by Carol Grace
"Your sister's a great girl," Adam noted, taking the bedding from her arms.
Mandy nodded. "She thinks you're nice, too." She could hardly say "She thinks you're God's gift from the Yukon," but she thought it. "Thanks again, Adam," she said. But before he wrapped himself in the blanket and settled his long, lanky body into the narrow confines of the couch, she hurried down the hall and closed her bedroom door behind her. After all, there was just so much guilt, longing and gratitude a woman could handle.
Chapter Six
Mandy got up early the next day and noticed right away that the living room was back to normal, with the blanket folded neatly at the end of the couch. Adam was nowhere in sight, but his rental car was parked in front of the house, right next to Laurie's own Toyota. She headed for the kitchen, where she made omelets for the two couples, who then carried their suitcases downstairs. She called a cab to take them back to the airport for their flight to Los Angeles.
Fighting off an urge to go out and look for Adam, who couldn't have gone far without his car, Mandy loaded the dishwasher and poured herself a cup of coffee. She took it out onto the patio where she could watch the gulls swoop over the water and ponder her future and the future of the Miramar Inn. If she were full every night, she'd be a financial success. But if she were full every night, how could she manage all by herself?
She could barely manage with the help of Adam and Laurie. And if she were full every night, would she have time for pumpkin festivals or visits to wineries? Not that it mattered, when Adam left she'd have no reason to go off sightseeing, no reason to have fun. Nobody to have fun with. She'd never minded before. Never knew what she was missing. She had tilted the metal chair back against the wall of the house when Laurie came shuffling sleepily through the kitchen door in sandals and shorts.
"Have you seen my white linen pants?" she asked, setting her coffee and a croissant on the table.
"I borrowed them," Mandy confessed. "But they've got a few grass stains on them. I'm going to have them cleaned for you."
Laurie wrinkled her nose. "Grass stains?" She looked around the brick patio. "From where?"
Mandy bit her lip. "From some grass, of course. Why, do you need them right away?"
"No, I just wondered. I'm still wondering. How did you get grass stains on my pants?"
Mandy was spared an answer to the question by the arrival of Adam at the garden gate. He was breathless from a run on the beach and the long climb up the rickety stairs. The sun was in his eyes, his hair was windblown, the muscles in his legs rippled and his feet were bare. He looked like Triton, the Greek god, rising from the sea.
"Beautiful day," he remarked, looking straight at Mandy.
She stood, wiped her palms against her old denim shorts and tried to control her racing pulse. How could one man radiate so much energy and pure animal magnetism so early in the morning?
"What can I get you for breakfast?"
He put his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her back into her seat. "I'll get it." Then he went into the kitchen and Laurie did an exaggerated double-take.
"This man is more at home here than I am. How long did you say he's been here?"
"A few days," Mandy said, holding her coffee cup in front of her face.
"I know how you feel about Jack, Mandy, but don't you think you ought to give Adam a second look?"
"A second look? I haven't given him a first look," she lied. "Laurie, he's just a guest. I can't go throwing myself at the guests, can I? I mean, hostesses have to have some scruples."
"Why, what did you do, take an oath?" Laurie demanded.
"No, but it's understood. Besides, he's not interested in a relationship and neither am I. He was married once and he's been burned. He's going off to work on some oil- drilling platform in the North Sea or the North Slope or something. No women, no nothing. That’s his choice. So even if I were interested in him, which I'm not, there's no future in it."
"He's interested in you, though." Laurie took a bite of croissant and chewed thoughtfully.
Mandy set her cup down. "I suppose your experience in air travel gives you extra insight into these complicated social relationships?" Mandy asked dryly. "How do you know?"
"It doesn't take a psychoanalyst to tell that Adam has the hots for you," Laurie said matter-of-factly. "Even a lowly flight attendant can detect electricity when it’s crackling through the air."
"I told you, it doesn't matter. Even if’s true, he's not going to do anything about it."
"What about you, why don't you do something about it?" Laurie asked. "Don't tell me, I know. You're afraid of getting hurt again. Mandy, that was three years ago. You can't bury yourself in this house as if it were your security blanket. Someday you're going to have to come out and take a look around. And you may find something you like. Someone you like. Someone who's honest, who's got integrity and who likes you back. Look what happened when you took a chance and wrote a letter to someone you didn't know. But Jack is just a pen pal, thousands of miles away. Adam is right here under your own roof. And he's a living, breathing hunk. I can't believe you haven't noticed."
"You think he's good-looking?" Mandy asked.
Laurie rolled her eyes. "Of course I think he's good- looking. But he's not looking at me. I might have been a nasturtium on the fence for all he noticed. Yes." Laurie raised her eyebrows and looked pointedly in the direction of the kitchen door "The nasturtiums are doing very well."
Mandy turned to see Adam carrying a stack of toast on a plate, along with jam and butter. He set it all in the middle of the table, pulled a wrought-iron chair up and sat down.
"Wait a minute," Laurie said, giving Adam a scrutinizing look. "You've got something on the back of your pants. It looks like grass stains."
Adam shrugged. "Probably. I'll change after breakfast."
"There's not much grass around here," Laurie commented.
Mandy met Adam's gaze over a piece of toast and saw a gleam in his eye and watched a slow smile spread across his face. She felt the comers of her mouth turn up in response. Yes, she knew how the grass stains got there and so did he. And no, she wouldn't forget the smell of the grass, the sound of the wind in the trees and the taste of his lips on hers. But it should be illegal for a man to look at a woman like that, especially at breakfast, especially at her.
She didn't have the defenses required to fight off the way he made her feel, as if a meltdown was taking place in the core of her body. She thought of getting up and going into the kitchen, but she couldn't. Her legs were made of lead, and her arms of graphite. It was all she could do to hold up a piece of toast. She couldn't possibly swallow it. Was it, could it possibly be true that Adam was interested in her?
Yes, but only as a short-term amusement. That was what Laurie didn't understand. Or if she understood, she didn't care. But Mandy did. She was not prepared to be dumped again. Once was enough in this lifetime.
Laurie sat drinking her coffee, her gaze traveling between Mandy and Adam, a smug I-told-you-so expression on her face.
Adam drained his coffee cup and set it on the table.
"I'll be checking out today," he said abruptly, the smile gone from his face, the gleam in his eyes dimmed.
Mandy blinked as she was hit with an intense feeling of disappointment.
Laurie's eyes widened. "So soon? Is it the couch? Because I'll be gone tonight. You can have your choice of rooms."
"No, it’s not the couch. The couch was fine. It's my boss. I've got an appointment to see him. My vacation's over, I'm afraid. I'm going to get a new assignment." There was a brief silence while Laurie waited.
"On a drilling platform in the North Sea," he continued.
"That sounds dangerous," Laurie said.
Mandy felt as if she were watching a scene from a movie, one that she'd seen before, one that didn't have a happy ending.
"A little dangerous," Adam admitted, "but we don't go out when the winds kick up above one fifty."
"Oh. Th
at's good." Laurie stood and grabbed an empty plate. "It was good to meet you, Adam. I wish you could stay longer, but maybe you'll be back one of these days. A man always needs some R and R, don't you think? An opportunity to add a few grass stains to the seat of the pants."
She smiled sweetly, but didn't wait for an answer. She just walked into the house and let the back door close behind her.
Adam wasn't watching Laurie. His eyes were on Mandy. He wished she'd say something. Was she sorry to see him go, or relieved? He couldn't tell. Maybe she was counting the minutes until she could get back to her correspondence with Jack. The disturbing news he'd heard when he'd called Jack this morning was that Julie from Illinois was on her way to the Yukon with all due haste. And with only one thing in mind. To trap Jack and his million dollars. Unfortunately, Jack didn't see it that way. He was sure she loved him for himself, or she would as soon as she got to know him better.
Adam's goal was to prevent that. He intended to get his own future on track and then head up there to the Yukon so Jack could escape the clutches of Miss Illinois and get down here to see Mandy. Because once he saw Mandy, nobody else would have a chance.
"I'd like to come back someday," Adam said, drawing his eyebrows together thoughtfully, "but I don't know when."
"You'll be a long way away," Mandy agreed readily. So readily, Adam felt a pain in the vicinity of his heart. Wouldn't she miss him at all?
"It’s not that," he protested. "It’s just that I know it won't be the same. And I want to remember the place...and you... the way you are."
He stared at her, trying to memorize the way her hair curled lazily around her face, the gently curved line of her cheek, her blue eyes that reflected the cloudless sky above. He knew he wasn't ever going to see her again, not if things went the way they should.
If Jack wanted him in on the wedding, he would say he was busy. The thought of her in a white dress standing under the trellis in the garden with Jack at her side made him feel sick. But be had to do what he could to make it happen. Because it was the right thing. The best thing for the both of them. Mandy would make a great wife... for Jack. And Jack would adore Mandy just the way Adam did, maybe more. No, not more.
Adam reached across the table and ran his finger along the curve of Mandy's cheek, tracing the soft outline to imprint it on his mind forever. Then he deliberately drew his hand back. He got to his feet and scraped his chair across the bricks.
"Thanks for everything," he said in a voice he scarcely recognized as his own. He'd intended to shake her hand or wave or make some noncommittal gesture, but impulsively he pulled her up out of the chair by the elbows and slanted a kiss across her lips. Her lips were cool at first, like the breeze off the ocean, then they warmed and softened and he felt he was in terrible danger of being swept away by her sweetness.
But he was never one to walk away from danger. And no other danger felt so good in his arms, smelled like flowers or tasted like homemade jam.
"Mandy," he muttered, pulling back. "I don't want to leave."
She didn't answer for a long moment. Then she linked her arms around his neck and looked up at him with those wide blue eyes. "Then don't," she said softly.
She made it sound so simple. If she only knew why he was there, she'd have kicked him out long ago. If he left now, she might never know. And he would leave. After one more kiss. One goodbye kiss. Surely he owed himself that much. He pulled her close to him, so close he could feel her heart pounding through her T-shirt. The kiss went on and on. He put his soul into it, knowing it would be the last, and so did she. Her breasts were pressed against his chest, her bare thighs against his.
The kiss wait on and on until he couldn't tell who was kissing whom, or who was giving and who was getting. Was it because they both knew it was goodbye? Was it because they had nothing to fear, nothing to lose? His hands drifted under the hem of her shirt, wanting more. He slid his fingers up against her bare breasts, cupping them. Small murmurs of pleasure came from the back of her throat.
The patio spun around them and her words echoed in his ears. Then don't. Then don't. But the cries of the gulls overhead warned him, just in the nick of time, to pull away. Reluctantly he broke the kiss and her face swam into focus. He didn't speak. He couldn't. He tried to smile, but it felt as if his face would crack under the strain. Instead he put one foot in front of the other and walked into the house and out the front door.
It wasn't so bad once he started driving, once he started thinking about moving on, moving north, putting some distance between Mandy and himself. The pain in his chest was really quite bearable, especially when he told himself he was doing it for Mandy. She needed someone like Jack, to love her, to take care of her, and most of all, to marry her. She couldn't take another disappointment, and that was all she could expect from Adam.
Yes, he'd gotten out of there just in time. He could still taste her lips and felt the soft weight of her breasts in his hands, the velvet of her cheek against his. He didn't want to care about her. He didn't want her to care about him. That wasn't why he'd gone there. He hoped she wasn't thinking about him as much as he was about her. He wondered what she was thinking about, what she was doing and who was staying there tonight. It wouldn't be long before Jack was there, staying in Adam's room, having breakfast in bed. Adam gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white. He'd gotten out of there in time, but just barely.
* * *
The office of Parvo Petrochemicals was located in an office park in the industrial area of the San Francisco Bay. There was an expanse of green lawn out in front, and a fountain that spouted recycled water. Inside there was a secretary who worked for several small companies in the complex. Adam announced himself and then went into the small office of his boss, Gene Perking.
Gene held out his hand, but didn't get up from behind his desk. When Adam shook his hand, Gene winced. "Good to see you. Sorry, I can't get up."
Adam took the chair that faced the desk. "What's wrong?"
"Hernia."
"What? Why don't you do something about it?"
"I am. Just waiting for you to show up. Couldn't trust anyone else to fill in for me."
"Fill in? Oh, no. I'm on my way up to the Yukon, to fill in for Jack. He's counting on me. Isn't there someone else?"
"Nobody else. And don't worry about old Jack. I took care of that."
"You sent someone up there?"
"Yep. Jack was getting antsy."
"I know. When did you talk to him?"
"Just hung up. He's got some woman up there with him."
"Already?" Adam's heart sank.
"Says he wants to marry her."
"No, he doesn't," Adam jumped to his feet. "I've got to stop him."
Gene leaned forward and clutched his side. "Take me to the hospital first. As soon as I bring you up to speed on our operations."
Adam listened with half an ear to Gene's explanations. Meanwhile his mind was on Jack. What was wrong with him? He'd told Jack that Mandy was the one. As soon as he got Gene into the hospital, he'd get Jack on the phone and talk some sense into him.
But it took the rest of the day to check Gene into the hospital, call Gene's ex-wife, and get his last-minute instructions for running the business. Before Adam left him, Gene was wrapped in a hospital gown and a nurse was drawing blood out of his arm with a needle. His boss raised his free hand, told Adam he appreciated what he'd done, and handed him the keys to his house.
"Make yourself at home," Gene instructed. "And I won't forget this. Whatever you want, just ask."
"You know what I want. A job on a drilling platform."
Gene nodded and waved him away. "We'll talk later. Take good care of Elvis."
Adam hesitated. It wasn't a good time to talk about his future with the company, not when Gene was going under the knife the next day. So he promised he'd look after Elvis, and went back to the office. Since most of their operations were in faraway parts of the world, it was a good time to make
calls and send faxes. And he certainly didn't want to go back to Gene's house and stare out the windows at the view of the bay with only Elvis for company.
He spun around in Gene's chair and surveyed the map of the world that covered the wall. It was dotted with red flags, each denoting one of Parvo's installations. He stared at the one of the Yukon River for a long time before he called Jack. Then he waited an eternity for Jack to answer.
"What’s this I hear about you and Julie?" Adam demanded.
"News travels fast," Jack said in a lazy drawl. "She's here and I'm in love. Is that what you heard?"
"I don't believe it. You just met her. You don't know her. And what about Mandy? You haven't met Mandy."
"I don't need to. I've got Julie."
"Does she know you're not a millionaire?"
"Not exactly."
"That’s what I thought. Maybe you'd better tell her before you make any wedding plans."
"I can't tell her now, she's in the kitchen. But I can tell you one thing, she's not a gold digger. As soon as my replacement comes, I'm outta here, man."
"When's that going to be?"
"I don't know. We just had a big storm and everything's grounded. Julie got in just in time. Wasn't that lucky?"
"Very," Adam said dryly. "We have to talk."
"Yeah, sure. But not about me and Julie. We're in love."
"You can't be in love with somebody you just met," Adam explained patiently.
"What do you know about it?" Jack demanded.
"Nothing," Adam admitted, then he said goodbye and hung up. What did he know about love? All he knew was that he couldn't keep his mind on the operations of Parvo Petrochemicals because his brain was stuck on the other side of the coastal hills. He was wondering what Mandy was doing tonight. Had she gone back to wallpapering in a loose T-shirt and shorts, or was she sitting on the couch in front of the fire sipping sherry while he sat here in Gene's swivel chair calling outposts from Saudi Arabia to Norway?