“It’s nothing.” Courtney shook her head and leaned across to give Jasper a hug.
“What was that for?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I just needed it.”
“Well, whenever you need one, I’m here. C’mon, they’re passing out some hot hors d’oeuvres in the main room and I’m starved.”
“Sounds great.” Courtney followed behind him.
Given her apprehension, their evening went surprisingly well. She watched her parents make small talk with Jasper, and Kayla and Gabby discuss Gabby’s upcoming nuptials and bachelorette party, but despite the positive outcome she felt disaster was looming. It was as if she was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Shane eventually pulled her aside and said, “Is everything okay, sis? You seem a little off tonight. You’re not your usual sparkly self.”
Courtney feigned a smile. “I’m sorry.”
“Care to tell your big brother about it?”
Courtney peered from around his shoulder and glanced at Jasper. “Yes, but not here, okay?”
“How about outside?” Shane suggested. “I could use a little fresh night air.” When they went out onto the terrace and into the spring air, Courtney shivered slightly. Shane removed his tuxedo jacket and wrapped it around her bare arms. “Better?”
Courtney nodded.
“So, why don’t you tell me what has you so rattled?” he asked.
“I heard some gossip tonight and it kind of shook me.”
“What did you hear?”
“It’s nothing.”
“C’mon, just tell me,” Shane said.
“I was eavesdropping and heard some women gossiping earlier. They said no good would come of me and Jasper’s relationship.”
“And that bothered you?” Shane laughed. “You’ve been dealing with a lot tougher critics, like Dad and Kayla, and you haven’t faltered once. What’s changed now? What aren’t you telling me?”
Courtney turned away and looked out at the dark skies.
“What’s going on, Courtney?”
She could hear the concern in Shane’s voice and slowly turned around to face him. His piercing green eyes mirrored her own and she found it impossible to lie. “It’s Andrew Jackson.”
Shane’s brow furrowed. “What about him?”
“After the dinner when I introduced Jasper to the family and Andrew interrupted...well, I went after him and confronted him,” Courtney said. “That’s when Andrew warned me that he’d had enough of Adamses taking what was his. He told me he would make me pay for taking his son away from him.”
“He threatened you?” Shane looked as if he might pop a blood vessel. “How dare that bastard threaten my sister?”
“I think he was trying to scare me away.” Courtney tried to defuse her brother’s reaction. “I don’t really think he meant me any harm.” But even as she said the words, Courtney knew they were a lie. If Andrew Jackson had his choice, she and her entire family would be toast.
“I don’t care,” Shane said, pacing the terrace. “That man is a menace. First he attempted to blackmail Gabby and now he’s threatening you. And I’ve had it up to here with him.” He raised his hand above his head. “He’s done nothing but try to hurt our family.”
“And I think my relationship with Jasper has only made his animosity toward us even greater.” Courtney sighed wearily.
“I’ll handle this,” Shane said, heading toward the door.
“Shane, please.” Courtney grabbed his arm. “Please don’t do anything rash. You’re supposed to marry Gabby, the love of your life. Don’t do anything that might jeopardize that.” She wouldn’t be able to bear it if something happened to him because of her.
He smiled and used his index finger to cross his heart. “Okay, okay, but we have to find a way to neutralize Andrew.”
“Agreed.”
Hours later, Jasper stood with Courtney outside the hotel, waiting for the valet to bring the Maserati around. Courtney was wearing the diamond tassel necklace and had the sunflower earrings in hand for her mother’s birthday. Ethan and Kayla had left moments ago, and her parents and Shane and Gabby were wrapping up their purchases inside.
The paparazzi were across the street, snapping pictures of all the Atlanta socialites as they began to mill out of the hotel. “Courtney! Courtney! Courtney!” several of them yelled.
Courtney knew her part and walked toward the curb, posed so they could get another photo of her with her new jewelry and blew them a kiss. Jasper knew that any exposure she could get for Adams Cosmetics was worth the inconvenience of disrupting their evening.
“How about a picture with your new beau?”
It had not been lost on them that she’d been holding hands with Jasper when she’d walked in. She turned and batted her eyes at Jasper. “Do you mind?”
Jasper sucked in a breath. He hated the press, but he supposed this was part of the gig until Courtney was no longer the AC spokesmodel. But before he could get the word “okay” out of his mouth, he saw a man walking toward Courtney.
There was something about the man that looked suspicious. He was wearing dark clothes and a baseball hat. He was covering his face with his jacket so it was hidden. The man was just a few feet away from Courtney now, and she hadn’t noticed him approach. Seconds later, the man pushed Courtney off the curb. Courtney stumbled onto the street in the midst of oncoming traffic. She struggled to gain her balance.
Jasper had only seconds to react. He ran as fast as he could and pushed Courtney out of the way. She went flying across the pavement just as Jasper’s body connected with the oncoming SUV and everything faded to black.
Chapter 16
“I’m okay,” Jasper said, attempting to sit up in the hospital bed with little success. He was still a little woozy. Courtney was at his bedside in the E.R. in her dirty and torn sequined dress, fussing over him. She hadn’t left his side since the moment he’d been taken by ambulance to the hospital. He’d been semiconscious during the ride, but he’d heard her crying and saying, “Stay with me.”
“You’re not okay.” Courtney sighed. How could he be? He had lacerations on his face, a broken arm and several broken ribs and a slight concussion, but it could have been a lot worse. And since then, he’d been acting all manly and refusing to take pain meds. “I want to be in control of my faculties,” he’d told the nurses.
“You could have died out there,” Courtney said.
“But it would have been worth it,” he said, touching her cheek. “If it would have saved you, then it would have been worth it.” He leaned over and brushed his lips firmly over hers. When he pulled away, he noticed tears had formed in her eyes.
“Don’t talk like that. If...if something had happened to you...” Courtney tried to hold her tears in check. She didn’t want Jasper to know just how shaken she’d been or he would worry about her, when he was the one who’d been hurt. “I don’t know what I would have done.”
Everything had happened so quickly; she couldn’t remember much except hitting the pavement, but when she’d looked up and seen Jasper lying in the street, not moving, her heart had stopped.
Using his good arm, Jasper stroked her honey-blond hair. “Same here. When I saw you in the street, all I could think about was that I had to get to you. I prayed that I would get to you in time.”
“And thank God you did,” Byron Adams said, holding the curtain open. Her mother was standing behind him, as was Shane, Gabby, Ethan and Kayla. Byron walked forward and the rest of the clan filed in behind him into the small, cramped quarters. “If it wasn’t for your quick thinking, if you hadn’t pushed my daughter out of the way, she could have been...” Her father’s voice caught and her mother touched his arm. “Sh...she could have been killed tonight.”
“I’m just
glad I was there,” Jasper said honestly.
“So am I.” Once her father was in front of Jasper’s bed, he held out his hand. “With no thought for yourself, you risked your life for my baby girl, and I just want to thank you.”
Jasper stared in disbelief at Byron’s outstretched hand, but he shook it anyway. “I would do it all over again.”
A smile formed on her father’s mouth. “I’ve no doubt you would.”
“Dad’s right,” Kayla said, coming to the other side of Jasper’s bed so she could touch Courtney’s shoulder. “You’re a hero for what you did tonight.”
“Yeah, it was pretty incredible,” Ethan said as he joined Kayla and gave Courtney’s shoulder a quick squeeze. “And you’re one lucky man. I hear you only have a broken arm and some ribs.”
“Don’t go pinning any medals on me just yet,” Jasper said. “I did what any one of you would have done for someone you love.”
The room became silent and Courtney held her breath. Had she heard Jasper correctly? Had he just said he loved her in front of her entire family? She turned to look at him, and his eyes told her that there was much that needed to be said between the two of them, but now didn’t seem like the right time.
The statement obviously caught her father by surprise because he immediately changed the subject. “Uh...well, what I want to know is how this happened. From the eyewitness accounts I’ve heard, it was like Courtney was deliberately pushed.”
“But who would do something like that?” her mother asked.
“I mean, a car just happened to be there at that exact moment to run Courtney over?” Shane commented, as he pushed his way forward to the bed. “Sounds very suspicious to me.”
“So you think someone meant to hit Courtney with their car?” Jasper inquired, looking directly at Shane.
Shane glanced at Courtney, who hung her head low, then looked back at Jasper. “I can’t say for sure, but it could be.”
“Well, Courtney is in the public eye a lot,” Kayla said, trying to think the situation through logically. “It could have been some crazed fan. You know celebrities get stalkers all the time.”
“Have you had any weird emails or fan mail?” Gabrielle asked.
Courtney shook her head.
“How about threats?” Ethan offered.
Courtney was silent.
“Well?” her father asked. “Has anyone threatened you?”
Courtney really did not want to get into this with her entire family present. She glared at Shane for starting this conversation. “No, not exactly.”
From his bed, Jasper reached out and grasped Courtney’s hand, pulling her closer to him. “What does that mean?” He peered into her eyes. She hated when he focused those midnight eyes of his directly on her. She felt utterly powerless against them. “Courtney?”
“I kind of had a heated discussion with your father,” she finally said.
She saw her father instantly tense at this information, which was what Courtney had feared. Knots began to form in her stomach. He would be ready to fly off the handle at the thought of Andrew saying something menacing to her, and she didn’t want that to happen.
“What was said, Courtney?” Jasper tugged at her arm so that she would turn back to face him. “What did Andrew say to you?”
“At the dinner party to introduce you to the family, I told him to back off, to leave you alone, that you wanted nothing to do with him and that he should stop attacking my family. I warned him that we were a tight-knit bunch and nothing he could ever do would break us.”
“Good for you!” Kayla said.
“I’m sure he probably laughed at you. Andrew likes nothing better than taking potshots at us,” Ethan added.
“Far from it,” Courtney said. “He blamed me for taking you away from him.” She squeezed Jasper’s hand. “Told me that we Adamses—” she twisted so she could look at her family “—had taken enough away from him.”
“Can you believe that, Elizabeth?” her father asked. “He still blames me for taking you away from him. It amazes me just how long that man can hold a grudge.”
“But that’s not all he said, is it?” Jasper said, guessing that there was more she wasn’t saying. He also noticed that Shane was watching Courtney intently, which meant she hadn’t told them the entire story.
“What else did he say?” her mother asked. “I want to hear exactly how evil the man I once cared for has become.”
Courtney sighed heavily. “He said that he would make me pay for turning Jasper against him.”
“See?” Her father pointed to no one in particular. “That’s a threat. Andrew threatened our daughter. Oh, he’s gone and done it now!” Her father paced the floor of the tiny room, making the space feel smaller. Courtney felt as if the walls were closing in.
She fought for control of her voice in an attempt to defuse her father’s volatile temper. “They were merely words, Daddy. That doesn’t mean Andrew would physically harm me. He’ll probably just come after Adams Cosmetics like he’s always done.”
“But that doesn’t mean he didn’t mean you bodily harm,” Shane cautioned, coming to Courtney’s side. “Who knows what he’s capable off, sis? Losing his son is personal. It could make Andrew more dangerous than he’s ever been.”
“Shane has a point,” Ethan said. “I think it would be prudent if we got you a bodyguard.”
Courtney stood up. “That’s ridiculous. You’re all blowing this way out of proportion.” She walked toward her family. “I think everyone just needs to calm down.”
“Maybe, but maybe not.” Kayla joined the fray. “But we can’t take that risk, Courtney. What if something happened to you? We wouldn’t be able to live with ourselves.”
“We protect our own,” Shane added.
“I for one want to know what we’re going to do about Andrew,” her father stated. His arms were folded across his chest. “That man has been a thorn in my side for over a quarter of a century, and I have had enough.”
“I will deal with my father.”
All eyes turned to Jasper, who’d been quiet while they were all having their say on what should or shouldn’t be done about Andrew. They seemed to have momentarily forgotten that Jasper was not only the one who was injured, but the one with whom Andrew was fixated.
“Jasper.” Courtney rushed back to his side. “I would never ask you to do anything against your father.”
“You’re not asking,” he responded. “I’m telling you.” With some difficulty because of a bad arm, he pushed the pillows on the hospital bed back so he could sit up straight. “I will not allow my father to bully the woman I love.”
There, he said it again. There was no mistaking his intent. He meant the words.
“I will find out exactly what my father is up to and put an end to this vendetta once and for all.”
“That could be dangerous,” Shane said.
“My father would never hurt me,” Jasper said. It was the one thing he was absolutely sure of, despite Andrew’s posturing that if Jasper wasn’t with him, he was against him. Monica would and could never be his son. Jasper would have to play on Andrew’s weakness and get him to admit his wrongdoings and get it on tape just as he’d done when he was fifteen. Except this time, Jasper wouldn’t just be threatening to use the tape. This time he would expose Andrew for the lying, cheating sleazeball he truly was. It was the only way he and the Adams family would be free of him.
* * *
“He said he loves me,” Courtney told Tea the following day when they met for coffee. She hadn’t slept a wink the night before because images of the accident and Jasper lying in the street, and images of Andrew grabbing her by the arm and threatening her, haunted her. Not to mention, Jasper had said the L-word, and the anxiety about the discussion they’d yet to have had kept her
up.
“And what did you say to him?” Tea asked, sipping on her white-chocolate mocha with whipped cream. She couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. If Courtney felt the way she suspected her best friend did, then his declaration of love should have been met with jubilation. So why did she see fear in Courtney’s eyes?
“Say?” Courtney looked puzzled for a moment and motioned for Tea to wipe whipped cream from her upper lip. “Well, I couldn’t say much of anything. My entire family was in the hospital room.”
“Your family was in the room when he declared his love for the first time?”
“It was extremely awkward. It wasn’t like we could have a discussion about it with my parents and siblings gathered around.”
“So, what did you do?”
Courtney sipped her skinny cinnamon dolce latte. “I acted like I didn’t hear him.” When Tea raised her brow, she explained herself. “It wasn’t the right time. Especially after I told them that Andrew verbally threatened me, the conversation escalated. I wanted to talk after my family finally left, but no sooner had I sat by his bedside than his mother came in, completely distraught. The rest of the evening before he drifted off to sleep was about convincing her that Jasper was going to be all right.”
“Have you spoken with him today?”
Courtney shook her head. “I’ve been afraid to. I called the nurses’ station and they said he was still sleeping.”
“So you have some time to figure out how to approach the conversation.”
“Exactly.” Courtney pointed to her. “I mean, he did have a concussion and all. But, on the other hand, he did say it twice, that he ‘saved the woman he loves.’”
“He said it twice? Sounds like he meant it.”
“You really think so?”
Tea reached across the table and grasped Courtney’s hand. “The bigger question here, Courtney, is whether you want it to be true. Do you love Jasper?”
Courtney’s eyes swept over Tea’s bronze face for a long moment and then tears slowly found their way down her cheeks. “I do. I love Jasper. The thought of losing him is too much to bear.”
Formula for Passion Page 16
