Project Valentine (A Homespun Romance) (9 page)

Halfway to Jacaranda Meadows, Jessica looked down and realized she'd pulled on a pink shirt with carmine flowers over blue pants.
Jessica sighed. One of these days she would get it all right.

Right clothes, right man, right time.

Right man.
Fear stabbed at her, altering her heartbeat. If that was the way her mind was working these days she could be in real trouble. She was too familiar with her symptoms to ignore them. She'd seen four sisters and three brothers fall in love, get married. Change, in dress, in attitude, were some of the first symptoms of being in love. Was she ready for that?

She had vowed that if loving someone meant being dominated she didn't want any of it.
Not that it mattered in this instance, she told herself immediately. Karl wasn't available even if she was interested.

Jessica glared at the stretch of freeway.
It was ridiculous to build anything on a couple of kisses. Karl and she were like chalk and cheese. The only things they had in common were a hundred and thirty five pound dog and a little girl with an enormous intelligent quotient.

He hadn't reappeared Saturday.
Not that she'd expected him to, after the way he’d deliberately avoided kissing her Jessica had changed back into her clothes, convinced Molly to postpone Arthur's training session to next week, and fled, all in record time. Molly had agreed to say goodbye for her and thank Karl for the loan of his robe.

Jessica glanced at it now.
Laundered and neatly folded, in a plastic bag it reminded her of the crazy impulses he'd stirred in her that weekend. Never before had she experienced such a cacophony of sensation, such a wild desire to ask for more. Jessica clamped down on that particular train of thought. It was a road that led nowhere. Tonight would be strictly business. There must be no reruns.

Karl had the garage door raised and two powerful lights switched on, as she pulled up in front of his house and parked by the curb.

"Thanks for coming over so quickly Jessica."

The navy blue polo neck top and faded blue jeans were molded to his frame.
Her senses immediately rioted, overthrowing reason. Darn the man for looking like he did. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Arthur won't get into the Audi."

Karl had good cause to be worried.
Lifting a hundred and thirty five pound dog into the car was out of the question.

Jessica opened both rear doors of the Audi.
Slipping into the car on the left side she patted the seat beside her, "Come here, Arthur. Good boy, come here."

He came to her through the right rear door, laying his head dolefully in her lap.
Jessica felt love well up in her. "What's the matter? Don't you feel well?"

His nose was raspy and his eyes dull.
Jessica felt a finger of fear slide up her spine. She hoped it wasn't anything serious. Not now, when he and Molly had just found each other.

Karl didn't say anything on the ten minute drive to the vet.
Jessica began to wonder if he was upset. He had every right to be. His sleep interrupted, his yard ruined, his precious leisure time taken over. And this was just the beginning. What was it she'd told him at the Clearview Plaza? Arthur wouldn't be any trouble? Karl's anger had to be directed towards her as well.

Arthur had evidently been to the vet on several previous occasions.
Something about the smell of antiseptic must have revived memories because he sat down in the doorway and refused to budge.

"Come on, Arthur, good boy, come on."

All her coaxing didn't work. He pulled against her hold on the collar and she couldn't do a thing. If he really decided to pit his strength against hers, he would be unmanageable.

"Arthur, come on sweetheart."
Rubbing his neck she dropped her voice low. "We've got to get you better. Molly's going to be real upset if she hears you're sick. Come on."

She looked up at Karl, to find him watching her.
Their gazes linked. Immediately a polite shield replaced the warmth in Karl's eyes. He was backing away from her again.

"Did he hurt your arm?"
The question was cool and formal, but Jessica knew she wasn't mistaken about the flare of emotion she'd seen.

"No.
He knows his own strength, I think. He just wants to make a point. He doesn't want to go in there."

Karl Wagner could teach the U.S. army how to retreat.

She rubbed Arthur's head, then tried leading him in again.
Pressing his forepaws into the ground he flattened his ears. She couldn't budge him.

"If you could just push a bit...?"

She would store up this memory and laugh about it later. Right now it took all hers and Karl's combined strength to get Arthur into the doctor's examining room. Both of them were breathing hard when Dr. Mills came into the room. One look at Arthur's size and the vet said, "Relax folks. I'm not going to ask you to lift him onto the examining table. If you'll wait outside, I'll be with you as soon as I examine your dog."

A girl appeared to help the vet as they returned to the waiting room.

Jessica tried to leaf through a magazine while they waited. It was hard to concentrate with Karl striding up and down. Every now and then she stole a glance at him. There was a leashed impatience about him, at odds with his usual calm. Twice he stopped and flung a glance her way as if he wanted to say something. Outwardly serene, Jessica flipped a page staring blankly at a section that offered sixty five recipes for ten minute meals. The old man in the corner clutching a Siamese kitten watched them with avid curiosity. Evidently he'd picked up the tension between them and would love an argument to brighten his day. Jessica turned another page. Whatever Karl wanted to say had to wait till they got back to his place. She wasn't risking an argument here.

Jessica could almost guess what he would say.
Arthur had to go back. She'd told Karl dogs lowered blood pressure, reduced anxiety. Somebody should have told Arthur that. So far he'd done everything possible to achieve exactly the opposite results.

"Well folks, your dog's going to be fine."
Jessica stood up as a beaming Dr. Mills came into the room. "There's nothing seriously wrong with him. He's running a slight temperature but as there are no other symptoms to go on, it might just be a chill. California weather's so strange at this time of year with a forty degree temperature difference between night and day. Don't be in too much of a hurry to bathe him again and make sure his bed's in a draft free place. I've given him a shot and here's a prescription for an antibiotic. Slip the tablets into a hot dog or wrap a slice of salami around it and he'll take it. There's another way I'll show you later when he's more used to you. For now this will do the trick. If he's not better in thirty six hours call me." Reaching out he patted Jessica's shoulder kindly. "Not to worry Mom."

It was a good thing Arthur was in as great a hurry to get back to the car as she was.
Burying her face in his side she shook with laughter.

"Something wrong?"
Karl peered at her.

Jessica lifted laughter filled eyes to him.
"I love Arthur," she said in a shaky voice, "but Mom?"

Karl looked at them sitting side by side on the back seat, threw his head back and roared with laughter.

A while later, Jessica wiped her eyes.
"A thought just occurred to me. If I'm Mom, do you know who Dr. Mills thinks you are?"

"Dad?"

They couldn't help the gales of laughter that followed. Arthur sensed their happiness and licked Jessica's hand approvingly, as Karl, shoulders shaking, slid into the driver's seat.

"You know he's beginning to get to me?"
Karl's words broke the silence in the car when they were back on the freeway. Jessica's jaw dropped. So, the silence, the pacing had been worry....not impatience. "I was almost worried about him for a while there. Not just for Molly's sake. He's kind of grown on me, the way he waits for me to come home. I barely say a word to him and yet seeing me seems to make him wildly happy. He sits by the patio door as long as I'm in the family room, even if I close the drapes. I don't do anything for him."

In the darkness Jessica smiled her Mona Lisa smile.
Arthur's own special brand of charm was beginning to work. She'd counted on that. She wasn't aware of the huge sigh of relief that escaped her. Happy endings were wonderful.

"Tired?"
The warmth was back in Karl's voice.

"Not really."
Jessica frowned trying to figure the man out.

He thinks he's safe in the darkness, that I won't see anything he doesn't want me to.

"Thanks for coming over so quickly."

"It's nothing," she said quickly.
"I meant what I said that day in the mall about helping you with him. I'm just sorry Arthur's disrupting your life so much."

"No one can help being sick."

There was nothing to say in the light of such reasoning. Jessica stared out at the darkness quietly.

Why was Karl denying his feelings?
The more evidence he gave her that he was, the more Jessica wanted to solve the puzzle Karl's behavior presented.

CHAPTER FIVE

Urging a sleepy Arthur out of the car and onto his piece of carpeting in the garage took no time at all. Jessica noted the new dog door cut into the side of the garage to give Arthur access to it.

"I guess that's all we can do for him now.
He'll be fine. I'd better be going." Keeping her voice light, Jessica checked his water dish before giving Arthur one last loving pat. She couldn't express the urge that came over her to stay a while longer.

"Have you eaten?"
Jessica looked up to see Karl holding the door into the house open for her.

"Not yet."
Suddenly her feet dragged. Her emotions were on a see-saw. One minute she wanted to stay, get to know Karl better. The next she wanted to put as much distance as she could between this man and herself. "I have something I can warm up at home." The movie had been a double feature and they hadn't stopped to eat after that as Gina had a forty five minute drive home.

"Do you like Chinese food?
I brought home some take-out today." When had Karl decided she was staying? For the umpteenth time Jessica told herself she disliked men who made up her mind for her.

"I don't want to deprive you of your dinner," Jessica protested, wondering why she couldn't be firmer about leaving.

"You won't.
I brought plenty. Come on in."

The door from the garage opened directly into the laundry room Jessica had seen on her last visit.
In the family room, Karl invited her to sit down, switched on the evening news. Jessica balanced on the edge of a black leather couch as Karl washed his hands and began emptying the contents of the white take out cartons into dishes. He moved around the kitchen, heating food in the microwave, setting the table for two, with the ease of someone used to doing things for himself.

Suddenly Jessica was very conscious of being alone with Karl.
Of needs and impulses that surged blindly to the top. Nervously she pushed her glasses up.

Watching the news while they ate filled in the gaps in their conversation.
The chow mein and sweet and sour chicken that she would normally have enjoyed tasted like blotting paper. The eating island in the kitchen seemed like a small oasis shutting them off from the rest of the world. She could feel the warmth from Karl's body as she sat next to him. He'd jostled the two chairs closer on the side that faced the television. His presence shut off sanity. To Jessica's keyed up senses every second seemed to slow down.

Afterwards, Jessica insisted on loading the used dishes in the dishwasher as Karl put things away in the refrigerator and wiped the table.
It was time to call it a day. Tiredness always aided her overactive imagination and it certainly didn't need any help.

Jessica was caught open mouthed when Karl turned to her, "Let's go into the other room for a while, shall we?"

Becoming aware of her expression his mouth lifted in its familiar quirk, "You were about to say?"

"I can't remember."
Jessica blinked.

What other room, she wondered wildly as she followed him.
Reminded of the suddenness with which he'd kissed her, the level of weakness he always reduced her to, Jessica's nerves began to jangle.

Karl led her through a hallway.
Suddenly they were in a marble entryway the size of her apartment. Jessica vaguely remembered walking through it before. Anger hadn't let her observe details on that occasion. Now she took everything in.

The sunken living room looked as if it belonged on the sets of Dynasty.
An enormous white cathedral ceiling sloped upwards. Jessica's gaze was caught and held by the tiny glitters embedded in the texture of the ceiling.

"Now why," she wondered, "would anyone put sparkles up there?
I mean there's no way one could see them or appreciate them unless, unless...."

The thought of the position one would have to be in to appreciate that particular aspect of Karl's home, it's accompanying suggestiveness, vacuumed the breath from her lungs.
Jessica threw a blanket over her overactive imagination and looked around.

The step down living room was an awe inspiring ocean of chrome and glass.
Huge glossy plants broke up the severity. On one wall was an enormous painting Jessica thought she might understand better if she stood on her head to look at it.

She hesitated, almost afraid to step down.

"We could just use the family room," she began hesitantly.

Karl looked up, from where he knelt in front of the fireplace.
There was no doubting his surprise at her suggestion. "Why?"

"I don't know.
This room just looks so.. so.. elegant."

Maddy Brenton would fit in here perfectly.

He frowned, "Don't be silly Jessica."

Moving the brass screen in front of the fireplace aside, he set a match to the single log there.
The sharp, short jabs with which he pushed the buttons on an elaborate stereo system told Jessica he was annoyed. Gentle, classical music, at odds with the tension in the room, filtered through hidden speakers. Sitting down gingerly on the very edge of one of the pale peach couches, she studied the glass figure of a woman, head thrown back, arms raised to the skies. She'd seen something like it recently in a magazine. If her memory served her right it cost close to two months of her salary. Jessica tightened her spine. This was definitely not a room one relaxed in.

Apparently Karl didn't think so.
Sweeping the black and peach cushions off the other couch he arranged them on the floor.

Jessica blinked.
Her imagination hinted at romance in the air. She threw another blanket over it.

"Would you like some wine?"

"N.o.o, thank you." A sudden surge of adrenalin, made her hands damp, interfered with her breathing.

Something in her tone made Karl turn from his contemplation of the fire.
A frown crossed his brow, "Why on earth are you perched on the edge like that? Here, take your shoes off, sprawl if you want to. Make yourself comfortable while I get some wine."

Jessica looked at the sheen of the silver carpet.
No, she didn't think it would forgive sprawling. She did move back a couple of inches though. It was either that, or fall off the edge.

Karl returned with two wine glasses and an unopened bottle, "I got you some juice."

"Th... thank you," Jessica wet her lips. She had some explaining to do. The sooner she got it over with the better.

Karl turned to her.
The look in his narrowed eyes slashed its way to her soul. Jessica shrank and stared at the fire. What she had to say couldn't wait any longer.

"I...It's all my fault that Arthur's sick."
The confession made her feel worse, not better. She should have been more careful.

Karl's eyebrows rose.
"What makes you say that Jessica?"

"I..I shouldn't have bathed Arthur.
You heard what the vet said about not being in too much of a hurry to bathe him again. Earlier on the telephone he told me Arthur's coat should be brushed daily and cleaned once in a while with pads saturated in rubbing alcohol."

The flickering flames reminded Karl of the way her mouth had felt under his.
Gentle, exploring, inexperienced. Compunction pierced him as he listened to her apology and teamed with a protective gentleness.

"
It’s not your fault he's sick Jessica," he said calmly. "Bathing Arthur was Molly's idea. I should have looked it up in the dog book but I didn't think it would hurt to bathe him. So, if you have to blame someone, blame me."

"I've always bathed my own dogs," she twisted a tissue in her hands, staring down at it.
"I've never heard about cleaning a dog any other way till today."

Karl sat down on the carpet, propping himself against the couch.
"Tell me about your family, Jessica."

She almost dropped her glass.
Head tilted she thought of his words. Imagination insisted he'd said something about returning Arthur to the shelter. But he hadn't. Her tension had obliterated the first part, she'd definitely caught the last words. Your family.

Jessica tried to marshal her scrambling senses, summon pictures of her family.
"Mom and Dad live in San Francisco. They have a home supply store in Oakland."

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"Six brothers, four sisters."

He turned towards her, surprised.
"A really large family."

Jessica nodded.
The ice was melting. Thoughts of her family always warmed her. "Yes. My mother's decision to have a large family wasn't based on religious reasons or anything like that. She taught nursery school before she married my Dad and just loves children. She always says her family is her only wealth."

"Do you want a large family, Jessica?"
It seemed important to know.

"I'm not sure.
It would depend on so many things. The man I marry, our financial circumstances, the size of family he wants. I think I'd like four children."

"What was it like growing up in such a big family?"

The love and friendship Jessica associated with her family showed in her voice when she spoke. "It was fun. I was never lonely or bored. I'm the youngest girl. When you're at the tail end, you also have very little chances of growing up spoiled. I didn't like having so many people telling me what to do. I remember my mother putting up a `duty list' each week which we kids had to follow. We were all very self reliant and responsible." Jessica's eyes glowed with her recollections. "With so many of us, the adventures we had as a family made television seem boring."

"What made you decide to move to Southern California?"

Seriousness threw a shadow on her face as she answered him, unaware that she'd slid off the couch and was sitting on a cushion next to him.
"Large families also mean patterns being set by the older children that the younger ones automatically follow." Marriage, settling down with a good man, were the pattern four sisters had set. All had married men like her father. Very much the head of the family. Jessica wasn't ready to follow in their footsteps. She could never be happy in the role of `little woman.' To her marriage meant a partnership, not an autocracy. "Sometimes being part of a large family means being overprotected. I had to get away, find out who Jessica Woods really is, see if she could survive on her own, before it was too late."

"And...?"
Karl prompted.

"And I've found I like living on my own, making my own decisions, taking care of myself."
Jessica sipped the juice, wishing she'd asked for wine.

"You've established your individuality haven't you?"

"Yes." She didn't want to mention she intended to keep things this way for the rest of her life. She didn't want to be dominated ever again. If she couldn't find a man who thought the same way she preferred to remain single.

Karl stared into the fire.
He guessed it had been no small battle for her. Her size invited protectiveness, the automatic idea that she needed taking care of. But one only had to talk to her to know that was the last thing Jessica needed. She could take care of herself.

Was he bored?

Jessica wondered what Maddy Brenton would have talked about.
Dental innovations, nuclear warfare, world peace?

"Karl, tell me about your family."

He looked at her and for a minute Jessica was thrown by the veil of bitterness in his eyes. A sore spot?

"I grew up in Grosse Pointe, Detroit.
There was just my sister, Andy, and myself. Parochial schools, Stanford, and then I decided to come and start a practice here."

Jessica could almost see the curtain that had come down between them.
It was cold too, as if Karl had drifted away from the warmth of the fire into the icy clutches of his past. His short, bald sentences told her more than any speech would have. There was an emptiness within him that didn't want analysis.

Growing up in a large family had provided each of the Woods clan with experience and insight it took a psychologist years to gather.
It was time to change the subject.

Jessica leaned back against the cushions.
"Why did you decide to become a dentist?"

Karl's face changed, lightened.
"Once when I was about nine I broke a tooth. My mother took me to the dentist. I was terrified because I'd always associated dentists with pain and fear though I'd never been to one. My mother went often though, and she was always tied up in knots the whole week she went. That fear communicated itself to both Andy and me. I was scared sick of going to one. My mother took me to Dr. Hayes who specialized in children's dentistry." Karl's face softened with the memories. "The man was wonderful. He talked to me and explained exactly what he was going to do. He told me except for the first prick of the needle, if he caused me any pain, he would let me kick his shin for every twinge I felt. I was so busy waiting for the pain, I don't feel any of the treatment. When it was over, he lifted the leg of his pants and said, 'Well young man, how many times?' I couldn't say a word, just shook my head. I hadn't felt a thing.