Hot Property (2 page)

From as far back as Betsy could remember
she’d lived in a rundown old house. Before her parents separated
they lived in an old two-story in town. After the divorce, her
mother couldn’t afford a house of her own. The two of them lived in
yet another old two story row house that was falling down around
them. When they dared mention improvements to the property, the
landlord threatened a rent increase, knowing full well they
couldn’t afford it.

Six years ago when her mother passed on
after a long battle with cancer, Betsy made a promise to herself.
She vowed she’d have a brand new house of her own before she
reached thirty. Never mind she had no idea how she’d get it. A year
later at age twenty-one and working as a secretary for a local real
estate firm she knew how she’d achieve her goal. Or at least
started working on a plan.

Her boss needed some quick capital and
offered her a decent deal on a rental property he owned, a duplex.
The rent she received from the upstairs apartment nearly covered
the mortgage payment. So what if it was another old two-story in
need of repair. It was a starting place.

She’d live in the downstairs apartment for
five years while she built up equity. Then she’d use that equity to
buy a piece of land for her new home, her dream house.

That was around the time she passed the
state real estate examination and became a licensed agent. Four
years under her belt and the required courses, she went for her
broker’s license. And just in the nick of time. Her boss
unexpectedly announced he’d sold the agency to a man moving into
the area. The new owner planned to bring in his own sales
force.

Betsy resented the fact he went behind
everyone’s back in making the sale. The least he could’ve done was
offer it to one of his six agents. To spring it on them after the
fact was a low blow. But she should’ve known.

From the day her father walked out on her
and her mom she lost all faith in the opposite sex. Men weren’t to
be trusted or depended upon.

The betrayal by her boss had Betsy making
another promise to herself. Never again would she let down her
guard around a man. Or have one for a boss. The same day she
convinced her friend since grade school to go into business with
her.

Mary protested at first. She didn’t think
they’d be able to compete with the established agencies in the
area. Betsy insisted they could, and do it successfully. But she
hadn’t predicted the housing market to go into a slump for at least
another year. By then, their business would be off and running. But
the way things stood now, it would take nothing less than a miracle
to save the business, which Betsy refused to think about again
until she finished her ride.

She eased off the throttle and coasted the
last several feet to where the ‘for sale’ by owner sign had been
pounded into the weeds a short distance off the side of the road.
But the sign was gone.

Chapter Two

Betsy rolled out of bed at the crack of dawn
Monday morning. She felt anything but perky after only a few hours
of restless sleep. Her on and off again dozing had been haunted by
the sound of Stephanie’s wicked cackling left over from their late
night rendezvous.

“There’s nothing underhanded about saving
thousands of dollars in commission by selling the house myself,
Betsy.” Stephanie told her from her seat across the table in the
country club lounge where they’d agreed to meet.

Instinct flashed warning to Betsy, the model
thin woman sipping blood red wine wasn’t quite finished making what
she’d done sound perfectly acceptable. But Betsy decided she didn’t
want to hear more excuses or lies.

“If you’re certain you no longer require the
services of The Alexander and Gold Real Estate Agency there’s no
point in further discussion.”

Betsy stood with all intentions of
leaving.

“Not unless you want to talk me into signing
that extension on the listing contract, should my investor choose
to walk. Which I feel is a strong possibility.”

Betsy debated what to do. She desperately
wanted to walk away without a glance back. But common sense told
her not to hesitate a second longer in sitting back down and
closing the deal. “But of course there are more reputable agencies
I could go with.” Stephanie tacked on after Betsy remained standing
silent for so long.

“Then why don’t you give one of them a
call.”

Betsy still couldn’t believe she’d told her
that. But it felt so good to turn on her heels and strut off with
her head high.

She’d barely taken a few steps when
Stephanie’s threatening words struck a powerful blow from behind.
“You’ll regret this, Betsy Alexander.”

On the drive to the office it occurred to
Betsy men weren’t the only segment of the human species that
weren’t to be trusted. Stephanie Rogers was a bigger cheat than any
man she’d ever encountered. Betsy felt relief to be rid of her. Now
all she had to do was face Mary with a summation of the meeting and
hope she didn’t strangle her.

“You’re smiling. You look rested. And you’re
wearing your lucky dress.” Mary greeted Betsy from her seat behind
her desk when she entered the front office of the two story
building.

“Right on two counts,” Betsy said and
plopped into one of the two contemporary chairs in front of her
partner’s desk.

“You didn’t sleep well?”

Betsy sat up straight, crossed her legs and
pulled the hem of the floral designed dress over her knee. Not sure
if she was stalling to gain courage or searching for the easiest
way to tell her friend to start clearing out her desk.

“Betsy, what happened?”

Betsy finally looked up into the normally
pale brown eyes that darkened with alarm. “Summing it up in a
nutshell, Steph is no longer one of our clients.”

“You couldn’t talk her into signing an
extension?”

Betsy stared into her lap and fidgeted with
the hem of her dress. “The truth is, she got me so fired up that
when she offered, I refused.”

“Oh my God! What do you suppose Skylar
Blakewood is coming in here for?”

Betsy saw the look of fascination on Mary’s
face and tilted her head around facing the window. Through the
ceiling to floor glass, she saw her mystery man from the open house
striding across the street and heading for the front door to their
building.

“That’s Skylar Blakewood?” Betsy hoped she’d
heard Mary wrong.

“The one and only.” Betsy couldn’t help but
notice Mary’s dreamy-eyed look when she added, “I bet he’s a real
fireball between the sheets too.”

“Mary!”

Betsy couldn’t believe her ears. In all the
years they’d been friends, she never heard shy Mary make reference
to a man so openly.

“Mary what? Aren’t I allowed fantasies?”

“Well yeah. But I certainly wouldn’t waste
them on him. The man has an ego bigger than Mount Everest.”

“You know him?”

“We met at the open house yesterday.
Actually, he never did tell me his name.”

But now that she knew it, Betsy also knew he
not only built houses as he told her, but built the best. Skylar
Blakewood had a reputation for being the contractor who gave you
your money’s worth. He was known for buying large tracts of land
and developing them, erecting condominiums or single family
dwellings. His properties were handled by the largest agency in the
area. Betsy had shown a few of his properties, even managed to sell
one. But Skylar wasn’t present at the closing. His listing agent
had him sign all of the paperwork ahead of time.

If Betsy’s memory served her correctly, she
thought he was a board member at City Savings, the bank holding the
note to her mortgage and business loan.

“Good morning, ladies,” he greeted, showing
straight white teeth when he smiled.

He was even more breathtakingly handsome
than Betsy remembered. Maybe it had something to do with his
pleasant smile. Or could it be his more casual attire? Betsy
believed jeans and a tee shirt had a way of bringing out the raw
sexuality in a man. One thing she was certain about was that same
peculiar, yet pleasant sensation flowing through her she’d
experienced yesterday when she first saw him. Only now, as he
hovered so closely, the sensations were flooding through her.

“So you decided to stop by and give me the
name of your investor friend after all, Mr. Blakewood.” Betsy
amazed herself at how cool and collected her voice sounded when her
insides were firing up with desire as the scent of his cologne fell
down around her.

That big beautiful smile disappeared. Even
the warmness Betsy noticed in his dark blue eyes turned cold.

“Wrong, Miss Alexander. Like I told you
yesterday, that’s something you’ll have to work out with Miss
Rogers.”

“Msss. Rogers and I have concluded our
business.”

The smile returned when he focused on Mary
and extended his hand across the desk. “Forgive me, I’m Skylar
Blakewood. And you must be Mary Gold.”

Betsy would not, could not deny she felt
insulted by the way he suddenly ignored her and poured on the charm
to a blushing Mary. His refusal to grasp Betsy’s hand when she
offered a friendly greeting yesterday was painfully fresh in her
memory.

For one rational second she believed he was
deliberately trying to rile her, but didn’t have a clue why. Not
about to be humiliated further, she stood to head for cover in the
small confines of her private office on the second floor.

“Could you spare a minute before you rush
off, Miss Alexander?”

His words came at Betsy with such urgency
she was stunned into halting on the bottom step. Once the strong
vibrations of his deep voice faded, she felt her cheeks flush from
the sudden blast of heat that had torpedoed through her.

Letting down her guard around a man was one
thing Betsy knew she could refrain from without an ounce of effort.
But she hadn’t the faintest idea how to combat these crippling, yet
awesomely wonderful physical sensations.

Only vaguely aware, she’d stood in silence
for nearly a full minute before turning back to him. Then a quick
glance at her watch and she spoke. “A minute is about all I have
time for.”

How she managed the words or the levelness
in which she said them was a mystery. As for the meaning of those
words, it wasn’t true. She had no pressing business this morning.
But she had no desire to share that bit of information with Skylar
Blakewood.

“Then I’ll have to talk fast, won’t I?”

Betsy got a glimpse of Mary’s disapproving
glare. She expected a scolding the minute they were alone. But with
any luck, she could head off a refresher course on business
etiquette by being a bit more cordial.

“How can I be of assistance to you, Mr.
Blakewood?”

“Well, the agency that had been handling my
property sales no longer works for me.”

I bet I know why too, Betsy kept to herself,
only to appease her partner.

“Now that I’ve purchased a large tract of
land, I’m going to need another agency to produce buyers for the
twenty homes I plan to build.”

Betsy saw normally mild mannered Mary almost
forget herself and jump for joy. True to her nature, she managed to
contain her outburst of excitement. But Betsy wasted no time
expressing herself.

“You made a wise decision coming to us. And
don’t you worry. We’ll get those houses sold for you.”

Skylar hesitated. “To be quite honest, Miss
Alexander, I haven’t totally decided on an agency yet.”

Now Betsy understood why the man’s pleasant
smile had suddenly disappeared. And if she wasn’t mistaken, he
looked like he regretted what he said, but not half as much as she
did. She felt like crawling under Mary’s desk so he wouldn’t see
the embarrassment certainly visible on her face for jumping to the
wrong conclusion.

“We do have a growing number of buyers
patiently waiting for new housing,” Mary rescued her with. And did
so with an excellent choice of words Betsy thought.

“That’s good to hear,” Skylar said with a
return of that radiant smile. Then he raised those kaleidoscope
eyes of his, which were colored a warmer shade of blue as he peered
in Betsy’s direction. “I was hoping you’d be free to take a look at
the land and offer suggestions on my proposed plan for
development.”

“I’d love to,” Betsy volunteered in the same
anxious manner as before.

Skylar glanced at his watch. “But I’ve
already used up the minute you gave me, Miss Alexander.”

Betsy inhaled deeply, promising herself from
here on she would practice thinking before running off at the
mouth. “None of my appointments hold a candle to trampling around a
vacant stretch of land on such a beautiful day.”

“I’m bogged down with paperwork, but I don’t
see a problem covering for you while you’re out.”

Mary had come to her rescue once again even
though Betsy thought she was doing just fine on her own. But then,
she wasn’t about to challenge her and offered a pleasant, “Thank
you.” Then she looked to Skylar. “Are you ready to go?”

A quick, “Nice to meet you,” was thrown to
Mary before he hurried out the door behind Betsy.

Betsy waited at the curb, watching him as he
stepped out beneath the brilliant rays of the August sun. She
couldn’t help but notice his well defined muscled body as he strode
toward her. She swallowed hard in an attempt to extinguish the
sparks of electricity zapping life into those precious female parts
that had laid dormant most of her life.

“I hope you don’t have a problem with riding
in a pickup, Miss Alexander.”

He stood so close that Betsy could feel his
breath on her. So warm, so soothing and no doubt the reason it took
her so long to locate her voice.

“Of course it’s not a problem.” Unless
you’re wearing your favorite lucky dress when you’re asked to climb
onto a torn, paint splattered seat, she kept to herself after he
opened the door on the passenger side for her.