Wild Fire (The Fairy Tale Match Series) (12 page)

“But he’s ruining all our plans!” Flo
fluttered to the nearest chair, collapsing on it with a small huff of
annoyance. “Didn’t you see the way he’s manipulated her? He is trying to keep
Laura and Jake apart. Where will that leave my Kerry and her Dan? Nowhere,
that’s where!”

“Calm yourself Flo.” Lotta waved her
wand over the slug Walter had nearly stepped on and turned it back into the
bird it was supposed to be. It chirped angrily at them before taking off into
the nearest tree, still complaining loudly. “We can still turn this situation
to our advantage. We just need to keep our heads and think.”

“Well, I think you should have let me
turn him into a slug. He’s already slimy enough to be one!” She crossed her
plump arms over her rounded belly, pursing her lips in frustration.

“Be that as it may, we are not
allowed to do that sort of thing and you know it. We must be smarter than
that.” Lotta thought long and hard. “This could be the push needed to get Jake
to start pursuing Laura. If she backs away from him, it could push him closer
to her. Walter may help us yet.”

“Well, I’m not willing to rely on
that,” Flo said stubbornly. She got up from the chair, pacing around the porch,
her tiny feet leaving the ground every now and then as she thought. Then she
smiled. “I have an idea. A really great way to get Jake and Laura talking.”

“What are you up to now?” Lotta
snapped, her hands going to her hips.

Oh, it’s nothing to worry about!” Flo
began vanishing right in front of Lotta’s angry eyes. “It’s a really great
plan……..”

Laura breathed a sigh of relief when
the last order went out. She wiped the sweat from her brow and gave Alfie a
thumbs up. He smiled happily as he set to work cleaning up the kitchen after
the lunch service. Laura was really pleased. They’d had ten customers in for
lunch, all curious to try out the food of the new cook, plus Sam had also dined
with them again so she must be doing something right! Martha was beaming as
compliments came in thick and fast with promises to return. If things kept up,
they would have a good foundation on which to build the business back up.

Laura was incredibly grateful to have
something to focus her attention on other than the incident with Jake and most
especially the conversation she’d had with Walter the day before. It had been
so hard to hear the truth; that Jake was still in love with another woman. Pain
twisted in Laura’s heart. She should have realised that she didn’t stand a
chance when Jake kept pulling away, but she’d wanted to believe in the wild
passion they’d shared when they kissed. She’d lost sight in those moments of
the one truth she’d known all along anyway; men just didn’t see her that way.

Feeling depressed, Laura pushed the
thoughts of Jake to the back of her mind and made her way into the diner to
talk with Martha. She was standing at the cashpoint, smiling as she dealt with
a customer’s bill. Laura waited until the couple left before making her way to
Martha’s side.

“How’s it going?” she asked as she
leaned against the counter.

“This has been the best lunch service
we’ve had since Rosalie walked out! You should have heard all the compliments
your foods been getting. Everyone that ate here said it was the best they’d
ever had and were sure to come back. If things keep going, we’ll be out of our
financial hole in no time.” Martha dabbed at her suddenly teary eyes with her handkerchief.
“You’re really saving us honey. I don’t know how to thank you. I was heading
for bankruptcy for sure, until you came along.”

“Saving this place is thanks enough.”
Laura replied really touched by Martha’s gratitude. She’d never felt like this
in her job back in England. This place gave her the sense of purpose and
enjoyment she’d always wanted. Plus there was a deep satisfaction in helping
someone as good as Martha out of an impossible situation. Not enough good
things happened to good people in the world as it was. She felt privileged to
be part of this happy ending.

“I’ll hopefully be able to start
paying you real soon. I won’t forget all this work you’ve been doing. I’ll make
it up to you, I promise.” Martha’s face took on a determined edge. She sniffled
slightly and blew her nose.

“Don’t worry about that for the time
being. We’ll work it out as we go along.” Laura smiled. She had so quickly
formed a friendship with the kind woman and her sweet son. She hadn’t had this
many friends in years. With her mother’s illness, she’d been mostly cut off
from the world and people at her job were very much interested in only their
lives. She finally felt a part of something for the first time in a long time.
It was a warm, fuzzy feeling she held deep in her heart.

The door to the diner opened at that
moment and Laura turned to see a short, portly man with a balding head walk in.
He had small piggy eyes and a sly look about his face. Laura disliked him on
sight. She especially hated the way he turned his nose up slightly as he
surveyed Martha’s diner.

Martha stiffened visibly. “What can I
do for you, Mr Blankton?”

He turned his small piggy eyes on
her, attempting to look down his nose which was impossible due to his less than
statuesque height. He sniffed disdainfully. “Word on the street is you’ve hired
a new cook,” he stated in a nasally voice. Laura cringed at the horrible sound.

“Yes, what of it?” Laura could see
Martha’s defences rise up like a battleship. Her hands flew to her hips and her
eyes narrowed on the horrid little man.

“Why are you wasting your time
Martha?” Blankton shook his head at her, with a fake sad expression on his
face. “I have no idea where you managed to drag in a cook from, but really it
won’t make any difference. Why won’t you just admit defeat? This place is
through, washed up!”

“That’s what you think!” shouted an
enraged Alfie as he flew out of the kitchen, having heard Blankton’s comments.
“Our Laura is ten times, no fifty times better than your old Rosalie! Everyone
who ate in here today said so! We’re going to wipe the floor with you at the
barn raising, you just see if we don’t! Then we’ll see who’s washed up!”

Martha tried to calm the irate young
man down as he all but lunged across the counter to get at Blankton, who stood
with his mouth hanging open. He gathered himself together, glaring daggers at
Alfie.

“You should learn to control your
temper before it lands you in trouble lad.” He shook a finger in Alfie’s face
as a warning. Turning to look in Laura’s direction, his small eyes roved all
over her in a condescending fashion. “This is the little cook you’ve hired? She
doesn’t look like much.”

That stung coming from him. It was
the last thing Laura wanted to hear after having already been reminded, none too
gently that she was anything but beautiful or even pretty.

“What I look like has nothing to do
with how I cook!” she snapped, surprising herself. Somehow, it felt good to
stand up for herself. She straightened her spine determined this nasty little
man would not get the better of any of them.

“I guess you’re right,” he conceded
grudgingly. “But at the end of the day, you’d have to work miracles to turn
this place around. You have a magic wand hidden somewhere? Cause you’ll need
it.” He laughed with a nasty derogatory snorting sound.  It seemed to fit his
rather piggy self.

“You just watch this space!” Laura
said with deadly quiet. Mr Blankton stopped laughing at the steely
determination he saw in her eyes. He took her measure for a moment; Laura could
almost see the cogs and wheels in his brain going round. She didn’t like the
look that came over his face. It was calculating and cunning. She felt as
though they’d both thrown down the proverbial gauntlet.

“Indeed. I look forward to it.” He
smiled a sickly smile as he turned on his heel and walked out of the diner.

“What a horrid little man!” Laura
huffed after the door closed.

“That he is,” Martha agreed.
“Unfortunately, he has a lot of money, so he pretty much thinks he can buy and
do anything he wants.” She threw down her cleaning cloth, taking deep breaths.
“And even more unfortunately, he usually can.”

“Don’t let him get to you ma.” Alfie
put his arm around his mother’s shoulders. “We got Laura now. He can’t do
anything to us anymore. She’s our very own angel. We’ll save our diner for
sure.” The young man threw an adoring look in Laura’s direction. Her heart
swelled at his faith in her. She just hoped she wouldn’t let them down. She
pulled her determination around her like a cloak. She couldn’t afford any
doubts.

“We can do this together!” She
announced, grabbing both their hands and squeezing tight. “Starting with the
barn raising. I’ll finish drawing up the budget for Jake and take it to him
this afternoon for approval. We’ll show that man we’re anything but beat.”

Martha started crying all over again.
“What would I do without you both?” she sobbed. “Thank you so much for all your
support.”

Laura smiled at them both before she
grabbed her bag from her locker. Taking out the papers she’d begun to work on,
she sat at an empty table to finish the budget so she could get it to Jake as
soon as possible. She was more determined than ever to turn the diner around.
She refused to let someone like Blankton drive the place into the ground.

*****

It took Laura longer than expected,
but finally she headed back to the ranch in the late afternoon so she could
speak to Jake. She wasn’t sure how much she wanted to see him. On the one hand,
her foolish heart sped up at the thought but at the same time she dreaded it.
She shoved down her feelings. It didn’t matter either way. She was doing this
for Martha and Alfie, who were depending on her. She wouldn’t let her own
feelings interfere. She could handle a meeting with Jake for heaven’s sake!

She parked her car and went in search
of him. He wasn’t in the ranch house or the stable. Bill was busy feeding the
horses. He waved when he saw her.

“How’d it go today?” he asked with a
cheery smile.

“Pretty good, actually,” she called
back. “Have you seen Jake? I need to speak to him about the food for the barn
raising.” She indicated the papers in her hand.

“He’s out in the small barn,” Bill
told her. He gave her directions then turned back to the feisty black stallion
that had just tried to take a bite out of his arm for taking so long with his
feed. Bill laughed, pushing back on the soft nose in gentle rebuke. Laura left
him to it as she made her way to the small barn.

She found Jake clearing out the space
of a pile of rubbish that had obviously built up in there since the last barn
raising. She stood in the doorway breathless as she watched him work. His
muscles bunched in his arms as he loaded up bits of rubbish onto a flat
bottomed wagon. He’d taken his shirt off, damn him! Just to add to his
masculine draw! How was she supposed to concentrate on what she wanted to talk
to him about when all she could think of was jumping on him and kissing him
senseless? It was so unfair!

Gathering her wayward thoughts, she
determined to get them firmly under control. Just keep thinking of Martha and
Alfie, she told herself, their names becoming like a mantra in her head. She
walked forward on shaky legs, clasping her papers in front of her like a
shield.

“Jake,” she called. His head snapped
up, his eyes landing on her like two branding irons. She wasn’t sure what reception
she’d get considering their argument the day before about Dan. She’d avoided
him at dinner, staying in her room on the pretence of working on the budget she
now held in her hands. In truth, she’d spent the evening in depressed crying
fits.

“Can I talk to you about the diner’s
budget for the barn raising? Is now a good time?” She decided to try to be
professional and business like. It should be safe enough ground. She just
wished he put his damn shirt back on! That would make things so much easier.

He wiped his hands on the seat of his
jeans as he thought a moment. “I guess now would be okay,” he finally agreed.
He took a seat on an upturned crate and indicated for her to do the same. He
took her papers from her, looking them over carefully. Unfortunately it left
her with nothing to do but stare at him. She tried looking round the barn, but
there really wasn’t much to see except a pile of rubbish. Her disobedient eyes
made their way back to him time and again.

She gazed at his strong brown hands
holding the very white paper she’d handed him, but somehow her eyes drifted to
his very bare muscled chest instead. He was nicely tanned from all the work he
did outside. A dusting of dark hair across his chest made her fingers itch to
tangle themselves in it while she explored his sculptured body.

Her eyes caught a bead of
perspiration that travelled down his body towards his trouser line. Suddenly
she wanted to lick the moisture away with her tongue and carry on in the direction
it was headed. Laura felt hot and breathless with the thought, just about
catching herself before she started to fan herself with her hand. Stop it this
instant! she told herself firmly.

Squirming on her seat, she tried to
think on something else. Something nice and boring and safe! She glanced at his
face, trying to gage his reaction to her proposal. Instead, she got caught up
staring at his lips, her mind drifting back to the kiss they’d shared the day
before and the wild fire that had sprung up between them. It had been so
incredible. She knew somehow that she would never feel that way with any other
man. Yet he was in love with someone else? Where was that fair? Why couldn’t he
feel the same way about her?

Sadness filled her that had things
been different, they might have stood a chance. If only she’d met him first,
before he’d given his heart to that woman! As it was, she’d only had two stolen
moments of heaven. It would have to be enough. She dared not let it ever happen
again. Her heart was already in too deep. She was terrified of getting even
closer. She would just have to keep her distance.

“Laura!” his voice penetrated her
melancholy, drawing her back to the barn. She jumped when she realised he’d
been trying to get her attention for some time. “What were you thinking about?”
he asked, his gaze penetrating into her as if he could see straight into her
mind.

“Nothing!” she snapped, suddenly
defensive. The last thing she needed was for him to know any of what she was
feeling or thinking in those moments. Her face flushed a telling red. “Well,
what do you think?” She waved her hand at the papers, wanting to draw his
attention away from her.

He grinned at her, as though he knew
anyway. But he let it drop as he turned his attention back to her proposal. “In
theory it’s good. The thing is that I had Henry Blankton here a short while ago
and he is putting in a budget that is at least 30% cheaper than this one.”