by Carol Rose
“Are they asking so much, the union?” she asked. “Are their demands unreasonable?”
“If I didn’t think so, I’d give into them,” he said as calmly as he could.
“But…they seem to believe just as strongly that they’re within their rights,” she said. “If they’re willing to hold out, it must be for something they need.”
Jared carefully unclenched his hand, reminding himself that she didn’t know how much time and care he put into running the best hotels, how making the work environment good was a high priority. In the last ten years, he’d tripled the size of the company, all on his own. He couldn’t have done that without earning his employees’ loyalty first.
She didn’t understand. That should have made him feel better, but it didn’t.
Kelsey stirred next to him. “I, uh, happened to run into Stewart Black today.”
“What!”
“At the deli down the block from the office,” she hurried to say. “We bumped into each other.”
“And he asked you to talk to me about the contract,” Jared concluded, his voice grim.
“No!” Kelsey assured him. “Of course, not. I wouldn’t have discussed your business with him.”
“Then what brought this up?” In that instant, he longed to have the smooth-talking bastard alone in an alley.
“We just talked about…integrity and how it effects a marriage—“
“Shit!” Jared bit out the curse.
“I’m just trying to talk to you about it,” she said defensively. “You don’t have to get upset!”
“You’re taking the word of a man you met twice and assuming that I’m somehow cheating the bastard—“
“No! We never really talked about you.”
“If you didn’t accept his inferences that I’m cheating my workers, we wouldn’t even be discussing this.” Frustrated rage spilled into his words. He couldn’t help it. Of all the people in the world, he needed her to believe in him, needed her trust.
But she couldn’t give him even that much.
“You’re right about one thing,” Jared declared after several taut minutes passed. “You don’t know anything about my business other than what a slimy, silver-tongued asshole told you.”
“For the last time,” she snapped, “I didn’t talk to him about you. I’m asking you about this because of what I heard you say. I heard you tell your negotiator to break the union.”
Jared jerked back the sheet, unable to sit still another instant. “You don’t have to worry about my employees or my business. They’re in good hands. No one on my payroll is living in the ghetto and I can take care of my business without any interference from you.”
“Where are you going?” she asked, her voice suddenly husky.
“I have work to do,” he said, leaving the bedroom.
***
It was the first time she could ever remember Jared walking away from her, Kelsey thought muzzily, rolling over to check the clock again. Three a.m.
A sliver of light shone from under his study door across the living room. She could see it’s glow from the bed. If her head didn’t hurt so badly, she’d have gone to him and apologized.
After all, she wasn’t his real wife, didn’t have any real right to worry about his character. If he was a bastard in business, what was it to her? She should have known better than to say anything.
But they’d made love with such a piercing intensity tonight. He’d cradled her afterwards like a man who felt something other than satiated desire.
He’d never believe her now, but she didn’t really care about anything Stewart Black might have said. She didn’t stay awake nights worrying about Jared’s employees’ financial status.
It was Jared himself keeping her awake. Why should she care, she wondered again. What was it to her that he seemed to be straying across the line of common decency?
He’d shown himself to have manipulative tendencies, even with her. But she just couldn’t stand the world seeing him that way. She wanted him to have personal integrity.
At heart, he seemed a better man.
Groaning, she rolled over and buried her head under a pillow. She had to get some sleep. Maybe sleep would quiet the hammers in her head.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Hours later, Kelsey surfaced to consciousness reluctantly, her headache now a macabre marching band with cymbals. Groggily, she lurched out of bed, obeying the demands of a clenching stomach.
About the time the spasms let up, she became aware of Jared behind her in the bathroom. Still clutching the toilet as the room swam, she didn’t turn to acknowledge him.
“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.
“No,” she said with difficulty, “I’m dying.”
He stepped around her feet, going to the sink. Closing her eyes and resting her head on the toilet seat, she heard him turn on the water.
“Here.”
He pushed a damp wash cloth into her hand.
Straightening, she wiped her face thankfully and handed it back.
“Give me your hand,” he said, putting his arm around her and lifting her off the floor. “We’ve got to get you back to bed.”
She’d often thought that going to the gynecologist was the most embarrassing thing a woman had to tolerate. Now she had something else to add to the list. Being sick all over a man’s bathroom in his presence.
That would keep the sparkle in a relationship.
Jared guided her back to bed and she sunk into it with all the grace of a dead mackerel. The pain in her stomach was gone, but her head ached and she was tired to death.
Drifting in and out, she lost track of time. When she surfaced once, she found a basin conveniently next to the bed. At some point, a glass of water appeared on the night stand along with a fresh washcloth.
Coming awake again sometime later, she found Jared standing beside the bed, a glass in his hand.
“Here’s some soft drink for you. It might help settle your stomach. How are you feeling?”
“Better,” she said, trying to smile. “I’ll be fine. You go on to work. You don’t have to stay. I’ve survived worse.”
“I’m sure you have,” he said matter-of-factly. “Do you feel like taking a sip of this?”
“Not right now,” she said, closing her eyes. “I’ll just rest a while.”
“Good,” he said, his voice deep and calm.
For a fleeting second, she thought she felt the coolness of his hand against her forehead. Before she could order her eyelids to open again, the sensation was gone.
With sleep coming and going, she was visited by wisps of dreams that came and went with startling clarity, but little logic. In one episode, she was back in her old apartment with all her things. Later, she saw herself on an old-fashioned swing with Jared pushing her as she laughed, soaring high.
Then there was the snatch of scene where she clung to him, crying—over what she didn’t know.
Later, sometime after noon, Kelsey opened her eyes and the room didn’t swim. She stared at the ceiling for several moments, mentally reviewing her own condition. Though the sheets were wrinkled and damp, she felt less feverish now. Her head still hurt, but not to the point of nausea.
Somewhere in the apartment, Jared was talking.
She rolled over, squinting at the clock. Hadn’t he gone to work?
Noises from the kitchen could be heard, the clink of cutlery on ceramic. Minutes later, Jared appeared in the doorway.
“You’re awake.” Dressed casually in jeans and an open-neck shirt, he smiled, bending over her to put his hand against her cheek. “Temperature seems close to normal. Do you feel better?”
“Some,” she admitted, both startled and warmed by his tenderness. In her experience, in the best of times men were useless as bedside attendants for minor ailments.
“Would you like to take a quick bath?” he asked, crossing the room to switch on the bathroom light.
“Yes,” she said, struggling to straight
en in the bed.
“Here,” Jared said, coming swiftly to help her sit up. “Why don’t we get you into the tub and I’ll make you something to eat. Is your stomach settled enough for some soup?”
“That sounds great,” she said, conscious of the bizarreness of the situation. Here she was, weak as a kitten, sweaty and unpleasant with her hair hanging in her face and no claim to feminine charms—and yet she felt cared for.
It didn’t make any sense, particularly since she’d made him mad last night by butting into his business. Why would he take care of her like this?
Jared helped her up, steadying her as they walked to the bathroom. He ran her a bath, extricated her from the t-shirt she’d slept in, and actually put her hair up in a lopsided ponytail to keep it from getting wet.
Minutes later, she sat in the huge tub, lukewarm water up to her chin.
“We don’t want you getting too hot,” he said, as if he’d nursed a hundred invalids. “You just sit. I’ll go make the soup.”
“Thanks,” she murmured, sighing in contentment. She couldn’t ever remember being this pampered. Her mother had taken care of her childhood illnesses, of course. But for a man to do this seemed unbelievable.
It wasn’t as if she were terminally ill. Any decent human being would try to help then. She wasn’t even completely incapacitated. She could have gotten herself in the bathtub, could have scrounged something for her now-hungry stomach.
But she didn’t have to because Jared was doing it for her. Even after she’d made him furious the night before.
Kelsey sighed again, sinking lower in the tub.
She must have drifted. The next thing she knew, Jared stood beside her, holding a soft towel.
“Time to get out,” he said.
Once she was dried off, his hands gentle on her body, Kelsey found herself dressed in a clean t-shirt and panties. He led her back into the bedroom.
To her surprise, he’d changed the sheets. Gone were the wrinkled mess of covers, replaced by a new set, neatly folded back on her side.
“Come on,” Jared said, helping her back into bed. He mounded up the pillows behind her. “I’ll be right back with your soup.”
Feeling weak, but refreshed by her bath, she leaned her head back against the pillow.
The phone rang and she heard him answer it in the kitchen. His sister, she thought, hearing him laughingly ask how her back was feeling.
Kelsey felt herself sink into the pillow, sleep tugging at her. It seemed only seconds later that Jared appeared next to the bed with a tray.
“Just eat as much as you want,” he said, placing it over her legs.
Flicking on the television, Jared stretched out next to her on the bed as he watched the cable news channel.
Kelsey spooned the soup into her mouth, surprised at how hungry she felt. When she was finished, she put the spoon on the tray. Jared immediately clicked the TV off and got up to take the tray.
He came back as she was wiggling down in the bed, fatigue dragging at her again. Helping her rearrange her pillows and tucking the sheet, Jared flicked off the bathroom light.
She closed her eyes, assuming he’d go back to whatever work he’d been attending to that morning. But she felt the bed sag and realized he’d lain back down next to her.
“Jared?”
“Mmmm?”
She had to know. “Are you still mad at me?”
“Yes,” he said.
She felt him smooth her hair back gently.
“I’m furious.” He brushed his knuckles along her cheek. “Go on back to sleep.”
This, she thought muzzily to herself as she sank into unconsciousness, was weird. Here she was at possibly her least attractive with a husband who claimed to be angry with her and she felt…cherished.
Jared watched her sleep, unable to make himself get up and leave. How could one woman have become so important to him in so short a time?
He’d gone out on limbs before, taken risks others thought were foolish, but nothing came close to this. He still wasn’t sure that Kelsey would ever let herself fall in love with him. She’d had enough disappointments in her life to convince her to protect her heart permanently.
Her own father had never cared for her.
Lying on the bed next to her, he acknowledged to himself that he’d taken on the tiger this time. He couldn’t force her to love him, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop loving her, either.
He’d told her the truth. Their argument last night did still rankle. Somewhere in the early morning hours as he sat trying to work, he’d admitted the truth to himself. He needed Kelsey to believe in him. Maybe he hadn’t given her enough reason, but he wanted her faith, just the same.
***
Later in the day, Doug rang the bell at his boss’ apartment, his heart thudding hard in his chest. He shouldn’t be here, he knew.
“Hello,” Kelsey offered with a weak smile, opening the door and leaning against it.
She looked slender and pale in the over-sized robe, her feet bare on the thick pile carpet. Jared’s robe, his mind told him mockingly.
“How are you?” Doug asked sympathetically, ignoring the stab of jealousy. He was here for Kelsey. She’d never been one to succumb to minor ailments and he remembered now that she’d always fought against even the slightest cold.
Kelsey chuckled, stepping back and gesturing him inside. “I’m pitiful, but I think I’ll live.”
“I heard you were sick when Jared called in this morning,” he said, shutting the door firmly and flipping the lock home. “He actually cancelled several meetings. I thought you must be at death’s door.”
“He doesn’t cancel meetings often?” she asked, returning to a nest of blankets on the wide couch.
“No,” Doug said, seating himself at the other end and surveying her with concern. She looked pale and delicate. Not like his vibrant, sparkling Kelsey.
Not his Kelsey anymore, if she ever truly had been.
Amy’s face flashed before his mind’s eye and he pushed away the guilt that followed. When he’d heard Kelsey was sick and Jared at home nursing her, envy and resentment bit into him fiercely. He was supposed to be her knight-errant, the one who sheltered her from life’s storms. All morning he’d tried to shake the old emotion and lost the effort.
“Would you like something to drink?” She asked him, struggling to get up. “I’m forgetting my hostess responsibilities, but we’ve known each other so long you never seem like company.”
They’d always been comfortable together. If the habit of long practice still hadn’t removed the breathlessness he felt with her, Doug knew his old hopes of being man enough to win her were at fault.
“I’d like some coffee, if you have it made,” he said, “but I can get it myself. Relax. You’re the sick one.”
Ignoring his admonishment in a way that reminded him of her sister, she followed him into the kitchen. Leaning against the refrigerator, she watched as he found the coffee.
Refusing to think of how he’d left Amy this morning, his mouth still warm from her kiss, Doug told himself he hadn’t had any choice but to cancel their lunch date. He’d been compelled to see Kelsey, to make sure she was truly okay. To have a few moments alone with her now that Jared was at the office.
It wasn’t anything sexual, wasn’t like he was cheating.
“So, how are you really? Feeling any better?” He located a mug and filled it with the dark, aromatic brew.
“I may look like a wreck,” Kelsey said with a laugh as she ran a hand through her hair, “but this is a great improvement. I’m just feeling weak now.”
“Come on,” he said, his cup of coffee in one hand as he guided her back to the couch. “You need to rest.”
Sinking down, she pulled a blanket over her pajama-clad legs and leaned back with a sigh.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” he asked, his automatic reaction to her kicking in.
“No, I’m better now,” she assured him. “How did you
get free in the middle of the afternoon?”
Guilt stabbed him again. He smiled at her, the effort full of regrets and old longings. “I heard my oldest friend was sick and needed cheering up.”
She snuggled under the blanket, a secret smile on her face. “So your kind-hearted boss let you take the afternoon off?”
“No,” he said with a wry twist of his lips. “I worked through lunch and finished early. I know how much you hate being sick and thought it might help to have someone to talk to.”
Kelsey shrugged. “This kind of virus would make Mary Sunshine feel despondent. But I’m a lot better now.”
“Well,” he said, sitting his coffee on a nearby table, “we can’t have you—not Mary Sunshine on your best days—feeling down. What can I do to help?”
She chuckled at his assessment, as he’d known she would. “Oh, just talk to me. Tell me about your romance.”
With unerring accuracy, she’d touched on his most tender spot, he reflected, carefully keeping his turmoil off his face. Getting up and going behind where she sat on the couch, he said, “Neck rub while we’re talking.”
“Ahhh.” Her head fell forward in submission.
“So you want me to talk about my romance with Amy?” Doug forged forward manfully. The subject lay between them just as much as her marriage to Jared had altered the terrain of their relationship. They had to find a way to go on, a way to continue a friendship he cherished while maintaining this new relationship with Amy. It had come out of nowhere, but he couldn’t imagine giving her up.
“Yes, your romance to Amy!” She reached up, slapping at his hand playfully. “Who else? I’m so excited for you both.”
“Amy’s great,” Doug said, meaning it. “She’s terrific.”
Hot, torrid lovemaking night after night. Even in his fantasies he hadn’t found better. Even more important, Amy and he shared a day-to-day rhythm, a connection he was coming to truly value. She made him laugh, made him feel loved.
He just didn’t know where to put his old feelings for her sister, his dreams of Kelsey making him someone other than ordinary-Doug. Somehow he knew he’d be a different man with her, someone brighter and stronger.
“You’ve been seeing a lot of each other,” Kelsey commented, her voice muffled by the dark fall of her hair around her face as he worked out the kinks in her shoulders.