want to lose you,” he said, and Jilly longed to hold him so badly it hurt. “We don’t know… Who does know what’s likely to happen next year, or tomorrow? Don’t ever quit bein’ my friend, okay?”
She said, “Okay,” and dared to hope he really meant what he said.
“Even when I’m an ass, try to be kind. Kick me if it makes you feel better, but be there for me.” He felt like a drowning man, but the feeling wasn’t all bad.
“I’ll be there for you,” Jilly told him. “I can’t forget the way I behaved with you. I’m not even sure why I did it, except maybe I wanted to shock you out of being angry with me for no reason.”
“Like I’ve said, I have trouble with feelings. I was angry at myself, not you. And you don’t have to forget we made love—I’m not going to. Kissing you was a high, too. I can’t promise I won’t do that again.” He couldn’t promise anything and he wouldn’t tell her he wanted to make love to her again—now. “Could we have breakfast in the morning?”
“I work,” she said, wishing she could pretend he’d meant breakfast after they woke up together in the morning.
“So do I. Early.” He didn’t look forward to Homer’s wrath, or his suggestions that Guy intended to sneak off. If Homer fired him, he wasn’t sure how he’d react, but he’d better not laugh if he didn’t actually want to look for work. “I could stop by while y’all are bakin’. Coffee and the first two sweet rolls out of the oven sound good to me.”
This time she grinned. “With Joe away, Cyrus runs on his own, and now he heads right over for the first marzipan tart of the day so you’d better not be late. Why Cyrus is all muscle, I’ll never figure out. He has some sweet tooth.”
“If necessary, you and I will eat in the kitchen,” Guy said. He would have gone on, but Jilly’s phone rang and she picked up.
“Yes, Laura,” she said.
In seconds she was on her feet. “Of course. I’ll be right there.” She hung up. “I’ve got to get dressed and get to Edwards Place. Something’s happened.”
Guy got up, too. “What is it?”
She paused in the act of speeding from the room. “It’s Edith. She’s been seriously injured. They brought medical personnel in by helicopter and Laura said Edith’s going to make it. But she’s very weak and she’s asking to see me.”
“Injured how?”
“Don’t slow me down. She got cut by something and lost a lot of blood.”
8
“Come in,” Mr. Preston said, turning away as soon as he saw Jilly on the doorstep. “I could have lost her, it was that close.”
In her peripheral vision, Jilly saw Guy enter Edwards Place behind her and shut the massive front door. He’d insisted on coming with her, and even if she’d wanted to refuse, she didn’t have a car to get there on her own.
She was glad he was there.
“Laura’s in the salon. Wait with her until the doctors say Edith can have company.”
“What happened?” Jilly asked.
Preston stood still, although she felt his need to keep moving. He covered his face and held out an arm to her. “It was a stupid thing,” he said, clamping Jilly to his side when she reluctantly went to him. “She was shaving her legs and managed to cut herself really badly. If she hadn’t been found fast, she wouldn’t be with us.”
Guy sized up the other man, who had made no attempt to acknowledge him. “Good evening, Mr. Preston,” he said. He hated the way the man pressed Jilly against him. “I’m Jilly’s friend, Guy. I drove her over.”
Preston lifted his head and his gray-streaked dark hair shone. He was solid, maybe an inch under six foot, and although he had to be in his late fifties, his palpable vitality, his powerful aura, made him seem ten years younger. It didn’t hurt that his suit had been tailored to show off a hard body, or that he had the face of a man made to be on a screen.
“Who the hell are you?” he said, continuing to hold Jilly. He moved his arm down and rested his hand at her waist. The green shirt she’d changed into rode up from low-rise white pants and Preston’s fingers splayed on her bare skin.
“As I told you, I’m Jilly’s friend. Her car’s in the shop so I drove her here.” He extended a hand. “Guy Gautreaux.” And I don’t want you or any man touching her like that—unless it’s me.
“Nice of you,” Preston said, ignoring Guy’s hand. His face showed little emotion, but his eyes made up for that. Mr. Preston didn’t want a friend of Jilly’s around—particularly a male friend. “Would you mind seeing yourself out?”
Guy was still holding back the first words to his lips and deciding the safest thing to say when Jilly cut in. “Guy, I’d prefer you to wait for me,” she said. “Would that be okay?”
When she looked at him like that, with a certain intimate confidence, he wanted to get her away, alone. “You’ve got it,” he told her.
“You’ll want to stay here with your mother tonight,” Preston said, and he brushed his jaw against Jilly’s hair. “She needs you.”
Manipulative bastard.
“I don’t want you to worry, mind,” Preston said. “I won’t let anything happen to any of my family.”
Guy couldn’t take it. “Jilly, if you want me to wait, I will. Otherwise just call when you’re ready.” If he had to watch Preston maul her much longer, he might lose it and punch the guy.
“If you can stay, I’d like it,” Jilly said. “I do need to be at the shop early.”
The woman with the explosion of red hair, the one who had turned up at the accident scene that afternoon, came into the marble-tiled hall. She leaned a shoulder against a wall and held her hands together in front of her. Once more he caught the flash of large diamonds on her fingers.
She said, “Come and sit with me,” with her violet eyes on Guy’s face. “This has been a terrible night. I’m all wrung out. Jilly, I wanted to call you earlier but Daddy wouldn’t hear of it till Edith was more stable.”
Laura wore gray sweats with pink stripes in various places. He’d bet there was a fancy workout room somewhere in the house, where the lady paid homage to her body.
Jilly wanted away from Preston. He kept his cologne light but it still sickened her. She also wished Laura weren’t turning her charm on Guy—and that he wouldn’t look her over with more than a spark of interest.
She patted a lapel on Preston’s silver-gray suit jacket and moved smoothly away from him. “Thank you for taking such good care of Edith,” she said. “Can’t I go up now?”
He let out a slow breath. “Better wait till they say it’s okay. She’s had a transfusion.”
So why isn’t the lady in a hospital? Guy thought.
