Harlequin Romance April 2015 Box Set (14 page)

He’d what?

Her jaw dropped. The puppy let out a yelp and with a start Jo relaxed her grip and bent to soothe it. She stroked it back to sleep, its fat little tummy
and its utter trust weakening something inside her.

‘How...?’ she whispered when she finally dared to look at him. ‘How did that come about?’

He glanced at his watch. ‘Well, shoot—look at the time? Lucinda, you’d better point me in the direction of the kitchen if I’m to serve you at seven on the dot.’

He went out to his car, returning with two laden baskets filled with the most
intriguing-looking ingredients.

He grinned at Jo. ‘I understand you’re my kitchen hand?’

She tried to smile back, but couldn’t. ‘Yay,’ she said weakly instead.

‘Buck up, Jo. All I want you to do is assemble a
macaron
tower.’

That
was the problem. Mac didn’t want her for anything more substantial. Her fingers curled against her palms. Why had her grandmother hired him? And,
more to the point, why had Mac agreed to it?

They settled the puppies in their baskets in the laundry. Mac unpacked his groceries. Jo washed her hands and set about icing two plastic cones.

Mac glanced at them. ‘Why two?’

He’d come up so close behind her his breath raised all the fine hairs at her nape. She wanted him to kiss her. She ached with it. But he hadn’t given her so much
as a kiss on the cheek, and that spoke volumes.

In her heart she knew it was for the best.

‘I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet what a sight for sore eyes you are.’

She was wearing an old pair of tracksuit pants and an oversized T-shirt that had once been blue but was now grey. She was a sight, all right, but not the kind he meant.

She spun around. ‘What are you doing here, Mac?’

His gaze lowered to her mouth. Beneath tanned flesh the pulse at the base of his jaw pounded. Hunger roared through her. They swayed towards each other, but at the last moment he snapped away.

‘If I kiss you now I’ll be lost, and I did promise your grandmother I’d make this meal.’ He ground that last from between clenched teeth. He glared at her. ‘And you promised her that darn
macaron
tower.’ He suddenly seized her shoulders in a strong grip. ‘But after this party we’re talking.’

‘Right.’ She swallowed. ‘Good.’

Except... He wasn’t going to go over old ground, was he? He wouldn’t ask her to return to the beach house as his housekeeper, would he?

He had to know that wasn’t enough.

His fingers tightened, although she sensed how he tempered his strength.

‘What’s the plan for this evening? Is there anything you’d like me to do?’

Love me.

She swallowed that back, shrugged. ‘Just follow my lead, I guess. I think I have it under control.’

Fingers crossed.

They stared at each other for a long fraught moment. She swung away, her heart surging in her chest. One thing was clear—she and Mac still generated heat. Not that it made a bit
of difference. Other than to make working with him in the confines of a suburban kitchen all the more fraught, uncomfortable...and exciting.

Focus on making the tower.

She’d been concentrating on this event for weeks now. She couldn’t afford to let Mac derail her.

She made the
macaron
tower—carefully inserting toothpicks into the iced cones and then painstakingly attaching the coloured
macarons
. When that was done she decorated it all with swirls of pink, green and lemon ribbon.

She stood back to admire it and almost stepped on Mac.

She glanced back at him. ‘What do you think?’

Ugh! Think you could sound any needier?

She tossed her head. ‘It’s pretty fabulous, isn’t it?’

‘It’s beautiful.’

But he was looking at her when he said it, not at the tower.
The air between them shimmered. He took a hasty step away and Jo had to bite back the moan that rose through her.

Mac cleared his throat. ‘What flavours did you decide to go with?’

She kept her gaze on the tower. ‘Lime with passionfruit cream, and strawberry with a vanilla buttercream.’

‘Nice.’

She picked up the tower and very
very
carefully walked it into the pantry.

Then she made a second tower, identical to the first. It was just as perfect. She set it in the pantry beside the first one.

Mac raised an eyebrow. She merely shrugged.

‘Jo, dear.’ Her grandmother came bustling in. ‘Guests will start arriving in forty minutes and you’ve yet to shower and dress.’

‘And take the puppies out for a pee and a romp in the back yard,’ Jo added. ‘Go ahead
and finish getting ready, Grandma. I won’t be late. I promise.’

CHAPTER TWELVE

J
O
ROMPED
WITH
the puppies for fifteen minutes, but all the while she was aware that Mac was in her childhood home and...and...

And what?

She settled the puppies back in their baskets and went to shower. She’d splurged on a new dress for the occasion. And heels. She’d almost be the same height as Mac in them.

Almost, but not quite.

Her grandmother
was shooting last-minute instructions at Mac when Jo returned to the lounge room. During her absence Great-Aunt Edith had arrived. They all broke off to stare.

Jo turned on the spot. ‘
Now
I’m a sight for sore eyes,’ she shot at Mac.

Her dress was a simple shift in a startling geometric pattern of orange, purple and black. It stopped a couple of inches short of her knees. She’d never
worn anything so short before, and certainly not with heels. She had legs that... Well, they practically went on forever—even if she did say so herself.

Mac’s eyes blazed obligingly. Fire licked along her belly in instant response.

‘Nice,’ he croaked.

‘Good Lord, Jo! What
are
you wearing?’ Her great-aunt tut-tutted. ‘It’s far too short for a girl of your height.’

‘The shop
assistant assured me it was perfect for a girl of my height,’ Jo countered.

‘You look very pretty, Jo, dear,’ her grandma said.

Great-Aunt Edith glared. ‘But is it
seemly
?’

Jo glanced back at Mac, who could barely drag his gaze from her legs, and a female purr of satisfaction rose through her. ‘Oh, I expect it’s quite the opposite, Aunt Edith, but I believe that’s the point.’

Before her aunt could remonstrate further the doorbell rang and Jo went to answer it, putting a sway into her step for Mac’s benefit.

Eat your heart out.

When she returned he’d retreated to the kitchen and she could breathe easier again. He needn’t think he could come around here and get her all het-up without expecting some kind of payback.

Five additional guests had been invited
to dinner, all of them longstanding friends of her grandmother’s and great-aunt’s—people Jo had known all her life.

Each of them stared at her as if they didn’t recognise her when she answered the door. They’d stare a whole lot more before she was through this evening.

She went to serve drinks, but Mac was there before her.

‘Who
is
that young man?’ her great-aunt demanded of her
grandmother.

‘Aunt Edith, this is Malcolm MacCallum—the famous chef,’ Jo said. ‘I was his housekeeper for a short time not that long ago.’

‘Humph. I remember. I can’t believe you’d waste your education on such a lowly position as housemaid.’

‘What does it matter?’ her grandmother piped up. ‘As long as she was happy.’

Happy? Jo shoulders started to droop.

‘And I can’t believe
you’re turning your back on the possibility of promotion, not to mention stability, by switching vocations so late in life.’

Late in life?
Jo choked.

Mac’s lips twitched, and her great-aunt’s eyes narrowed. ‘Precisely how well do you know this Malcolm?’

She made her smile bright. ‘Very well.’

Great-Aunt Edith drew herself up to her full formidable height. ‘I’d like to know—’

‘I’m afraid it’s none of your business.’

‘Jo!’ her grandmother remonstrated.

‘Or yours either, Grandma.’

The sisters stared at each other, evidently nonplussed.

‘How long before we eat?’ Jo shot out of the corner of her mouth.

Mac cleared his throat. ‘If everyone would like to move into the dining room, I’ll serve the entrée.’

Jo silently blessed him, and moved
towards the kitchen to help, but with a gentle shove he pushed her towards the dining room.

‘I have it covered.’

Right. Was he ever going to tell her what Ethan was doing at his beach house? And did it have any bearing on them—him and her?

There is no you and him.

Her grandmother sat at the head of the table and her great-aunt at the foot. Her grandmother’s allies sat on the
right side of the table—which was where Jo found herself—and her great-aunt’s ranged down the left.

Like a battlefield.

As if this were a war.

And then it started.

‘Do you think it’s
wise
to wear such high heels when you’re such a large girl, Jo?’

‘Eadie, don’t be such an old-fashioned prig. Our Jo is the height of fashion.’

Everyone else around the table weighed
in with an opinion.

‘I think that dress and those heels are perfect,’ Mac said, serving mussels in garlic sauce.’

Both sisters glared at him, united for a moment in their mutual suspicion. Jo hid a smile.

In the next instant, however, the entire table had lost themselves in the delight of the food, forgetting all about Mac. Across the table he caught her eye. He mouthed ‘perfect’
before disappearing back into the kitchen. Her pulse skittered. Her heart throbbed.

When everyone had finished the entrée her great-aunt said, ‘Jo, I really think you need to reconsider this career change you’ve been talking about.’

‘Oh, Eadie, stop fussing. If this is what Jo wants—and if it’ll make her happy—then so be it.’

‘Heavens, Lucinda—a
paramedic
? Any Tom, Dick or Harriet
can train as one of those. Our Jo is better than that.’

‘Your Jo is quite simply the best,’ Mac said, having whisked their entrée plates away and now serving lamb so succulent it melted in the mouth.

‘She’ll become a drudge,’ her great-aunt said.

Grandma shook her head. ‘Her choice.’

‘I’d quite happily become
her
drudge,’ Mac said.

Jo nearly swallowed her tongue.

‘Who
is
he?’ her great-aunt demanded.

‘He’s Mac.’ She had no other explanation.

‘He’s her admirer,’ Grandma said.

‘If Jo had what it took to catch a man she’d have done so years ago,’ scoffed Great-Aunt Edith.

‘Ha!’ snapped Grandma. ‘Jo has her head screwed on right. Life is far easier when one doesn’t have to pander to a man. Not that
you’d
know about that, Eadie.’

Ouch!
Jo winced on her aunt’s behalf.

‘If Jo married me I’d be a very lucky man.’

Jo’s fingers tightened about her cutlery and her stomach churned. What game was Mac playing?

‘If you married him you could eat like this every night,’ one of her grandmother’s cronies said.

They ate then, mostly in silence, all relishing the amazing food.

Eventually Great-Aunt Edith pushed her
plate away. ‘Ladies, don’t forget to leave room for dessert.’ She shot Jo a smirk. ‘I take it there
will
be dessert?’

‘But of course.’

‘Ah, but will it be the
promised
dessert?’ She folded her arms and glared down the table. ‘What
I
want to know is if she’s managed to pull off what she promised she could. Lucy? Did she or did she not make you a
macaron
tower?’

Her grandmother smiled
benignly. ‘Where are the stakes?’

Jo rolled her eyes when the contested pearls were placed with ridiculous ceremony in the middle of the table.

Mac cleared the plates. ‘I’ll pour the dessert wine,’ he said, moving to the sideboard. ‘Jo, you can bring in the dessert.’

‘The dishes?’ she asked him.

‘All cleared.’

‘The puppies?’

‘Safely tucked away in the laundry.’

Good. Right.
She drew in a breath, rose, and moved to the kitchen.

As carefully as she’d ever done anything in her life, Jo picked up the first tower that she’d made and backed out of the pantry. She paused outside the doorway to the dining room for a moment, to pull in a breath, and balancing carefully on her new heels entered the room.

Gasps rose up all around her.

She set
the concoction in front of her grandmother and with a quiver of relief stepped back again. Mission accomplished.

‘Happy birthday, Grandma. I love you.’ She kissed her grandmother’s cheek.

They sang ‘Happy Birthday’, but throughout the song she couldn’t help but notice, even though Great-Aunt Edith’s voice was the loudest, how her aunt’s gaze kept returning to the tower in awe. And she
recognised something else there too—hunger and yearning.

When the song finished Jo left the room and returned with the second tower. She set it down in front of her great-aunt. ‘I made this one for you Aunt Edith, because I love you too.’

‘But...’ Grandma spluttered. ‘It’s not Eadie’s birthday.’

‘Maybe not, but you both deserve pretty, beautiful things. To me, you’re both the most
beautiful women I know, and you’ve helped to make me the woman I am today.’

They stared at her, but neither spoke.

‘My real gift to you today, Grandma, is to bring this ridiculous feud of yours and Aunt Edith’s to an end.’ She reached across the table and took the pearls. ‘These now belong to me. I have no cousins. It’s what Great-Grandmother would’ve wanted. Besides...’ She clasped
them around her throat. ‘They go perfectly with my outfit.’

The sisters’ jaws dropped.

‘Those towers consist of your individual favourite
macaron
flavours. The combination is perfect—much better than if they were just one or the other. Just as the two of
you
are perfect together.’

Both women’s eyes had grown suspiciously damp.

‘I love you. I know you both love me. I also know
you love each other—even if you find the words too hard to say. Great-Aunt Edith, it’s time for you to come home. This is where you belong and this is where you’re wanted.’

Grandma blew her nose loudly. ‘She’s right, Eadie.’

Great-Aunt Edith cleared her throat—twice. ‘Lucy, I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear it.’

‘Excellent.’ Mac broke into the moment. ‘Now that
that’s
settled,
I’m stealing Jo away.’ He raised a hand before anyone could argue with him. ‘She’s not fond of
macarons
, so I’ve made her a dessert of her own.’

He took her arm.

‘Jo?’ her grandmother and her great-aunt said in unison.

‘It’s okay,’ Jo said. ‘I’ll shout if I need rescuing.’

With that, she allowed him to pull her into the kitchen.

He turned with a grin that turned her heart
over and over.

‘That was masterfully done,’ he said.

‘Yes.’ It had left her feeling powerful. ‘What dessert did you make me?’

He handed her a plate. ‘Pineapple upside-down cake.’

She took a mouthful and closed her eyes in bliss. When she opened them Mac was staring at her with a naked hunger he didn’t try to hide. It only made her feel more powerful and assured...and bold.

She tipped up her chin. ‘When are you going to tell me you love me?’

He met her gaze uncertainly. ‘I thought I’d been saying it all evening.’

He had.

Her great-aunt and her grandmother came bustling into the kitchen.

‘My dear, I do believe it’s terribly poor form to just leave the table like that.’

‘Yes—listen to your grandmother. We raised you better than that.’

‘I agree. But I’m afraid there are puppies to attend to. Unless you’d rather deal with the puppies yourselves?’

‘Maybe Malcolm could...?’

‘Not in a caterer’s job description, I’m afraid,’ Mac said, edging Jo towards the back door.

‘Puppies?’ asked Great-Aunt Edith.

‘Come along, dear, and I’ll tell you about them. Malcolm brought one for me and...’ she glanced at Jo ‘...one
for you, Eadie dear.’

Grandma had just given away her puppy!

‘There are more puppies back at the beach house,’ Mac whispered in her ear.

Jo let out a breath. Okay.

Before Grandma and Great-Aunt Edith could form another argument, Jo took Mac’s hand and led him outside.

‘You left the puppies behind,’ Mac said.

‘But I do still have hold of my dessert.’

She released
him to eat another spoonful. She took a step away from him so she could breathe and think.

She lifted her plate. ‘This is divine.’

‘You’re divine.’

* * *

Mac stared at the woman he loved and wondered if he’d done enough to win her.

If he hadn’t he’d just do more. He’d do more and more and still more if he had to—to convince her that they belonged together, to prove to
her that he could make her happy.

She led him down to an old swing set and sat on the swing. He leaned against the frame and feasted his eyes on her. He burned to kiss her, but while it killed him he had no intention of hauling her into his arms until he was one hundred per cent certain it was what she wanted.

She had questions. Rightly. It was only fair that he answered them.

‘You somehow managed to manipulate my grandmother into asking you to come here today?’

‘Guilty as charged.’

‘Because you were worried I might fail with the
macarons
?’

He had no intention of lying to her. ‘I came here today to help you in whatever capacity you needed me to.’

She’d outdone herself with those
macaron
towers, though.

She pursed her lips, staring at him. ‘So
you worked out early on that I was trying to get Grandma and Great-Aunt Edith arguing on the same side? Against me?’

‘It was a good plan. But it seemed only fair that someone should argue on your side too.’

If she’d let him, he’d always argue her case.

‘Why is Ethan at your beach house?’

She sat in the moonlight, eating pineapple upside-down cake in that sexy little purple
and orange number, and for a moment he couldn’t speak. The urge to kiss her grew, but he tamped it down. After all this time away from her just being able to look at her thrilled him.

The night was mild for this time of year, but not exactly warm. He slipped his jacket off and settled it around her shoulders.

The flash of vulnerability in her eyes when he moved in close stabbed at him.

He eased back, his heart thumping and his mouth dry. ‘Everything you said to me before you left was a hundred per cent on the money.’