Between the Lines

by Angela Benson

  “I like touching you,” Jake said, walking toward her with a gleam of passion in his eyes. He reached behind her and closed the blinds. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. We could reserve the conference room every day for about half an hour. I bet that would get Maxine going.”

  Jake backed Eleanor to the wall and placed his hands on either side of her head, effectively trapping her. She stared into his eyes and quickly dropped her glance. That look in Jake’s eyes usually caused a similar one in her own.

  “Look at me,” he said, as if reading her thoughts.

  She chose instead to duck under his arms and stand next to the door. “What were you and Carl talking about?”

  Jake stopped in midstride. “I told you.”

  “No, you didn’t,” she said, shaking her head as the alarm that had been building in her stomach since Jake’s dinner visit with Buddy Hamilton last week grew.

  Jake walked to the desk and gathered up his papers. “I was telling him about my plans for the Lamar Daily.”

  Eleanor stiffened her back. “Your plans? I thought they were our plans.”

  Jake didn’t look up. He hated lying to Eleanor, but what choice did he have? “You’re right. Our plans. I meant our plans.”

  “Is there something you’re not telling me, Jake?” She prayed there wasn’t.

  Jake looked at her and considered telling her the truth. “No,” he said instead. He needed more time to plan what to say to her. “Come on, I’ll take you to lunch.”

  Eleanor let Jake lead her out of their office. She tried to ignore the unsettling feeling in her stomach. Surely Jake wasn’t keeping secrets from her about his plans for the paper. She had to believe that wasn’t what he was doing.

  Though she tried to ignore them, her suspicions grew during their lunch. “Have you heard anything more from New York about your proposal for the magazine?” she asked when their plates were cleared.

  Jake shook his head, but she noticed he didn’t look her in the eye. “Don’t worry. I’ll let you know as soon as I know something.”

  Eleanor nodded, but she didn’t believe him. She silently chastised herself for not grilling him after his dinner with Buddy. Against her better judgment, she’d allowed herself to trust him, to care for him. The uneasy feeling in her stomach told her that may have been a mistake. She prayed her feelings were wrong.

  Twenty-One

  When Jake pulled Eleanor into his arms later that evening, he knew he’d been wrong to keep secrets from her. He should have told her everything immediately after that meeting with Buddy so they could have mapped out a strategy together.

  But he hadn’t told her. And now she was suspicious. He knew he hadn’t appeased her with that flimsy excuse he made for the conversation he was having with Carl. No, she hadn’t bought it and he knew she hadn’t bought it. Now he didn’t know how to tell her what he’d done without making her upset with him. He’d find a way. He just needed more time.

  He pressed his mouth against hers and gloried in the moan his touch drew from her. He didn’t know what gave him more pleasure—the joy of touching her or the joy of knowing he pleased her.

  She arched against him and he knew she wanted what he wanted. “I need you,” Eleanor moaned into his mouth.

  He needed her, too.

  “That was so good,” she said softly after their needs had been met. Then she drifted off to sleep.

  As he watched her sleep, he acknowledged this woman had stolen his heart. Somewhere along the line, he’d fallen in love with her. “I love you, Eleanor,” he whispered, then joined her in sleep.

  Eleanor awoke with a start, surprised but relieved her quick movements hadn’t awakened Jake. She slowly lifted his hand from her belly and eased herself away from him. She held her breath when he mumbled her name, then released it when he folded his hand under his head on the pillow they had been sharing.

  She got up from the bed, rubbing her arms to ward off a chill caused by the thoughts that had troubled her sleep. Keeping her back to Jake, she scanned the room for the clothes she had so quickly discarded in her need to be with him.

  After she’d found all the items, she quickly slipped into them. When she was dressed, she returned to the sleeping Jake. Her heart turned over at the satisfied and peaceful look on his face, so different from the anxiousness that had been there before they’d made love. She’d responded to that anxiousness, hoping he’d tell her what was on his mind. But he hadn’t. He’d taken her in his arms and loved her as if he’d never let her go. If she didn’t know better, she’d believe Jake was falling in love with her.

  But she did know better. Jake hadn’t made her any promises. She’d known when she’d first gone to bed with him that what they shared would be temporary. Yes, she’d known that with her head, but somehow the message hadn’t made it to her heart.

  Her traitorous heart had done her in. She was in love with Jake Mason. She’d probably fallen in love with him the day he’d lost his article in the computer. She smiled at the memory. Her smile quickly turned into a sorrowful frown. She was in love with Jake, but she no longer trusted him.

  If only he hadn’t been so tight-lipped about his conversation with Carl. It had been obvious they were discussing something he didn’t want her to hear. He should have known she wouldn’t be satisfied with his half-answers. Obviously, he hadn’t.

  If only he didn’t need his father’s approval so much. Though Jake didn’t talk much about it, she knew this assignment meant more to him than he let on. This assignment was his chance to show Randolph he could handle the responsibility of Mason Publishing. She knew that about him and she respected it because she understood it. In a lot of ways, Jake’s relationship with his father was similar to hers with her father.

  If only he’d told her the truth instead of lying to her. That was what really bothered her. If he’d respected her enough, cared about her enough to tell her the truth, she’d feel much better about the whole situation. She could handle a man making a business decision. She could fight that, but she couldn’t handle lies, because they signaled other deceits.

  If only.

  Well, she couldn’t deal in if-only’s. Now she had to deal in what-ifs. What if Jake was planning the demise of the Lamar Daily? What if he’d only been sleeping with her to gain her confidence so he could destroy her? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, the old saying repeated itself in her mind. Was what she and Jake had shared his attempt to keep his enemies closer?

  She closed her eyes. There was no way she could look at this man who made her body sing and her heart race and believe he’d betray her. He couldn’t after what they’d shared. She opened her eyes and drank in her fill of him. Could he?

  She placed a soft kiss on his forehead. Thankfully, he didn’t stir. She pulled away and wiped at the tear that fell against her cheek. She loved him, but she couldn’t let him ruin the paper that was so much a part of her life.

  She closed the bedroom door quietly as she left, thankful Carl now spent most of his time at Megan’s. She couldn’t handle running into him on her way out. Spotting her purse and car keys on the end table nearest the front door, she quickly picked them up and left the apartment.

  She wanted to trust Jake, but she couldn’t. Too much was at stake. She’d had him investigated before, but this time she’d have to do the investigating herself.

  ***

  Jake patted the bed next to him. “Eleanor,” he mumbled, then opened his sleepy eyes. “Eleanor,” he called again, staring at the indentation in the bed that marked the place her body had been. Where was she? he wondered. “Eleanor,” he called yet again, this time louder.

  He threw back the sheet and climbed out of bed, stretching to relieve his tired muscles. He grinned. Maybe he could get Eleanor to join him in a nice, warm shower. He padded to the bathroom with that plan in mind.

  “Eleanor,” he said again, opening the bathroom door without knocking. H
e quickly scanned the room. She wasn’t there.

  Worried, he hurried down the hall to the kitchen and living areas, calling her name. Still no answer. Where was she? he asked himself.

  He went back to the bedroom, dread building in his chest. Her clothes were gone He raced back to the living room, pulled back the curtains, and peeked out the window. Her car was gone. He dropped the curtain. Why had she left without waking him? She’d never done that before.

  He went back to the bedroom and dressed in an old pair of shorts, hoping he’d find a note from her among the disarray in the room. No such luck. No note told him much more than any note could ever speak.

  He’d taken a calculated risk tonight and he’d lost. He’d hoped he could keep his plans from Eleanor until he had them finalized, but then she’d overheard that conversation with Carl earlier today. He pounded his fist on his knee. “Damn.”

  He stood up and went into the bathroom. He needed an aspirin for this headache that had come on like gangbusters. He caught a glimpse of his face in the mirror on the medicine cabinet as he opened its door, and he stopped his motion.

  Who was this man? he asked himself.

  He shrugged. He’d thought coming to Lamar would help him answer that question for himself and his father. With the revised plan he had for the merger, he knew he’d carve out a place for himself in Mason Publishing that would make his dad proud. Then why did the face staring back at him in the mirror look so grim?

  He closed the cabinet door without getting the aspirin. Aspirin wouldn’t help this headache. He needed to talk to Eleanor. He needed her to understand where he was coming from. Business was business, he would tell her. Even as he said the words to himself, he knew Eleanor wouldn’t understand.

  She may have understood yesterday. She may have even understood before he’d made love to her, but she wouldn’t understand now. He knew how her mind worked, and he knew if she learned of his plans, she’d think he’d used her.

  He hadn’t. Actually, the opposite had happened. He loved her. He knew that now. He had known it when he’d taken her in his arms. Hell, maybe he’d even known it the first day he’d seen her by the pool. God knows, his life hadn’t been the same since.

  He smiled to himself. Beautiful Eleanor. Mouthy Eleanor. Smart Eleanor. Sexy Eleanor. His Eleanor.

  His Eleanor. That was how he thought of her now. That was who she had become to him. She was his and he wasn’t going to lose her. He’d lost too much in his life. He’d had no control over losing his mother, but he could have fought harder to remain a part of his father’s life. He would fight this time. He would fight for his father’s respect and he would fight for Eleanor’s love. He wouldn’t let her push him away. He knew that’s what she was doing by leaving in the middle of the night. He wasn’t going to let his father down with this deal either. Somehow he’d come up with a plan that was acceptable to him, his father, and his woman. He had to.

  ***

  The phone rang. Again. Eleanor stood by her bathroom door and listened for Jake’s voice after the beep. She’d successfully avoided all his phone calls and she wasn’t going to break that record now.

  “Pick up, Eleanor,” Megan’s voice called after the beep. “I know you’re there. You can pick up. Jake’s not here.”

  Eleanor sighed. Jake had camped out on her doorstep for the better part of the morning, but she’d pretended she wasn’t home. She should have known he’d go straight to Megan and Carl to find out where she was.

  “I’m going to keep talking, Eleanor,” Megan said. “So pick up the phone.”

  “All right, already,” Eleanor said to the phone, then raced to pick it up.

  “What do you want, Megan?” she asked in a tight voice. She wasn’t going to discuss her relationship with Jake. She wasn’t.

  “What’s up with you and Jake? The man is frantic. And he’s got Carl frantic.”

  Eleanor tapped her feet impatiently as Megan droned on. When Megan finally stopped talking, she said, “I don’t want to talk about him now, Megan.”

  “Oh, Eleanor,” Megan said, and Eleanor heard the pity and concern in her voice. “Do you want me to come over?”

  Eleanor dropped down on the side of the bed. This was why Megan was her best friend. She knew her and she cared about her. “That won’t be necessary. I’m all right.”

  “No, you’re not,” Megan said quickly. “And neither is Jake. What’s the problem? You’ll feel better if you talk about it.”

  Eleanor wiped her free hand across her forehead and leaned back on her pillows. How she wished that were true. “Not this time, Megan.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Not really,” Eleanor confessed, disarmed by Megan’s quick acquiescence. “But it’s the best I can do right now.”

  “That bad, huh?”

  Eleanor laughed lightly. “Not so bad I can’t handle it.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Eleanor glanced over at the airline ticket on the dresser. “I’m taking a trip.”

  “Alone?”

  “Very much alone.”

  “You need to think, huh? I can understand that.”

  Eleanor didn’t bother to correct Megan since she would have time to think while on this trip. But the real reason for her trip was fact-finding. She needed to get the line on what Jake was up to. She wanted to do it without Jake and her father looking over her shoulder. If things were as bad as she thought, she’d need the time alone to decide how to deal with them. If she was wrong, well, she didn’t think she was.

  “Where are you going?”

  Eleanor’s attention returned to Megan. “New York,” she lied.

  “Do you want me to go with you?”

  “I appreciate the offer, but I need to be alone. Besides, I don’t think I’d want you around me when you’re going through withdrawal.”

  “Withdrawal? What are you talking about?”

  Eleanor laughed again. “You’d miss too many Carl shots and you’d go into withdrawal. I can’t handle that.”

  Megan laughed too and Eleanor heard her speak to someone in the room with her, someone she guessed was Carl. “Do you want us to come over tonight?” Megan asked when she came back on the line. “I could even come without Carl for a couple of hours. Withdrawal shouldn’t set in that quickly.”

  “You’re sweet to offer, Megan, but it’s not necessary. I’m leaving for Atlanta tonight.” That was true, and Eleanor immediately regretted telling Megan. She didn’t want it to get back to Jake.

  “I assume Jake doesn’t know this,” Megan said.

  “You assume correctly.”

  “And you don’t want him to know.”

  “Correct, again. Do you think Carl can keep a secret?”

  “It won’t be necessary,” Megan said. “I guarantee you I’ll keep Carl so busy tonight he won’t have a chance to even think about Jake.”

  Memories of her busy night last night with Jake filled Eleanor’s mind. She wished she could lose herself in him tonight. But that wouldn’t work. She couldn’t lose herself in the very person she was trying to get away from.

  * * *

  “She’s not coming in today, man,” Carl said Monday morning, flipping on his terminal. “We have to get the paper out without her. Think we can do it?”

  “Where is she?” Jake asked, dismissing Carl’s question.

  Carl scanned the morning’s AP stories. “Out of town.”

  “Out of town?” Jake flopped down in the chair next to Carl’s desk. “When did she leave?”

  “Yesterday morning,” Carl said, his attention on the screen in front of him. “I think.”

  Jake grabbed the arm of Carl’s chair and turned him around. “You think?”

  Carl stared at Jake’s hand on the arm of the chair, then glanced up at him. “I told you she wasn’t going to like it.”

  Jake stood and rubbed his hand across his head. “She doesn’t even know
what I’m planning.”

  “Okay,” Carl said, and turned around in his chair.

  Jake turned the chair around again. “Okay, man, talk to me. What did she tell Megan?”

  “What makes you think she told Megan anything?”

  Jake stared at him. “I’m not in the mood for games, Carl. I’ve been up all night trying to figure out how to handle this situation with Eleanor and she’s not here. Where is she?”

  “You aren’t going to like it . . .”

  “Where is she?” Jake asked again.

  “She went to New York.”

  “New York?” Jake repeated. Franklin was in New York. Had she gone to see Franklin? She couldn’t have. Eleanor wasn’t the type of woman. to go from one man’s bed to another’s. He was sure of that.

  “I knew you wouldn’t like it.”

  “Why’d she go to New York?”

  Carl shrugged his shoulders and turned back around to his screen.

  Jake didn’t even know why he’d asked the question. He knew why she’d left town. Oh, he might not know the specifics, but he knew part of the reason she’d left was to get away from him.

  “Do you know how long she’ll be gone?”

  “Megan said a couple of days.”

  Jake considered joining her. They could use some time away from Lamar and the paper. Some time for the two of them. “Where is she staying?”

  “I didn’t ask.”

  “Maybe Megan knows,” Jake said aloud, though he was really talking to himself. If he could find out where Eleanor was staying, he could join her and explain that this deal was good for everybody involved.

  Carl turned around in his chair. “Leave Megan out of this, Jake. She’s Eleanor’s best friend. Don’t put her in the middle.”

  Carl’s strident tone surprised Jake. “But I need to see Eleanor. Who knows what she’s cooking up in her mind?”

  Carl stared directly in his eyes. “I don’t think she could cook up anything worse than the reality of your plan, at least not in her eyes. Wouldn’t you agree?”