Authors: Karen Whiddon
Howard talked expansively, his mood animated. He, not Jenny, went to Jake’s door to collect him. She waited in the car, putting the radio on a bland classical station, though she usually listened to coun
try music. She couldn’t bear hearing any songs about long-lost love right now.
Jake appeared, walking with Howard out to her car. Jenny couldn’t help comparing his easy, confi
dent stride with Howard’s hurried pace. She prayed Howard would have enough sense to ride in the front; her car was small and she didn’t want Jake sitting so close to her.
Both Howard and Jake went for the front seat pas
senger door. Wide-eyed, heart thudding in her chest, Jenny tried to silently signal Howard. Whether he got the message or Jake did, Jake conceded and moved to the back.
Once they were all in the car, Jenny forced herself to keep her eyes on the road, allowing herself an occasional glance at Howard but refusing to even peek in the rearview mirror at Jake in the backseat.
She could smell cologne—Howard’s musky-sweet brand. He must have splashed it on liberally, because the smell was close to overpowering. Trying not to gag, she wished she could open her window, but the heat and humidity were such that it made sense to turn up the air conditioner instead. So she did, catch
ing a glimpse of Jake’s grin.
He knew. She felt herself blushing, powerless to stop it
Luckily, Ater was a small town. The downtown area near the loop was only six blocks long. All of the newer chain restaurants had been built in a cluster. Jenny had decided to take them to Applebriar’s—a
brightly
lit, festive sort of place with a wide variety of food. At seven, the parking lot was three quarters full.
Howard turned in his seat and peered at her over his glasses. “Applebriar’s?”
In her hurry, she’d managed to forget how Howard hated loud, convivial places. When he did dine out, he preferred steakhouses or quiet Italian restaurants. In the year they’d been dating, she hadn’t even been able to get him to set foot inside a
Mexican restaurant
“That’s right,” she answered quietly, refusing to defend her choice. After all, she was paying. Even Howard wouldn’t be rude enough to refuse to eat here in front of her guest.
Her guest. Without even looking at him, Jenny knew that Jake would love Applebriar’s. Though it hadn’t been built two years ago when they were together, it was the kind of place that they used to love to frequent Monica had dragged her here for lunch a few times. It had good food, reasonable prices, and was clean. Even Howard couldn’t disap
prove of that.
As he always did, Howard came around and opened her door for her, helping her out of her car. He kept his hand possessively on her arm as Jake joined them. He went to Jenny’s other side, linking his arm with hers.
Jenny couldn’t help it—she stiffened. Though she tried subtly to free herself, she couldn’t yank her arm away without making a scene. Jake chuckled, a low sound meant only for her to hear. Howard, appearing oblivious, released her to hold open the door.
So Jenny walked in to Applebriar’s with Jake on her arm and a fake smile plastered on her lips. It seemed to her as if everyone in the place turned and stared.
The hostess, a woman Jenny had gone to high school with, turned to greet them and froze.
"
Jenny Reder and Jake Durham, together again. Well, I’ll be. I never would have imagined it.”
Then, catching sight of Howard as he came up on Jenny’s other side, she frowned. “And Howard Ater.”
Hearing, even more people turned to watch them. Jenny could have sworn more heads swiveled than at a tennis match. Inwardly, she groaned. Maybe she should have picked some out-of-the-way hole in the wall, preferably in the next town over.
Howard, finally noticing, leaned over to whisper in her ear, “Don’t worry, they’ll understand this is for business. Most of them saw your ad in the paper and if they didn’t, someone will point it out to them.” He clapped his arm over her shoulders, a telling move for him since he
despised
public displays of affection.
“Thank you,” she whispered back, intimately con
scious of Jake still holding her other arm.
“Am I missing something?” Jake whispered, lean
ing across her shoulder to whisper in her other ear.
Jenny couldn’t help it, she shivered. His breath was warm—
she supposed Howard’s was too, but really hadn’t noticed. Why couldn’t Howard have the same effect on her that Jake
apparently
still did?
This time Howard became flustered. “I apologize,” he said stiffly. “That was an incredible lapse in man
ners.”
About to protest, Jenny noticed the hostess watch
ing the
little
exchange with an avid gleam in her eye. “Do you have a table ready?” she asked, hoping her desperation wasn’t evident
They were shown to a table in the middle of the restaurant, where every move they made could be watched by the other patrons and commented on. While Howard glowered, Jake
nonchalantly
pulled out a chair for Jenny.
She had no choice but to allow him to seat her. At least then he had to release her arm. Unobtrusively scooting her chair as far away from Jake as possible, she smiled brightly at the two men, then turned her gaze to the menu. Though she pretended to study it intently, she already knew what she wanted. Something light that would not make her choke as she went through the unimaginable torture of pretending that Jake had no effect on her. In fact merely hearing the bass rumble of his voice made her ache inside. How this could be possible, after what he’d done, after so much time had gone by, she couldn’t say.
When the waitress came to take their drink orders, Jenny ordered a beer, causing Howard to frown. She ignored him. One of the small pleasures she allowed herself was an icy cold mug of beer now and then. Howard, who pretended to dislike any drink as plebian as beer, ordered his usual glass of zinfandel. Jake, watch
ing her with a wicked glint in his dark blue eyes, ordered beer also.
To her shock, Jenny caught herself about to smile back at Jake. Confused and filled with a sudden impulse to cry, she buried herself in the menu again, reading the selections over and over.
Howard, having made his selection—steak and baked potato, no doubt—set down his menu and took a careful sip of his wine.
The silence seemed to stretch on. Closing her own menu with a snap, Jenny glanced up to find both men watching her, Howard still wearing his puzzled from, Jake with an intensity that lit a fire in her belly.
Damn him. Summoning up her best, lighthearted laugh, Jenny leaned closer to Howard and squeezed his arm, looking over her shoulder at Jake. “I never did ask you, but is Howard providing the financing for your venture?”
He gave a slow nod, his intent gaze never leaving her face. “His bank is.”
“Jennifer.” Howard’s tone sounded mildly reprov
ing. “I told you that Jake is one of our biggest clients.” Absurdly, Jenny wanted to kick Howard under the table. Couldn’t he relax for once, just once, and help her out here? How is it that he claimed to love her and yet couldn’t see how uncomfortable this made her?
Love. Thinking back, she realized that even though they had discussed marriage, she had never heard How
ard use the word. Not like Jake, who had told her he loved her over and over—
Stop.
Trying to control her wayward thoughts, Jenny seized on the one topic guar
anteed to kill amorous feelings in anyone. “Right now I’m helping Jake get set up to pay the IRS his quarterly taxes.”
The mention of the IRS had the desired result of causing both men to look away.
Relieved, Jenny hid her smile. Sitting back in her chair, she tilted her beer and took a swallow straight from the bo
t
t
le
, ignoring Howard’s disapproving glare. Savoring the cold, slightly yeasty taste of it, she closed her eyes. Ah, if only she were somewhere else, like the back porch of Malvoran House, someplace where she could kick off her shoes and tilt her chair back.
Malvoran House
? What on earth was she thinking? Opening her eyes, she grabbed her frosty mug and carefully po
ured the rest of the beer in it.
She wasn’t acting like herself. She needed to, as much as she needed to remember that Malvoran House belonged to Jake now.
The waitress came to take their order. Howard ordered his steak, well done, with a baked potato on the side. Jenny, as she usually did, ordered a grilled chicken salad. And Jake, expression perfectly bland, ordered shrimp and prime rib, with a dozen raw oysters as an appetizer.
Even Howard appeared startled at that one. “Oysters?” He raised a brow. “I have never been able to stomach the idea of eating those things.”
Jake grinned at Howard, though Jenny knew his words were meant for her. “You ought to try them. Some people believe they’re a potent aphrodisiac.”
She fought it, but the blush came anyway, suffusing her entire body this time. Once she and Jake had taken turns feeding each other oysters. He had brought them, packed in ice, on a
picnic he had taken her in the woods. There, in the meadow by a gurgling stream, he’d spread a blanket and lit some candles. His arm around her shoulders, he’d kissed her deeply and thor
oughly, telling her without words how special she was to him.
They’d laughed and feasted and eventually spent a sunny May afternoon wrapped in each other’s arms. He’d proposed to her there, getting on his knees before her, holding out the ring as if he thought the brilliance of the diamond alone would convince her.
She hadn’t cared about the ring. It was Jake, only Jake, that she wanted. She’d cried as she told him yes.
Jake had to have known she would remember. No woman could ever forget something like that.
Howard, bless his conservative soul, would recoil in horror were she ever to even suggest such a thing as a picnic in the woods. Howard’s proposals, and there had been two of them, had been presented as more of a business merger between two mutually compatible people.
She’d had no difficulty turning Howard down, though she supposed she’d marry him someday.
Just not now. She really wasn’t ready for a life that regimented, that devoid of spontaneity.
Jake laughed, drawing her attention. With Jake, every
thing had been spur of the moment, impulsive, excit
ing. And in the end, painful.
Howard’s answering chuckle was more restrained, yet no less engaging. It was his way to think before speaking, to weigh every answer, every reaction.
That, Jenny reminded herself fiercely, is what made Howard so perfect for her. He was steady and reliable. If his soul seemed a bit unimaginative, that was fine. At least Howard did what he said he would do. Unlike
Jake, who’d spun his pretty lies, made her believe, then vanished.
She held on to the anger this thought brought her, knowing she would have to use it to fight the foolish attraction that still lingered, an attraction to a man who should never have come back.
Chapter Four
Outside the shadows grew longer as the sun sank behind the trees. Over near the bar, a group of college students watched a baseball game, cheering loudly at the television. She felt removed from it all somehow, detached.
“Jenny”—Jake leaned across the table, his hand
some face serious—“what time would you like to meet tomorrow?”
Startled
, she blinked and said the first thing that came to mind. “Tomorrow is Friday. I have payroll to deliver.”
Howard laughed, the sound falsely hearty. “That won’t take you all day, now will it?”
What was this? Had she missed something in the conversation?
“Jake”—she met his gaze straight on, her expres
sion showing nothing but carefully schooled polite interest—“what are you talking about? Did Monica make an appointment for you for tomorrow and for
get to tell me?”
He didn’t smile, didn’t move. Just stared back at her with an intensity that made her grow warm. “No, I don’t have an appointment, Jenny. Howard and I were talking and we both agree that it’s time for you to take a tour of my place. The restaurant is coming along on schedule and should be ready to open exactly as projected.”
Malvoran House? He wanted to show her Malvoran House? Horrified, Jenny felt the color drain from her face. Howard nodded, beaming. She’d get no support there.
“I have no need to see Malvoran House,” she said stiffly. “I’ve seen it before.” Blindly reaching for her beer, she drank deeply. Swallowing, she took a shallow breath, keeping her spine straight.
“Ah, but Jennifer.” Howard tapped her on the shoulder. “This is something you must see, especially since your bookkeeping is going to be such an integral part of the operation.” He patted her shoulder in the manner of a man comforting a petulant child.
“I’ve been there twice myself and the work is going
fabulously. I told Jake that I would consider it a per
sonal favor if he would show you around the place. I know you will love it”
“Howard, are you crazy?” The words slipped out before she could think about what she was saying, but Jenny had no desire to call them back. She was furious. Howard knew the history behind her and that house. He had no right to ask such a thing of her.
The waitress took that moment to deliver the oysters. Simmering, Jenny drained her beer, ordering another. For a panicky second she actually considered getting up and walking out, leaving the two men to pay and find their own way home.
If it weren’t for the fact everyone in the place seemed to be watching her, she would.
Since she had no choice but to stay, Jake needed to be set straight.
“Jake.” Clasping her hands tightly in her lap, she tried not to watch as he stabbed an oyster, dipped it in the sauce, and popped it in his mouth. “I think we need to clarify something. It’s—”
“Here.” While her mouth was partially open, Jake raised the tiny fork, and stuck a plump oyster in her mouth.
Reflexively, she swallowed, tom between wanting to berate Jake and wanting to savor the unfamiliar delicacy. It had been over a year since she’d tasted oysters, even though they had always been one of her favorite treats.
Howard coughed, concern warring with outrage on his face. “Are you all right?”
Jenny let her relief show. Finally, Howard would wake up and put an end to this nonsense.
Jake, laughing outright, popped another oyster in his mouth. “Oysters aren’t poison, you know. You ought to try them, Howard. They’re great.”
“I’m fine.” Knowing Jake only wanted to make her react, Jenny tried to sound unperturbed. “Thank you, Jake.” She looked at Howard, trying to gauge his reaction. “That was delicious.”
Howard opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He took another sip of his wine and glanced away.
Any hope Jenny might have had of Howard intervening died a quick death. She glanced at Jake, immediately regretting it.
“Do you want another?” Blue eyes sparkling, Jake grinned at her, looking so heart-stoppingly sexy that Jenny curled her toes and clenched her hands into fists.
“Aw, come on.” He coaxed her, leaning closer and holding out a plump oyster on the end of his fork.
For a moment she felt herself softening. Then remembering, she tore her gaze away. “No, thank you.”
Howard’s pager went off. He checked it, then excused himself to make a call.
Great. Conscious of the many assessing glances coming their way from the other restaurant patrons, Jenny lifted her chin. Jake might be a drop-dead, blue-eyed, gorgeous specimen of masculinity, but he meant nothing to her now.
She considered herself fairly intelligent; she’d always been proud of graduating from East Texas State University in the top ten percent of her class. She’d passed the CPA licensing exam on her first try, with a minimum of studying. She’d started her own CPA firm by herself, with no help from anyone. And she’d turned it into a successful business that made enough money for her to live comfortably.
In short, she was a successful, professional woman. And not too bad-looking, she thought modestly. Cer
tainly capable enough to make it on her own.
Therefore, it followed that she couldn’t possibly have any feelings left for Jake. After the way he’d treated her, only a fool would. And Jenny knew she wasn’t a fool.
“So when are you and Howard going to do it?” One brow lifted, Jake popped an oyster in his own mouth.
About to take a sip of beer, Jenny nearly choked. “Do what?” She could feel her face flaming again.
Across the room she could see Howard making his way back to their table. She prayed he would hurry.
“You know, get married?”
Good Lord, she’d forgotten she’d told him that she and Howard were engaged. She certainly couldn’t tell him now that she’d never actually accepted How
ard’s proposal. “Um, we haven’t set a date.”
Howard reached them and pulled out his chair. “That was Justin,” he announced. “He’s glad we decided to have this
little
business meeting.” The hard stare he shot Jenny left no doubt he now consid
ered this dinner to be of utmost importance and wanted her to behave.
His next words, however, had her wanting to hide under the table. “He’s called
The Sentinel
and they’re sending over a photographer. He wants the picture in tomorrow’s paper.”
Horrified, Jenny started to shake her head. “I don’t think—”
“Publicity will be good for business,” Jake inter
rupted smoothly. “Great idea.”
Their meals arrived. Grateful, Jenny busied herself with her
crisp salad, though everything seemed to taste like ashes now. Things couldn’t get much worse, she reflected glumly. At least the two men seemed to have dropped the subject of her touring Malvoran house.
Still, she wished they would hurry up and finish so she could take them home.
Jake watched as Jenny picked at her salad and sipped water, the second beer she’d ordered all but forgotten. His Jenny was his no more. And she cer
tainly wasn’t his pumpkin. He couldn’t allow himself to think of her with that old endearment any longer. Beautiful, warmhearted Jenny, who now hid her true nature behind a facade as brittle as ice.
The photographer arrived and they all posed, How
ard draping his arm possessively over Jenny’s rigid shoulders. Jake smiled and nodded, but he really wanted to knock the other man’s arm off and hustle Jenny out of there.
Stupid, he knew. He kept telling himself he wanted her to think of him as her friend, but his heart said otherwise. Watching her fall all over this guy was a sort of torture. Not only was Howard all wrong for her, but Jake sensed Jenny knew it as well as he did.
It’s none of your business, Durham,
he told himself. He and Jenny hadn’t married; she was free to live her life however and with whoever she chose.
Howard, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to any problems. He seemed to regard
J
ake as a business client, nothing more. Certainly not a threat to the woman he loved.
There was the crux of it They didn’t act like a couple in love.
Ah, if he let himself, he could remember. How he and Jenny couldn’t stand to be apart, how they couldn’t get enough of each other. But then, of course, he’d have to remember the agonizing pain when they’d been separated. Duty, Jake had found, was a poor substitute for Jenny’s arms. He’d had no time to tell her, no way to tell her without putting her life in danger.
Duty called, and he went where he was needed. Knowing that she would hate him for it had made things even worse.
“Jennifer.” Howard led the way to the car, walking on Jake’s right side and letting Jenny walk by herself on Jake’s left. “I am on the way back. I think you should drop me off first, then run Jake home.”
Howard, for some mysterious reason, seemed determined to push them together.
Jake glanced at her to see how she was taking it Jenny, her
expression grim, said nothing. He’d be willing to bet she hated being called Jennifer. He wondered why she didn’t say anything.
They piled into the car, Howard still taking the front passenger seat. As soon as
J
enny pulled out from Applebriar’s parking lot, he leaned the seat back and closed his eyes. The only sound was that of the car’s motor and the soft croon of some country singer on the radio.
Since Jenny didn’t seem inclined to talk, Jake said nothing. He wondered if she would do as die other man had asked and take Howard home first.
That would leave Jenny alone with Jake. Something she had made quite clear she had no desire to be.
They turned off Avenue L on to Howard’s street. Jenny pulled up in front of a well-lit large brick house. The manicured lawn and circular drive spoke of wealth.
“You’re home, Howard,” Jenny said softly.
Howard sat up, groggily peering around him. “Thank you, Jennifer.” He waved at Jake, wearing a somewhat befuddled expression.
Jenny, who hadn’t spoken one word to Jake since they left the restaurant turned in her seat “It’s a short walk home for you from here.”
Amused, he hid it “You wouldn’t make your newest client walk home, now would you? What would How
ard think?”
She had the grace to look abashed at that making him almost ashamed for teasing her. Then, blowing out her breath in a huff, she put the Honda in gear.
Five minutes. He had five minutes, max, before she would pull up in front of Malvoran House and drop him off. Though he’d been telling himself that he enjoyed the solitude, that it was welcome after so much time spent with the four other members of his DEA team, he realized that he’d been missing something. Suddenly, the night seemed to loom before him, empty and lonely. He didn’t want Jenny to go, yet how to keep her with him? She’d made it plain that she wanted only a business relationship, after all.
More than anything, he wanted to show her the fine old Victorian house they’d wanted to buy to
gether and which he now owned alone. Though it could never again be the way they’d once planned it, he was proud of the work he’d done on the place, knowing the loving care he’d lavished showed in the detailed woodwork. He wanted Jenny to be the first to see it
when it was finished. He wanted Jenny to have input on the restoration process, to help choose the colors, the wallpaper, the furniture. He wanted Jenny to help him hammer, to help him paint, to laugh and splatter paint on his shirt and. ...
He wanted Jenny.
Stunned, Jake faced the truth. In two years he hadn’t been able to bury his feelings. Two years of living with filth and scum and pretending to be one of them in order to make the arrest had changed him, true. The illness had changed him even more.
But during those two years he’d never been able to forget about her, not entirely. That had been why he’d come back to Ater, after all. Knowing that he couldn’t have her, had no right to have her, didn’t make it any easier.
If in two years he hadn’t been able to change his feelings, why had he thought they would change now, with her so close?
Still, he would have to settle for being friends. He had no right to want anything more.
The car coasted to a stop. Jenny put it in park and turned to look at him, leaving the engine running.
Jake blinked. Malvoran House. Throat tight, he thought desperately of a way to get her to stay.
“Good-bye, Jake,” she said.
Her low-pitched voice sounded incredibly sensual, something that he’d always told her drove him wild. No doubt she tried to stifle even that now, in her new lifestyle.
Jake didn’t budge. “You hate me, don’t you?” He hadn’t meant to say that, but it had been what came out when he opened his mouth. Now, having said it, he felt glad. They needed to clear the air between them, and getting her to admit her hostility would be a giant first step towards them becoming Mends.
Her gaze faltered. “Hate is a pretty strong word,” she said quietly.