Sparring Partners

by Leigh Morgan

  Henry didn't take the bait. He didn't seem to be enjoying her humor either.

  "You put that thing out there and I'll steal it."

  "I'll sink him in concrete first with an inscription that reads, Henry's Folly and today's date."

  "I'll run it down with Jordon's new minivan. Damned thing's gotta be good for something."

  "I'll make more. Dozens more. I'll sell them on E-bay. Ninety-nine dollars plus shipping and handling. I might even put him on my website as my new logo. Just think how many thousands of people will see him then. This could be really big for me. He's the best commercial piece I've made in years."

  Henry looked at her, a gamut of emotions flit across his face before angry befuddlement took hold. "You are an evil woman." He said, before walking to the door and closing it quietly behind him.

  Apparently he'd forgotten why he searched her out in the first place.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Reed slept like the dead.

  Weird dreams of dark caves inhabited by hairy eight-legged creatures with fangs, wearing ropes of glittering diamonds and too much perfume, stinky perfume, permeated her subconscious. She awoke to Jordon sitting on the edge of her bed trying to drape a cold cascading noose of necklace around her neck.

  Reed bolted upright and screamed.

  Henry came crashing through the door, hair sticking out at odd angles like he'd been pulling it. If Reed's heart wasn't pounding as painfully as it was, she would have smiled. Henry was always so well put together, elegant even, in a rough-and-tumble masculine type of way. If she had smiled, the menacing black gun in his hand, as he surveyed the room, would have wiped it from her face. Her heartbeat kicked into higher gear, visibly racking her chest.

  Jordon grabbed the necklace where it laid like a nest of sparkly snakes in her lap.

  "I knew this would get a reaction." He looked at her sardonically. "That wasn't the one I was hoping for." He looked at Henry. "It's all right, Henry. I now know the lady doesn't like diamonds."

  Henry said nothing, he simply slid the gun into his waistband at the back, nodded to Jordon, and left them alone, closing Reed's bedroom door behind him.

  Reed felt like she swallowed her tongue.

  Jordon brushed the hair out of her eyes with his free hand. Catching sight of his watch, Reed grabbed it. "It's two o'clock. I've been asleep ten hours. I'm not packed. I have to make Jesse's lunch. I have to shower, feed the dogs and Freya's supposed to go to the vet – when did you get home?"

  Jordon dropped the necklace on the bed, cupped her face in both hands, and kissed her. It was a sweet kiss, but it lasted long enough that Reed became painfully aware of the fact that she hadn't brushed her teeth in sixteen hours. She pulled away slowly and Jordon's hand dropped to her chest.

  "You're heart's beating out of control. Calm down, sweetheart. What were you dreaming about?"

  Reed closed her eyes. It was only a dream, but Finn had taught her, as had her mother, not to ignore omens, especially when they make no logical sense.

  "I don't like diamonds." Reed said, skirting his question.

  "I can see that. Finn warned me you might have a negative reaction. She didn't say anything about screaming."

  Jordon held up the Cartier necklace and Reed shrunk back. "Now I'm glad I only rented the damned thing. I'll be right back." He said, getting up from the bed, thankfully taking the necklace with him. It looked like a chandelier and Reed had no doubt it would feel just as heavy around her neck.

  Reed felt better, more at ease, the second Jordon left the room with the necklace. She'd never really thought about diamonds, one way or the other, except for thinking them pretty, in a general color-lacking-but-sparkly kind of way, until she learned Jordon bought them for his willowy ex-fiancé`, Giselle. That, and her dream of hairy people eating things draped in them, made her glad she didn't own any. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember her mother or Finn owning any either. Weird.

  By the time Jordon got back, there were no diamonds in sight, Reed's heartbeat returned to normal, and she could breathe again. Jordon closed the bedroom door and leaned against it, his hands behind him.

  "You're not going to scream again, are you? I don't think Henry could take it."

  "I guess that depends on what you have behind your back."

  "No diamonds. I promise."

  "As long as it doesn't have eight legs or slither, I won't scream."

  Jordon pulled out a gold chain and let it swing from his fingers. There was a small circular pendant attached to it. It sparkled as it caught the light streaming in through the bedroom window, radiating a rainbow of color and positive energy. Reed was intrigued.

  "Come here." Reed said, patting the bed next to her, where he sat earlier.

  Jordon pushed away from the door and moved slowly toward the bed. He seemed hesitant to approach too quickly.

  "I'm not going to scream again. I promise."

  "I'm a cautious man."

  She tilted her head to the side admiring the smooth grace of every shift of his hips as he came toward her. She wished he was naked. They hadn't made love in her bed in too long. Outside was nice, but she was sick of grass stains on her bottom.

  "Don't look at me like that. Not if you were serious about getting Freya to the vet before we go to the cottage."

  Jordon hesitated by the side of the bed, holding out his offering, but not sitting. Reed reached up and pulled the gold from his fingers. She stared at the pendant and its perfectly set rainbow of stones forming a peace sign. In the middle, where the lines connected, sat a beautifully carved tiny green frog with an even tinier red-gold butterfly on his nose. The stones were surrounded by channels of rich yellow gold that looked much deeper and more pure than the few pieces of eighteen carat gold she had in her small jewelry box.

  "Say something, Elf. You're killing me here."

  Reed looked up at him and he wiped tears she hadn't known she'd shed from her cheeks.

  "Do you like it? I had it made for you after the first time I saw you wear that ridiculous shirt." He said, nodding at the shirt she'd worn to bed that still smelled of him, with its giant rainbow striped frog, now faded with age and years of washing, flashing the peace sign.

  Jordon took it from her and bent to clasp it around her neck. "Tell me you like it."

  "It's perfect. Just like you."

  "I'll have Jesse take Freya to the vet." He said, climbing into bed with her.

  ...

  After making love twice, once in a hurry and once more slowly in the shower, Jordon presented Reed with matching rainbow sapphire earrings and bracelet, and insisted she wear the whole ensemble and nothing else for him. She offered to put on her hiking boots, but he didn't want to risk that display putting him over the top, and making all of them more than a little late for family dinner.

  All in all, it was a very pleasant way to spend a summer afternoon.

  As it turned out, it was merely the calm before storm Bennett.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  How is it with this love,

  I see your world and not you?

  Rumi ~ 11th Century

  She'd taken the road to Lake Geneva many times. It was old and familiar in a way that brought comfort from things known and non-threatening. That lasted until Henry turned onto Lake Drive.

  In many respects, Lake Geneva is like any other resort town, more for locals and weekend transplants than true tourists. The same people populated the same space routinely, and old money and family name pulled more weight than it should.

  Not that Reed knew anything about old money or influence. She frequented the shop with iron flying pigs and handmade fair-trade jewelry. Occasionally, she hit the wine shop or the Starbucks, depending on her mood. When she came with Jesse they ate at Popeye's and shopped at the store on main street featuring Life is Good apparel and Birkenstock shoes.

  They never mixed with the maritime crowd.

  A sense of foreboding rushed Reed's system li
ke a flash flood, overpowering the peacefulness of earlier in the afternoon, flushing it away, replacing it with a murkiness she couldn't see through instead of the post-coital clarity and sense of rightness she'd been floating in.

  All that, and they hadn't made it past the Wrigley mansion yet. Good gum. Two centuries of more money than a circus troupe of spendthrifts could dent.

  And so it went, second after second, mansion after mansion, Reed's anxiety grew. She felt it growing in the van the second they came up the hill into town. Silence and heaviness cracked the air with invisible lines of dry energy transmitting power.

  Henry slowed. Since he'd only been going about twenty miles per hour, the difference was painful. Reed wanted Scottie to beam them up already and cut through the proverbial crap of getting there.

  Scottie wasn't around.

  Henry lowered the driver's window and spoke into a black box. "Jordon Bennett" was all he said, and he hadn't even gotten to the last name before the ornately detailed black gates swung open. Reed didn't see surveillance cameras, but she knew they had to be there. Jordon had them installed around the perimeter of Potters Woods for her safety. Potters Woods didn't have any iron gates to keep people out. Is that truly what these were for, or were they there to keep people in?

  Reed's mouth dried at the thought. The sound of the gates locking behind the van as they inched slowly forward and down didn't help her swallow the dust in her throat. It reminded her of the first time she'd visited the Radkin Correctional Institution and had the prison's gates locked behind her.

  Reed looked through the back window. The road she traveled, albeit only a handful of times, Lake Drive, was high above them, rimming this borough of estates larger than many of the county's public schools and farther away than Reed could easily get to. She felt like she was falling and the only thing left to break her fall was the cold depths of the lake beyond.

  Jordon must have sensed her sudden panic because he reached back and wrapped his hand in hers. Leaning toward her he whispered, "Don't worry. You're not descending into hell. It just feels that way. I'll be right beside you."

  Only he wasn't beside her. He was in front. Unfortunately for them both, that wasn't about to change anytime soon.

  ...

  The feeling of descent into the first ring of hell washed away with the sheer opulence of the Bennett 'cottage'. She'd been too angry her first visit to absorb its magnificence..Reed's first thought upon viewing the two story stained glass entry, that an eighteen wheeler could easily drive through, was, wow.

  Her second thought was, holy shit what am I doing here?

  Her third thought as the doors swung open, seemingly of their own accord, she recognized from her few forays into the elite and viciously polite fund-raising world. Keep your eyes open, watch your back, don't have more than one glass of wine, polish your armor and watch out for stilettos in the back.

  Then she saw Lily's smiling face and some of her anxiety melted away. The armor, well that stayed in place. Reed was too old and too intuitive to jump too far too fast. She'd also been hurt before. The last time she was invited to house half this grand, she was sixteen and pregnant. She'd grown some balls, and learned to wield her own stiletto, since then. Fear, and the pain of betrayal, had of way of doing that to a girl.

  Lily's heart-melting smile was for her son, slow, sweet, and full, transforming her from a beautiful woman into an extraordinarily beautiful woman. Ageless and elegant, like Jacquelyn Smith, only with teeth showing and darker, richer hair.

  Her smile may have been for Jordon, but it was Reed she enveloped, in a wildflower-laced-with-musk-and-vanilla hug, so genuine feeling that Reed almost believed she could belong here as much as she belonged in Potters Woods. Almost. For a second, it was possible to envision herself as a true Bennett. Reed caught sight of William Bennett standing on the top step just outside the doorway and the vision eroded like it never existed.

  "I'm so happy to have you and the rest of Jordon's new family here, Reed. Thank you so much for accepting our invitation."

  Reed wondered briefly if 'our' referred to Lily and William, or if, like the queen, Lily was using the royal 'we' to mean her invitation. Not that it mattered. Reed already understood that what Lily wanted, Lily ultimately got, whether it was by smile, threat or tranq gun.

  "Did I have a choice?"

  Lily pulled back, but held firm to Reed's shoulders, a twinkle in her eyes and a mischievous smile lighting her face. "No, darling. You didn't. I want to keep you in my family too badly."

  Reed wanted to ask what she meant by that, but with grace and efficiency Lily pulled her into another quick hug, kissed her cheek, and was on her way to embrace her son before Reed got one word out. Her mother-in-law was tricky, slippery too. And if Reed's instincts were correct, she missed her son and meant every word about accepting Reed as one of her own, if only to have him close.

  A woman could do worse. Glancing over at Jesse, keeping his distance, busying himself by pulling out luggage from the back of the van, Reed wondered if she'd be as welcoming with her own daughter-in-law if the circumstances were reversed. Probably not. Reed moved Lily up a couple of notches on her imaginary respect meter.

  William Bennett? No, he was an unknown. Reed didn't know how to take him or what to expect from him this weekend. He was one of those rare people she couldn't read no matter how hard she searched for clues. When Reed was practicing law, and she caught one of them on a jury, she always struck them first, you just never knew what they were going to do.

  Reed made eye contact with William as he approached. Jesse must have sensed her unease, or maybe he felt it too, because he came and stood at her side, dropping both suitcases he carried. He didn't say anything, he just stood close beside her as he always did when he sensed trouble. William made Reed uncomfortable in a way she couldn't define. Maybe it was the way he seemed to know everything about her and she knew very little about him. Jordon diverted the conversation every time William's name was mentioned. That in and of itself wasn't a good sign, as far as Reed was concerned.

  William stopped a good foot away from Reed and held out his hand. Not quite the hug Lily gave, but his expression was welcoming enough, albeit a bit bland. Reed shook his hand firmly, making his lips slowly curl and his eyes dance in approval.

  "Welcome." One word, but it was enough.

  "Thank you."

  William turned to Jesse. "Mr. Mohr," he said, offering his hand to Jesse who took it and nodded with more confidence than most men twice his age, "nice to see you again, son."

  "Nice to see you, Sir. Thank you for inviting me."

  Reed's chest swelled with pride. Jesse was growing into a fine man, confident, strong and kind. She wasn't sure she had much to do with that, but she was grateful he was her son.

  "Call me William."

  "William." Jesse said respectfully, acknowledging the unspoken compliment he'd just been given.

  William stood back, bowed slightly and said, "If you two will excuse me, I have some business to discuss with Jordon before dinner."

  Reed looked over at Jordon who was walking toward them with his mother on his arm, still smiling, although the smile was smaller, more private now. She lifted her head from his shoulder as Jordon visibly stiffened at the sound of William's words.

  What is going on?

  "Is that necessary, William?" Lily asked. "They just got here."

  William said nothing, just looked at Jordon, who extricated himself from his mother as expertly as she got away from Reed. He kissed his mother's cheek, withdrew his arm, and was on his way toward William before Lily could protest further.

  "I'll have him back for cocktails, Lily. Why don't you get everyone settled." It was a statement, not a question. The smile slid slowly from Lily's face as she watched both men disappear into the cavernous monolith she called 'the cottage', both men's backs ramrod straight, a good foot of distance between them.

  Jordon didn't look back.

  He didn't look
at Reed, period.

  Here she was left to follow.

  Behind.

  Lily turned to look at the rest of her Potters Woods guests, a polite but now sad smile on her lovely face, standing just a little bit shorter than she had minutes ago. She swept one hand down then up toward the stairs.

  "Shall we go inside." Said the spider to the fly.

  Reed suddenly felt like the fly surrounded by very expensive, very sticky, fly paper.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  "I've invited Mr. Takahara and some other business associates to dinner." William said, crossing his mahogany and leather clad study to the globe where he kept his favorite scotch. William rarely drank. When he drank Macallan whisky, the subject was serious.

  "I thought tonight was supposed to be about family, not business?" Jordon did his best not to imbue his tone with anything more than curious neutrality. His heart was in his throat so he wasn't sure he'd succeeded.

  William handed him a perfectly poured dram of scotch in a leaded crystal tumbler hand cut in Ireland over a century ago. William liked old things. Tradition and age meant more to William deep down than the innovations he professed to want for the betterment of Bennett Holdings. Jordon suddenly felt like the sage green walls of William's massive study trimmed in deep hunter, burgundy and gold were closing in on him. He longed for the openness and freedom of Potters Woods. What the hell was he doing here?

  Getting your life back, idiot. Don't blow it.

  Jordon set the deep amber liquid aside, untouched, he had a long night ahead of him and he didn't need the fog of the highlands churning in his gut, he had quite enough acid there already.

  William ignored Jordon's question, choosing to continue with his own agenda, one which Jordon was beginning to fear this marriage plan had been all about to begin with. He didn't understand the twisted logic behind William's machinations, and then it hit him.