Firestorm (26 page)

Kate blinked to try to bring everything into perspective.

Ann Jacobs

Firestorm

153

“Maybe I should call Becky and Gilda to be certain they can come,” she suggested to Deb, who had already written her friends’ names on a list of people who’d need gowns fitted.

“Of course they will. You can talk to them when you go home tomorrow. We’re due at the boutique in twenty minutes to pick out gowns.” Glancing at her diamond-studded watch, Deb put her notebook away. “Mother, will you join us?”

“You girls go ahead. I promised your father I’d have lunch with him at the hospital.

Kate, did Jake give you a key?” Adele rose and collected her tapestry briefcase.

Kate shook her head. “He told me just to lock the door. Deb is going to drop me off at his office later.”

Since she and Jake were leaving Houston tomorrow, she’d better pick out a dress today. She could just imagine herself getting married in that fancy hotel, wearing the sort of wedding gown she might find in Laurel or Hattiesburg.

She squared her shoulders. Tomorrow she could collapse. She was certain that by then she’d be sitting back, shaking with terror at the prospect of being on display at her wedding for hundreds of Jake’s friends and employees.

She could even torture herself tomorrow with self-pity because Jake didn’t love her the way she loved him. Today, though, she’d choose her wedding gown and pretend theirs was the greatest love match that ever was.

* * * * *

“Yes?” Jake looked up at Ellen from the scattered stack of papers on his desk.

“I understand congratulations are in order,” the Old Man's secretary said stiffly.

For a moment, Jake didn’t understand what the woman was talking about. Then he forced a grin. “Thanks. Kate will be coming by this afternoon.”

“I’ll look forward to meeting her. I wish you happiness,” she added, her usually grim expression softening a little.

“Thanks. Would you get Skip on the phone now?” he asked, uncomfortable with the role of happy prospective bridegroom.

“Surely.”

Jake thought he detected a smile as she turned to leave. Apparently everybody loved lovers. Even sour-faced Ellen.

Staring at her back, Jake kicked himself mentally for not having realized immediately why Ellen was congratulating him. Hell, he’d better put on a better act than that.

Ann Jacobs

Firestorm

154

No way did he want a soul in Houston—not one who knew about the disastrous end of his marriage, anyhow—to get the idea he was anything but head over heels in love with the woman he was about to marry.

Not only would that hurt Kate, it would give his bitch ex-wife more grounds for vicious satisfaction. He got Ellen on the intercom quickly, before she could make the call to Skip.

“Forget about Skip. I’ll get hold of him myself. I forgot to get Kate an engagement present. Call Sol Weintraub for me. There’s an aquamarine pendant I saw in his display case yesterday. Have him send it over.”

Jake paused, picturing how the cool, blue-green gem would look nestled in the hollow between Kate’s pale, soft breasts.

His cock twitched when he thought of nuzzling that pendant out of the way and nibbling at the ivory flesh between her breasts.

“Is that all?” Ellen asked.

“For now.”

“There’s someone here to see you,” Ellen said in an ominous tone.

“Do I want to see him?” he asked, wondering who could have arrived to make the woman sound so grim.

“Her. Mrs. Green.”

“Mother?”

“No. Your former wife.”

“Her name is Yates now.” Jake shut off the computer on his credenza and faced his desk.

He should have figured Alice would come slithering around, now that he had her crazy husband in a position to destroy him. For a minute, he considered refusing to see her.

“Let her in. But leave the door open,” he finally said.

“Jake.”

“Alice.” Jake didn't do his ex-wife the courtesy of rising. Instead, he insolently swept the length of her long, model-sleek body with his gaze before saying more. “I could say I’m surprised to see you, but somehow I knew you’d come.”

“May I sit down?” Her voice was still husky and compelling, and she still looked a lot like the Aggies cheerleader he’d married eleven years ago.

“Suit yourself.” He leaned back in his chair and waited for her to make her pitch.

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Firestorm

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“Thank you.” Alice arranged herself gracefully on the sofa and patted the cushion next to her. “Join me? It’s hard to talk when there’s so much distance between us.”

His cock didn’t rise to attention the way it used to when she smiled that way at him.

And desire didn’t slam into him the way it did whenever Kate walked into a room. That was good. “We’re close enough. What do you want?”

“What? What happened to your manners? No ‘how are you, what have you been doing?’ Your mother would be horrified.”

“Maybe I used to give a damn how you were and what you’d been doing. Right now, I'm busy. Your bastard of a husband and his henchmen have taken up most of my time for the past few weeks. You’ve got five minutes,” he said flatly, glancing at the grandfather clock against the wall.

Alice frowned. The expression emphasized faint lines around her china-blue eyes and at the corners of the full, soft lips that used to feel so good when she’d closed them around his cock.

“I’m sorry, Jake. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Truly, I wish you well.”

“I don’t see any point in rehashing the past. My guess is that you’re here because Durwood’s in jail for trying to blow up one of my oil wells. And you believe I can do something to get him out. What amazes me is that you think I’d lift a finger to help you—or him.”

She stood up and paced around the room. “That judge in Mississippi is refusing to set bail for Durwood even though he waived extradition and is probably halfway to some backwoods country jail by now. Unless the judge changes his mind, my husband’s going to rot in jail until his trial. Your buddy Skip apparently painted a nasty, gory picture for him of what might have happened if that oil well had caught on fire. I want you to ask the judge to reconsider.”

“You’re nuts. I would be, too, if I asked anybody to let Durwood loose so he can find someone else to do his dirty work around my drilling sites. The bastard’s going to be where he belongs—under lock and key. If you don’t think so, you damn well belong there with him.”

Jake stood. Icy fury was the only emotion that flowed through him now when he grasped the elbow of the woman he once loved and ushered her to the door.

“Goodbye,” he said, his voice as cold as his heart.

“Jake. Please. For the sake of all we shared.” Her voice broke, signaling that she was about to turn on the tears.

“Don’t do this to yourself. What we had together was obviously not all that great.

And it belongs in the past. You made your bed with Yates. Crawl back and lie in it.”

Ann Jacobs

Firestorm

156

Dropping his hand from Alice’s arm, Jake stepped back inside his office and closed the door. For a long time, he stood at the window and stared out at the cloudy summer sky.

He was going to make sure Yates got put away where he couldn’t hurt GreenTex with his vicious attacks, and that meant that he could expect more painful encounters with Alice. Visits that would remind him of her betrayal and his stupidity for having trusted her or anyone of the female persuasion.

It was a long time before he turned back to his desk and noticed the blue velvet box Ellen must have set down there. Opening it, Jake stared at the stone that matched Kate’s eyes. And the icy brilliance of the diamonds that surrounded it. He snapped the box closed and forced himself to get back to work on production projections.

Kate would be joining him soon, and he didn’t want to keep her waiting.

* * * * *

“You don’t want that gown,” Deb said sharply when Kate eyed a full-skirted creation of taffeta and beaded lace at Cecilia’s Bridal Boutique.

“Why?” Kate didn't expect perfection. The choice of ready-made gowns Cecilia had brought out for their inspection was limited, and she didn’t care at all for the others.

One was an all-over beaded sheath, and the other an ornate creation of ruffled organza. She couldn’t imagine herself being able to carry off wearing the highly sophisticated sheath, and she was beyond the age for wearing the ruffled number that looked as if it had been designed for a teenage bride.

“It’s almost exactly the same as the dress that woman wore.” Deb frowned and paused before she directed her attention to Cecilia. “You’ll have to make Kate a gown from scratch. Bridesmaids’ dresses, too.”

Cecilia sat down at the worktable and began to sketch. An hour later, Kate and Deb left. Kate wondered how the woman could possibly make all those dresses before the wedding, but Deb assured her that Cecilia would come through for them.

“I don’t want anything about this wedding to remind Jake of his first one,” Kate said as they drove to downtown Houston.

“God. Neither do we. I hope you hadn’t set your heart on having a gown like the one you almost picked out.”

“No. The one Cecilia sketched will suit me much better.” She pictured the dress with its deep v-shaped neckline and softly draped skirt. “What about the colors? And the flowers?”

“They’re fine. Nothing like what she chose.” Deb maneuvered through the heavy late afternoon traffic.

Ann Jacobs

Firestorm

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“That woman insisted that we all wear pale green dresses. And she made us carry bunches of white carnations and red roses.”

“That sounds…Christmasy.”

Deb laughed. “The wedding was in June.” Then her expression sobered. “So was the divorce.”

As Kate walked into the GreenTex office building, she hoped she never did anything to earn Deb’s ire. Unlike her gentle parents whose emotions had been muted and mild, the Greens apparently loved and hated strongly.

Now she had their approval. She almost pitied Alice for having earned their hatred.

Ann Jacobs

Firestorm

158

Chapter Thirteen

“Sorry to bother you, Jake, but your fiancée is downstairs.”

He looked up at Ellen and blinked. The amber numbers on the screen had been starting to blur together anyway. “That’s okay. I’m about finished here. Have the girl bring her on up.”

He pressed a key to save the projections he'd been working on. Then, recalling that he had a role to play, he gave the Old Man’s secretary what he hoped she’d interpret as a besotted grin.

“I’ll meet Kate at the elevator,” he added, demonstrating considerably more enthusiasm than he had shown before.

“Shall I ask everyone to come to your office to meet Ms. Black?” Ellen asked, following Jake toward the elevator doors.

“Give us a few minutes. I haven’t seen her since early this morning.”

That sounded good. Besides, he needed some steamy foreplay to fire him up for the Academy Award quality performance he was determined to give his fellow executives and their assistants.

“Honey,” he said, wrapping an arm around her when she stepped through the elevator doors. “I’ve missed you.”

In full view of Ellen and the girl who was manning the desk in the reception area by the elevator, he bent and kissed Kate thoroughly enough to tighten his balls and send blood rushing to his cock.

“Come on in and I’ll fix you a drink.”

Kate looked up at him from the long leather couch when he handed her a flute of champagne. Her eyes had a glazed look, one he imagined Mom and Deb had put there with their relentless shopping and maneuvering.

“Tired?” He lifted her soft dark curls off her shoulders and started to massage her neck.

“A little. I hope your mother and Deb know what you want for the wedding.” Her tone implied a lot of doubt.

Jake shrugged. “Like I told you, honey, the wedding’s for you—and them.

Whatever you all want is fine with me.”

The obscenely expensive, ostentatious production he could count on Mom and Deb to orchestrate would cement the impression to everyone in Houston, including Alice, that his and Kate’s was the ultimate love match.

“They’re talking about having six hundred guests.” Kate sounded distressed.

Ann Jacobs

Firestorm

159

“It’s okay. Mom wouldn’t want to step on anybody’s toes by not inviting them.”

Jake moved his hand lower, tracing her spine over the silky-soft material of her blouse.

“Come here,” he ground out hoarsely, taking her glass and setting it on the table.

Burying his other hand in her hair, he kissed her deeply. His cock got painfully hard when she darted her tongue out to tangle with his.

He might have to feign loving her, but there wasn’t anything fake about what she did to his cock when she was near.

When she pulled away, Jake grinned at the pretty blush on her cheeks. He wanted nothing more than to lay her back against the cushions on that couch, strip off whatever silky scrap of panties she had on, and fuck her until she begged for mercy.

But that would have to wait. Any minute Ellen would be herding in department managers to meet the boss’s future daughter-in-law.

Jake strode to his desk and picked up the blue velvet jewelry box he had left in the same place Ellen put it earlier.

“I thought this would look pretty tucked in here,” he said, stroking the hollow between her breasts with one finger. “Go on, take a look.”

Her fingers trembled as she pried the box open. Her eyes widened. “Oh, my. This is too much,” she whispered, and she pressed the open box back into his hands. “I…you didn’t have to do this.” She twisted her engagement ring back into place on her slender finger.

“Yeah. I did. I haven’t been able to stop picturing this pendant around your pretty neck since I saw it at Sol's yesterday.” He picked up the necklace and dangled it so she could see its aqua fire.

“Let me.” He draped the chain around her neck and lifted her hair while he secured the clasp and safety chain. When he finished, he turned her around and pressed a quick, hard kiss on her open lips.