His Perfect Woman (Urban Hearts Series Book 1) (27 page)

“Jonathan, it—don’t worry about it, okay?” She didn’t know what to say—what words would reassure him that what passed between them was nothing more than a heated moment. His look changed from surprise to guilt to irritation in a few seconds and she wanted to stop it before it reached anger.

Standing there in the study, he’d dropped his sign of strong stoicism for just a tiny moment, revealing the Jonathan she’d fallen in love with. The moment was gone.  This was how they were. The thought that she had never been the right person—the one who could bring Jonathan out of his defenses long enough to shine—was even more solid than before.

As she was trying to figure out how to tell him this, her cell phone buzzed with its familiar ringtone and she jumped. Pulling the phone out of her pocket, she watched as Jonathan stepped away.   He shrugged, indicating the door and leaving her to answer. As she said hello, she touched her bottom lip with her tongue, the feel of him still there.

“There you are.” Ross’s cheerful voice at once warmed her and jarred her away from her thoughts.  “I wasn’t sure when a good time to call was, but…I couldn’t wait any longer.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m glad you called.” She sat down in the desk chair, warm still from Jonathan’s body. “Could you just talk to me awhile? Tell me about your day.”   It took some moments before she could actually hear what he was saying, the shift from Jonathan to Ross still processing in her head. He missed her, but was deliberately cheerful, sensing somehow, that she needed the distraction.

Ross’s call had ceased to calm her thoughts, the call ending too soon as he’d been on his way somewhere.  But, it was getting late and she’d need to get Eli off to a bath and bed soon.

Az followed the sound of voices to the kitchen and found Kate back again, playing checkers with Eli while Jonathan made him a quick snack. He placed a plate of peanut butter sandwiches, cut into fourths on the table.

“Kate. I thought you had some things to attend to?” Az frowned, she hadn’t meant to say
things
, she’d meant event or appointment or something more specific than things, but words had failed. She wasn’t used to that, but ever since she’d met the girl—and the phrase, girl, was acceptable as she was younger than Az—she’d felt like an uneducated heathen. Not that Kate flaunted her Oxford education and ancient English ancestry that somehow linked to an earl or other nobleman back in the fourteen hundreds, because people of her breeding simply didn’t flaunt those assets—yet somehow, she’d managed to convey all of that in just the first meeting with Azure without her realizing it.  Since that time—had it really only been four days ago—it felt like years, Az was constantly losing her former ability to articulate.

Kate took her eyes from the checkerboard to Azure’s, and she smiled that practiced smile of British benevolence that Mal had called the mask of dignity.

“The solicitor’s meeting, of course. We convened earlier than expected, and I simply had to get back. I so wanted to be with the family. Give this chap a chance to beat me at checkers.” She ruffled Eli’s hair and Az restrained the urge to break her hand, finger by finger. She smiled instead, forcing her lips to relax lest they become a grimace, or worse, a baring of teeth, like some lioness defending her young from hyenas.

“Everything okay, back home?” Jonathan spoke up, and their eyes met across the table. His tone was perfectly natural, almost back to his reserved self, with none of the emotion he’d displayed earlier. It made her a little sad, to see the armor back in place.

“Yes, yes. It’s fine. I have to make some calls to get some work things into place, is all.” Her forehead wrinkled. There it was again, the word
things
… why couldn’t she be specific? She supposed it sounded silly, calling for flower arrangers and musicians versus the all important work Kate did as a solicitor for a judgeship. And why was she in competition with Kate anyway?

Jonathan frowned at her. “Why would they call you now? It’s really late there.”

“This was from a…friend.” Az moved to the stove. “Anyone for tea?” She fought with the idea that she was becoming more British, the notion of tea coming up twice in under an hour.  “I can get the service.” Eloise always served tea from her heirloom tea service she kept on the sideboard.

“No need. We have tea bags, let’s just use cups.” He retrieved some coffee mugs from the cupboard, lining them up in front of the water kettle. “Kate, you having some?”

“I think I’m full-up. Thank you, though.” She smiled at Jonathan, but as he turned away, Az caught they way she wrinkled her nose slightly at the tea bag he held in his hand. Azure doubted she ever drank anything but loose Earl Grey in a china cup with real sugar and heavy cream.

“King me,” Eli said, taking a bite of sandwich. Kate feigned surprise and turned back to their game.

“A friend, huh?” Jonathan voice was light. Az poured the hot water into both cups. “Is this who you’ve been seeing this summer?” He stirred his tea and stayed by the counter, far enough away from Kate and Eli so as not to be overheard. 

Kate had moved her checker piece over Eli’s in an elaborate pattern to jump as many as possible and he was protesting. Az smiled and looked at Jonathan. They both knew she’d never get away with it. Eli was a fierce checker player.  Jonathan smiled back, but raised his eyebrows as he drank his tea. She supposed she’d have to tell him eventually.

“I ran into an acquaintance from work and we’ve been seeing quite a lot of each other. It was kind of a set-up. You know how Mal can be and—”

“Oh my goodness!” Kate exclaimed loudly. “You’ve beaten me again. You are such a good player. I bet you could play chess.”

“Mom’s been teaching me.” Eli smiled at her, setting up more checkers. “Want to play again?”

“Eli dear, it’s about bath time for you.” Az moved away from Jonathan and over to her son, who was of course denying the late hour or need for bathing. “You can play with Kate again another time. But let’s go on now and let Kate and your father talk for a bit, okay?” Eli reluctantly slipped out of his chair.

“I’ll be up in a while, son,” Jonathan said and took his place across from Kate.

As she filled the tub and added a generous slug of bubble bath, Az knew she’d taken the easy route by not telling Jonathan that the man she was seeing was Ross Berenger.

They went to Stonehenge, like all the other tourists, standing in an endless line in the rain behind the railings. Azure thought the railings set up to keep people from climbing all over the massive figures ruined the mystic feel of the place, but she supposed it was necessary.

The trip had been Eloise’s idea and Jane and Reggie had agreed it would be good for all of them to get out of the house. And then of course, Eloise had begged off at the last minute. So it was the whole family minus the matriarch, all packed into Reggie’s Peugeot and barreling through traffic out of the city.

During the ride, Jane and Reggie played some alphabet game with Eli, which left Az and Jonathan to their quiet thoughts.  Az watched the English countryside and thought of her most recent telephone conversation with Ross. She needed to get home, but couldn’t quite pull Eli away from his father yet, both of them still looking very fragile. The subject of an open-ended ticket and no real return date had Ross worried.

“What do you mean you don’t know when you’re coming home?” Even with his slight exasperation, she loved listening to the sound of his voice. The deep timbre had a certain rumble that thrilled her to her toes, and she’d recall just how hot things could get when he talked to her during sex. She shook the delicious thoughts aside. She was there for a funeral.  “The funeral was days ago.” Ross said and she could tell he was trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. She managed to pull herself out of her sex fantasy long enough to attend to the conversation at hand.

“Three days Ross, the funeral was three days ago. I just can’t pick up Eli and take him away this soon.”

“I understand, really. I do.” He sounded bereft and she relished the thought of him missing her as much as she missed him. “It’s just…are you sure you’re coming home?”

She stopped her fantasy of what she’d do to him when she got home to consider his question. The thought of staying hadn’t occurred to her and she wasn’t sure why he was thinking it.  “Yes, of course. Why would you think I’d stay?” True, while they’d been in Chicago, both of them had discussed the next step. What would become of them once Eli got home and Ross returned to Chicago.  She wasn’t sure she was ready for either of them to move.

“You wouldn’t of course. It just…feels like there’s not much time for us, is all.”

“Well, home is Denver for me.  I can’t ask you to pick up and leave just to rent a new place. Your whole life is there—in Chicago.” She emphasized the city as if saying it again would make it clearer, just how complicated the logistics were.

“You could come here, be a part of that life.” he said. Okay, maybe not all that complicated.

“That’s a big step—not sure I’m ready for that.”

“Just come home, we’ll talk about it. This phone thing is driving me crazy. It’s either 2am here or 6am there. We can’t seem to mesh.”

They’d talked of other things: Ben and Rachel back from their honeymoon, his latest drafts on the new book, some article about the current book in a magazine, and always how very much they missed each other.

“Mom, is this all there is?” Eli asked. They peered through the mist that floated mystically over the rugged landscape, weaving itself around the stone formations. He would have much rather gone to Harry Potter World. Az followed his disappointed gaze and listened to the clicking of cameras around them. Jonathan stood at her side and had not said much all day. He might have been more animated if Kate were there, but Az was glad she’d had an important docket this morning and couldn’t make the trip.

“Eli honey, come with Auntie Jane, let’s go look at the museum.” The older woman held out her hand to the boy and they went off, leaving Jonathan and Az looking at the massive rectangles. Jonathan finally spoke, breaking her out of her own reverie.

“I keep thinking of those books you used to read—the ones about time travel. That was at Stonehenge, yeah?”

“Yeah, I wonder how Claire would get past these barricades to get into the circle, now?”

“We should have gone to Harry Potter World like you said.” He spoke softly. His energy level for animosity had completely left him.

“You guys can go some other time. Harry Potter World will still be there.”

“Yes, but Stonehenge—it’s not long for this world.  I mean, look at them.” He waved his hand. Az followed his gaze to the ancient stones that had been there for centuries. “Disintegrating as we speak.”

“You could be right. We might be the last humans to see them, before they completely disappear.” She grinned at Jonathan and for the first time since the funeral, he smiled back.

“Potter world, now, that’s one for the ages.” He chuckled and imitated his mother’s words. “Go show the boy something of importance, something he’ll remember.” Az smiled at the thought.

“I can’t wait to see what he tells your mother. Yes, it’s a big pile of rocks Grandmum, but they don’t
do
anything.” Jonathan’s grin widened and when she laughed, he laughed with her. Enjoying the unusual moment, she almost didn’t hear her phone when it rang.

“Hey, you sound happy.” Ross said. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, we’re at Stonehenge,” she said lightly, “and it’s definitely not Potterworld.” She and Jonathan chuckled again at the joke.

“I see.” Ross’s voice changed almost instantly. “I wanted to call and say I was sorry about earlier, you know, the coming home thing. I sounded like a whiny kid. And you’re going through a lot. Eli too.”

“You have a right to say how you feel.” She watched as Eli and Jane raced back to them, Eli’s cheeks pink with excitement and Jane out of breath beside him. He started pulling on Azure’s arm, getting her to come with him. “I—just a second, dear.” She told Eli.

“Sounds like I’m interrupting.” Ross answered.

“No. “

“Az, we’ll be over here.” Jonathan said, taking Eli’s hand.

“Jonathan’s there with you?”

“Well, of course he’s here with me, Ross. We came here together.”

“I thought he had a girlfriend.”

“Kate had to work. Look—” she waved at Eli and started walking in their direction.  “I’ve got to go, can’t we talk later?”

There was nothing on the line but silence. Az looked at her phone to be sure the connection was still there. It was. “Ross? You there?” Finally, just when she was going to hang up, he spoke.

“Is…Are you…and Jonathan together?”

She was stunned.  The kiss in Jonathan’s father’s study had been an isolated moment. Both of them had been in a highly emotional state. Nothing else had happened since. Nor did she expect it to, or want it to. She and Jonathan were over. Why would Ross even think of that?

“Jonathan and I have a history, we have a child together. Do you really think I’d come over here and sleep with my ex husband because of…I don’t know. “

“That’s it, Az, I don’t know.”

She turned away, hoping her voice didn’t carry. Jonathan and Eli were engaged in some conversation with Reggie and a tour guide and far enough away, but Az forced herself to keep her voice down. “So I can’t be trusted, is that it?” Thoughts whirled in her mind. The irony of Ross being jealous over Jonathan was not lost on her.