With a silent curse, she tightened her hands into fists. Damn this house! It had always been the obstacle between them. She had been fighting
for her heritage, and Jed had been fighting for his career. Now the house would always be a symbol of what she had won … and lost.
She couldn’t go on like this, she thought frantically, as a kind of blind panic welled up inside her. There had to be something she could do that would get him back, and it had to be something so perfect that he would know that she did love him … and did trust him. Something that would absolutely and totally convince him …
She nearly jumped out of her own skin when she realized exactly what that something was.
“There you are, miss,” Burrows said, coming out of the library. “I—”
“Did Uncle Merry finally hang up?” she asked, rushing past him into the room.
“Yes, miss.”
“Great. I have a very important call to make.”
“It is good of you to receive me, sir,” Burrows said.
Jed hesitated for a bare instant, then took the butler’s hand and shook it. “It’s good to see you again. Please sit down.”
Nodding, Burrows perched himself on the sofa. Jed took a seat across from him in a stuffed rocker and smiled as the older man looked around the living room. He admitted that his furnished condominium was more a place to hang his suit jacket, and it looked it.
“Would you like a drink?” Jed asked. “Coffee? Tea?”
“No, thank you, sir,” Burrows said. “I have come about Miss Rachel, sir.”
“That wasn’t hard to figure out,” Jed said, leaning back in the rocker. What he couldn’t figure out was why he had even agreed to see the man in the first place. Every time he’d thought of Rae pain had festered, and he wanted it to keep festering. Maybe that was why, he thought. There was a perverse pleasure in just hearing about her.
Nodding, Burrows cleared his throat. “Before I say anything further, I must request that she never be told of this conversation. She has no idea I have come to see you, and, frankly, sir, I am committing a horrible breach of etiquette. But I felt it was extremely important.”
Jed dipped his head once to show his agreement to the request.
Burrows continued. “Although a butler is not supposed, in essence, to see or hear anything of his employer’s personal life, I am aware that there has been a rift between you and Miss Rachel.”
“And?” Jed said impatiently. If Burrows thought he was going to make some kind of reconciliation, he was wasting his breath.
“I readily admit that whatever has occurred is your business and hers. I have no wish to interfere there. However, Miss Rachel has done something that I think is also your business—”
“Is she pregnant?” Jed demanded, sitting upright. The thought had come from nowhere, but now it left a hollowness in the pit of his stomach. “You said she did something. My God! She didn’t—?”
“No!” Burrows exclaimed vehemently, clearly understanding.
“No, sir, nothing like that. I have no idea if she is even … with child.”
Jed felt relief and disappointment run through him at the same time. Suddenly restless, he left the chair and began pacing the living room. “Well?”
“What I was attempting to say, sir, is that I feel you have a right to know that she placed the estate in the hands of a realtor, two days ago.”
Stunned, Jed turned in midstride. “Placed the … she’s selling the house?”
Burrows nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“After all I went through to save it for her!” Jed half shouted, slamming a fist into the nearest object—a floor lamp. He ignored it as it crashed to the ground. “She can’t do that! Dammit, it was … she only cared … what the hell …!” Realizing how incoherent he sounded, he returned to the rocker and flopped down in it. “But why would she do that? She loves that place. Why, Burrows?”
“That is the oddest part, sir. She won’t say why. She is very willful and determined, though.”
“But what about you?” Jed asked, as the question suddenly came to him. “And the dogs? And Harvey? What about all of you?”
“She says we shall all move back to her house in New York.” Burrows gave a tiny shudder. “I am fond of a quiet life, but I will not leave her service now. I suspect the dogs and the spider will adjust more easily than I shall. Dogs are happy anywhere, so long as they have their master’s affection. I doubt the spider will care.”
“Have there been any offers for the place?” Jed asked almost absently, as his mind churned with confusion. “Was Atlantic one of the calls?”
“I could not say, not being privy to whom the realtor had interested in the estate. I have managed to put them off, so far. I don’t think Miss Rachel has realized that she hasn’t answered the telephone in two days. I would have come sooner, but I had to wait until she was out of the house. She is visiting her mother this afternoon.” Ruefully, Burrows shook his head. “I am hoping, sir, that you can do something to stop her.”
Jed pressed his fingers to his temples and muttered, “I need to think.”
She was selling the estate. The words ran through his mind like a litany. She had defended her home against him. She hadn’t trusted him with it. Now, when everything was over, she was selling. Why? Why now?
He had worked like a madman to prevent the deal with the estate from ever entering Henry Morrison’s head again. Even if Henry had heard it was suddenly on the market, he doubted if his former boss would touch it now. It would appeal to Henry’s nature to have the complex sitting right across the river from the Barkeley home.
After storming out of her house, he had spent the weekend tracking down the right people in an effort to investigate and secure the park as the new site. He had done it, too. A small portion of the park had been rezoned shortly after Atlantic’s first inquiry months ago. It seemed that the company’s interest—however short-lived—had spurred the county government to reconsider the opportunity for additional revenues. He negotiated a terrific deal and dropped it all on Henry’s desk, along with his resignation. Henry had begged him to
come back, too, and there had been other job offers. Gratifying as they were, he had never felt so damned self-righteous in his life as he had at having proved Rae wrong. He’d been living on the feeling ever since.
There had been times, though, during the past several weeks, when he began to wonder if he’d asked too much of her, but he immediately suppressed the thoughts. All she had ever cared about was the estate, and she had made that painfully clear.
Now she was selling. Why give up the only thing she had wanted all along? Obviously, something had happened to cause her change of heart.…
Jed jumped out of the chair and demanded, “Burrows, does Rae know that Atlantic bought the park property?”
“The park? The one on the other side of the river?”
“Yes, that one.”
The butler swallowed visibly. “Your condominium complex will be right across from the estate?”
Jed nodded, hoping the answer was the one he needed.
“Heaven forbid,” Burrows muttered, closing his eyes. He opened them. “Since I did not know, I doubt very much that Miss Rachel does.”
So she wasn’t selling because of the view, Jed thought, as a huge grin spread across his features. For all she knew, she was opening herself to lawsuits galore from Atlantic. Although Burrows claimed to have come in secret, Rae must have been aware that Jed would eventually hear about the sale. In fact, he’d bet his last dime on
it. The sale was her way of saying that she loved him. What it must have cost her to do such a thing! Actions did speak louder than words, he decided. They could say quite a lot.
“You say she’s at her mother’s?” Jed asked, as he mulled over several actions he could take. Whatever he did, it would have to be damn good to match hers.
“Yes, sir.” Burrows stood up. “This all means something to you, doesn’t it?”
Jed laughed. “Obvious behavior, Burrows. Now I have to be just as obvious, and I’ll need your help.”
“Alicia must have misunderstood the boys,” Vivian Barkeley said, as she walked arm in arm with her daughter to the front door.
“I don’t know where they get these things,” Rae replied with a straight face. “Me kidnap some man?”
“I told Alicia the same thing, dear.” Her mother opened the heavy oak door. “But you know Alicia; she’s very excitable.”
Her sister-in-law was a pain in the tush, Rae thought, stepping out onto the front patio of the sprawling Main Line house. Alicia was a gossipy snob, but Rae cursed herself for not swearing her nephews to secrecy. Still, her mother didn’t have to know.
“Why don’t you come over for lunch on Sunday, Mom?” she asked, turning to face her mother.
Before Vivian could answer, a car roared up the
U-shaped drive and screeched to a halt in front of the house. It was the antique Rolls.
Rae stared in amazement as Jed scrambled out of the front passenger seat. Fearing something horrible must have happened, she ran to him. “Did something happen? Is someone hurt?”
“Nope.” He grinned at her, resting one arm on the top of the open car door. “But you’re about to be kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped!” Rae and her mother exclaimed at the same moment.
Before Rae could move, he reached out and very calmly hoisted her up onto his shoulder. Shocked and disoriented, Rae suddenly found herself with a bird’s-eye view of his rear.
She braced her hands on his backside and pushed herself up enough to angle her head. “You can’t be serious, Jed! Now what is this really all about?”
“I just told you,” he said. “Mrs. Barkeley, would you like to see your daughter get married?”
“Married!” Both women exclaimed again.
“I’m kidnapping your daughter and taking her to Maryland to get married.”
“What!” It was all happening too fast, Rae realized dimly. Her heart was swelling with joy, but her mind was telling her it could be some kind of revenge. She blocked out the thought.
“Trust me, Mrs. Barkeley, your daughter is only going to get married once. To me.”
“But … but!” Rae heard her mother’s voice stutter.
“I don’t think you should leave any witnesses, Mr. Jed.” Burrows’s voice magically materialized.
“I’m afraid Mrs. Barkeley will have to accompany us. It’s quite all right, madam. Mr. Jed is most sincere, however unorthodox his methods.”
“Burrows, what the hell are you doing?” Rae shouted, twisting and turning to try and find the butler. Dammit, she thought. He could have told her, at least!
“I am driving the getaway car, miss.”
“Burrows!”
“Well, if I’m going to be abducted, too, I should get my coat,” Vivian said matter-of-factly.
“Mom!” If she didn’t know better, Rae would have sworn her mother was a conspirator.
“I’ll have to escort you into the house, madam, to insure you don’t call the police,” Burrows said.
“Oh! I never thought of that.”
“Great,” Rae muttered, dropping her head against Jed’s hip. “I’m being kidnapped, and my own mother doesn’t even think to call the police.”
She grinned to herself.
“Your mom’s going to make a great mother-in-law,” Jed commented. He opened the rear car door, then bending low, he gently tipped her onto the seat.
Finally able to see his face, she searched his features. His hazel eyes were gleaming with delight and mischief. His mustache quivered as he tried to keep a smile from his lips.
“You’re enjoying this.”
He finally grinned. “Damn right.”
She lowered her eyes for a moment, then lifted them. “I love you, Jed.”
“Hell of a way to tell me,” he said, taking her in his arms. “Putting the estate up for sale like that.”
“The house is important to me,” she said, holding his gaze. “But it’s up to you what happens to it. I’d rather be with you wherever you are, than be in the house without you.”
He swallowed visibly. “I could say you should sell it to Atlantic.”
She nodded slowly. “I know. I trust you, Jed.”
His mouth covered hers fiercely, and she melted against him. She wrapped her arms around him, joyfully giving herself up to the kiss.
“I hurt you,” she murmured, when he finally lifted his head. “I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
“Hush,” he whispered against her lips. “We hurt each other, and we’ll spend the rest of
our
lives making it up. On the estate.”
She hugged him. “Our estate.”
“By the way, you’re marrying a bum. I quit my job.”
“What!” She pushed at his shoulders so she could see his face.
He nodded. “I think I did it because it came between us, although at the time I didn’t see it.”
“You just go right back and get it, Jedidiah Waters!” she ordered. “You worked too hard to give it up now.”
“I suppose I should be employed,” he said, then laughed. “Henry’s been after me to come back ever since I left.”
“Good. Now there’s one more thing we have to straighten out,” she said, and kissed him. “You could have
asked
me to marry you. Believe me, Jed, it beats worrying about the rap for kidnapping, if you’re caught.”
He chuckled. “Actions speak louder than words. Besides, I was taking no chances with you.”
She burst into laughter.
When she sobered, he kissed her again. There was a long silence in the car.
“Why are we going to Maryland to get married?” she finally asked.
He grinned. “It’s the quickest way to get you married to me. Only a two-day waiting period.”
She made a face. “Still much too long.”
“Ahem!”
Startled, they both glanced around to find Vivian Barkeley standing next to the car.
“None of that until after the wedding.”
Sighing in unison, they untangled themselves and sat up. Her mother shut the door. Burrows helped Vivian into the front.
“I must say, you’re taking this very well, Mom,” Rae complained.
“Burrows has explained that this is for your own good, Rachel,” Vivian said, turning around. “I will speak to you later about your lying to me this afternoon. It seems my grandsons knew exactly what they were talking about. You’re becoming as outrageous as Merriman, dear.”
“Not outrageous, Mom. Obvious.” Rae smiled at Jed.
“And it had better stay that way,” he whispered in her ear.