Strictly Business (9 page)

It was a delightfully shocking change from her landscaping clothes, those red gloves and that damnable hat. He hadn’t been prepared for her sophistication, and he sensed the generations of breeding behind it.

Yet he had seen the depth of her vulnerability this afternoon as well. He hadn’t been prepared for that either.

Setting the disturbing thought aside for the time
being, he ordered drinks from the bartender. They no sooner received them when Marty and Sandy butted between them. Nick scowled at the intrusion.

“Sandy, my love,” Marty said. “Why am I under the impression that Nick is ready to strangle Jess?”

“I was under the same impression,” his wife replied.

Nick grinned. “It must be a nasty rumor. You know I’m sweetness and light itself.”

“And I must be dreaming,” Jess said with a straight face.

“He can’t be that bad,” Sandy said.

Nick chuckled. “Be careful how you answer that, Jess, or else I
will
go for the tennis court.”

“I said he’s a dream to work with.” Jess glanced at him. “How’s that?”

“You’re off the hook.”

“I hope I’m off the hook with you,” Sandy said to him. “About Atlantic City.”

“You are.”

She started laughing. “I would have loved to have been there.”

“I would have loved to have had you there,” Jess said sweetly.

“Now, Jess. You know I owed you.”

“And now I owe you.”

“I think I want a divorce,” Marty said, rolling his eyes heavenward.

“On our anniversary? It isn’t done, darling.”

“Well, I don’t want to be around when Jess decides it’s pay up time. The mariachi band was the last straw.”

“What mariachi band?” Nick asked.

“She gave us a mariachi band for an anniversary present last year—at one in the morning,” Marty
said. “If she was devising a new method of birth control, let me tell you, it works.”

“Why are you complaining?” Sandy asked dryly. “You help her half the time with her jokes.”

“
Once
I helped her on a joke.”

“It was our wedding night, Martin Fitzgerald.”

“Hold it,” Nick said. This was one he couldn’t pass up. He looked at Jess. “You played a practical joke on them, on their wedding night?”

“The morning after, actually,” she said sheepishly. “Beyond that I plead the Fifth.”

“I don’t.” Sandy grinned evilly. “Marty and I went to Mexico City for our honeymoon, and we had a … wonderful wedding night. The next morning, Marty called down for room service, breakfast for two. I thought he was so romantic. Then suddenly this voice from under the bed advises him to make it for three.”

“It was a tape recorder,” Jess said, giggling. “Marty very nicely turned it on at the right moment.”

“It scared Sandy half to death,” Marty said, the laughter bubbling up out of him.

Sandy looked so offended that Nick tried desperately not to laugh. But one look at Marty, who was already leaning weakly against the bar, and he was lost.

“I will admit that Atlantic City made up for a lot,” Sandy said.

“More than you know,” Nick said, and started laughing all over again.

Sandy raised her eyebrows. “Jess’s description wasn’t quite so interesting.”

“I never saw anybody jump like that.” Nick waved
his hand in a wide arc. “I thought she would go right through the wall to the next room.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t blast the walls out with your bellowing,” Jess commented.

“I didn’t bellow.” She gave him a look. He shrugged. “Well, maybe a little.”

“A little!” Jess gasped in clear outrage. Her eyes, though, were sparkling with mirth. “You sounded like a wounded moose.”

“You hit me in my libido, Jess.”

She started laughing. “Lord, but you were funny.”

He grinned. “You weren’t so bad yourself.”

“If that was a spur-of-the-moment switch on Tony’s part,” she said to Sandy, “then he’s got a real talent for this.”

Sandy leered comically. “Among others.”

Jess sighed loudly. “What a show.”

“And was there ever a lot to show,” Sandy agreed.

“I don’t think I like where this is going,” Marty said.

“I know I don’t,” Nick added. “I’ve seen the show.”

“We’ll be good,” Jess promised, her fingers very obviously crossed.

He glared at Jess, who smiled as Sandy whispered something to her. Inwardly, he was pleased with her teasing him. Whatever had upset her earlier in the day was gone now. It occurred to him that her comment about the show could be meant to provoke jealousy. He liked the thought. Instead of being an intrusion, Sandy and Marty’s presence was turning out to be very revealing. He had never realized before how much of the joy in living was found in laughter.

“It’s good to see you really enjoying yourself, Jess,” Marty said, echoing Nick’s thoughts.

“I try.”

Marty shook his head. “You haven’t been like this for a long time. You always look terrific, but there’s been something missing. Now, it’s back.”

Jess smiled.

“I have to admit that I was a little pleased about the band last year,” Marty went on. “That was the first indication that you were getting back to your old self again …”

Her smile slowly faded.

“… You hadn’t done a joke in ages. But I can really see the old Jess aga—”

Sandy nudged her husband in the ribs, cutting him off.

“Ouch!”

“I see someone waving at me,” Jess said in a rush. “I better go.”

She whirled around and walked away.

“Dammit, Marty!” Sandy began

Nick didn’t wait to hear the rest. He went after Jess. Right before she’d turned away, he’d seen pain in her eyes. Something in Marty’s innocent compliments had upset her greatly.

He found her wandering aimlessly among the guests, nodding and smiling at anyone who happened to look her way.

She gazed blankly at him when he took her arm and said, “Let’s go for a walk.”

He led her to the French doors that took up an entire wall. Opening one, he drew her onto the empty lighted terrace. The night was cool and he removed his jacket and placed it around her shoulders. She stared out at the back lawn, without acknowledging his gesture.

A whimsical topiary caught his eye, and he smiled at the shrub shaped into a sitting Bambi, a butterfly atop its nose. Looking around the terrace he saw, in the soft floodlights, crocuses sprouting wildly out of the low stone wall surrounding the terrace.

“You did the landscaping, didn’t you?” he asked, looking around and seeing more evidence of Jess’s deft touch.

“Yes.”

“I can see why Roger suggested a terrace. This one is beautiful now, but it must be spectacular during the summer with everything in bloom.”

He heard her take a deep breath. “I hope you didn’t bring me out here to really talk.”

He stepped in front of her and gazed down at her. “I brought you out here for this.”

With gentle force, he lowered his mouth to hers. He could easily sense her shock at his actions. Not wanting to give her room to think, he slid his arms under the jacket and pulled her to him. He felt her hands on his shoulders, as if to push him away. After a moment of hesitation, her nails sank into his shirt. Her lips parted slightly, and he delved into the sweetness inside.

His hands wandered down her slender back, and she moved tightly against him in response. Her breasts pressed into his chest; her long legs shifted, pulling him inside out with the sign of her inner restlessness. Her mouth greedily mated with his, and in the taking, there was a need he’d never imagined.

Suddenly, she was struggling out of his embrace. His jacket fell to the brickwork flooring. Without a word, she ran back inside the house.

“Damn!” Nick muttered, running a shaking hand through his hair. “How could I have been so stupid?”

He snatched up his jacket and strode inside. He glanced around, trying to spot her among the guests. He moved systematically through the room, but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen. He even tried the bathroom, in hopes that she’d retreated there.

Nothing.

Becoming desperate, he stopped several people to ask if they’d seen her.

Finally, a blue-haired woman said, “I think I did see her in the foyer not too long ago.”

“Thanks.”

Scowling, Nick headed for the door.

Jess shut her front door and leaned against it in vast relief.

Poor Marty
, she thought. He probably had no idea of how much his innocent remarks had sliced through her. Until he had started talking about a change in her, she had thought she’d kept her inner devils well buried. But the knowledge that she hadn’t was painful to face. Even more painful was the thought of Nick hearing it all. She had had to get away.

She nearly whimpered as she remembered walking out onto the terrace with him. She’d been like a robot, trying to close herself off from everything and everyone. And then he had kissed her. She had wanted it so badly, had needed it like a drug. For a moment, she had felt safe, and then everything inside her had slammed shut—exactly as it had happened before. She had been fooling herself with all
her lectures and warnings to keep away from him. She knew now that all along she had wanted Nick to be the one to rescue her from her destructive nature. Instead, she was making him pay for it.

It had been a mistake from the beginning, she admitted. And she had compounded it with the bet and going to work for him. She’d been too attracted. That had been her biggest mistake.

“What a mess,” she whispered.

The only thing she could think of to do was to get out completely. Now.

Her doorbell rang.

She closed her eyes and shuddered. She knew who it was.

It rang again.

She turned around and faced the door. If she opened it, she’d be letting him into more than her house. For his sake she shouldn’t.

She stared at the knob, then her hand reached out and closed around it.

Nick breathed a sigh of relief when the door finally opened. He stepped inside before Jess could invite him to do so. Maybe she would have, he thought. And maybe she wouldn’t. He wasn’t taking any chances, though.

“Are you all right?” he asked, frowning in concern.

She shrugged. He could easily feel the solid barrier behind the nonchalant gesture.

“I’m fine.”

“Good. And you got home okay.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“You could have made a right turn to California.”

“You go left for California.”

“Most people don’t run away after they’ve been kissed.”

“Most people don’t get kissed by their employers.”

“I don’t think that’s the problem here, Jess,” he said, staring at her.

“Of course, its the problem,” she protested, waving
a hand. “I work for you. It would make things complicated and crazy to have anything but a professional relationship.”

“I see. So you were upset because we have a professional relationship, and we shouldn’t have a personal one.”

“Right.”

As she drew in an audible breath, he found his gaze focusing on her breasts.

“And that seems to be getting … worse,” she went on. “I think the only solution is for me to give up the landscaping for MeadowHill, Nick.”

That captured his wandering attention. “What!”

She lifted her chin. “I said I’m quitting. I’m sorry, Nick, but I don’t think it will work anymore. The plans for the model are laid out, and Duane and Roger can finish it while you get in a new land—”

“Let me get this straight,” he interrupted. “You want to give up the job because something personal interferes with our professional relationship.”

“I … yes.”

He could feel the anger building within him, and at the same time he wanted to show her just how personal a relationship they could have. He controlled both urges, knowing there was something more involved here. He was determined to find out what.

“I understand your feelings on this,” he said, trying a different tactic. It was obvious she was braced for a blowup, so he would be calm and cool. Smiling, he added, “So what time should I pick you up tomorrow night?”

“Pick me up!”

“Sure. For our personal relationship.”

“But we don’t have a personal relationship!”

“Not yet,” he said, grinning widely at her astonished expression. “I think you’re right that our personal relationship would interfere with our professional one. But now that you’ve quit, we won’t have that problem. Thanks for doing that, Jess. I would have hated to fire you. What time tomorrow night?”

She was motionless for a long moment, then said, “I walked into that one, didn’t I?”

He nodded. “So now will you tell me the real reason you’re so upset?”

“I just did.”

“Bull,” he said flatly. “Using our working relationship is just an excuse, and you know it. Are you seeing someone?”

“No.”

“Are
you
gay?”

She actually chuckled. “No.”

“Just asking.” He rubbed her arm in reassurance. “Talk to me, Jess. Tell me what the problem is.”

She moved away. “I can’t, Nick.”

“Can’t? Or won’t?”

“Both. It’s for the best.”

Despite the tears in her eyes, he willed her to explain further. She didn’t.

“You’d better go now, Nick,” she said quietly, not looking at him.

He wondered if it might be better to give her a little time to sort herself out. After all, it had taken him a while to sort out his own confusion about her. Still, the thought of leaving nagged at him. All along, he’d sensed an undercurrent of anxiety within her, and it was obvious that it had come to the surface
tonight. Would leaving really give her a chance to come to terms with whatever was troubling her? Or would it give her time to build an insurmountable wall around herself?

“Nick, please.” The desperation in her voice was clear.

He unclenched his jaw. “Okay, Jess.”

She walked to the door and opened it. “Thank you for coming by. And I’ll be okay now. Really.”

“I expect you to be on the job Monday morning,” he said, walking to the threshold.

“But—”

“No buts. We have a contract.” He smiled to take any sting out of his words. “I don’t want anyone else to do the houses.”