“I don’t, either,” Jack said with a frown. “But given what happened just now…is a disruption to the wedding really a risk we want to take?”
“Yes,” Caroline and Patrice said in unison.
“If it makes Maddie happy,” Patrice said.
“And it will!” Caroline agreed.
“Now that we’ve got that settled…” Patrice swept back out, calling over her shoulder. “You-all take your time! Dutch is back. And he and I are starting dinner!”
As his mother retreated, silence returned. “I hope you and Mom are right about including Bounder in the wedding,” Jack said.
“It’ll be fine,” Caroline reassured. “I’ve done half a dozen weddings on ranches in the last two years, and we’ve never had any unwelcome visitors yet. Probably because all the noise and confusion scares the critters away.”
Jack relaxed. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” He smiled. “In any case…” He stood, his tall body blocking the door to the master bath. Let his eyes track lazily over her, then drawled, “There is never a dull moment around here.”
There was nothing dull about the way he was looking at her, or the wanted way it made her feel, Caroline thought.
Forcing herself to return to her task of cleaning up her wounds, Caroline winced as she washed the grit from her knees. “I remember now what I hated worst about being a kid,” she moaned, wishing she could bypass this part of the process and go straight to the application of pain-numbing antiseptic cream. Catching Jack’s tender expression, she joked, “Scraped elbows and hands and knees.”
“Fall down a lot, did you?” Their brief disagreement over, Jack closed the distance between them and sat on the tub beside her. He took the sprayer and gently washed off one knee, and then the other. The sensation was exquisitely tender. She hadn’t felt so cared for, or loved, since she could not remember when.
Caroline’s breath caught. “All the time, when I was learning to ride my bike, and again when I learned to roller-skate.” She paused and shook her head ruefully. “A lot of tumbles there. Also, when I was playing chase at recess and fell on the playground. What about you?” She turned toward him slightly, wondering, as she searched his face, if there was anything they could do together that wouldn’t end up feeling intimate. “What kind of injuries did you incur?” she asked, curious about what he’d been like as a kid, before his dad got sick and he forgot how to dream.
Jack got a clean towel down from the shelf and blotted her knees and palms dry. “All of the above, plus bloody noses, a chipped tooth.”
“No way!”
“Yep.” He paused to point out the offending incisor.
Caroline studied his gleaming white teeth, noting nothing amiss. “It looks fine now.”
Jack flashed a lopsided smile. “I had a dentist who could work wonders.”
Caroline watched as Jack painstakingly applied antiseptic cream and two Band-Aids to each knee. “I wish I could have known you then.”
“I wish I could have known you, too.”
Their eyes locked. Jack leaned over, bracing a hand on the opposite side of her. Caroline saw the kiss coming. She welcomed it. The next thing she knew he had lifted her over onto his lap. Her arms were wreathed around his neck, and they were kissing like there was no tomorrow. Sweetly, deeply, tenderly. And that was when the bathroom door banged against the wall and an exuberant seven-year-old shouted at the top of her lungs, “Gram! Daddy and Caroline are kissing!” She danced in excitement and raced back out. “I think they’re going to get married!”
“YOU CAN STOP blushing now,” Jack teased as he walked Caroline out to her car several hours later.
Patrice and Dutch had finally decided on a wedding photographer. She had been booked for the event.
“You have to admit.” Caroline ducked her head, remembering the excitement of both the other women in Jack’s life. “It was awkward.” Patrice had been pleased beyond measure at the developing romance.
Maddie had mistakenly concluded that their kiss meant Jack and Caroline would marry. And Maddie would then get the mommy she had recently been wishing for. Only Dutch wore a guarded expression, perhaps wondering if Caroline was making a mistake, getting involved with a man like Jack, who seemed to resist romance and the notion of happily ever after at every turn.
And that in turn had brought up all of Caroline’s private misgivings. Could people change? Did she want to bank everything on Jack’s inability to open his heart all the way and fall in love again? Or take the more optimistic route and hope that with time and patience he would find his inner romantic yet again? All she knew for certain was that she would never be really happy unless she was with a man who not only knew how important it was for her to hold a dream in her heart, but was also willing to share it and work for it, right alongside of her.
Jack touched her arm. “Are you speaking of before or after my mother gifted you with the perfume destined to make me fall in love with you?”
Not wanting to discuss the real reason behind her new pensiveness, Caroline lifted the crystal bottle to her face and opened the cap. “It does smell heavenly.” Like fragrant peaches, expensive champagne and a sun-warmed meadow. It brought to mind lazy, spring-fever days spent with a lover. And, despite her need to be cautious, that lover was Jack. Patrice had outdone herself with this fragrance. But Caroline suspected Jack’s mother knew that.
Caroline juggled the gift basket of bath oil, scented soap, cologne, lotion and perfume—all laced with her new signature scent—and recapped the perfume.
Jack bent and inhaled the sensitive area just behind her ear. “Have to agree with you. That is really nice.”
JACK HAD THOUGHT Caroline’s devotion to making dreams come true without first stopping to make sure the dreams were worth pursuing, and his need to stop bad things from happening, had put them on a collision course. And while that still could be true in a worst-case scenario when it came to Dutch, Jack realized they also had a lot in common.
Like a fierce desire to shield those they cared about, a willingness to put themselves out there, the way she had by making sure his daughter stayed back and then jumped into the street with Bounder, instead of letting go of the leash and letting their dog face the danger alone.
Caroline had acted quickly and heroically in the exact same way he would have done in that situation, and that left him feeling closer to her than ever. “I really appreciate the way you went all out to protect Maddie and Bounder today.”
Caroline rummaged through her purse for her car keys. “It was no problem.”
Nor was their attraction to each other, Jack now knew. Even if they didn’t see eye to eye on everything. They agreed on enough. “When can I see you again?” he persisted.
Caroline chuckled. “You’re seeing me now.”
He grinned at her teasing dodge. “Alone.”
Caroline found her keys. Grew suddenly serious. “Are you sure it’s wise? Given how much Maddie is beginning to want a mother. She was so over the moon just now when she saw us kissing. I don’t want to hurt her.”
“I don’t want to hurt my daughter, either. And I still say, we’d be fools not to pursue this.”
Jack returned Caroline’s sober regard, waiting for what seemed an eternity. Finally, she gave in, as he hoped she would. She set the gift basket full of perfume in her car. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt anything if we furthered our friendship.”
Jack wanted a lot more than companionship from Caroline, but he would settle for what he could get. The full-on courting could come later….
“But all I’ve got available tomorrow is lunch.”
Seeing her at noon sounded good. Hell, seeing her anytime, anywhere, sounded just fine. Jack made a mental note to adjust his own schedule. “Count me in.” Not content to leave anything to chance, or give another guy a chance to move in on what he now considered his territory, he pressed, “What about Wednesday?”
Caroline bit her lower lip as she consulted the calendar
on her BlackBerry, said finally, “I could do dinner.”
Jack felt even happier. “I’ll make reservations.” Somewhere really nice.
She looked up with a sigh. “And nothing at all on Thursday.”
Jack frowned in disappointment.
Caroline held up a hand before he could even attempt to persuade her otherwise. “Sorry, but Friday morning I head for the party ranch. I need to be there to receive the portable bathrooms and the two luxury motor homes the wedding party will get dressed in. The tents and the wedding arbor are going to have to be set up, extra flats of Texas wildflowers brought in and planted strategically around the wedding site, the chairs and portable stoves and refrigerators delivered. Bottom line, there is a lot to do. I’m going to need to get my beauty rest.”
She had no idea how gorgeous she was, but he could not forget it. Still, he wanted her to feel good, and a little extra sleep would go a long way toward ensuring that.
Eager to be helpful, he said, “What time are you heading out Friday morning?”
“Six. I’ve got a lot to do.”
There was no one Jack wanted to see more early in the morning. “How about I go with you?”
“I THINK IT’S A SPLENDID plan!” Patrice said when Jack told his mother of his decision to accompany Caroline to the wedding site later that same evening.
“My only quandary is whether to come back to Fort Worth Friday evening, or stay over and meet up with you and Dutch and Maddie and the rest of the guests on Saturday.”
Patrice put down her newspaper. “You know what the romance gurus would say.”
“Mom,” Jack said sternly.
Patrice cast a fond glance at Dutch, who was outside on the patio talking on his cell phone, then turned back to Jack, merriment dancing in her gray eyes. “I’m just saying….”
Jack held up a staying palm. “I know what you and Maddie want.” And maybe I do, too. “But there’s only one Gaines family wedding happening this weekend,” he finished firmly.
Patrice’s smile was sly. “A mother can hope.”
Jack saw his opening and took it with a gently voiced question. “Seriously, Mom.” Jack leaned toward her, needing—wanting—to make certain. “Are you sure this is what you want to do?”
Disappointment reigned. “Jack!”
Unable to shake his feeling that something was amiss, Jack cast another look at Dutch, too. “If you have any doubts at all, we could reschedule for a later date.”
Patrice rose. “I’m not waiting to marry Dutch. We’re doing it this weekend, and we’re doing it right.” She stopped scowling long enough to touch Jack’s shoulder with maternal affection. “Now stop worrying! If you don’t stop you’re going to get permanent frown lines on your forehead.”
Like he cared about that. “That’s what Botox is for.”
“The day you are metrosexual enough to undertake a cosmetic procedure is the day I’ll whistle Dixie through a pair of dentures!”
Jack laughed. “Okay, Mom. You’ve made your point.”
He just hoped his mother was doing the right thing, and that nothing else potentially problematic turned up in his investigation of Dutch, because if it did, he was going to have to tell his mom a truth he was certain she would not want to hear.
The rest of the week passed swiftly. Jack and Caroline had a lunch and a dinner. They managed to talk on the phone late Thursday evening. On Friday, Jack arrived to pick her up at 6:00 a.m.
He had hoped the drive out to the party ranch would give them time to talk. Caroline spent the entire time on her cell phone, making sure that everyone was on schedule.
The only glitch was the scattered groupings of gray-blue clouds dotting the horizon. Caroline got out of Jack’s car. In deference to the hard physical labor she was going to be doing that day, she had on a waist-skimming white blouse, stack-heeled blue western boots and jeans.
Clipboard and BlackBerry in hand, she paused to look at the sky. “I checked the weather again this morning. The probability of a storm hitting the ranch is slight—less than ten percent.”
Jack studied the storm clouds looming on the horizon.
Another sign?
Caroline lit up at the half-dozen tractor trailers also headed their way. “Looks like we’re right on schedule,” she said, pleased.
By late morning, the white tents and the lights for the event had all been erected, the dance floor and bandstand set up, the outdoor kitchen hooked up and arranged. As those trucks and their workers left, several other tractor trailers, carrying the portable bathrooms, drove in. Those were followed by trucks delivering white folding chairs and the wedding arbor. The flowers weren’t going to be set out until the next morning.
“Looking good,” Jack told Caroline as Cinco de Mayo ribbons and streamers were set out along the drive from the highway onto the ranch, furthering the festive air.
“Except for one thing,” Caroline grumbled as two luxury motor homes rumbled onto the property. She looked at the new bank of dark clouds looming on the horizon. “Yet another threat of rain.”
Jack waved off her concern as his cell phone began to ring. “Bad weather’s been passing us by all day.”
Leaving Caroline to tell the delivery people where to set the motor homes that would serve as dressing and waiting rooms for the wedding party, Jack walked off to take the call.
Laura Tillman’s voice sounded in Jack’s ear. “I’ve got some news for you. And you’re not going to like it….”
Jack listened to what the P.I. had to say with a sinking feeling in his gut. “Give me a call as soon as you know more,” he instructed. She promised to do so and the conversation ended.
Jack managed to stay away from Caroline until the motor home deliverymen had left. The minute she came toward him, she knew something had changed. And not for the better. “What’s going on?” she asked.
Jack looked at the racks of tarp-covered white folding chairs that wouldn’t be set out until morning. Then at the ever-darkening blue-gray sky. Should he tell Caroline what they knew thus far? Or just wait until Laura had something more detailed?
“I can tell by the look on your face that something is up,” Caroline insisted. She grasped his arm. “Don’t even try and pretend otherwise. So you may as well just go ahead and tell me, because I’m not going to rest until I find out what’s got you looking so concerned.”
Chapter Twelve
For a moment, Caroline thought Jack wasn’t going to tell her anything. Then he scowled and reported reluctantly, “Laura’s company set up surveillance.”
Caroline’s heartbeat kicked up a notch as she noted the air around them was getting uncomfortably warm and humid again. “And?” she prodded, hoping for the best while dreading the worst.
The lines on either side of Jack’s handsome mouth deepened. “A pretty forty-something blonde has been seen coming in and out of Dutch’s apartment when he’s there. Apparently, they were together twice this week, both times for over four hours!”
Okay, Caroline thought. That didn’t sound good. But it wasn’t necessarily the disaster Jack was making it out to be, either. “Who is she?” Caroline asked calmly.
Jack clamped a hand over the tense muscles in his neck, then began to pace the lawn where the wedding would take place late the following afternoon. “Well, that’s the problem,” Jack said, grimacing, taking another look at the looming gray clouds. “We don’t know yet.”
Needing to get away from the increasing ferocity of the gusting wind blowing across the plain, Caroline stepped inside the tent where tables and chairs for the reception had already been set up. She walked over to a set of plastic-covered bins containing the elegant place cards and printed menus. She double-checked to make sure all was in order, and checked that off her list. “So this mystery woman could be anyone.”
Jack followed her, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. “Like a mistress.”
Caroline had hoped her influence would have Jack taking a more charitable v
iew of his mother’s fiancé. Obviously not. Yet, anyway. She still had hopes she could reform him. Caroline moved to the seating chart that would guide the waitstaff the next day. All was in order there, too.
“Or a professional colleague.” Caroline continued theorizing optimistically. “It is traditional for the bride and groom to give each other gifts. The mystery woman could be working on a surprise for your mother on her wedding day. In fact, for all you know, she could be an artist, consigned to make a special piece of jewelry, or a travel agent finalizing the details of a luxurious Australian honeymoon. Dutch is in charge of that, you know, and he hasn’t told your mother where they are going. Or even exactly when.” But both the bride and groom were eagerly looking forward to it.
Jack perched on the edge of one of the circular tables, arms folded in front of him. Clearly, Caroline noted, he was back to thinking the worst about Dutch.
“I know you’re trying to help, but you’re reaching,” Jack told Caroline grimly.
Caroline put down her clipboard and pen. “And, as always, you’re suspecting the worst, instead of hoping for the best.”
Jack threw up his hands in disgust. “Look, I want this to be innocent as much as you do.”
“But you can’t trust the mystery woman and her involvement in the situation any more than you can trust Dutch.”
Jack reached out and pulled Caroline close, situating her between his spread legs. “You know the old saying,” he murmured as her bottom settled comfortably on the inside of his muscular thigh. “If it looks bad, and it smells bad, it probably is bad.”
Relishing the physical closeness of his body, Caroline splayed her hands across the warm, hard muscles of his chest. She looked into his eyes. “There’s also an old saying that warns not to judge a book by its cover, especially if there could be a logical explanation for all of this.”
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