No stranger to compliments, Tanya thanked Marcus graciously. “You did a superb job on the recent campaign ads for Peter. Brilliant, really.”
“Thanks, but it was a team effort.”
Blake pulled out an empty chair beside him. “Have a seat. We were just getting some refreshments after the game.”
Marcus shot Katie an amused glance.
He’s enjoying this! she seethed inwardly, wishing she could disappear.
“I’d love to.” Marcus took the seat. “But I’ll only stay a minute. I don’t want to interrupt and I have a game in ten.”
“So, have you known the Salgars long?” Blake asked, glancing at Katie.
It was all she could do not to visibly squirm. Instead she focused intently on her mango-raspberry smoothie.
“Not really. Peter hired me after noticing some work I’d done managing campaigns in San Diego and Austin. He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, so I moved here.”
“And after this campaign?” Tate asked.
“Well,” Marcus said with a little laugh, “I guess that depends on how it turns out.” Focusing on Katie, he added, “But I have become quite fond of the Salgars, so it would be difficult to move again.”
Reluctantly, Katie pried her eyes from her nearly empty glass. “Oh, yes, Uncle Peter and my parents speak highly of you. I’m sure Uncle Peter would give you an excellent reference—whichever way the campaign goes.”
“None of that talk,” Marcus teased. “There’s only one way for this campaign to end, with a win. But enough about politics. From what I hear, McCord Jewelers is a much more fascinating topic du jour.”
“I doubt that,” Blake said. There was a warning note in his voice that Marcus either didn’t recognize or chose to ignore.
“I read in the business journal recently that a couple of stores were closed. I hope everything is okay.”
“Reorganization. It has to be done from time to time to cut the fat and raise efficiency. It’s routine.”
Marcus checked his watch and shoved back in his chair. Standing, he again reached for Blake’s hand, then Tate’s. “Glad to hear that’s all it is. Even long-standing empires hit hard times now and then.” Smiling broadly, he offered Tanya a nod and again, touched a hand to Katie’s shoulder. “You’ll ring me sometime, won’t you? We can do dinner again. Maybe Italian next time.”
If he hadn’t turned and strode briskly away, Katie would have been tempted to dump her smoothie down the front of his sparkling white tennis shirt.
Tanya, bless her feminine compassion, tugged at Tate’s arm. Katie avoided both brothers’ glares and smiled at Tanya. “If we don’t leave now we’re going to be late to meet Charlie. And I’m not stepping out into public with this hair and these drenched clothes I’ve been soaking in too long already.”
Taking the not-too-subtle prodding, Tate laid a hand on Blake’s back. “Thanks for the game. We’ll have to do it again sometime.”
Blake nodded absently, his face locked in a hard, stoic frown. “Say hello to Charlie,” he ground out.
Katie knew his tone was due in part at least to Marcus’s untimely appearance. When Tate and Tanya had left, she had no option but to face him. But what could she say? How could she defend herself for something so minor and meaningless to her, yet so magnified now that it looked like a calculated deception to Blake. Again, murderous thoughts toward Marcus crossed her mind.
“Blake, about Marcus—”
Blake stood, held up a palm. “Save it. I’ll go have your car brought around.”
At the tense set of his face, a wave of guilt washed over her. And then defensiveness took over. She hadn’t done anything wrong. They weren’t officially a couple and she was officially single and could do as she pleased. Hadn’t she convinced herself she needed to give herself time to discover what she really wanted in a relationship?
Or so she’d told herself. The idea she had hurt him, though, quelled some of her rebelliousness. He was the one who’d offered to work toward something long-term; she was the one who’d hesitated and then decided to test the dating waters with Marcus.
“It was only one dinner, when you were in Toronto,” she said finally.
“I don’t want the details, thanks.”
“I don’t have that many to give. It’s not as if we were lovers. I spent a few hours with him, that’s all.”
“You’re free to see whomever you like.” He echoed her own thoughts, but hearing them spoken aloud in his cold, expressionless tone renewed with a vengeance all her uncomfortable feelings. “I need to go. I have to stop by my office. I’ll mention your car on my way out.”
“Blake—” Katie put a hand on his arm, stopping him from turning to leave. “Can we at least talk about this?”
“What is there to talk about? You decided to date someone else. End of story.”
“No, it’s not. You’re obviously upset about it.”
“I don’t think my reaction matters one way or the other. You didn’t consider it when you chose to go out with Marcus Brent.” They locked gazes for brief seconds and then Blake blew out a breath, shoving a hand through his hair. “This is pointless.”
“I don’t want to leave things like this,” Katie said, at a loss to know how to fix it.
“What do you want, Katie? My blessing on your decision to play the field? Sorry—” He pulled free of her grasp. “I can’t do that. But you don’t need my approval. As you keep pointing out, we’re just friends.”
Not giving her time to respond, he spun around and strode out of the bar, leaving her alone with her regrets.
A last-minute invitation to a fashion show that afternoon in downtown Dallas was unwelcome to say the least. But it was Gabby who’d called to invite her and as they’d been trying for weeks to do lunch or a drink, Katie couldn’t possibly say no, even though the invitation included Anna and Eleanor. Still, after the confrontation with Blake, the last thing Katie wanted was to be gently but expertly interrogated by her mother, Eleanor and Gabby.
As they took their seats front row to the catwalk, Katie wished she’d made an excuse to stay home.
“I can’t wait to see a sneak preview of the spring Milan collection,” Gabby was saying excitedly. “We’re so lucky to have gotten in today. It’s a small, private showing, but my friend is the designer’s cousin. I owe her big-time.” She focused on Katie and her grin turned to a small frown. “Are you all right? I know this was last minute. Did I interrupt something?”
“No, it’s not that.” Realizing she probably looked as if she were sulking, Katie made an effort to brighten her tone. “I’m a little tired, that’s all. We played several games of mixed doubles at the club this morning. I haven’t played that much tennis in months.”
“We? Meaning you and Blake?”
“Against Tanya and Tate,” she said, nodding.
At the sound of her sons’ names, Eleanor craned her head around to join the conversation. “Did I hear Blake and Tate mentioned in the same breath?”
Katie’s stomach tightened, afraid Eleanor would use the moment to quiz her about Blake. “Yes, we all played tennis together this morning.”
“Oh…well, that must have been interesting.”
“It was fun, actually.”
“Look, ladies, the show is starting.” Anna pointed to the head of the stage where a glamorous woman with a microphone had appeared from behind the curtains. “That’s Margo Hererra. You know her, she’s the new designer from Spain.”
Gabby smiled. “I told you this would be worth changing your Saturday afternoon plans.”
Katie didn’t know her or care, but she smiled obligingly.
As all heads turned, riveted toward the stage, the noise and excitement allowed Katie a welcome respite from conversation. Though appearing to pay attention to the glittering swirl around her, she was in fact miles away. She wished she’d tried harder to convince Blake to talk to her. She hated how they’d left things and wondered if she’d broken whatever bon
d existed between them.
After a span of time Katie couldn’t have recalled, Eleanor leaned toward her. “It’s almost over and it’s cocktail hour so what do you say the four of us steal away early and grab an appetizer and a martini?”
They shared Anna’s Mercedes sedan to a trendy little restaurant nearby and took a corner table near the window where they could people watch and comment on Dallas fashion—or the lack thereof.
“You seem under the weather today, Katie,” Eleanor was saying as the waitress handed them their drinks. “Too much tennis?”
“No, not at all. Tanya is a lot of fun and she and Tate are so good together. I’m happy for them.”
“What about Tate?” Anna asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” she said, stirring the olive around the bottom of her glass with her finger, “it must be difficult for him to see you and Blake dating.”
“Why? He’s engaged to be married. And anyway Blake and I aren’t—” Katie stopped midsentence when all eyes stared her down, letting her know they weren’t buying it. “Okay, so we’ve been seeing each other, but—”
“But what?” Gabby asked, her voice gentle.
Katie hesitated, then, figuring Marcus wouldn’t keep it a secret, said, “I don’t know how much Blake and I are going to be seeing each other from now on. He found out that I had a date with Marcus Brent while he was in Toronto.”
“Oh, Katie, that’s wonderful,” Anna said, reaching over to pat her daughter’s hand. At Katie’s disbelieving look, she added hastily, “I didn’t mean that quite the way it sounded. It’s just dating more than one person is the healthy thing to do, don’t you agree?” she asked, directing the question to Eleanor.
“Absolutely. You and Tate were together so long, Katie. You shouldn’t limit yourself to one man too quickly.”
Gabby listened in silence and Katie felt her friend’s empathy. Finally, Gabby politely interrupted the twosome. “Excuse me, but none of us has asked Katie if she’s glad she dated someone else. Are you?”
Katie’s first instinct was to say that it was a horrible mistake and she was worried Blake wouldn’t forgive her. Instead she banked that flood of emotions and turned the tables on Gabby. “Did you date anyone else after you and Rafael were involved?”
“I barely looked at another man after Rafael. I was smitten, as they say.” She lifted a brow and grinned, catlike. “Not that I let him know that.”
Is that the way I feel with Blake? It seemed an almost tame description of the volatile mix of desire, need and communion she felt when they were together.
She turned to Eleanor and Anna. “What about you? Is that the way you felt?” As soon as the words fell from her lips she wished she could have swept them up and away. Of course Eleanor had been head over heels—but for Rex Foley, not Devon McCord.
Anna answered first, rescuing her friend. “In a manner of speaking, yes, I fell for your father the first time I saw him. But it took time to truly fall in love with him.”
“I’d be lying if I said Devon and I were ever really in love with each other, even after so many years together,” Eleanor said quietly, after a long silence. “All of you know that isn’t true. But Rex—I think I fell in love with Rex the first time I saw him. To this day, the thought of him can bring back those feelings. And now, the problem is Blake and the other children know it. Blake, in particular, resents me.”
Katie didn’t know what to say to comfort her. It was true. Blake had a rigid, hard side she doubted anyone would ever penetrate. “I think he’s working on accepting it,” she managed, “but with Charlie as a reminder, it’s, well, it’s going to take time.”
“I hope that’s all it will take,” Eleanor said sadly. “Blake is so angry at me and it’s caused a rift between him and Charlie.”
Gabby reached out to take Eleanor’s hand. “It’s a shock, that’s all. They’re brothers. They’ll work it out eventually.”
“I hope that’s true. But enough about my dramas,” Eleanor said, pasting a smile back on her face. “What we want to know is, how was your date?”
Back in the hot seat, Katie sighed. She was with friends; she might as well tell them the truth. “It was fine.”
“But?” Anna prompted.
“But he wasn’t Blake.”
Gabby’s smile comforted her. “That says a lot.”
“Maybe, but it probably doesn’t matter now. We ran into Marcus at the club and he made a point of letting Blake know we had dinner together. Blake didn’t take it well.” Inwardly, Katie winced at the definite understatement.
“Oh.” Eleanor waved a hand. “His ego is just bruised. You know how proud my son is. He’ll get past it. And my guess is when he does, now that he knows he has competition, he’ll pursue you even harder just to prove he’s the better man.”
With that all four women lifted their glasses and toasted what they’d managed to turn from Katie’s disaster into Katie’s accidental victory.
As she took a sip of her drink, Katie wished she could believe Eleanor was right, but the wounded rage in Blake’s eyes when he’d left her made it hard to hold on to the hope it was true.
Chapter Twelve
Two pages left to go and Blake was starting to question how he and Katie had managed to get through the past hour’s worth of last-minute checklists for the ball without saying more than a few sentences to each other. On the other hand, the strained silence between them spoke volumes.
They hadn’t really talked, except impersonally about business or the benefit, since he’d found out about her date with Marcus. Because of that he’d been surprised when she’d agreed to meet him this evening at his office to go over the final list of donations for the silent auction. He hated the distance separating them. It seemed vast, despite them sitting side by side on his office couch, paperwork spread over the coffee table. But he didn’t know how to deal with his jealousy or the idea he couldn’t dislodge that she didn’t place much value on their relationship or consider it serious to begin with. It would be easier if he could simply dismiss his feelings and move on, but he hadn’t been able to command his emotions as easily as he did everything else in his life.
“I don’t think we’ve actually gotten this painting yet,” Katie said, frowning at a notation on one of their lists. She leaned over to pick up another paper at the same time Blake reached for the same one and their hands touched.
The inadvertent contact froze them midmotion. Their eyes met and Blake saw in hers the same desire that had been tormenting him.
“Blake…” The way she said his name, with both longing and uncertainty, snapped his restraint.
All the pent-up tensions of the past days loosened at once. He pulled her against him and she met him halfway, kissing him back with an intensity that overwhelmed his every other thought and feeling except wanting her closer. Taking control away from him, she pushed gently at his shoulders to urge him back against the couch and they ended up with her half lying on his chest.
He took advantage of the position to slide his hands under her thin sweater and over warm, smooth skin, emboldened by the hum of pleasure she made to drag the material higher, giving him access to rove over her back and the sides of her breasts. Her body and hands rubbing, caressing him, nearly drove him to forget patience and propriety, strip off her clothes and his, and take and give what they both wanted.
It struck him this might be all he would ever have with her. She hesitated when they came too close to deepening their relationship, but she never hesitated in this. And if this was all he could have, maybe he could pretend it would be enough.
“Let’s get out of here,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck.
Her fingers found their way inside his shirt and teased open the first few buttons. “Where?”
“Anywhere with a bed and no chance of being interrupted.” Blake paused his explorations long enough to shift to look at her. “We can take the jet, go somewhere for the weekend and finish this in
private.”
“Finish this?” she echoed and a wary note crept into her voice. “This, being together—or us?”
Blake sat up, bringing her with him, although he didn’t fully let her go. “There isn’t really an ‘us,’ is there? You obviously aren’t committed to me in any way.”
“And you’re committed to me?”
“I’m not the one who decided to see other people the minute you left town.”
“It was one date! I needed to—”
“Figure out what you want, so you’ve told me. But you said yourself our wanting each other was getting in the way, making things more complicated. If we spend a couple of days together we can satisfy it and go back to the way things were before.”
“Let me get this straight,” she said slowly. “You think a few days of casual sex will fix everything.”
The honest answer was he didn’t. But he also didn’t believe she wanted anything else. “You can’t tell me it isn’t what you want, too.”
For a moment, she stared at him in stunned silence. He waited, expecting her to tell him he was right, that sexual chemistry was all they had and would ever have, and that a weekend in bed would cure them both of the lust that was interfering with their friendship.
Instead, she suddenly jerked out of his hold and to her feet, swinging around to look him squarely in the eye. “No.”
“No?” The word caught him off guard. He stood up, halting his step toward her when she thrust out a hand. “Katie—”
“No, Blake. I’m sure you’re not used to hearing it, but the answer’s no.” She pressed a hand to her face for a moment, briefly shutting her eyes, and Blake noticed her trembling, as if she were on the verge of tears.
Only then did he realize he’d made a huge mistake.
“I can’t believe, after everything that’s happened, that you can be so—” she struggled over the words “—cold.”
Blake shoved both hands through his hair, fighting the urge to grab her back into his arms and speak to her with his body, the only way they managed to communicate clearly, it seemed. “What am I supposed to think, Katie? You keep telling me you don’t know what you want. But every time I touch you—”
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