In the Market for Love

by Blake, Nina

  “I’m not talking about Connor’s heritage,” he said. “I’m talking about what’s best for him and I’ll tell you one last time. You’re not taking him to Italy so you can dump him with your relatives while you travel around on your own. He deserves better than that.”

  “How can you say that? I’m his mother. You think I would dump him. You don’t know me very well, do you?”

  “I know you all too well and I’ve seen it all before.”

  A bolt of anger shot through him as he recalled her previous threats to take their son Connor to live in Italy permanently. She had even bought one-way air tickets just to rile Jake and get what she wanted, though he hadn’t truly believed she wanted to live in Italy, so far from the Austin wealth.

  “Oh, of course.” Bianca spat out the words sarcastically. “You’re so very clever. You know it all. I’m the one who looks after him, all day, every day. I’m his mother, for crying out loud. I give that child everything. I don’t have any time for myself…”

  Jake stopped listening, refusing to be drawn into the same pointless argument they’d had so many times before. She acted like a martyr, forgetting that Connor was at school during the week and with him most evenings and on weekends. Then there was the nanny, housekeeper and gardener to help Bianca with her endless workload.

  He cut her short. “What do you want, Bianca? Another trip?”

  She was up to something and he could only guess what it was. Perhaps she really did want a holiday for herself. A business class airfare, new clothes for travelling, rental of a villa somewhere. It didn’t seem an unreasonable price to get her out of his hair. He didn’t care about the money.

  “Now there’s an idea,” she said. “It could do me some good. I’ve been feeling very run down lately. A holiday on my own. I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “Really?” He didn’t try to hide his sarcasm. “It hadn’t occurred to you?”

  “I don’t like your attitude, Jake. Don’t forget who I am. If we get divorced there’s no court in the country that’ll give you custody of Connor. I’m a full time caring mother and you’re a business man working long hours with no time for your son.”

  “You know it’s not like that.”

  “That’s how the courts will see it.”

  How had it come to this? When he married her she’d been a decent person and when Connor was first born, she’d been a good mother.

  “Why did you bring up custody anyway?” he said. “You’re always dredging the bottom of the barrel.”

  Then Bianca flew off the handle. “Well, stuff you! I’ll do what–”

  He hung up the telephone. There was no point talking to her if the conversation was going to degenerate to that level. He’d deal with her later. She was infuriating, calling him at work to discuss their son and her holiday plans when she knew he was pressed for time and concentrating on business. She could wait until evening.

  But he hadn’t been contemplating business when Bianca called.

  He’d been thinking about Rachel. He couldn’t get her off his mind. He went through the motions at work and appeared to be functioning as usual but beneath the surface, he was a seething molten mass of longing. She’d gotten under his skin in a way no woman had before. There was no denying it.

  Jake had worked hard over the last few weeks to remedy her initial bad impression of him. It hadn’t been easy. Even after a month of working with her, she was just as independent and spirited as the day they first met. They’d had several meetings and countless phone calls and she’d made sure all their interaction focussed on business.

  It was difficult to try to switch their relationship to a more personal level, but the time had come. He’d laid the foundations.

  Rachel had such vigour and drive. From the first minute he saw her, she exhilarated him with her verve, with that playful spark.

  He recalled it was that spark which had first attracted him to Bianca but she’d replaced that with a venomous bite so that now every interaction with her felt like a fist fight.

  Bianca was beautiful when they first met and when she’d fallen pregnant, he had to do the right thing by her and, more importantly, by his child.

  His son deserved a proper family and Jake was determined to give him that rather than have him suffer through a divorce as he had.

  That was the only reason he hadn’t divorced Bianca. He wanted his son’s life to be better than the one he’d had with a mother who was angry and slighted after her divorce and a father who was absent, busily building his fortune.

  The result was that Jake lived in limbo. Separated but not divorced, Bianca was still legally his wife and in fact they shared the same address. Jake and Connor lived in one wing of their house and Bianca in another so their son could feel they were still a family.

  Now he had a meeting with Rachel on the Skin Plus campaign. It brought a smile to his face. Time to steer their relationship in a different direction.

  He opened the file on his desk and flicked through the Omega Pharmaceuticals Prospectus. The staff photos at the back of the document caught his eye. Rachel Williams, marketing manager. The picture didn’t capture her spark and personality but even laser printed in black and white, she looked breathtaking.

  Jake reached into his top drawer for the scissors, carefully cut the picture out, tossed the prospectus away and slipped the picture into his wallet behind a photo of Connor.

  Reduced to the actions of a lovesick teenager. Jake shook his head. He didn’t care.

  He slipped a gunmetal wool jacket over his white cotton shirt and left his office to collect Marcus on his way to the boardroom.

  * * * *

  Rachel was admiring the stunning harbour views through the floor to ceiling windows of the agency boardroom when, at the far end of the room, Jake swung the oversized door open and ushered his colleague ahead of him.

  Marcus came bounding towards her. Over the weeks, she’d seen his flirtatious behaviour with Samantha and had come to accept his playful side without being judgemental. He may have been thirty-one years old but in many ways he was still a boy, looking for a good time.

  “Are you all on your lonesome back here?” Marcus’ voice sailed softly over Rachel’s shoulder.

  “I might be alone but I’m not lonely.”

  “You’re not alone any more. Aren’t you lucky?”

  She laughed. “I guess I am. You’re in a bright mood today.”

  “So bright I might just sweep you off those lovely feet of yours.”

  He placed one hand on her waist and the other in hers as he lifted her hand and spun her around with the grace of an experienced dancer. Her hair flew into the air.

  He leaned closer to her. “I used to be a ballroom dancer. I bet you didn’t know that. Let me know if you’d like me to teach you a little tango.”

  Unable to take his flirting seriously, Rachel laughed. “If I change my mind, I’ll let you know.”

  He brought Rachel’s hand to his mouth, gently kissing it in a gesture designed to appear chivalrous. She pulled her hand back. This was going a little too far.

  “If you two are ready,” Jake said, “perhaps we can get on with the meeting.”

  His terseness reminded her of his arrogance at their first meeting. She thought he’d mellowed since then and had all but forgotten his initial behaviour and now it was all coming back to her.

  After they settled into their seats, Marcus ran through some of the concepts he’d produced for the campaign but it seemed to Rachel that Jake was thwarting her every suggestion.

  “I think Marcus is right and the third concept is the best one,” she said.

  “And why do you think Marcus is right?” Jake asked.

  She went on to explain her thoughts and, backed up by Samantha’s professional opinion, she believed they had a sound argument.

  “We’ll need to arrange a small presentation for my boss to finalise the decision,” Rachel said. “But I definitely think the third concept is the stro
ngest.”

  “Obviously your CEO makes the final decision,” Jake said.

  She couldn’t work out why he was being so difficult. “Yes, that’s right. He makes the final decision based on the good judgement of his senior staff.”

  “Certainly.” His expression remained rigid as though he didn’t believe her.

  “We’re the clients,” she reminded him. “It’s our call.”

  “Well, we’ll see when we can fit in a presentation. It’s a busy time of year for us and we have to give priority to our paying clients.”

  Rachel was dumbstruck. She’d ride it out and wait politely until Jake’s mood and manner improved. She gathered her things and signalled to Samantha that the meeting was closed.

  * * *

  Jake’s eyes were glued to Rachel as she slid her bag over her shoulder and hastened out of the door. He couldn’t let her leave like this. He had to do something. He rushed to follow her, his head racing.

  When Marcus had twirled Rachel around and kissed her hand, Jake had seen a woman at ease with herself and pleased with Marcus’ company. He had cringed on the inside at their apparent familiarity with one another but now thought he’d read too much into it. Marcus’ attention was now very much taken with Samantha, as it had been on many previous occasions, and Rachel didn’t appear to be pursuing him.

  This hadn’t gone well. First there was Bianca’s unsettling phone call. He’d walked into their meeting in a tentative mood and then completely overreacted to Marcus’ prank.

  “I’ll get the door for you,” Jake said, though it was probably too little, too late. And that was surely what Rachel was thinking too.

  She cut across him to reach for the door release and pulled the door open before he could grab it. Clearly she didn’t want his help.

  He recalled her girlish beauty after their first meeting when she’d been unable to open the door. She had looked playful, her figure svelte, her face crossed with determination.

  And now, slipping through his grasp, she looked more beautiful than ever before.

  Had he left it too late?

  Chapter four

  Jake stood on the other side of the desk from the Omega Pharmaceuticals receptionist.

  “There’s a Jake Austin from Agency 66 here to see you,” she said to Rachel over the phone.

  The young woman’s eyes skimmed the length of his physique, then grew visibly larger. It didn’t faze him that she should look admiringly at him but he felt a pang of something resembling regret. He wished Rachel shared that same predatory instinct, wished she would look at him that way, consider him more than a business partner.

  It was time to change that, time to take her out of the boardroom and into a more intimate setting. It’d be difficult to explain his marital situation to her and the workplace clearly wasn’t the right location for such a private discussion. Tonight he planned to tell her all about his predicament. That was if she agreed to go out with him.

  Rachel walked into the room.

  “You’ve kept him a secret!” the receptionist said loudly enough for Jake to hear.

  Rachel greeted him and steered him away into the meeting room, very plain with ivory walls, camel coloured chairs and pale melamine table. The emphasis was on the functional unlike the agency offices which were designed to impress.

  As they stood beside the table, she met his gaze. “I’m surprised to see you here today.”

  “I hope it’s a pleasant surprise.”

  “You tell me.”

  “Aren’t you going to offer me a seat?” he asked.

  “You said this wouldn’t take long.”

  She wasn’t making this easy for him. He’d come here to apologise for his rude behaviour and make amends but Rachel wasn’t like other women. She wasn’t going to give an inch.

  She wore the same stylish pink jacket she’d worn the first time they met, though it had looked more business-like then with that tight little Lois Lane skirt. Today she seemed more feminine, wearing a dress in mottled shades of crimson and grey beneath the jacket. The dress’ scooped neckline betrayed a hint of creamy white cleavage and the skirt floated down across her shapely hips.

  He’d come her for a reason. To get Rachel. To have her for himself. And even the dull boardroom setting didn’t diminish his desire.

  “You must be very busy,” he said.

  “I’m sure you are too,” she replied.

  Did she want to get rid of him so quickly? Or was she afraid of something? Afraid of getting hurt? He’d always sensed there was something unusual in Rachel’s history, something hurtful lurking, perhaps a harsh break up, and he had to clear that up.

  “Rachel, I didn’t come here to talk about work,” he said. “I wanted to talk about you. You said you weren’t married. You’re single?”

  He waited for her answer. Surely she couldn’t have found someone in the last few weeks since they met. Although it would be a miracle if a woman like her were unattached.

  Why had he waited so long?

  * * *

  Single. That word seemed so simple that to Rachel it didn’t even begin to describe her situation or feelings. To be single implied being available yet Rachel hadn’t been available for years. She was asked out from time to time and occasionally she accepted but even then it was as though she wasn’t there. It had been years since she’d had a man in her life.

  Jake’s voice shook her from her thoughts. “Rachel?”

  She didn’t like to talk about the past but it wasn’t a secret. And Jake had asked.

  “I’m not married but I used to be,” she said. “My husband Nick passed away four years ago.”

  “Rachel, I…I had no idea.”

  “He died unexpectedly. Not that I think it would have been any easier if I’d known it was coming. It was a car crash. He was hit by a drunk driver. Head on. There was no hope for either of them, Nick or the other fellow. And it was quick. When I got the phone call from the hospital, they wouldn’t tell me what had happened straight away. They don’t tell people things like that over the phone but I think I knew before I got there.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  Jake put his hand on hers. She felt its warmth radiate across her skin.

  Except for business like handshakes, he hadn’t physically touched her since their first meeting and she was taken aback at the effect. His hand was strong and masculine and with that one simple touch he made her feel small and delicate.

  “That must have been terrible,” he said. “To have been happily married and lost that. I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you.”

  Rachel stiffened. She hadn’t said she’d been happily married but people always made that assumption. It’s true she thought she’d been happily married but after her husband died, she’d made a discovery which made her doubt all of that.

  Her marriage hadn’t been so perfect after all. But she never spoke about it. Not to anybody.

  “That was a long time ago,” she said. “And I have so many good things in my life. I have a good job, friends, you know, the usual.”

  She didn’t know what to make of the man. At nearly all of their meetings Jake had been charming and he certainly seemed to be propelling the Skin Plus campaign at great speed but at yesterday’s meeting he’d been demanding, undermining and hindering her at every turn.

  Was he arrogant or charming? Which was the real Jake?

  He had a way of turning her insides into a surging molten pyre over which she had no control. She could feel all thought and reason disappearing when she snapped herself out of it.

  All she had to do was keep this encounter brief and, most importantly, stick to business. That was largely why she’d refused to offer Jake a seat but that hadn’t prevented the conversation turning well away from the campaign.

  “You don’t have someone special at the moment?” Jake asked, his hand still on hers. The question sent a tingle up her spine.

  “No, I don’t.”

  His dee
p set eyes had always seemed dark and impenetrable but they seemed softer now as though they were beckoning her.

  Before, she’d only seen the business side of Jake but she was starting to see a complex man, an intricate personality made up of many facets.

  “Would you like to go out for a drink with me after work?” he asked.

  Her lips curled to a shy smile. She was a mature woman with no need for a serious relationship in her life yet now she felt like a school girl being asked out on her first date. Talk about ridiculous.

  He tilted his head. “Is something funny? Because this is a serious invitation, not a joke.”

  “Actually, I’m leaving work early today.”

  Her sister had an appointment and Rachel had promised she’d leave work early to collect her two nieces from school and baby sit them.

  “That’s okay,” Jake said. “I can pick you up from your place later. It won’t be a problem.”

  Not wishing to explain she’d be at her sister’s house in Balmain, Rachel diverted him. “No, I’d rather you didn’t pick me up. I have a couple of things to do this afternoon.”

  “Then I’ll meet you there. The Ebony Bar. At 6.30pm. It’s not far from here. You know where it is, don’t you?”

  “I know the place.”

  Although it wasn’t far from Rachel’s work, she’d never been there as she rarely went out in the evening, particularly to bars.

  “Great. I’ll see you at 6.30. And if you’re up to it we can grab some dinner afterwards.”

  At that moment, the receptionist stuck her head around the door to let Rachel know there was another call for her.

  Jake walked towards the door. “You go and take your call. I’ll see you later. I’m looking forward to it.”

  He left.

  Leaving her in a daze. She was going on a date with no idea what had happened or how it came to be.

  She hadn’t said she’d go on a date with him. The word ‘yes’ had not passed her lips. Had he tricked her?

  Now he’d gone, she wasn’t even able to reprimand him, tease him and tell him she hadn’t accepted.