But what if…what if she hadn’t met him until she’d gotten to the Little League practice?
She knew the answer to that one, too. No matter what the circumstances of their meeting, she would have found him frightening and dangerous—on a purely sexual level.
He reminded her of a cunning but lazy wolf, lying in wait, negligently assessing any prey that came too near, then deciding instantly whether to attack.
“Mom?”
“What?” She and Lynn answered the summons simultaneously, laughing when they realized that neither knew which boy had spoken.
“Can we have ice cream?” Barry, it appeared, was the spokesman.
Lynn and Jade shrugged. “Sure,” Toby answered. Then his attention went back to Jeffrey. “I can just feel it. We’re bound to take the first-place trophy this year.”
“Don’t count your chickens too soon,” Jeffrey said with a laugh as he lifted a hand to the waitress. He asked the boys what kind of ice cream they wanted, then ordered three coffees and a hot tea.
His eyes went to Jade questioningly. “Is it lemon or cream for your tea?”
“Lemon, please,” she muttered, and her gaze fell from his.
As the waitress noted her choice Jeff asked for the check. A moment later, Ryan walked around to their table, whispered in his ear, and Jeff nodded, then excused himself to take Ryan to the bathroom.
“I don’t want him picking up the check,” Jade said in a hushed tone when the two were gone.
Lynn was putting cream into her coffee. “Oh, come on, Jade, don’t be silly.”
“I—”
“Jade, you’d let me pick up the check,” Toby told her dryly. “Hell, I’d even let you pick up the check here. It’s cheap.”
Jade made a face at him. “Damn you, Toby, I’m not a poverty case!”
“If the real estate market slows down any more, you will be,” Lynn said matter-of-factly. “What is the problem here, anyway?”
Jade felt cornered, a little defensive and ridiculously confused. “I’m going to pay this check!” she said, raising a hand to summon the waitress. She leaned closer to Lynn and muttered, “I don’t want that reckless jackass—”
She broke off because Lynn looked as if she had swallowed her napkin and Toby had turned a startling shade of crimson. An uneasy feeling crawled along her spine, and she turned. Of course, her “jackass” was standing right next to the table, watching her politely. He slid beside her again and smiled.
“What did I miss?” he asked softly.
Weren’t the real pro baseball players supposed to chew tobacco, spit—and break anything that got in their way?
She wasn’t sure, nor was she sure why she backed down. Maybe she realized that she was being unreasonable. Maybe it was because she believed that Toby was about to deck her if Jeffrey Martin didn’t.
She smiled a little sickly, but it was a smile. “Nothing!” she said brightly.
“Yes, may I help you?”
Jade glanced around to see that the waitress had come. She realized that her hand was still in the air.
“I’d, uh, could I get another cup of tea, please?”
The waitress went to get her another cup of tea. Toby’s color returned to normal, and it seemed that Lynn was breathing again.
“You still have tea in your cup, Mrs. McLane,” Jeffrey Martin commented in a low tone.
She looked at him sharply, realized that he was laughing at her and wished she had the nerve to empty the tea in his lap.
“So I do,” she demured sweetly. She drank it in one swallow, feeling like an idiot.
Oh, God. Her entire day had been a disaster from start to finish, and all thanks to Jeffrey Martin.
She began to pray that the check would come, and at last it did. She gulped down her unwanted second cup of tea and managed a stiff thank-you for dinner.
And then, thank God, they were all leaving the restaurant, going to their separate cars. She would have peace at last.
Unfortunately, there was to be no peace, not really. All the way home, Sean talked about Jeffrey Martin. Jade’s fingers curled tightly around the steering wheel, and she managed to refrain from screaming at him to please shut up. It was particularly difficult when he said, “Wow! I can’t believe it was Jeffrey Martin you crashed into!”
“He crashed into me!”
Sean didn’t answer her. She wanted to throttle her own son.
It didn’t take her long to head back down Sunset and wind onto Main Highway, then turn left down the road that would take her to her driveway. There was little traffic that night. Driving through the dense foliage that lined her driveway and made it seem longer, she felt a sense of immense relief. She was home, safe in her haven behind the banyans and the seagrapes and the crotons. She would take a hot shower, lie down, remind Sean to do his homework and try to pretend that the day had never occurred.
Jade parked the car and reached into the back of the Corvette for Sean’s school books. “Get into the shower quickly,” she began. “It’s already late—”
She stopped, frowning, as a pair of headlights followed her into the yard. Then she swore softly and ground her teeth.
It was Jeffrey Martin.
The lights on his car flicked off. A second later he and Ryan got out of the car, and Sean—what a traitor—raced over to them. “Hi!”
“Hi, Sean. I just needed to speak with your mother for a minute.”
“Oh, good! Well, can you come in for a bit? I can show Ryan the team picture from last year.”
Come in? Sean, I could… Jade didn’t allow herself to finish the thought. She had been standing in the walkway with Sean’s books, and now she was obliged to open the door.
“Can we, Dad?” Ryan asked hopefully.
Jade shoved Sean’s books unceremoniously into his arms and smiled at Ryan. He was a sweetheart—quite unlike his father. He must have more in common with his mother, she thought.
Mother. Where was Ryan’s mother, anyway. Jade wondered. His father was definitely unencumbered by a wife.
“Of course, Ryan,” she said, quickly finding the right keys for the front door and opening it. Despite her annoyance at the intrusion, she quickly scanned the living room as she turned on the light; she was hoping that it was all tidy.
It was. Pretty much so, anyway. There was a pile of clean laundry on the sofa, but as the others followed her in, she swept it up into her arms and quickly dumped it on the washer in the kitchen before returning to the living room.
“C’mon, Ryan, I’ll show you my room!” Sean said, and the two boys loped off together like a pair of gangly greyhounds.
Jade waited until they had disappeared down the hallway. Then she smoothed back a strand of hair and stared coldly at Jeffrey Martin.
“What do you want?”
He laughed and moved into the room, assessing it as thoroughly and quickly as he had her.
He approached her, arms crossed over his chest, blue eyes alive with amusement. “Not your virtue, person or property,” he assured her in a way that caused her to blush.
“What, then?”
“Toby told me that you’re a real estate agent.”
Her eyes flickered downward for a moment. This wasn’t what she had expected at all.
“Yes. Why?”
“I need a house.”
“Oh.” Jade took a breath, thought about the damaged Corvette, and thought about his rugged, unnerving appeal.
“Mr. Martin, I really don’t think that we could work well together.”
“Oh?” He didn’t seem distressed. He paused in front of the piano and picked up one of the sleek Art Deco ashtrays sitting there. He traced the form with his thumb, a motion that somehow disturbed her. Maybe it was because the handle of the ashtray was a sculptured woman, and his thumb was idly moving over her breast.
He set the ashtray down and turned back to her.
“Why is that?”
“Why? Because of this morning!”
&nb
sp; “Oh, that,” he said dismissively.
“Oh, that? You ruined my car!”
He sighed. “Mrs. McLane, I’ll fix your damned car.”
“No!”
He shook his head, still smiling in that amused manner that so irritated her. “Mrs. McLane, I really can’t quite get this. You’re running around raving that I’m a jackass because of your car; I offer to fix the car, and you’re still raving.”
“I don’t want your charity, Mr. Martin. I wanted you to get the ticket that you deserved. Then your insurance company could have paid for the car.”
“Are you afraid of me for some reason?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Then?”
“Then, what?”
He grimaced, walked around the room once and settled himself comfortably in the Duncan Fife sofa she had saved from a secondhand shop and painstakingly refurbished herself.
“Nice house,” he commented, looking around at the old Spanish-style arches. “Something like what I’m looking for. I’d want something a little larger, though.”
“Don’t be so sure that you want one of these,” Jade answered mechanically. “Twenties architecture might be young in the north, but it’s very old down here, and these things eat money. They need new insulation, the roofs almost always need repair and—”
She stopped. How had she wound up talking to him about houses?
“Go on,” he told her, and she realized that he really was interested. He was leaning forward, hands folded between his knees, his eyes on her intently.
She sighed. “They’re a big expense, but once restored, they usually have a high resale value. There’s very little new building in the Grove or in the Gables. Not in this section. There is, of course, a great deal of new construction going on in Greater Miami. It all depends on where you want to live.”
He smiled. “Somewhere around here. Gables or Grove. On a waterway, if possible. Open to the bay.”
Jade bit her lip. Waterway property was expensive. The commission from the sale of a waterway property would be very nice.
She hesitated, watching him. She found herself wondering again what her feelings would be if it hadn’t been for their smashup that morning. Wouldn’t she have jumped at a chance like this? Suppose he was…a little intimidating, even dangerous. Sexually, that is. She was an adult. She knew how to say no.
She had to face the fact that there really wasn’t any way to avoid him completely. She could hardly pull Sean off Toby’s team.
“What, ah, price range are you looking for?” she asked him.
He lifted his hands. “I really have no idea. I want to be on the water, and I want at least four bedrooms and three baths. Oh, and a pool.” Something seemed to cloud his eyes. “I’ve moved Ryan down to the sun and heat; maybe he’ll like swimming.” He looked at her again, his eyes clearing, his negligent smile back in place. “I’d like to see things in a range of prices first, and try to find out what property values are like down here.”
Her mouth didn’t seem to work properly.
“When?”
“When?”
She forced the words out. “When would you like to start looking?”
“I’m off Friday mornings.”
“Ten o’clock?”
“Fine.”
He stood up then, his business finished. “Ryan!”
Ryan either didn’t hear the call, or he did hear it and preferred to ignore it.
Jeffrey looked at Jade again. His gaze was curious, as if he still had questions about her, but had already discovered certain answers. She wished she knew what the questions were, and what conclusions he had reached.
“They’ve probably started playing something,” she muttered, walking past him. “I’ll get them.”
She crossed the living room to the hallway that led to the bedrooms. The hall light was on, as was the light in Sean’s room. She quickly walked to his door. As she had suspected, the boys were playing. Ryan was laughing delightedly as Sean showed him some of his toys.
“Ryan, your dad wants to leave,” Jade said.
He looked up at her with his huge blue eyes, and she had the urge to go to him and hug him. She wanted to assure him that everything would be all right, though what could be wrong, she didn’t know. It was obvious that his father adored him, and certainly there were no financial difficulties in Ryan’s life.
“Already?” Sean demanded defensively.
“Yes, already,” Jade retorted.
“Come along now, Ryan.”
Jade jumped at the male voice behind her; she hadn’t heard Jeffrey follow her. Now she realized that he was so close that his breath was fanning her hair and her neck. She quivered at the warm, disturbing sensation.
She couldn’t turn around. She remained fixed to the spot as Ryan thanked Sean, and Sean replied, “Anytime!” It wasn’t until Ryan came to her, thanked her very politely and walked past her, that she turned.
“I’ll see you Friday,” Jeffrey told her over Ryan’s head.
“No! Thursday. Another practice!” Sean reminded him.
“That’s right.” Jeff grinned at Sean. “How could I forget?”
He started down the hall, a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. Jade followed the pair; Sean rushed past her to tug at Jeffrey Martin’s jersey tail.
“You wouldn’t really forget, would you?” Sean asked him earnestly. “I mean, you are going to be around for the whole season?”
Jeffrey touched his hair. “I wouldn’t really forget, Sean. And yes, you’re stuck with me—for the whole season.”
And then he was out the door, pausing only to look around the porch and into the darkened yard.
“Oh, yes,” he told her. “One more thing. I want foliage like this. Do you know what I mean? I like this much better than all those overly manicured yards.”
“I’ll start looking through the listings tomorrow,” she told him, then hesitated. “I can, uh, copy some listing sheets and bring them to practice.”
“Thanks. Thanks a lot,” he replied. Then he was gone.
Jade stared after him, her eyes on the closed door for too long a time. She gave herself a mental shake and bolted the locks.
Then she turned around to find Sean staring at her. “Hey!” she said. “Now it’s later than ever. Get going. Into the shower. Then homework.”
“Sure.” Sean grinned and went down the hall whistling.
Within another hour, Sean had bathed and finished his homework and was in bed. He was allowed to watch television until nine-thirty, as long as he did so in bed.
At last Jade was free to run hot water into her own tub. She added a liberal amount of bath oil, pulled her hair on top of her head and leaned back. Then she tried to assess her reactions to Jeffrey Martin.
If her anger over the car were gone…
She shook her lead slightly. If it were gone, she would still be hesitating. She couldn’t help it; his kind of masculinity scared her. She didn’t form relationships easily, and she had never been “casually” involved with anyone. She’d only fallen in love once—with Danny. And that love had been painful.
Painful…and then tragic.
Jeffrey Martin was magnetic. He could look at a woman and make her feel like the most sensual creature on earth. He made a woman want to purr and curl up on his lap.
She was sure that a number of women had done just that. Purely physical relationships were perfectly all right, she told herself. A lot of her friends preferred to have light flings instead of getting involved.
“But I couldn’t be like that,” she said aloud.
Then she understood what she was afraid of. He wanted her. At least she was fairly certain that he did. But after he’d had her, what then? Would he give her a kiss goodbye and move on to the next woman?
She sighed, exhaling long and miserably. She barely knew him. Maybe in the days to come she would discover that she really didn’t like him.
She doubted it.
“Be
wary, Mrs. McLane,” she warned herself out loud.
Be wary, be careful, keep your distance….
But that wouldn’t be so easy. He had made her think of things that she hadn’t dared dwell on in a long time now. It seemed like forever since she’d been with a man who could make her laugh, excite her with just the sound of his voice, thrill her…cause hurt again.
She got out of the bathtub, telling herself that she was crazy. Men like Jeffrey Martin probably didn’t get involved. Not with ordinary women like her, at any rate. And if she let herself think any differently, she was a fool who deserved whatever she got.
“What am I thinking of,” she asked herself irritably. “He’s still the jerk who wrecked my car!”
But long past midnight, she was still awake. At 1:00 a.m., she gave up, went into the kitchen and consumed two glasses of wine.
The wine didn’t really help. It made her wonder what it would be like to have a casual fling just once in her life.
CHAPTER 3
On Wednesday, Jade spent several hours looking through the multiple listings for Gables/Grove properties on the water. She researched everything she found, certain that for all Jeffrey Martin’s casual ease, he would barrage her with sharp and intelligent questions on everything she showed him.
She hesitated occasionally. Some of the listings were priced over the half a million mark. Then she shrugged and decided he’d just have to find out how expensive it was to be finicky in South Florida.
Her fingers tightened around her pencil. Generally, the realtor’s commission was six percent of the sale. If her customer bought another agent’s property, the split was fifty-fifty. One of the benefits of working in a small office was that she kept three-quarters of that three percent; the firm took only one-quarter. In the big companies, the realtor only received half of three percent.
Jade didn’t think that she was a mercenary person. She was a good realtor and always tried to show her clients homes within their financial limits. She was careful to point out the negative aspects of a property as well as the positive. She knew the school system, the flood zones and the heavy taxation areas. From experience, she knew that the beautiful old Spanish houses could also be monsters, always demanding repair. She steered people with limited incomes into more modest neighborhoods.
The Game of Love Page 4