A Patchwork Romance

by Jacobs, Ann

  “Or what?”

  “Or I might have to show you who's boss.” Jared grinned dished out something he thought looked like a piece of celery and set it aside. “I can’t stand celery unless it’s raw.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  Althea grinned. “Well, we aren’t married yet, and if you don’t want me to think twice about taking that step, you’d better stop sounding like a tyrant.”

  Jared's mind wandered to that night not too long ago before he left for Atlanta. “I thought you enjoyed letting me show you I’m the boss.”

  “Well…” Her blush gave her away as certainly as if she had come right out and told him she remembered. “Yes. When you show me that way, I kind of like being under your spell.”

  “Under me, you said?”

  “That, too.” As if he was embarrassing her, she lowered her gaze.

  Jared ate his dinner, but he had no idea whether it tasted good or bad, or whether the main ingredient had been fish or fowl. He was so hard he ached. Althea did that to him with her shy teasing. “Are you finished yet?”

  “Almost.” She ran her tongue across her lower lip, the way he wanted her to rub it over him.

  “Quit teasing. You’re done.” Scooping her up in his arms, he headed for the stairs.

  She laughed. “Jared, what’s the hurry?”

  “I don’t understand why, but every time you’re with me, my hormones start going crazy.”

  “Well, you’re the one who said you wanted to eat first,” she pointed out.

  “Yeah, sweetheart, but now I’m ready for dessert.” He squeezed her tighter against his chest as he took the stairs two at the time.

  When he got to the shower door, he slid her down his body and practically tore off their clothes.

  “Go on, get in the shower and turn the water on.”

  When he stepped in behind her, he was hit by an icy spray. “There, that ought to cool you off some.” She shot him a sassy grin.

  “Don’t count on it, sweetheart.” Her lascivious glance down his torso more than made up for the water's chilling effect. “Water’s getting warm now.”

  A fresh fragrance of herbs and spices filled the air when he smoothed scented body wash over her satiny skin. Her nipples tightened at his touch. He loved the way her beautiful breasts filled his hands. “Admit it, you like this as much as I do.”

  “Uh-huh, I like it a lot.” When she looked at him, fire in her gaze, he nearly lost it.

  He went down on his knees and rubbed his cheek against her crisp pubic curls. Spreading her outer lips, he caressed her clit gently with the pad of his thumb before leaning closer and tasting her honey.

  His cock was throbbing, but he ignored it. He loved lapping her with his tongue and nibbling her incredibly responsive flesh with his teeth. His pulse raced. With his fingers, he stroked her warm, slick channel until he felt her muscles slacken and heard her soft cry. Then he stood and held her trembling body, reaching over his shoulder to turn off the shower.

  “Let’s finish this on a bed.” He wrapped towels around them and herded her to bed.

  When she reached to play with his cock as soon as they lay down, he thought he’d explode. “Not now, sweetheart.”

  As though she sensed how close he was to the edge, she fished a condom from the night stand drawer, sheathed him, straddled him and guided him into her. Her movement started out slow and gentle but quickly built to a fever pitch.

  He wanted to wait, wanted her to come with him. But what she was doing had him slipping over the edge. “Slow down, sweetheart. I can’t—“

  “Don’t—don’t wait.”

  When he came, she followed. For a long time they lay there, spent. Contented. Jared looked forward to years more of times like this, loving Althea. He looked even more forward to making love to her again, as soon as he could catch his breath.

  ▪ ▪ ▪

  Good thing I don’t open the shop on Sundays or Mondays. Althea stretched, thinking back on the time she and Jared had spent alone—a fantasy come true, full of sensual pleasures she’d never dared to imagine. She still had today to look forward to, except for spending an hour or so in town, running errands. Feeling happy and content with herself, she dressed and went downstairs.

  “Good morning, sweetheart.” The sound of his voice, deep and sexy, sent chills down her spine. “Where are you headed off to this morning?”

  She poured herself some coffee and stirred sugar into it before joining him at the table. “Blairsville. I need to let the school board know I won’t be teaching this fall.”

  “Wouldn’t a letter do?” His lazy grin made her think of doing what he suggested and letting him take her back to bed.

  “I wrote a letter, but I think I ought to deliver it in person. It’s awfully late for me to cancel my contract.”

  “Want me to go with you?”

  She was grateful he offered, but she needed to do this on her own. “There’s no need. I’m pretty sure the superintendent of schools will understand.”

  Jared took her hand. “Does this mean you’re ready to set a date?”

  She loved the way faint laugh lines bracketed his mouth and called attention to his gorgeous eyes when he smiled. “Not yet. I want to get the co-op started first.”

  Squeezing her hand, he brought her palm to his lips. “It will be. Trust me.”

  Although she trusted him with everything else, her own lack of success at raising funds from local businesses made her wary. “Have you talked to any local businessmen yet?”

  “Not personally, but Laura has.”

  Had Jared been having his assistant talk to folks about the co-op from his office in Atlanta? “I thought you were going to do this, yourself—“

  “I am. Laura has been doing some legwork for me, that’s all.”

  Althea glanced at the ring on her finger occasionally as she sipped her coffee. “When do you think you’ll have the backing we need? I want to buy the land and get the building fixed up enough so women will be able to use it this winter to work on their crafts.”

  “Soon, sweetheart. Very soon.” He shot her an enigmatic smile that stayed in the back of her mind as she drove to Blairsville and went about her errands.

  ▪ ▪ ▪

  It seemed everybody in Blairsville knew about her and Jared even before they spotted the ring on her finger. Feeling indulgent about being the main topic of gossip for the moment, Althea accepted good-natured wishes for their happiness from nearly everybody she ran into on the way to the school board office at the courthouse.

  “Morning, Lucy.” Stepping inside, she greeted the secretary who’d been working for the county school system as long as she could remember.

  Lucy’s grin could have lit up the town square. “I figured I’d be seein’ you, girl. Give me your hand. I want to see that big ol’ diamond ring. Lenny over at the jeweler’s has been bragging about sellin’ it to your man the other day.”

  Althea held out her left hand and braced herself for more of the raves she’d already heard out on the street from people who’d caught her between her parking place on the east side of the square and here. “Isn’t it pretty?”

  “My, my. You’ve gone and caught yourself a live one. I’m glad for you. You deserve to be happy after all…” The older woman’s smile faded as though she wanted to say something about Bill’s tragic death, but then it came back brighter than ever. “When’s the big day?”

  “We haven’t decided. I’ve made up my mind I’m not going to teach this year, though, so I thought I’d better come by and let you know now. This way you can find somebody to take my place.” Althea handed over a sealed envelope. “Here. This should make my resignation official enough to satisfy the superintendent.”

  Lucy frowned at the envelope as she set it on her desk. “Never thought I’d see the day I’d be glad you quit, girl, but I am. Now we’ve got a spot for Dora Littleton.”

  “Dora’s back in town?”

&
nbsp; “She got here last week.” Lucy shook her head before going on. “Seems she finally got the backbone to get rid of the louse she married. Pity she didn’t do it before she had those two precious little boys.”

  “I didn’t know.” The last Althea had heard, Dora was still living in Chattanooga. She’d given up her teaching job here two years ago to follow her husband there. “I feel awful for her.”

  “Well, she’s hard up. Got nothin’ when she divorced him. That woman never had a lick of common sense, but she’s a good teacher. Hard to figure.”

  It was. Althea felt good, knowing her last minute resignation had opened the door for Dora.

  After she chatted a few minutes with Lucy, Althea stopped by the bank. The sale of that big quilt yesterday had fattened her deposit nicely. If she figured right, she’d have a little over six thousand dollars in her nest egg after today, including interest—just two thousand short of the down payment she needed to buy that piece of land Harriet Tucker had been trying to sell her for two years or more. Maybe the bank would even lend her more, now that Jared—or rather his assistant—had persuaded some of the local businessmen to lend their support.

  “Althea. Let me see your ring.”

  “When’s the wedding gonna be?”

  Was there nothing else happening around here that folks considered worthy of idle gossip? Shaking her head, Althea joined two of her former classmates who were having iced tea at one of the tables on the sidewalk outside Yoder’s Restaurant. “Good morning to you, too,” she said with a shake of her head.

  Mona Runnels grabbed her hand. “Wow. How much did that rock cost?”

  “Mona, you’ve got the manners of an ape. Althea, don’t you pay Mona any mind.” Betty Lane, Mona’s sister, snatched Althea’s hand away then made a big show of inspecting the ring before letting go. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a diamond quite this big.”

  Not to be outdone, Mona chimed in. “When’s the wedding? Is it gonna be fancy, like the ones they show on daytime TV?” Her gaze kept returning to the ring, as though she were thinking envious if not larcenous thoughts.

  “We haven’t decided anything yet.” Althea might as well record that reply, because she’d said it so many times this morning, she was about to lose her voice.

  Betty looked surprised. “Why not? I tell you, if I had that man on the hook, I’d hustle him in front of the preacher before he could bat an eye.”

  “And you think I’ve got no manners, when you go drooling over Althea’s man like he was a piece of prime beef behind the butcher’s counter.” Mona let out a snort that had other diners staring their way. “He is fine, though. Can’t deny that.”

  Althea smiled. “I’m sort of partial to him.”

  They chatted a while, until Althea saw an opportunity to get away when a waitress came by to offer refills of sweet tea, which she declined. “This is the only day this week that I’m off. There are a million things I have to do. It was good to see you two.”

  Everybody knew, and everybody was talking about her and Jared, but it seemed they all wished her well. She couldn’t complain too much that her friends and acquaintances apparently had no concept of minding their own business. On an impulse, she decided to stop by Harriet Tucker’s office before heading home.

  “Althea, what a surprise!”

  “Hello, Harriet.”

  The older woman smiled, her perfectly made up face crackling a bit with the motion. “I hear congratulations are in order.”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  Looking at her with an admiring expression on her face, Harriet spoke in a conspirational tone. “Your young man’s quite a catch.”

  How would Harriet have happened to meet Jared? Then Althea remembered the realtor had handled his purchase of Big Bear Mountain. The woman’s commission on that deal had to have been enough to ensure Jared a cozy spot in her memory for a long time to come.

  “I think he’s pretty wonderful.” Althea smiled but frankly she was tired of hearing folks imply that Jared’s most appealing quality was the size of his bank balance. There was so much more to him than that. So much to love that had nothing to do with his business acumen or his wealth. She’d get down to business and then get home as quickly as she could. “Do you still have that piece of property I’ve been wanting for the craft co-op?”

  Harriet looked perplexed. “Why yes, I do. But why would you want it now?”

  “Why wouldn’t I?” Now Althea was confused.

  “Because…oh, my. I don’t know if I’m supposed to be telling you…”

  “Telling me what?”

  Harriet picked up a pair of designer glasses from her desk and set them on her nose. She met Althea’s gaze. “The land for the co-op has already been bought. I closed the deal on it last week.”

  “But…you said it’s still available.”

  “That piece of property you’ve been looking at is still for sale. Probably will be, ten years down the road, for that matter.”

  Harriet didn’t need to remind Althea that the property was anything but prime. She knew that. Its negative features were what made it so cheap. “What did you mean, then, when you said somebody bought the land for the co-op?”

  “What I said. Your young man picked out another site, one where trucks can get in and out.” She described property Althea recognized. It was at a crossroads a mile or so down the highway from her shop, across from an old rock quarry. “He hired Alvin Reese to put up a building. They should be grading the site today, from what I heard.”

  Harriet had to be mistaken. Jared wouldn’t…would he? “Are you sure he isn’t building a new factory on that land—for his company?”

  “Honey, no. Jared made it real clear from the first that he wanted to build a co-op for you—and for his sweet mama’s memory. He mentioned how hard it’s been for you to get enough donations to get it started. You ought to be thrilled.”

  Althea’s temples throbbed so she could barely see. “How? There’s all sorts of paperwork—“

  “He no more than said he wanted the land than Laura—that’s his executive assistant down in Atlanta—got his lawyer to draw up the papers for the co-op, file the tax exemption application and so on. By the time I was able to wear the seller down on the price, Laura had everything in order. Jared didn’t leave anything to chance.” Harriet sounded as though she thought Jared could do no wrong.

  Althea didn’t agree. Tears made her vision blur, but she refused to shed them in front of the realtor. “I’ve got to go.” Getting up, she bolted for the door. When she got to her SUV she laid her head against the steering wheel and cried.

  ▪ ▪ ▪

  Where was Althea? Jared walked over to the quilt stand and stared at the tiny stitches she’d made yesterday. Bored without her here, he tried to guess how many stitches it would take for her to finish the quilt that had brought him to her in the first place. Millions, he imagined, maybe billions.

  He glanced at his watch. Three o’clock. How much longer would Althea be, running her errands in town? Alvin had called from the co-op site and said his men had already removed the old concrete slab. They were about to start grading the area where the building would go.

  I may as well drive over and inspect what Alvin has done. After all, if Althea’s like most women she’ll probably be shopping until the stores close. He grabbed his keys and strode to the garage.

  As he drove down the highway, he tried to decide when he’d tell her what he’d done. Now that he knew she was willing to accept his help, the timing didn’t matter all that much. Jared felt great when he imagined how happy she’d be to see the site he’d found.

  Maybe he’d tell her right away. No. He’d wait until Alvin had the building’s foundation in place, so she could visualize her co-op and realize it would be ready for business very soon.

  He liked that the site was so close to Big Bear Mountain. It only took five minutes to reach the crossroads, where he could see the progress Alvin had made. A dusty construct
ion trailer sat on a corner of what would be the parking lot, next to a grader and a backhoe. The grizzled contractor himself stood beside the trailer with a set of blueprints, talking to two of his employees.

  Jared pulled in, got out of his car and headed for the trailer. When he heard a woman call his name, he stopped midstride.

  Althea. Damn it, somebody told her. It made him furious that the surprise he’d planned for her now was spoiled.

  He turned and smiled at her from across the clearing. It wasn’t until he saw the tear stains on her face that he realized something was wrong. Bad wrong.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Jared, how could you?”

  “How could I what?” He was afraid he knew what, but he’d try to brazen it out.

  Althea waved at the raw earth and then at the flags that market where the corners of the building were to be. “How could you do this? How could you go behind my back? How could you have taken away what I wanted to do for myself?”

  “You said you’d let me help,” he pointed out, his defenses on high alert.

  “You call this help? I call it taking over. What possessed you to think you’d please me by bulldozing your way in, showing me up?” She looked mad enough to kill him.

  So much for her having told him she’d accept his help. But he still had to try to calm her down. “Althea, be reasonable. If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. Your co-op will get a decent start. It owns this land and the building that will be going up on it next week, free and clear. We can get local businesses to help with start-up costs, once we have a place—“

  “Damn it. Why didn’t you ask me before you did this?”

  “Because I wanted to surprise you.”

  Her fingers curled into tight fists. “Surprise? Try shock,” she ground out between clenched teeth.

  “Would you believe it if I said I did this for your engagement present?” He tried a smile, but he had a feeling this wasn’t going to work.