Authors: Stevie MacFarlane
“What this is, Maggie, is a reasonable man trying like hell to keep from spanking some sense into a totally unreasonable woman,” he shot back almost growling into the phone. “And in case you’re wondering, even I’m not sure how much longer I can continue being reasonable.”
Maggie shivered, whether from fear or desire she wasn’t sure. She had been Rebecca’s maid of honor the day she had married Mason, and it was a day she’d never forget. Maggie had stood before the alter, trembling while Mason had instructed his bride-to-be on the proper response to the question ‘Do you promise to love, honor, and obey?’ Absolutely mortified at what was taking place, a part of her was a little jealous and wondering what it would be like to have the love of that kind of man. Someone strong and confident who would love and care for you, even if you were acting like an idiot. Someone to help and guide you, who would hold you accountable, yet be a strong supporter and a tender place to rest your head when the world became just too damn much.
“Maggie?” Nick’s rough voice pulled her back to the present with a jolt.
“I heard you, Saturday, but don’t get used to it,” she told him trying to keep the quiver out of her voice. “I have to go. Goodnight.”
While not afraid of Nick, he had definitely given her something to think about. Not that she wanted to. Her heart was beating way too fast, and she couldn’t stop the butterflies in her tummy. Crawling into bed, she made a mental note to herself. Don’t talk to Nick at night and then expect to be able to sleep! First thing Monday morning, she would be calling her lawyer to see just how good a case Nick had. She had berated herself as a hopeless fool all those years ago when she’d secreted away the letters she had sent Nick. All of them had been returned unopened. Now she was hoping they might be of some use.
* * *
Nick paced the apartment alternately cursing and groaning in frustration. Let her call her lawyer. Maybe it would help convince her that she didn’t have a prayer of keeping Jason from him. His jeans rode low on his slim hips, and his bare feet made no sound on the thick carpet. He’d fallen asleep on the couch, and Maggie’s phone call had caught him off guard. That woman was driving him crazy. It was a good thing she had those kids, because if it had been only her, he’d be beating down her door right now.
Yeah, and do what, a little voice asked him
.
Nick ran a hand though his hair and slammed his fist down on the window sill.
The flickering lights of the city held no interest for him tonight. He wished he knew how to reach her. Jason aside, he wanted her and he had to face it. His body ached with a hunger he hadn’t experienced in years. Other women held no appeal for him now. Ever since New Year’s he hadn’t felt even a passing attraction for another woman.
Nick tried to play it cool, and it galled him that he couldn’t. He had always prided himself in his ability to reason, even with the most difficult client. He’d always been able to see both sides of an issue, weigh the pros and cons, and come up with a workable solution. For some reason when dealing with the little redhead, all logic flew out the window. Trying to change Maggie’s mind once it was made up was the equivalent to beating one’s head against a brick wall. Resorting to threats was not his style, and although he’d never raised his hand to a woman in anger, his palm itched to make hard contact with the seat of her faded jeans. An educated man, Nick knew violence never accomplished anything, but he just knew giving Maggie the spanking of her life would make him feel better. A lot better. Damn.
Padding across the carpet, Nick debated for a moment. Eyeing the well-stocked bar, he headed for the kitchen. After brewing a pot of coffee, he retrieved a legal pad from the desk and sat down at the table. He’d always relied on his quick methodical mind in times of trouble, and this problem could be worked out the same way, he reasoned.
Yeah, well you can also thank your quick mind for jumping to conclusions fifteen years ago buddy,
his conscience forced him to admit
.
If you hadn’t been so damn quick to think the worst, Maggie would never have married the wrong man in the first place
.
A vision of Caitie popped into his head and he smiled. Wrong man or not, Jim and Maggie had made beautiful kids. Not that there was anything wrong with the child he and Maggie had made. Jason was everything a man could want in a son. Taking on Todd and Caitie wouldn’t be a hardship, and it certainly wasn’t too late to have another one or two just to round out the bunch. Nick smiled, picturing a new seven passenger van filled with laughing children. The fact that Maggie and he couldn’t be in the same room for five minutes without arguing didn’t interfere with this particular daydream at all. Yes, she was a hot-headed, stubbornly independent little thing, but love had to count for something in this mess, and he’d loved Maggie for twenty years.
Then where were you for the last fifteen
?
Nick often hated the times his mind worked both sides of an issue and this was one of them. All right, I’ll admit I didn’t think about her every day for the last fifteen years, but I thought I’d been betrayed, and I certainly didn’t know about Jason. That changes everything.
Not in her book. I think the lady’s done okay for herself, despite the hardship. Give me one good reason for her to let you back into her life.
Jason.
Not good enough, buddy. Jason won’t miss what he never had
.
Then Maggie herself. I want her, and not just for Jason. We were good together before but now it’s like magic. I’ve never been with a woman who affected me like she does.
That’s passion, not love, you jerk. She won’t buy it. She’s fighting it tooth and nail now
.
“Then I’ll take her to court, damn it,” he shouted out loud, sick of his own arguments.
Win the child; lose the woman. Brilliant, Sherlock.
Nick threw the pad against the wall. “Oh, shut up,” he mumbled.
Chapter Three
The week had gone from bad to worse as far as Maggie was concerned. She was even more depressed after meeting with her lawyer on Tuesday. Although he had agreed to represent her if it came to that, he vehemently urged her to reach some kind of out of court agreement with Nick.
“The courts are leaning more heavily towards father’s rights than ever before, and I’ll tell you Nick’s case looks good. I’ve heard he’s a tough lawyer, Maggie. Don’t underestimate him,” he’d told her.
“Then my letters mean nothing,” she stated angrily.
“Well no, they show that your intentions were good, in the beginning. You tried to do the right thing, and that will help with the Judge, but in fifteen years you’ve never made any attempt to contact Nick again. I’m sure if you had contacted him at some point during that time, you wouldn’t be in this position.”
Maggie grabbed her purse and thanked Frank, even though he hadn’t been much help. She left his office more confused and upset than ever.
The kids had been super excited when she’d told them about going with Nick on Saturday, and even Caitlin had insisted that she too was going to the “ ‘cade”.
The scene Nick had created at work was quickly forgotten by everyone except Maggie and Jack Harley, who seemed determined to undermine her authority. His almost constant sexual innuendos made her more uneasy than angry. She was used to her share of good-natured ribbing, and it never went any farther than that, but Jack’s sly remarks were different. Unable to admit that the man actually scared her, she tried to laugh them off, but it was becoming more difficult.
Jack was an expert stone mason, but she would have to let him go if he didn’t change his attitude. The entire crew had to work together, each person doing their job safely and efficiently, and she refused to spend her day trying to dodge him. Maggie waited until Friday to confront him, figuring he’d have the weekend to think about what she said.
“I’d like a few minutes of your time, Jack,” she told him, catching him alone for a moment. She had no intention of embarrassing either of them.
“Baby, you can have all my time,” he drawled suggestively, a cocky grin on his face. When he tried to slip an arm around her, Maggie shrugged out of it.
“That’s what I want to talk to you about. I…”
“No need to be bashful, boss lady,” he went on, misreading the look on her red face and apparently undeterred by her less than friendly attitude. “I imagine you get pretty lonely without a man. I could see things weren’t exactly great with your uh… friend the other day.”
Maggie swallowed. This wasn’t going at all as she’d planned, and while she didn’t want to antagonize Jack, she definitely wanted this conversation back on track.
“Look, Jack, what I do with my friends is no concern of yours,” she began, pulling herself up to her full height and squaring her shoulders. “This kind of talk is exactly what I wanted to speak to you about.”
“So talk,” he told her sharply, leaning against the building and folding his arms across his chest. Although he was an attractive man with his blonde hair, good looks, and muscular build, he did absolutely nothing for her. She knew he was a drinker, and the word around was that his wife had left him because of it. Maggie always sensed anger in him, even when he was being deceptively calm. For a moment she considered just firing him and being done with it, but Maggie was a fair woman, and she wanted to be sure she made her position perfectly clear. In the past, there had been men who had a hard time adjusting to a woman foreman; the majority of them had worked out just fine after they realized she meant business.
“Jack,” she began, removing her hard hat and wiping her sleeve across her forehead. “First off, I want to say that I think you’re about the best brick layer I’ve ever seen—”
“You should see me without the bricks,” he grinned.
“Damn it, that’s just about enough,” she almost shouted, really angry now as she pointed her finger at him. “I think you could be a real asset to this crew, Jack, but you have got to stop speaking to me in that manner. I may be a woman, but I’m your boss. I don’t appreciate
you—”
“You would if you’d let yourself.”
Maggie gasped in rage.
“You may try to act like a man, boss lady, but I could make you feel like a woman,” he drawled smugly, raking her body with hot eyes.
Maggie was speechless with anger. The nerve of this guy was colossal.
Taking her silence as an invitation, Jack reached out and hauled her against him, his lips smothering her protest. For a second she was too stunned to react, but when she did it was violently.
His hard arms squeezed her ribs, and she struggled to draw breath. She was sorry she’d decided to have this talk after hours. Panicked, Maggie brought her knee up quickly and stumbled back at her almost instant release.
“You bitch,” he ground out painfully between clenched teeth. “What did you do that for?”
Maggie wiped her hand over her mouth and stood perfectly straight. Her eyes glittered with fury, and when she spoke to him there was no question she meant every word.
“If you ever lay a hand on me again, you’re through. I’ve tried to explain how things work around here, buddy, and if you’re too thick to understand, get your stuff and get out. I am the foreman and you are an employee, and that’s all we’ll ever be. You do your job and keep your hands to yourself. Treat me with the respect you would a man, and we’ll get along just fine. If that’s not acceptable to you, then you know what to do. And if you’re back here on Monday, then I’ll assume we have an understanding.”
Spinning on her heel, Maggie walked away quickly. She couldn’t let him see how shaken she really was as she felt his eyes boring into her back. Once in her pickup, Maggie’s hands were so slippery with sweat she could hardly turn the key. She’d had troubles of this nature before but never to this extreme. Most guys got the message quickly enough, and as she drove home she tried to figure out what the difference was this time. By the time she’d driven two miles, she knew. This time she was afraid.
* * *
Maggie pulled into the driveway and eyed the blue van suspiciously. It was obviously brand new, the dealer invoice still stuck to the window, and she had absolutely no idea who it belonged to. Great, company, she frowned, climbing down from the truck. She was hot, tired, dirty and mentally exhausted; the last thing she wanted was conversation.
Walking in the back door, she didn’t stop to remove her boots, but called out to the kids on her way through the house. Receiving no answer, she hurried toward the living room, the sound of the television drawing her. When she reached the doorway she stopped, taking in the scene. She knew why the kids hadn’t heard her. They were engrossed in a movie.
The coffee table was covered with pizza boxes and sodas. Caitlin was firmly entrenched on Nick’s lap, and his shirt had several sauce stains on it that matched the mess on her face. Jason and Todd were on the floor, inches from the TV, something she didn’t allow. Absently, she did notice that everyone had their shoes off—a small concession given that almost every other house rule was being broken. She didn’t allow eating in the living room, no one had changed out of their school clothes, and not one coaster was in use. Great, she thought—at work and at home, I have no authority.
Walking up to the couch, she finally spoke.
“I’m home.”
Three voices said “Shhh…” in unison and her hands came to her hips as Nick turned to look at her over the top of Caitie’s head.
“Batman,” he whispered, sliding Caitie off his lap and standing up. His eyes registered her fatigue and grabbing one of the pizzas, he walked to her, motioning for her to go into the kitchen.
Maggie turned and stomped away. His eyes had been incredibly gentle, and the sight of him and Caitlin snuggled up on the couch had softened her shamefully. After the day she’d had, she obviously couldn’t trust her emotions, so she forced herself to keep quiet until they were in the other room.