Wearing a purple silk dress suitable for a matron her age, Constance now held court at the table where she'd been seated with several other former bank employees. At another table sat the staff of the clinic, and Jack, bless his heart, had made sure her grandparents would have an especially enjoyable evening by not only making sure some of their old friends were included in the festivities, but also seeing that they were seated all together at one of the more prominent tables.
Blinking at the sudden, unexpected sting of tears in her eyes, Abby lowered her gaze as she twisted the lovely diamond ring round and round on her finger.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked, handing her the glass of ginger ale she'd requested.
"Nothing…" she murmured as she took it from him without meeting his gaze.
"Aren't you having a good time?" He put a hand on her arm and gently guided her to a quiet alcove where several tall palm trees sheltered them from view.
"Yes." Still without looking at him, Abby took a sip of her drink, willing away whatever it was that had her wanting nothing more than to sob her heart out.
"We can leave if you'd like," Jack offered, moving his hand from her arm to her shoulder and giving her a hug.
"But the party has just started." Almost undone by his tenderness, she leaned against him, savoring his solid, steady warmth. "And your parents went to so much trouble for us," she added, finally saying aloud what she had been thinking since she and Jack had arrived at the country club. "Too much trouble and too much expense for a pretend engagement."
She smoothed a hand down the skirt of the simple, high-waisted, sleeveless black dress she wore, her ring sparkling in the muted light.
"They love giving parties, and we gave them as good a reason as any," Jack assured her, hugging her again.
"They're going to be so upset, though, when I go back to San Francisco—"
"Don't worry about it. Engagements are broken all the time. If you still want to go back to San Francisco ten days from now, no harm will have been done."
"There's no if about it, Jack. You've known that all week, and yet you let your parents do this." Abby waved her hand at the crowd of people, the bar, the brimming buffet tables, the string quartet playing one lilting classical piece after another.
"There was no way I could stop them short of telling the truth," Jack reminded her in a reasonable tone.
"Maybe you should have," Abby countered angrily. "Who, in their right mind—especially in this day and age—pretends to be engaged to avoid gossip? Your proposition was ridiculous to start out with. Less than a week later, we've moved into another realm altogether—that of the truly absurd. We can't go on with this charade. At least, I can't."
"It's only for another week or so," Jack soothed, rubbing his hand up and down her arm. "Humor me just a little longer. Unless it's been really awful for you…" Putting both hands on her shoulders, he turned her so that she faced him, and looked at her intently. "Has it, Abby? Has being engaged to me been awful for you?"
"No, it hasn't," she admitted. "It's just that it's not real."
"It can be. All you have to do is say the word. Because I—"
"There you are," Jack's father interrupted, joining them in the alcove along with a short, balding man closer to Jack's age. "I've been looking all over for the two of you. Should have known you'd try to sneak away for a few minutes on your own. Time enough for that later, though.
"Right now, I want Abby to meet Jerry Banning. He's the president and CEO of Banningware Products, newly relocated to our humble town. And he's currently seeking a replacement for his chief financial officer who has decided to take early retirement so he can sail around the world.
"I told him about your background and credentials, Abby, and he's very interested. Aren't you, Jerry?"
"Yes, indeed, very interested, Ms. Summers. From what J.B. has told me, you're just the kind of person I'm looking for to take over as Banningware's CFO. With your education and experience, you would be a wonderful addition to our family. Of course, I'm aware that you're going to have a new addition to your own family in a few months, but we're set up in such a way that you could work from home quite easily on whatever schedule suits you best."
"But, Mr. Banning," Abby began, overwhelmed by his offer. "You don't really know me."
"Jerry—call me Jerry. Everybody does. And your future father-in-law has spoken so highly of you that I feel I do know you. Of course, I'll understand if you're not seeking a position here in Promise just yet."
"It's not that," Abby hedged, excited in spite of herself at the prospect of getting in on the ground floor of a company as promising as Banningware was said to be. "I do have some loose ends to tie up in San Francisco, though."
"No problem. Bert, our current CFO, said he'd hang around until the first of the year, if necessary."
"Jack, Abby … I've been looking for you." Elaine Randall, with Jan Nelson in tow, wedged into the alcove and shook a finger at them. "You're supposed to be mingling with our guests."
"They are," J.B. said. "They're mingling with Jerry, here."
"And talking business, no doubt. Did you get Abby to agree to go to work for you?" Elaine asked.
"I'm working on it," Jerry answered, flashing a smile.
"Good." Elaine patted Jerry on the arm, then made a shooing motion at him and J.B. "Now off with the two of you so Jan can try to talk them into at least thinking about buying another house." As Jerry and J.B. sauntered off, Elaine gave Jan a gentle nudge in Jack and Abby's direction. "Have you seen the place yet, Abby? It needs a lot of work, and with a baby on the way—"
"Actually, I haven't had a chance," Abby cut in, hoping to avoid having to deceive Jack's mother any further.
Beside her, Jack groaned as his mother rounded on him.
"You're afraid to take her out there until after you've signed all the papers, aren't you? She's going to be your wife, young man. She has a right to know what you're getting her into."
"We've both been busy all week," he offered by way of explanation. "But I'm taking off tomorrow afternoon just so I can take Abby out to see the house. And I swear, if she doesn't like it, we'll find something she does. Won't we, sweetheart?"
Jack gave her arm a gentle, warning squeeze as he smiled into her eyes, and Abby nodded silently, going along with him yet again when all she really wanted to do was stomp her feet and yell "no fair."
"I have a lovely two-story, brick, five-bedroom, three-bath, custom-built home on the golf course just three blocks from your parents coming on the market within the next month or so," Jan advised with a perky smile.
"Not the Drexler house?" Elaine asked, her eyes lighting up, then added, "Bert Drexler is Jerry Banning's CFO, the one who's taking early retirement. Their house is beautiful, inside and out."
"We'll keep that in mind," Jack said, then drew Abby's hand through the crook of his arm. "Now I think maybe I'd better get Abby something to eat. Right, sweetheart?"
Again, Abby nodded wordlessly, too overwhelmed to trust herself to speak coherently. There was a word for what she was allowing to be done to her—that word was coerced. And she was going to have to put a stop to it before she found herself walking down the aisle on her way to a pretend marriage just to keep all these caring, kind, decent, thoughtful people—including Jack, himself—happy.
She would have a wonderful life as his wife—she could see that already. She would have a family she could depend on and a job she would find fulfilling. But in the back of her mind, she would always know that she had settled for less than she truly deserved. Because she would always know that Jack was settling, too.
Settling for someone he liked well enough, especially since she was pregnant with his child, but not someone he truly loved the way he had once loved someone else.
"Hey, you're looking pensive again," Jack said as he led her toward the buffet table. "I didn't mean to spring that on you about going out to the house tomorrow. We can put it off till Saturday or Sunday—"
"I wouldn't mind, if that's the kind of house you'd like to have."
"Jack…" Abby began, not even trying to hide her exasperation as she paused and looked up at him. When she saw the mischievous gleam in his eyes, she shook her head despairingly. "You are incorrigible."
"Is that good or bad?"
"Bad, Jack. Very, very, very bad. And frustrating, too."
"Good." He grinned and gave her arm a tug. "Now come and have something to eat. There's roast beef, shrimp, ham, salads and veggies galore—all sorts of goodies to satisfy your cravings."
Abby wanted to resist, not only Jack's charm, but the laden buffet table, too. But she was weak in mind and body, craving Jack's company as much as the shrimp and fresh asparagus she piled onto a plate. More, actually.
And since she could satisfy both cravings at once, she went along with him, letting herself pretend—for the rest of the evening, at least—that she was the happiest woman alive.
Only when Jack left her alone at her mother's house late that night did she finally come back down to earth with a crash. He blithely kissed her good-night, then turned and walked away without a backward glance. Because they were just pretending, weren't they?
Pride alone kept her from calling him back and begging him to stay. Their relationship really was only make-believe, after all. And make-believe came with certain boundaries. She couldn't expect Jack to cross those pre-set lines, and she most assuredly wouldn't cross them herself.
She would think about San Francisco, instead—her home and her job there. And she would remember that she had a mere ten days left before her fairy-tale romance ended.
* * *
Chapter 18
« ^ »
"I really don't think this is necessary," Abby grumbled.
She sat beside Jack in the passenger seat of his car, arms folded across her chest in a way he recognized all too well. At the party last night, she had made it clear that her patience was wearing thin where their engagement was concerned, and today her mood was even more recalcitrant.
When first his father and Jerry Banning, then his mother and Jan Nelson, had confronted her with their thoughts on a possible job and a home for her in Promise, Abby had looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a semi-trailer truck. For a while there, Jack had been afraid she would do something crazy—maybe jump up on a table and announce to everyone that they were just kidding about a wedding on the way.
He had managed to tease her out of her mood, but just barely. And he had known, the moment she opened the door to him, that she was anything but eager to continue their charade by going with him to see the house he planned to buy.
Only the fact that Jan Nelson had been waiting at the curb in her own car had convinced Abby to stick with the plan he'd foisted on her the night before. She knew that the real estate agent had set aside a block of her valuable time to show them the property personally, and she was too conscientious to disappoint the cheerfully smiling woman waving a greeting.
Abby had no qualms about making her annoyance known to him, however.
"Look at it this way," Jack suggested for the third time that afternoon, schooling himself to be patient as he followed Jan's lead down the driveway that led to the house he'd chosen to buy. "Once you've seen the place, you can tell everyone you love it, and no one will bother you about it again the rest of the time you're in Promise."
"What if I don't love it?" Abby asked in a sulky tone he had yet to hear her use.
Caught off guard by her sudden, seeming, perversity, Jack pulled to a stop behind Jan's car, shut off the engine, then turned to face Abby.
"Then, my precious darling, we'll ask Jan to find a place for us that you do like," he ground out, not even trying to hide his exasperation.
"Okay." Tilting her head, she flashed an impish grin that shot through him like an arrow, straight to his heart.
Jack knew she was just giving him a hard time, teasing him in much the same way he had teased her last night, but he felt suddenly, unaccountably happy all the same. If she felt comfortable enough with him to behave in such a bedeviling way, then he had most definitely made a measurable amount of progress with her.
Truly heartened for the first time since he had proposed their pretend engagement, Jack put his hands on Abby's shoulders, pulled her as close as he could across the car's center gearshift, and kissed her soundly on the mouth.
When, to his surprise and utter elation, Abby clutched at the fabric of his shirt and kissed him back, it was all he could do to lift his head and ease away from her. Mindful not only of where they were, but that they also had an audience, he drew a steadying breath, then smiled slowly.
"You're a brat, you know," he said, his voice laced with a tenderness that belied his words. "Pouting one minute, then provoking me in a whole other way the next."
"Only because you bring it out in me," Abby advised, tossing him a saucy look as she arched one elegant eyebrow. "And I wasn't provoking you."
"You mean you didn't want to be kissed?" Jack feigned surprise. "Sorry, my mistake. I must have just imagined that you were sliding your tongue all over mine…"
"You started it," she accused, her face turning bright red.
"And, unfortunately, I have to finish it for now since Jan's waiting for us." He reached out and curled a wisp of her hair around his finger. "But I'm not letting the moment go completely. Unless I'm sadly mistaken, we've got something here worth exploring in much more detail."
"Don't be silly. It was only a momentary lapse," Abby said, grabbing the handle of the car door.
"Yeah, sure, and I'm an alien from another planet."
"Ah, now I know why you were so eager for us to pretend to be engaged. Only a real space cadet would have thought of something so nonsensical."
"Or a man making a last-ditch attempt to win back the regard of the woman he loves," Jack countered quietly, bringing an end to their bantering.
He hoped he wouldn't regret being so honest with Abby, but she had given him so few chances to tell her how he really felt about her that he couldn't let this one pass.
Her lips slightly parted, Abby stared at him, wide-eyed, for several seconds, the bright color slowly draining from her face. Then she gave her head a negative shake, as if clearing her mind of unwanted thoughts.
"Don't be silly," she said again.
"I'm not. I'm being honest with you."
"No," she stated firmly. "You're just being kind."
Dismissing anything further he might have said with a wave of her hand, Abby opened the car door, climbed out, then shut it again quickly.
Head bowed over the steering wheel, Jack pounded a fist against his thigh in frustration. He had tried showing Abby how much he cared for her in as gallant and as gentlemanly a way as he knew how, but that had only gotten him so far. And she refused to believe any words of love he worked up the courage to speak aloud.
Time was running out. He had only a little more than a week left before she planned to go back to San Francisco. He was going to have to change his tactics fast or risk losing her for good.
In the moments Jack sat alone in the car, a whole new battle plan began to take shape in his mind. He was going to use the kiss they had just shared as his jumping-off point, and take it from there. Not slowly and carefully as he'd been doing, but gung-ho, alpha-male all the way.
He and Abby had been good together the night they'd made love—so very, very good together. Abby had obviously chosen to forget that, but her memory could easily be refreshed. He had limited himself to leaving her with chaste kisses on the cheek long enough.
Tonight, he wasn't leaving her at all.
Spurred on by a new sense of determination, Jack got out of the car and sauntered over to where Abby stood, chattering nervously to Jan Nelson about how lovely the property loo
ked with the grass so lush and the fruit trees blooming. The real estate agent flicked a questioning glance his way, but he ignored her, choosing instead to put a proprietary arm around Abby's shoulders.
She tensed at his touch, and when she looked up at him, her smile was somewhat lacking in sincerity, but Jack didn't let it bother him. He had tiptoed around Abby long enough, muttering his mea culpas. It would do her good to be a little wary of him now.
He wanted her to wonder what he was up to until the moment he swept her off her feet and carried her to bed. He was going to take her by surprise, and turn her every way but loose. Then, finally, she would have to—
"We had better go inside," Jan said, interrupting his reverie. She gestured to the darkening sky off to the west and added, "It looks like the storm they mentioned on the news this morning is definitely headed our way, and I'd like to get back to town before it hits."
"Good idea," Jack agreed. "Lead the way."
With his arm still around Abby's shoulders, drawing her along beside him, he followed Jan to the porch that ran the length of the stone and woodframe ranch house. She unlocked the door for them, then waved them into the small entryway.
"I have a couple of calls to make on my cell phone, so why don't you show Abby around?" she said.
The house was cool and welcoming, at least to Jack. He couldn't judge by Abby's expression how she felt about it. She didn't say much, either, as he walked with her through the large, open rooms, their footsteps on the Saltillo tile and hardwood floors echoing in the emptiness.
She paused by the long bank of windows overlooking the back garden and the orchard beyond for quite a while, and she prowled around the big, old-fashioned kitchen, opening cabinet and pantry doors. He caught her smiling at the claw-footed bathtubs as she ran her fingertips over the green-and-yellow tile work in the bathrooms. And she sat in the window seat of the master bedroom for several seconds, again looking out at the back garden and orchard.
Two of the other three bedrooms she gave only a cursory glance, but the third bedroom with its small built-in desk and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves along one wall held her attention much longer. Jack had planned to use the room as a home office, but he would willingly let Abby have it, should she take Jerry Banning up on his offer of a job. He had an office at the clinic, after all. And they could always add on as their family grew.
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