Book One in the Michigan Islands Miniseries

The eye is the lamp of the body.

If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.

When Ellene Bordini arrives on Harsens Island, the early March wind’s bitter chill has less impact than the look in Connor Faraday’s eyes. Years had passed, but the emotions have not, and when Ellene comes face to face with her old flame, emotions heat up in more ways than one.

Chapter One Excerpt

"You want me to do what?"

Ellene Bordini’s voice ricocheted around her office as she frowned at the telephone. She pursed her lips, waiting for her father’s peeved voice to sail back at her.

Instead, she heard silence.

"I’m sorry, Dad, but--"

"Come in here, Ellene. We need to talk."

His quiet voice struck her harder than a slap. She’d tried his patience, and his response had been far more gentle than she’d deserved.

"All right," she said, her voice humbled by his manner. She hung up the phone and clasped her hands together to calm her reaction to his request.

She knew better than to attack her father. She knew because she loved him and because the Bible said to honor her parents.

She’d realized her dad had always been proud of the family business, and her goal was to prove she could handle it with a firm hand. A prickle ran up her arms, knowing her position in the construction company should have been her brothers, had he been living.

Ellene ran her fingers through her hair, pulling out knots at the ends. She disliked her natural curl about as much as she disliked talking with Connor Faraday, but that seemed to be what her father expected.

Checking her calendar, she speculated when she had time to call Connor Faraday. Her father’s insistence let her know he wouldn’t change his mind, but she’d try. How could she talk business to the man who’d broken her heart? Grasping her fortitude, she rose and strode from her small office into the corridor, then crossed the hall to her father’s office.

She lifted her hand and paused, gathering her thoughts, then rapped her knuckles against the solid wood door. For a woman of twenty-nine, she still felt a child’s reaction to facing her father. When he invited her in, she drew a lengthy breath and turned the knob.

Syl Bordini sat behind his desk with his back to the door, a telephone receiver pressed against his ear. When Ellene stepped inside, he swiveled to face her, a grim look wrinkling his brow. "I’ll have Ellene call you today to set an appointment. Thanks again for thinking of us."

Ellene stood close to the door, hoping he’d give her a speedy lecture for gnarling at him, but when he lowered the receiver, he motioned toward a chair, his look more tender than she expected. She closed the door behind her and settled across from him.

"I’m sorry dad for--"

He waved his hand to brush away her words. "Ellene, this is our livelihood. Sometimes we must deal with people we’d rather not, but if they’re honest and need our services, then we work with them. You wanted a position with the company, and I trusted that you could do the job."

He looked at her above his reading glasses, and she squirmed. "I can, dad. Have I ever disappointed you?"

"Not at all, I’m pleased with your work. Very pleased."

A faraway look filled his eyes, and Ellene figured his thoughts had drifted to her brother who’d died in Bosnia.

His focus returned, and he shook his head. "Today I’m disappointed that you let the past influence your judgment. Business is business."

"I know business is business," she said. "But this is different, Dad. It’s Connor. We were engaged, and it ended badly. We have other employees who could to the job."

"He asked for you."

The words jarred her. Why? Though she tried to find a logical reason, none came.

Her father leaned closer, his voice softer. "He said he trusts your judgment."

But she didn’t trust Connor’s. She sat speechless, her mind sorting out her father’s words.

"Listen, Ellene," he said, rising. His voice sounded like the father from her childhood. He walked around the desk and drew up a chair beside her. "I understand your feelings, but time has passed. Ten years."

"Under eight," she said. To her it still seemed like yesterday.

"Haven’t you ever made a mistake."

The night Connor left stuck in her memory like a tack, but today, a bittersweet sensation rolled across her thoughts. "I’ve made bad choices, Dad, but--"

"Sin is sin. Mistakes are mistakes. The Bible teaches us to forgive so that God will forgive us our mistakes. I don’t know what you expected of Connor. You ended the engagement. You need to move on with your life. You’re both adults now. "

"Connor’s married, Dad. I have moved on."

Her father took her hand and held it, his strong fingers covering hers. The warmth spread up her arm giving her a sense of safety, the same as when she had been a little girl. "He trusts you."

"If that’s what you want, I’ll handle it."

He gave her hand a firm squeeze. "I knew you would, Ellene. I think you’ve let this grudge go on too long. I know you’ve seen other fellows, but you’ve steered so far away from marriage or commitment, I’ll die without grandkids and you’ll die an old maid. I’d like to be a grandfather someday. "

"I’m only twenty-nine."

"Going on forty." He gave her a wan smile, then rose and walked to his desk. "Here’s his phone number." He extended a sheet of paper.

Ellene rose and took the memo, gazing at her father’s familiar neat blueprint-style lettering. "I’ll call him tomorrow."

"You’ll call now. That was Connor on the phone when you walked in. I told him you’d call today."

Her stomach bottomed out.

"He’s anxious to get the project underway."

"Where is the job?"

"On Harsens Island. It was his mother’s place."

"Harsens Island? That’s near Algonac."

He nodded. "When do we turn down a job, because it’s a few miles away?"

Connor’s face rose in her mind, his firm jaw, those crystal blue eyes that melted her heart, his light brown hair that turned gold in the summer sun, the soft unruly waves she’d love to run her fingers through. Connor, the rat, who’d walked away with her heart and into the arms of another woman without looking back.

Her icy hand felt damp as she clasped the phone number. She looked into her father’s eyes and gave up the battle. "I’ll call Connor today, Dad."