by Susan Napier;Kathryn Ross;Kelly Hunter;Sandra Marton;Katherine Garbera;Margaret Mayo
“Yeah, sure it is. That’s why if someone moves it from the right corner you have a fit.”
“A fit? Jayne, men don’t have fits.”
“What do they have?”
“Nothing but a desire for perfection and a wellordered life. My office is my domain and as such everything in there shouldn’t be touched.”
“Was that a royal decree? Should I send that in memo form to the staff?”
“No, Miss Sassy Mouth. You’re the only one who thinks she can charge around in my life and make changes.”
“Well, someone has to. You’re stuck in a rut.”
Not anymore. He didn’t know if he should thank Jayne or curse her, but she’d definitely upset his routine. “What are you wishing for?”
“We’re not supposed to tell,” she said. Then closed her eyes and made her wish.
She then read three times the incantation that was printed on the wall, as the instructions said.
“Aren’t you supposed to spin around and spit on the floor next? Say some word like abracadabra?”
“Don’t scoff at me,” she said. She moved away from the chest toward the back of the cave, stopping in front of the display area, which held a table and chairs. Next to it was a canopy bed with heavy velvet drapes. According to the legend, the pirate and his bride had lived in the cave while building their home.
Adam took a stone when Jayne wasn’t looking and slipped it into his pocket, feeling like an idiot the entire time, but unable to stop himself. He wanted Jayne to stay with him even after they returned to their real world. And he’d do anything to make it happen—even wish on a stone.
He knew that asking her to be his mistress wasn’t an option. There was no way she’d ever agree to it. Adam was honest enough to admit he wouldn’t really be happy unless she held a more permanent position in his life.
He was going to ask her to move in with him and be his lover. In his mind there was a distinction. He’d ask her to live with him and, most of all, he’d allow her to still work with him at Powell.
“I wonder what it was like living here back then.”
“Kind of damp and moldy.”
“That sounds so romantic, Adam. Frankly, I expected better from you. Aren’t you the man who is known for his candlelight dinners?”
“Candlelight is one thing. Living in a cave is something else. Don’t tell me you’d be happy here.”
“If I was with a man who loved me, who risked everything for me, I think I would be.”
“Is that what you wished for?” he asked, hoping she hadn’t. Because of all the things he could give her, love wasn’t one of them. He’d always been afraid to trust in love because every example he’d seen had left destruction in its path.
“I’m not supposed to tell anyone,” she repeated, turning aside. Adam knew she was hiding from him, but he let it go.
“I wish I’d paid more attention in school to geology,” she continued. “This cave is fascinating.”
“What do you want to know?” he asked, walking over to her. There was a small pool in the center of the cave. The Angelinis had done a decent job of making the grotto look like a spot where a pirate would leave his lost treasure. They had flickering sconces on the rock walls and the stones were kept in a carved wooden chest.
“What are those?” she asked.
“Stalagmites?”
“You didn’t pay attention in school, either?”
“I usually sat in the back of the class and slept.”
“How did you get into college?”
“A lot of hard work. I flunked out of high school and realized that the kind of success I wanted wouldn’t come from working in restaurant management. So I studied and took the GED. My mom started coming out of her shock by then and we sold real estate. That combined with my earnings from drag racing gave us a financial base. When I had enough money, I went to college.”
“Where’s your mom now?” Jayne asked after a few minutes. He knew Jayne well enough to recognize that she was organizing facts and forming opinions. She always did an inordinate amount of research.
“Living in Tucson with her second husband, Al. They retired there four years ago.”
“Arizona is next on my list of states to visit. What about your dad and the secretary? Where do they live?”
Everyone knew about Jayne’s fifty states. In her office she had a big map of the U.S. and she’d put a smiley face sticker on the ones she’d been to.
She’d asked about his dad. Adam wanted to ignore the fact that he had a father, even though in his mind he saw the two of them playing football in the backyard of that big old house where they’d lived outside of New Orleans when he was a boy.
“Adam? What about your dad?”
“He died in a plane crash.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It didn’t matter,” he said. He didn’t tell her that the crash had happened when his dad was returning from this resort with his secretary. Adam would never let Jayne know the devastating sense of loss he’d experienced when he’d learned his dad had died. And then three days later, when they’d received the letter he’d sent them saying he was running off with Martha.
Jayne slipped her hand into his, and he felt the rock in her palm, warm from her skin. “What are you doing?”
She closed her eyes for a moment. “I’m sharing my heart’s desire with you.”
“Even though I scoffed at you.”
“Yes. I don’t want to be happy if you’re not.”
His gut tightened and he felt weak in a way that wasn’t physical. His heart raced and he realized that he had the power to hurt Jayne. Not just because of the habits ingrained from a lifetime spent not forming attachments. But because she had a soft side under her modern exterior, and he was the man she’d let see it.
“I have to make a few phone calls before dinner. Would you do me a favor?” Adam asked when they returned to their suite a few hours later.
“What kind of favor?” she asked. She was pleasantly tired from walking and being in the sun all day.
“A charity mission. Didi Angelini has the worst taste in clothes of any woman I ever met. I think that might be part of the problem between her and Ray.”
Ray did have a bit of a roving eye, and there was a strange sort of tension between the two of them. “I noticed he can’t keep his eyes off the island women.”
“Me, too.” Adam reached into his back pocket and took out his wallet. He pulled out his platinum card and handed it to her. “Get her a totally new wardrobe on me.”
“Why are you doing this?” Jayne asked. Not that she minded the task. She just wanted to understand this facet of the man she loved. He was always unfailingly polite to women, and though he only involved some in his life as mistresses, he seemed rather protective of the women he knew.
“I can’t stand to see a woman in an ugly dress,” he said, going to the fax machine and sorting through the papers piled there.
“I’m not buying it, stud muffin. Tell me why.”
“Jayne,” he asked, as if bored with the conversation, “do you really want me to spank you?”
He stepped toward her with mock aggression, and it was all she could do not to throw her arms open and say, take me, big boy. But she knew Adam wasn’t above using sex to distract her, and she wanted to know why this was important to him.
“Yes, but not now. I want to know why. You’ve done this two other times that I know about, and as far as habits go, this is a fairly odd one.”
He stopped halfway toward her and thrust his hands into the pockets of his pants. His gray eyes were cold and steely, and she had the feeling if she didn’t handle this properly he’d clam up.
“I don’t want any lip about this,” he warned her.
“I won’t give you any. I’m just curious. I want to know more about what makes Adam Powell tick.”
“Guilt, greed and lust make me tick,” he said, self-derision lacing his words.
“There’s more
to you than that.”
He shrugged. “Some days it doesn’t feel like it.”
“Stop trying to distract me.”
Finally he looked up at her. “It sounds stupid when I say it out loud.”
She closed the gap between them. Wrapping her arms around his ribs, she nestled her head right over his heart, and listened to its slow, calming rhythm.
“Whisper it to me.”
He said her name and closed his hands over her shoulders. Tipping her face up to his, he dropped one small kiss on her lips. His erection nudged against her stomach and she knew he wanted her. But she also knew that he was hiding something.
“I want you, stud muffin, but I want answers, too.”
“God, Jayne, if you call me that in front of anyone I really will turn you over my knee.”
“Promises, promises. The clothing?”
He lifted her in his arms and carried her to one of the overstuffed chairs in the living area, where he sank down and settled her on his lap. Then he tucked her head under his chin. She tried to move so she could see him, make eye contact, but he was having none of it.
“My mom had the worst sense of style. One of the reasons my dad left us was that he was embarrassed by her. My mom had no idea how to change that about herself, and frankly, I didn’t either. Then I met Susan. She was very fashionable and knew how to dress right. So Mom picked up a few tips from her.”
“Who’s Susan?” Jayne asked. He’d never talked about that time in his life before and she had a hard time picturing Adam as anything but the successful CEO he was today.
“She was my wife.”
Jayne still had a hard time coming to terms with Adam as married. It didn’t fit with the man she’d come to know. Even in her wildest dreams she didn’t picture the two of them married.
She ached to wrap her arms around him but couldn’t because of the way he held her so tightly.
“How old were you? You didn’t say before.”
“Twenty when we married. Twenty-one when she left. The only good thing she did was help Mom with her sense of style. After that if I saw a woman whose marriage was on the rocks and her clothing wasn’t exactly fashionable, I’d help out.”
“You can’t fix everyone’s marriage.”
“I’m not even trying.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Leveling the playing field.”
“That is one of the—”
“Don’t say it. I warned you.”
“—sweetest things I’ve ever heard.”
“Oh, God, give me a break. I also can’t stand to see a woman hiding from her natural sensuality.”
“Damn, why didn’t you say so earlier?”
He cupped her chin and lifted her toward him for a long, lingering kiss—at first just the soft brushing of lips against lips. Then Adam angled his head and let his tongue slowly enter her mouth, tasting her deeply.
When he lifted his head, there was more than just lust in his eyes. She saw affection and caring and a slew of other emotions she’d never expected to see when Adam looked at her.
“I have to call Sam this afternoon,” he said at last.
“Apparently I have some shopping to do,” Jayne replied, getting to her feet.
“I’ll be done in thirty minutes,” he said.
“No, you won’t. You can’t get Sam off the phone in less than forty-five.”
“If I had the right incentive I could.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
He stopped her halfway to the door, kissing her again. This time it wasn’t the sweet lingering embrace of earlier. His hands cupped her butt and he drew her hard against him. His mouth ravaged hers.
When he set her back on her feet she felt as if she’d just lived through a class IV hurricane. “What was that?”
“Incentive for you,” he said with a wink, steering her toward the door.
Jayne walked out of their room and paused for a minute on the gravel path. Adam was changing. He was no longer the unemotional man she’d worked for a few days earlier, and though she knew it might be foolhardy, her heart beat a little faster at the thought of why he’d changed.
Chapter Ten
“Where are the women?” Ray clamped the butt of a cigar between his teeth and glanced around the room. He checked his watch one more time and then scowled.
Adam wasn’t concerned. Jayne had called earlier and said that she and Didi would meet them at the restaurant. He’d missed her while he’d been working. Sam, his vice president, hadn’t been expecting a call, but Adam had needed some space from Jayne.
He’d told her things he’d never meant to reveal. He had a lot of difficulty keeping her in the neatly labeled slot he’d assigned her to.
They were dining in the small town at a chefowned restaurant that Jayne had discovered when she’d researched the island. She’d suggested Adam check it out and maybe hire the chef for the resort’s restaurant. As charming as Perla Negra was, it lacked the amenities guests of Powell International were used to.
“Relax. Jayne is the most organized person I know. They’ll be here in time for our reservation.”
“You’re right, compare. Jayne’s a firecracker.”
“She is. I’m lucky to have her. Didi’s not exactly a slouch, either.”
“That one likes to make my life uncomfortable,” Ray said.
“I think women are meant to do that to a man.”
“Makes life damn disturbing,” Ray said. His mouth fell open and he dropped his cigar. Adam glanced over his shoulder and felt his own jaw sag. Jayne and Didi stood in the doorway.
Ray muttered something in Italian that Adam couldn’t understand, but the sentiment was one he shared. The women both looked breathtaking. Jayne’s eyes sparkled when they met his and he couldn’t help smiling back at her. Didi was finally wearing something that wasn’t butt-ugly and actually fit her body.
But Adam couldn’t take his eyes off of Jayne. It scared him to realize how important she was to him and to his life. He couldn’t take the risk of letting her be that vital, and he wondered for a second if he shouldn’t just distance himself from her now.
Actually, he didn’t think he could.
Didi started to look a little apprehensive, and crossed her arms over her chest. Jayne gestured for her to drop her arms to her sides, which the other woman did.
“Well, aren’t you going to say anything?” Jayne demanded.
Adam recovered first and crossed to the ladies. He took Didi’s hand in his and brushed a kiss against the back of it. “You look beautiful. Ray and I are going to be the envy of every man in the place tonight.”
Then he turned to Jayne, and smooth words deserted him. He pulled her close and kissed her fiercely, needing her with a desperation that made his soul wary. When he lifted his head, her made-for-sin mouth was dewy and swollen from his kisses. Adam wanted to say the hell with dinner and retreat back to their room.
“Babe…I…you…” For the first time since they met Ray was almost speechless.
“Cat got your tongue, Ray?”
“You look nice. I think our table is ready.”
“It’s a wonder you’re any good at your job,” Didi said.
Ray wrapped his arm around Didi’s waist and led her toward the hostess stand. Adam and Jayne followed, listening to the bickering couple.
“I’m much better at it when I don’t have you sticking your nose in my business.”
“Babe,” Didi said in a good imitation of the way Ray always said it. “I’m not sticking my nose in, I’m making sure you do things properly.”
Luckily, they soon reached the table and were seated. It was one of the best in the house, in front of a large open window that let in warm sea breezes and had a view of the ocean equaled by none. Adam kept his hand on Jayne’s back even after she sat down. He liked the feel of her silky smooth skin.
He also liked the fact that he had the right to touch her. That Jayne belonged to him. And da
mmit, she did belong to him, in a way no person ever had before. He shuddered a little as he realized it was too late to guard against caring for her. He already did.
Their waiter was a young Jamaican man with a smile a little too friendly when he turned it on Jayne. Adam leaned over and kissed her mouth in a way that told the world she belonged to him. Then he calmly ordered for both of them.
Jayne pinched his leg under the table and he reached over to her thigh and caressed it. Ray and Didi excused themselves to talk to a couple who were staying at the resort.
“What was that about?”
“What?” Adam took a sip of his drink, continuing to caress Jayne’s leg under the table.
“That male territory thing you did. Why don’t you get out a Sharpie pen and write your name on my forehead?”
“You’d let me do that?” he asked.
“You’re hopeless,” she said with a laugh.
“Only where you’re concerned.”
Her breath caught and she looked up at him with…Oh, God, don’t let it be love in her eyes. His heart speeded up and he knew the situation was quickly spinning out of his control.
A small band took the stage and soon the sounds of reggae and calypso music filled the joint. Adam watched Jayne humming along under her breath and swaying to the music.
“Want to dance?”
“Yes, but you need to talk to the chef and then I think you should—”
He quieted her by sliding his hand down her neck to her collarbone and holding her carefully. “Come on,” he said, tugging her to her feet. “It’s been too long since I held you.”
She said nothing as he led her to the dance floor and pulled her into his arms. She nestled there trustingly, laying her head on his heart as she always did, and he prayed that she couldn’t hear its frantic beating.
The rest of the week flew by and Jayne spent every hour of the day with Adam, learning more about him. She realized he loved to be on the water and had rented a sailboat for them to use every afternoon. She’d always known that he was intensely private and very driven, but on the island she learned why. She thought she finally understood why he limited himself to relationships that were clearly defined. He wanted to protect everyone involved.