Joker's Wild (7 page)

“I’m sorry, Joker. I know you’ve been good to Gran, and I don’t really object to your living in the carriage house, but the truth is Gran and I need a tenant who can pay rent,” Allison said quietly.

She was trembling, holding herself tightly to maintain her fragile control. The sound of loneliness in his words reached out to her. She understood, and she was ashamed that a stranger had been there for her grandmother when she hadn’t. But she was there now, and she’d find a way.

“I can’t leave,” he said softly, making his words a plea as he searched desperately for an answer that would satisfy her. “I have to stay here. There’s a debt involved.” That much was certainly true.

“What kind of debt? Are you in some kind of trouble?”

He didn’t want to tell her. He’d tried to protect her, shield her from more hurt until she was stronger. But she wasn’t going to let him do it. Suppose she couldn’t take the truth. He sprang to his feet and began to pace back and forth. There was no other way, no other answer.

“The truth, Allison, is that the house isn’t yours to rent any more.”

Allison went absolutely still for a moment. Her eyes widened as a sudden chill of fear washed over her. What was he saying, not hers to rent? What was happening? “What do you mean?”

“Oh, darling, I’d rather have my arm cut off than have to tell you this.”

“Tell me what?” Her voice was a whisper. She curled her fingers into tight little fists, willing herself not to shake. Of course Elysium was hers, or rather it belonged to Gran. Why would he make such a bizarre statement? She shook off the thought that the pain in Joker’s face was real.

“Miss Lenice’s hospital bills exhausted her funds. Taxes, repair, upkeep on the house had eaten steadily into her savings for the last few years, until there was virtually nothing left. She needed care.”

“And?”

“We moved her from the hospital into the nursing home. Once she’s recovered a bit more, she’ll go into the retirement wing of the center where she’ll have her own apartment and there will be someone to check on her. It was what she wanted.”

“No.”

“The house had to be sold, Allison. Your grandmother’s attorney arranged the sale. We signed the papers three months ago, just before she moved into the nursing home.”

“No,” she repeated, “that can’t be true. She would have told me.” Allison tightened her lips until they quivered from the strain. She felt as if she’d wiped out in the finals of an important skating competition, crashed with such pain that she couldn’t function. She’d never thought much about Elysium, but deep in her mind she’d known it was there. Now it had
been swept away. And poor Gran had faced the loss all alone. Allison had been so wrapped up in her own trouble that she hadn’t even known.

“Yes, Miss Lenice would have told you. But she didn’t want to worry you while you were having a bad time. She wanted to tell you the truth herself, when you were well.”

“I see. And the buyer sent you here as caretaker?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then exactly what is your position here? Is Gran paying you to be
my
keeper too?”

Joker looked at Allison. Reality had hit him in the heart. The one time he really wanted to make things right, he couldn’t. He had only one answer—the truth.

“You’re my guest, Allison. Your grandmother sold the house and gardens to me.”

“I’m
your
guest?” She looked at him incredulously.

“Please try to understand, Allison. I had to do it. If I hadn’t, some developer would have snatched it up.”

He was a con artist, a smooth-talking crook. There was no other explanation. Gran wouldn’t sell Elysium. Allison wanted to fling herself at the man, scratch the compassion from his concerned gaze.

“He’d have paid more than you, I bet,” she said bitterly, knowing all the time that he was telling the truth.

“Possibly, but the estate would have been destroyed,” Joker replied, considering whether or not he ought to tell her that the down payment he’d made was part of the creative financing Miss Lenice’s lawyer and he had agreed on. It had been precisely figured so that the hospital bill would be paid, leaving monthly payments large enough to supplement Miss Lenice’s income later.

“I paid your grandmother a fair price,” he said quietly.

“I don’t believe you, and I won’t let you take advantage of her. I’ll sue you!” Allison threatened. She felt a great stab of disappointment. In spite of what she’d been prepared to do to rid herself of the man, she’d honestly trusted him.

Joker inhaled sharply. Eyes blazing with anger, Allison Josey was beautiful, filled with the kind of passion he’d known was hovering beneath the surface. She was hurting—not for herself but for her grandmother. Now if he could just make her turn that passion inward, she’d be well on the road to recovery.

“I can understand what you’re feeling,” he agreed softly, “but you don’t understand. It wasn’t even my idea. Simon Cassidy, your grandmother’s attorney, came up with the plan.”

Allison let his words sink in. Somehow she recognized the truth in Joker’s face. He owned Elysium, her home, the very house she was trying to evict him from. “I guess I don’t want to understand.”

“Ah, Beauty, I’m sorry. I promised your grandmother I wouldn’t tell you, but I had no choice. I can’t leave. And neither can you.”

He’d been standing in the doorway during their tense exchange. Now he walked back out onto the sun porch, dragged a wicker chair closer to Allison, and sat down. She needed comforting, and he wanted to hold her and tell her that everything would be all right. He wanted to, until she gritted her teeth and glared at him furiously.

“So, how did you manage it?”

“I’d rather Simon explain it to you.”

“I’d rather you explain it to me.”

She wasn’t going to make it easy. But then he hadn’t expected it to be. He’d hoped he could at least take her hand. Touching her would have cushioned the blow. But it wasn’t to be. He sighed and stood up, turning his back as he walked toward the window. Maybe if he gave her the space she needed, she’d listen.

“When I found Miss Lenice collapsed on the kitchen floor, I took her to the hospital. She’d had a stroke. For weeks she couldn’t move her right side or speak, but her mind was clear, clear enough to know that she wasn’t going to be able to stay here alone.”

“I would have come home,” Allison interrupted.

“She didn’t want to ask you. She thought there was someone you were committed to, and she knew you were dedicated to your career.”

“But I should have been told,” Allison argued.

“Her doctor tried to contact you, and found out you’d just undergone surgery on your knee. Miss Lenice hadn’t known, and they didn’t want to tell her how serious it was. You weren’t in any position to come then. She thought you’d recover and continue skating, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. It was your grandmother’s decision.”

Allison knew he was right. There was no reason for Gran to believe that she’d ever want to come back home to stay. She’d certainly never given her any indication of how she felt about the place. She hadn’t known herself, until recently.

“They told me that she’d fallen, but I didn’t know she’d had a stroke.”

“You’re two stubborn ladies, neither wanting the other to worry. At any rate, the only answer was to move Miss Lenice into the nursing home, where she
could recover, and later when she was able to care for herself, move her into an apartment in the retirement section.”

“But I still don’t understand. Why did she have to sell Elysium in order to do that?”

“You’ve just been through an operation and a long siege in the hospital. You must know how much things cost. Your grandmother had used up her savings and there wasn’t enough coming in to cover her expenses. She’s a proud lady. She didn’t want to be a burden to you.”

“But what about Medicaid?”

“As I understand it, they make all kinds of crazy rules about eligibility. Owning Elysium kept her from qualifying. She’s a lady who’s always made her own way, so she made the decision to sell. Simon approached me. He knew how much I cared about the estate. If I bought it, it wouldn’t be destroyed. Miss Lenice was very grateful, and he drew up the papers.”

Allison stared at Joker’s stiff back. The reality of his words came crashing over her. All the time she’d been worrying about skating again, about her own crippled body, her grandmother had faced the worst time of her life—alone. What kind of granddaughter had she been?

“I see.”

Her sorrow came through in her voice. Joker turned and came back toward her. He cared very much what her opinion of him was. He’d bought the house because there hadn’t been any other solution. He’d thought he could find a way to make it right with Allison.

“Ah, Beauty, I’m very sorry. I told you I’d protect you, and all I’ve done is hurt you. What I did at the
time seemed the right thing for your grandmother.” He gazed at her for a long while, his expression a reflection of the pain he saw in Allison’s eyes. He reached out and touched her cheek with one finger.

“Don’t. I know I should thank you. But I can’t—not yet. I have to go and pack.” Allison swept his hand from her face and struggled to her feet, a tight grimace twisting her face.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Joker reached down and steadied her, sliding his hand around her waist.

“I’m moving out of your house immediately.”

“No, you’re not.” He continued to hold her as he repeated his denial. “That’s the last thing you’re going to do. Stop and think about it for a minute. I promised your grandmother that you wouldn’t be told until she was able to explain it to you. If you leave here, she’ll want to know why, and I don’t think she needs to worry unnecessarily, not now that she’s turned the corner of her illness.”

“How will she know I’m gone?”

“This is a small town. It would be all over Pretty Springs in half an hour. No, you can’t go anywhere. Once you’ve regained the use of your knee, your grandmother ought to be well on the road to recovery, and then we’ll tell her the full extent of your injury.”

“But I can’t stay in the house knowing that it’s yours. Don’t you see? I just couldn’t.”

“You’ll have to, Allison.”

“No. I’ll move into the carriage house, and I’ll pay you rent.”

“I will accept from you only what your grandmother would take from me.”

“And what was that?”

“I had to work for my board. Are you game?”

“I don’t know what you think I can do to earn my board.”

“You can let me help you walk again. You can stay here and let your grandmother see you get well. It’ll be all right, Beauty. I know how you’re hurting. I’m here, and I care. I really do. You don’t have to handle it alone.”

Suddenly Allison sagged against him. The tears came, tears she’d held back for so long. She cried for herself, for Gran, for the uncertainty of what was to come. All the while, she absorbed the warmth of the man holding her. The shock of what she’d just learned gradually evaporated, and she felt a faint flutter of hope.

“Why?” she asked breathlessly. “Why are you really doing this?” Her voice was shaking, and Joker knew that she’d crossed over the line that divided fear of what had happened from awareness of him as a man. He just wasn’t sure that she knew it, and it took every ounce of willpower he possessed not to tilt her head back and kiss her deeply.

“Because I care about you, Allison Josey. Don’t ask me why. Maybe it’s because when I came here I’d lost too many people that I cared about, and your grandmother took me in.”

“It’s easy to care when you aren’t the one who’s just lost everything.”

“No. I lost everything long ago. I guess I’m trying to buy it back.”

“I’m sorry, Joker. That was unkind of me. I don’t know anything about you or your past.”

“Talking about the past isn’t easy. Even my brothers don’t understand.” His voice trailed off. Maybe she’d
trust his motives, understand how he felt, if he told her. Maybe he’d understand too.

He caressed her hair with his hand as he talked. “My father was the town drunk. When my sister was only a baby, my mother left us.”

“I’m sorry, Joker.”

“She didn’t live very long. I think she found out that her new life wasn’t what she’d thought it would be. After she left, Pop seemed to give up. We’d always lived in housing projects, trailer parks. Toward the end, after my brothers Jack and King were away, we lived in the back of our station wagon.”

He paused for a long second before going on. “Finding your grandmother and this house was like finding something I’d lost. And then you came. I care about you, Allison Josey. I felt something the moment we met. Can’t we leave it at that for now? I don’t know what will happen, or where we’ll go from here, but if I could change things and give the estate back to you, I’d do it.”

“You would? What if I offered to buy it back at the same price you paid?”

“I’d hate to give it up, but I would.”

She knew that he meant it. “Thank you, Joker. I think I might have been wrong about you. I’d like to give you a hug.”

She slid her arms around his waist and laid her face against his broad chest. She refused to think about the feeling of energy and power that came with Joker’s touch. She just knew that every time he came near her, she experienced an inexplicable yearning. In spite of her hateful accusations, he’d given her a great deal, and she was grateful.