Her Good Fortune

by Marie Ferrarella

  The comment was enough to temporarily break the tension he was feeling. Jack laughed and took the watch off his wrist, handing it to her. Gloria slipped it into her purse.

  “When can I have it back?”

  “I’ll have it ready for you on your next visit.” She raised her eyes to his. “If you’ll just tell me when that’ll be.” Did that sound too much as if she was asking for a date? God, she hoped not.

  He hesitated, thinking of his schedule. Thinking, too, that he wanted some time to himself. Because all he could think about right now was making love with her again, which made him feel as uneasy as being faced with a sudden takeover.

  “I’ve got to fly out of town tomorrow.” He was due in New York for a quick meeting. Until just now, he’d planned on making a conference call. Now, taking a plane and going back to his home turf sounded like just what the doctor ordered. “How does next Tuesday at ten sound?”

  He’d be back before then, but he needed time to get things in perspective.

  Gloria pressed her lips together and nodded. Inside, she was banking down a volley of disappointment. She’d hoped that he’d say he would be by tomorrow.

  What a difference half an hour made, she thought. This morning she would have been relieved that he wasn’t going to be breathing down her neck. From that vantage point, next Tuesday would have seemed too soon. Now it felt like an eternity.

  Get hold of yourself before you fall off the deep end. This isn’t the first guy you’ve ever made love with.

  No, but it was the first one who’d caused fireworks to go off in her body and in her head.

  Gloria cleared her throat and tried to sound nonchalant. “What are you going to do for a watch until then?”

  Back home, he had several different watches, including a Rolex he rarely wore. Most of the time, he favored the one that was now in her possession, but he’d thought to pack another one. He believed in making plans for every contingency.

  He just needed to form one for what he was feeling now. “It’s not my only watch,” he told her.

  “Of course not. What was I thinking?”

  He couldn’t fathom the look on her face. Amused? Rueful? And why did understanding it make such a difference to him?

  Damn, but he needed to clear his head.

  “It is, however, my favorite. My father gave it to me when I graduated college. It belonged to my grandfather.” He couldn’t help the grin that curved his mouth. “I bet Grandpa never gave it a workout like that one.” Jack nodded toward the elevator.

  He liked the way her smile took command of her features, shyly slipping out as if to test the waters, then swiftly blooming over her face. It was like watching the sun rise and take possession of the land.

  It certainly took possession of him.

  The realization had him backpedaling so quickly, he found himself in danger of getting his foot caught in the spokes. This was happening too fast, throwing him off balance.

  It was time to retreat.

  Now.

  He cleared his throat, looking toward the stairwell the technician had taken. “Well, I was on my way to see my father before all this started,” he muttered.

  “So you said.” She didn’t relish taking the stairs with their stale air and their dim lighting. She relished the idea of getting on the elevator far less, no matter what the technician said about the restoration of power. She chose the lesser of two evils and headed toward the stairs.

  He was right behind her. She felt safe and threatened at the same time.

  She should have remained in the store, she told herself. But she couldn’t help the smile that was firmly entrenched on her lips.

  Just as he opened the stairwell door and motioned for her to go first, she stopped abruptly. “I, um, think you have something of mine.”

  He looked at her, a confused expression on his face. She wondered if he knew how adorable he looked. Probably not the word he would have liked applied to himself, she reasoned, and let the moment go.

  “What?” He wanted to know. Was she going to say something lofty, about her heart or something along those lines?

  He felt a defensiveness setting in, the kind that was meant to protect men from ever making any kind of commitment beyond which wine they favored with dinner.

  Instead of saying anything, she merely looked toward his pocket. It took him a second, then he remembered. Slipping his hand inside, his fingers came into contact with soft lace. As much as he tried to remove himself from the man he’d turned into just a few minutes ago, it wasn’t possible. Not when her lacy underwear was rubbing against his skin. Not when he remembered what she’d looked like, her body silhouetted in the auxiliary light, wearing the scrap of material.

  “Oh, right.” He took them out and looked them over for a second. There was next to nothing to them. Jack grinned. “Wouldn’t want you to catch cold, now,” he murmured.

  She took them from him and stuffed them into her purse. She planned to put them on the moment she could find a ladies’ room.

  They parted company on the twenty-ninth floor. She went to see Christina, he continued to the next floor to talk to his father.

  He could still feel the soft imprint of lace against his palm as he made his way to the thirtieth floor.

  The second she appeared in Christina’s office, Gloria found herself enveloped in her sister’s embrace.

  “Oh, thank God, thank God,” Christina cried. “You’re okay.”

  “I’m okay.” Gloria’s answer was muffled by her sister’s shoulder. “Or at least I will be if you let me up for air.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” Christina immediately released her. “It’s just that I—” She stopped abruptly, taking another look at her sister.

  Gloria was holding her coat over her arm. She’d stopped at the ladies’ room to reapply her makeup and slip her suit jacket back on, as well as her underwear. She’d felt pretty confident that she’d gotten herself back in order so that there was no evidence of how she and Jack had passed the time while waiting to be rescued.

  But beneath Christina’s scrutiny, she wasn’t nearly as confident as she had been walking out of the ladies’ room. She cleared her throat and tried to sound as innocent as possible as she asked, “What?”

  “You’re glowing,” Christina declared. She narrowed her eyes as if to make sure they weren’t playing tricks on her. “My God, you’re glowing.” She shut the door to her office so that no one else could overhear. There was more than a little disbelief as well as curiosity on her face.

  “I was half out of my mind when I realized that the power failure hit just as you were probably on your way up. That you were most likely stuck in the elevator. I tried to reach you on your cell and when mine said the signal wasn’t getting through, I just knew you were in one of the elevators. I felt so guilty and so bad for you.”

  “Guilty?”

  “Because you were coming to see me. But you’re glowing,” she repeated in awe.

  “Well, it was pretty awful,” Gloria said. At least in the beginning.

  Christina circled her slowly, taking in every angle. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest. “Then why aren’t you ghostly pale?” she challenged, sounding every bit like an interrogator.

  Gloria could feel her cheeks burning. But there was no way she was going to tell Christina what had happened. Not after the way she’d carried on about how they all had to swear off men for their lives to get back on track.

  She raised her chin slightly. “I just walked up five fights of stairs. That usually gets people flushed.”

  Christina read the body language. Despite the years they’d spent apart, she was still familiar with Gloria’s moves.

  “Flushed, yes,” she emphasized pointedly, “but not glowing.” She fixed her younger sister with a penetrating look that had edged out the relieved expression she’d been wearing only seconds ago. “Okay, give. What’s going on?”

  Gloria shifted slightly. Along with gaining sobriety, le
aving the shadowy world of alcohol had caused her to lose her ability to lie successfully. She gave it a shot anyway. “Maybe I’m outgrowing my claustrophobia.”

  Christina eyed her closely. “And maybe there’s another explanation.”

  “Like what?” she asked innocently.

  “Like a man. Were you alone in the elevator?”

  She was about to say no, but what if Jack told his father that he’d ridden up with her? She knew he wouldn’t give Patrick Fortune any explicit details, but still, that would place her in the middle of a lie. She decided to go with the truth, at least partially.

  “No, I wasn’t.”

  Like Sherlock Holmes discovering the all-important clue, Christina’s face lit up. “Aha.”

  “No ‘aha,’ Tina. I was in the elevator with Jack Fortune. You know what I think of him.”

  Christina was silent for a moment. “Do you remember reading Macbeth in college?”

  Gloria shook her head. She didn’t like the tone of Christina’s voice. Or where this conversation was heading. “Nope, sorry, except for my major, college was pretty much a blur.”

  “There’s a line in it about Lady Macbeth. Something about the lady protesting too much.”

  Gloria pretended that the line—and the insinuation—meant nothing to her. “I guess I’ll have to read it sometime.”

  “Yes,” Christina agreed. “You will.”

  “Let’s go to lunch,” Gloria urged, wanting to get her sister onto a different topic. “I’m starved.”

  Christina retrieved her purse out of a drawer. “Okay, let’s go catch an elevator.”

  Just that word brought back all the intimate details of her ride with Jack, and she felt herself blush.

  Gloria stared at her watch. It felt as if the minute hand was glued in place, only moving when she looked away. But it was moving. Moving beyond the time that Jack had told her he would be by.

  For their meeting. For his watch.

  It was Tuesday. Where was he? He was far too controlled to be late, and yet, here he was, late.

  Or not coming at all.

  She walked around the showroom, annoyance and confusion marking her every step. If he wasn’t coming, why hadn’t he called?

  Turning, she reached for the phone behind the counter, then dropped her hand. It wasn’t her place to call him. He’d been the one to arrange the time and the day. He was the one who wasn’t here. That meant it was up to him to call, not her.

  Frustration nibbled away at her as she continued to roam restlessly.

  Gone were the drop cloths, the telltale signs of a shop in transition. The glass displays were all in place, sparkling and ready, their virgin shelves waiting to make first contact with the unique pieces of jewelry she was going to display.

  The store was only a few days away from opening. Trying desperately not to dwell on the feelings that had been awakened in that dim elevator car, she’d pushed herself hard to get the shop ready. It had involved calling in favors from previous connections she’d made, pleading with carpet layers, glass cutters, a whole host of people she’d needed to get the place in order. All of her design equipment had been delivered late last night. The safe she’d had put in the day after her elevator encounter now housed the precious gems she had at her disposal.

  The security system had cost extra because she’d asked for it to be installed immediately. But the gems were safe. Everything here was state-of-the-art.

  She was exhausted, hardly getting five hours of sleep a night, but it was all worth it, every hour, every inconvenience. She was ready.

  Gloria looked at her watch again, muttering under her breath. Where was he?

  She’d wanted to show Jack everything, to prove to him that she was every bit as savvy a business person as he was. She wanted to impress him, she thought ruefully. Like some young teenage girl showing off for the guy who’d caught her attention. Who’d made her heart race.

  Gloria clenched her hands, digging her nails into her palms as she paced, her eyes never far from the glass doors. Waiting for a knock.

  Damn it, she was a grown woman, thoughts about impressing men didn’t belong in her head.

  They weren’t in her head, she thought, fighting off mounting despair, they were in her heart and that was the problem.

  She’d allowed him to get to her.

  What the hell was wrong with her? Didn’t she realize where things like that led? Nowhere. Not for her, at least. What did she expect, anyway? Violins? Undying love because they’d made love in an elevator? Even if they had connected, he was only here temporarily. Everything about him told her he was itching to get back home, back to New York.

  Home for her was here. She knew that now. They were from two different worlds. Just because she still believed in happy endings didn’t mean they were destined to come true. It just meant that she was still harboring illusions.

  No, delusions.

  She curbed the urge to throw Jack’s watch across the showroom, smashing it against the opposite wall. That would be childish and it wouldn’t change anything. Even though it probably would make her feel better for a couple of minutes.

  Squaring her shoulders, she returned the repaired watch to the box she’d kept it in.

  At that very moment Jack was sitting in an office clear across town, frowning at his reflection in the window.

  He knew he was supposed to be at the mall, with Gloria, but somehow he couldn’t make himself get up out of the chair. Hadn’t been able to get up for over an hour now.

  Okay, so he was a coward, Jack thought. But even Navy SEALs didn’t risk their lives until they knew the lay of the land and what they were getting into. And he had no idea what he was getting into, except that what he had felt in that elevator last week had really scared the hell out of him.

  What he’d felt for Gloria Mendoza was too much like the emotion he’d buried along with Ann all those years ago. He didn’t want to have those feelings again, didn’t want to get involved again.

  Besides, the woman was clearly a handful. He liked being in control and he hadn’t been, not that day. Not of the situation, not even of himself. It had felt as if all systems were go and he had no idea where it was that they were going. Only that he was hanging on for dear life.

  He stared at the phone on the desk. He should at least call, he told himself.

  His hand remained still.

  He didn’t like this side of him. He’d never fled from a fight in his life, but hell, fights he could handle with aplomb, it was the non-fighting part of this that had him stymied.

  There was no future in any of this, he insisted silently. The woman drank, just like Ann had. And, just like Ann, she might wind up killing herself. He couldn’t live through something like that. Not again.

  Besides, he was going back to New York in a couple of weeks. Sooner if he could convince his father that he wasn’t needed here any longer.

  Why the man had had him come out in the first place was still a mystery. After all, his father had seemed pretty certain of the woman’s business acumen. Had sung her praises whenever the opportunity arose.

  What the hell did his father need him for?

  There were a myriad of questions assaulting him and absolutely no answers.

  Chapter Thirteen

  G loria was across the room when the phone in the showroom finally rang.

  For the past hour she’d been attempting to convince herself that she didn’t care one way or another if Jack called. She’d pretended to be distracted with setting up several pieces of new equipment in the back office. But the second the phone rang, she’d raced to answer it, all the while wondering why he hadn’t tried to contact her on her cell. Was the battery running low?

  “Hello?” She covered the mouthpiece so Jack couldn’t hear her breathing hard.

  His deep voice resonated in her ear. “I’m not going to make the appointment.”

  There wasn’t a single note of apology in the statement, nothing. Gloria’s back wen
t up. She felt like an idiot, watching the clock and waiting for him. Once an idiot, always an idiot, a small voice taunted her.

  “I kind of figured that out on my own, seeing as how you said ten and it’s after twelve now.”

  “There’s a lot of traffic on the road.”

  Didn’t she even merit something a little more inventive than that excuse?

  “I suppose there would have to be, considering that there are several ways to get here.” She reined in her temper, but it wasn’t easy. Did he think she was a fool? “How long do you think the traffic is going to continue?” she asked sarcastically.

  There was a pause on the other end, as if he was thinking over her question. Or fabricating an answer. “Can’t really say. Why don’t we just cancel?”

  She felt something freeze in her heart. “Today or forever?”

  “What?”

  She couldn’t tell whether he hadn’t heard her or was annoyed with her question. Either way, she didn’t feel like repeating herself. “Never mind.” She stared at the box in front of her on the counter. “I’ve fixed your watch,” she reminded him.

  “Fine.” He sounded distracted, as if this was difficult for him. Did he have trouble lying to her because he cared or because he lacked creativity? “I’ll get back to you on that.”

  “Fine,” she echoed.

  But it wasn’t. It wasn’t fine at all. It was incredibly painful.

  He’d hung up and she found herself listening to a dial tone.

  Wanting to strangle him.

  The man was running, she thought. Running for his life.

  She dropped the receiver into the cradle. Boy, she could sure pick ’em, couldn’t she? Gloria shoved the watch away from her before she was tempted to drop it on the floor.

  When was she going to learn? She’d allowed herself to climb out on that limb again, the one that left her vulnerable and exposed, and for what? For a man who was obviously scared out of his mind by the idea of commitment. She wouldn’t have thought that of him, but there it was, he was trying to pull off a vanishing act.