“So she’ll be here.” He laid his sunglasses on the dash and reached for her hand. “I want you to know that I’m not going to confront her about the lie. I understand why she did it, and as long as you believe my version, I’m willing to let it go. Maybe she wants to let it go, too.”
“That’s possible, but I’ll bet she’ll try to start things up again with you.”
“Not if we let her know right away that we’re involved.”
She took a deep breath. “God, that’s going to be hard.”
“We can do it together.”
“No, I think I should tell her by myself.”
He squeezed her hand. “So it won’t be two against one?”
“Something like that.” As the car emerged from the tunnel, Beth tried to convince herself that Alana would be able to handle the news. It was a tough sell.
“This has put us another day behind on the cutters,” Mike said.
“I can live with that. All things considered, the cutter schedule doesn’t seem very important right now.”
Mike made the left-hand turn into town and headed toward the glass studio. The mountains surrounding the town threw Main Street into shadow, which gave an illusion of coolness to the evening. “The cutter schedule might be more important than you realize.”
“What do you mean?”
“If sales start going through the roof, you’d have the capital to expand into other countries.”
“Other countries?” She laughed in disbelief. “Oh, right, Mike. Like where, Brazil?”
“Why not? Instead of desert scenes, you could make rain forest windows. Think of what a scarlet macaw would look like in stained glass.”
The concept appealed to her immediately. “Or think of orchids, or a toucan, or even a yellow-and-black jaguar with green eyes.” Her glance went instinctively to the spot where the leather necklace made a slight imprint under his shirt. It wasn’t there. “Mike, your necklace. Don’t tell me you’ve lost—”
“No. I gave it to my dad.”
“Oh.” She was afraid the gesture meant he was more concerned about his father than he’d let on. “For good luck?”
“In a way.” His gaze met hers for a moment. “Hey, don’t look so worried. He needed a conversation starter, that’s all. Something to amuse the nurses until he gets his rubber cigar back.”
“Okay.” She wasn’t convinced, but she wouldn’t push the issue.
“Anyway, back to your proposed expansion.” He pulled up in front of the studio and stopped the car, but left the engine running. “If you’d even consider Brazil, you might want to make a trip down there sometime. I could take you. We could investigate the idea of a satellite studio.”
She stared at him, her heart pounding. “What are you saying?”
He turned to look at her. “I don’t know yet,” he said softly. “Just thinking out loud a little. How does any of that strike you?”
“You wouldn’t be happy helping me run a satellite glass studio in Brazil.”
“You always seem so sure that you know what would and wouldn’t make me happy.”
“Mike, I know you! You’ve always wanted to explore the jungle. As soon as you left Bisbee you headed straight for the Amazon, and before long there you were, guiding expeditions through the most remote corners of the rain forest.”
“You never asked if I’ve been happy doing that.”
“Okay, have you?”
“Sometimes. Sometimes I feel like the loneliest guy in the universe. Ever since I left here there’s been a big chunk missing out of my life, Beth. I never wanted to admit what it was.” He paused and studied her. “Or who I was missing.”
She struggled not to become giddy with hope. She had to remember what he’d been through in the past few days, and how the stress might have affected his emotions. Once Ernie was well, he might revert to his former independent self. “I’m afraid you’d get impatient, taking an inexperienced person like me into your beloved rain forest.”
“Are you kidding? I’d love showing it to you. Both you and my dad, as a matter of fact. I know you wouldn’t want to go as deep into the jungle as I’ve gone, but—”
“Don’t be so sure.”
He regarded her quietly for a moment. “It seems we’ve both been making assumptions.”
“Yes, it does.”
He took a deep breath and let it out “Wow. It’s been quite a day.”
“I’d say so.”
“And it’s not over yet.” He touched the tip of his finger to her nose. “So you’d better go upstairs and find that red dress. I’ll be back in an hour to pick you up. I—oh, hell.” His attention moved beyond her. “Here comes Huxford.”
She turned in the seat, and sure enough, Colby was approaching the car. She unsnapped her seat belt. “I’ll take care of him.”
Mike turned off the engine. “No, I’ll take care of him. The guy is invading my space, and I don’t like it.”
“Mike, I think it would be better if I handled this.”
“Afraid I’ll tick him off?”
“Yes, frankly.”
“What difference does it make? His company’s not getting the patent, and he’s not getting you, so he can take a flying leap, as far as I’m concerned. I think I’ll just tell him so.” He opened the door.
“Mike! I’m asking you not to confront him! I’ll fight my own battles!”
He closed the door again and turned to gaze at her. “Or could it be that you don’t want to fight at all? Could it be that you want to keep Huxford hanging around, as a backup?”
“That’s unfair! And speaking of backups, you never did explain why you had Cindy’s name on that piece of paper!”
“So I could remember to tell my dad hello for her. Which I forgot to do, in all the excitement. She really likes Ernie and wants him to get better.”
“Oh.”
“Huxford’s waiting for you on the sidewalk. Better go talk to him.”
She picked up her purse. “Mike, he’s not a backup.”
His glance was intense. “No, he’s not.” In a quick move he pulled her toward him and kissed her so thoroughly that she dropped her purse. Finally, when they were both breathing hard, he released her. “And now he knows it,” he said in a voice husky with desire.
She straightened her blouse and steadied her breathing. “Was that absolutely necessary?”
“Yep. See you in an hour. We’ll eat at the Copper Queen. Wear your red dress.”
“I just might wear blue.” She picked up her purse again and opened the car door.
“Bet you don’t.”
She closed the car door without comment, and Mike drove away, leaving her to face Colby alone. But that was what she’d asked for. She hadn’t asked him to kiss her so possessively in front of Colby, however.
“I was worried about you,” Colby said as he came toward her. “People around here said you never close your shop on a weekday unless there’s some sort of emergency.”
“There was. Mike’s father had another medical crisis.”
“So you were comforting him just now?”
She wished she’d left her sunglasses on. “Colby, I’d like to keep my personal business out of our discussions, if you don’t mind.”
“You’re about to make a fool of yourself, you know.”
“Colby, please. If you’ll excuse me, I’ve had a long day and I need to go inside and check my messages.” She took her keys from her purse and started toward the shop.
He followed her. “You’re throwing away the opportunity of a lifetime because of some guy who’ll leave you high and dry.”
She turned back to him. “What am I throwing away? I thought you agreed I could have a two-week extension before signing the contract.”
“I wasn’t talking about the damned contract!”
She looked at him without comprehending. When she finally did, she had a most inappropriate reaction. She laughed.
“Oh, so you think it’s funny?” His face contorted wit
h anger. “You think a personal liaison with me is so ridiculous that it makes you laugh?”
She sobered immediately. “I’m sorry, Colby. That was really awful of me. I didn’t mean to insult you. It’s just that I’ve had quite a time of it, and not much sleep. I’m worried about Mike’s father, and sometimes nervous anxiety makes people laugh at the wrong times. I’ve even heard of people laughing at funerals.”
“An appropriate comparison. This will be the funeral of your precious cutter promotion, I can assure you.”
So he was withdrawing his company’s offer. She felt relieved. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but I understand. I’m sure Handmade can survive just fine without this tool in their inventory.”
“Oh, I expect to get your cutter patent for Handmade eventually. I expect you’ll soon be begging me to give you something, anything for the patent. But we didn’t have to play hardball, you and I. I had hoped this could be a mutually satisfying experience.” His gaze raked over her. “On several levels. But it’s obvious from what I saw in the car and the whisker burn on your face that Tremayne got there ahead of me.”
She hadn’t realized she was going to slap him until her palm connected with his face. She’d forgotten she still held her keys in that same hand. The edge of her door key bit into his cheek, and as they stood staring at each other in shock, he began to bleed.
“Oh, dear,” she said, reaching toward him. “I didn’t mean—”
“Keep away from me,” he snarled, backing up. “You’ve made your choice. Now we’ll see if you can live with it”
“Colby, I apologize. Really, the tension has been terrific recently. I really didn’t intend to hurt you like that. I forgot the keys were still in my hand.”
“As they used to say in the Old West, it’s only a scratch.” He continued to back away down the sidewalk. “You’ll be the one who’ll bleed in the end, Beth. I could have prevented that, but there’s no stopping it now.”
She gazed after him, not sure why he felt he could make such dire predictions. Mike would return to the cutter manufacturing tomorrow, and she felt confident he’d keep the orders filled until other machinists were trained to take over the operation. Eventually Ernie would return to supervise, and then...then maybe some of those expansion plans Mike had talked about could be considered. She still couldn’t picture Mike putting those plans into operation personally, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a good idea, or that she and Mike couldn’t devise a way to see each other more often. From her perspective the future of the Nightingale-Tremayne partnership, both business and personal, looked bright.
Still puzzled by Colby’s behavior, she unlocked the shop and walked inside to turn off the security system. Apparently Colby was just a sore loser who thought she’d be frightened by such talk. He didn’t understand the new confidence she had now that Mike was in her corner.
She walked behind the counter and punched the Play button on her answering machine.
The first message was Alana’s, a cheerful “Greetings from deep in the Ozarks.” Alana paused, obviously waiting for Beth to pick up the phone. “Guess you’re in the shower or something,” she said, sounding disappointed. “I’ll call back.”
Beth’s stomach knotted. When she was with Mike, she could push aside the sense of betrayal she felt concerning Alana, but her sister’s upbeat voice on the answering machine brought her guilt back full force. Mike might want to believe that Alana wasn’t still in love with him, but Beth knew better.
The next message was also Alana’s. “Beth? You around yet?” Another pause. “Guess not. Maybe we got our signals crossed and you forgot I was supposed to call today. I’d really like an update on Ernie, though. I had a dream about Ernie and Dad last night, and it made me—I don’t know—really homesick, I guess you could say. Maybe I’ll just call the hospital in a little while and check on him.”
Beth gazed out me front window of the shop. Enough light remained in the day to filter through the vivid colors of The Embrace. She’d always thought Alana hadn’t known who the piece represented. What if she’d been wrong, and the work had been taunting Alana with the past all along?
The next three messages were business calls, followed by a message from Colby.
Then Alana came on again. “So Mike’s back. Listen, all this stuff with Ernie is scaring the bejeezus out of me, Bethy. I’ve met some people around here, and there’s a rafting company that will probably finish up the trip with my family for a reasonable price. Assuming I can arrange that, I’m flying home. It’ll probably be standby, so don’t worry about when I’ll get there. Hope you’ve been getting along okay with Mike. He may be a rascal, but after all, we have a lot of history together, the three of us. Maybe it’s time to bury the hatchet. See you soon.”
Beth forced herself to make notes on the rest of the messages from customers, although all she could hear was Alana’s voice, and the barely disguised eagerness to see Mike again. It would have been bad enough for Alana to come home and discover Mike wasn’t at all interested in her. But to come home and find out he was involved with Beth, instead—that might be more than Alana could take. In all their years together Beth had never crossed her older sister, because crossing her might mean Alana would withdraw her love. Nothing had ever been worth taking that risk—until now.
THE RED DRESS FIT a little more snugly in the bodice and hips than it had eight years ago. Worried that it was too form-fitting, Beth changed out of it twice, but Mike arrived at the back door just as she’d put it on again. She ran down the stairs to answer the door.
He stood there holding a bouquet of flowers she recognized as coming from Ernie’s cherished rose garden. His eyes widened and his lips parted as he gazed at her without speaking.
“I know it’s too tight,” she said, smoothing the skirt. “Give me a minute and I’ll change into something else.”
“Don’t you dare.”
“Mike, I like to wear my clothes much looser. Something this snug feels too provocative.”
He stepped inside and laid the flowers on a table near the back door. “Can you imagine how I’d feel if you set out to be provocative, just for me?” He took her by the shoulders and gazed down at her. “I’d feel like a king, Beth.”
“I...never thought of it that way.”
“No, I’ll bet you haven’t. You’ve made a career out of blending into the background, which is why it took me so long to figure out how much I wanted you.”
He was right, she realized. She’d always tried to avoid competing with Alana for attention, knowing instinctively that Alana wouldn’t like that. Once in her life she’d bought a dress that demanded attention—this dress—and the results had been catastrophic.
He caressed her bare arms. “Do you remember how I teased you about the way you ate your ice cream, and you said it was unintentional?”
“Well, it was!”
“Next time you do something sexy like that, make it intentional.”
She looked into his eyes and excitement settled deep within her. “I might not know how to be like that.”
“A creative woman like you? You know how.”
Perhaps she did, she thought, as her anticipation of flirting with him grew. “Wait here,” she said. “I’ll go put the flowers in water.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No.” She smiled at him. “Wait here.” She picked up the bouquet and buried her nose in it. “These are wonderful. Thank you.” Then she turned and started up the stairs. Her natural inclination would have been to skip up the steps and get the job done quickly, but Mike had given her a few ideas. She mounted the steps slowly, moving her hips in invitation as she climbed.
Halfway up she turned and glanced down at him. “How’s that?”
His reply was thick with desire. “It’s taking all my willpower not to follow you up those stairs and ravish you on the landing.”
“Then I guess I’m getting the idea.”
“I never doubted you would.”
MIKE SAT ACROSS FROM BETH at a linen-draped table on the balcony of the Copper Queen Hotel as they waited for the dinner they’d ordered to arrive. Candlelightfrom a votive on the table caressed her face and flashed in the simple gold chain she wore around her neck. She absorbed his attention completely. The red silk emphasized the swell of her breasts and exposed just enough cleavage to make his mouth water. She’d arranged her hair in a more complicated way than it had been fixed eight years ago, but that was okay. He was glad they were both eight years older, eight years wiser. That made everything that happened between them all the richer.
As they’d walked hand in hand from her studio to the historic Copper Queen, men had gazed after her in admiration. Mike had watched her gain confidence from the admiring stares and knew he’d take a more aggressive woman to bed with him tonight. The thought made him long to forgo dinner altogether.
But he wanted this to be a night they’d remember for the rest of their lives, and having dinner together was part of the fantasy that would end in glorious lovemaking. The first time had been borne of crisis and muddled with issues that had to be settled before they could fully love each other. Tonight he wanted magic.
But he decided they had to get a couple of topics discussed and out of the way first. “I called the hospital just before I walked down to your studio. Dad’s progress is still good.”
“I know. I called, too,” Beth admitted. “The staff must get sick of all these calls, but I had to make sure nothing more had happened since we left this afternoon.”
“After that scare last night, I’m not taking anything for granted. I figured we could drive back up there after work tomorrow.”
“I’d like that.” A shadow crossed her expression. “Of course, I don’t think it will be just the two of us by then.”
That was the second topic, he thought. “Okay, tell me what message she left on your machine. Then I think we should ban that discussion for the rest of the night.”
“She said that Ernie’s condition was scaring her, and that she’d try to arrange for a local rafting company to finish guiding the family through their trip so she can fly home. She thinks it’s time we all buried the hatchet.”
The Heartbreaker Page 12