But Jonathan didn’t give her a chance. “You have nothing to explain. For whatever reason, you changed your mind. I’ll admit it was a little difficult to accept at the time,” he said ironically. “But no means no. A real man doesn’t overreact.”
“If you had only let me explain,” she began desperately.
“I just told you, that shouldn’t be necessary. It’s a closed incident, so let’s drop it and talk about something else.”
After a despairing look at his set face, Michelle knew she had no choice.
Their conversation was a little stilted at first, but gradually they started to talk more naturally. Jonathan told her about some festival that was going to be held in Miami the following week.
“I think you’ll enjoy it,” he said. “It’s very colorful.”
“I don’t expect to be there that long,” she answered. Surely her mother didn’t plan to stay indefinitely.
Jonathan turned his head to gaze at her. “I’ll miss you.”
“Like a pain you’ve grown accustomed to?” she asked wryly.
“Something like that.” He smiled. “Maybe more like a persistent itch I can’t scratch.”
“Either way, you should be glad to get rid of me,” she said lightly.
“I keep telling myself that.” His tone matched hers.
About an hour later they reached Miami. Across from it was Miami Beach with its line of tall luxury hotels facing the ocean. Causeways connected the city with the beach.
He and Lucky actually lived on one of the islands between the two, Jonathan explained as he turned off the main causeway and drove along a quiet road lined with estates.
Michelle’s eyes widened at the sight of stately mansions glimpsed through lush foliage. Lucky must live in one of the gatehouses, she decided. Some of the big estates on Long Island had them. They were small houses formerly used by gatekeepers and their families in the days when people had large staffs of servants.
She was admiring a sprawling pink mansion set amidst rolling green lawns, when Jonathan turned into the driveway leading to it.
“Well, we finally made it,” he announced.
She gave him a puzzled look. “Where are we? I thought we were going to Lucky’s house.”
“This is it.”
“You’re joking!”
“I tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t believe me.”
Michelle was having difficulty adjusting her thinking. Only the very wealthy could afford even the upkeep on estates like these. If Jonathan had been telling her the truth all along, she’d done him a terrible injustice!
“It all sounded so improbable,” she said helplessly. “I mean, inventors aren’t usually wildly rich. And then when Lucky suggested that Mother invest in one of his new inventions, naturally I thought he was conning her.” “He didn’t suggest it, she did. After you told me about it I asked Lucky if you’d misunderstood somehow. He said he’d mentioned his new invention to Evelyn, but he was sorry afterward. He didn’t want her to risk even a small amount of money.”
That was essentially what her mother had said. Evelyn was the better judge of character, but Michelle couldn’t really fault herself. Maybe she’d been overly protective, but she’d acted out of love.
The front door opened and Lucky and Evelyn came out to greet them. “I’m glad you made it safely!” she exclaimed. “I was so worried when we got your message about the accident.”
“I told Manuel to tell you it was a minor one,” Jonathan said. “I wouldn’t even have told you that much if we’d been able to rent a car last night. I knew you’d worry.”
“That’s what mothers do.” Evelyn smiled. “Did you at least find a comfortable place to spend the night? It must have been a very small town if they didn’t even have a car rental agency.”
“It wasn’t what either of us were expecting, but you learn to roll with the punches.” Jonathan opened the car door. “I’ll get the luggage out of the trunk.”
Lucky’s house was as magnificent indoors as out. The large entry hall had a pink marble floor, and the walls were covered in silk. Spacious rooms opened off a central hall that led from the entry.
While Jonathan and Lucky went into the den to talk business, Evelyn led Michelle up the curving staircase to the second floor.
“Isn’t this house unbelievable?” Evelyn asked.
“It’s magnificent, but isn’t it awfully big for one person?”
“I suppose so, but Lucky has a wonderful staff to take care of the place. The cook and her husband have been with him for years, and so has Manuel. I don’t exactly know how you’d describe his position.” Evelyn laughed. “Manuel is unique.”
As they walked down the upstairs hall, she said, “Wait until you see your room.”
The bedroom assigned to Michelle looked like a picture out of a magazine. The bed had a crisp white eyelet bed skirt covered by a sapphire blue coverlet that coordinated with the drapes hanging at the tall French windows looking out on a terrace. The room also held a pale blue chaise and a delicate French writing desk.
“It was Lucky’s idea to give you this room. There were others to choose from, but he said the blue matched your eyes,” Evelyn said.
“He’s a very thoughtful man,” Michelle answered in a muted voice. “I guess I owe him an apology.”
“Fortunately I never told him what you suspected him of.”
She didn’t have to; Jonathan must have. It was remarkably forgiving of Lucky to invite her to stay. She wouldn’t be here long, however. Michelle just realized she had no reason to hang around.
She told her mother that when Evelyn started to talk about all the plans they’d made.
“You just got here!” Evelyn exclaimed. “Why do you want to leave so soon?”
“I do have a job to return to, and I feel funny about accepting Lucky’s hospitality, under the circumstances.”
“That’s nonsense! He’d be amused if he knew. In fact, I’m not so sure he doesn’t.”
Lucky joined Evelyn in urging Michelle to stay, when she and her mother went downstairs a little later. Jonathan just listened without taking sides. That was enough to convince Michelle that he was a lost cause.
After a few minutes he stood, saying he wanted to go home and unpack. Almost as an afterthought, he asked Michelle if she’d like to come with him.
She declined, realizing his lack of enthusiasm meant he felt obliged to ask.
“You should go,” Evelyn said. “Lucky and I have a date to meet some friends of his at the yacht club. You could come with us, but you’ll have more fun with Jonathan.”
“That’s debatable,” he said with a sardonic smile at Michelle. “But I thought she might like to see my house.”
It seemed easier to agree than to argue about it, and she was curious to see if he lived on as grand a scale as his uncle. Nothing would have surprised Michelle at this point.
Jonathan’s home was a great deal smaller than Lucky’s, but equally elegant in a different way. It was a one-story house with wide glass windows facing the water where a sleek cabin cruiser was tied to his private dock.
The interior was modern, but not starkly so. Colorful paintings hung on the walls, and occasional tables held interesting art objects. Some of the crystal pieces were modern, but a small dagger with a jewel encrusted jade handle was an antique.
“I just love your house, Jonathan!” Michelle whirled around, trying to take in everything at once. “It’s elegant, yet comfortable at the same time. You have beautiful things, but it doesn’t feel like a museum.”
“I’m glad you approve.”
“Who wouldn’t? It’s exactly the kind of place I’ve dreamed about having someday.”
“You’ve very kind,” he answered graciously, but his face was expressionless.
“I know you want to unpack. Don’t worry about me.”
“It wouldn’t be very hospitable to leave you alone. Perhaps you’d like to come in the bedroom with me.”
&nbs
p; Michelle trailed after him, accepting the fact that he didn’t have any ulterior motive.
Jonathan’s bedroom was spacious and also faced the water. While he unpacked, she wandered around the room, glancing at the books in his bookcase and a small sculpture on his bedside table. That was when she noticed the red number glowing in a small square on his telephone answering machine.
“You have a jillion phone messages waiting,” she observed.
He glanced over indifferently. “They can wait.”
“You never know. Some of them might be important Go ahead and play them, I’ll wait in the other room.”
“That isn’t necessary.” He hesitated. “One of them might be a business call, though. If you don’t mind, I think I will listen to them.” He pushed the Play button.
The first voice was a woman’s. “Hi, darling, it’s Ashleigh. I’m simply furious at you for breaking our date! How could you just disappear without telling me where you were going? Call me the minute you get back from wherever. Love you. Bye.”
Jonathan’s face was inscrutable as he continued to unpack during the message. Michelle had pretended to be interested in the view outside, but when the machine beeped and another woman’s voice sounded, she slid open the sliding glass door and went out on the deck.
Well, what did she expect, Michelle asked herself? A man like Jonathan would naturally be involved with a lot of women. She tried not to listen, but Ashleigh’s affected drawl was unmistakable. She had left several messages. Finally Michelle walked down to the waterfront.
Jonathan joined her there a few minutes later. “Sorry it took so long. I was right, they weren’t important,” he remarked casually.
Who was he trying to kid? Michelle gazed at a small boat skimming down the canal. “If you have somewhere to go, you can take me back to Lucky’s. I don’t mind being alone.”
“I really should stop by the office for a few minutes. Why don’t you come along? I’d like to show you some of the things we’re working on.”
“Well...if you’re sure I won’t be in the way.”
He gave her his first natural smile that day. “You’re always a distraction, but you’re never in the way.”
His offices were in a tall building in the industrial section of Miami, an area tourists never saw. Richfield Enterprises occupied several floors of the modern glass building.
Jonathan and Lucky each had large corner offices, even though Lucky seldom used his. Jonathan’s desk was piled high, but he took time to introduce Michelle to everyone. He also led her around an anteroom that was lined with glass cases.
With an arm draped around her shoulder, he showed her prototypes of Lucky’s many inventions. “This is the one that started him on the road to success. It doesn’t look like much, does it?”
Michelle stared at the unprepossessing little gadget. “It obviously serves a very important function.”
He laughed and ruffled her hair playfully. “Would you have said the same thing if I’d shown it to you at Shorehaven?”
Michelle was pleased that he seemed to have forgotten their recent differences. He was like the old Jonathan. She smiled up at him happily. “Anybody can make a mistake.”
“Don’t think I intend to let you forget it,” he teased.
His secretary came out of her office when she heard their voices. She was an attractive, efficient woman named Sharon, whom Michelle liked immediately. Unlike Pamela, the receptionist who sat at a desk in the anteroom. Her manner had been distant and unfriendly. Especially when Jonathan put his arm around Michelle’s shoulders. It was only a friendly gesture. Was Pamela in love with the boss and automatically disliked any woman he paid attention to?
Sharon told Jonathan he needed to return some phone calls immediately.
“I’ll do it later,” he said. “I haven’t finished showing Michelle around.”
“I’m sure she’ll wait for you,” Sharon said.
“You don’t know her as well as I do.”
“Go ahead,” Michelle told him. “I can amuse myself.”
“Come into my office and I’ll give you some magazines,” Sharon offered.
The two women chatted instead. But when Sharon got involved in a business call that became lengthy, Michelle decided to take her magazine out to the anteroom.
Pamela was also on the phone, but her call sounded like a personal one. “I suppose you could call her attractive, but definitely not in your class,” she was saying in a fawning tone. “I thought you should know, though, because he was acting very—” She paused abruptly when she saw Michelle. “Did you want something?” The woman stared at her with barely concealed hostility.
Michelle was annoyed enough to stay put. “I just came in here to read a magazine. Do you have a problem with that?” she asked sweetly, gazing directly at her.
Pamela’s eyes shifted as she said, “No, certainly not.” She swiveled in her chair and spoke softly into the phone. “I’ll have to call you back.”
Jonathan’s phone calls dragged on. He’d been away so long that there were a lot of them. When he was finally through, Michelle sat in his office talking to him while he signed letters.
“We’ll leave as soon as I finish these,” he promised.
“I don’t mind waiting. I don’t get to sit in a V.I.P.’s office very often.”
“Aren’t any of your boyfriends executives?” he asked casually.
“None as successful as you.” She glanced around happily. “This office is furnished better than my apartment.”
Before he could answer, the door was flung open and a tall, beautiful blonde appeared. Her long hair was arranged perfectly, and her makeup was flawless.
“Surprise, darling!” she called, striking a dramatic pose in the doorway.
Jonathan stood abruptly. “What are you doing here, Ashleigh?”
Michelle didn’t have to hear the name. She recognized the affected voice. His girlfriend Ashleigh was as glamorous as Michelle had known she’d be.
“I was driving by and I saw your car in the parking lot, so I decided to stop in,” the blonde said gaily.
“You were driving in this neighborhood?” he asked sardonically.
“Yes, I, uh, I heard there’s a fabulous bakery down here, of all places. I decided to try it.”
Michelle was as skeptical as Jonathan was. She suddenly remembered Pamela’s furtive conversation and fawning tone. Ashleigh evidently had a spy in the office looking out for her interests.
She crossed the room and put her arms around Jonathan’s neck without glancing in Michelle’s direction.
When she tried to kiss him, he moved away saying, “I’d like you to meet Michelle Lacey—Ashleigh Grant,” he said completing the introduction.
The woman’s eyes widened in pretended surprise as she turned to Michelle. “I didn’t notice you had someone with you. I didn’t mean to interrupt a business meeting.”
“You haven’t. Michelle and her mother are visiting Lucky,” Jonathan said.
“How nice,” Ashleigh replied tepidly before turning back to him. “I’m so glad you’re back, darling. I missed you terribly.”
“I wasn’t gone that long.”
“It seemed like an eternity. But I’ll forgive you for simply disappearing like that if you take me out to dinner tonight.”
“Well, I...” Jonathan slanted a glance at Michelle, who was pretending great interest in a cloud formation outside the window.
Ashleigh didn’t wait for him to finish the sentence. “You owe me one for breaking our date.”
“We didn’t exactly have a date. As I remember, a group of us just planned to get together at the club.”
“And you always take me,” she insisted. “Everybody asked me where you were.”
“Let’s don’t argue about it,” he said a trifle irritably.
“You’re right, I’m too happy to have you back. What time will you pick me up tonight?”
“I’m afraid this isn’t a good night. I’m su
re Lucky expects me to be available.”
Like it was an obligation, Michelle thought indignantly! “I doubt if he expects you to disrupt your life because of his house guests. Go out on your date,” she said coolly. “Lucky undoubtedly has something planned for Mother and me.”
“She’s right,” Ashleigh said quickly. “When I have houseguests, I schedule every minute before they even arrive.”
Jonathan’s jaw set grimly as he was caught in the crossfire between the two women. “Most people aren’t that organized,” he told the blonde. “I’ll still have to check with Lucky.”
“I understand. I’ll call you a little later.” Turning to Michelle, she said, “How long do you expect to be here?”
“I haven’t decided yet. Lucky invited me to stay indefinitely, and I just might do that,” Michelle said blandly. “Everybody has been so nice to me.” She gave Jonathan a melting smile.
Ashleigh’s eyes narrowed, but her voice was honeyed as she remarked, “Southerners are noted for their hospitality. Sometimes outsiders take that to mean more than it really does.”
“A perceptive woman can always tell the difference,” Michelle answered confidently.
Jonathan looked at his watch. “Lucky and Evelyn should be back by now. I’d better take you home,” he told Michelle.
Ashleigh glanced at her own watch. “Goodness, I had no idea it was so late! I have an appointment at the hairdresser. I’ll talk to you shortly, darling.”
After she left, Michelle dropped her act. “I meant it about keeping your date,” she told him. “It isn’t your job to entertain me.”
“I don’t consider it a job.”
“It certainly sounded that way when you were explaining my presence to Ashleigh.”
“But you made certain she got a different impression.”
“I’m sure you can soothe her ruffled feelings. It shouldn’t even stretch your inventiveness. She isn’t very bright,” Michelle said waspishly.
“I’ve never known you to be so uncharitable before.” His hazel eyes brimmed with amusement. “It almost sounds as if you’re jealous of Ashleigh, although I can’t imagine why.”
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