See Jane Love (10 page)

“Wait!” Janie got to her feet. “What’s your name?”

He spun back around, his eyes wide with surprise. “Clarence. Clarence J. Wilkins the Third.”

“I’d love to dance with you, Clarence.” Then giving Gabe a warning look when he looked as if he were about to intervene, she looped her arm through the geek’s and steered him out onto the dance floor. Once there, she had to take the lead because the poor guy was shaking so badly, he could barely talk, let alone dance. She was grateful it was a slow tune because she’d never learned how to do any of those line dances that were so popular.

Clarence’s palm was so sweaty her hand kept slipping from his. As they circled around she noticed Candy standing by their table flirting with Gabe. But Gabe’s eyes weren’t on the waitress with the big boobs. They were on her and her dance partner, watching their every move. When the song was over, Clarence thanked her three times, then scurried back to his friends.

Janie walked back to her table and sat down. Apparently, Candy had brought Gabe another beer. A mug sat empty in the middle of the table while he nursed a full one.

“He was sweet,” she said, referring to Clarence.

“Yeah, you
would
think that.”

“Excuse me?” Janie asked, accentuating the annoyance she felt with him.

“It’s the quiet, shy types you have to be careful of. Those guys go so long without it, they can’t control themselves once they’re finally alone with a woman. Plus they’re pretty quick with the trigger, if you know what I mean. You’d be wasting your time.”

“It’s
my
time. What do you care?” she taunted, although she had no intention of going out with Clarence or any other geek types. She needed a
real
man to help her.

“I don’t. I was just offering my opinion.”

“Well, butt out.” Looking at her watch, she frowned. Brad was half an hour late.

“Looks like College Boy stood you up.”

“Our date isn’t until nine,” she lied, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing the truth.

“Really? Gertie said you two were meeting at eight.”

She regarded him with somber curiosity. “So you knew I was meeting with College Boy? I mean Brad,” she said, quickly correcting her mistake.

From the look on his face, she could tell he’d stuck his foot in his mouth with that one. “Gertie might have mentioned it.”

“So, why did you come then? To spy on me? To protect me? What?”

“I was worried about the kid.”

“Oh, please,” she mumbled, but before she could say anything more, a guy who looked like he lifted weights for a living made his way toward them. He had coppery hair and bright blue eyes, and was actually kind of cute, if you liked the Arnold Schwarzenegger type. Which, she decided she did. She thrust her hand forward and greeted him with a bright smile. “Hi. I’m Janie Callahan.”

“Kurt Russell. Not the actor Kurt Russell,” he said with a grin and reached for her hand.

“No, but you sort of look like him.” Janie glanced at Gabe. “Doesn’t he, Montero?”

“Never heard of him,” Gabe answered, scowling.

“You’re kidding, right, man?” Kurt asked. “The lucky bastard’s married to Goldie Hawn. Or, at least, he used to be.”

“Sorry,” Gabe said with a lift of one shoulder, then took a swig from his mug.

Kurt rolled his eyes at Gabe and looked back at Janie. “Would you like to dance?”
Just as she was about to say yes, Gabe stood. “Sorry, but the lady promised this dance to me.”

Coming to stand toe to toe with him, she tipped her head back so she could see his face and whispered, “I told you to butt out. Besides, he looks like he might be a possibility.”

“Don’t make a scene,” he said, a silken thread of warning in his voice.

Janie’s mouth fell open, but instead of arguing, she gave Kurt an apologetic shrug and let Gabe lead her to the dance floor. He swung her into the circle of his arms and wrapped them around her waist. She was lucking out with the slow songs tonight.

Unlike Clarence, Gabe Montero knew exactly how to embrace a woman. He held her close, rocking her gently back and forth. He was a foot taller than her, and the top of her head barely skimmed the bottom of his chin. Keeping time with the music, his hands explored the length of her back and her nipples strained against his hard chest. The occasional jolt of his thigh brushing against hers had her body tingling from the contact. Then, breathing in his clean soap scent, she twined her fingers in his thick black hair and rested her forehead against the hollow of his throat.

The steady beat of his heart throbbed against her cheek; her own heart working double time. Her mind returned to last night and her mouth hungered from the memory of his lips on hers. She could barely swallow.

And she simply had to stop thinking about him like this.

She looked up and caught him staring down at her. “This is . . . nice,” she said, unable to stop herself from saying something.

“Yes,” he agreed, then pressed his mouth to her hair. His warm breath was whisper soft. “Janie, about last night . . .”

“Forget about it. I have.” She couldn’t possibly admit that she’d thought about nothing else in the past twenty-four hours. Besides, if he wanted to pretend that he wasn’t interested in her, then she could do the same.

But a few moments later she found herself snuggling a little closer to him. Her body became tranquil and her eyes slowly drifted shut as she glided with him along the dance floor. They were the only two people on the entire continent at the moment.

Then, opening her eyes, she realized they’d stopped moving, and there was Kurt Russell grinning at her over Gabe’s shoulder. “I’m cutting in.”

“Sorry, pal,” Gabe said, and Janie was grateful and annoyed at the same time. It’s not that she wanted to dance with Kurt; it was the fact that she didn’t like Gabe trying to control her.

“I’m a grown woman, Montero, and I make my own choices.”

Gabe leaned back and stared down into her face. “You actually want to dance with that bozo?”

No, I’d rather dance with you.
“As a matter of fact, I do,” she lied.

“Fine,” he said, dropping his arms from around her waist and stomping off.

Men. They were such poor sports.

Kurt wasn’t quite as smooth as Gabe. In fact, he wasn’t smooth at all. He hauled her up against him and squeezed her so tightly she could barely breathe.

“Kurt,” she managed to choke out, “you’re cutting off my circulation.”

He didn’t answer, just kept on moving in a circle, occasionally stepping on her toes. His cologne smelled like pine cleaner and was making her eyes water and her nose run. But that was nothing. What really had her concerned was the way his big beefy hand was snaking down her back and onto her hips. He was getting way too frisky.

She tried to pull out of his arms, but he wouldn’t let her go, and then his hand was on her butt, kneading her, like she was a piece of sculpting clay. “Kurt! Do you mind?”

“Not at all. You have a great ass.”

“That’s very flattering, but if you don’t get your hand off it, you’re going to be sorry.”

She’d no sooner spoken when she heard Gabe’s voice boom out. “Look, Popeye, the lady asked you nicely to get your filthy hands off her.”

Kurt stopped dancing, but didn’t move his hand off her butt. “And who’s going to make me?”

Gabe straightened to his full height. “I am.”

“Yeah. Maybe I should warn you that I’m a black belt.”

Janie didn’t appreciate Gabe’s choice of words he’d used to respond, and apparently, neither did Kurt. All she had a chance to do, before Kurt planted his fist in Gabe’s right cheekbone and sent him flying backward into a table of women, was wince. Outraged over what the man had done, Janie reached for the first thing she saw, which was a pitcher of beer from a passing tray,
and dumped it over Kurt’s head.

Trying to jump backward, Kurt slipped on the puddle beneath him and his arms flailed wildly to keep from falling down. But it was no use. He hit the floor with a thud and then lay motionless.

Janie’s hand flew to her mouth. She’d knocked him out cold. Screams, curses and foul language soon followed, and then men, and a few women, were punching and shoving. Oh, God, she was in the middle of a brawl, and it was all because of her.

Worried about Gabe, Janie ran over to him. Two guys had him by the arms, holding him back. “Are you all right?” she asked.

“I’ll live. That is, once I get my hands on that son of a bitch.”

“Hey, man. Calm down,” one of the guys holding Gabe’s arm said.

Gabe sucked in a huge breath and said, “Back off,” very calmly, and the men dropped their hold on him and stepped out of the way.

“Where is he?” Gabe asked Janie, moving toward the crowd in the middle of the dance floor while he massaged his swollen cheek and eye.

Tugging on his arm, she shouted above the crowd, “You’ll do no such thing. We’re getting out of here before you get yourself killed.”

“Like hell,” he argued, dislodging her hand from his upper arm.

“Gabe, I already took care of him.”

He jerked his head around and stared at her. “What do you mean you already took care of him?”

Nodding her head toward the heap on the floor, she said, “Right over there. You’re too late. Now, let’s get out of here.”

He stared at her like she had two heads, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he grabbed her purse from the table and herded her toward the door. But they hadn’t gotten very far when Barf the
Barbarian stopped them.

“Hey, where are you going?”

Janie sighed, recognizing the man’s voice. Slowly, she turned around. “I’m sorry, Barf, but my date and I were just getting ready to leave.”

“I saw her first. Tell him,” Barf said, looking pointedly at Janie.

“I . . . well, technically he’s right,” she told Gabe, dreading the fact that he might actually pass her over to the man.

But, “Get lost,” was all Gabe said.

Barf ignored Gabe’s order and looked at Janie, confused. “But, I thought me and you sorta had something goin’.”

“Sorry, Barf, but not in this lifetime.” She took Gabe by the hand and started dragging him away before he could say or do anything.

“Hey,” Barf yelled, coming up behind them and giving Gabe a shove. “That’s not fair. I saw her first.”

Gabe stopped, turned around and narrowed his eyes at the man. “Look, pal. In case you didn’t understand, the lady isn’t interested in you.”

“Yeah, and why not?”

“You mean besides the fact that you’re ugly and you smell?”

Barf blinked, then said, “Yeah, besides that.”

Gabe shook his head and swore. “Look, pal, go climb back under that rock you’ve been living under and--”

“What rock?” Barf asked, scratching his head and stumbling over his feet. It was clear to Janie that he was drunk.

“Let me handle this,” she whispered to Gabe, then took a step toward Barf. “Do you see that waitress with the blond hair and the big . . . well, you know what I mean?”

“You mean Candy?” He grinned, showing off the yellow teeth he had left in his mouth.

“Yes. You know, I probably shouldn’t tell you this but she thinks you’re kind of cute.”

“Really?” he asked, and when Janie nodded, he said, “Hot damn,” and staggered across the room toward Candy.

Gabe swore, shaking his head. And Janie noticed his eye had turned a nasty shade of purple.

She gave him a smug smile. “Well, it worked, didn’t it?”

He didn’t answer, just grabbed her hand and pulled her along. Outside in the parking lot, they were greeted by Brad Carpenter and a short, stocky man with balding hair and a beer belly.

“Janie!” Brad yelled. “Did you get my message?”
“What message?”

“I called a few minutes before eight to tell you Dad and I were going to be late. But I guess you’d already left, huh?”

Janie pulled her hand free from Gabe’s. Brad had tried to call her. He hadn’t stood her up, after all. But he said he’d called to tell her he and his
dad
were going to be late. Why was his dad with him? she wondered.

She’d no sooner asked herself that, when Brad said, “Dad, this is Janie Callahan. The woman I told you about.”

“Janie, this is my dad. Paul Carpenter. It took a little convincing, but I finally talked him into meeting you. My mom passed away a few years ago, and Dad’s been a little shy about asking women out. But I told him how easy you are to talk to and everything. You guys are perfect for each other.”

Brad wanted to fix her up with his dad?
Janie refused to look at Gabe’s smug face. “That was sweet of you, Brad, but I’m . . . I’m going to be out of the country for a few months, maybe even a year, doing research on my next book. Can I take a rain check?”

“Uh, sure.” Brad looked disappointed and Paul looked relieved.

When father and son turned and walked away, she gave Gabe a warning look. “Don’t say one word.”