Mad About The Man (10 page)

8

J
acques checked his Rolex and leaned on the sill at
the open window above Gaby's factory. "She's late."

"Who's late?"

He turned on Rita. "Don't play dumb with me. Not
at this hour of the morning and not when I'm up
tight."

"How come you're uptight?"

"Damn it, Rita! Cut the smart talk. I'm not in the
mood."

Rita crossed one long leg over the other and jiggled
the high green pump that dangled from her toes. "I'm
trying to inject a little sanity into all this, Jacques.
You can't tell me you aren't suffering from some
form of wilderness disease. That's all this business
with the little hat person is—a reaction to boredom.
What you need is a fast trip to L
.
A
.
—and maybe Paris,
too."

She stretched a hand toward the phone on the desk
that had been moved into the as-yet-unfinished suite.
"I'm going to call a few people and see what they've
got on for the weekend. I'll arrange for the chopper
to pick you up."

Jacques clamped his fingers over hers and set her
hand back in her lap. "You don't get it, do you? I'm
fed up to the teeth with L
.
A
.
and Paris and parties and
smarmy, grinning faces and Yes, sir. No, sir. What
ever you say, sir. That woman—" he pointed down
ward "—is
real.
I want some of that, Rita—someone
real for a change."

"Aha!" She waggled a long finger at him. "A
change. Okay. That I can buy. You want a change,
an entertaining little oddity to titillate you for a while.
And why not? But don't mix up sexual deprivation
with something meaningful, for God's sake."

Talking to Rita about anything deeper than a side
walk puddle was a waste of time. Jacques went back
to his study of the view through Gaby's skylight.

"Don't sulk," Rita said, sounding pinched. "It
doesn't suit you. Have you looked over the data that
came in from the Paris office? Bayard already called
this morning. He wants to know what you think."

"I think we're going to make a
killing
in the East
ern Block." And he should be more excited. He
was
excited at some level, but somehow the thought of
even more Ledan shops selling even more Ledan can
dies didn't have the power to really
thrill
him.

"And?" Rita prompted.

Jacques turned and sat on the window sill. "And I'm in total agreement with everything Bayard sug
gests. The man's a genius. Why wouldn't I agree with
him?"

"Good!" Straightening her cream linen skirt, Rita
got up. She went to a stack of shiny black crates em
bossed with the gold company logo and opened the
top one. "These arrived late yesterday. Bayard sent
them with his compliments. I think he's trying to
make sure you don't get so tied up with the Goldstrike
extravaganza that you lose interest in the main agenda."

"Until we're up and running here,
this is my
main agenda."
Goldstrike and Gaby McGregor.
"What's in the box mountain?"

"Ta-da!" With a flourish, Rita whirled around—a
risky feat on four-i
nch heels—and held aloft a spar
kling heap of gold-wrapped bundles. "Isn't Bayard inspired?"

Jacques got up and stuck out a hand. "Gimme."

She dropped the bundles into his fingers. "Pots of
gold! Jacques, you've got to call him and tell him this
is going to be pure magic."

He eyed the candies doubtfully. "What exactly are
we supposed to do with them?"

"Give them away, of course. As
…
well, as kind of
party favors, I guess."

"Party favors?" Increasingly there seemed to be times when his empl
oyees' declared strokes of bril
liance went right over his head.

Rita pulled more candies from the crate and began
heaping them on the desk. "We'll find some locals
to dress up as leprechauns and go around handing these out. They can say something like, ooh—" she screwed up her face "—like, welcome to our end of the rainbow. Accept this pot of gold with Jacques Ledan's gratitude—and the gratitude of his entire team who hope you'll be as excited about going for the gold in
…
You don't like it, do you?"

"Do better."

"I will."

He plopped a candy bundle in her hand and said, "Welcome to Goldstrike."

Rita's mouth turned down and she pushed back her
mass of auburn hair. "Of course, you're right. Simple
is best. It's this town, Jacques. I'm going nuts here."

"Why? It's a great place. It'll do you good to live
a simple life for a while. Isn't the trailer okay?" He'd
had a fleet of luxury trailers moved in ready for the crews who would be part of the planning stages.

"Fine," Rita said without enthusiasm.

"Good." He didn't want to deal with his employees' temperaments right now. Once more he looked
through the window. Still there was no sign of life in the workroom. "You'll settle down eventually I think
I'll see if I can finally get Gaby to La Place for dinner
tonight."

"You're kidding."

He looked at her sharply. "Why would I be?"

"She's
so
unsophisticated, Jacques. A little nobody
who makes caps for
the feed store people, or some
thing. Or those cheap straw efforts the men wear in the fields around here. Have some fun, if you want to. Take her to Hacienda Heaven for one of those
horrible burner things and…
well, and whatever else you've got in mind. I hardly think she's the type you
invite home for a gourmet supper."

Very slowly, Jacques made a circuit of the desk.
"There are times
when I really don't like what I
am,"
he said. "Or should I say w
hat I'm supposed to be.
And I sure as hell don't like what you just sug
gested."

"Hey!" Rita jerked down her jacket. "Don't get mad at me because you've got some kind of an itch that needs scratching and—"

"Cut it, Rita. You don't know what you're talking
about. I've finally met a woman with some depth and
I don't intend to miss an opportunity to get to know her better." Too bad a kid came with the package, but he'd figure out a way to win her over. "Gaby
McGregor is one of a kind. She
'
s got a lovely little girl named Mae.
"

"
What?
"
Rita
'
s mouth remained open.
"
A kid! You don
'
t like kids.
"

"
I damn well do like kids. I love kids.
"

"
Since when?
"

"
Since—
"
Since never, but he could learn.
"
This is a very bright child with a wonderful vocabulary and a good sense of humor.
"
La Place had be
en there since before he was born
, which made the house
"
real old.
"
Great sense of humor.

Rita shook her head and began shoveling the candy back into its crate.
"
We
'
ve got to get you back to civilization.
"

"
Do you know, I actually feel
possessive
about Gaby.
"
He laughed self-consciously.
"
Can you believe that?
"

"
I can
'
t believe any of this.
"

"
I
'
m making progress, y
'
know. She
'
s not nearly as cool toward me as when we first met.
"

"
Oh, good.
"
The crate flaps smacked shut.
"
I only wish I could feel as enthusiastic about something in this dump of a town. Maybe I should work on developing an interest in fruit trees.
"

Jacques regarded her seriously.
"
Is something wrong, Rita?
"

"
Nothing.
"

He approached and bent to look into her face.
"
Yes there is. Forgive me. I
'
ve been too preoccupied with what
'
s going on in my own life. Come on. Spill it.
"

"
Nothing
…
"
She stepped back and raised her chin.
"
Yes, there is. I hate this place and I hate the dense local yokels who live here. And most of all I
hate
being Bart Stanly
'
s gofer. There. You asked and now you know.
"

"
You aren
'
t Bart
'
s gofer,
"
he said slowly.
"
You and Bart have different functions and you
'
re at the same level.
"

"
Tell him that, why don
'
t you?
"
Her face grew pale, and freckles Jacques had never noticed before stood out on a nice nose.
"
He treats me like a slave. Get this. Do that. And I have to listen to every little idea he comes up with. Then I
'
m supposed to be over the moon about how brilliant he is.
"

"
Rita—
"

"
He
'
s driving me mad!
"
To Jacques
'
s horror, huge tears welled in her eyes.

"
Now, now.
"
Awkwardly he patted her shoulder.
"
You
'
re overwrought. Take a day off.
"

"
And do what?
"
she almost screamed.
"
Watch the grass turn browner?
"

Jacques cleared his throat.
"
I
'
ll think of something.
"
He pulled a tissue from a box and pressed it into her hand.
"
And I
'
ll talk to Bart—
"

"
No! No.
"
Sniffing, Rita dabbed at her eyes.
"
Don
'
t do that, please. I can deal with Bart.
"

"
You sure?
"

"
Absolutely.
"
She gave him a watery smile.
"
Forget I said anything. I
'
ve had a difficult few days. Bart
'
s okay most of the time.
"

Jacques watched her assessingly. Perhaps the lady protested too much. Maybe the real problem here was denial of feelings quite different from those Rita had declared for her colleague. What he had to deal with, and now, was the next step in getting closer to Gaby.
"
Women like being courted, don
'
t they?
"

Rita looked blank.

"
I mean, despite all the talk about equality, women like the gentle, romantic approach.
"
Why hadn
'
t he thought of this sooner?
"
Flowers, champagne. Soft music.
"

"
Candy,
"
Rita said and laughed.

Jacques bared his teeth.
"
I
'
ll let that pass. I feel
…
euphoric. Yes, that
'
s it. I could have something really fresh and satisfying with Gaby, I know I could.
"