“That’s wonderful, dear.” Patrice sighed in relief. “Dutch and I really need to be…” She stopped, then tried again, more succinctly. “We really want to be married as soon as possible.”
It almost sounded like a shotgun wedding was in the works! Knowing that wasn’t possible, Caroline grinned and drew on her expertise. She had a lot of experience soothing frazzled brides of all ages and personality types. “Not to worry. It’s going to happen.”
Patrice exhaled audibly. “Good.” Her voice resonated with cheer. “Now, for why I called you. I wanted you to give Jack a message for me.”
This was odd, Caroline thought, since she’d never seen Jack without his phone. Curious, she asked, “You can’t reach him on his cell?”
“I hate to bother him during the workday, dear. And really, this will be easier. Just let him know that Dutch and I won’t be home this evening, after all. We’re going to be staying in Houston through Monday or Tuesday. And we’ll be incommunicado during a lot of that time, so if you need us, just text me or leave a message on my voice mail, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
This was even stranger! “You didn’t take any luggage.”
Patrice chuckled. “I know, dear. But we’ll be fine. They have stores here, too, you know. Give my love to Maddie and Bounder, and good luck with Jack. I’m sort of leaving him in the lurch this weekend, so he will likely not be too pleased with me.”
Caroline hung up, and a moment later Jack walked in the door, a deliriously worried Maddie at his side. The girl ran straight for her injured dog, plopping down on the floor next to her. “Bounder, I missed you so much! I thought school would never be over so I could get home and see if you are okay.” Maddie slid her face inside the inverted cone-shaped E-collar and pressed her cheek against Bounder’s. The golden retriever panted happily and made a little murmur of contentment.
“Your mother called,” Caroline said, suddenly not in as much a hurry to leave Jack and his daughter and their beloved pet as she knew she should be. “She said she and Dutch won’t be home tonight.”
Braving Jack’s frown of disappointment, Caroline relayed the rest of the message from Patrice.
Jack was as displeased as Caroline had expected. “Why didn’t she call me?”
Good question, Caroline thought. One Patrice hadn’t answered sufficiently. “Your mother said she didn’t want to bother you at work.”
Jack muttered something beneath his breath that succinctly summed up his skepticism about that. His brows drew together. “Something is going on.”
Caroline kind of thought so, too. Still, she felt compelled for all their sakes to offer the opposing view, in an effort to be fair. “Maybe they want some time alone.”
Jack rubbed at the tense muscles in the back of his neck. “Then they would have said so.”
Caroline shrugged. “Maybe it just occurred to them. People do act impulsively sometimes, you know. In fact—” she paused and gave him a telling look “—I can think of an example right here today….”
“There’s a difference. I don’t have designs on your money.”
“With good reason,” Caroline countered facetiously, in an effort to lighten his cynical mood. “I don’t really have any.” Every cent she made she poured right back into her business. “And since Dutch is apparently as wealthy as your mother in his own right…”
Jack scowled. “Unless Dutch has leveraged his properties to the hilt, or blew his savings in the recent downturn in the stock market. Then, for all we know, he could be teetering on the edge of bankruptcy—”
“Even if he were,” Caroline interrupted, “which seems doubtful, the prenup…”
Jack paced. “Hasn’t been read yet. We don’t know what it says.”
Caroline folded her arms in front of her and rocked back on her heels. She looked Jack up and down, shaking her head in consternation. “It must be exhausting to be you.”
Jack scrubbed a hand over his face. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I think they even wrote a song about it once,” she murmured so only Jack could hear. “‘Suspicious Minds’…” Caroline made a joking attempt to hum a few bars.
Jack made no effort to draw away, even as he glowered at her. “You’re a laugh riot.”
He was standing so close she could see the beginnings of an evening beard, which was something she’d already felt earlier, when he’d buried his face against the delicate skin of her breasts. She flushed as the erotic memory sent another cascade of pure physical thrills soaring through her.
She stepped forward, lightly tapping the center of his chest with her index finger. “And you’ve got to get a grip on your cynicism if you want your mother to have the happy day she should. Seriously, Jack.” Caroline looked deep into his eyes. “Not everyone who wants to marry someone with money has designs on their bank account.”
“You talk a good game.” Jack studied her face, and his lips curved into a wicked smile. “Yet I don’t see you putting yourself out there.”
Caroline’s brows knit together in confusion. “Wasn’t that what just happened between us today?”
“Actually—” Jack gave Caroline a look that warmed her through and through “—I’m not sure what that was, which is why I am so eager to try it again and find out.”
They weren’t touching but it felt as if they were. “You’re shameless.”
He did not disagree. “So,” Jack said finally, “about tonight…?”
Caroline shrugged. “I’m working,” she said.
Jack grimaced. “Unfortunately, so am I. Or at least I am supposed to, but since my mother bailed on me, I have no sitter for Maddie, and with it being a Friday night…” He paused, waiting.
Caroline did a double take. “Tell me you’re not asking me to babysit!” she exclaimed as Maddie came racing back in again, sliding across the smooth wood floor as if into home base.
“Is Caroline going to watch me tonight? I like that!”
Oh, no, Caroline thought, looking at Maddie’s eager face. Talk about breaking hearts and long-held wishes! If only the little girl didn’t want a mommy. If only she didn’t want a child!
“It would just be from six-thirty to nine at the latest. I’ll feed her dinner, get her ready for bed, everything before I leave.” Jack looked at Caroline, desperate. “Plus I’ll owe you, big-time.” He reached over and squeezed her hand, then waited a prayerful moment. “So what do you say?”
I COULD GET USED TO THIS, Caroline thought, several hours later.
She had gone back to the office, returned phone calls and finished up a few things, then rushed home to change into a pair of denim capris and a boat-necked navy-and-white three-quarter-sleeved T-shirt and flip-flops. Then it was back to Jack’s.
Maddie had been waiting for her, in a pair of apple-green pajamas with an adorable dog-and-cat print. Bounder was following the little girl everywhere she went.
“I think Bounder wants her collar to come off,” Maddie told Caroline the moment she walked in the door.
Caroline didn’t doubt that for a minute. The satellite-dish-shaped “hat” looked like a royal pain.
“Maddie,” Jack warned. “We talked about this. Bounder has to wear it so she won’t chew her bandage off and start bleeding again.”
Maddie’s lower lip shot out. “Bounder wouldn’t do that!”
Caroline knelt down so she was at eye level with the little girl. “Bounder wouldn’t mean to hurt herself, Maddie. But she would. Because that’s how dogs take care of their owies. They lick them. And when you lick a cut like that it usually starts bleeding again. Kind of like if you scrape your knee and it starts to get better and then you fall down again and it starts bleeding all over again. Like that.”
“Oh.” Maddie’s expression turned solemn.
“But I know Bounder appreciates how much you love her. And what good care you are taking of her,” Caroline continued.
Maddie’s face lit up with enough joy to inspire a
thousand smiles. “I do love her very much,” she said, reaching forward to envelop Caroline in an exuberant hug.
And it would be so easy, Caroline thought, as she returned the little girl’s heartfelt embrace, to love you as my very own. So easy to let you into my life…
Maddie released her hold on Caroline shyly.
Her heart bursting with unexpected affection, Caroline stood.
And looked at the other person in the room she wouldn’t mind calling family….
She’d had the impression that Jack was looking fine tonight when she came in, but she hadn’t had a chance to really look at him. Now she did. He, too, was just out of the shower. He had shaved, brushed his hair. The dark suit contrasted nicely with the marine-blue shirt and striped tie. Most intriguing of all was the cologne he wore. Cedarwood and moss combined with expensive leather and crisp sun-dried linens…The fragrance conjured up an earthy sophistication…success…a briskness that was both pure Jack, and pure spring…. She had never inhaled anything quite like it, and she knew she would never forget it. Or the specific way it fit the man who had just splashed it on his skin.
“Your mother gave that to you, didn’t she?”
“Conjured up for me just this week.” Jack winked. “Said it’s guaranteed to attract the woman of my dreams.”
Patrice was not matchmaking, Caroline reassured herself calmly. And besides, she had fallen into bed with Jack that afternoon without help of such artifice.
“I wouldn’t know about that,” Caroline murmured, aware her attraction to Jack was so much more than his cologne. And yet, that cologne had worked to irrevocably conjure up all sorts of sensual thoughts and images…and desires.
Jack merely smiled and looked at her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking and envisioned the same.
Realizing, however, that time and circumstance were not on their side tonight, he reluctantly unlocked their gazes and knelt down to his daughter. “You be good for Caroline. She’s going to put you and Bounder in bed at eight o’clock. And no nonsense, okay, Maddie? I want you to go to sleep. So Bounder will go to sleep. She needs lots of shut-eye to get well.”
“Okay, Daddy.” Maddie hugged her daddy fiercely.
Jack kissed and hugged his daughter back, then stood. He paused for a pat on the head to the dog, a long look in Caroline’s eyes that promised a more intimate greeting later in private, and then he was gone.
“OKAY, WHO IS SHE?” Grady asked as soon as the dinner meeting had concluded with the group of doctors who had just agreed to lease all the last available commercial space at One Trinity River Place.
“Who’s who?” Jack fit his papers into his briefcase.
“The woman who has you smiling again,” Travis said.
“I know that look, too,” Nate said. “I haven’t seen it on your face in years.”
“Thanks, guys,” Jack said drily, aware he was happy, happier than he had been since he could recall.
Dan fit the architectural drawings of the just-leased offices back in the carrying case. “I’m sure we’ll meet her soon enough. If you’re even half in love as we all suspect, you won’t be able to keep whoever she is under wraps for long.”
“I’m not in love,” Jack said. He wasn’t that naive anymore. And didn’t intend to be again.
He was in lust, however. Head over heels in lust…
“You say that now,” Grady predicted with a grin.
“Yeah, yeah…” Reluctant to discuss something that wasn’t meant to bear greater scrutiny, Jack said goodbye to his friends and headed out.
Traffic was light for nine o’clock Friday evening. Fifteen minutes later, he was walking in the door. Caroline was in the living room, flip-flops off, sitting cross-legged on the sofa. She was using her leather briefcase as a desk. Several notepads and pens were spread out on top of it.
Jack dropped his suit jacket over the back of a wing chair, loosened his tie and the first two buttons on his shirt. Unable to help but think what a welcoming sight Caroline made after a very long day, Jack sank into the seat kitty-corner from her, and stretched his legs out in front of him. He paused to admire her pretty feet and cranberry-red toenails. Her delicate ankles, the arch of her foot, the slender heel, were all as sexy and feminine as the rest of her.
Reluctantly, Jack forced his gaze upward. If he didn’t want to chase Caroline away, he was going to have to get a handle on his desire. Otherwise, she’d end up thinking he was only interested in one thing, when it was so much more than that….
Jack cleared his throat. “Maddie and Bounder are asleep, I take it?”
With close to maternal contentment, Caroline reported, “We had fun hanging out together, and then they went to bed at eight. Both of them were very tired. Bounder was all too happy to curl up on the cushion next to Maddie’s bed, and she was happy as long as her pet was near.”
It sounded cozy. Jack was sorry he had missed it. “Thanks for helping me out tonight,” he said sincerely.
“No problem.” Caroline shut down her laptop computer. “It gave me time to get to know Maddie and get some more work done on your mother’s wedding.”
He wondered how to keep Caroline there, without making this seem like a really lame attempt at an unofficial date. “Did you eat dinner?” he asked casually.
Caroline nodded. “I grabbed a sandwich on my way back to my apartment to change.”
Jack saw his opening and took it. “But no dessert, I’m betting.”
She flashed him a flirtatious grin. “That would be correct.”
“Then can I interest you in some wedding cake?”
She leaned forward to put her belongings in her briefcase, the action giving him a view of the graceful slope of her neck. “If you’re talking about the samples Jericho left with you this morning—”
He watched the pink of anticipated pleasure come into her cheeks. “I am.”
She beamed and followed him to the kitchen. “You’re on.”
Glad she had decided to stay, he set out the platter of individually wrapped samples, a carton of premium vanilla ice cream and a basket of ripe strawberries. He plucked several big fragrant Texas peaches out of the serving bowl on the breakfast table. “So what did you get done tonight?”
Caroline settled on a stool opposite him. “I figured out the number and size of the tents we’re going to need, and arranged for them to be delivered and set up the day before the wedding. I also ordered the mobile restrooms and the dance floor and setup.”
Jack plucked the paring knife out of the block. “It seems like a lot of trouble to go to.”
Caroline rested her elbow on the marble counter and propped her chin on her upraised hand. “I’m guessing if you were the one getting married you’d go the church and country club reception route.”
The smell of sugary cake and fragrant peach filled the air. “Actually, I’d prefer to get married in a judge’s chamber this time around if I ever do get married again, which is doubtful.”
Caroline accepted the bite of juicy peach he offered. “Why a judge’s chamber? Because it would be quick and easy?”
Jack savored a bite of the tart, sweet fruit before he finally allowed, “More like somber and official.” He went back to slicing up peach, arranging them on two stoneware dessert plates, then added two scoops of vanilla bean ice cream. “I’d want us both to be reminded that marriage is a binding legal contract. Getting married in a romantic venue makes it seem more fairy tale than reality, and that’s not helpful in the long run.”
Caroline favored Jack with a comically reproving look. “Good thing your divorce didn’t make you cynical.”
Jack circled the counter to take a stool right next to her. “I know I’ve taken off my rose-colored glasses. I think that’s a good thing.” He swiveled toward her. “What about you?” He brought the platter of cake samples closer. “Where would you get married?”
Caroline studied the array of tempting treats, finally settling on a slice of white chocolate cake
with vanilla but-tercream frosting. “Well, first of all, I think I am every bit as unlikely to get married as you are. Since I, too, do not want to have my hopes and dreams dashed ever again. But, let’s say I someday meet someone so incredibly wonderful and perfect, and manage to surpass all that, and say yes to my Mr. Right’s proposal. I would want to get married on a private stretch of beach at sunset in a very small, very intimate, deeply romantic and love-filled ceremony. Given my luck so far in the romance department, which is nil, I’m not likely to ever have that particular dream come true. But I have to tell you…if I ever were ready to take that leap, I would definitely want to do it with my ideals intact.”
Jack mulled that over as he savored a bite of almond cake with vanilla almond icing. “I guess that, although my approach is certainly different, I would want to marry with my ideals intact, too. With such profound love and trust that I would know in my heart and my head that the union would last forever and withstand anything.”
She nudged his thigh briefly with her knee. “And here I thought you didn’t have a romantic bone in your body,” she declared.
He grinned. The home phone rang. Resenting the interruption, Jack glanced over and saw the caller ID flash Private Number. With a raised brow, he lifted the phone to his ear, identified the voice and said, “Hey, Laura, what’s up?”
When she told him, Jack groaned. “Yeah, I’m sorry,” he said sincerely, irked at his own irresponsibility. “I completely forgot I was supposed to meet you downtown tonight.”
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