by A. C. Arthur
“But we’re so different. He’s from money and affluence and I’m—” Jade looked down at herself. “I’m just the daughter of a lovesick woman who couldn’t bear the thought of being alone anymore and killed herself. My grandmother raised me to be proud and I am. But I also know when I’m out of my league.”
Beverly waved a hand with a disdainful look on her face. “I heard about the incident with Leslie. In fact, the dimwitted girl called me herself with the sordid tale. I told her I was glad she called, but that I didn’t expect to hear from her again. She’s rude and ignorant and I won’t tolerate that mentality.” The older woman’s brow furrowed as she spoke. “Bank accounts and fake levels of society, I don’t give a hoot about those kinds of things. And neither do my children. They weren’t raised that way. If Lincoln likes you, you can believe that your social status is the last thing on his mind.”
Laying her head back against the chair Jade let out the deep breath she’d been holding in an attempt to keep her feelings at bay. “I don’t know what’s on Linc’s mind. I’m not even sure he likes me most of the time.”
Still rubbing her hands Beverly smiled reassuringly. “He likes you, dear. Believe me he likes you more than he’s willing to admit.”
That night when Jade was sure she’d die of loneliness she’d been treated to a surprise. She’d dressed for dinner only to learn that the older Donovans had a meeting at the club where the party was being held on Saturday night and the Donovan men, with the exception of Linc, who was still in Vegas, were out for the evening.
So she’d sat at that huge table about to consume her meal alone when she heard footsteps approaching and the distinct sound of gum cracking. That made her think of home, of…
“Hey, sis!”
“Noelle? What are you doing here?”
Noelle headed straight for her and Jade stood to greet her. Noelle hugged her tightly, which only concerned Jade more. “I asked what you’re doing here?”
“Chill out, Jay. I was invited.”
“Invited? By who? Nobody’s here?”
Noelle took a seat and wasted no time retrieving a napkin, unfolding it and sticking it down her shirt like a bib. She reached for one of the trays in front of her and started to scoop food onto her plate.
“Noelle?” Jade yelled. “I’m talking to you.”
Noelle frowned. “No. You’re yelling at me because I haven’t answered your questions yet. I’m hungry. I didn’t get a chance to eat today because I worked at the spa for twelve hours and then I had to run home and change and get out here.” She lifted a glass and took a long gulp. “You think somebody could get me something a little stronger than wine?”
When Jade didn’t answer her Noelle sighed heavily. “Sit down, Jay. You’re not getting any taller.”
“Don’t be smart,” Jade said but took her seat anyway.
“Okay, so I was working at the spa, and we were busy today. Girl, I tell you business is good. We’re about to blow up!” She laughed.
We? Since when was she an active part of the spa? But that wasn’t what was bothering Jade. “Do I have to ask you again?”
“No, girl. Dang, you need to loosen up. That’s just what I told that fine ass Lincoln Donovan when he came waltzing into the spa this afternoon.”
“What? Linc was at Happy Hands?” She gulped. “Today?”
“Mmm-hmm.” Noelle chewed on a bite of salad and swallowed. “He came in and asked for me specifically. You know I tried to play like I was somebody else until he said his name and then I thought something had happened to you so I was about to jack him up.”
Jade dropped her head into her hands. “Noelle, please tell me you didn’t strike the man.”
“No, but he was damn close to it, especially since you weren’t with him and he was being real secretive about his reason for being there. But anyway, he looked around for a bit then he made a call on his cell. Then when I thought he was about to leave he came over and told me he knew about the money. Now, Jay, if you were gonna tell him it was my debt then why didn’t you just let me handle it from the get-go?”
“I don’t want to talk about your debt right now, Noelle.” And she didn’t. Her head was pounding and questions still bubbled around in her mind. Why had Linc gone to her shop? And why had he sent Noelle out here?
“Whatever. So he says that you might need some company tonight since he had some business to tend to so he sent me a car when the spa closed and had me brought out here. And from the looks of it—” Noelle looked along the span of the empty dining room table “—he wasn’t lying.”
Jade sat back in her chair. So he’d known she would be alone tonight. And he’d thought to send her sister to keep her company. She wasn’t sure if she was touched or outraged. An evening with Noelle was not entertainment, it was slow torture.
But she had missed seeing her sister so she wouldn’t give the angry thoughts too much time. “So you said the spa’s doing well? How many new clients did we get this week? Or were they just returns?”
“Oh, no, those coupons you gave out at the convention last weekend were coming in left and right. And the referral slips from that slinky hotel, they’re working out, too. I’d say about five new clients and at least a dozen tourists have been in so far. Kent says it’s a step in the right direction.”
“It certainly sounds like it.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Noelle nodded then finished off her salad.
Jade continued to think over the numbers she’d just heard and ways to keep this good streak going. She’d almost forgotten Noelle was even there when her sister poked the back of her hand with a fork. “Ow! What’d you do that for?”
“Because I asked you a question.”
“Oh, no, you’re not getting all feisty because I didn’t give you a quick answer when I just had to wait twenty minutes to get one measly answer out of you.”
“At least I heard your question. You aren’t even listening to me.”
Because she was right Jade backed down. “I’m sorry. What were you saying?”
“I said, what’s going on with you and Lincoln? He looked like Sad Dog Sam and you’re looking a little on the slumpy side yourself. So I’m wondering what you two have been up to these past few days.”
If Jade had heard this question a moment ago she certainly would have ignored it. Now, it seemed she didn’t have a choice but to provide some sort of answer. “Nothing’s going on.”
“You lie and you don’t do it well. Try again,” Noelle said smartly.
Jade frowned. “Okay, I slept with him. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“No,” Noelle said smiling. “But it’s a start.”
“It’s not a start. Linc and I never had a start. It always seems as if we’re ending,” she said quietly.
“What’s that supposed to mean? You’re back together aren’t you?”
“I told you the other night we weren’t together. This is just a job for the week to get the debt erased. Sunday morning I’ll be packing my bags and heading home to my real life.”
“And Linc will be where?”
“He’ll be here and then he’ll be at his hotel or wherever. He just won’t be with me.” To her ears that sounded pitiful and desolate. So much so she wanted to cry.
“Now were those his words or are you improvising?”
“I don’t improvise, Noelle.”
Noelle nodded in agreement. “No, you don’t. But you do overreact. So did he say he didn’t want to see you again after Sunday? I mean, did he specifically tell you that he wanted you to be gone for good?”
Jade rubbed her hands over her face. She did not want to be having this conversation with her younger sister. Noelle had never had anything but good luck with men. How could she ever understand what Jade was going through? “No. He didn’t say those words exactly. But I know what the deal is. I’m not stupid.”
Noelle pulled a cigarette out of her bag and prepared to light up.
“Don’t do that in here,
” Jade screeched and grabbed the cigarette from her sister’s hand. “You need to quit this nasty habit anyway.”
“I need to do a lot of things but right now we’re working on you and your needs. Now either show me to the porch or the deck, or since they’re rich, the smoking room, because I can’t wait another minute.”
Jade stood and they walked through the patio door out into the cool night air. Jade inhaled deeply as she took a seat in one of the chairs at the glass-top table. Noelle instantly lit up and took a long puff.
Blowing smoke into the air she turned to Jade and asked, “So you slept with him and now you’re the one doing the leaving?”
Jade’s head snapped in her direction. “Don’t even put me in the same category as him.”
“It’s all good. Maybe you think it’s your turn to get a little revenge. I can certainly understand that after all that crying you did over him.”
Jade did not cry over Linc, at least not for that long. And she’d already sought her revenge, a fact which was also causing her great distress. “Having sex with Linc and leaving him was never my plan. Having sex with him wasn’t my plan.”
“But you did it anyway. Why?”
“Because I couldn’t help myself.” Then Jade sighed and decided to be real and honest with herself and her sister. “Because I can’t stop loving him.”
That shut Noelle right up.
For about ten seconds.
“Then you need to stop trippin’ and get your man.”
“It’s not that simple, Noelle.” This was the second time in one day that another woman had told her what she needed to do where Linc was concerned. But Jade had never gone to Noelle about matters of the heart. Her sister had a slightly different idea about relationships and love than Jade did. In short, Noelle didn’t believe in love. She did, however, believe in sexing yourself crazy, so knowing that Jade had always said Linc was the best in bed she’d ever had sort of contributed to Noelle’s rooting for him.
“It’s a simple as you want it to be. Or, in your case, as hard as you make it.” She stamped out her cigarette in the ash tray and scooted her chair closer to Jade’s. Taking her sister’s hand she looked her right in the face. “You’ve been the big sister. You’ve been the granddaughter. You’re the boss at Happy Hands and you’re the best person I know. You deserve some happiness. So if Linc makes you happy I say go for it.”
“But we don’t want the same things.”
“How do you know? Did you ask him what he wanted? Better yet, did you tell him what you wanted?”
Jade sighed. She hadn’t told him. Yesterday, she’d given him stipulations and when he blamed those stipulations on her residual feelings from her breakup with Charles she’d let him go on thinking that was the cause. She hadn’t told him that she was crying for the love he’d never known she had for him. Or for the relationship that could never be because he wasn’t that type of man.
“What’s the point? He told me that the reason he left me eight years ago was because he knew that I was a forever kind of girl and that he couldn’t do forever.”
“Jay, that was eight damn years ago. How do you know what he’s willing to do now? And does it have to be all or nothing right at this moment? Damn, does he have to propose to you right now for you to believe he’s worthy?”
Jade’s answer was simple. “Yes. He either loves me or he doesn’t. There’s no middle ground with Linc and I. There can’t be. I can’t take it.”
She’d begun to cry and instead of Noelle continuing with her comments she, for the first time in their lives, held and consoled her big sister.
Friday was the tour arranged by Beverly. Jade had to give it to the woman, she sure knew how to celebrate in style.
Linc returned during breakfast, at which time Jade did not question why he’d left. It didn’t matter anymore. She’d emptied her soul to Noelle last night. And when Noelle had gone home she’d lain in their room, alone, thinking about Beverly’s advice. Maybe she should just tell Linc how she felt. Maybe their social status didn’t matter. And maybe, just maybe, he did have more feelings for her than she knew.
Even if luck were on her side and all of the above were true there was still one huge obstacle standing in their way—she’d stolen from him.
She’d considered telling him at least a dozen times since they’d made love. But then her feelings had resurfaced and she’d been so preoccupied with her self-preservation she didn’t think of it. That was understandable considering the odds of a woman falling in love with the same man twice were slim to none.
Guilt was a steady companion for Jade these days. In her defense, things were different between her and Linc when she’d decided to do what she did. She was angry about his proposition and even angrier about the fact that she had no choice but to go along with it. And now she was stuck in a web of deceit with a man she’d loved all of her adult life. What was she going to do?
She’d have to figure that out later. Today, they were going on a mini cruise to tour the Hoover Dam. Then they were heading to the Grand Canyon in a fleet of rented Hummers courtesy of the Donovans. About twenty of them were going on the little excursion, so she didn’t have the worry of being alone with Linc and thus wouldn’t have to deal with the growing conflict between them.
Jade was headed down the steps when Trent joined her.
“All set to go?” he asked.
“Yup. And you?”
“To tell the truth I’m ready for this week to be over. Mom’s running us ragged with all these activities.”
They walked together down the rest of the steps with Jade feeling as if this was her home, that she really belonged here. That was a dangerous feeling she knew and struggled to check it quickly. “I’ve enjoyed it. It’s not going to be easy returning to my solitary life.”
“I thought you had a sister.”
“I do. But she has her own life. I’m a solo adult now.” She shrugged trying to brush off the sudden wave of pity she felt for herself.
Trent stopped and looked directly at her. “Not anymore.”
“What?”
“You have Linc now.”
Trent looked at her as if he knew what her response to that would be. That was weird, and she paused to examine him a moment. “I don’t have Linc. We’re dating and that’s all.” That wasn’t totally a lie but still she berated herself. In this past week she’d become a liar and a thief, the two most hated people in her world.
“You don’t think that’ll turn into something more?”
She smiled and laid a hand on Trent’s shoulder. “Whatever happens between Linc and I is our business.”
“I second that,” Linc spoke, appearing mysteriously in the doorway.
Leaning against the doorjamb, a beige T-shirt molding against his well-defined chest, slacks buttoned at his narrow waist, and even though his eyes flashed with a touch of temper, he looked magnificent. She watched him approach feeling her lungs constrict with each step he took wondering what it would really feel like to be in a relationship with him. But that was a foolish thought. Not only did he not want a relationship, once he found out she’d stolen from him he might follow through with his earlier threat and have her arrested.
“That it is,” Trent said to his brother. “We shall all find out sooner or later.”
Jade suspected that Trent was now baiting Linc the way he’d just attempted to do her. She liked Trent. He was certainly easy enough to look at but he questioned everything relentlessly. She wondered if he ever stopped asking questions long enough to find his own woman.
Linc nodded then took Jade’s hand and headed toward the door. “Maybe so but right now we’re on our way to learn more about the Hoover Dam.”
Jade marveled at the sights she’d seen today. The ride on the Desert Princess had been fun. She and Linc had stood side by side along the deck of the Mississippi-style paddle wheeler as it puttered along Lake Mead which she’d learned was the world’s largest man-made lake. And for two hours t
hey’d visited the Dam.
Linc apparently had taken this tour before as he was her designated guide for the day, reciting historical facts, pointing out the best views and holding her hand. Now while your normal tour guide certainly didn’t go to this extreme, Jade felt very good that he did.
By late afternoon they were boarding the luxury SUVs, which by the way were the ugliest vehicles she had ever seen. Of course, the men were enamored, each one vowing to look into purchasing one as soon as he returned home.
She watched with a swelling heart the way the Donovan brothers interacted. They were without a doubt very close. The Triple Threat Brothers, that’s exactly what they were. A triple dose of good looks, brains and money designed to break the hearts of millions of women.
A moment of foreboding had Jade finally accepting the fact that she was number one million and one.
On the ride to the Grand Canyon she was silent, wrapped in thoughts of her latest mistake. Why had she thought she could spend an entire week with Linc and escape unscathed? The answer to that question was irrelevant as her only goal now was to make it through tonight and tomorrow without foolishly revealing her feelings to him. No good could come from telling Linc that she’d fallen in love with him all over again.
He traced a finger along her cheek while leaning close to her ear. “What’s on your mind?”
She didn’t pull away, didn’t try to resist his touch. She was too far gone for that. “Nothing, really.”
“You look worried.”
She tried valiantly for a smile. “What could I possibly have to worry about?” A mere glance in his eyes gave her heart a flutter and she had the answer to her question. He was looking at her as if there were no greater view. When he found out she’d stolen from him and fallen in love with him all in the span of a week, that look would turn to pure disgust. And that, she knew, would break her heart more completely than any man ever had.
