have to get into why?" he asked in a more neutral tone than he'd used with her so far, obviously biding his time.

"I need a media hook."

"Then tell them I remember what it's like to be a kid," he said in a near growl and stormed out the office door.

"Whatever that means." She raised her hands in the air. "Unbelievable."

Wisely Mara and Nick chose not to comment.

Annabelle then drummed her fingernails on the desk in pure frustration. He'd left her with nothing. Zilch. Zip. Nada.

And if that's all the wisdom and insight Vaughn chose to offer, she'd have no choice but to come to her own conclusions and put the best spin she possibly could on his vague words.

His reaction be damned.

In the silence that ensued, a walkie-talkie went off on Mara's belt and she spoke to the person on the other end. "Be right there." Mara glanced at Nick. "Rocco needs me to sign for something. Don't mess up my desk while I'm gone," she said to annoy Nick, if Annabelle had to guess.

He merely treated her to a quick salute and with a growl of frustration at not having gotten to him, she stormed out the door.

Alone, Annabelle turned to Nick. She couldn't help but wonder what was going on with these two. "Any reason you don't give her a break?" She pointed toward the exit Mara had just taken. "She's pretty, smart, and she's obviously got it bad for you."

Nick began to pile up papers on the desk, an obvious pretense of being busy. "She'll get over it."

"Why should she have to?" Annabelle shot back.

He frowned and shifted from foot to foot, appearing extremely uncomfortable with the subject of Mara, so much so that his normally friendly, fun demeanor had disappeared. "I have my reasons."

Annabelle glanced at her watch. She had an idea to implement and only a short time left in which to do it, but first, she needed to talk to Nick. "Look, we're running out of time, but would you care to share those reasons with a new friend?"

He didn't smile, merely met her gaze. "You want it? You got it. As close as Vaughn and I are, I'm tired of following in his perfect footsteps. Don't get me wrong. I love the guy like a brother and I'm grateful he let me invest in the lodge at a time when I needed a distraction from losing my announcing gig. Honest to God it never bothered me that he ended up the Heisman and Superbowl hero. I had a decent career and solid advertising endorsements. I invested wisely and I'm fine."

"Then what's the problem?" Annabelle asked.

He began pacing the vinyl office flooring. "Sometimes you reach a point when enough is enough. And sloppy seconds are more than even I can stand."

His stunning admission took Annabelle off guard. She'd spent all this time trying to decide if there was any festering jealousy on Nick's part, and here he was admitting it. In such an honest, straightforward way, she really couldn't bring herself to believe that

Nick would ever hurt Vaughn intentionally. In fact, the more Annabelle got to know Nick, the worse she felt about doubting his intentions.

But why would he bring this up now? "What does Mara have to do with you and Vaughn?"

Nick let out a loud laugh. "They used to be an item."

Annabelle blinked. "Vaughn and Mara?" she asked, stunned. When he'd insinuated as much before, Annabelle had chosen to ignore the obvious. For obvious reasons.

Nick slowly nodded.

Her stomach churned as she digested the information. "Good God, is there a woman in this town the man hasn't been with?"

Nick walked over, wrapped an arm around her shoulder and gave her his trademark grin. "You're probably it," he said, jokingly.

She forced a laugh. With Nick's insecurities between them, it probably wasn't the time to tell Nick she intended to rectify her status soon. "I had no idea about Mara and Vaughn. I mean they act completely professional."

Nick shrugged. "They are. Vaughn's a straight-shooter. Any woman who gets involved with him knows going in there's no ring in her future. They part on good terms." He shrugged as if that were that.

But his words served to reinforce Annabelle's determination to keep her emotions firmly locked uptight in her relationship with Vaughn.

Nick's situation was another story entirely. "Mara has nothing to do with Vaughn now. Surely you can see that."

"What I see is a guy who's always accepted second best. If I want to settle down, I want someone who wants me and doesn't jump into the game because they already lost their first choice."

"Then why live in this town and subject yourself to something you hate?" she asked the second man in as many days, her frustration with the male brain and its way of thinking completely overwhelming her. "Oh, I know. Because this is home."

He nodded. "It is."

"Then you need to get over it," she said, bluntly.

He stepped back and seated himself on the corner of the desk. "And maybe I would if everyone didn't jump to the same damn conclusion. That I never quite measured up to my best friend and that it still bothers me."

"Oh, come on. People don't think that." Annabelle waved a hand dismissively.

"You did."

She sucked in a startled breath. "That stinking rat," she muttered. "Vaughn told you that?"

Nick grinned, once again taking her off guard by laughing. "No, but when you asked who had a motive to prevent this place from opening, you glanced at me. And I've heard the jealousy factor so many times, I'm used to it. You just confirmed my hunch."

"Nick-"

He shook his head. "Forget it. You're doing your job, helping out Vaughn and the lodge, and V m doing mine. I understand where your head is." He pinned her with his steady gaze. "So it shouldn't be too big a leap for you to see why I don't want to date a woman who's already been dumped by Vaughn."

Annabelle saw, but on a logical level, it made little sense. "But she's interested in you."

"Only because Vaughn is out of reach." He shook his head. "End of discussion, okay?"

She frowned. "Okay." She agreed, yet she intended to talk to Mara and help the other woman overcome Nick's insecurities, which she feared she'd just helped contribute to.