“People like Colette and Heather,” Kit said bitterly, “who eagerly blamed all the problems on me.”
“Exactly. They're the reason I decided to check you out.”
Kit was startled. “They... But I don't understand.”
“I've learned, over the years, to believe about ten percent of what those two females tell me. The trouble sometimes is knowing exactly which ten percent is the truth. So I went to Tryad to check you out myself. Were you the cold and scheming sort who'd steal from a desperate cause? Or had you gotten stuck in circumstances?” He added thoughtfully, “You greeted me very ungraciously that afternoon, if you recall.”
Kit remembered, all rightâshe'd been nervous and defensive, on edge and wary. “I didn't even ask you to sit down.”
“That's right. You were a very cool customer. The kind, I thought, who wouldn't care much about any cause, especially if it got in the way of your profits. So, in anger, I gave you a challenge. If you succeeded, you would at least make up for the mess the fashion show had turned into. But if you tried to pull a single stuntâ”
“Then you'd have good cause to ruin me.”
“Better than Colette's and Heather's opinions, that's sure.”
“Well,” Kit mused, “I suppose it's some comfort that at least you didn't condemn me on their word.”
“I gave you my ultimatum. And then you did two things that were really strange.”
“Only two?” Kit's list would have been a whole lot longer than that.
“You didn't seem concerned about yourself but about your partnersâand somehow that didn't sound like the hard, cold woman I thought I was seeing. And then you pulled off that press conference to announce the auction and really threw down the gauntletâand I was fascinated. You'd taken on a tremendous job, more than I'd even dreamed of asking.”
“Too bad you didn't tell me I didn't have to go to such lengths.”
He smiled. “It was too late for thatâyou'd made sure of it. I still didn't know, though, quite
why
you were doing it. Was it my threat or your own nature that was making you work so hard? And I kept reminding myself that just because you weren't pulling any obvious tricks this time didn't mean you weren't capable of it.”
“So you watched.”
“And I started quietly pulling a few strings.”
“For the sake of the cause?” Kit asked, almost bitterly. “Or to make sure there was enough money that it would be worth my while to steal some of it?”
“At first, maybe. But by the end, I did it because I wanted you to succeed.”
“You should have told me what you were doing.”
He nodded. “You're no doubt right, but I thought it didn't make any difference. You'd never know that I had anything to do with it, and your glorious success would give you and Tryad a boost. It would help make up for my doubt and the threats I'd made.”
She thought it over. “Why?” she asked finally. The word was little more than a whisper.
“You're a puzzle, Kit. An enigma. I wanted to stick around till I could figure out which was the real youâthe efficient and cool lady who had everything under control or the scatterbrained, hodgepodge female who couldn't even put her clothes on right.”
“Don't tease me about that,” she said softly. “I never pretended to be any competition for the Lingerie Ladies.”
His gaze drifted over her from head to foot. “Don't you know,” he asked soberly, “that you are shatteringly lovely, and that you always will be?”
Kit gulped. She didn't dare let herself take him seriously. All she could do was try to make a joke of it. “If you make one more remark about my shoulder blades, Jarrett Websterâ”
“Oh, there are women who have more perfect shapes than you, and women whose faces are technically more beautiful. But you are an original, Kit, and part of your attraction is the fact that you are uncertain of your charm and unaware that you are special.” His voice dropped even lower. “And you are very, very desirable.”
The mere word was enough to set off a reaction that rocked Kit to the core. Longing flickered through her veins like fire consuming living grass, slowly, sensually, irrevocably.
“And yet,” Jarrett said. “sometimes you weren't uncertain at all. You knew exactly what you thought of me. You were putting up with me, no more. Whenever I made any move toward getting seriousâ”
Kit frowned. If he was talking about all the times he'd suggested they have an affairâwell, that was hardly what she'd call serious.
“You'd back. away or turn it into a joke. I mentioned the Riviera, and you suggested an army tent in Iceland.”
“You
meant
that?” she whispered.
“When I offered you two weeks in the Caribbeanâtwo weeks that could truly have been paradiseâyou shrugged it off as if you didn't care.”
There was no denying the pain in his voice, and Kit could feel herself healing as he spoke. She didn't know if he would ever call what he felt for her
love
âbut she didn't care. The emotion, not the name, was what counted, and she knew that he, too, felt this tie between them.
“I cared,” she said huskily. “I cared too much.”
The words were like a pebble dropped into a still pond. It took a moment for the ripples to appear, but once started, they would go on forever.
Jarrett's hands cupped her face, and for a long moment he stared into her eyes. Then with a little groan he caught her close. His kiss was fire, welding her heart to his, and Kit wanted it never to end. Everything was all right, now that they were together.
Except...
Eventually, she drew away from him. “You still have to take Nancy to the Caribbean,” she reminded him.
Jarrett sighed. “Yes, that is a bit of a complication. Do you mind?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He smiled at her, and his arms tightened. “I love you, Kit.”
Kit thought she was going to explode with happiness. “I love you, too,” she whispered, and once more his mouth took hers.
When she could breathe again, she asked, “Did you just wander into the store this afternoon?”
Jarrett relaxed his hold a fraction and complained, “Kitten, you have a very inconvenient habit of letting your mind wander when I'm doing my best to kiss you senseless.”
“Then it's obvious you'll have to practice.”
He smiled and drew her closer once more. “My pleasure.”
Kit put both hands on his chest. “But in the meantime, you haven't answered my question. Did you just happen to come in?”
“Of course not. The manager called to tell me you were here.”
“Really? Does she personally report all customers or just ones who have been spotted with you on previous occasions?”
“She thought I might be especially interested in this case, so she arranged for you to look at everything in the store till I got here.”
“I'm disappointed if that means not every customer gets the sort of attention and service I did.”
“We do the best we can in that regard, but I'd say you got the VIP treatment.” He released her and stepped to the door, beckoning to someone in the back room. “That reminds meâI'd like to formally introduce you. Kitten, you do remember Nancy?”
The gorgeous redhead came into the drawing room, and Jarrett slipped an arm around her shoulders.
Kit gasped. “Nancy's the manager of this place?”
“And she's my sister,” Jarrett said.
Nancy smiledâit was very like Jarrett's smileâand held out a hand. “Spending two weeks on the island would be fine,” she said. “But there's no way I want this guy taking up space next to
my
deck chair, so I'm glad you've worked it out.”
Kit's head was spinning. She'd suspected that the story of a home in Europe might be a cover-up. But she'd never have expected Jarrett's sister to work for him. And yet, what a perfect hiding place it would be. And she could understand why Nancy had chosen it, as well, for there was pride in her face and in the way she stood. She wasn't a woman who could be offered a handout, that was certain. It was incredible for a woman who had been battered to have brought her self-esteem to such a level.
“She's fantastic,” she said, after Nancy had gone to her office.
“In lots of ways.” He tipped his head as he looked at Kit. “Including braving her fears of being spotted by Chicago society just to buy me. You don't think I'd have left something so important to chance, do you?”
“No. But Susannah was bidding, too, and I thoughtâ”
“That I'd set her up to do it? Oh, no. She's too good a friend of yours, and I knew if you told her to cut it out, she would. And of course she did.”
“But wait a minute. Then who's Colette? You said something about family when Heather offered to rig the auction, so I thought
she
might be your sister.”
“Second cousin. Unfortunately, that's not quite close enough for me to turn her daughter over my knee.”
“Too bad.”
“Isn't it, though? We'll have to talk about Heather sometime. But just now we have far more interesting things to think about.”
“Yes.” Kit's voice trailed off, and then with sudden firmness she said, “I have a confession to make, Jarrett. I didn't expect you to cooperate with the auction.”
Jarrett shook his head chidingly. “That was foolish of you. By then I was far too intrigued not to.” He settled her more comfortably in his arms and gently rested his chin against her hair. “I think the reason I was so angry in the first place was because I was attracted to you from the very beginning.”
“Must have been the harem outfit.”
“That didn't hurt. Then I thought for a while that an affair would do it, that I could get you out of my system that way. Now I know it'll take a lifelong affair. Soâ” He tipped her face up to his. “Marry me, Kit?”
“Are you serious?”
“Never more so. There's nothing I won't do for a good causeâeven get married.”
Kit frowned.
He went on happily. “Just thinkâa wedding coming out of this year's auction will make an enormous splash to promote the next one.”
“You mean there's going to be another one?”
“Why not? It was a great show. And next year we can play up the romance angle.”
“
You
won't be available.”
“True. But perhaps it will happen to someone else. And as long as they have the dream of finding happiness like this...” He kissed her once more, a long and lingering caress that set Kit's nerves aflame. She ran her fingers through his hair, exulting in the freedom to touch him.
“No,” he said. His voice was a little shaky. “
Definitely
you're no competition for the Lingerie Ladies. They can't begin to measure up.”
“Are you certain you're not just besotted?”
“Maybeâbut if so, I don't expect to get over it. And when you wear white lace, it's going to be just for me, on our wedding night. How about it, Kitten? Will you be my very own personal Lingerie Ladyâforever?” Kit smiled slowly at him and drew his lips to hers.
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