“Not too bummed out,” he put in shortly. “She is out sailing with Phil.”
Well, at least now she understood what his problem was. “Great day to be on the water. Did you talk to her before she left?”
“No.” He started staring at the paper again. “I heard about it from Nan.”
The cloud descended over Evan so quickly that Jada could only look on in wonder. In some ways, Evan reminded her of Matthew.
How many times had the two of them escaped down the Cliff Walk, him brooding silently, her trying to drag out of him whatever it was that was bothering him that day? How many times had they climbed to the bottom of the beat-up old Forty Steps, just to sit by the water and talk until they were both feeling better?
“She hasn’t had much of a vacation so far, do you think?”
A muffled grunt came through the dark cloud. With a hard shake of the paper, Evan refolded the thing and focused on some article.
“Evan, she told me about how she met Phil. She doesn’t care a thing about him, you know.”
He moved a bit in his chair but continued the pretense of ignoring her.
“I really think she likes you. I mean, anytime I’d bring up your name, she’d get this pretty blush on her face, and her eyes would get all wide and dreamy...”
He tapped the newspaper on his lap. “You know, I gave this kid a ride to the train station a couple of days ago.”
He was being such a goof, she thought, trying to change the topic. “Evan, I’m talking about Meg.”
“Well, I’m not,” he said shortly, dropping the paper in her lap. “Did you ever see him when you went to the Priory School? Must be a pretty smart kid. He was just named a National Merit Scholar.”
Jada looked down at the picture...and felt the floor give way beneath her. Matthew Rand stared unsmilingly up at her from beneath the caption.
“As much as I detest the whole lot of them, he seemed like a pretty normal kid.”
He’d been in town! He’d come back to Newport. But he had never called her. The picture dissolved before her eyes as Jada struggled with her emotions. What a fool she’d been to think that perhaps he would! What a fool! Unaware of everything else, she bit at her lip and struggled to breathe.
“So, did you know him?”
She shook her head numbly and got quickly to her feet. “Could you hold the fort? I have to use the bathroom.”
Jada walked quickly from the waiting room with the paper clutched to her chest. She no longer had any control over her emotions. The hurt she felt was tearing her apart.
She had been such a fool! Such a fool! Here he was free to travel all over. His future was bright. National Merit Scholar! Matthew was all set!
And what about her? What about Little Ted?
She burst through the door into the bathroom. She’d be here. Right here. Ruined.
A total screw-up.
CHAPTER 17
It was time to learn a bit more about Meg Murphy.
Time to find out the reason behind all the secrecy about her job. And what the hell she was doing here in Newport. And it was definitely time to find out the truth behind what she had told Jada about herself.
He liked to help people. Everyone knew that he liked to help people. But he wasn’t about to let anybody play him for a sap. Particularly, not her. He’d find out what was going on with her before going through with his plan...whether she wanted to confide in him or not. He didn’t care if there were ghosts in Meg’s closets, but he sure as hell wanted to know what they were.
Checking his watch, he reached for the phone and dialed the private number of his lawyer’s office in Manhattan. It was almost noon on Saturday, but there was no doubt in his mind that John Peck would be in his office.
As the lawyer picked up the phone, Evan leaned against the door of the kitchen and stared out at the harbor.
“I’m glad you have no life, John.”
“Evan! Here to serve, big guy. Are you in New York?”
“No.” Evan was in no mood to chitchat, so he got right to the point. “I need you to find all you can about a woman named Meg Murphy. Here’s her address and phone number.”
On the way up to his apartment, Evan had taken the liberty of looking through Nan’s books.
“Okay. Got it. Boston, eh? What is she, another charity case?”
“Not exactly.”
“Okay. Well, what is it exactly that you want to know?”
“I want to know everything! Where she works. How much money she’s got in her bank account. I want the names of any husbands or boyfriends. What she does with her spare time. Whatever else you think of.”
“Bra size? Kinky habits?”
“You really do need a life, John.”
“So true! And let me guess how quickly you want all this.”
“I wanted it yesterday!”
“I knew that! Well, Evan, I’m glad you called. You’ve just paid my salary for the day.”
“If I know you, John, this call is probably paying your week’s salary.”
“Hey, it is Saturday! And besides, we just finished hammering out the movie deal on that classic of modern fiction Henry says you’re hard at work on, so I know you can afford it.”
“Well, you’re on my time now, so get to work.” Evan frowned and looked again at his watch. “Call me back with whatever you can get in a couple of hours. The rest, I guess, can wait until Monday morning.”
“What, are you giving me Sunday off for good behavior?”
“Hey, I don’t want to cut into your church time or anything. And John, when we talk on Monday, remind me to give you the details on a trust I want you to draw up for a young woman and a baby.”
“Paternity suit potential, Evan?”
“Wishful thinking, pal.” He paused for a moment as the sunlight flashed off the windshield of a yacht in the harbor. “One more thing. Send one of your people out to Tiffany’s to buy a diamond necklace.”
“What?”
“It’s got to be today. And it’s got to be like the one Grace Kelly wore in To Catch a Thief.”
There was a noticeable pause on the other side. “A diamond necklace? From a...what, thirty year old movie?”
“Doesn’t have to be exactly a duplicate. But yes, genuine diamonds. I want it in my hand by tomorrow noon.”
“Tomorrow noon?”
“Hey, you said you’re ‘here to serve.’”
“I did say that, didn’t I. Okay, Evan. We’ll do what we can, but it’s going to cost you.”
“It always does, John.”
Hanging up the phone, Evan grinned. If Meg Murphy was all he thought her to be, then he couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when he gives her this little bauble.
As he stood at the counter, though, his grin was quickly replaced by a frown, and he headed outside to his balcony to look for any sign of Phil’s damned sailboat.
He had been irritated as hell when he heard Meg had gone off so easily with his scumbag of a best friend, but Evan was much too stubborn to let that alone get in the way of his plans.
Hell, he was no fool! She’d done this to teach him a lesson, and he didn’t really blame her. Trying to put himself in her place, Evan knew he wouldn’t have been too happy if two studs had come up to them in a bar and felt her up in front of him.
After getting back to his room last night, he’d spent most of the night thinking of the offer he’d made to her in the bar at La Forge. He really botched that completely. But this morning, hearing Jada say that Meg was almost out of a job, everything had jelled for Evan. Now he had a plan.
Hell, call it an assistant, an editorial assistant. Just the way she herself had described it. Someone he could use to help him with his work. He already knew she’d be perfect for the job. Her honesty alone made her perfect.
The hunter green sailboat cruised around the northern point of Goat Island, and Evan watched the son of a bitch guide it skillfully toward its mooring.
Of course, Ev
an thought with a frown, there was still a bit of a complication in all this that he didn’t really know how to handle.
After all, he’d never fallen head over heels for a potential employee before.
******
Meg, wearing her Red Sox hat, pulled the tote bag high on one shoulder and picked up the picnic basket off the wooden dock. Swift hopped out, nearly knocking Meg over as she passed, and loped away into the grass.
Hauling the dingy up onto the dock, Phil picked his other gear and stepped up beside her.
“I really want to thank you, Phil. It was a very nice morning.”
“We’ll do it again.” He leaned over and took the basket out of her hand. “But next time, we’ll go out for more than just a morning. We could take off for one of the islands? Maybe Block Island or Cuttyhunk or some place like that.”
Meg smiled as they started walking back toward the house. She truly did have a pleasant time sailing on the bay, but despite all of Phil’s charm, her thoughts had never strayed too far from Evan Knight.
She just couldn’t get herself adjusted to being so darned attracted to him. With the sun on her face and the rugged shoreline speeding by, her mind had wrestled over and over again with how confused he made her. She knew so little about him. Last night was proof of that. But during their morning together, Phil had spoken a couple of times about different things that Evan had involved himself in. Things like working with the fisherman’s co-op and helping families who needed it. Everything he said supported what Jada had told her.
She just couldn’t figure him out. And short of just coming out and drilling Phil with all sorts of questions about the man, Meg could think of no other way to find the whole truth. But as soon as she’d started to ask, she had seen an almost protective look come into Phil’s face. So she’d stopped. It was all very confusing.
Meg stopped and smelled a late blooming rose bud beside the path. Straightening up, she looked at the rosebushes leading toward the house.
Suddenly, she froze inwardly at the picture of perfect harmony before her eyes. At the top of the long stretch of the lawn Evan sat with a beautiful red-haired woman on the grass. And in Evan’s grip, Meg noticed the baby. A babbling, happy baby who looked too much at home.
Meg couldn’t force her legs to take the next step. She watched the woman lean toward Evan and whisper something into his ear. He gave a hearty laugh before lying back on the grass with the baby on top of his chest.
So this was it, she thought. This was the hidden truth about Evan Knight. Now she was going to be told that the redhead and the baby were Evan’s. Finding Phil waiting for her to catch up, Meg pushed herself forward. The redhead lifted a hand and waved at them.
“Hi Phil!”
Meg watched the woman come to her feet. Figures. Drop dead gorgeous with flowing red hair that hung below her shoulders and a sun dress that did very little to block the view of a perfectly toned body beneath.
“Hi Sarah!”
“Just got here about fifteen minutes ago. I hope it’s okay I brought Emma. She’s been homesick at not seeing Evan much lately.”
Meg looked down at the smiling baby jumping up and down on Evan’s lap.
“Hi, Emma.” Phil leaned down and tried to touch the baby, but Evan pulled her affectionately against his chest. “Hands off, Svengali. This one, at least, is mine!”
Mine, Meg repeated silently. Suddenly, her anger drove inward like a spike, piercing her heart with an unbearable pain. She had to get away from here. Phil’s words, though, stopped her in her tracks.
“Meg, I want you to meet my secretary, Sarah Owens, and her daughter Emma.” The baby gave a loud shriek of laughter. “Emma has a way with men. Everyone, including her father Dave, who is all of two hundred twenty pounds, an ex-New England Patriots linebacker. She has all of us eating out of her chubby, little hands.”
“They’re not chubby,” Evan protested.
“Thanks, Evan,” Sarah responded with a smile.
Meg, struck speechless as the stupidity of her earlier assumption sank in, smiled weakly at the baby. She glanced down at the outstretched hand of Phil’s secretary and grasped it like a life line.
“You...you have a beautiful daughter.”
“Thanks, but she is really just a big flirt.” The young woman leaned down to take the baby. “I don’t mean to spoil your fun, Evan, but I have some papers for Phil to sign right away. And then we have to be on the road. You know Dave. He’s a bear if he gets home for lunch and we’re not there.”
Meg watched as Evan reluctantly handed up the kicking child. For an instant, their eyes met, and she knew she had to get away. But with a quickness of a cat, he reached up and took her hand, using it to pull himself to his feet.
For a moment, the question ran through her mind of what she would do if he decided to kiss her in front of these two--to put his brand on her lips just as he’d done that the other night, when he’d found her and Phil alone here. But that was no more than wishful thinking, she realized. He let go of her hand and turned abruptly to Phil.
“We need to talk as soon as you are done with Sarah.”
It was clear to Meg that Evan’s words were not a request, but a curt demand. And like everything else, it only added to the confusion in her mind.
She decided this was the best time to flee. She needed to put as much distance as she could between herself and Evan, right now. So, with a few courteous words to Phil and Sarah, Meg headed quickly toward the house.
He caught up with her on the stairs.
“Have a nice time sailing?”
Meg paused, searching for the right answer.
“Fabulous.”
She increased her speed up the steps. With Evan taking the steps two at a time, though, that didn’t do much good.
“So what did you two do? I mean, other than sailing.”
She stopped on the landing and shot a saucy glare in his direction. “Nothing more than what you and dear Cornelia and Lucy might do in a situation like that.” She exaggerated Lucy’s drawl. “I don’t have to tell you, though. After all, other than Phil, there’s not a man left in this town.”
Meg had hoped for a show of anger, a little embarrassment...anything along those lines. But instead, he let out a hoot of laughter. She gave him her most venomous look.
“Oh, that’s good. Real good!”
She just about had it with him. Turning on her heel, she started toward her room, but before she could put the key in her lock, he moved in next to her, leaning against the door frame.
“You look very cute with that hat on, by the way. And no glasses! Giving the contact lenses another try?”
She tried to ignore the affect of his deep voice on her, but she missed her first try at jamming the key into the lock.
“Got some sunburn on your face. And on your arms.”
She didn’t want to turn and look at him, but her whole body warmed as she felt his eyes go over her.
“Never seen you in shorts before...but I sure remember what’s underneath. Do you want me to spread some cream on you?”
“No thanks.” Meg turned her head and stared as indifferently as she could into his hazel eyes. They were as deep as the sea. Ignore it, she told herself. Go inside. Close the door.
She couldn’t.
“Phil did that for me. When we were on the boat.”
As much as he tried to hide with a casual smile the quick flash of temper, she saw the color that crept into his face. This was the reaction she was after.
“He is just fabulous. He does everything just right.”
The trace of smile was quickly disappearing.
“In fact, he invited me to go sailing with him to Block Island.” She drove the key successfully into the lock and turned it this time. “Ooh! A hot and steamy weekend with Phil Campbell and Swift--just the three of us!”
“Well, that’s pretty kinky.”
“Only a shade kinkier than some other people I know.”
She quick
ly opened her door and tried to close it behind her, but she had no chance as Evan shoved his way in, slamming the door behind him. Before she even had a chance to demand that he leave, he started on her.
“I can’t believe you are behaving so immaturely.”
“I’m immature?” she exploded, throwing her tote bag to the side. “Look who’s talking? Casanova himself...taking not one, but two bimbos to bed at a time! And you call me immature?”
“So you were threatened by those two, last night?”
“Threatened? Ha! But there sure as heck wasn’t much left to the imagination, hearing them planning your hot and steamy weekend rendezvous!”
He glared at her for a moment. “I am not going to stand here and apologize for my past. What’s past is past, and that’s all you need to know.”
“Fine, you’ve said your piece! Now get out.”
“I won’t. I’m not done with you.”
“That’s what you think.” She stormed past him and started yanking open the door, but he slammed it shut again.
“Look at yourself. You’re acting like a jealous wife.”
She whirled around. “And how about you? If you’re so cool and indifferent, then why the heck were you ready to chop Phil’s head off as soon we got back? And why did you follow me up the stairs? And why does it matter what Phil and I did on that boat...or who I decide to screw in this town?”
It took him a moment to answer, during which his hot gaze burned a path down her face...to her lips. “I don’t know, but I’m sure as hell planning to find out.”
As he took a step toward her in an attempt to trap her against the door, she quickly sidestepped and moved to the middle of the room.
“Now, just hold your horse right there. You aren’t getting out of this argument that easy.”
“Easy?” He gave a sarcastic snort. “You call chasing you, easy? You’ve got more evasive moves than an all-pro wide receiver!”
She gritted her teeth. “And you’ve got more tricks up your sleeve than a Vegas...”
“What do you mean, ‘tricks’?” he growled. “Unlike you, what you see is what you get. When I say, let’s have sex, I mean it. But you...you bat your lashes, you pucker your lips, and then, when I try to give you a peck on the cheek, you scream and hide under the bed.”
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