Prossers Bay Series

by Cheryl Phipps

  How was he going to make amends when he’d called her a thief?

  Relief that he’d been wrong in his assumption, and now willing to remember how delectable Megan was when she was fired up, Jordan couldn’t help the laughter bubbling from him. It felt good to let it explode, much to Chelsea’s amusement.

  That crazy little ball of anti-man material made him feel so much, and even when he’d believed the worst of her he was already thinking about not having her around every day, and not liking the idea. Maybe he was the one who was crazy.

  Chapter 6

  Megan had just put the girls down when there was a knock at the door. The summer days were long, so it was only just twilight outside at eight-thirty, but she still wouldn’t dream of opening her door when the girls were in bed. Peering through the curtain she saw a couple of the cleaners from the resort standing on her porch holding the cleaning products that she’d left behind. The carpet cleaning machine sat beside them.

  Opening the door, she stood with her arms crossed. “Did Jordan send you?”

  Rose smiled. “He said you might not be friendly, but we’re on overtime, so I’m happy to take as long as you need.”

  “Well, I am not happy at all. You can take all this back to him and tell him I said to shove it where the sun don’t shine.”

  Rose held her hands up. “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. Couldn’t you tell him yourself? He’ll be annoyed if we go back without doing the work. He also said to apologize, and that he didn’t accept your resignation.”

  “Did he now? Well that’s just dandy. Don’t you worry about any of this. I’m sure he’ll still pay you, and if he doesn’t then you let me know, but he doesn’t get to order me around, especially in my own house. I can handle Jordan Lambert.”

  Rose looked at her thoughtfully. “You know, I really think you can.”

  The other woman smirked as they picked up the products and cleaner and left.

  Angry didn’t cut it. She was capable of bodily harm. How dare he send her staff around and put her in a compromising situation? Except they weren’t her staff any longer, because she’d quit. The question of how she was going to manage with no job was only just penetrating the fog that had surrounded her since he’d accused her of theft.

  Picking up the phone she dialed his number before she thought too much about it. He answered almost immediately and she didn’t give him any chance to have his say.

  “How dare you send Rose and Tina here? You think you can make everything right by waving some money at the problem and telling people how they should react. Bloody typical of a man like you with too much money.”

  “I was trying to make amends. Chelsea explained what happened and I know I jumped to the wrong conclusion. I should have known better.”

  Really? That was his idea of an apology?

  “You can’t take back what you said and how you made me feel. I can’t work for a man like you.”

  “Don’t say that. We make a good team and this was just a silly mistake.”

  “It was a big mistake, for both of us and one I don’t intend to repeat. Goodnight.”

  Megan put the phone down firmly, despite her hand shaking. She’d loved that job. Not that she’d worked at Haven for long, but she’d felt something she hadn’t felt for far too long. Pride in herself and her capabilities. Somehow, she’d lost those when she’d moved back home from Sydney.

  How much time would it take to find another job like that? And, how long could she avoid Jordan in and around Prossers Bay?

  * * *

  As it happened, she didn’t have to wait too long at all. An hour later there was another knock and before she’d even checked she had a sinking feeling that it would be him.

  “Go away!” she hissed at him through the door.

  “Sorry, I can’t do that. It’s a matter of life and death. According to Rose and Tina the carpet may not make it.”

  “You’re not funny, and like I told them, I don’t want or need your help. And, as I no longer work for you, please stop trying to boss me around.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it. Has the stain gone?”

  Taking a look over her shoulder, she saw the red smear. Though she’d scrubbed at it fiercely, there was barely a difference to how it had looked this morning, although it may have actually grown.

  “No, it bloody hasn’t,” she hissed though the door.

  In a voice like a caress he replied. “Please let me in. I’d really like to help you and to make amends.

  She tried to hold on to her anger. “Is that an apology?”

  “No, this is an apology. Megan, I am sorry to have doubted your integrity. I am an idiot, who should have trusted you.”

  “Are you mocking me?”

  “Not in the slightest.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  Opening the front door, she scowled at him. “The stain looks worse, but I still don’t want you in my house. You have no right to treat me the way you did and even less to think that you can barge in here and interfere in my life. You are arrogant and presumptuous.”

  Jordan waited until she’d finished. “You’re right about everything, and I don’t want to intrude, but I couldn’t think of a better way to apologize for making an assumption based on the deviousness of my last housekeeper. I know you’re nothing like her. You’re hardworking and honest. Let me do this to make up for being a jerk.”

  Megan had to work on closing her jaw, which had dropped open at his lavish praise and apology. Or was he teasing her? His face was serious, but she detected a twinkle in his eyes, and that dimple she’d noticed some time ago was jumping in and out.

  She looked at him suspiciously, then noticed an industrial cleaner at his feet. That beast could defeat anything. “Are you coming in, or are you going to stand there giving my neighbors more fodder to gossip with?”

  Jordan walked into the living area carrying the machine, and with a small exclamation at the damage, got to work setting it up.

  ‘I can do that.” Megan tried to wrestle the machine from him. She had as much chance as moving the Statue of Liberty.

  “I bet you can, but since I brought the machinery and the products, I’ll do it.”

  What could she say? “Coffee?”

  “Sure.”

  She made it, remembering his two sugars and milk, the way she’d seen Chelsea make it, and sat watching him. He’d changed from his fancy suit into jeans and a t-shirt. Clothes like the ones he’d worn at the lunch last Christmas, except right now they strained across his arms and his thighs as he pushed the industrial machine over the mess. When his arm pushed out she could see a little bit of a tattoo, and it made her curious. What would he have a tattoo of? And why?

  He didn’t look the type. Always immaculately dressed, with a regular haircut; she also knew he got manicures and took massages, since the grapevine at work was alive and kicking. There was nothing rough about him. Even his manners were good. There again, rich people had good manners – except when they chose not to.

  Mia and Cody’s father had been exactly like that. Nothing was too much trouble for him, until she told him she was pregnant. ‘Trapped’ was the precise word for the look on his face, right up to the day she came home from work to find all his things were gone. She’d handed in her notice the next day via an e-mail, and had packed up and moved home to Prossers Bay. Apart from telling him about the girls’ birth, she hadn’t spoken to or heard from him since.

  Thinking of Mia and Cody’s father was not conducive to happy thoughts. Of all the things she wanted to say to that particular rich playboy, the most fundamental would be that he was the loser, not her. For all her hard work, being a single parent with a full-time job, she wouldn’t trade motherhood and her two princesses for all the money he possessed.

  “You do know that you’re staring?”

  Jordan had stopped the machine, and was leaning against it, watching her.

  “Am I?”

  “Mmmm. And with such ho
stility, I’m wondering what the heck I’ve done now.”

  “It’s not about you. I was thinking about someone else.”

  “Someone I remind you of?”

  “I guess.”

  “Someone you really despise?”

  “Yes. No!” She felt her cheeks burn.

  “Honesty really is your thing, isn’t it?”

  “Look, I don’t even know you. I’m not going to pour out my troubles to a stranger, am I?”

  “Don’t be a stranger, then.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Let me take you out. We could get to know each other. Then you can legitimately despise me.”

  “After everything that happened today you think I would want to go out with you?”

  “I was hopeful after the apology which I sincerely meant, by the way. I had a crap day and when I saw you with the stuff in your car I saw red. I promise not to jump to any more conclusions with regards to anything you do.”

  “That’s a big promise and it presumes I’m still working for you?”

  “I can’t imagine what I’d do without you.”

  She hesitated. “I really don’t despise you.”

  “Could have fooled me.”

  “Perhaps that’s easy to do.”

  “You sure do have a sassy mouth.”

  “You sure do butt into people’s lives when they’ve asked you not to.”

  “Only the people I’m interested in. Have dinner with me.”

  Man, he sure was persistent.

  “Jordan, like I’ve said before, I have two small children and no family to help me with babysitting at a moment’s notice. I don’t go out.”

  “Ever?”

  “Occasionally I catch up with Abby, Stephanie and Jeanne.”

  “So, you do go out.”

  “Just for a couple of hours.”

  “Who babysits?”

  “Jeanne’s daughter, Lisa.”

  “Is she reliable?”

  “Of course. What sort of question is that? As if I’d leave them with someone I didn’t trust.”

  “That’s right. So how about if we go out for dinner for a couple of hours on Saturday?”

  “I can’t believe you. I work for you. What will people say?”

  “Seems to me you could care less what other people think of you.”

  Megan couldn’t argue, not really. Hadn’t she blatantly stared down the few people who had looked at her derisively when she’d begun to show her pregnancy? Hadn’t she defied the old biddies who had made comments about the shame of children with no fathers?

  Not that it hadn’t hurt, but what choice was there? She’d chosen to have and keep her daughters, and she didn’t regret any of it. They were her life.

  Jordan emptied the cleaner and tidied everything away. Then he came over to her and knelt beside her chair.

  “I’m not as bad as you think, and I have no idea why you think it. It’s only dinner, and if you feel the same way about me afterwards as you do now, then I’ll leave you alone.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “No, I don’t. So how about you tell me at dinner? On Saturday. I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty, if that suits you?”

  He hoisted the equipment like it was cardboard and left her sitting there, wondering how on earth she’d let that happen. Jordan had turned everything around, her hurt and her anger, and now they had a date. She felt a little shell-shocked, and then annoyed when a flicker of anticipation ran across her skin and made her heart speed up a little. Oh no! She did not want to like Jordan like that. What was she going to do about it?

  Nothing tonight. But she’d explain again tomorrow that they couldn’t go out together. It was… unprofessional. Yes, that was it! She’d tell him that.

  She’d also better remember to tell him what a fantastic job he’d done of the carpet. The stain had almost disappeared. It seemed Jordan was good at whatever he turned his hand to.

  With a gulp at a sudden illicit thought she went to take a cold shower.

  Jordan arrived right on time. He was wearing a nice pair of dark pants and a blue shirt the color of his eyes and of Prossers Bay Estuary. That calm and warm blue which begged you to float in it when you needed peace and serenity. All the things that the man wasn’t giving her.

  For two days she’d tried to catch him alone to tell him that they couldn’t date, but every time there’d been an excuse to not be alone with her, an urgent matter, a phone call to make, a meeting to take. She had eventually given up, and resigned herself to the evening. It was also very difficult to keep her annoyance at him alive when she desperately hoped to catch sight of him or hear his voice, and that was only getting stronger with each day.

  “You look lovely,” he said as he took note of the maxi dress she’d found in the bowels of her closet, a remnant from a fancy dress party that happened to button up just under her chin. His eyebrows were raised and the corner of his mouth twitched. Damned if the man wasn’t laughing at her. Again.

  He had a bunch of flowers for her and two small posies for the girls who, as if on cue, came running out of their room as soon as they heard his voice.

  “Hello, Jordan. Wow, that’s a big bunch of flowers.” Cody dragged his arm down so that she could see them close up.

  “These are for your mom, but these are for you and Mia.”

  “Cool.” Cody took both posies from him and sized them up, giving Mia the almost imperceptibly smaller one.

  “Thank you,” Mia whispered shyly.

  “Thank you!” Cody yelled as she danced around with her posy.

  “You’re welcome.” He turned to Megan. “Are they always like this?”

  “Loud? Exuberant? Shy?”

  “I guess it’s a mixed bag?”

  “Every day. But they do get a bit silly when we have visitors. We don’t have too many, especially men.”

  “Really? I’m not upset about that.”

  Megan went still. “It’s just dinner, remember?”

  He smiled. “How could I forget? We’d better get going if we’re going to make the reservation. Are you ready?”

  “Give me a few minutes to talk to Lisa.”

  “Where is she?”

  “In the bedroom. She’s shy around men, so don’t take it personally.”

  She walked quickly into the bedroom and pushed the door almost shut. Her pulse was racing and she took her time with Lisa, trying to calm herself down. Why him? Why did he have to be the one to waken her from her happy state of celibacy? Well, maybe she had felt a twinge or two since the girls had been born, but never enough to act on it. Until now.

  Chapter 7

  Megan disappeared into a room off the living room, and he could hear her talking softly. Cody, the noisy twin, had gone with her mother so it must be Mia who still stood quietly, watching him from a very cautious few feet away. He suspected that he should probably make an effort with both girls if he stood any chance of dating their mother. What did children like to talk about? Themselves?

  “How are you doing at school, Mia?”

  “Very well, thank you.”

  “I hope your mom likes steak.”

  “She does, but not too red. The blood makes her feel sick,” she said seriously.

  “Good to know. What about you?”

  “I don’t like it very much. It gets stuck in my teeth.”

  “I see.”

  “I like chicken.”

  “Chicken’s good.”

  “Will you come and stay here?”

  What did that mean? “When?”

  “After dinner.”

  Ah, now he understood. And he wouldn’t mind that one little bit, but it didn’t seem likely. “No. I don’t think so,” he answered honestly.

  “That’s good. We don’t really have enough room for any more people. That’s why we don’t have a daddy.”

  Jordan coughed in case he laughed, and because he had no clue how to answer that. Luckily Megan chose that moment to ret
urn.

  She bent down and gave her daughter a big cuddle, then kissed her on the cheek. Mia held on to her arms, reluctant to let Megan go.

  “It’s okay, baby, I won’t be gone too long. Be a good girl for Lisa. It’s nearly time for bed, so no fussing, okay?”

  “Yes, Mommy.”

  The little girl’s mouth quivered a bit, pulling at his heart strings, which was a first, but Mia faced them stoically as they went out the door, and then ran to the living room to wave at them through the window.

  “Mia’s amazing, and very cute.”

  “They both are,” Megan said forcefully.

  “But Mia was the one who was so concerned about you.”

  Megan bristled beside him. “Don’t make the assumption that Cody is any different where I’m concerned. She just has a different way of expressing herself.”

  “I wasn’t suggesting anything by it.”

  Megan huffed, and then relaxed a little. “I guess I’m a little sensitive about them. They only have me, so if I don’t stick up for them nobody else is going to. The girls have their own personalities, and I love them equally because of, not in spite of it.”

  He’d have to watch what he said about the little princess and the dynamo. Oops, he’d already pegged the two girls, so what did that say about his usual aversion to children?

  “Sounds like wise words. I hope you don’t mind going to Louis’s, just outside town?”

  “Not at all. I think it’s nicer if we aren’t around too many people that we know. Not that we have anything to hide, but gossip is as rife in Prossers Bay as it is in any small town.”

  The words came out in a rush and Jordan accepted that she had to remind him that this wasn’t a real date – in her eyes anyway. He didn’t want to tease her tonight. He wanted to have a nice time with her so that she could see they might have something here. Not that he wanted a ready-made family. No, he couldn’t see himself settling down just yet. But he knew Megan and the girls were a package, so like he’d already decided, he’d have to man up and get the twins on his side if he wanted Megan to spend any time with him.