by Jacobs, Ann
That she wanted him was no mystery at all. Her urgency, the hungry way she touched him, even the heated looks she cast his way when she thought he wasn't looking left no doubt in his mind about her desire.
He wasn't about to question the fates that had brought her to him without previous lovers to compare with him. That was his good fortune, deserved or not. What he didn't understand was exactly why he roused her passion. He was pretty sure it wasn't his money or his success. He knew how to recognize the subtle kind of avarice he'd seen in scores of women since he'd first begun to make a name for himself.
He would almost say she loved him in spite of his success. It was almost as if his wealth intimidated her and made her doubt the seriousness of his feelings.
At the sound of the phone, he tried to dust off his brain. He said his coffee down, unsnapped the portable phone from his belt, and brought it to his ear.
“Cain here.”
Laura sounded excited. She had just gotten a commitment from several businessmen in Blairsville to support the newly formed Big Bear Mountain Craft Cooperative, and Jared's architect had dropped off blueprints for the building.
“Good. The co-op could be operational less than two months if we can find a contractor to start working on the building right away.”
Only one bid had come in so far, and it sounded high— but it had come from Alvin Reese, the general contractor who had built Jared's house. I've got no doubt that Reese will do a good job. I'll talk to him maybe he'll lower his price since it's for a good cause.“
After they went over some questions his employees had posed yesterday after he’d left, Jared let Laura go. He dialed the contractor’s number, intent on tracking down the man.
Shortly afterward, he drove down the mountain to meet with Alvin over lunch in Blairsville.
After they came to a verbal agreement about the co-op construction project, Jared strolled across the square to a jewelry store his sign said it should serve the people Blairsville for more than a hundred years.
He told himself he was only going to look, but when he left the store he had a small box in his pocket.
Chapter Twenty
As Althea worked quietly on the quilt that night, Jared watched her, imagining then this time next summer. Where would they be?
Here savoring the peaceful sounds of rushing water listening to fat squirrels chattering in the trees? Enjoying a peaceful summer evening making love or simply taking pleasure in each other's company?
He smiled every minute he could get away from Atlanta, from the demands of his company, they'd be here. This was home. Althea's and now his again.
Unless…
He recalled her brother’s ravaged face and the look of abject terror in his eyes when he didn't know if Mary would live or die. Jared wouldn't risk Althea’s life like that. If she were to get pregnant, they'd stay in Atlanta, where the best of care was just around the corner.
She could be pregnant already. That worried Jared, not for himself but for Althea, who had given him no time last night, no opportunity to protect her. He stared at her flat stomach, imagining her growing round and full with their child.
The box in his pants pocket jabbed his side, a reminder of what he’d decided to do as soon as the ring had caught his eye. He got up and crossed the room. When he reached the quilting frame, he stopped and met her questioning gaze.
“Marry me, Althea,” he said as he knelt and placed his head in her lap.
Her hands came off the quilt. She dropped her needle. The muscles in her thighs tightened beneath his cheek. “What brought this on?”
“We’re in love. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Seems to me marriage is the next logical step.”
“For you, maybe. I’m not so sure. Can’t we just go along the way we are? Wait and see what happens?”
She sounded so frightened, he almost backed off. Then he remembered. “Sweetheart, there may be more than just the two of us to consider. Remember last night?”
At first she looked confused. Then realization apparently dawned. “I remember. But I don’t think the timing was right.”
He pulled the box from his pocket and flipped it open to reveal the diamond solitaire in its simple platinum setting. “Let’s not take a chance.”
“Take a chance?” Althea wanted nothing more than to marry Jared, gambling that fate wouldn't wrench him from her arms. But she was so afraid. She was afraid he didn't really love her, that someday he'd get tired of her and walk away.
“Marry me, sweetheart.” As if he knew she couldn't resist his touch, he splayed her hand across her belly as he held her gaze. “Have our babies. Warm my bed. Oh, hell, I don’t know how to put it fancy for you, but I want to spend the rest of my life trying to make you happy.”
“Where would we live?” She’d dry up in that sterile condo of his, looking at the four empty walls every day while he escaped to his office.
He took out the ring and slid onto the finger she'd kept bare since she had placed Bill's ring in his cold dry hand before they closed the casket.
“It’s a perfect fit.” He brought her hand to his lips.
“I haven’t said yes yet.” She repeated her question about where they’d live, reminding him she had her own life here—her shop and teaching job and her dream for the craft co-op.
He laced his fingers with hers, as if to hold her fingers closed around the ring. Then he got up and pulled her over to the couch. “This will be our home, sweetheart.”
“What about my work?”
“I’d like for you to do less of it, so you can come with me when I have to spend time in Atlanta. Give up teaching, and hire somebody to work full-time in the shop.” As though he was afraid what she'd say, he tightened his fingers around her hand and held her gaze with sober eyes.
If she gave up her teaching job, she'd never save enough to get the co-op underway, especially if she had to eat away the meager profits of her shop by hiring full-time help. “I can’t.” But oh, how she wanted to say yes.
“Why not?” Jared's expression clouded. He reminded her of the plaintive child whose slingshot she'd taken away last spring before school let out. A child she couldn't help loving. She reached out and touched his cheek.
“The co-op. Jared, I made a promise—”
“Don’t worry about your co-op, sweetheart. I’ll help you—”
“You don’t understand. It’s something I have to do for myself. It’s my dream.” Once it had been Bill’s dream, too. She couldn’t let it die, even though he was gone.
He wiped away the tears she just realized had dampened her cheeks. Then he pulled her in his arms and cradled her against his chest. “Can’t you share your dream with the man you love?”
“You mean you want to help get the co-op off the ground?” She had trouble picturing Jared chasing around the mountains, shaming and cajoling local businessmen into giving the support they had withdrawn after Bill's death. If he did it, though, she imagined he'd succeed beyond her wildest next wildest expectations.
“Sure, I’d give you the moon if I could find a way to pluck it out of the sky.” He laid a line of soft kisses along her jawline.
She loved him so much. Maybe she—no, she'd fought too hard to relinquish her independence now, to define her life again in terms of somebody else's dreams. “I don’t need the moon, and I've got to rely on myself.”
“Rely on me, too, sweetheart. That’s what folks who love each other do.” He paused as though he was trying to figure a way around her objections. “Althea, whether you marry me or not, I’m going to help you get that co-op started. If Mom could have had a place like that to go after Dad died, we could have stayed here. Isn’t your dream big enough for me to share?”
It was. If Jared was willing to help hit up virtual local merchants for support, who was she to stop him? She'd had precious little luck rallying financial backing herself. “I guess so.”
“I want to be your partner.” He grinned, as if he realiz
ed his battle was finally won.
She needed Jared. No matter how loudly he might protest, he would take over her life and hand her whatever she wanted. Most of the time, she imagined he would give it to her before she figured out that she wanted it. He was that kind of man.
She could sacrifice a little pride and even give up a bit of the independence she had fought so hard to achieve. They seemed small enough concessions to make for love.
Then she remembered. As much as Jared thought she wanted a simple life on the mountain now, he belonged in another world. The world full movers and shakers, pampered women and powerful men.
“Your life’s not only here. What about Atlanta? Your company? Your friends there. Can you honestly tell me I’d fit in?”
Jared raised a questioning eyebrow. “My friends will love you. Anywhere I fit, sweetheart, so will you.”
“I don’t know.”
“Don't doubt it. You'll get along just fine. I've never been much for the Atlanta social scene—I don't have the pedigree or the inclination.”
“Not even to push your business?”
He laughed. “I can count on one hand the times in the past couple of years that I’ve had to put on a monkey suit and smile for reporters. I imagine I’d have been a lot more comfortable if you’d been there by my side.”
Althea looked down at her finger, noticing the dazzling light that reflected off facets of the diamond he’d just given her. Maybe their love could last. Maybe the fates would recall the pain she'd already suffered in this life and look kindly on them now. Whatever the future might hold, she couldn't walk away from him. She couldn't give up the dream of love and happily ever after.
“I’ll marry you.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his shoulder. If she couldn't find a way to conquer the fear that took the edge off her joy, she’d just have to live with it.
▪ ▪ ▪
The next day Althea went through the motions at the shop. Every few minutes she glanced at the beautiful ring Jared had put on her finger the night before. Could the love between them last? Could they find joy together?
Before she left his house this morning he'd promised her a sensual feast, a promise that had her itching to sample it as she waited on customers—and imagining what they do in vivid detail, every time she had a few minutes to herself.
The warm, sunny Saturday in August must have encouraged tourists to come out shopping. Althea sold three full-size quilts and nearly a dozen quilted wall hangings before noon. She'd be able to add a healthy sum to the savings she had earmarked to buy the land for the co-op, she thought as she took charge slips and excess money from the cash register to the back room and put them in her small safe.
With Jared's help, she should be able to get the co-op up and running soon. She doubted the man who ran small businesses here in the mountains would balk at pledging their support to him.
Just thinking about him gave her a warm feeling all over. Again, she wondered what delights he had in mind for this evening. When she checked the time she realized she'd be finding out in less than an hour.
She was still in the background when she heard somebody call out from the showroom. It sounded like Jim. If it was, she hoped he was in a better mood than he'd been the last time they spoke. “I'm back here,” she said.
He joined her and set a steaming covered casserole dish onto the work counter. “Mary sent you and Jared a chicken pot pie.”
It smells wonderful. “Tell Mary thanks.” She set it on the table by her purse.
He looked sheepish. “I asked her to make it. I figured you shouldn't have to cook the night after you two got yourselves engaged.”
She glanced at her rang as she tried to recall who had come into the shop today that might have run into her brother afterward. “How did you know?”
“Cain drove by the house this morning. He’s a good man, and he’ll take care of you. What say we bury the hatchet and forget about that little argument we had last week?”
Jim hardly ever strung that many words together. He must've been practicing his speech all the way here from his place on Cherokee Ridge. “So, Jared’s all right now since he gave me a ring?”
“Come on, little sister, I’m just tryin’ to look out for you, like I promised Ma and Pa I would.”
She guessed she’d forgive him. “Well, is he all right with you now?”
Jim frowned, and then change the subject. “When’s the wedding? Jared said I had to ask you.”
“We just agreed to get engaged last night. We haven't discussed when…” Oh, no. Althea took a deep breath to calm her racing nerves. The significance of what she had done finally registered in her brain. She hadn’t just agreed to get engaged. She'd agreed to marry Jared Cain. “Not too soon, I don’t guess.”
“I got the feeling tomorrow would suit Jared fine.”
Althea figured an immediate wedding would probably thrill Jim, too. “I've got to do a million things before I can even think about getting married. Come on, let's step out front in case a customer should come in.”
“Things to do? Like what?” Jim’s thoughtful frown grew into a full-blown scowl when he leaned against the counter in front of the cash register.
“Like quitting my teaching job in finding someone to work full-time in the store so I can get the co-op started. Jared said he'd help get businessmen around here to back it.” Then she recalled Jared's quilt and her purely selfish desire to see him wrapped up in it like Christmas package. “I've got to finish his quilt, too.”
“Those are lame excuses. You can do all those things just as well married as you can single.”
That was what Jared had said last night, only he'd said it prettier. Maybe both he and Jim were right. She felt as though she'd stepped on a moving train when she had taken Jared's ring, a train that wasn't about to stop until she was standing with him in front of a preacher, becoming his wife.
She'd worked so hard to stand on her own two feet and not depend on others to do whatever it was she needed done. “Come on, Jim, back off. Jared and I will get married soon enough.” She hoped that would get her brother out of her hair for a little while.
“Mary said she would fix the cake and get the ladies at church to make sandwiches and stuff for the reception.”
Althea felt overwhelmed, but she made herself smile. “Tell Mary thanks.” A country reception in the churchyard under the big oak tree, in plain sight of the graveyard with its colorful plastic flower arrangements, didn't appeal much to her. It wouldn't have, even if she were planning to marry a boy who'd never left the northeast Georgia Mountains. It would be too much like a wedding celebration she'd had to cancel.
“Is that okay? I mean, Bill and all…”
She wanted to hug her brother. He understood more than he let on. “No, it isn’t okay. But it’s not just about Bill. I want us to do it quietly.” Her way. Not Jim and Mary’s. And not Jared’s, either. “I've already told Jared I don't want any big fancy ceremony.”
“All right. Just let me know when it's going to be and we’ll be there. Gotta admit, you chose your man pretty well. Cain will be good for you.” With that, Jim turned and strode away, leaving her at the door to stare at his back until he climbed into his van.
For the next hour, she straightened stock, stopping every now and then to wait on a customer. As Althea headed up built Big Bear Mountain, Mary's pot pie still warm on the seat beside her, she let herself imagine what Jared had in store for them tonight.
▪ ▪ ▪
He was the luckiest man alive. Jared leaned back in the rocker on the porch and listened to a squawking crow in the distance. His gaze wandered toward the winding road, then settled on a flowering bush tucked in the bend nearest the house. Althea would know the name of those flowers. Whatever they were, they reminded him of her, all pink and white and delicate. His nostrils flared as he imagined the flowers exuding her sweet, light scent.
A car engine labored. Tires crunched along the g
ravel road. Jared checked his watch and then got up and moved to the porch rail. As soon as Althea's Pathfinder stopped, he hurried to open her door.
Chapter Twenty-One
“I missed you.” Althea leaned over the pot pie in her hands and brushed a kiss across Jared’s jaw. “Mary sent us our supper.”
“It smells mighty good, but I’d thought we’d go out.”
She smiled as they stepped inside the house. “I’d rather stay here. Work on your quilt or—“
“Play?” The promise in her eyes sent sparks flying below his belt. She made him feel like the hottest guy on the planet, and he loved it.
“That, too,” she told him.
He took the hot dish to the kitchen and set it in the oven. “Hungry?”
She looked him over her head to toe and then moved closer, so close her breath tickled his chest through his shirt. “Are you?”
“Yeah. I’m hungry for you, sweetheart, but we’d better eat first. Keep up our strength.”
“Okay.” Smiling, she took out plates and silverware and set the table. “You're a nice man, Jared Cain. Not every man would've taken the trouble to go see Jim, especially after the ruckus he raised about our—”
“He had a right to be upset. I would have been, if it had been my sister carrying on with some guy from the big city, the way you been carrying on with me.” Jared dodged the potholder Althea tossed at him.
“It's not funny. Come on, let's eat.”
Jared made a mental note to tease Althea more often. She was cute when she pouted. After she sat down, he joined her and dug into the casserole dish. “What is this?” he asked, suspicious of any meal whose main ingredient he couldn't readily identify.
Althea took a bite, chewed slowly, and then swallowed. “Chicken something-or-other, I think. It’s good.”
“You had better not even consider serving me something or other anything.” He was only half joking.