“I’ve thought about it. I can’t think of anything more wonderful than being married to Rafe.” As she spoke, Greer realized that she didn’t have to concentrate to form her answer. Her feelings were pushing the words out. “Sure he’s gruff at times and maybe a little abrupt, but he’s kind and gentle, and the way he is around Bethany is incredible.”
She could feel sunshine filling her as she spoke about Rafe and thought of what married life with him would be like. It was just to make this more believable, she argued silently, nothing more. She thought of what he’d told her about his late friend’s aunt and uncle.
“Bethany really has no one to love her and Rafe’s so determined to be there for her.” Before she could think better of it, Greer added, “I wish there’d been someone like that for me when I was growing up.”
Moved, Megan stroked Greer’s hair. She knew what it meant to be motherless.
“I know, dear, I know. And I don’t want you to think our little talk here in any way means that I’m not welcoming you into the family with open arms, because I am.” Her throat was tight with emotion as she continued. “Since Rafe’s parents are both gone, that puts me at the head of his branch of the family as well, and on behalf of everyone, I’d like to say that it would be an honor to have you join us.” Holding back her own tears, Megan saw one slip down Greer’s cheek. “Oh, Greer, I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
Embarrassed, Greer waved away the other woman’s apology. “I just get sentimental at times,” she demurred, annoyed with herself for not having more self-control.
Especially since none of this was real. She wasn’t going to be part of their family, so why was she getting so emotional about it?
Maybe it was because she knew none of this was going to happen and she wanted it to, a small voice within her whispered.
“Is this a bad time?”
Startled, Greer turned to see Rafe standing where Megan had been just a few minutes earlier. Didn’t anyone have anything better to do than come here? Upset at being caught like this, she quickly wiped her eyes and pocketed the crumpled tissue.
“No, come in.” She rose to her feet, feeling less vulnerable that way. She saw that he was studying her face. “Allergies,” she mumbled, hoping he hadn’t been standing there long enough to hear anything that had passed between his aunt and her.
Rafe let her have her lie. He’d been standing in the doorway long enough to overhear the exchange between Greer and the woman he was beginning to accept as his aunt. Long enough to feel empathy and sympathy as he’d listened to Greer.
There’d been no abundance of warmth when he’d been growing up, but he had, for a time, connected with his mother and felt that she’d loved him, at least to the best of her limited ability. Not to have anyone, to feel that your mother hadn’t wanted you, it had to have been rough going for the woman, he decided. And yet Greer had turned out to be a good person. He supposed the fact still amazed him.
He held up the paper that had brought him here. “The court’s officially served me with papers. I’ve—we’ve,” he amended, looking pointedly at Greer and hoping that Megan hadn’t caught the slip, “got to make an appearance at the end of the month.”
“Of course.” Greer slanted a look toward her employer. “That is, if it’s all right if I take a few days’ leave.”
With three months until Christmas, there remained a long list of things to tend to. The reunion was still up in the air and there were still Rafe’s siblings to find. Neither had answered the invitations that had been sent out. Megan had already asked him about their respective whereabouts.
All he could tell her was that the last time he’d seen them was two years ago, at his parents’ funeral. They’d lost contact with one another after that. She knew as much as he did about their location. Probably more.
Megan rose to her feet. “Of course, of course. And if you feel you need the added support, I can join you,” she told her nephew. “Otherwise, I’ll just draft a letter to the judge on your behalf and send it with Hugh. My lawyer,” she added in case Rafe had forgotten. “I insist you use him. He can be very persuasive.” Both in the courtroom and out, she added mentally. “Don’t worry about the fee. I have him on a family retainer.”
Rafe nodded, though he was still uncomfortable about having to be even further in debt to her. Yet he knew there was no other way. He supposed he was still having difficulty adjusting to the fact that someone would put herself out for him for no other reason than that she wanted to. This was a far warmer world than he was accustomed to.
Still, expressing gratitude was difficult for him. “I would appreciate that.”
“Fine, it’s settled, then. I’ll go draft that letter.” She crossed to the doorway. “It will be nice doing something positive for a change instead of worrying about the next accident.”
Greer was immediately alert. Had she missed something? “Excuse me?”
Megan saw the expression on her assistant’s young face. “No need to trouble yourself, Greer. You have enough to handle. This really doesn’t fall within your jurisdiction, anyway.” She didn’t want Greer becoming concerned. It was enough that she and R.J. were. “This is more a matter of security. Either that, or a witch doctor,” she confided in a moment of weariness. “We’ve had a spate of some very bad luck in the last week or so.”
Interested, Rafe echoed, “Bad luck?”
Megan nodded. “We’ve had a fire break out in the basement. Fortunately one of the men saw it before it got out of hand. There’s also been a ruptured water pipe. The damage caused by that was more extensive, but it was in the unoccupied wing of the clinic.” That had led her to believe that both occurrences had somehow been orchestrated, although she had no idea to what end. Who would profit from the clinic’s misfortunes? “On the minor side, things have been disappearing from the construction site with a fair amount of regularity. R.J. is having security beefed up.” As president of the clinic, her son had already hired several extra people to patrol the area. “I really hope that discourages whoever’s behind this.” Although, if it was being orchestrated, she knew it would take more than just a few extra people patrolling the grounds to call a halt to the “accidents.”
Greer slanted a look toward Rafe. She couldn’t help wondering if perhaps his oldest sister was behind this somehow. There was some very bad blood between Janelle and the rest of the family. Charged with kidnapping and sent to prison to await trial, Janelle had managed to trick a guard and escape. No one knew where she was now. Was this her twisted way of exacting revenge on the Maitlands?
Greer could see by the way Rafe’s expression sobered as he listened to Megan that he was thinking the same thing she was.
“If R.J. needs any more people, I’d like to volunteer to help out on the construction site, maybe keep my eyes and ears open, see what there is to see.”
Stepping away from the doorway for a moment, Megan smiled at him gratefully. She knew she’d judged him correctly, despite Hugh’s words of caution. Hugh worried too much.
“I appreciate the offer, but this is supposed to be your vacation, Rafe.”
He’d just about had his fill of “vacationing.” “I don’t sit on my…backside—” about to say butt, he amended the word in deference to his aunt “—too well. He—ck, I’d welcome the chance to do something useful instead of just twiddling my thumbs.”
Delighted, Megan laughed. “You don’t have to keep censoring yourself on my account, Rafe. I’ve been around working men all my life and have heard just about everything.” But she did like the fact that he made an effort to curb his language. A man who would do that was a man who knew how to treat a lady. “And I’m sure that R.J. would be grateful for the added eyes and ears. Nothing like having family involved.” She winked. “I’ll get that letter ready right away.”
And with that promise, Megan withdrew.
“That was very nice of you to make the offer,” Greer commented.
She was annoyed with herself f
or being so wrapped up in her own situation that she hadn’t been aware of the accidents—not that she believed for a minute that they were accidents, not from the sound of it and certainly not in such abundance.
Besides, she didn’t believe in luck. For the most part, people created their own luck, and she firmly believed that someone was actively creating this so-called spate of bad luck for the Maitlands.
But why?
Rafe shrugged away the compliment. “If I don’t start doing something soon, I’m going to go stir-crazy.” Glancing over his shoulder, he stopped talking. People were passing by in the hallway. He didn’t want anyone overhearing. He crossed to the door and closed it, then returned to Greer. “Are you still all right with this?” he asked, indicating the summons he’d brought.
She took it from him and perused it quickly, then refolded it and handed it back to him. This was nothing new.
“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?”
He’d been giving the matter serious thought and was beginning to have second thoughts about the charade, especially with Megan offering to lend her support as well as her lawyer. Things might not go as well as he hoped they would if Greer had to testify.
“A woman of your moral fiber might choke at lying to a judge.”
Greer looked down at the engagement ring he’d given her. It hadn’t been off her finger since he had slipped it on.
“What lying?” she asked. “This is an engagement ring and you gave it to me.” She raised her eyes to his, a touch of humor entering. “That’s usually the definition of engagement, isn’t it?”
For the first time since he’d entered the room, Rafe smiled. Watching his mouth curve caused tidal waves to begin in her stomach, but she refrained from pressing her hand there in what she knew he’d probably view as an adolescent fashion.
But whether she pressed her hand there or not, the reaction continued.
As if reading her mind, he widened his smile. “You are a constant source of surprise to me, Greer.”
This was the first time she had heard Rafe say her name without the usual note of amusement attached to it. “Why?”
He crossed his arms before him, his eyes slowly traveling the length of her body. She felt herself growing warmer by the moment. “Because to look at you, I’d say you were a straight arrow.”
She took a chance and guessed that this was a compliment in his book. “I am.”
But he shook his head in response. “Straight arrows don’t know how to bend something so that it sounds like the truth when it isn’t.”
She was acutely aware that it wasn’t the truth—and that she was beginning to seriously want it to be.
A myriad of memories crowded her mind. Greer banked them all down. This wasn’t the time.
“Maybe straight arrows have to learn how to bend things in order to survive,” she countered.
There was something in her eyes, a sadness just then that spoke to him. Moved him so that, just for a second, he felt as if they were kindred spirits. Lies of necessity had been part of his life, as well, and he knew all too well what it was like not to want to lie, but to have no choice. After a while, it had become second nature to him.
Had it ever become second nature to her? Somehow, he doubted it. As he’d gotten to know her a little better, he realized there was a kind of nobility about her that would have prohibited her from sinking to that level.
“I know what you mean,” he murmured, splaying his fingers along the side of her throat as he tilted her face up to his.
He found himself caught up in her eyes. Again. Warm brown eyes the color of deep, rich milk chocolate. He was suddenly wrestling with a craving for chocolate.
Before he could think to stop himself, Rafe touched his lips to hers. He felt her breath as she drew it in, felt her yielding as he allowed the kiss to linger on her lips. He had to hold himself in check to keep from getting carried away. It was becoming a definite possibility, he knew, and this wasn’t the place for it.
Besides, he didn’t want her to think he was taking advantage of the situation, even though he felt he was—and wanted to take further advantage of it because there was something about Greer that stirred him despite the fact that he had been with women who were far more glamorous.
He couldn’t put his finger on what it was about Greer that momentarily separated him from his thoughts, his plans, and set him on a different path than the one he wanted to travel. He figured there was no point in trying to puzzle it out. After all, she wouldn’t be part of his life that much longer. Just until after the holidays. Better just to enjoy it and to move on.
Eventually.
Chapter 10
At first Greer thought the noise was just the thudding of her heart as it slammed against her rib cage. Either that, or the rushing in her ears had gone up another notch and now seemed to be rattling everything around her, as well. Certainly it felt as if everything within her had shaken loose in the wake of the emotional earthquake she was experiencing.
Every time Rafe kissed her, she became more aware that there was a huge part of life she had been missing all these years. And it made her yearn to find a way somehow to claim it, if just for a little while. She’d never been intimate with a man, had never even wanted to be. There’d never been anyone in her life to arouse her passions, to make her want to take that risk. To invest her heart.
Sure, there’d been fantasies, but they were only that. Fantasies. And fantasies were by definition safe. She risked nothing.
But Rafe Maitland wasn’t a fantasy. He was flesh and blood and very real. And she wanted him. Wanted him in the worst way. Wanted him to want her.
Wanted him to make love with her.
The noise came again and, slowly, Greer realized that the noise was real and not just a by-product of her body coming undone.
“Someone’s knocking,” she murmured, vaguely surprised that her lips still worked and could form intelligible words. They felt swollen from the pressure of his. Swollen had never felt so wonderful.
Rafe nodded, then as an afterthought released her, experiencing more than a shade of regret. He still wasn’t sure just what it was that was going on here. Lord knew he’d kissed and been kissed by more than his share of women. Sexy women. Women who had been around and who knew the score. This almost completely clueless woman who’d lassoed his fancy was a virgin, he’d stake his life on it.
Maybe that was it, maybe he just wanted to be the first one. Rafe dismissed the thought the moment it occurred to him. Gathering trophies had never even remotely been his hang-up. He didn’t believe in it, didn’t see any reason to have something just to have it.
There was something else at play here. And not knowing what was beginning to eat at him.
“Right,” he muttered, annoyed that he was so out of sync. Stepping back from her, he shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling oddly disembodied and trying hard not to look it. He nodded at the door. “Aren’t you going to say ‘come in’?”
Of course that’s what she should be saying. Rafe had completely disoriented her. Again. It was beginning to happen with a fair amount of regularity. She was going to have to do something about that.
Greer more than half expected him to look amused, but Rafe appeared almost as bewitched, as bothered and bewildered as she felt.
Had to be her eyes, she decided. She was seeing things. A man like Rafe Maitland didn’t get rattled, he rattled. And he had rattled her but good.
Greer ran her tongue along her lower lip before she said, “Come in?”
She upbraided herself for the uncertain way that had come out, but right now she wasn’t even sure of her own name. The only thing she was sure of was that she loved this sensation racing through her and wished with all her heart that it could be allowed to continue.
But she better than anyone knew that was utterly impossible. Men like Rafe didn’t fall for women like her. They didn’t even stumble.
A petite, vibrant-looking blonde popped her head in as she ope
ned the door to Greer’s office. As bright as the burst of sunshine that Greer was even now still experiencing within her, the woman flashed a wide, knowing smile at both of them. Waltzing in, she left the door open, as if planning on a quick escape if things became too messy.
“Ah, just the two people I wanted to see. Rafe Maitland and Greer Lawford, right?” Her expression indicated that she wasn’t really searching for confirmation. She already knew who they were.
“Right,” Greer answered guardedly, gathering her bearings as she watched the other woman’s face. She had absolutely no idea who this woman was or why she had come into her office looking for both of them. Other than the pseudo-engagement, there was no link between her and Rafe.
The engagement.
Oh, God, this wasn’t someone from the society page, was it, she worried, here to do a story on another Maitland marriage in the works? The media was always hungry for any kind of news, good or bad, Greer thought uneasily. What if this woman was a reporter, here to ferret out a story about the wedding?
Rafe looked at the intruder suspiciously. Because he’d been addressed as well, he figured that gave him a right to a piece of the conversation. “We know who we are, the question here is, who are you?”
“Blossom Woodward.” Blossom stuck her hand out. She shook first Rafe’s hand, then Greer’s. “So, does the happy couple intend to invite the rest of the family to the nuptials?”
She’d been right, Greer thought with dismay, this was a reporter. The woman’s smile grew just a shade deeper and more eager. She made Greer think of a puppy on the scent of a treat.
Blossom turned her eyes and her charm on Rafe. “Like big brother, Luke, perhaps?”
Rafe’s eyes narrowed, growing darker than thunder. “Who the hell are you?” he demanded.
Instantly, Greer went into damage control mode and moved forward. Rafe looked as if he was going to erupt right there in the office. The last thing she wanted was for him to come off badly in front of a reporter. The media could be exceptionally cruel and she didn’t want the kind of repercussions that could arise, not for Rafe or for Mrs. Maitland.
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