Love and Arson

by Woods, Karen

  “Hey, if you need anything.”

  She nodded, dismissing his concern. “Thanks, Jase. But I’m okay.”

  “Beth and I have been invited to a party two days from now. Two of our old friends are having a birthday. Would you like to come?” Jase asked.

  “I don’t think so. I’m not ready to be out in large groups. Besides, I probably wouldn’t know anyone there.”

  “It’s high time you got to know people. Come on, Dani. It’s just a big party at a friend’s house. You’ll have a good time.”

  She smiled slightly. “I’ll come with you and Beth. But only if you clear it with the hosts.”

  “No problem. I was told to bring you. Sarah is throwing the birthday party for herself and her twin brother, Luke. I understand you already refused her invitation. She really wants you to come.”

  “You aren’t trying to set me up with anyone, are you?”

  Jase shook his head negatively. “No. I’m definitely not trying to set you up with anyone.” Not anyone besides me. “It’s just a chance to get out and be with people. Sarah’s parties are always a lot of fun. You’ll have a good time. Guaranteed.”

  Dani laughed. “And if I don’t, do I get the time back?”

  * * *

  Jase’s smile took her breath away. He said, “If only it were that simple... But Sarah does give good parties.”

  She looked at him for the longest moment. Personally, she couldn’t think of anything that she would enjoy less than seeing Jase and Sarah together. Sarah the woman Jase loves. Sarah the woman who loves Jase. Sarah, my friend, who would feel betrayed if she knew about the feelings Jase stirs in me.

  Then she asked, “What do you know about Westfield Military Academy?”

  “I went there. It’s a good school. Why do you ask? I saw you and Steve talking with General Matthews.”

  “Yeah. The General offered me a job as tennis and track coach.”

  “That’s something you would like to do, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. I’ve always enjoyed coaching.”

  “Are you going to take it?”

  “I don’t know yet, Jase. I just don’t know. I don’t want to leave Dad in the lurch. There’s so much to do at Devlin. I feel almost like I’d be abandoning him.”

  He nodded. “You have to make the decisions that will make you happiest. Seeing you enjoying your life would be the best thing for him.”

  “Well, tomorrow’s going to be a long day. I feel odd reading at Hank Douglass’s funeral tomorrow morning. I didn’t know him. But his widow requested that I read at the funeral. I’ve met her, but don’t know her.”

  “You’ve read at funerals before.”

  “Yes. But not since Mother died. I don’t know that I can make it through this without falling apart.”

  “You’ll do just fine. I have every confidence in you.”

  “Well, that makes one of us. I’d better get some rest.”

  “Sleep well,” he said as he touched her face lightly, tenderly. “I’m sorry about Steve, Dani.”

  She raised her hand to his, sandwiching his hand between hers and her face, relishing his touch, however innocent. Their eyes met and held for the longest moment. There was nothing innocent in his eyes. He wanted her as badly as she wanted him.

  Dani warred with herself. It would be so easy to let them both have what they wanted so much. But she had promised herself, promised God, she wouldn’t make this mistake again. The next time she was with a man, it would be within marriage, she’d made that solemn promise. Still, she had never wanted anyone the way she wanted him at this moment. It would be so easy to step into his arms and to take what she wanted from him, to give herself to him, to take whatever comfort he could give her, to feel alive.

  But he wasn’t free, the warning sounded in her mind. Sarah, your friend, has a claim on him. You can’t do this, Dani. You can’t do this, even if it weren’t wrong otherwise.

  She watched him as he watched her swallow hard and take a step backwards.

  “No, Jase.”

  “Dani?” There was more than one question in his voice.

  “Good night,” she said, just before she turned from him. “Sleep well,” she added as she stepped away.

  “You, too.”

  But she knew that sleep would be a long time coming tonight, probably for both of them. Deciding she wouldn’t get any sleep, she thought she might as well dress and then work in the studio.

  Dani washed the clay from her hands and cleaned her nails before she went back to look at the lifesized head she had just formed. Normally, she’d take at least three times this long to do a portrait sculpture. But this one had formed more quickly than any she’d ever done.

  She rubbed her neck as she looked at Jase’s clay face staring back at her.

  “Do you realize it’s four a.m.?” Jase said.

  Startled, she realized the voice came from behind her. She whirled around to look at him. “What are you still doing up?”

  “I was asleep until Sarah called. Miss Emily woke up about forty minutes ago. Looks like she’ll live.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “I think you mean that,” Jase said, his voice surprised.

  “Why shouldn’t I mean it? Emily Chase not been kind to me, but I don’t wish her dead.”

  He smiled and shook his head. “What are you working on? I’ve not been out here to your private sanctuary.”

  “It’s just a working studio.”

  “What are you hiding there, behind you?”

  Dani sighed as she pointed to the marble sculptures of her father and his mother. “I’ve been working on portrait sculptures of the family.”

  Jase walked over to the marble sculptures. After a long moment examining them, he said, his voice awed, “These are wonderful, Dani. I knew you were talented, from looking at your website, but these leave me speechless.”

  “Those turned out well,” she allowed. “I’m going to give them to your mother next week, as an anniversary gift.”

  “It’s a huge gift.”

  “A few weeks work. Dad bought the marble. All I did was find their faces in the stone.”

  “Mother doesn’t own a necklace that grand,” Jase said.

  “She will. Dad bought it for her. It’s her anniversary gift from him.”

  Jase caught sight of his own clay replica. He walked over and looked at his own image, walking around it.

  He can’t look at that without realizing how I feel about him. There’s no way any intelligent person won’t be able to see that without knowing I love him.

  “Is this how you really see me?” he asked.

  “I can’t create a piece in a way I don’t see it,” Dani replied, hearing the defensiveness in her tone.

  “You did Mom and Harry in marble and me in clay. Why?”

  “Dad asked for marble. I was planning to do you and Beth and Jaime in bronze. But I need to make an original of you for the foundry to cast. That’s a little easier in clay.”

  Jase shook his head and sighed. “I’m stunned. This is incredible work. Where are the photos you were working from for my sculpture?”

  “In my head.”

  “It’s incredible work, Dani. How can you stand to be away from it? If I could do this, I’d never want to do anything else.”

  “Thank you,” she said on a yawn. “If I could do only one thing for the rest of my life, it would be to sculpt. But now, I need to get a couple hours sleep, Jase.”

  “Of course. I’ll walk you up to the house.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  A panicked female voice said over the telephone, “Jase is chasing her. We have to take action. We can’t let her get her more established. We just can’t.”

  “I meet with our employee later this morning. Plans are complete for the next phase.”

  “The best defense is a good offense,” the woman said.

  “I think you’re losing perspective on this,” Gil told her.

  “Will you he
lp me get rid of the brat, or not?”

  “Not. We can use her later on. From what I saw at the Country Club last night, the girl and our local prosecutor and Jase form quite a triangle. It’s amazing how much like her mother the child is.”

  The woman laughed. “Killing three birds with a single stone, as it were.”

  “Look, love, I’ll keep an eye on her. Still, it’s interesting how well she’s setting herself up, making things so much easier for us if we have to move against her. You won’t do anything stupid, will you?”

  “I won’t do anything stupid,” the woman agreed, her voice flat.

  “But you and I have different definitions of that word, don’t we, Sweetheart?” Gil remarked wryly.

  “Do we?”

  Gil sighed. “You know I love you. Don’t do anything to blow this, Sweetheart. We’ve worked too long and too hard, to throw everything away now by your taking inappropriate actions. You have as much to lose as I do. There will be things happening soon. We don’t need to complicate matters any further.”

  “I know.”

  “By mid-January we’ll have everything we want. Just leave the girl alone. We’ve got other fish to fry at the moment.”

  The woman sighed. “When can I see you?”

  “Not this week. I’m busy with the West widow.”

  “I wish you didn’t have to do that.”

  “Don’t worry, love. I might romance the widows, but my heart belongs to you.”

  “It better.”

  “If I didn’t know better, love, I’d say you were jealous.”

  “I am.”

  “That’s silly. You know it is.”

  “Is it?” she asked. “Here you take the widows out to dinner, to the theatre, dancing, and everything else. I get an hour here and an hour there. We can’t go out together, dance together in public, or even be seen enjoying one another’s company. Occasionally, we get a whole weekend in Maine. And then you tell me it’s silly to be jealous.”

  “We agreed to keep things on a low profile, and work from both ends until we had everything we want. Don’t go getting paranoid on me when we’re so close to getting everything. We’ve been patient this long. We can wait a little longer.”

  “Oh, Gil! I just wish we didn’t have to do things this way.”

  “You have to trust me.”

  “I do trust you. It’s the widows I don’t trust.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  The Richards’ house was not quite as grand as the Devlin home. But it clearly spoke of old money. The party was outdoors in the back garden. An elaborate buffet was manned by uniformed waiters. A dance orchestra was playing.

  Jase and Beth had each taken their own cars, so that either of them could leave without disturbing the other’s evening. Dani had ridden with Beth because Beth wanted to discuss Jaime’s education.

  The more time she spent with Beth, the more she liked Lyn’s daughter. If Beth really was her father’s daughter, then Lyn certainly had enough motive to want Nan O’Brien Devlin out of the way.

  Dani didn’t have much time to think about that, or anything else, once they arrived at the party. She lost track of the names of the men with whom she danced. She hadn’t even danced with the same man twice. She had, however, been acutely aware of Jase watching her.

  About ten, Beth had left. But Dani hadn’t wanted to leave. Jase had agreed to take her home.

  “May I have this dance?” Jase asked about an hour after Beth had gone home.

  The song was slow and dreamy. Dani went into his arms easily.

  Neither of them spoke a word as they danced, which was quite a change from the dances with the other men where she had chatted, teased, and gently flirted with her partners.

  As the song drew to a close, Jase smiled at her. “Are you ready to go home? Or do you plan to dance all night?”

  “I could you know. I can’t remember when I’ve had this much fun at a party. But, if you’re ready to go home, I’ll go with you. Just let me find the ladies’ room first, okay?”

  On her way back to the party from the powder room, Dani heard a group of women talking from another of the rooms which opened onto the hallway. She stopped when she heard her own name mentioned.

  “Did you see Harry Devlin’s daughter?”

  “I saw how Jase Wilton was looking at her. He’s more than slightly interested in her.”

  “Well, Jase always did know how to keep his eye on the main chance,” the first woman said.

  Dani’s spirit dived. She had to admit the truth of that statement. If Harry did include her in his will, as he said he would, then a marriage between her and Jase would consolidate Jase’s power base. Yet, from what she had seen of his position in the firm, he certainly deserved to have control of Devlin.

  “Well, since Harry is retiring soon, Jase was expected to take over the reins. Jase’s been handling most of the responsibilities there anyway since he came home,” Sarah stated reasonably. “So, that statement’s really not fair either to Jase or Dani.”

  “Harry Devlin won’t live forever. And when he’s gone, don’t you believe the biggest part of his assets are going to his blood, not step, relations?” the second woman said.

  Dani’s throat closed up as she thought about being without her father. She didn’t even want to think about losing him, too.

  “I hear Dani Devlin has a temper to scorch earth,” the first female voice said.

  “If she and Jase become serious about one another, she’ll need that temper and the strength of personality which goes with it. He’s not an easy man,” Sarah stated.

  “You aren’t upset about Jase maybe marrying this Dani person?” the second woman asked.

  “Why should I be? He’s one of my oldest friends. I’d like to see him settled and happy,” Sarah responded. “I really like Dani. The two of them would be very good for each other.”

  “We all thought you and Jase would be tying the knot yourself one day,” the third woman said. “You’ve dated forever.”

  Sarah laughed. “Jase and I are very good friends, but there never was a real possibility of anything more.”

  “Well, you could have told us!” the first woman said.

  “It was none of your business,” Sarah replied.

  Dani walked to the door of the room from which the voices came. “Excuse me, Sarah?”

  Sarah smiled. “Dani! Have you had a good time? You’ve not lacked for male company this evening. Including my brother. Lucas seemed quite taken with you.”

  “He’s a very nice man, Sarah.”

  Sarah smiled at her again. “Now, there’s damning with faint praise.”

  Dani laughed. “It was a lovely party. Thank you for the invitation.”

  “Are you leaving now?” Sarah asked.

  “I think so. Again, thank you for a wonderful evening. Would you care to have lunch one day next week?”

  Sarah smiled broadly. “That would be lovely. How is Tuesday for you?”

  Dani mentally reviewed her calendar. “Tuesday should be fine.” She named the tea room just down the street from her office, the same place they had eaten before. “Is that okay with you?”

  “One of my favorites,” Sarah told her. “Noon?”

  “Better make it quarter till one,” Dani replied easily. “Dad likes to have an exec meeting on Tuesday mornings. I probably won’t be out until 12:30 or so.”

  Sarah smiled. “I’ll meet you there. Thank you for coming.”

  Dani laughed. “Goodbye, Sarah. Until Tuesday.”

  Jase walked up behind her. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Are you ready to leave?”

  Dani turned her head slightly to look at Jase. “Just saying goodnight to Sarah.”

  “Goodnight, Sarah,” Jase said. “Lovely party. Thanks.”

  “‘Night, Jase. Drive safely,” Sarah told him.

  The drive home under a clear, moonlit, sky had the soundtrack of soft, classical music from the stereo.

  “I didn
’t know you liked Mozart,” she told him.

  “This piece is soothing.”

  “It’s one of my favorites. Mozart had a way with a phrase.”

  “We’ll be home soon.”

  “I’m trying to find a way of telling Dad I’ve taken the job at Westfield this fall.”

  “Would you be happier teaching?”

  “Yes, I would. Still, I really like working for Dad.”

  “Harry is planning to at least semi-retire within the year,” Jase told her. “Did you know that?”

  “I was told. Would his retirement affect my job, if I decided to stay on, helping out part time?”

  “No, it won’t. You can stay at Devlin as long as you pull your weight,” Jase told her. “I don’t think that will ever be a problem. I can’t believe how well you’ve already fine tuned the computer security. You’ve been working hard.”

  “I’ve barely scratched the surface,” she told him with a yawn. “There’s a lot more to be done.”

  “Sit back, relax, take a short nap if you want. We’ll be home in a while,” Jase told her.

  “I overheard some women talking tonight, Jase.”

  “About?”

  “Us. Speculating you’ll ask me to marry you.”

  “Really,” he dismissed.

  “They said it would be a move on your part to consolidate your power base at Devlin. As if you would need to do such a thing.” Dani clicked her tongue. “A blind man could see that you’ve really been running Devlin for quite a while. Dad’s not really very healthy, is he, Jason? Tell me the truth.”

  “Harry has a heart condition,” Jase replied after a moment’s hesitation. “He doesn’t want anyone to know just how bad it is.”

  “How bad is it?” Dani asked, hearing the fear in her voice.

  “He had a quadruple by-pass three years ago. Told everyone locally he and Mom were going on an extended fishing trip. Went away, had the surgery, did his rehab, then came home,” Jase told her. “That’s when I transferred from active duty to the Reserves and came home to take over much of the day to day management of the business.”

  “How bad is it?”

  “If he takes care of himself, he’ll be fine for a long time. But taking care of himself means he has to eliminate stress from his life as much as possible.”