Male Order Bride (20 page)

"He never talks about her," Lacey answered, and picked up
a pencil to doodle on the pad of paper in front of her.

"That could be a sign of deep pain," Jane answered. "If he
comes out and tells you he loves you and then you say, 'Thanks but no
thanks, I was just along for the ride,' how do you think that would
make him feel?"

"But I wouldn't say that."

Jane lifted her shoulders and uncrossed her arms. "He
doesn't know that."

Lacey put her chin in her hands and leaned into her
drawing desk. "What you don't understand, and maybe he doesn't either,
is that I feel just as vulnerable about him. He's such a terrific
person, it scares me to think that he might not always want me to stay
with him."

Jane smiled at Lacey, but it wasn't a happy smile.

"If he doesn't want me, there's nothing I can do about it
because I won't stay where I'm not wanted,"

Jane hopped out of the window. "I think you're making a
mountain out of a crawfish mound."

"Maybe so, but it's something I have to face. I need to be
prepared to deal with it if it happens."

"Maybe," Jane answered, "but you shouldn't be so prepared
for disaster that you miss the good things that are happening around
you." She stepped over to Lacey's desk and patted her shoulder. "You're
a strong independent woman—most of the time. You can deal
with it if it has to happen that way. That's all you need to know. Why
don't you call the poor man and let him know you're thinking of him? He
may be wondering why he hasn't heard from you after three days. Does he
have to do everything you do measure for measure?"

"No. It'd be boring if he were my carbon copy."

"Right," Jane said. "Don't let pride stand in your way.
Lavish your love on him without expecting anything back. That way
you're always pleasantly surprised when you get anything in return."

Lacey sighed. Jane was right. What difference did it make
whose finger dialed the numbers to connect their voices on the phone?
They weren't keeping score. The point was, she wanted to talk to him.
If he didn't want to talk to her, he could refuse the call when he
heard her voice.

She spent the rest of the day trying to decide what she
would tell him over the phone. She would make her call as newsy as a
letter. The problem was, since he'd left, nothing exciting had
happened. Life without Rafe was plain uneventful.

Lacey waited until late in the evening to make her call;
that gave him long enough to try to call her first, if he decided to
grace her telephone with a ring. It was also long enough for him to
complete any business transactions he might be involved with and have
dinner before returning to his hotel room. He could, of course, be out at a Broadway show, or dancing
with some woman, or drinking it up with the guys in some bar, or
inviting some other woman to his hotel room, or…

She picked up the phone and dialed the number before the
silence had her inventing a Roman orgy in a suite at the Plaza Hotel.

The phone woke him up.

"What are you doing asleep?" Lacey asked, all of her
prepared speeches banished at finding him in his room asleep at this
hour of the night. "It's early."

"It's an hour later here," he answered between yawns.

"Oh," Lacey said, "I forgot. But that's still not late for
you. Have you been working very hard?"

"It happens automatically with this New York pace," he
answered. "Especially when I get up at six o'clock in the morning to
meet a client."

"What are you doing at six in the morning?"

"Eating breakfast," he answered.

"I didn't think New York was a breakfast sort of town."

"Not always," Rafe answered, his voice sounding stronger
as he came more fully awake. "How about you, are you having a good day?"

"Miserable without you," she answered, and could tell by
the pleased sound from his end that her bit of honesty had been well
received. "But otherwise managing. I'm not getting as much work done as
I should, but I'm limping along okay."

"What do you mean you're not getting much work done?" he
asked. "You have to get busy. I expect you to make a lot of money so
that you can keep me in the style to which I want to be accustomed.
And I don't come cheap. I have a child to support, you know."

Lacey laughed. That was the next best thing to his saying:
Come be my companion, come live with me
. "I
know, I know. I'm working on it. Give me a chance."

"Seven horses can cost a lot of money too, and I have to
make periodic trips to St. Joseph, Missouri, for a new Stetson every
once in a while."

"I can handle that," Lacey assured him, smiling. He was as
good as telling her he wanted her around forever. "What you have to
understand is, I tend to invest in quality things, the type that last."

"I see."

"And I also happen to believe that you get what you pay
for."

Rafe laughed. "As long as we have these things straight."

"I've made a note," Lacey assured him, and asked about
some of the details of his trip. She was happy now that she had been
the one to call, because this way she could talk as long as she wanted
to without worrying if she was running his phone bill up too high.

He asked her about the boutique and Lacey discovered she
had plenty to tell him about, without even thinking of what she wanted
to say. With Rafe, she could talk about everything that interested her
and he understood and accepted her business sense. Even though he
didn't deal in dress designing, he had enough grasp of the business
that he didn't require detailed explanations. He already understood
marketing techniques and design concepts and timing. And the comments
that he made were delivered as intelligently as a business partner's.

"I miss you," Lacey told him, expecting the same words
returned, at the very least.

"I'll be home in a few days," he answered, not even giving
her the satisfaction of knowing whether he did miss her or not.

Lacey felt herself getting angry at the evasive answer he
had given her. Then she took a deep breath and realized what she had
done. She had deliberately said the words to prod the same kind of
response from him. With Rafe, that just wouldn't do. He was not going
to do, say or think anything until he was ready. And then it would be
done his way.

"Well, I do miss you," she said again, this time saying it
because she wanted him to know it, not because it was part of the
long-distance script.

"You take care of yourself," Rafe told her. "And stay
busy. It makes the time pass faster."

Lacey smiled. That could mean that he was understanding.

"It's hard to stay busy when the nights are so long,"
Lacey told him, and again she could tell from his reaction she had said
something he wanted to hear.

"Try getting up at six a.m.," he
said, laughing. "That helps too."

"You're no help," she said, laughing with him. "Here I am
going crazy without you and you're telling me to set my alarm clock
earlier."

"What else can I do?" he asked.

"Come home," she answered. "Or else find some business for
me to do so I can fly up there and join you."

"Come on up," he said. "I'll pay for your ticket."

The thought excited Lacey, but she knew she couldn't take
him up on his half-serious offer. "No, I couldn't do that," she said.
"You wouldn't get any business done with me around."

He laughed. "That's for sure. But it doesn't mean I don't
want you to be here."

Lacey beamed at that. He couldn't have said he wanted her
any more clearly.

"Come spend the weekend with me," he invited.

"Oh, I… I'd love to," Lacey answered. "But I'll
be happy just to have you home. You need to get your work done while
you're away."

"I'm not talking about working on the weekend. I'll be
finished by then."

"Then just come here. We don't have to do anything. I just
want to be with you, okay? Place doesn't matter half as much as the
person."

"I'll think about it," he answered. "And you think about
it too."

"Think about what?"

"The weekend," he answered. "I'll let you know when I'll
be back."

On Friday morning Lacey was nibbling pencils and crumpling
papers again, but this time it was over a design. She had worked into
the evening yesterday, clearing all the financial paperwork off her
desk and roughly sketching the designs she wanted for her spring and
summer shows. When Rafe returned home on Saturday, she could put the
work at the boutique behind her for a few days.

One of the shop assistants knocked on the wall and walked
through the open doorway to Lacey's studio, hoping not to disturb her.
"Lacey, I hate to bother you, but there's a man downstairs who looks
like the proverbial bull in a china shop, except that he's in the
lingerie section and I don't know what to do with him."

Lacey swiveled in her chair. "What does he want?"

"He says he wants to see you."

"Is he the husband of one of our regular customers?"

Linda shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't ask."

Lacey smiled. The new girl still had a lot to learn about
diplomacy and how to delicately pull all the information she needed out
of a customer in order to determine what kind of buyer he was. "I'll
come down. I'm not accomplishing much up here anyway."

A smile broke across Linda's face. "Thanks. Nothing I
tried to show him appealed to him. Maybe he's a friend of yours."

Lacey checked her makeup, straightened the skirt of her
dress and walked elegantly down the stairs to meet the mystery
customer. When she saw his back and he turned at the sound of her
footsteps on the stairs, Lacey hopped down the remainder of the steps
and ran into Rafe's arms.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, laughing, running
her hands over his shoulders as if to make certain he was in one piece.
She touched the cheek with the scar and hugged him against her. "I
didn't expect you to come in until tomorrow. Why didn't you let me
know?"

"I
am
letting you know, now," he
said, grinning, holding her away from him to look at her in the same
all-inclusive manner. "I finished up early yesterday, on purpose,
because I wanted to get back here to spend the weekend with you."

"You did?" Lacey purred, snuggling up against him.

"I told you to think about it, didn't I?"

"I thought you just meant think about you coming home. I
haven't done anything else but that. You should see the cartons of
broken pencils and wadded paper I've gone through."

"Some other time," he said, rubbing her back as he kept
her in the circle of his arms. "Right now we don't have time."

"For what?"

"You have forty-five minutes to pack a bag for the
weekend."

"Forty-five minutes?"

"Yep. That's it, and then I'm leaving with or without you."

"Just like that? Forty-five minutes?"

Rafe nodded.

Lacey didn't question the edict twice. He wasn't kidding.
He might be lenient enough to give her fifty minutes if she ran late in
packing, but when he set up the schedule, she had the choice of
following or backing out. "You mean leave all this behind?" she asked,
grinning. "Let the boutique take care of itself?"

"You can handle that, can't you?"

"Without advance notice?" she teased.

"I told you to think about the weekend."

"You got a deal," Lacey declared. "But forty-five minutes!
What will I take?"

"All I need is you," he said, grinning.

Lacey blushed. "Where are we going?"

"To Florida, so bring a bathing suit, and we're going to a
wedding, so bring a dress, but you won't be needing much of anything
else."

"Is that a promise?"

"I'll do my best," he answered, the grin widening.

"But why are you only giving me forty-five minutes? Do we
have a deadline we have to meet?"

"Not really," he answered. "I just want to miss all the
late-Friday-afternoon traffic. Besides, an early start will give us
more time together."

Lacey snuggled into his arms again. "I like your thinking.
But what if I forget something essential, like a toothbrush?"

"If you forget anything, we'll go on a shopping spree. But
forty-five minutes should be long enough for an organized lady like you
to pack."

"I've never timed myself before," she answered, her mind
already jumping ahead to sort through her closets and decide what
shorts and tops and jeans and accessories she needed to take with her.
As often as she traveled, she already kept a cosmetics bag filled with
essentials, so that would just have to be tossed into the suitcase.

Rafe kissed her briefly and let her go. "Actually I'll
give you an hour—from now. Then I'll be by to pick you up. I
have a couple of errands I have to do here in town first, and it should
only take me about that long."

"Okay," Lacey answered, her mind still on her packing,
trying to decide now which suitcase to take. "Oh, Rafe?"

"Hm?"

"Did you see anything you liked?" she asked, grinning.

"Where? In New York?"

"No, here, in the shop."

"You."

"That isn't what I mean," she said, and pointed. "In the
lingerie section."

"Oh," he said, turning around again so that he could scan
the room with his eyes. "I see you in all of them," he answered. "But
I'd rather see you outside of them."

Lacey smiled. "I guess that's one thing I won't have to
pack."

"Right," he answered, smiling at her. "An hour, then,
okay?"

"Yes, sir!" she answered, and kissed him again before he
walked out the door.

Lacey hurriedly told Jane she'd be gone for the weekend
and assumed she would be back in on Monday, but not to count on it
unless they actually saw her.

"So that's Rafe Chancellor," the new shop assistant said.