by Judy Angelo
When Blake was eleven her mother remarried but that relationship was just as short-lived as the first. Within a couple of years Rosie was single again and this time she had two mouths to feed in addition to her own. This time around she was not so generous and made sure that Rebecca’s father made his contribution to his child's welfare. Thankfully, he remained a part of his daughter’s life and would have frequent conversations with her on Skype even though he now lived in Europe.
Blake knew very well how stressful life had been for her mother and she did everything in her power to make things easier for her. That was why she had chosen business management as her major. She’d been determined to become a super-successful businesswoman so she could provide for her mother.
And that plan had been working out fine…until Jerome Slater came into the picture. Why she’d given in to his pleas and made him a partner in her business, she would never know.
But actually, she did know. The problem was, she’d succumbed to his silky charm. He’d been such a seducer that she hadn’t just given him access to her business. She’d even given him access to her heart.
And then he’d gone and used it against her.
“Here you go, sweetheart.” Rosie brought a steaming bowl of oatmeal porridge and placed it in front of Blake, who drew in a deep breath.
“Mmm. Smells so good. Just like home.” She dipped the spoon into the creamy porridge, took a taste then closed her eyes as she savored the cinnamon flavor. “I miss your cooking. You’re the best, Mom.”
Rosie chuckled. “And if you keep the compliments coming you know I’ll be cooking for you till I take my last breath.”
When Blake was halfway through her cereal Becky walked in, dressed in shorts and a Jonas Brothers T-Shirt. She looked surprised to see Blake at the breakfast table. “How come you’re up so early? Who gets up at this hour when they're on vacation?” She dropped onto the chair beside her sister. “Morning, Mom.” She gave their mother a wave.
“Got lots to do, Squirt. This isn’t a vacation.” She dipped up another spoonful of oatmeal.
“What do you have to do?” Becky asked, looking curious. “I thought your business was only in Pequoia now.”
Blake’s hand stilled and the spoon that was on its way to her mouth froze midway. She lowered it back into the bowl.
“My business is in Dallas,” she said gravely. “Today I’m going to exterminate a rodent.”
CHAPTER SIX
If there was one thing Peggy Thatcher loved it was her plants. And they didn’t have to be flowers, either. Ferns, Ficus trees, vines and creepers – anything would do. When she wasn’t busy mayoring her little town she was outdoors digging in her vegetable garden or turning the soil at the roots of her fruit trees. Sun, sky and dirt – that was her heaven.
Today, as was her habit, she whistled as she dug away, so caught up in her task that she almost missed noticing that she was no longer alone. It was that bright yellow hat that gave Barbara away. She would never be able to sneak up on a soul with that glaring thing on.
“Well, you’re in a good mood today,” she said as she walked around to the side of the house where Peggy had her patch of dug-up earth.
“And why shouldn’t I be?” Peggy straightened and began pulling the gloves off her hands. “Aren’t I always in a good mood?”
“Not really,” Barbara said, her tone dry as chip. “You’re happiest when you’ve been meddling in someone else’s business. What have you been up to? Who’ve you been messing with now?”
Her hands now free of the gloves, Peggy dropped the protective gardening gear on top of the cobbled pathway and jammed a fist on one hip. “I haven’t been messing with anybody, Miss Nosy Parker.”
“Maybe not since this morning, you haven’t. But what about poor Ryder? You almost scared him off with all your talk about weddings and babies.”
“Hey, I wasn’t the only one.” Peggy was frowning as she threw out the reminder. “From what I can recall you were the loudest one, singing praises for Blake.” She pursed her lips and adopted a simpering pose, one hand up and limp at the wrist. “She’s such a sweet girl,” she said in a high, falsetto voice. “A man would be a fool to let her slip through his fingers.”
“I do not talk like that.” Now it was Barbara’s turn to frown. “You take that back, Peggy Thatcher.”
Peggy laughed. “All right, all right. Maybe you don’t sound that bad but your voice does get squeaky when you get excited.”
Barbara gave her a rueful grin. “Maybe just a little bit.” She walked over to the garden bench that had been set in the shade of an apple tree. There she made herself comfortable, sinking down onto it with a sigh and stretching her legs out in front of her.
“But seriously, though,” she said as she stared at her sandaled feet with interest, “why were you giving Ryder such a hard time? If he likes Blake he’ll ask her out in his own time.”
“And that’s what I’m afraid of,” Peggy said and went over to join Barbara on the bench. “His own time could take forever.”
“But what’s that got to do with you? Shouldn’t that be Blake’s concern? And remember, he’s been in town just shy of a week. Apart from the fact that he’s handsome and charming, what in the world do we know about him?”
At those words Peggy gave a grunt. As usual, Barbara was the voice of reason. “You’re right,” Peggy said. “I’m an old fool and I got carried away. It’s just that Blake’s not getting any younger. I don’t want her to make the same mistake I did.”
“What’s in the past is in the past, Peggy. You don’t turn back the clock.” Barbara reached over and patted her friend on the knee. “And you can’t live your life through someone else.”
Peggy gave a soft grunt and then she looked away. “You know me better than anyone. You know what a mess I’ve made of my life. I don’t want it to happen to Blake. I’ve known her less than a year but she’s the closet thing I have to a daughter.”
“Yes, but she’s got to live her own life.”
“I know, but what if I help her along? If I’d had someone to guide me when I was young maybe I would have a husband and a family right now. Maybe some grandkids.” Her voice turned wistful. “I don’t want Blake to end up like me.”
“You have a pretty good life, Peggy. Everybody knows you and loves you.” Barbara gave her a gentle smile. “You’ve done well for yourself. You’re mayor of our town.”
Peggy shook her head. “But it’s not the same. You know that.” She drew in her breath then, slowly, she let it out with a deep sigh. “I could have had a family but I threw it all away. I was too independent.”
“You did what was right for you at the time.”
Lost in her memories of the past, hardly hearing what Barbara was saying, the words continued to spill out of Peggy’s mouth. “When Jeffery asked me to marry him I turned him down even though I loved him. I was so confident back then. I told him I wasn’t ready. I had too much to do. How could I tie myself down when there was so much to accomplish? I hadn’t even finished my degree yet.” She grimaced and then a smile crept onto her lips but it was a slow, bitter smile. “I actually thought he would wait for me. Can you imagine that? I did my first degree and then moved on to a graduate degree and even a second one, sure the whole time that I could count on Jeff to be there waiting when I was good and ready to settle down. What a laugh.”
Barbara, like the good friend she’d been over the years, sat there listening, not interrupting, just letting her spill her regretful thoughts all over the garden lawn. When she did make a move it was to shift on the bench and slide an arm around Peggy’s shoulder. “Don’t beat yourself up about a decision you made when you were young. You thought it was the best decision and it worked out in your favor in many ways.”
“When I got back he’d left town,” Peggy said, hardly hearing what Barbara was saying. “He’d joined the army. I got on with my life, thinking he’d be back some day. He never did come back. Last thing I heard
from his old aunt, he’d gotten married and had a family. He was the one man I ever loved and I let him walk away, just like that.” She sighed again then shook her head. “The stupidity of youth.”
For a while there was silence, Peggy lost in thought and Barbara letting her be. It was Peggy who broke that silence with a matter-of-fact click of the tongue. “But enough of that,” she said, her voice full of forced cheeriness. “That’s all in the past. Right now it’s time to look to the future. Blake’s future.” She hopped up onto her feet and when she looked down at Barbara she was smiling. “And I want to make Blake happy.”
But Barbara wasn’t smiling back. Gaze narrowed, she pointed a finger at her friend. “Peggy,” she said, her tone terse, “I’m warning you. No meddling.”
Peggy only laughed. “Who’s meddling? I’m only ensuring the happiness of my semi-adopted daughter. I just want her to have a chance with Ryder. All she has to do is check him out. After that, she can reject him if they don’t mesh. But I want her to have that chance.”
“Peggy, what did I tell you?”
“Ryder’s right for her, Barbara. I can feel it. Right here.” She stabbed a stiff thumb into the middle of her chest. “It’s the same feeling I had with Jeff. We have to give this thing a chance.”
“What thing? This is of your own invention.”
“Good afternoon, ladies. Mighty fine afternoon, isn’t it?”
Both women whipped around to see Ted Granger coming up the driveway. As usual he was dressed in boots, jeans and the same brown Stetson he’d been wearing for the past ten years. The poor hat was way past the retirement stage but would the man get rid of it? He was so attached to the thing, if he’d had a wife she’d be jealous of the relationship.
“Hey, Ted,” Peggy and Barbara said in unison then Peggy slid her hands into the back pocket of her jeans and straightened. “What brings you by?” She gave him a suspicious look, not quite a glare, but she knew Ted like the back of her hand. After so many decades of living in the same town with him she knew that the wider he smiled the more careful you’d better be around him. And, for some reason, today’s grin looked mighty suspicious.
“Oh, not a whole lot.” By this time he’d reached close enough for them to get a whiff of his cologne. Old Spice. As always. “I just came by to see if you’d heard about the surprise birthday supper they’re having for old Ezekiel. Are you going?” He slid both hands into the back pockets of his jeans, mimicking Peggy’s stance.
She frowned. “Of course I’m going. It was my idea to throw him a surprise party.”
“Oh? I didn’t know that.” He’d raised his eyebrows in surprise but then he smiled. “But I should have guessed, shouldn’t I? So, you want me to come get you tomorrow?”
“No.” Her answer was quick and brutal. “I know where Ezekiel lives. I can get there by myself.”
Barbara cleared her throat and then she threw Peggy a cutting glare but, to her credit, she didn’t say a word.
Still, the look had the effect Barbara intended. Peggy felt suitably chastised. She’d given a biting response to a simple question and that had been uncalled for. She’d been touchy with Ted but lately he just seemed to rub her the wrong way. She sighed. Time to be nice. “I’ll probably have to make a stop on the way to Ezekiel’s,” she explained. “I’ll see you at the party.”
“No problem,” he said with a shrug. “Maybe we can take a walk another time.” He glanced across at Barbara who sat watching from her seat on the bench. He gave her a bow then tipped his hat. “Enjoy the rest of the afternoon, ladies,” he said then turned and sauntered off, back down the pathway and around to the front gate, whistling as he went.
“He likes you, Peggy. A whole lot. But I’m sure you already know that.”
“Excuse me?” Peggy turned from how she’d been standing, staring after Ted, and glared down at her friend. “What in the dickens are you talking about?”
“I’m talking romance. Love. It’s in the air.” Barbara had a glint in her eye and a satisfied smirk on her lips.
“Not in the air around me, it’s not.”
“Well, it’s in the air around Ted. He’s smitten. Can’t you see that?”
“Not by me,” was Peggy’s sharp retort. “I’ve known Ted all my life and from day one he’s been nothing but a troublemaker.”
Barbara rolled her eyes. “Just because he stole a kiss when you were five years old. That was over five decades years ago. Get over it.”
“He’s done lots more over the years-”
“And all because he likes you. Why don't you give him a chance? He might be the one to stir those old embers of yours.”
“Who? That messy old coot?”
“Oh, you be quiet. He’s all of six months older than you are.”
“Old enough for me to call him an old coot. Forget about him.” She waved a dismissive hand. “It’s those kids I want to talk about. Blake and Ryder make such a handsome couple.” She took two steps to the bench and dropped back down onto it beside Barbara then leaned toward her friend.
“I’m going to make Blake happy,” she said, her voice vibrating with determination, “if it’s the last thing I do.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Jerome Slater had the slimiest of smirks on his lips as he leaned back in his chair. He hadn’t even shown the courtesy of getting to his feet when Blake entered the office. In fact, as she stood there in the middle of the room glaring across at him, he lifted his arms and, as casual as you please, he folded them behind his head and raised his feet to prop them on the edge of his desk.
“This is no pleasure.” Teeth clenched, she could hardly get the words out, she was so enraged. “I never had any intention of setting foot in this place ever again, not after what you did to me. I thought you’d done your worst but I was wrong. I would never have believed anyone would sink so low, not even you.”
Jerome chuckled and shook his head, making strands of his blond hair fall across his forehead. It gave him a boyish look, that same damned look that had been her downfall. That innocent image, it was the ruse he used to draw women in. She knew that only too well. “Blake, Blake, Blake.” He said her name with every shake of his head. “Why so harsh? I was only telling the truth.”
“The truth? You go to the press with a story that I stole from the company and you call that the truth? You piece of slime, it’s a stinking lie and you know it.”
Instead of wilting in shame, Jerome’s smile grew even wider. “Stole from the company? But I didn’t say that at all.”
“No, but you implied it. You knew exactly what you were doing when you said those things about me,” she grated, her fists clenched at her sides. He didn’t know how close she was to slapping that self-satisfied grin off his face. “You made sure you made statements too vague for me to quote you and haul you off to court but you did your damage all the same.” She gave a snort of disgust. “So you didn’t think you hurt me enough? You weaseled your way into my life and then you betrayed me. You used me for your own ends. I walked away. I let you have it all. Wasn’t that enough?”
There was an almost imperceptible change in the smug look in his eyes, making Blake wonder if she’d finally gotten through to his conscience but then it disappeared and his lips tightened. “You ran away from me, Blake. I asked you to marry me and as soon as we got to a slight bump in the road you dropped me like a piece of hot coal and skipped town.”
“A slight bump in the road? Is that what you call it?” Blake stared at Jerome, not believing what he was saying. “I took you on as a business partner and you stole from me. You betrayed my trust. Did you honestly think I would go through with the wedding?”
“I didn’t steal the money. I just borrowed it. I would have told you.”
“Yeah, right. I may have been stupid enough to accept your marriage proposal but I’m not so stupid that I’d believe that or anything else you have to say.”
His blue eyes f
lashing with something akin to anger, Jerome dropped his feet to the floor and sat forward in his chair. “I told you I loved you, Blake, and I meant it. But what did you do? For no good reason at all you ditched me at the last minute and embarrassed me in front of my friends and my family. How do you think I felt when I was left to tell everybody that the wedding was off?”
“I don’t care how you felt. You should have thought of that when you embezzled my money.” Fighting hard to stay in control of her emotions, she folded her arms across her chest. It was either that or strangle him.
“Our money. The money I took was part mine.”
Blake drew in her breath then let it out and as she did she was shaking her head. “You don’t get it, do you? You took the money without permission. Without my knowledge. Do you know what that’s called?”
“All right, all right, so I took the money. So what? All we had to do was talk about it. I would have explained everything to you but you never gave me a chance. You hightailed it out of here so fast and you made sure I wouldn’t know where to find you. Your mother kept her mouth shut, tight as a trap.” Then he chuckled. “But I came up with the perfect plan. I got you to come back to Dallas, didn’t I?”
Blake sucked in her breath, her hands falling to her sides as she took an involuntary step forward. “You…you planned this? That news story was bait?”
“Ah, now you’re learning, my sweet. Old Jerome isn’t quite the fool you thought he was.” Then, before she’d recovered from the shock, he was up and out of his chair and walking toward her. His hands shot out and he gripped her upper arms. “I still want you, Blake.” His eyes intensely blue, his words came out in an urgent whisper. “This was the only way I could find you. I had to make you come back.”
“What the hell?” Recovering from her initial shock, Blake wrenched her arm from his grip. “Are you crazy? Do you really expect me to even consider coming back to you? Why in the name of all that’s holy would I ever do something like that?”
