“You are welcome to use the phone in the library.”
“I’m supposed to give him some phone numbers and addresses that I have on my computer at home. I’d better get going.”
Marlo started to rise from her chair but Lucy waved her back. “No use both of us leaving.”
“But we drove together,” Marlo protested.
“I can call Marlo a cab,” Jake offered, “if you need to leave in a hurry.”
“Good idea. Thanks so much. Marlo, honey, call me in the morning.” Without so much as a goodbye, Lucy shot out of the library. In moments, they heard the van fire up and pull away.
Marlo wanted to strangle Lucy with her bare hands, she decided, as her means of escape roared away. She knew exactly what Lucy was doing—giving her extra time with Jake, because she assumed he was a perfect fit for the List. Well, it wasn’t going to work. The List indicated that the ideal man should “earn a good living” not be preposterously wealthy. She didn’t know how to relate to people with money like that, even though he made it easier than she’d expected.
“More coffee?” Jake bent near her, carafe in hand. She smelled the woodsy cologne he wore and saw the fine weave of the arm of his jacket.
“I’d better not. I won’t sleep all night.” Not that she would, anyway, after this heady experience. She turned her eyes up toward his and became conscious of how close he was. “I have to apologize for my friend.”
He stepped back, poured himself another cup and sat down. “Why?”
“Because those ‘names and numbers’ she had to give her brother were probably fictional.”
He cocked his head to one side and a lock of dark hair fell over his forehead. Couldn’t the man be unattractive from any angle at all?
“Lucy is playing matchmaker. I hope you’ll excuse her. Sometimes she just doesn’t think things through. Now, if you’ll call me a cab…”
“Matchmaker?” He sounded amused, even pleased. To Marlo’s amazement, he didn’t appear to think the idea was ludicrous, just entertaining. She supposed that was a compliment, but it didn’t undo her friend’s machinations. Maybe she wouldn’t wait until morning to throttle Lucy; perhaps she should stop at her house on the way home.
“Besides, there’s no hurry. Where do you live?”
Marlo gave him the address.
“It’s not far. I’ll take you home myself.”
“Oh, I couldn’t… A cab is fine…really.”
“Sure you could.” He pulled off his jacket and rolled up his shirtsleeves as if he were about to go to work. His forearms were tanned and muscular. He wasn’t a stranger to physical work, Marlo noted. “I’ve had enough coffee now to keep me awake until the New Year. No use taking a cab and wasting my alertness.” He looked so appealing, so boyish and sincere that he was virtually irresistible.
Everything seemed to make worse the tumble of emotions coursing through her. Then why did she feel such an unwelcome attraction to Jake?
“I’m dying of embarrassment, you know. I don’t want you to bother.”
“No need. I’ll enjoy getting out for a drive.” He picked up the plate of cheesecakes. “Now that you know you’re going home soon, do you want to have one of these?”
Marlo’s stomach growled a response. She clamped a hand over her belly but it was too late. Hammond had heard it.
“I thought so. You were too busy to put any food in your own mouth.”
“That’s a little like stealing,” Marlo pointed out. “It’s your food. You bought it.”
“Then help me eat it.” He sank back into the leather chair in which he’d been sitting. Framed in dark leather and the faultless white of his shirt, he could have been posing for one of the handsome portraits that lined the staircase gallery.
Oh, why not? Marlo told herself. This was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. What was more, she knew just how good the Divas’ cheesecakes were.
“Even my father said your food was an enormous hit at the party.”
“‘Even’ your father?”
“His approval doesn’t come easily.” He paused a long time before adding, “Life has made him a suspicious man. When you get a compliment from him you can assume you’ve neared perfection.”
“I’m flattered.” And delighted, overwhelmed, ecstatic and probably falling in love with you, she might have added if she were being completely truthful. Of course, some things were better left unsaid.
“He’s requested that I put you on notice. Hammond Stables will be doing a significant number of events this fall and we’d like you to cater all of them.”
“As soon as the dates are fixed, I’ll put them on our calendar.” She should have left then but a comfortable languor washed over her. Jake seemed to feel it, too, and they sat in each other’s presence silently for a long while. Finally, she placed her hands on the arms of the chair and pushed herself up. “Now, I’d better be going.”
He stood swiftly. “Let me help you.” He reached out to help her up. She felt his warm, slightly rough palm, calloused from the chafing of the reins, no doubt, and the gentle squeeze of his fingers that brought her to her feet.
Gentlemanly. Check.
Jake led her toward the garage, another massive space with a black-and-white tiled floor and a bank of lockers against one wall. He chose one of the four cars there, a black BMW.
Even his car fit the List! Marlo ran a hand across the soft leather seat before putting her right hand to her left forearm. She gave herself a pinch. It hurt. She wasn’t dreaming.
It was easy to be silent, relaxing against the smooth leather, hearing the powerful drone of the engine, watching city lights go by. She sneaked a peek from the corner of her eye at her driver, his strong profile lit by streetlights and the glow from the dashboard. Marlo rued the fact that his lifestyle and his wealth were so foreign to her. She would have little idea how to live in his world, or he in hers.
Or maybe, she told herself, she was making unfair assumptions about Jake.
“Jake, what is it you want to accomplish with Hammond Stables?”
He turned and looked at her sharply. “What do you mean?”
Feeling as if she’d been x-rayed by lasers, she was glad when his eyes returned to the road. “Objectives, aspirations, wishes. Everyone who is successful has them.”
“You’re a funny little thing, you know that?”
At five feet nine inches, she was rarely called little, so she decided to take it as a compliment. “Why, thank you.”
He threw back his head and laughed, and her heart skipped a beat
