With a chuckle, she threw the bikini on the bed, too, and reached for a sarong. She’d never been game to go swimming naked, even in the privacy of her own back yard, but tonight she was about to take the plunge. Figuratively and literally.
She left the bedroom through the French doors and flicked on the underwater lights for the pool. Her time with Clifton had been a revelation. They had parted friends, or if not friends, at least with no remaining animosity of her part. She’d come to a realization tonight.
Bitterness was a wasted emotion. It was one of those feelings that destroyed a person from the inside out, poisoning every area of their life. Now she was free of it and she could move on. If it had to be without Jake, so be it.
Dropping the sarong, she stepped down into the water. Heavens, why hadn’t she tried this before? The brush of the water against her naked body felt like silk. Breath held, she submerged and swam underwater to the far end of the pool. She surfaced and stroked back through the water to the shallow end.
Her back against the edge of the pool, she allowed her thoughts to stray to Jake. Just what had gone wrong this morning? There was no doubt he’d enjoyed their lovemaking. Women could fake an orgasm, but no way was it possible for a man. The physical differences between a man and a woman made it impossible to hide when a guy was interested. So what had happened?
Just thinking about their time together caused an instantaneous reaction in her body. Her breasts felt swollen, her nipples peaked, and it had nothing to do with the coolness of the water. A throb started deep inside, arrowed down to centre between her thighs. A groan escaped her as she ran her palms down over her breasts to the juncture of her thighs.
“Enough, Madison. Go ring the man and ask him why he left like he did.”
Droplets of cool water still clung to her body as she wrapped the sarong about herself. She rushed through the open doors, grabbed for the phone and punched in Jake’s number. The ring of the phone echoed down the line and she was about to hang up when he answered.
“Yeah, who is it?”
Madison held the receiver away from her ear and frowned at it. Oh dear, he didn’t sound in a very good mood. She cupped the phone against the side of her face. “Jake, it’s Madison.”
“So, Ms. Paxton, what can I do for you?”
Tears filled her eyes at the cold tone of voice. “Please, Jake, talk to me. I don’t understand what’s gone wrong.”
“Nothing’s wrong. We had our fun and now it’s over. I’ve fulfilled the terms of my contract, even if it was a verbal one.”
“Jake, what are you talking about?” The tears overflowed to trickle down her face. She stifled the sob that threatened to break free.
“You wanted to experience an orgasm. Well, you’ve had plenty of whoopty-do from me. Why don’t you get your new stud to carry on where I left off?”
Madison felt the blood drain from her face as Jake’s cruel words sank into her mind. She swayed as she perched on the edge of the bed. The overhead fan dried the moisture on her skin, creating a cold draft that made her shiver. But Madison knew the cold was more than skin-deep. This freeze started deep in her heart and spread out to encompass her whole body.
Without another word, Madison severed the connection. Her mind couldn’t take it in. What new stud was Jake talking about? God, she couldn’t understand any of this. And right now, it was all too much to handle in this highly emotional state. She’d thought she could handle life without Jake if necessary, but after the last few minutes, she was no longer certain.
Her limbs felt weighted down as she pushed herself to her feet and stumbled over to the light switch. When the room was pitch dark, she felt her way to the edge of the bed and pulled back the covers. She let the sarong drop, kicking it aside when it tangled about her feet. Despite the humid weather outside, she climbed into bed and snuggled beneath the covers. Inside she was ice-cold.
The click of the whirring fan became a metronome that timed the beat of her heart and the shuddering breaths she tried to drag in as she struggled to get her emotions under control.
CHAPTER 17
Madison hissed as she placed her knee down on the metal end of the tape measure. “Ouch.” She winced as she pulled the tape out of her way. “Okay, Mom, turn slowly so I can do up the next bit.”
With the pearl ends of the pins clamped between her teeth, she measured up the next length of hem and, one by one, used the pins to hold it in place. “You are going to look absolutely beautiful for your wedding,” she said when she could actually talk. She directed Rosa to spin a little more to the right.
“You don’t think it’s too young for me?” Rosa twisted her head to look over her shoulder at her daughter.
“Hold still or I’ll get it wrong,” Madison warned. “And no, the suit is perfect.” She grinned as she fastened the next section of the hemline. “Since when have you worried about what you wear? All your clothes are designed for the younger set.”
Rosa had chosen a simple two-piece suit in a heavy silk, the color of rich, clotted cream. The style was perfect for her and Madison didn’t hesitate to reassure her. “Mom, you’ll make Bart’s eyes pop out of his head. He’ll think you’re the most beautiful bride ever. Now turn to the front and then we’re finished.” She picked up three more pins, balanced them between her lips and waited for her mother to move.
“So what did Clifton the Crud want last night?”
“Hmmup.” Madison spat the pins into her hand. “Mother, I wish you wouldn’t ask questions when I have a mouthful of pins.” With deft hands, she measured and pinned the final bit of hem and sat back on her heels to check the level. “All finished. You can go and get changed now. Won’t take us long to stitch it in place.”
“Yes, but what did Clifton want?”
Madison grinned. She watched for her mother’s reaction as she said, “He intimated he wanted to marry me again.” She raised her eyebrows, knowing she wouldn’t have to wait long.
Rosa clapped her hand over her chest as if she were in pain. “Oh my giddy aunt, he didn’t?” She stared at her daughter. “He did, didn’t he? That lousy crud thinks he can crook his finger and you’ll come back to him. I hope you told him where to get off. I know you want to have a baby, but not his. Oh, no, not a reproduction of that chinless wonder for my grandchild.”
“Calm down, Mother. It’s not going to happen.” She grinned. “Anyway, he didn’t really want to marry me. He was just following Daddy’s orders. For the last time I might add.” She pushed herself to her feet, groaning as her knees protested the length of time she’d been down on the floor. “Aghh,” she cried out as her mother went to sit in the comfy lounge chair, “Don’t do that. You’ll crush your suit.”
Rosa was caught, suspended over the chair, her weight supported by her hands on the arm rests. “Goodness, baby girl, don’t scare me like that.” She straightened up. “Just give me the abridged version and I’ll go change.”
“Daddy wants Clifton to go into politics and for that he needs a squeaky clean image. No nasty divorce in his background.”
“So he thought he could come up here and sweet talk you into going back to him. I suppose he told you he’d made a mistake and he still loved you?”
Madison nodded, a grin on her face.
“And he thought you were dumb enough to be taken in by that? The man must have rocks in his head. Even to have a baby, it’s not worth that type of sacrifice.”
“Don’t get all worked up. Clifton knows there’s nothing between us anymore. He could see how much I’ve changed, taken control of my own life.” She chuckled as she thought of the look on his face when she’d ordered that oh-so-expensive champagne.
“Fact is,” she continued as she picked up the sewing paraphernalia from off the floor, “Clifton doesn’t want to do what Daddy has mapped out for him. I think this was his final swansong before he starts defying dear old Dad. He might actually have the gumption to stand up to him now. There’s another lady in the picture, w
ith a baby on the way. Daddy is about to get a serious shock.”
“Couldn’t happen to a nicer person,” Rosa said with a laugh. “So Clifton noticed the changes in you, did he?”
“Well, it sure made him sit up and take notice.” Madison paused, her mind running back over the previous evening. “But you know the most important thing to come out of last night? I no longer feel any bitterness toward Clifton. In fact, we parted as friends. Incredible.” She shook her head.
Rosa patted her cheek as she passed her on the way to the bedroom. “You’ve grown a lot in the last year, baby girl. I’m proud of you. You’ve finally become your own woman.”
“There’s something else,” Madison said as her mother paused on the threshold of the living room. “As much as I’d like to have a child, it’s no longer the be-all and end-all of my life. I guess I’ve discovered love is enough, a baby merely an extension of that love. Not the sole purpose for tying myself to a man.”
Thoughts of Jake filtered into her mind. A blanket of depression threatened to descend over her, but she cast it away. She might love him, but she was no longer going to wallow in despair. Her university studies would keep her busy. She had a lot of friends to take her mind off things, and the one issue that had come out of last night’s soul-searching was that she was responsible for her own happiness. If Jake chose not to be a part of her life, so be it.
“Go get that suit off and come on out to the gazebo I’ll have a tall glass of cool fruit juice waiting for you,” she said as she swiped her hand across the beads of perspiration on her forehead. At this rate, what with the build-up of humidity and the cloud cover, they’d have a storm before the night was over.
She filled two glasses and placed them on a tray, along with the local paper and the cordless phone. It was too hot to run to grab it if it rang.
Of course, you’re not waiting for Jake to ring, are you? She ignored the little voice in the back of her mind and made her way outside and settled at the picnic table.
With the paper spread out before her, she sipped at the juice and flicked over the flimsy pages. There wasn’t that much of interest, but she liked to keep abreast of the happenings in her little corner of the world. She was just about to turn the next page when something caught her eye.
Her movements stilted, she placed her glass on the table and stared at the advertisement. Just a small square on the top of the outer column, but it blazed at her like a beacon. A spiral of dread curled in her stomach as she read it. Shock feathered up and down her spine, followed by sheer mortification.
“Where’s that cold drink? I sure need it in this heat.”
Madison lifted her head as her mother joined her at the table. She struggled to get her thoughts under control, trying to assimilate what she’d just read. Dragging in a deep breath, she released it on a shaky sigh. “This dinner tonight, Mom. Tell me what you know about Bart’s son. Have you met him yet?”
“You know, it’s funny,” Rosa said, “but in all the times I’ve been over there, I’ve never seen Jake. Bart said he’s been seeing a woman and that’s what’s keeping him busy.”
“So his name is Jake Hunter?” A red haze swept through her mind as she tried to figure the probability of a coincidence. No way. Just wasn’t possible.
Rosa sipped at her drink before placing the glass back on the table. “Yeah, Bart’s quite happy about the whole thing. Said his last girlfriend did a number on his head. Came home quite depressed, he did. This new lady has changed him. He’s even talked about selling the business in Sydney and moving up to the Coast.”
Her fingers curled into the page of the newspaper and Madison had to force herself not to crumple it into a wrinkled ball. “To change the subject for a moment, Mom.” It was all part of the same as far as she was concerned. “Where did you find the number for this Stud Finders Incorporated?”
With a tap of her nail, Rosa indicated the newspaper on the table. “The local paper. I saw a little box advertising it when I was looking for a dressmaker.”
“A little box like this?” Madison passed the paper across the table to her mother. Rosa lifted the page and held it out at arm’s length, her eyes squinted as she ran her gaze over the black type.
“Yeah, there it is. Stud Finder, Incorporated.” She squinted a bit harder. “Don’t… wreck…”
“Oh, for crying out loud, Mom, you and your vanity.” Madison reached around the edge of the table and slid her hand into the pocket of her mother’s shorts and extracted the floral glasses case. “Put your glasses on and read the rest. Out loud.”
When Rosa had positioned her glasses on the tip of her nose, she placed the paper on the table in front of her and started to read out loud.
STUD FINDERS INCORPORATED.
Don’t wreck your life.
Find the right stud for the job.
Phone 54926282.
She leaned closer to read the fine print of the final line.
A division of Bart Hunter Building Services.
Located in Australia’s sunniest state.
There was silence for a moment before she said, “I don’t understand. Are you telling me—”
“Let me explain it to you, Mom.” Madison knew her tone was terse, but sometimes her mother was the absolute end. “The stud that—that—advert is talking about has nothing to do with male studs. Or with sex. You’re about to marry a builder so it’s time you got educated. A stud is the beam behind the wallboard of a house.”
She stared at the shocked look on her mother’s face. Then she raised her eyebrows and grinned, although it was more like a grimace. “Bet you read that advertisement without your glasses on. Want to take a guess what the name of my hired stud was?”
“Not—not Jake? It couldn’t be. I didn’t even know this was Bart’s company, and I can’t believe his son would do this to any girl, let alone my daughter.” Her voice quivered and her hands trembled as she smoothed the sheet of newsprint in front of her.
“I am such a fool,” she berated herself. “And you’re right, I didn’t have my glasses on, but the company name and the phone number were bigger type and really bold so I was able to read them. I am a total idiot.”
Madison’s thoughts turned back to the first day she’d met Jake. No wonder the guy had looked so pole-axed when she’d told him her mother had hired her a stud to teach her all about sex. All of a sudden, she saw the funny side of it, although a ball of anger at being taken for a ride still resided in the pit of her stomach.
She burst into laughter. “Oh, my, you should have seen his face.” The hilarity of the situation appealed to her sense of the ridiculous and Madison doubled up over the table. When she’d finally caught her breath, she wiped the tears of mirth from her eyes and looked at her mom.
“We never exchanged more than first names.” She shrugged. “I never expected to see him again after all this was over. And you never mentioned the name of Bart’s son so I didn’t make the connection.”
“But I should have known,” Rosa said. “Damn him, how could he do this to you?”
“He didn’t know who I was, and when I spoke of him to you, I only ever called him my stud.” And oh, he is that. She tried to ignore the thought.
Rosa stood up, pushed her glasses up and perched them atop her head. “I’m going to go right over there and give that boy a piece of my mind.”
“Hey, Madison, you there? Just came to do the lawns for you.”
Madison looked up to see Greg, one of the boys from the university, stride down the side of the house to the garden shed at the back of the pool area. Cut-off shorts and an old tee shirt with the sleeves ripped out made the most of his muscular body. He waved when he saw her sitting at the picnic table.
He flicked his head back as his blond hair fell forward over his forehead. Madison grinned as she watched him push his dark-framed glasses back up on his nose. She had employed him to cut her lawns once a week, just to give him a bit of extra money to eke out his student loan. At twe
nty, he sometimes made her feel like an old lady.
Leaning back in the chair, chin resting on her fisted hand, she admired the ripple of muscles up and down his arms as he wrestled with the recalcitrant door of the garden shed. A really wicked idea popped into her head. I couldn’t. A wide grin tilted her lips. Oh, but I could.
“Mom, don’t say anything to Jake about this. I don’t want your engagement dinner ruined.”
“But he can’t be allowed to get away with it.”
“He won’t.” Madison stood, smoothed her shorts down over her hips and tugged her tee shirt up and tied it in a knot under her breasts. “Don’t go away. I’ll be right back.”
Ooo-kay, Jake told me to go out and find a new stud. Well, maybe not that, but he seems to think I do have a new one so why disappoint him?
She exaggerated the sway of her hips in the brief shorts as she sauntered over to Greg. When she reached the garden shed, she propped herself up against the fence and watched him drag the lawn mower from amid the clutter inside.
“So how’s it going, Greg? You all set for the start of classes next week?”
He turned from his task of filling the mower with fuel and wiped his hands on the rag tucked into his back pocket. “It’s been a great holiday, but I’ll be glad to get back at it. Final semester. Wahoo.”
With loose-limbed grace he joined her at the fence, resting one hip against the wooden structure, his glasses once again halfway down his nose.
“I hopped on the university web site last night and downloaded the course descriptions for my final subjects.” He shook his head and grimaced, pushing his glasses back into place. “Sometimes I think I was an idiot for choosing Environmental Science. This last bit is going to be tough going.”
“But think how good you’ll feel when it’s all over.” Madison took a deep breath that lifted her breasts high. She felt bad manipulating Greg like this, but if he’d play along, tonight was going to be fun. “Greg, how do you feel about being my companion for dinner at a Chinese restaurant tonight, all expenses paid?”
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