Baby Times Two

by Marie Ferrarella

  “Good night, Gina. And remember, measure twice, cut once.”

  “That’s for woodcraft,” she reminded him.

  “No, that’s for life.” The phone went silent in her hand.

  She slid the telephone back into the cradle. A moment later, after she was certain that the connection was broken, she took the telephone off the hook. Gina stuffed the receiver under her pillow and listened to the telltale drone throb for a minute before it went dormant.

  No more calls, she thought vehemently, she was agitated enough as it was.

  Even without further interruptions, it was a long time before she managed to fall asleep. The fact that Chase was here, close enough for her to reach out and touch, kept her awake. She only hoped that he was suffering the same way she was.

  Fat chance. Chase was probably sound asleep by now. He had the ability to drop off to sleep anywhere, anytime. She seriously thought he could probably sleep suspended on a meat hook or hanging in the closet without being disturbed. He called his comalike state the sleep of the innocent.

  If that man was innocent, then she was an exotic dancer.

  * * *

  Morning came all too soon, bringing intense sunshine and an intense resolution.

  The latter evolved after Gina took a good look at herself in the mirror. She looked exactly like what she was, a woman who hadn’t gotten enough sleep. Needing to artfully apply her makeup for the second day in a row, she decided that the only way she was ever going to get any sleep was to throw herself into work and to throw herself out of Chase’s path. She made up her mind to avoid him at all costs except at the mandatory dinner hour with James.

  At least then she wouldn’t be alone with him. She knew that would be a mistake. It was always best to avoid temptation whenever possible. After dinner, she would find a way to slip up to her room while James and Chase were still going over things. It was the only way.

  * * *

  Gina’s plan worked for a little more than two weeks, and although she had to admit that part of her almost wanted to get into a compromising situation with Chase, it was tantamount to giving in to that overwhelming urge to leap in front of an oncoming train. It was one of those urges that you just had to refuse for safety’s sake.

  As had become her custom, Gina went down early to the office to make use of the computer before, she assumed, Chase was up. If habits hadn’t changed and he wasn’t being roused by cranes, derricks and shrill alarm clocks, Chase could remain curled up in bed until at least nine. Gina hit the office at seven.

  When she walked into the office, she was relieved to find it empty, as usual. Chase was still communing intimately with his pillow. With luck, she had an hour to herself. Yesterday, she’d barely gotten out before he had come in. It was an elaborate game of cat and mouse, but necessary as far as she was concerned. Things were going basically well and pretty much on schedule, although it was touch and go at times. If things continued the way they were now, she had approximately two weeks—or less—to endure her own personal form of purgatory.

  Walking in, she was totally unprepared to have the office door suddenly close behind her. As she spun around, she saw Chase standing against the wall, his hand on the door.

  Leaning there indolently for a moment, he studied her. “What are you afraid of, Gina?”

  Her heart was pounding madly, but she attempted to look nonchalant. “People who sneak up on me for one.”

  “I ‘sneaked up’ because if I didn’t, all I’d see of you is your back, like yesterday when I caught you bugging out.”

  She stared at him. “Bugging out?”

  “It’s a military term, Gina. It means pulling up stakes so that the enemy doesn’t know you’ve been there. Like I said, all I get to see is your back, and while it’s a very sexy back, I’d like to see the front for a while.”

  Caught, she pretended he was being paranoid. She lifted her shoulders and let them drop carelessly as she sank down into her chair.

  “I’ve been busy.” Gina turned on the computer and pulled up her schedule for the day. She studied it to see what was due and whom she still had to get in contact with. “This hotel is a huge white elephant. I’m dealing with an ugly stepsister that James wants transformed into Cinderella in time for the ball and I’m not really sure I can make it all happen on schedule.”

  She would be if there was only herself to rely on, but there were so many details she couldn’t control. So many delays.

  Just saying it aloud had her stomach in an uproar. She opened the middle drawer and took out an antacid from the ample supply she now maintained.

  Chase leaned a hip against her desk as he watched her pop the tablet into her mouth. Maybe a lot more had changed than he thought. “Ulcer?”

  She shut the drawer. “Not yet, but I’m working on one.”

  “Don’t,” he advised lightly. “It makes a lousy status symbol.”

  She was unprepared for the concern in his eyes. Or for her own reaction to his words. “You speak from firsthand experience?”

  He nodded. “One of the trophies for becoming a success, at least a success who doesn’t shout out whatever’s bothering him.”

  “Meaning I do?” She flushed ruefully. Of course she did, but he didn’t have to bring it up. “I guess I do at that. But it comes naturally. I’m Italian....”

  As if that was something new. “Italians all have volatile tempers.” He saw hers flare in her eyes. “They also make the best lovers.”

  She leaned back in her chair, her schedule on temporary hold as she studied him. “You’ve taken a survey?”

  He liked the fact that there was just the smallest indication of jealousy in the way she raised her brow and frowned.

  “I didn’t have to. You don’t have to go from orchard to orchard to know you’ve tasted a sweet apple.”

  For a moment, he caught her off guard. This wasn’t like him. This was almost too smooth. “You’ve become poetic since we were together.”

  He shrugged carelessly, toying with a strand of her hair. He was beginning to entertain the idea of their being together again—and liking it. “Sometimes a person grows in four years.”

  Damn, this was just what she was afraid of. He was unraveling her again, through basic, simple motions. Her mind told her to get up and leave, while her body had a whole different message it was sending. “And sometimes they don’t.”

  The telephone rang. Her hand automatically flew out to cover the receiver. Saved by the bell. She used the receiver as a wedge between them.

  “Hello?”

  Not put off by the obstacle, Chase began to play with the hair at the nape of her neck. Gina’s sharp intake of breath told him he was affecting her. It was infinitely more satisfying than the column of numbers he was working on.

  She tried to wave him away, but Chase was persistent. Gina had to struggle hard to concentrate on what was being said to her over the telephone.

  She sat up, at attention, as the words penetrated. “What do you mean you can’t get the wallpaper hangers here until two weeks from now?” She didn’t have to flip to her calendar, although she did, to know that was totally unacceptable.

  “I need them here yesterday.” She realized that Chase had stepped back and was grateful for the respite. “We’re not talking about redoing a closet. This building is taller than Jack’s beanstalk.”

  Gina thumbed through her book of suppliers and saw that she had no alternative backup. She had to bluff this out and hope it went her way.

  “You get a crew out here and you get them out here ASAP. And make sure they’re good. I want those walls seamless, Saunders. Completely seamless.”

  With a huff, praying it worked, she hung up. Turning, she saw that Chase was looking at her. There was something she’d never seen in his eyes before. Respect.

  “I’m impressed. You sounded like a general ordering her troops to take the next hill or else.”

  She turned around completely so that she could see him better. “
I’ve gotten a little tougher since you went away.”

  He wondered if tougher meant harder as well. What he had liked about Gina was her innocent exuberance. Had that been lost?

  “So I see.” He leaned over and brushed his thumb across her lips. Her eyes grew smoky. “But I bet you still have a soft, marshmallow center.”

  She scooted the chair back. “Sorry, that got toasted. It’s as hard as a rock now.”

  Somehow he rather doubted that. Not with the way she was gripping the armrests.

  “Can I check it out for myself?”

  “Not on your life, buster. Stick to numbers. They’re safer.” She tapped the side of the computer that was on his desk.

  “Safer, maybe.” That much he could readily agree to. “But not nearly as exciting.”

  “Chase, we’ve done exciting. We’ve also done shouting, and hurt feelings and a whole gamut of emotions. How about a little peace and quiet?”

  She could settle for being his friend. She had been once, before everything had fallen apart so badly. She wouldn’t mind getting back to that now.

  He debated a trade-off. “Will it keep you from avoiding me?”

  She looked at him warily. Once burned, twice leery. “I might.”

  “Peace and quiet it is.” Chase rounded the desk and sat down on his side. He hoped Gina hadn’t noticed that he’d crossed his fingers.

  Chapter Seven

  Nicholas James leaned back in his new swivel chair, the one Gina had picked out for his office, and smiled. He liked the feel of it. The chair accommodated his considerable size like an old, treasured piece of furniture rather than something that had to be painstakingly broken in.

  More than that, he liked what she had done with his office. What she was in the process of doing with his hotel. Her sketches had accentuated the hotel’s Western flavor, yet it was tempered with clean, sweeping modern lines. Everywhere he looked, there was the aura of wide-open spaces, the way the West was meant to be.

  Wide-open spaces filled with paying guests.

  James chuckled to himself, then once again turned toward the people he’d sent for.

  “Won’t take up much of your time,” he promised as Gina and Chase seated themselves. Benjamin chose to stand to his right, a silent, alert second in command. “Don’t have much to spare as it is right now.” James tapped his gold wristwatch for emphasis, then directed his attention to Chase and Gina.

  “Since you two are doing such a right bang-up job of all this—” he gestured airily about “—I don’t see the need to hover over you anymore like a vulture waiting on his supper to die.”

  His pleased smile was a contrast to the image he’d just evoked in Gina’s mind. The man was nothing if not colorful.

  In actuality, she thought, James hadn’t hovered at all. During the past three weeks, he had stayed out of her way completely. It was she who had had to go searching for him in order to confer over a certain selection of furnishings or the new color for the bathrooms. He had, as he’d promised, given her complete free rein.

  “And, like that old saying goes, I’ve got other fish to fry, so I thought I’d get away for a few days and tend to them.” James inclined his head slightly, indicating Benjamin. “You won’t be alone, of course.”

  No, Gina thought, with Chase here, she certainly wasn’t alone, even though at times she wished she were. Wished it with all her heart, or rather, her mind. And that was because the rest of her seemed to be weakening drastically. Chase, perforce, was a part of every day for her.

  And every night.

  And every dream she seemed to have.

  It was almost as if something was trying to drive her into his arms.

  Yes, she thought disparagingly, something was. Her own desires. They were getting in the way of the steely logic she had struggled so hard to develop. She wasn’t one to be led by her emotions or her hormones or her dreams any longer. Cold, hard reality was all she trusted. And reality said that when you mixed together two people with completely opposite tastes, opposite needs, opposite goals, all you got was discord.

  Each and every time.

  Discord sat three feet away from her, obviously paying more attention to James than she was.

  Pressing her lips together, Gina strove to pull her thoughts away from Chase and focus her mind on what James was saying. It was like trying to yank a magnet away from a metal pole. The magnet just kept attempting to reattach itself.

  Deliberately staring at James, Gina shifted in her chair and crossed her legs.

  Chase noted the movement out of the corner of his eye. He smiled to himself. He’d always been a great student of body language and Gina’s told him a great deal.

  “Anyway,” James was saying as he placed a file into his briefcase and then snapped down the locks, “you can reach me whenever you want on my private line if something goes haywire on you.”

  Like my emotions, Gina thought.

  She slid her palms along the armrests, trying to dry them, wishing she wouldn’t fidget so. It was Chase’s fault. Chase was making her nervous and he wasn’t even doing anything.

  No, that wasn’t really accurate. She was making herself nervous. Because she was afraid of what she might do. And then regret all over again.

  “I’ll be back in about a week. But right now, there’s this deal I have that ain’t going anywhere near as smooth as this one.” James rose and so did Gina.

  Chase took the opportunity to move closer to her. Because there was nowhere else for her to move without being obvious, Gina remained where she was, feeling crowded and overwhelmed.

  The boy had persistence, James thought with a smile. He’d bet they’d have something going between them by the time he got back. He decided to throw a little spice into the mix and see what happened.

  “By the way, since I’ll be gone, if one of you wants to use my office, you’re welcome to it. Thanks to Ms. Delmonico, I’ve got a computer up and running that’s attached to the mainframe.” He looked from one to the other, wondering which would take the bait, if either. “It’ll get you out of that tiny space you’re in for a while. No need to trip over each other all the time if there’s a way to avoid it.”

  It was only after James said it that Gina was honest with herself. She was glad for the excuse to trip over and be tripped over without actually making it seem as if it were any of her doing.

  The option that James threw their way changed everything.

  Chase shook his head. “I’m fine where I am.” James raised an amused brow. “The ledgers are all there anyway,” Chase explained easily, his eyes slanting toward Gina. “And I don’t need much space to work.”

  That left the ball in her court. If she came up with a lame excuse to remain where she was, Chase would take it as a victory for him. She knew him well enough to know that, and there was no way she was about to feed that overwhelming male ego of his. Having let him kiss her twice was damage enough already.

  Besides, James’ office was a great deal more comfortable than the office they shared, even after all the boxes had been taken out and stored somewhere else. Busy with the guest accommodations, Gina hadn’t gotten around to redoing the small office yet. It looked almost primitive in comparison to the office she had decorated for James. An added bonus was the way the morning sun streamed in, giving the atmosphere a warm look to begin with. There was absolutely no contest. The other room had nothing going for it. It had cramped quarters.

  And Chase.

  There was only one decision she could logically make. “If Mr. Randolph doesn’t want the room, I’ll take it.”

  James nodded. If he’d been placing bets, he’d have guessed that she’d be the one making a break for it rather than Randolph.

  “It’s settled, then.” James turned toward Benjamin. “You’re in charge while I’m gone.” He laughed to himself as he indicated that Benjamin should follow him out the door. “I reckon you probably were while I was here as well. See you all in a week,” James tossed over his
shoulder as he left.

  There was nothing more to do except go down the hall and collect her things. Without looking at Chase, Gina began to follow in Benjamin’s wake.

  “Making a break for it?” Chase asked as he fell into step with her.

  She’d known he would say something like that and she was ready for him. “The other office is cramped, even without the boxes getting in our way. I just like the space.”

  She was lying. Gina was running. All things considered, he supposed it wasn’t going badly. “Spaces should be filled.”

  Gina glanced at him over her shoulder as she walked into the joint office first. “Spoken like a true Type A personality.”

  He shoved his hands into his pockets and regarded her in silence. Then he simply shook his head. “You lost me.”

  She made a tiny sound at the back of her throat. That was the whole point. Except that he wouldn’t remain lost. She’d gone all through this once. You’d think that she’d know better this time. “I’m trying, Chase, I really am trying.”

  He’d thought they’d gotten past that. It sounded as if they were back to step one. “I thought we were making some headway here. You weren’t ducking behind water fountains and palm trees anymore.”

  She opened a drawer and rummaged through it, taking out only what she needed. There were files spread out on her desk of the various sketches she’d made and notes to go with them. Gina spared him a glance, her hands busy.

  “There aren’t any palm trees here.”

  He sat on the edge of her desk, watching her gather her things together. “Don’t get literal on me now, Gina. You were always the one for metaphors and vague statements, not me.”

  She stopped for a second to look at him. “We seem to be trading places in some aspects.” He seemed more laid-back than she recalled, while she finally had a career up and running. Now it seemed as if she were rushing around like someone who was afraid that the ground would break up beneath them if they stopped.

  He picked up the book that held all her current suppliers’ names. It was worn around the edges. Chase flipped open to a page at random. “Maybe we’re both just getting mature enough to explore the other side of the coin and see the attraction.”