“Did Elaine…?”
Tom chuckled. “She did. She's up there right now. She is a piece of work, that woman.” There was an admiring twist to his mouth.
Molly felt weak with relief. “And Jake?”
“Let's go upstairs,” Tom said.
Tom talked nonstop during their ride up to the apartment, giving her a detailed analysis of exactly what she had done right—and wrong—during her first official television appearance, but Molly barely heard him.
Finally, the elevator stopped and released them into the foyer. Molly hurried toward the living room, her heart beating so hard that she could hear it in her ears.
“The thing is,” Tom was saying, following right behind her, “when you're improvising live on camera, you've gotta be concise. Hit them straight up with the message, then give them a few facts to back it up, then…”
For the first time, he seemed to realize that Molly wasn't listening to him.
Jake and Elaine were standing by the window, and Molly had the impression that they had been talking until they were alerted by the elevator chime. Jake looked tense and uncertain, but the relief on his face when he saw her was unmistakable. Molly breathed in softly, feeling a lump in her throat.
“Molly, dear,” Elaine said, hurrying forward to embrace her. “I thought you were wonderful on the show, and I'm glad that you remembered what I told you about powdering your forehead. Even a star shouldn't shine under the studio lights.”
“That's true,” Tom agreed, “plus I was telling her that thing about the three-quarter angle that you and I talked about. Jake, back me up on this. The question is—”
“Mr. Amadeo,” Elaine said.
Tom frowned. “What?”
She gave him a meaningful look. “I would like you to take me downstairs for a drink.”
“Sure, the jazz band starts at ten, so we can—”
“Now.”
“Oh,” Tom said awkwardly. “Right. Come on…uh…Elaine. Let's go down to the bar.” He offered her his arm, she took it, and together they left the room.
Molly and Jake stared at each other for a moment, and then Molly said softly, “You don't look like you slept much last night.”
“I didn't,” he said.
“I thought that if I called to tell you that I actually was going on the show, it would just make things worse. I thought you'd hang up on me.”
“I probably would have,” Jake said. “But I would have been wrong. You killed their story.”
She nodded. “I think it's really dead, too. You don't have anything more to worry about from Carter. Or me. I…can go away quietly, if you want.”
“No,” Jake said. “That's not what I want. But tell me one thing, just so I'm sure. You aren't really pregnant, are you?”
“Oh,” Molly said, feeling her face getting warm. “No, I don't think so. I hope you don't mind that I said that. I know it isn't the kind of thing that anyone should lie about, but I needed something dramatic to say to distract everyone, and I couldn't think of anything better. I guess it puts you in an awkward position, since you'll eventually have to explain where your fiancée and child went, but I think we can manage it. We could just say that it was a mistake with the test…”
“No,” Jake said again, firmly. “I'm tired of lies and deception. Aren't you? You said so on that tape.”
Molly nodded warily. “Yes…”
“So, there's only one thing to do. Make it true.”
“What?” she whispered.
“Make it true,” Jake repeated. “All of it. Will you marry me, Molly?”
A lump had formed in her throat, and she could hardly speak. “For real?” she asked, finally.
“For real. I love you, and I waited all my life to find you. I'm not giving you up in April, or ever.”
She nodded. “Okay,” she said. He reached out, and she ran forward into his arms, burying her face against his chest. He held her so tightly that the breath was almost squeezed out of her, and she could hear the sound of his heart, beating as fast as her own. “I love you, too,” she said, her voice muffled against his sweater. The secure warm solidity of him loosened something inside her, and she took a deep, shaky breath, feeling hot tears rising in her eyes.
“Molly?” Jake said as she trembled against him. He pulled back and looked down at her. “What's wrong?”
“I'm sorry,” she said. She swiped at her eyes, blinking away the prickle of moisture. “It's been a very complicated two days.”
“I'm sorry, too,” he said. “For everything. Especially for not giving you the benefit of the doubt. Did you see Carter after the show?”
She nodded. “He was angry. He told me that if I was going to be so stupid and unreasonable, there was nothing more he could do to help me. He said that I was on my own from now on, and good luck to me.”
“Just as well,” Jake said. “If his scheme collapsed on top of him, he can only blame himself.”
“I don't know about that. Carter is pretty good at blaming other people. I just wish…” She stopped, and sighed. “I feel like I lost something, but I think it was just an illusion of friendship, not an actual friend. Carter kept telling me to live on my own terms, but he really meant that I should do things his way. It started to fall apart when I actually started thinking for myself. I wish that I'd guessed earlier…”
“It's not your fault,” Jake said.
“It is. I should have known. What if I'd listened to him? What if I really had gone to the press, looking for revenge? I considered it!” She shook her head, horrified by the thought.
“But you didn't do it,” Jake said. “All you did was trap me into a legal agreement to build you a damn museum. And I know you well enough to be sure that you won't let me out of it, even if you do love me.”
He didn't sound as if he minded all that much. Molly began to smile again as her eyes moved over his face. His eyes, his mouth…they were all familiar to her now, and she thought that she would never grow tired of looking at him. “Aren't you the one who told me that you feel strongly about the preservation of cultural heritage sites?”
“Oh, I do,” Jake said dryly. “Believe me, I feel very strongly. Just do me a favor, and write that best seller about Mary so I can at least use her to promote the resort. It's my island now, and she should earn her keep.”
“I'll try,” Molly said. “Now, about that pirate theme park…”
He silenced her with a kiss that was surprisingly tender, as if they now had the time to enjoy a gentler passion. It felt to Molly like a promise of the years ahead.
Later, when she was feeling breathless and half melted, she remembered something. “Jake, do you think that we should go and find Tom and Elaine? Or would it be better to leave them alone together?”
“We should find them,” Jake said. “They were almost on a first-name basis when they left. God knows what could happen next.”
“They'll be surprised to hear about the new plan. I don't think anyone expected Operation Family Man to be quite so successful.”
“They should have seen it coming,” Jake said. “Then again, everyone knows that I only like voluptuous blondes. And you could never fall in love with a shallow, publicity-seeking playboy.”
“That's true. Considering that I'm not your type, and you're not mine, do you really think that we should settle for each other?”
“Sounds risky,” Jake said. He laughed softly and took her face in his hands, gazing down into her eyes. “But I'm willing if you are.”
Molly nodded. “The engagement has already been in the newspaper,” she said. “So I guess we'll just have to do the best we can.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MELANIE CRAFT studied archaeology at Oberlin College and the American University in Cairo, Egypt. She has been a sales clerk, a bartender, a safari driver, a pastry chef, a cocktail waitress, a housecleaner, and—through it all—a writer. Man Trouble is her third novel. She and her husband live in Woodside, California. For informat
ion, please visit her web site at www.melaniecraft.com.
THE EDITOR'S DIARY
Dear Reader,
Love comes in many disguises. But sometimes love comes while you are in disguise. Just ask Eliza Merriweather and Molly Shaw in RULES OF ENGAGEMENT and MAN TROUBLE, our two Warner Forever titles this May.
Julia Quinn calls Kathryn Caskie's Regency-set first novel, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, “a delightful debut” and Eloisa James raves “clever, frothy and funny—an enthralling read.” So hold onto your muslin skirts, this one's going to blow your stockings off! Eliza Merri-weather has no desire to get married. But her two scheming aunts Letitia and Viola have other plans. They've enlisted the help of an old military guidebook called “Rules of Engagement' to secure her offers of marriage. After all, engagement is engagement no matter the context. But Eliza, a worthy adversary, has hatched a scheme of her own. She's persuaded Magnus MacKinnon, a Scottish earl, to pose as a suitor to discourage other callers. Before long, Magnus's brogue sends shivers down her spine and his kisses make her heart race. Could what began as a lark blossom into real love?
Journeying from the wiles and the guiles of the ton to the warm sun and the gentle surf of the Caribbean, we present Melanie Craft's MAN TROUBLE. Romantic Times called her “a fresh new voice” and the praise couldn't be more well-deserved. Dr. Molly Shaw is leading a double life. By day, she's a history professor on the tenure track and by night, Molly is bestselling romance author Sandra St. Claire. These parallel lives never intersect…until a journalist friend asks her to pull off the story of the century: transform herself into billionaire playboy Jake Berenger's perfect woman to get the inside scoop. But Jake is anything but an innocent victim. In fact, his reputation as a ladies' man is so overexposed that his business is suffering. His only solution is a radical makeover into a family man. And for that he needs the perfect wife. Could she be right under his nose, hidden beneath Sandra St. Claire's sexpot act and her spandex? It looks like there's trouble brewing in paradise!
To find out more about Warner Forever, these May titles, and the authors, visit us at www.warnerforever.com.
With warmest wishes,
Karen Kosztolnyik, Senior Editor
P.S. The temperatures are beginning to rise so treat yourself to some ice cream and these two reasons to relax: Sandra Hill pens a spicy contemporary about a woman who's on the lam from a loan shark and discovers that she's still married to a man she thought she divorced years ago, in CAJUN COWBOY; and Edie Claire delivers the poignant tale of a woman who inherits half a mountain inn and a tangled web of untruths she must unravel before she can claim a love that was MEANT TO BE.
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