clothes, and at least until she’d arrived on Main Street, U.S.A., she’d been sure her outfit was conservative enough for the bank…conservative enough to show Seth she was calm, cool, collected and not the least bit ruffled by how easily he’d left New York and their relationship.
When she’d gotten out of the car in Tyler, however, people had turned to stare, immediately reminding her of why she’d fled Bear Creek, North Carolina, years ago.
Well, let people look, she’d fumed silently as she’d headed inside the bank with Gretchen, working herself into a tizzy, already imagining her final, grand exit. She’d tell Seth, once and for all, that she didn’t need him, that everything was different now. Dom loved her so much he’d proposed, she’d announce boldly, then she’d push through the lobby doors and head straight back to New York. Imagination being what it was, she kept seeing herself hop into something far flashier than the dented Cadillac.
Not that it mattered. Like all best-laid plans, something had gone terribly wrong, and before Jenna could even open her mouth, Seth had chuckled. “Some car you’ve got there. I hope it was free.”
Was that all he intended to say after six weeks of separation? After Jenna had traveled all the way across the country to see him? She’d glared at him. “Are you saying you have a problem with my car?”
“Nope. It’s better entertainment than a movie. Everybody in Tyler’s talking about it. Martha Bauer swears it once belonged to Elvis, and when Jack Moray came in to deposit his weekly checks, he admitted he almost towed it from where it was parked in front of the Kelsey Boarding House last night.”
Curious in spite of herself, she’d said, “Jack Moray?”
Seth had nodded. “He’s a tow-truck owner. He thought it was abandoned, but Michael stopped him.”
“Michael?”
“The minister’s husband.”
“Oh, right. Sarah Baron. She’s the minister who called me,” Jenna had said, hating to admit how much she’d warmed to the show of down-home hospitality. She truly did despise small towns, she’d assured herself, and since Seth Spencer now lived in one, Jenna was very determined to keep it that way.
“And the man at the curb,” he’d continued, “the one staring at your inspection sticker. That’s Cooper Night Hawk. He’s a deputy.”
“I’m legal.”
Leveling her with an assessing male stare that had her fighting a shiver, Seth had softly returned, “You sure as hell don’t look legal, Jenna.”
“Come near me and you’ll get arrested.”
“You brought handcuffs?”
She’d shot Seth a look of censure. “Manacles.”
“Hope you’ll want to throw away the keys.”
At that tantalizing juncture, she’d at least gotten out the first five words of her planned speech. “Seth, we need to talk.”
“We’ll start with sweet nothings and go from there,” he’d assured lightly, the words of promise turning her legs to water.
By the time Jenna found herself standing in his office, she’d decided it was hopeless. Even moments before, as she’d steeled herself against him, Seth had managed to relieve her of Gretchen so quickly that the baby could have been a greased watermelon. He’d placed a guiding hand under Jenna’s elbow in that damnably sexy, gentlemanly gesture she was so determined to forget, the one that made her feel so much like a woman, and the next thing she’d known, he’d been slipping her coat from her shoulders and employing a bank teller to baby-sit Gretchen.
Now Jenna stared around his office. “Well,” she managed dryly, “here we are.”
Smiling, Seth shut the door, then quickly twisted the lock.
Her mouth dropped. She’d missed him physically, but she definitely had more self-respect than this. Holding out her hands, palms up, she schooled herself not to lose her nerve. “What I have to say isn’t that private.” She glared pointedly at the lock.
“No?”
Seth didn’t look convinced. In fact, he looked completely, unnervingly in control, reminding Jenna of exactly why she’d come. For once, it would be a pleasure to tell this man she had her own agenda. Her heart missed a beat. Why did the father of her coming baby have to be so handsome and commanding? Ever since she’d first laid eyes on Seth Spencer, she’d found him irresistible. He was a good six inches taller than she—six-foot-two to her five-eight—with dark brown, chocolate-colored hair he kept neatly trimmed over his ears. Slightly spiked bangs jagged onto a high forehead, accentuating brown eyes that shouldn’t have been so interesting, but that did crazy things to her insides, anyway. His squarish face was set with a hard, practical mouth that reminded her of how well he kissed and hinted at the mysterious moody silences she’d come to expect from him on occasion. Why was he so moody, though, she wondered now. What complaints could Seth have? He’d told her his mother had died years ago, but otherwise, his seemed to be a trauma-free childhood in a town that Norman Rockwell could have painted. As far as Jenna knew, he’d always been successful in his undertakings, not to mention groomed from birth to run this bank.
Whatever the case, Seth’s looks shouldn’t have made him so mouth-watering, but he was, and that annoyed her. Well, that, and the rumpled shirt he’d tucked into soft brown wool trousers that looked far too expensive for Tyler. The damn shirt made Jenna want to do the most foolhardy things for him, like set up an ironing board in his living room. Even worse, the bemused tilt of that hard, uncompromising mouth said Seth knew it.
“I’m waiting,” he said.
“Unlock that door.”
His lips stretched further, in a smile that both warmed and irritated. “Why? So you can run for the lobby, Jen?”
Jen. Why did he have to call me Jen? Jen was a pet name he reserved for special moments, such as when they were naked and wrapped in each other’s arms. She braced herself. Mentally rehearsing her speech for the last time, she felt unreality sweep through her. Suddenly, she felt like a bit player in a bad, low-budget zombie film, as if she was locked inside a room with Seth Spencer, but she couldn’t move or speak. It was as if an unseen hand had just appeared from nowhere and clamped down hard over her mouth. I’m pregnant and marrying Dom. Just say it!
Seth was still smiling.
And despite the promises to herself, something in Jenna’s heart gave. She didn’t want to react to him, no more than she wanted to react to this bank. The Tyler Savings & Loan, she thought. Seth’s bank. It was just as he’d so often described it to her, a simple brick building with a clock tower overlooking the town square. He’d always sounded so proud.
Maybe I’m being too hard on him, she found herself thinking as she gazed into brown eyes that were so ordinary and yet so strangely beguiling. She’d always known he was going to return to Tyler someday, right? It wasn’t as if the man had lied. Maybe it wasn’t right to drop the news on her so casually, but he’d never made a secret of the fact that he was being groomed for this job. Still…
I thought he’d gotten serious about me and would ask me to come.
But he hadn’t.
