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Pale Moon Rising
By Ginna Gray Wheeler Publishing
Copyright © 2004 Ginna Gray
All right reserved. ISBN: 1587247666
Chapter One
Her nerves were wound so tight the soft ping of the seat belt light gave her a start.
Before any of the other first-class passengers had a chance to react, Olivia Jones jumped to her feet, slung her coat over her arm, snatched up her shoulder bag and briefcase and made a dash for the door.
Oblivious to the flight attendant's plastic smile and cheery "Have a nice day," she stepped past the woman and strode down the jet way.
The closer she got to the airport terminal the harder her heart thumped against her ribs. Though she had grown up in the area, she had not set foot in Savannah in fourteen years, not since that dreary, rainy November night when she had boarded the Greyhound bus for Atlanta with all her belongings in a single battered suitcase and her entire life savings of nine hundred and forty-seven dollars and eighteen cents tucked away in her wallet. Barely eighteen, frightened and on her own for the first time in her life, she had fled this town with her dreams and her heart shattered, vowing never to return.
Now here she was. Olivia's full lips twisted in a wry grimace. Which, she supposed, just proved the old adage, "Never say never."
Behind her a man coughed, and Olivia started.
Calm down, she admonished, annoyed with herself for being so jittery. There's nothingto worry about. Savannah is a good-size town. The chances you'll bump into someone you know from the old days are slim, so quit torturing yourself.
Squaring her shoulders, she drew a deep breath and stepped into the terminal. Dressed in a rust-colored silk turtleneck and hunter-green suit with a long, pencil-slim skirt and high-heeled Italian boots, she knew that to the casual observer she appeared self-assured and calm.
Hitching the strap of her purse a bit higher on her shoulder, Olivia walked past the gate counter and joined the flow of people hurrying along the main concourse. She followed the signs to Baggage Claim at a brisk pace, her shoulder-length auburn hair bouncing to the rhythm of her walk. Barely aware of the admiring male glances cast her way, she kept her gaze focused straight ahead and avoided making eye contact.
She knew she was being foolish. True, the little town where she'd grown up was practically a suburb of Savannah, and many of Bella Vista's old guard had financial interests in the city and conducted business here, but, though she knew most of them, she had never been part of their social set.
It was silly to worry. She had not come here to cause trouble or stir up old grievances. She was a professional woman, here on legitimate business.
Anyway, she had changed a lot since leaving Savannah. She doubted that anyone from her past would connect the shy teenager she had been with the woman she was today. They might not even remember her.
Years ago she had created a minor stir in the insular little world of the elite of Bella Vista and Savannah, but there had been countless other scandals to titillate the local blue bloods since then.
Olivia sighed. Who are you kidding? You know perfectly well how long memories are in the South.
After retrieving her bag, Olivia gave a cab driver AdCo Enterprise's address and settled back for the ride. Taking deep breaths to quiet her nerves, she cast an absent glance out the window, and at once the familiar scenery brought a pang that caught her by surprise. Until that moment, she had not realized how much she'd missed this city.
There was no place in the world quite like Savannah. There was a timelessness here, a dreamy tranquillity that lingered from bygone days. The town had always reminded Olivia of a genteel old lady, decked out in her best finery.
A faint smile tugged at her lips when they passed a sign advertising the Oglethorpe Mall. During their teen years, when she and Blair hadn't been slouched in a darkened movie theater munching popcorn, or riding horses, or pretending to ignore boys at the beach, they had spent every weekend and a lot of their summer days roaming the shops of Savannah.
In those day she and Blair had been inseparable friends, so close they'd practically been joined at the hip.
Olivia's smile faded. How things had changed. Since leaving Savannah, she had not had so much as a telephone call or a note from Blair even though, in the beginning, she had written to her friend several times.
Annoyed, Olivia jerked her gaze away from the window. She had promised herself when she'd made the decision to accept AdCo's invitation that she would not dredge up the past. What would be the point? All that was over and done with, a distant memory that had nothing to do with her life today.
Returning to Savannah was something she had hoped she would never have to do, but she wasn't going to turn down a career-making opportunity just to avoid bitter memories or people who wanted no more to do with her than she did with them.
She had agonized over the decision, but in the end, she'd had no choice. Business, after all, was business.
During the past six years, since starting her own design firm, some of the most influential and powerful people in the country had been her clients. She had been invited to their homes on social occasions, taken trips on their yachts, spent weekends at their country homes, ski lodges and island retreats. She could certainly hold her own with any of the well-to-do in Bella Vista or Savannah.
Even with Eleanore Connally. And her son.
They were nearing the historic district, Olivia noted. On impulse, she leaned forward and asked the driver to take Bull Street.
"Yes, ma'am. If that's what you want, ah kin sure do it. But ah gotta warn you, it'll take longer and cost more. Got to go slow round all the squares, ya know."
"I know. I don't mind."
"Yes'um. It's your money."
The driver turned, drove a few blocks and turned onto Bull Street. He'd barely driven a block when he started the counterclockwise turns around the first square. Olivia settled back, an odd tightness in her chest, her gaze drinking in the stately old mansions and town homes that surrounded the small parks.
Gray beards of moss draped the ancient live oaks. Fallen leaves and other winter debris littered the walkways and benches, and last summer's stubble filled the flower beds, giving an overall atmosphere of gloom to the squares, but Olivia knew that in three months or so the azaleas and camellias would be in full bloom. Then the area would be a riot of beautiful colors and the soft spring air would be perfumed with the scents of flowers.
Olivia loved spring in Savannah. The sights and scents intoxicated the soul and enhanced the genteel graciousness that permeated the historic district.
How many times, as a teenager, had she sat in the squares and dreamed away hours, imagining herself in another time, a grand lady living in one of the lovely mansions fronting Montgomery Square?
Much to Olivia's delight, AdCo Enterprises occupied a lovely old building on River Street, below the Savannah River Bluff, right in the heart of the historic district. Located as it was on the bank of the Savannah River, she assumed it had originally been an old cotton warehouse. She was so charmed that for several minutes after the taxi pulled away, she stood in the brick courtyard at the front of the building, admiring the facade.
Continues...
Excerpted from Pale Moon Rising by Ginna Gray Copyright © 2004 by Ginna Gray. Excerpted by permission.
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