He wondered what Serena thought of his quacking alarm. He opened an eye and glanced over to find the bed empty. Serena was gone. He ran his hand over the pillow and mattress, finding her spot cold. Apparently she’d been gone for quite some time.
He sat up and looked around the room, but there was no sign of her. What did her absence mean? Did she regret their lovemaking? Did he regret it?
The reality of their actions sharpened his sleep-hazed thoughts. He’d made love to another woman. He sunk back against the pillows. Maybe it was a good thing that Serena had gone. He wasn’t sure he’d be good company right now.
He’d broken his word to himself. He was moving forward—starting something—leaving the memories of his wife behind. Guilt slugged him in the gut. What would June think?
No. He couldn’t go there. Right now, he had to straighten things out with Serena. He had to tell her that they’d made a mistake. But if Serena hadn’t spent the entire night, did that mean she wasn’t looking for a relationship? Could it be that easy?
The only way to find the answer was to find Serena. He quickly showered and dressed. His film crew was picking him up this morning. And while out and about, he’d arranged to rent another vehicle that he’d pick up some time that day.
He exited the master suite and Gizmo came running up to him. “Shh...”
Gizmo moved to the front door. Jackson glanced around, expecting Serena to be hot on Gizmo’s heels, but she was nowhere to be found. Jackson grabbed his coat and the leash. Gizmo was so excited that he kept stepping in front of Jackson, almost tripping him.
“Arff!”
A distinct grunt soon followed.
Jackson put his finger to his lips. “Shh...”
Gizmo’s tail continued to rapidly swish.
Jackson tiptoed over to the couch and there he found Serena curled up in a ball beneath a little blanket that didn’t even completely cover her. She’d rather freeze on the couch than be snug in bed with him?
The thought dug at him as he rushed to the bedroom to grab a blanket from the bed. He draped it over her. With a sigh, she snuggled to it.
Jackson stared down at her very sweet face. She looked almost angelic as she slept. He wondered what she was dreaming about. He doubted that it would be about him. Not that he wanted her to dream of him.
No matter what Serena said, she still didn’t trust him. Her sleeping out here was proof of it. And why should she when he acted without thinking? He had nothing to offer her.
“Arff!”
He had to take Gizmo out before Serena woke. It would be so much easier if they didn’t speak—not just yet. He had to get his thoughts sorted. He needed time to find the right words to say to her—to salvage their friendship. Serena was a very special person and he hated the thought of completely losing her from his life.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE CABIN WAS QUIET—too quiet.
Serena utilized the printer on the desk in the great room and spent most of the day proofing her script. But the reason she’d rushed in and immersed herself in editing the script had more to do with filling in the silence around her. She was amazed at how quickly she’d gotten used to having Jackson around. And how much she missed him when he was gone.
Warning bells rang in her head. She was getting in deep—perhaps too deep. It wasn’t like Jackson was asking for her hand in marriage. Not that she wanted him to drop down on one knee. She just wanted to know that he cared for her—and his feelings for her were more than a passing fancy.
Her gaze moved toward the window. Evening was settling in and snow had begun to fall. Big fat flakes fluttered about before piling on top of the many feet of snow. And Jackson was out there somewhere on these mountain roads. She wished he’d taken the four-wheel drive like she’d insisted. But he’d assured her that he would be fine. If he was so fine—why wasn’t he home yet?
She gathered the pages she’d been working on and put a rubber band around them. With a deep breath and a bit of trepidation, she carried the script into the master suite. Jackson had requested to read it. Why should she resist him? After all, if she wanted it to be produced into a movie, a lot of other people would have to read it.
She stopped in front of the king-size bed. She lowered the pages that she’d been clutching to her chest. The pages still had her corrections on them, but they were clean enough for Jackson to read.
Her gaze moved to the title page. Letting Jackson read this would be more revealing than making love to him—at least that was the way it felt in that moment. They weren’t just words on a page, they were an intimate piece of her. Her empty stomach roiled. She swallowed hard.
Without giving it any further thought, she placed the manuscript at the end of the bed. Then she turned and headed for the door as fast as her legs would carry her. She knew that if she didn’t leave quickly she would chicken out and take back the pages.
Just then a set of headlights streamed in through the windows. Jackson was home. She smiled and Gizmo ran to the door barking.
“It looks like I’m not the only one anxious to see Jackson, huh, boy?”
Gizmo turned to her and wagged his tail before he turned back to the door to continue barking.
Serena glanced at the clock on the fireplace mantel. She would have to let the little furbaby get the first greeting. She was needed in the kitchen. She’d prepared dinner to the best of her ability and it was just about to come out of the oven.
* * *
Time to get it over with.
Jackson had played out this scene in his mind more times than he cared to admit. None of it ended well. But he couldn’t put it off any longer.
He opened the door, not sure what to expect. Gizmo jumped up on him with his tail swishing back and forth. Jackson had him get down so that he could step inside and close the door.
Then Jackson bent over to pet Gizmo’s fuzzy head. “Hey, boy, I’m happy to see you, too.”
Maybe he should reconsider getting a dog. It was really nice to come home to somebody. But it was Serena that he wanted to see. Where was she?
He’d been thinking of what to say to her all day, to the point where he’d been distracted during taping. It’d made for a very long day with many retakes. And he’d ended up frustrating his crew. He’d apologized and blamed it on his ankle. He wasn’t ready to tell anyone about Serena. They’d make more of the situation than he wanted.
He’d just shrugged off his coat and hung it near the door to dry when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned and there was Serena looking all down-to-earth in faded jeans, a red sweater and her hair pulled up in a ponytail.
There was something different about her. It took him a moment and then he realized that she’d changed her hair back to its former blond color—at least close to it.
“You changed your hair?”
She smiled and nodded. “I thought it was time that I got back to being me.”
He didn’t know what that meant. Did it have something to do with her creeping out of his bed during the night? Was she sending him some sort of message? If so, he wasn’t sure he understood.
“It looks nice.” That was not what he’d planned to say, but he was caught off guard.
“And you are just in time.”
“For what?”
“Dinner. I cooked again.”
“Oh. Okay.” Why was she acting all nice? He thought she would be angry at him for rushing things last night. Instead, she was cooking for him. What had he missed?
“Don’t look so worried. It came out of a box and I followed the directions.” She sent him a puzzled look as though she didn’t understand why he was acting strange. “I set the table in the kitchen, but we can eat in here if you’d prefer.”
“Serena, stop it.”
Her eyes widened. “Stop
what?”
“Acting all nice. Like nothing happened.”
“Oh. You mean last night.”
“Yes, last night. Don’t act like you forgot.”
“How could I forget?”
At last, they were getting somewhere. “Well, say it.”
“Say what?”
Was she going to make this whole thing difficult? Was he going to have to drag every word out of her mouth? One thing was for sure, if he didn’t know it before, he knew it now, Serena was so different from June. When June was angry, he knew it. With the outside world, his wife had been reserved. With him, not so much. Thankfully they hadn’t argued much.
But Serena for some reason was masking her displeasure. Instead of telling him the problem, she was hiding behind a friendly but cool demeanor. He didn’t like it. He’d rather face the problem and then move on. So if she wasn’t going to do something about it, he would.
“Say what you’re upset about. Don’t hide it.”
She worried her bottom lip. “That’s strange, because I’m usually a much better actress. It’s nothing for you to worry about.”
“Of course I’m worried. It involves me.” He stopped himself just short of saying that if there was a way he could make it up to her he would.
That was how he used to handle June. Then again, maybe that was how June handled him. He wasn’t so sure anymore. The more time he spent with Serena, the more clarity he was gaining on his past. Maybe it hadn’t been as perfect as he wanted to remember.
She sighed. “I don’t want it to ruin dinner. We can talk after we eat.”
He did not understand this woman. She wanted to eat first and then argue? Who did things like that? Before he could ask her, she’d headed into the kitchen.
He sighed and shook his head. He might as well as get comfortable. This was going to be a long evening. He headed for the master suite to take off his suit jacket and tie.
When he entered the room, he flipped on the overhead light. He kicked off his shoes and loosened his tie. He really didn’t have any appetite. He’d been tied up in knots all day.
He sat down on the bed and his hand landed on paper. He glanced down to find a ream of paper. He picked it up and read the top sheet: Life Atop The Ferris Wheel by Mae Ellwood.
Jackson removed the rubber band and flipped to the last page. The last line read: The End. She’d finished it? But last night she’d said she was stuck.
He dropped the pages to the bed and headed for the kitchen. He plowed through the door and came to a stop when he found the kitchen aglow with a candle in the center. Dishes were set out and dinner was awaiting him. But it was the woman wearing the great big smile that drew and held his attention.
“Dinner’s ready. I hope you brought your appetite.”
“I, uh, sure.” But he couldn’t eat, not yet. There was one thing he had to know. “Did you get out of bed last night to go work on your script?”
The smile slipped from her face. “Is that what’s bothering you?”
“Of course it is. Imagine how I felt when I woke up alone and the spot next to me was cold, as in you never slept there.”
She approached him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think. Well, actually I did a lot of thinking. That’s why I couldn’t go to sleep. I realized what I was missing for the ending of the script and I had to go write it out while it was fresh in my mind. I was afraid that if I went to sleep I would forget parts of it.”
He breathed his first easy breath all day. “So you didn’t leave because you regretted what happened between us?”
The smile returned to her face. “No, silly. I don’t regret any of it.”
He reached out and drew her to him. She melted into his embrace as though they’d been doing it for years. He planted a kiss on her lips. She immediately kissed him back.
As his lips moved over hers, each muscle in his body began to relax. He had no idea until now how worked up he’d been. And it’d all been over a screenplay.
Serena pressed a hand to his chest and pulled back. “Are you ready to eat?”
He really didn’t want to eat at the moment. He’d be more than happy to keep kissing her. But he knew this meal was a big deal. And he was proud of her for going outside her comfort zone and cooking dinner—even if it came out of a box.
“Sure. What is it?”
“It’s baked mac-’n’-cheese. Is that all right?”
“Sure.”
“And there was some bread that I picked up at the market.”
“Sounds good to me.” After they were settled at the table, Jackson said, “So I saw the manuscript on the bed. Did you leave that for me?”
She nodded. “Did you change your mind about reading it?”
“Definitely not.” He took her hand in his. “Thank you for trusting me with it.”
“Thank you for caring enough to read it.”
Tonight Serena would sleep and he’d stay up. He loved to read and the fact that Serena had penned this script made it all the more special. No matter how much he tried to deny it, Serena was special. He just didn’t know what to do about his growing feelings for her and his nagging guilt over letting go of his past.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE FOLLOWING EVENING, Serena paced back and forth in the great room. Gizmo was right behind her, pacing, too. Back and forth they went, from the staircase to the front door. If she stopped, Gizmo stopped. He always did sense when something was bothering her.
She stopped and looked down at the dog, who sat down and looked up at her. “What are we going to do? We can’t keep pacing. It’s not helping anything.”
“Arff!”
“Sorry. I’m too worked up to sit.”
If only she had something to take her mind off Jackson’s impending critique of her script. But now that the script was done, she didn’t have anything else planned for the trip. If only she knew how to knit or crochet, she’d have something to do with her hands.
Instead, all she could do was wonder if Jackson had liked the story line. He’d left that morning while she’d still been asleep. And now he was home, but he hadn’t even mentioned one word about the script. He could have at least given her a clue if he liked what he’d read so far.
Jackson exited the kitchen.
Serena stopped pacing. Instead of barraging him with questions about her script, she calmly asked, “Do you need help with dinner?”
“No. It’s all under control.”
Should she ask the question that was teetering on the tip of her tongue? But what if he didn’t like it? What if he hated it? Her stomach plummeted.
Forgetting that he was still in the room, she resumed pacing. In time, hopefully the activity would work out some of her nervous tension. Because she’d resolved not to ask Jackson about the script. She would not. It was for the best.
“Anything on your mind?” Jackson asked.
She stopped and looked at him. Was he reading her mind? Or was this his way of toying with her? Well, she wasn’t falling for it.
“No,” she said as normally as possible. “Is it time to eat?”
“Actually it won’t be ready for a while. I thought we could do something in the meantime.”
Her gaze narrowed. “What did you have in mind?”
“You’ll see. Dress warm. We’re going outside.”
She didn’t know what he was up to, but it obviously had nothing to do with her script. “Don’t you have something else you need to do?”
He paused as though considering her question. “Hmm...the meat is marinating. The potatoes are prepped. And the salad is ready. No. I have everything done.”
She frowned at him. How could he forget about her script? Was it that forgettable? Disappointment settled in her chest. “Maybe you have something
to read?”
A smile pulled at his very kissable lips. “I don’t have anything urgent—”
“Jackson!” Every bit of her patience had been used up.
“Oh. You mean your script?” he said it innocently enough, but the smile on his face said that he’d been playing with her this whole time.
“Of course I mean the manuscript. I thought you wanted to read it.”
“I did.”
“You did? You mean read the whole thing already? I just gave it to you last night.”
“I know. And it’s your fault that I didn’t get any sleep.”
“You stayed up all night and read it?”
He nodded, but he didn’t say a word. There was no smile on his face. There was no clue as to what he thought of her script. He was going to make her drag it out of him.
“And...” She waved her hands as though pulling the words from him.
“And... I think...that...”
“Jackson, say it. If you hated it, just say so.”
“I love it.”
“What?” Surely she hadn’t heard him correctly. If he loved it, why did he make it so hard for her to get an answer out of him?
“Serena, you’re very talented. Your words are vivid and emotional. I could see the entire story play out in my mind.”
Her heart was pounding with excitement. And a smile pulled at her lips. “Really? You’re not just saying that to be nice, are you?”
“Do I look like a nice guy to you?”
“Well, yes, you do. So I have to be sure. Because if you didn’t like it, you can tell me. I can take it. I might cry myself to sleep, but I can take it.”
He laughed. “So much for the calm and cool Serena Winston that graces the covers of all the glossy magazines. This uncertainty and nervousness is a whole new side of you.”
Snowbound with an Heiress Page 12
