“No. I was about eleven at the time. You must have been about fifteen. And I thought you were the handsomest boy I’d ever seen, my own personal knight in shining armor.”
“Girlish infatuation,” he said in earnest. “What do you think of me now that you’re a woman of the world?”
Eleanor smirked. “Now, I think you’re fishing for compliments.”
He laughed and she felt tremors along her spine. “You can’t blame a guy for trying.”
She sobered. “No, I guess I can’t.”
They ate in companionable silence. After they had placed their dessert order, Jake asked, “Do you miss her much?”
She knew he was talking about her mother. “All the time. You?”
“Not all the time, but a lot.”
They were silent again and in that silence a bond formed between them. They both hoped it would last.
***
Eleanor stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel, and ran to answer the ringing phone.
“Where have you been? I’ve been calling you all night.”
She put Megan on the speakerphone and dried herself with the towel. “Sorry about that.”
“Take me off that speakerphone. You know I hate it.”
Eleanor tied the towel around her chest, clicked the speaker button, and picked up the receiver. “Satisfied?”
“Now that’s more like it,” Megan continued. “Where were you?”
Eleanor had hoped to keep her meeting with Jake a secret, but now she realized that was merely wishful thinking. “I had a dinner meeting.”
“No, you didn’t. You went out with Jake, didn’t you?”
Damn. “We had a dinner meeting.”
“You can’t fool me. If it had been a simple dinner meeting, you would’ve told me. There was more to it than that.”
The accusation in Megan’s voice made Eleanor wonder why she’d agreed to help with Jake’s plan. “How are plans coming for Jake’s welcome party?” Though she’d back-peddled on this party from day one, she knew it was the only topic Megan would warm to quickly.
“I know you’re changing the subject, Eleanor, but fortunately, it’s a subject I want to talk about. Everything is on for this Saturday.”
“Has everyone been invited?” Eleanor asked, realizing that by the time of the party Jake’s visit to Lamar would be half over.
“Yes, yes.”
“Did you invite Carl?”
“Sure,” Megan answered, a little too quickly.
“Megan—”
“Do we have to invite him?”
“You know we have to invite him. He’s practically Jake’s best friend in this town.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll call him myself.”
“And be nice.”
“I’m always nice.”
“To most people, but not to Carl. Why is that, Megan?”
“All right, if you talk to me about Carl, I get to talk to you about Jake.”
Eleanor was silent. She had the sneaking suspicion Jake had set her up. “I told you nothing’s going on.”
“Yeah, right.”
***
Carl picked up the baseball bats and placed them in the rack stand. “So you went out with Eleanor last night. How was it?”
Jake leaned back on the bench. The little guys had all gone home from practice and he and Carl were cleaning up. Well, Carl was cleaning up while he watched. “It was a date.”
Carl sat next to him. “I thought you were interested in Megan.”
Jake shot him a sideways glance. “Would it bother you if I was?”
“Why should it bother me?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you’re interested in Megan.”
Carl shook his head. “Never. Megan is nothing but a tease. Always has been. Always will be.”
“I don’t think so, Carl. She’s a nice woman who likes to have fun. What’s wrong with that?”
“She’s not my kind of woman,” Carl said with finality.
Jake decided to take another tack. “What do you think about Eleanor?”
Carl snorted. “In her way, she’s as bad as Megan. You’re the first man that’s come along to shake her up a little.” Carl punched Jake in the shoulder. “Thanks, man. It’s good to see old Eleanor rattled.”
Carl’s words encouraged Jake, though he wasn’t sure how accurate they were. “I don’t know about all that.”
“Take my word for it. I’ve never seen Eleanor so taken off balance by a guy. Where Megan’s MO is to come on to everything in pants, Eleanor’s is to push ’em away before they get too close.” Carl laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“I used to think Eleanor was bossy by nature. Heaven knows, she bossed me around in those Before Megan days. But I figured out her bossiness is a tool she uses to keep people at a distance. The only people to get close are Megan and her father. Even knowing that, she still gets on my nerves.”
Jake smiled. “Don’t let ’em get to you so much, Carl. I think they like it. I bet Megan likes to set you off. Maybe if you pretended she didn’t bother you or if you came on to her the way she comes on to men, she wouldn’t bother you so much.”
Carl looked at Jake and shook his head. “I guess I didn’t tell you everything. Megan flirts with everybody. But me. Obviously, I’m not worth her energy.”
“That’s my point. Either you show her it doesn’t matter or you give her the treatment she gives all the other men.”
Carl seemed to think about Jake’s suggestion. “What would that get me?”
“You say you get satisfaction from seeing the way I keep Eleanor off kilter. Think how much satisfaction you’d get from seeing Megan off kilter.”
Carl got up and grabbed the ball basket. “I’ll think about it. Let’s go.”
Ten
Jake admired Eleanor’s firm hips and legs as she turned over on her back. It was time to execute step two of his plan.
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
Jake handed her a towel. “No, we have to do this.”
Eleanor took the towel and wrapped it around her chest. “We have to pretend to be a couple to help Carl and Megan? I don’t think so, Jake. This sounds like some cheap trick on your part.”
Jake threw up his hands. “If that’s the way you feel about it, we won’t do it. But I’m telling you, when Carl sees my success with you, it’ll encourage him with Megan.”
Eleanor eyed Jake suspiciously. “Explain to me again how this is going to help Megan and Carl.”
“Well, we can go out and invite them to go with us.”
“We could do that without being an item.”
Jake shook his head. “I don’t think so. Why would we be together so much?” He cleared his throat. “My reputation leads Carl to believe I’d have a romantic relationship with a woman, not a platonic one.”
“Your reputation?” Eleanor sighed. “Carl’s probably right.”
“And the way I figure it, if I’m not interested in somebody, your friend Megan is going to be putting the moves on me so hard she and Carl won’t have time to focus on each other.”
Eleanor knew he was right about that. Megan had already promised to take her sights off Jake if Eleanor was interested. “So, what’s our first step?”
Jake grinned. “You’re going to go along with it?”
She shrugged, knowing he had the upper hand. “What choice do I have?”
“That’s my girl. I figure our first event will be this ‘Welcome to Lamar’ party that you and Megan are planning. You can be my date.”
She held up her hand. “Wait a minute. Everybody doesn’t have to know about this ruse. Why can’t we keep it to Megan and Carl?”
Jake sat down on the chaise next to her. “You yourself said there are no secrets in Lamar. Plus, if everybody knows, we have more legitimacy.”
“Yes, and more people nosing in our business. You don’t know about small
-town romances, Jake. They become the fodder for local gossip.”
“Look at it this way. We may not be able to control what people say, but we can definitely control what’s printed in the paper.”
Eleanor totally missed his attempt at humor. “What about my father? What’s he going to think? Maybe we should tell him.”
Jake hadn’t thought about the fathers. He certainly didn’t want them getting any ideas. “Yes, that’s a good idea. Why don’t we tell Mathias tonight? How do you think he’ll respond?”
“He’ll think it’s a stupid idea, but he’ll go along with it because he likes Megan and Carl.”
Jake rubbed his hands together. “Well, then, it seems we have it all planned. Let’s go for another dip.” Jake dropped his towel and dived into the pool.
Eleanor watched as he swam the length of the pool in record time. Slowly, she dropped her towel, walked to the edge of the pool, and dived in. Why did she feel as though she’d dived into the biggest mess of her life?
***
“Hell, Mat, they aren’t supposed to be matchmaking. They’re supposed to be falling in love.”
Mathias leaned back in his chair. Their scheme seemed to be falling down around their heads every day. “Don’t tell me, I know. Now what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know, but leaving them to their own devices is not working. We have to do something.”
“We’ve already done something, Randy. We’re the ones who set this whole thing up. Maybe we’ve done enough.”
“And maybe we haven’t. I have an idea.”
Mathias rubbed his head. “Oh, no, not another one.”
“Come on, Mat. Work with me on this. I’m hosting a gala next Friday and I think Jake and Eleanor need to attend.”
“And how, pray tell, are we going to convince them to do that?”
“Tell them I’m interested in a progress report on their work on the merger. That should do it.”
“Won’t it seem strange that you’re inviting Eleanor?”
“No, I don’t think so. Tell her it’s a chance for her to meet me and some of the players in the New York office. If she’s as skeptical about this venture as she was in the beginning, she’ll jump at the chance.”
Mathias knew that part was right. Eleanor would consider it her duty to attend and to check out Randolph and his business. “Maybe I’ll come along, too.”
“Not this time, Mat. Make some excuse for not coming. Your Eleanor needs to do this one alone. Maybe being away from you and her familiar surroundings will push her and Jake closer.”
“I’m not too sure about that,” Mat said slowly. “Eleanor has this friend in New York. Some man who’s been in touch with her over the years. He even came to Lamar one time.”
“Damn. It could be a problem if she’s with another man instead of Jake.”
“Hey, what if you invited Carl and Megan along on this trip? Since Jake and Eleanor are pretending to be a couple for their sakes, they can’t very well spend all their time with other people.”
“You’re a genius, Mat. That should do it.”
“So what excuse will you use to get Megan and Carl to make the trip? Megan’s not exactly involved in the newspaper business.”
“Not me, Mat, you. You know both of them. Think of something. I’ll talk to you later.”
* * *
“Just pretend you’re in Victoria’s Secret,” Megan said, tugging on Eleanor’s arm to get her into Modern Woman, the trendy clothes shop for professional women.
Eleanor’s pulse raced as she entered the upscale shop. The mannequins in the conservative yet modern mini-skirted suits practically called out to her. It wasn’t that she didn’t like this kind of clothing. She did, but she didn’t think it was right for the office. She needed to project a strong, business image at work, and she didn’t think a mini-skirt provided that image.
Megan approached a mannequin dressed in a deep burgundy linen-silk blend suit near the front of the shop. “Now this is you.”
Eleanor reluctantly touched the fabric and closed her eyes. It felt so good to touch, sensual almost.
“See, I knew you would like it,” Megan said. “This is you.”
Eleanor opened her eyes, her hand still touching the fabric. “The fabric feels good, but I’m not sure about the skirt.”
Megan walked over to a rack and flipped through the suits. “Here’s one in your size. Try it on.”
“I don’t know, Megan,” Eleanor said, taking the suit in her hand. “I can’t wear this to work.”
“Sure you can,” Megan said, leading the way to the dressing room. “Women are doing it every day. Come on, Eleanor, this is the nineties. Women don’t have to dress like men or like schoolmarms to show their authority.”
Eleanor slipped into the dressing room and quickly removed her tan slacks but kept on her matching silk shirt.
“While you’re trying that on, I’ll look around for some other things you might like. Keep that on until I get back though,” Megan warned from outside the dressing room door. “I want to see you in it.”
Eleanor stepped into the skirt first, pulling it up over her silk panties, then positioning it at her waist. After she’d zipped and fastened the button, she evaluated herself in the mirror. She admitted her legs looked good in the short skirt, but when she thought about Maxine and the others in the office, she began to tug on it to see if it would go farther down her thighs. No such luck.
Megan knocked on the door as she slipped on the jacket. “Let me see,” she said.
Eleanor quickly fastened the double-breasted jacket and twisted the lock on the door. “Come on in.”
“Wow,” Megan said, her hands full of clothes. “You look great. We should have done this a long time ago.”
Eleanor tugged on the skirt again. “It looks good, but the skirt is way too short to wear to work.”
Megan hung the clothes on the hook next to the mirror, then swatted Eleanor’s hands. “Leave the skirt alone. That’s the way it’s supposed to fit. Nobody’s going to say anything except to ask why it took you so long to stop dressing like an old woman.”
Eleanor rolled her eyes. With friends like Megan, a girl didn’t need any enemies. She pointed to the clothes Megan had brought in. “I suppose you want me to try on all of those?”
Megan grinned. “This is only the beginning. We have all day.”
“Aggg . . .” Eleanor groaned, then reached for the white sheath that dipped low in front and back. “And where will I wear this?” she asked. “Surely you don’t think I can wear it to work?”
“No, silly,” Megan said, easing out of the dressing room. “You can wear it to Jake’s welcome party. I can’t wait to see his face when he sees you in it. You’ll knock him dead.”
Eleanor put the sheath back on the hook while she removed the suit, ignoring the frisson of pleasure that teased her belly at the thought of Jake’s response to her in the sexy white dress.
She studied the suit after she’d put it back on its hangers. Yes, she’d take it. Maybe she’d wear it on their trip to New York.
That settled, she turned her attention to the white sheath and she couldn’t stop the grin that spread across her face. She couldn’t wait for Jake to see her in it either.
***
Jake’s arm resting on her waist distracted her. She’d been so anxious to see his reaction to her new outfit that she hadn’t considered the effect Jake in a casual black suit and black shirt would have on her. “Nobody’s looking,” she whispered, glad for an excuse to put some distance between them. “You can drop your hand now.”
“But it feels so good.” He grinned down at her, squeezed the small of her back, then dropped his hand.
She stepped away from him, resisting the urge to tug on the short, form-fitting white sheath Megan had convinced her to buy. The man had a way of making her feel naked, which was odd since she was a woman who normally reveled in her nudi
ty. “How are you enjoying your party?”
His eyes caressed her body. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
She felt her skin warm to his words. Though she was sure this was a practiced assault, it didn’t lessen its effect. “I’m sure my father will be glad to know you’re having such a great time.” Eleanor’s eyes roamed the room and found her father trapped in discussion with Mel and Flo. A short space from him, Ms. Delaney and Maxine huddled together.
“How about you? Are you glad I’m having a good time?”
“So, so,” she said, distracted by the whispered argument that seemed to have developed between Maxine and Ms. Delaney. She wondered what that was about.
“You sure know how to crush a guy’s ego.”
She placed her hand on his arm. “That’s not it. It’s just that I don’t think Carl and Megan are paying us any attention.” She inclined her head in the direction of the dance floor where Megan, in a fire-engine-red cocktail dress, danced with Winifred’s brother, Wesley. “Megan’s having a great time. Without Carl.”
Jake moved a step closer to her. “It sure seems that way. Where’s Carl?”
Eleanor pointed to a corner near the punch bowl where Carl, in what could best be described as a basic black Sunday-go-to- meeting suit, stood conversing with Mrs. Thompson and Tempest Tanner. “I don’t think he cares about us or Megan.”
Jake massaged her bare shoulder, his hand burning the skin he touched. “Don’t worry so. I’m sure they’re very aware of each other. Why don’t we hit the dance floor? Maybe that’ll get their attention.”
She gave him a skeptical look, but allowed him to lead her to the dance floor Megan had made out of the Sanders living room. Megan had outdone herself with this party. The small tables surrounding the dance floor and the serving tables aligning the walls made the room seem almost like a nightclub. The banner proclaiming WELCOME TO LAMAR, JAKE across the mantel made it clear who the star of this event was.
As her luck would have it, a slow tune played as soon as they hit the dance floor. She looked up at Jake. “Did you plan this?”
He pulled her into his arms. “I’m lucky.”
Eleanor didn’t bother to comment. She rested her head on his chest and enjoyed the feel of his body against hers.
Between the Lines Page 10