Love Rising: Spring (Mandrake Falls Series Romance Book 4)

by Catherine Lloyd

  “Well, why not you? You like her, she likes you. I don’t see the problem. You’re saying money can’t buy happiness. Some of us would disagree but I’ve never been in your position and had to cope with a life of ease.” Jason grinned. “Although, I have to admit, I can’t see it making me unhappy.”

  “You would. When I’m down to my last buck, I don’t freak out because I have a golden safety net if I need it, right? Even if I don’t want to use it, it’s there so I don’t have the same pressure on me that Jocelyn does. But the downside is I don’t get the same buzz out of my accomplishments that she does. For example, she was worried about how she was going to pay for the plumbing parts. And then Lydia Rutherford bought her baby products and Jocelyn was on cloud nine. I never get that kind of high from my work. If I’d piped up with ‘Hey, I’m rich!’ do you think that would’ve made Jocelyn happier than the sale did?”

  “It’s a trade-off is what you’re saying. Security versus scrapping for survival. Testing a man’s metal. You have to reject your dad’s money to find out what you’re made of. I get it. It’s too bad you couldn’t have explained it to Jocelyn like you explained it to me.”

  “Andrea took care of that for me. I have no idea how she found out.” Jeremy frowned. “I didn’t tell anyone. That’s what I came here to ask her.”

  Jason glanced at the back office and then at Jeremy. “I’ll tell her you were looking for her. I wish I could be more help, but what can I say—she’s a reporter. She finds out things.”

  Jeremy nodded sadly. “I guess I better get going. I’ll let Murdoch know she has to start searching for another stage manager. I can’t stick around where Jocelyn is. I’ll make an ass of myself. She said she’d get a restraining order if I came near her.”

  “Hold up.” Jason bolted upright. “Jocelyn is angry with you because you didn’t tell her.”

  “She’s not wrong if that’s what you’re getting at. It was kind of cool this deal we had. The rule was we couldn’t fake it like people usually do on a date. We figured out how to fix her plumbing with no money. We broke our piggybanks to go out for dinner like regular people my age do. She’s easy to talk to. I liked being with her.”

  “And she’s furious that you didn’t tell her,” Jason said slowly.

  “I know.” Jeremy tried to curb his annoyance. “I’m an arrogant rich entitled fool—I get it.”

  “No. You don’t get it. She’s angry, Jere—as in so angry that she doesn’t want to hear from you or see you again.”

  “I know. Holy hell, do you have a plate in your head? I said she was finished with me. I’m an asshole.”

  “We’re all assholes at one time or another when it comes to women but this time—” Jason broke off the thought. “Jeremy, tell me honestly. What do you hope to come out of this thing with Jocelyn? After everything that’s happened and what you know about her now, is she everything you thought she’d be?”

  Jeremy shook his head miserably. “No. She is so much more than I thought she was. I thought she was beautiful and she never gave me a second thought. But she did think about me. She noticed me. She thinks about everything. She likes plants and show tunes. She wanted to marry rich to help her dad and have a better life. There’s nothing wrong with that. My dad built his company to get rich. He didn’t do it for his health. Jocelyn gets me, which no one will believe but it’s is the truth. And I’ve lost her respect. I used to have that at least.”

  “No, no, no. Okay, yeah, you might have lost her respect but there’s one thing you have for sure. Jocelyn loves you.”

  Jeremy turned and stared at Jason. “What are you talking about? She hates me.”

  “Yes, because she’s in love with you. It’s the only explanation. Think about it. What would a gold digger—”

  “Don’t call her that.”

  “Have it your way. What would a girl with Jocelyn’s ambition turn her back on a rich dude? Because you didn’t tell her. You weren’t honest with her. Don’t you see? That kind of moral shit only pisses off a woman who is in love with her man. She expects him to tell her everything. I have two sisters-in-law; believe me I know what I’m talking about. If she didn’t love you she would’ve thrown herself at you as soon as she found out you were rich.”

  Jeremy thought over Jason’s logic for a moment. A smile broke over his face. “Jocelyn is angry because I wasn’t honest with her. Jocelyn never wants to speak to me again. Jason, she hates my guts!”

  “Remember, this is Jocelyn Tate we’re talking about—the girl has said from the beginning that she plans to marry money. This is the girl who never wants to see you again and she knows you’re rich!” Jason bounced to his feet. “It’s insane. There can be only one reason for this strange state of affairs, my friend.”

  Jeremy was pacing, half-bobbing on his feet as excitement swept over him. “She’s really in love with me. This is really happening. Oh crap.”

  “Go easy man,” Jason cautioned. “Women don’t like to be rushed, especially when the guy is in the wrong. You have to win her confidence. I’m just saying. She’s in love but that doesn’t make this a lock. If anything, women are more volatile when they’re in love.”

  But Jeremy couldn’t listen any longer. The urge to see her was over-powering. He bolted from the newspaper office, running down Main Street, past the diner, the Beauty Box, the library, the dress shop and bakery—he ran and ran until he was at the edge of town. Jeremy veered right, sharp, heels skidding and ran on with his arms pumping.

  Be cool. Slow down. She’s angry.

  And the thought made his heart almost burst with joy.

  ♥

  DARLENE STOOD at the window of the Beauty Box and observed Jeremy Marks running down the street like a madman. And this not thirty minutes after Jocelyn Tate had done the same thing. “What is going on in this town?” she asked Paula, not really expecting an answer but unwilling to let this strangeness go unremarked. “Is it an uprising?”

  Her shampooist roused herself from the funk she’d been in and said, “I guess you could call it that. Works for some girls; not so much for others.”

  Darlene ignored this cryptic remark and turned to ponder the improbability of the information she had posted on the bulletin board being wrong. “I took Jeremy and Jocelyn out of the ‘Available’ column when their engagement was announced. But I heard from Ryan McIntyre’s secretary that Jocelyn had a clandestine meeting with him on Wednesday.”

  Paula flinched. “Sybil exaggerates. You know what she’s like. Gossip, gossip. Nothing is sacred. Ryan McIntyre isn’t going out with Jocelyn Tate.”

  “How do you know?”

  Paula Dunlop had sunk lower in the beautician’s chair. “I ran into him at the diner on Monday and he told me he wasn’t seeing her.”

  Darlene nodded and returned to the problem at hand: the Relationship Status Report the whole town depended upon to be accurate. “It’s a gamble but I’m going to leave it as is. Jocelyn and Jeremy are engaged until I am informed otherwise. What do you think, Paula?”

  “Oh, heck!” Paula cried. “Did it ever occur to you that some people in Mandrake Falls might find it hard to see their names in the Available column month in and month out?”

  Darlene blinked. “Everyone likes the Status Report! It’s good for business. What’s got into you?”

  “Nothing, nothing,” Paula mumbled. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

  “For heaven’s sake, go home then. I don’t need you moping around here complaining about your love life. Yes, you were! Don’t try to hide it from me, Paula Dunlop. Things’ll look brighter in the morning. They always do.” Darlene turned back to the window. “Oh boy. There goes Ryan McIntyre now! Sheesh, it’s like the running of the bulls around here—what the heck?”

  Darlene heard the door of the Beauty Box slam. Her shampooist was charging down the street in her green pumps hard on the heels of Ryan McIntyre.

  “I guess I can assume Paula Dunlop and Ryan McIntyre are no longer av
ailable,” Darlene mused aloud.

  ♥

  “EXPLAIN IT to me,” Andrea said, coming out of the back office where she had been eavesdropping on Jason and Jeremy. “Jocelyn knows the dude comes from money but she dumps him anyway.” She snorted and flung herself into her office chair behind the reception desk. “How does that work?”

  “She loves him. Jocelyn is a simple girl, even though she’s hot and Jeremy Marks isn’t very complicated either, even though he’s rich. You heard him. Wealth can smother a person. They’ll get along better without it.”

  “Sure, as long as Jocelyn has Jeremy’s trust fund to cushion the fall.”

  Jason jerked his eyes away from her. “The guy was ready to leave town because of what happened.”

  She craned her neck to observe Jeremy Marks running down the street. “I would too if I were him,” she said with a complete lack of interest. “Saddled with Jocelyn Tate in print ... even if it was bogus ... not a fun scenario.”

  Jason had planned to bring up the subject of Janice Feron with tact and diplomacy but Andrea’s obvious boredom and chilling lack of remorse blew that out of the water.

  “Tarnham, cut the crap. Trevor saw you talking to Janice Feron outside the movie theater on Monday night. I couldn’t figure it out at first but now it all made sense. Janice has hated Shelby since she scooped Sawyer out from under her bony ass. She isn’t a fan of Ryan’s either ever since he turned his back on her when his brother chose Shelby. Brothers will do that. I have three.”

  Andrea’s eyes drifted over the office as though looking for an escape. “I have no idea what you are talking about. Trevor has it in for me. I don’t even know what Janice Feron looks like.”

  “She dyed her hair but you recognized her just fine at Michael Shannon’s wedding.” Jason leaned in. “And then you deleted every photo she was in. Even that wasn’t enough for me to accuse you until Jeremy told me that you knew his father was Kenneth Marks. Jeremy has been careful to keep his family under wraps. Naturally, he wondered how you found out. I said you were a crack reporter with mad research skills and he believed me.”

  “Pretty funny, huh? Crack reporter. I’m lucky if you let me cover the PTA meetings.”

  Jason’s face clouded. He bent over her desk and clenched his fist. “Look, Andrea, I bailed your ass out. You fucking insulted the guy and his dad with that engagement notice and you hurt the paper too. Janice Feron obviously put you up to it—you’re not conniving enough to think of something like that on your own. She’s the one who told you who Jeremy’s dad was, isn’t she? Janice is the type to have her nose in the Fortune 500 listings. What I want to know is why did you do it?”

  Andrea’s face purpled and her eyes swam with tears. “Are you firing me?”

  “No.”

  “Are you going to tell Shelby?”

  “No.” Jason sighed and rubbed his hand through his hair.

  She lifted her eyes to his, coldly. “So there’s nothing to talk about.”

  Andrea got to her feet, squeezed past him around the desk and walked out of the Gazette.

  She turned toward the diner, heels clacking on the pavement until she was almost running.

  When she was well out of sight of Jason and the office, Andrea ducked into the laneway beside Antique Scout. She bent over, shoulders heaving and cried.

  “Tarnham!”

  Her head snapped up.

  “Andrea!”

  Jason Fiske came skidding around the corner. The laneway was a quiet patch in Mandrake Falls. Scout Rutherford had installed flower pots that were festooned with crocuses and daffodils and a bench.

  Andrea turned away when she saw him and sat down on it, her shoulders rounded as she broke down crying. When he saw the shape she was in, Jason was glad he came after her.

  “What are you doing here? Leave me alone, Fiske.”

  Jason sat down beside her. “I’m not going anywhere. You didn’t answer my question. Why did you run that fake engagement notice? I’m not here to give you a hard time. I want to help you. I’m here as your friend, not your editor.”

  She lifted her head and took the handkerchief he offered.

  “Only you would have a real handkerchief. Very classy, Fiske.” She blew her nose. “If you must know, I did it because Ryan McIntyre took Jocelyn to the wedding. I was jealous. That’s it. have a good laugh because that’s all there was to it. You don’t have to say anything. I already know what’s wrong with that picture. Me.” She stabbed her finger to her chest. “Right man, wrong girl.”

  Jason leaned back on the bench and exhaled loudly. “Holy hell, Tarnham, McIntyre isn’t good enough to shine your shoes!”

  She gazed at him in surprise. “What?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re perfect the way you are. In fact, I like the way you are.” He screwed up his courage. If a dweeb like Jeremy Marks could do it, so could he. “I like you, Tarnham. I like you a lot. McIntyre isn’t the man for you.”

  Jason felt red in the face. He couldn’t look at her. Andrea was staring at a pot of crocuses. His heart thudded.

  “He’s not? Who is then?”

  Jason swallowed. “Me. I’m the guy for you. I think we should go out on a date and see how we feel. What do you say, Tarnham?”

  Andrea Tarnham’s eyes widened. She was staring at the flowering soft purples and yellows but a slow smile stretched across her face. “Yes. I ... shit ... yes, okay Fiske. You’re one of my favorite people when you’re not being an ass.”

  A slant of spring sunshine fell across their faces.

  Jason Fiske decided to go for it. He leaned over and kissed Andrea Tarnham on the mouth.

  Chapter 16: Love Risen

  THE SPRING LIGHT, the robins and crocuses, the heady warmth rising up from the earth buoyed him on faster to her house. There was no greater feeling in the world than to love someone who loved you back.

  Jeremy charged up to Jocelyn’s sagging house, flung open the stubborn gate and raced up to the rotting front porch. He skidded to a stop at her front door. It was open. The spring air was warm and sweet, curling into the house. Jocelyn came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. Her hair was held back with a kerchief tied at the back of the head. Her lovely face was smooth and pale but her eyes were clear blue and her mouth was untroubled. She stopped in the hall at the sight of him.

  “Oh, hello,” she said.

  His heart wrenched in his chest. He had imagined this moment on the run over, that when he saw her, he would sweep her up in his arms and spin her about the room. No one told him that in moments like this a guy just stands there, overcome by how fragile his happiness is. Now that he was here, he had no idea what to say.

  Talking wasn’t going to fix this. He had to show her how he felt. Jeremy took three strides into the room and lifted Jocelyn up in his arms. “I’m sorry. I should have told you. I am so sorry.”

  She clung to his neck, her breath warm and soft against his skin. “I’ve been expecting you. What took you so long?”

  “I had to kill a reporter first.”

  “Andrea was just the messenger,” Jocelyn laughed softly. “Don’t be angry with her. If I had known, I would have treated you differently. It’s the truth and we both know it. When I had time to calm down, I could see that, actually, you kept your word by not telling me. The rich guys I knew used to brag about their family’s money to get me into bed. You could have done that but we agreed to be ourselves with each other and you aren’t the type of guy to brag. So I’m glad you didn’t tell me. The results of our experiment are pure. It helped make my decision easier.”

  Jeremy set her on her feet but he wouldn’t let her go. “What decision? You’re making me nervous. It feels like I’m too late, that maybe you don’t ... care for me anymore.”

  Jocelyn wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned against him. She seemed contented and instead of feeling relieved, Jeremy was beginning to freak out. Jocelyn was too calm—too peaceful.

&nbs
p; “What’s going on?” he said. His voice squeaked. “Are you letting me down easy?”

  She laughed and burrowed her face against his sweater vest. Jeremy was wearing his tan corduroy sport coat, thank god. His shirt was stained with sweat from racing over here. He prayed she wouldn’t notice.

  “I had a call from a lawyer representing the consortium. The paperwork has been drawn up but there was a condition she wanted to get my approval on before they proceeded. I was to forgo pursing a relationship with Jeremy Marks.”

  “What? When was this?”

  “About thirty minutes ago. The lawyer went all Pride and Prejudice on me. ‘You are forbidden to go out with Jeremy Marks.’ Claiming the connection would sully the Marks family name and negatively impact my business in the marketplace, or some such bullshit. The backers wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to do anything that would lose them their investment.”

  “I see.”

  Jeremy swallowed and pushed his glasses up on his nose. His father had found a way to make sure they would never be together. Kenneth had tossed out a few quiet threats and the investors rallied behind him. Jeremy squeezed Jocelyn to his chest and waited for the killing blow.

  “Well, I don’t,” she said, her voice muffled against his chest. “I told the lawyer the Tate name was all that mattered since it was the name on the advertising and the invoices and it was the name the customers trusted—not Marks. She wouldn’t budge. I had to give you up or the investment money.”

  “I think I know what happened.”

  “I think I do too. Your father is the mystery investor.”

  “Not exactly.” Jeremy’s breath came hard and fast. “My dad put together the prospectus at my request. I told him we weren’t seeing each other anymore and I wanted to make sure you were going to be okay. So I asked him to step up and he swore to me that he’d be hands-off. I’m calling him right now. I’ll get it through his head that we’re not going out together and he’s got to back off. You’ll get your investment, I promise.”