by Susan Meier
“My dad said he was turning over the business to me.”
Theresa caught her gaze. “So why didn’t you tell him not to?”
Rayne closed her eyes. Why hadn’t she?
Alvin chuckled. “So who is he?”
“Jericho Capriotti.”
“Oh, the new chief of police,” Theresa crooned. “I hear he’s cute.”
“He’s very cute,” Rayne said with a laugh. “And out of my league.”
“Nobody’s ever out of your league, kid,” Alvin said, pointing his fork at her.
Theresa said, “He’s right, Rayne. If you like this guy and he likes you, you need to make a move.”
Alvin shook his head. “That’s not the way to go about it. No man wants a woman he thinks is too available. You’ve got to somehow make yourself irresistible while making him think you’re off limits.”
As if it were that simple. Rayne just barely kept herself from rolling her eyes heavenward. “Right.”
“It’s like this,” Alvin said, gesturing with his fork. “You’ve got to ignore him for a time, then be somewhere like a party together.”
“His brother’s wedding is coming up. February 14.”
“That’s good. It will give you a chance to dress really pretty,” Theresa said.
Rayne shook her head. “I left out something important in this story. The day after my dad called, Jericho walked me to work. He was fishing for information about the phone call but I didn’t want to tell him my dad wasn’t coming home.” She wasn’t exactly sorry that she hadn’t poured out her troubles to Jericho. That was the only way to preserve at least a little of her dignity. But now that she had worked through the emotions of her dad not coming home, she realized what she had said that day and how she had behaved might have been a bit extreme.
“Ever since Jericho returned to Calhoun Corners my life has been a mess. I didn’t want any more of Jericho’s pity, so I didn’t tell him about my dad and the way the conversation ended it looked like I was giving him the brush-off.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Alvin said. “In fact it might actually make you more interesting that you sort of gave him the boot.”
Rayne laughed at his typical optimism, but Alvin continued. “Now what you have to do is go to his brother’s wedding dressed like a knockout, then flirt with everybody else at the wedding but him.”
Rayne gaped at him. “Isn’t that counterproductive?”
“Nope. Make him think you’re the girl every man wants and he’ll want you, too.”
Rayne grimaced. She wished she had enough courage or confidence to flit around the wedding reception making Jericho jealous. “Sorry, but I can’t do that.”
“Of course you can,” Theresa said at the same time that Alvin said, “We’ve got almost a month of Saturday night dinners to talk you into it. You think you screwed things up, but you actually set the stage by looking disinterested. Now he needs a little push. But you don’t push by flirting with him, you make him come to you and he will.”
Rayne took a breath. She had to admit Alvin’s idea sounded like something she might have done in Baltimore, back when she had confidence. And she was tired of being a loser. Maybe it was time to take a positive step? To do something productive.
“Besides,” Alvin said, suddenly serious. “It’s better to look ahead than backward. You can’t forget your dad. But he’s your past. This Jericho guy, he sounds like your future. Smart people forget the past and go after their future.”
Rayne had no trouble ignoring Jericho for the next few weeks. Busy with the place mats, bringing back one of her salespeople and writing each week’s edition of the paper, she didn’t have time to seek him out. As Rick’s best man, Jericho appeared to be equally occupied.
The Saturday afternoon of Rick and Ashley’s Valentine’s Day wedding, as Rayne stood in front of her closet, looking at her choices for wedding attire, she stumbled upon the red dress. The one she guessed Jericho must have seen her wearing at the party in Baltimore.
She pulled it out. She wasn’t entirely sure why it was such a showstopper to men. It wasn’t low cut. It also wasn’t all that short. Only an inch or two above the knee. She slipped into it and studied herself in the mirror. The simple sheath flowed over her curves and, without being overt, accented her tiny waist. Stopping an inch or two above the knee it also hinted that she had good legs. Other than those two things, though, a guy was on his own. The dress was so simple men had to use their imaginations to find it sexy. Still, if Alvin was right, men liked that.
Satisfied with her choice of dress, she applied makeup, then removed the electric rollers she had put in her hair and carefully brushed the long locks so the curls would be loose and disorganized.
Though it was cold, the snow had melted and the sidewalks were clear, so Rayne put on her highest red heels, grabbed her red-sequined clutch bag and slid into her black wool coat.
She walked to the church and sat quietly in one of the back pews as the happy couple exchanged their vows. Wearing a strapless white gown with elaborate beading, Ashley was stunning. With his black hair and piercing blue eyes, Rick was his usual handsome self in his black tux. But Jericho looked amazing. He didn’t have Rick’s playboy good looks. Instead he had the intense, mature appearance of a man of purpose and power.
Right then and there Rayne realized her friends the Davises were correct. He was the man for her. Not because he was handsome, though he was. Not because he was sexy, though he was sexy in spades. But because he was mature. Serious. He was a man of purpose and power, and though her crush might have been what had initially drawn her to him, it was his integrity that kept her from being able to forget him.
In the quiet church, Rayne realized she might have lost her illusions about changing the world, but today, she suddenly saw that maintaining the peaceful environment in a town where a family could raise children was a trust not to be ignored. In a sense, as the owner of the newspaper and the chief of police, she and Jericho had been called to assure this town stayed as it was for the next generation. They were partners of a sort. That was why they understood each other.
After congratulating the bride and groom on the church steps, Rayne skillfully sidestepped greeting Jericho who had turned to speak with another of the groomsmen. She didn’t want him to see her in her simple black wool coat. She wanted him to see her when she walked into the country club ballroom, without a coat, surefooted on floor rather than potentially icy church steps. She wanted her hair to be perfect. Her makeup without flaw.
She wanted him to feel what she always felt when he walked into the room, and if it took a sort of entrance to accomplish that, then so be it.
At the country club she met Bert in the parking lot, Elaine and Ron in the coatroom, Mrs. Gregory in the reception line, and all of the giggling high school cheerleaders in the rest room and realized that she wasn’t going to walk into the ballroom alone. The lights wouldn’t dim on her arrival. No spotlight would hit her. The band wouldn’t strike up a tune.
This was Calhoun Corners.
She sat at a table for eight with Elaine and Ron, Janie Alberter, owner of the dress shop, Pete Forwalt, her rehired salesperson, and his wife, Millie and a couple who introduced themselves as the Maitlands, friends of Gene Meljac from New York city. Millie mentioned that she loved Rayne’s hair. Elaine told her red was a good color for her, but otherwise nobody fussed over her appearance.
They ate dinner chatting about the happy couple, the happy parents of both the bride and groom, and the general state of the economy, and while everybody was finishing dessert Rayne glanced down at her dress. It didn’t have a low neck. It wasn’t short. Or tight. Or really anything special and she shook her head.
She was insane. Not only had she dressed for a man who appeared quite capable of ignoring her, but also she had to wonder about the memory of the man in question since her dress hadn’t as much as gotten one compliment. Yet it had driven him to fantasies.
The band began to p
lay. Rick and Ashley danced the first dance. Ashley danced the second dance with her father. Then Ashley announced her dad’s engagement from the bandstand and that the next dance was for him and his fiancée, a pretty thirty-something brunette. The band then played a slow tune and Elaine and Ron and Pete and Millie joined Ben and Elizabeth Capriotti on the dance floor.
Sighing, Rayne made her way to the bar. Because she was driving she could only have one drink and she decided she needed it now. She walked up to the white leather bar, told the tuxedo-clad bartender she wanted a whiskey sour and studied the array of liquor bottles that lined the back wall.
“I like your dress.”
Since there was apparently only one person on the entire planet who liked her dress, Rayne knew it had to be Jericho beside her. Wanting to pop him for steering her wrong, she turned to tell him he was the only one who liked her dress, but when she saw him her breath caught.
Leaning against the white leather, with a crooked sexy smile and his brown hair casually brushing his forehead, he looked about as good as a man could look. And everything Rayne wanted to say flew out of her head. The only thing that came out of her mouth was, “This old thing.”
“I have some very good memories involving that old thing.”
Rayne sighed and took the drink the bartender handed her. “You’re the only one. Look,” she said, holding out her leg. “It falls almost to my knee.” She yanked at the round neck. “I’m not showing cleavage.” She pivoted. “And there’s a full back. What the devil did you find attractive?”
“Maybe I’m just a guy who likes to unwrap the package.”
Rayne’s heart skittered to a stop. He was flirting with her! Alvin was right. Even if Jericho had thought she’d given him the brush-off the day after her father called, he still liked her. She hadn’t ruined everything.
“Want to dance?”
“Yes,” she whispered, but her feet didn’t move.
Jericho chuckled, took her drink from her hand, set it on the bar and led her to the dance floor. He pulled her to him and as if in slow motion she felt every inch as their bodies came into contact. He nestled her closer, resting his chin against her temple and Rayne’s breathing stuttered.
“I’m glad you came.”
“Huh?”
He pulled away and smiled down at her. “I’m glad you came. You’ve been sort of a hermit for the past few weeks.”
She stared at him, studying his eyes, finally comprehending that he really was paying attention to her. Not only that, but he liked her. She could see a sort of amused affection in the depths of his pretty green eyes.
Boy, she owed Alvin big time for his advice.
She swallowed. “I needed some time to get adjusted to everything my dad told me.”
“Yeah. So I hear you’re a business owner now?”
She liked the fact that he hadn’t come right out and confronted her about her dad not coming home. Saying she was a business owner was a much more positive way to admit he’d heard the gossip and he understood. Plus, the truth of her new status sort of swirled through her as they waltzed around the circular dance floor of the country club. She wasn’t an abandoned daughter. She was a business owner. And the business wasn’t failing as it had been while her dad ran it. And she felt a sacred trust to the town. She wasn’t downtrodden or burdened. She was okay. No, she was more than okay. She was a successful business owner.
She suddenly wondered if it wasn’t her dad’s lack of passion for the little paper and the town itself that had prevented him from seeing the opportunities, then decided she didn’t care. Whatever her father had done or hadn’t was the past. She was moving on. And she was doing it well.
She stood a little taller. “More important to you, I’m a citizen of your town. You better watch your step around me, buddy, because I won’t hesitate to complain to the mayor.”
Jericho laughed. “I think this dress makes you funny.”
“No, I’ve always been funny.” She had been. In Baltimore, making people laugh was her claim to fame. “You just came home when I was going through a life crisis. I like to laugh. I like to joke. And I don’t like this dress. I think you’re the only one who does.”
He tightened his hold on her. “Good.”
Rayne shifted back so she could look at him. “Have you been drinking?”
“No,” he said, then he lowered his voice. “I just spent two weeks thinking about you. Missing you. Tonight I realized that if I don’t do something about that soon, some other guy will.”
Rayne glanced around looking for either a wicked stepmother, fairy godmother or a big clock about to strike midnight. Alvin’s advice might have had merit, but all of this was absolutely too good to be true.
The music ended, and though they parted to applaud the band, Jericho immediately took her hand again when they stopped clapping. He led her off the floor and over to his parents, who were standing on the edge of the dance floor watching Rick’s one-year-old daughter Ruthie.
“Good evening, Rayne,” Elizabeth said, then hugged her. “Thank you for coming.”
“Thank you for inviting me,” Rayne said as Ben reached around his granddaughter and extended his hand to shake hers.
“I understand you’re the town’s newest member of the chamber of commerce.”
Rayne nodded.
“Her dad gave her the business,” Jericho supplied before Rayne could.
Ben murmured his approval, but Ruthie squirmed in his arms. “Hey, little girl. You be nice or Pap won’t dance with you.”
“Why don’t you let me take her?” Jericho said, reaching for her. “Rayne and I will show her the cake.”
At that point, Rayne surreptitiously pinched herself. The pain she felt confirmed that she wasn’t dreaming. Ruthie wrapped herself around Jericho and he kissed her temple.
Rayne smiled. “You’re very good with her.”
“I adore her. Mom baby-sits her and Tia and Drew’s little girl a lot, and they’re spoiling me.”
“Don’t you mean you’re spoiling them?”
“No,” he said, catching her gaze over Ruthie’s little head. “They’re spoiling me. There’s nothing like the unconditional love of a child and I’m beginning to realize that I wasted a lot of years not knowing what I was missing.”
Held in his mesmerizing gaze, Rayne’s entire body quivered. He wanted kids. He wanted to settle down. He was choosing her.
Chapter Ten
They remained together for most of the wedding, until best-man duties took Jericho away. Knowing he would be tied up for the rest of the evening with those things, Rayne stayed until the last song played by the band, then quietly drove home.
Making herself a cup of cocoa before she would go upstairs, change out of her dress and slide into bed, she thought she couldn’t be any happier until she heard a knock at her door. She opened it and there stood Jericho. His tie loosened, leaning against her door frame.
“Want some company?”
Lord. He looked about as good as any man could look, but that wasn’t what spiked Rayne’s blood pressure. The hour was late, which meant this was the kind of special visit a man only paid to a woman he wanted to sleep with.
She swallowed. Though she knew she wouldn’t turn him away, she couldn’t deny being nervous and afraid. She adored this man. He was coming to realize he liked her, too. If she turned him away out of fear, she could lose him. If she didn’t do everything right, she could lose him.
If she were perfect, making love with him would solidify their relationship. Since she wasn’t, it was a roll of the dice. A big risk. One she had no choice but to take.
She stepped away from the door. “I’d love some company.”
He smiled and Rayne’s throat tightened. She wanted him so much that the risk suddenly seemed absolutely worth it.
“I was making cocoa, if you’d like some.”
He strolled to her counter, looking sexy, sophisticated and so right in her house. When he turned and smi
led at her, Rayne could have sworn she felt her bones melt.
“I’m really not in the mood for cocoa.”
He walked over to her, slid his hands on her waist and pulled her close. “I was thinking of something a little hotter.” With that he touched his lips to hers.
Rayne knew that if he hadn’t been supporting her, she would have collapsed. Still, she forced herself to sound stable and strong when she said, “Let me turn off the burner and we’ll go into the living room.”
One of Jericho’s hands left her waist and Rayne heard a quick snap. He’d managed to find the knob for the stove and turn it without missing a beat in kissing her.
“Wow. You’re very good.”
He chuckled low in his throat. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
Though Rayne wasn’t sure how they did it, they managed to get to the living room without once ever stopping kissing, though Jericho had removed his jacket and she’d kicked off her shoes.
They half sat, half fell on the sofa and Jericho’s lips slid from her mouth, down her throat. “I never thought we stood a chance.”
Fighting a shiver, Rayne couldn’t argue that. “Neither did I.”
“Who would have believed that something bad like your dad deciding never to come home could pave the way for something good, like us being together?”
It wasn’t his question that took Rayne so much by surprise that she froze; it was the implication behind it. At first she told herself she could be reading too much into it and should ignore it, but something inside her wouldn’t let her.
“You only want me because my dad isn’t home?”
He spoke between soft, wonderful kisses that he pressed to her neck. “It’s not quite that cut and dried.”
Accept it. Accept what he’s saying. Don’t be upset over something you have no control over. Don’t lose this!
“It sounds cut and dried to me.”
“Don’t be silly.”
It was very hard to keep a train of thought when someone was nibbling her earlobe, but Rayne struggled to do just that. “Okay, if it’s not completely cut and dried, then answer this. If my dad were here or if he’d called the other week to say he was coming home, would we be here right now?”