“I think we’ve established that I’m not most women,” she said, taking a seat behind her desk. Jackie didn’t have time for this. She had a lesson to give and horses to work. Saddles needed polishing, stalls needed cleaning and Jackie had to get the supplements ready for Sofie to hand out to the horses. Too bad this was one man she had to make time for. “Was there a point to this call or did you just miss me?” She began finding the pens hidden under all the papers spread over her desk and put them into the horse coffee cup she used as a penholder in order to distract herself.
“You mentioned last night that we needed to hammer out details. I’ll have time for that in about half an hour.” Jackie blinked as she tried to process what he’d just said.
“Wait a second. Are you asking me to drop everything and meet up with you in half an hour?”
“That about sums it up,” Liam confirmed and she could practically hear the repressed laughter on the other end of the phone. She would bet he was lounging in some leather office chair and gloating. He was enjoying this. She was convinced he actually liked inconveniencing her. It was a power play of the most juvenile kind. Jackie gritted her teeth to keep from snapping at him although it was exactly what he deserved. This job wasn’t set in stone just yet and the bills she needed to pay were sitting right in front of her. She’d bite his head off later.
“Fine. Am I going to get an address for this mysterious place?” she asked dryly. Sarcasm was one of the few weapons she had against this man. She’d be damned if she wouldn’t use it. Jackie quickly scribbled down the address he rattled off to her in a cool voice.
“Give the woman at the front desk your name and she’ll tell you where to go.”
“I hope this won’t take too long because I still have this thing called a job. You know, where I have to perform certain tasks in order to earn enough money to stay off the street and keep everyone depending on me safe,” she hinted, making it clear that interrupting her workday again wouldn’t go over well.
“And now you have two jobs. It’s going to be interesting watching you juggle them,” Liam commented with enough casualness to tell her that he really didn’t take her seriously. Her eyes narrowed while her hand curled into a tense fist.
“I’m always juggling a hundred things at once. This new development shouldn’t be much of a challenge.” Hanging up the phone now while she had the upper hand would probably be the best thing but she wanted to know how he would respond. Also, the longer she stayed on the phone was more time away from him.
“I feel I should apologize for any soreness you might have had to deal with today,” he told her, the apologetic tone in his voice about as transparent as glass. Jackie gripped the phone harder, all her muscles tensing.
“Excuse me?” she asked softly. There had been only a slight discomfort while she’d been riding but it was the kind most women took satisfaction in. Of course, once again, Jackie was not most women. It annoyed her to the core of her being that he’d left any mark on her that didn’t involve fangs. Her hand automatically went to cover the wounds on her neck.
“Well, you were very tight, Jacquelyn,” he pointed out reasonably. “It’s been a while since you’ve had sex and that tends to leave a woman with a few aches. How long has it been, exactly?”
“That is none of your business,” she snapped, quickly crossing her legs.
“Quite a while then. You like sex so you must just be picky about taking lovers,” he deduced efficiently. Jackie didn’t need to see him to know that his mouth had curved upward in a smile that was only appropriate for bedrooms. “You must want me more than you’re willing to admit.”
“Oh, I want you, all right. I want you to spend a few hours sunbathing.”
“You have a problem with your temper, don’t you?” he asked lightly.
“You haven’t even seen my temper yet, buster,” she growled at him before slamming down the phone. Then Jackie closed her eyes and groaned. Buster? She’d called him buster? Who the hell said that anymore? Well, maybe people still said it but Jackie was pretty sure no one ever said it to a vampire. She should have hung up the phone when she had the chance.
“Is it safe to come in now?” Sofie asked, peeking into Jackie’s office. Her friend sighed deeply and nodded. “That was Liam O’Connor, wasn’t it? You two certainly have an interesting working relationship.” She usually preferred not to eavesdrop but she’d heard the aggravation in Jackie’s voice. It seemed like she ought to find out just who was getting on her friend’s nerves and the longer she’d listened the more she wanted to know. O’Connor had clearly gotten under her boss’s skin. Just what was this guy like? When would she get to meet him? And was he as gorgeous as she thought he must be?
“It’s considerably less pleasant than ours,” Jackie said from her chair, unaware of Sofie’s train of thought. “Speaking of which, could you do me a favor and give Sarah her lesson today? I have to meet with O’Connor and discuss exactly how we’re going to do this feeding thing.”
“I have no problem with that. You’re going to have to tell her, though,” Sofie said, picking up the lunge whip Jackie had come in there to get in the first place. Jackie slumped a little in her chair.
“I thought as much. Just remember to tell her to pull back her outside leg when she’s telling Sampson to canter. She tends to let that slide a little. And-”
“Jackie, I know what she needs to work on. You always give me a rundown of her lessons, remember? It’s your favorite topic.” The German woman smiled as Jackie blushed as if she had a crush on some cute boy and had just been found out.
“Thanks for the favor. I’ll cook tonight,” she promised, scooping up her keys and making a quick exit. Jackie stopped by the crossties before she left. Sarah was wiping the gunk out of Sampson’s nose. The average person wouldn’t be thrilled by the task but Sarah was smiling like she’d been given a really fantastic present. “Hey, Sarah, I have some bad news.” Sarah turned around and looked at her riding instructor. Bad news could mean so many things. Already the dread was building up in her eyes. “I have to run some errands and Sofie’s going to teach you today. I wish I could but… Well, it’s not the kind of errand I can get out of easily.” The dread was gone but it had been replaced by disappointment.
“Oh. That’s okay. You’ll be here tomorrow, right?” Sarah asked. Jackie could sense her student’s worry as she stood next to Sampson with a dirty rag clutched desperately in her hands. She would rather be bucked off a horse than make this kid look as if the world might come crashing down. God, she could murder O’Connor for this.
“I absolutely will be here. Marching penguins couldn’t keep me away,” Jackie promised faithfully. “And hey, if Sofie says you do a good job then maybe I’ll give you your stirrups back.” Sarah immediately perked up.
“That’d be great!” She hurried forward and gave Jackie a hug. The older woman had to fight the sudden, ridiculous urge to cry. She cautiously touched the little girl’s auburn curls before letting her go back to grooming. Biting her lip hard, she hurried out of the barn.
Jackie had gotten a better grip on her emotions once she was in her truck and driving away from the ranch. She told herself it was normal that she felt keenly for Sarah. The kid hadn’t had an easy time of it after her father died. Mrs. Baldwin, or whatever her last name was now, had sent her child out to Jackie’s ranch for riding lessons a month after Mr. Baldwin had passed away. She’d still had stitches in the slash through her eyebrow and purple-green bruises. Her mother had been under the impression that a little fresh air and exercise would cure all that ailed her daughter. What she’d needed was someone to hold her while she cried. It should have been Mrs. Baldwin’s job; instead it had fallen to Jackie.
After two silent and extremely cold weeks of teaching Sarah, Jackie had found her in Sampson’s stall. He’d apparently been taking a nap before a certain little girl had crept in and wrapped her arms around his neck since he was still curled up on the gr
ound. Sampson had glanced up at Jackie as if to say it wasn’t his fault. She didn’t know how long the kid had been crying but her eyes were swollen and red. Since Jackie had done a fair bit of crying during her lifetime, usually alone, she wouldn’t recommend it.
Deep in her thoughts, she missed a lot of what was going on outside her car. It was a gorgeous day and since she was heading for downtown Los Angeles she took the Pacific Coast Highway. The ocean gleamed in the warm sunlight, inviting anyone with time on their hands to come enjoy themselves. Just at the moment, however, Jackie had neither the time nor the interest. She was thinking about a small girl and her welfare.
Funny how a hug and a few kind words could make a child bounce back, or at least bounce back partially. Sarah was regularly chauffeured down to the ranch immediately after school and spent the rest of her day there until either Jackie drove her home or someone came to pick her up. What that was doing to the kid’s grade point average, Jackie really didn’t want to know. Sarah was happy with the horses. Wasn’t that the important thing?
Jackie parked her truck across the street from the building where O’Connor apparently worked. After she’d started driving inland it had been a near constant struggle with the traffic so she was officially late. Jackie hated to be late. The drive usually took roughly half an hour so she’d hoped to arrive exactly on time. She reached behind her seat for a loose blue denim jacket that she consistently forgot to take out of the truck and stuck her keys in one of the pockets before slipping it on. It wasn’t quite spring yet and the air was crisp with that stubborn winter breeze. Wishing she still had time to change her mind about this meeting, Jackie hurried across the street and through the front doors of O’Connor’s sleek, black office building.
The reception area was pretty standard. Smooth marble floors, big windows and a large desk behind which sat a slim, pretty woman with mocha skin. She looked startled by Jackie’s appearance. In all honesty, Jackie couldn’t blame her. A woman sporting a fine layer of dirt, a cowboy hat and muckers probably didn’t turn up much in this place. “May I help you?” she asked once she’d recovered herself. Jackie smiled and approached the desk.
“Mr. O’Connor told me to give you my name. Jackie Chase?” The receptionist glanced down at one of what looked like many various notepads then back up at Jackie.
“Then Jacquelyn Chase is you?” Jackie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It wasn’t this woman’s fault that her boss was an ass. Jacquelyn Chase, indeed.
“Legally speaking, yes,” she confirmed. Jackie held out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Eve Walsch,” the receptionist told her as she returned the handshake, apparently pleased by the fact that she was being treated like a human being instead of an unfeeling source of information. “Mr. O’Connor didn’t mention how… That is, I wasn’t expecting – Never mind. You’re just taller than I pictured.”
Probably dirtier and older, too, but at least Eve was trying to be diplomatic. “Don’t worry about it. I’m getting used to people being surprised by my… height,” she said with a grin. Eve smiled back.
“Mr. O’Connor’s office is on the top floor. Believe me, you won’t be able to miss it. Tell Grace that I sent you up and that Mr. O’Connor is expecting you.”
“Thanks for your help, Eve,” she said, heading towards the elevator and what felt like imminent doom. A minute or two later Jackie was at the top floor, facing what was probably a private secretary behind a desk just beside some extremely impressive doors.
The minute Jackie laid eyes on Grace, she missed Eve. Like Sofie, Grace had blonde hair and blue eyes; unlike Sofie, the expression on her face made her look as though she’d recently won a lemon-sucking competition. She would probably be a Siamese cat if she were an animal. Prissy things. “You must be Grace. Eve sent me up to see Mr. O’Connor.”
“He’s in a meeting,” she lied. Even if Jackie hadn’t known O’Connor was waiting for her, she wouldn’t have had any trouble realizing that Grace was lying. Something about her expression reminded her of how Macbeth would get when she’d first started training him about going to the bathroom outside. Whenever he made a mess in the house his eyes would get mean and his shoulders were hunched as though he were ashamed. This wasn’t exactly the same situation but she felt sure her instincts weren’t off.
“Quick question,” Jackie said. “How sensitive is a vampire’s hearing?” The secretary’s eyes widened a little. She clearly hadn’t expected Jackie to know about O’Connor’s big dark secret. Her mouth gaped open for a few seconds while she searched for words. “Okay, you’re obviously having trouble with this. I’ll make it simple. Either you buzz me in, ring for his attention, whatever you have to do, or I can start shouting. Believe me, I’ve got a fantastic pair of lungs. You don’t want to subject your ear drums to that kind of pain.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Liam said quietly from the doorway. “You’re late.”
“If you’d given me more than thirty minutes to battle through L.A. traffic then I would actually be on time,” Jackie pointed out. She saw his eyes glance up at her hat and the obvious amusement it caused. His mouth opened to say something but she cut him off. “Not a word or we’re going to have bigger problems than we already do.” She strode past him and into his office.
To say his office was larger than hers would be putting it mildly. Hell, O’Connor’s office could eat her office. The tile was the kind of marble that didn’t see dusty boots like hers very often. Art, presumably expensive, decorated the walls and a very impressive mural of Paris deciding which of the three Greek goddesses to give the golden apple had been painted on the ceiling. Without the decoration the coloring of the room would be pale and uninteresting. The rough stone statues of men and woman and impressionist paintings made it all seem vibrant. His desk was just in front of a very large window that basically took up the entire wall. There were several flat screen TVs set to the ups and downs of the stock market. The numbers made her dizzy so she ignored them and took a seat in a chair in front of his pristine, barren desk. It made her wonder if he ever actually worked on it.
“Is there a rodeo in town?” She jumped at the sound of his voice just over her shoulder then glared back at him.
“I work in the sun. I needed a good hat and this one is damned near indestructible.” Jackie pulled it a little further down, casting shadows on her face as she stared at him. “And I happen to like it.”
Liam could smell the dirt, sweat and horses on her. She stuck out in his office with her practical barn attire and earth beneath her fingernails. This bizarre attraction didn’t make any sense to him. Working her up over the phone had been so much more interesting than he’d expected. The wiser course of action with Jacquelyn would be to stop expecting anything if he wanted to stay one step ahead of her. She was more likely to do the complete opposite. “What times during the week are you free?” he asked, skipping over any small talk he might have used and taking a seat in the chair beside her. It was doubtful that Jacquelyn would insist on any social niceties such as discussing the weather.
“Saturday evenings and Sundays unless I’m at a horse show. I’ll let you know before that happens. In those cases I take Mondays off,” she added. Jackie had thought about this and more or less figured out how she could manage.
“That can work,” Liam said. Saturday nights were usually times he liked to be out and entertaining himself with women who would own up to wanting to sleep with him. However, he could always feed early. “I’ll give you the directions to my house so you know where to go when I need you.”
“Oh, that’s something I wanted to discuss with you,” Jackie said, a little nervous now that the moment had come. “I’m going to ask for a favor.” And, boy, did that burn her pride. She very rarely asked for favors and she always avoided asking people she didn’t want to be indebted to. He lifted a brow in question. “Izzy explained to me that animals react badly to vampires. My dogs handled it
fairly well. At least Caliban did. I’m pretty sure Macbeth wants to kill you. It’s Shylock I’m worried about. He’s… he’s had a rough life. I need him to know he’s safe but if I go around smelling like something that will rip him open then all the progress he’s made is going to go right down the toilet.” Jackie couldn’t believe she was talking to O’Connor about this. She began to clean beneath her fingernails, fingers quick and jittery. It wasn’t as if he would care about her worries. Why was she trying? She sighed internally, already knowing the answer. She had to try for Shylock’s sake. “I’d like it if you could come over so they can all get used to you.”
“Come over,” Liam repeated, unsure if he’d heard her correctly. She was asking him to help her make her dogs feel more comfortable. He could tell by the expression on her face that she was serious. And that she didn’t expect him to agree. Liam was certain that by ‘rough life’ Jacquelyn meant abuse. How was he supposed to handle a woman who held her dog’s welfare above his own convenience? He was never averse to favors, especially for his donors. But this favor was a little different than the norm. “You want them to know where the threat is really coming from. You think with time they’ll know I’m not actually going to kill them all.”
“They’re smart dogs. Except Caliban, anyway,” she amended.
Liam stared at her, trying to understand how that frustratingly stubborn mind worked. Jacquelyn was… beyond him. That fact struck him as she looked up at him with defiance and a hint of anxiety. She was simply beyond everything he’d dealt with when it came to humans and vampires. She thought differently, held different values. Maybe that was the appeal. Liam wanted to understand how this woman functioned. And once he did then he would probably be able to let her go.
“All right,” he agreed. “We’ll see how it goes.” He knew how Jacquelyn treasured her personal space so he leaned forward in order to invade it. Liam saw her draw back a touch and responded with a satisfied grin. People on the retreat were much easier marks. “Also, I’ll need you on call for social occasions. I won’t need you much,” he assured her when displeasure colored her eyes. “But you will be working for me and I don’t make exceptions when it comes to certain events.”
Animal Instinct Page 6
