Project Valentine (A Homespun Romance) (7 page)

"Come in for a minute."
Karl's expression gave nothing away as he held the door wide.

Jessica thought she glimpsed a quirk at the corner of his mouth but she was too angry to look again.

It was the first time she'd entered his house through the magnificent oak double doors.
He led her past a blur of rooms, a curving staircase, into the family area she'd seen before.

The remains of his breakfast were on the dinette table and he sat down as if she had all day to spare.
"Would you like some coffee while I finish eating and then we can talk?"

"No thank you," Jessica stood stiffly by the table.
A quick look took in the glass of juice, the bowl of bran cereal. Feet slightly apart she glared at Karl Wagner. "I don't have all day so if you don't mind...."

"Arthur's what I want to talk to you about."
Sounding the soul of reason he poured a mug of coffee and placed it in front of her. "I'm not giving him up."

"Wha.....?"
Jessica sank into the chair she'd been offered earlier.

"Yes."

"Last night, last night....." Jessica spluttered.

"I didn't say I was giving him away.
You did."

"But I've taken a day off.
I've called the humane society...." Words failed Jessica. She'd done it again. Jumped to conclusions. Staring at him miserably, the thought crossed her mind the man was an inconsiderate boor. He could have called her back last night.

And you would have listened?

He didn't even try.

Hah!

"Cream? Sugar?" She helped herself to a spoonful of sugar with a hand that shook, lifted the mug of coffee to her lips and then set it down with a bang. She didn't want any of his coffee.

"What did you mean when you said last night that you wouldn't put up with any more of this?"
A glacier was warmer than Jessica's tone. Her drop-dead look told its own story. She'd been saving that personal day off to spend with David at mid-term.

"Just that.
If you hadn't flown off the handle of your little broomstick and let me finish," the now plainly visible quirk sent Jessica's blood pressure sky high, "I would have explained that what I meant when I said I won't put up with this kind of thing was, he has to be trained not to dig holes."

"Oh."
Jessica glared at him.

"When did you do this?"
Her hand was imprisoned in his before she realized what he was doing.

"Do what?"
Little tunnels of warmth pierced her anger. Jessica refused to acknowledge them.

"Get yourself a new set of nails."

"Oh, that." Jessica tried for cool, unwilling to admit the tunnels had fused into one great mass of warmth. There was no denying she was tingling from head to toe.

"Yes, that."

Jessica cleared her throat as his eyes fixed on her face. The artificial, peach colored nails weren't long or fancy, but they served their purpose. "Yesterday, in my lunch hour. It helped me stop biting them."

His thumb had found the ball of her hand again.
Any more of that and she would be reduced to the level of a harem slave. Eager, weak, willing.

Snatching her hand back Jessica covered confusion with coldness.
"If you're sure you want to keep Arthur, I might as well go in to work. Do you mind if I see him first?"

Karl nodded in the direction of the patio door, "Go ahead."

The reunion was brief. Jessica only had eyes for the yard. For the first time since yesterday she acknowledged Karl's right to be furious. Arthur was a big dog and he'd dug big holes. Moon craters was an apt term. What little lawn was left was covered with overturned clods and dirt. Jessica's heart sank. It looked awful.

Fixing a stern eye on Arthur she lifted a finger and pointed to the holes, "Who did this?" she asked in the sternest voice she could muster, "Bad dog!
You are NOT to dig any more holes." Jessica went over to one of the holes to make her point clear, "NO MORE HOLES."

Arthur cowered, trying to shrink to half his size.

Jessica hardened her heart.
For his own sake she had to get her point across. Picking up his nylon bone and a bright rubber ball Molly had mentioned buying him, she reiterated, "If you want to play, you play with these things. Digging holes is BAD. NO MORE HOLES."

Arthur gave a small wuff.
Jessica could almost swear he was laughing at her.

"You would certainly make a good trainer."

Karl was on the redwood deck looking down at her. Smiling indulgently. As if he liked what he saw. As if it mattered. Dropping the bone and the ball, Jessica climbed the five wooden steps to the deck. It was time to leave.

Karl seemed in no hurry to be going anywhere.

"I won't keep you any longer," Jessica wiped her damp palms down the sides of her jumpsuit. "Thank you for being so understanding about Arthur."

"You aren't keeping me.
My first patient's at ten today. Feel free to continue training Arthur if you want to."

Jessica flushed as their gazes locked.
Karl's seemed to be sending messages that puzzled Jessica. Confusion raged inside her. When had they made the transition from dog training to something as potent as this? Karl's gaze slid to her mouth. She wished he wouldn't keep doing that. It wasn't fair. It was also catching. Twice she'd had to tear her gaze away from his mouth.

Jessica's tongue flicked out to brush dry lips.
"I'm sorry about your yard. It is an awful mess. You have every right to be angry." She wet her lips again and blinked. "Tell your gardener to send me the bill for redoing it."

Paying for it, even in installments would probably take the rest of this life.
And the next.

"It's not the money, Jessica," Karl came down the steps and stood in front of her.
"Forget what I said last night. I shouldn't have called you like that. It was just a shock on top of a long, rotten day. When I got back, Arthur wouldn't answer my call. I thought he'd run away again. I stepped off the deck to look for him and went calf deep into a puddle."

The giggle burst out of her spontaneously.
Jessica covered her hand with her mouth. The thought of Karl's face when he stepped into a "moon crater" was too much to bear. Poor man. Had he been wearing a suit as expensive as the one he had on now? Imagining his trouser leg wrapped in wet mud she began to giggle some more as the tears gathered in her eyes. He looked at her one brow lifted, a whimsical smile tugging at his lips and then his laugh mingled with hers.

"I'm sorry," Jessica clung to the deck railing, giving full rein to humor.
"I don't mean to be rude. It's just...." she doubled over again.

"I know," Karl's laugh mingled with hers.
Warm friendly, healing. "You should have seen my face. I got my leg out, took a step forward and there I was in another one. For a few minutes I thought someone had dropped a bomb in the yard. Arthur stood by wagging his tail. I swear he had a grin on his face. It took a while to realize he was claiming full responsibility."

"Please.. stop."
Her sides ached as she put pictures to his words.

He watched her as if enjoying her laughter.
Now and then he smiled ruefully. It was a while before Karl's gaze landed on her mouth, effectively cutting off all sound. Jessica's eyes shied away from the look on his face.

"What did you mean last night when you mentioned my mouth?"
The silky query ousted all thought, all control.

Her runaway tongue had done it again.

"Your mouth?"
She made her tone as vague as possible.

"You know what I'm talking about Jessica.
You said, quote `I must have been mistaken about your big heart, your kind mouth' unquote. What did you mean?"

How many times had she vowed not to talk first, think later?
She'd done it again. Gotten herself neck deep in trouble.

Jessica stared at Molly's uncle wondering how to convince him her opinion of his mouth was a purely clinical observation.

CHAPTER
FOUR

"Jessica?"

There was no getting away from the truth.
Not with Karl. He was waiting. Jessica had an idea he had the patience of a sphinx.

Reluctantly she turned to him.
"Just that....just that mouths are an indication of a person's nature and yours hints at kindness and generosity."

"I see."
His expression gave nothing away.

"About your yard..."
Every time she looked at it something shrank inside. A mole would have envied Arthur those holes.

Karl looked at her and smiled.
It was a curiously intimate smile that shut out the rest of the world.

"Never mind fixing the yard."
His voice was cotton candy soft. One hand came up, and his knuckles skimmed her cheek gentle as a butterfly's caress.

Her legs shook so hard, Jessica could barely stand.
Karl's touch singed her skin, making speech almost impossible. A drumroll of emotion had her pulses cavorting in a wild frenzy. She couldn't place the gleam in Karl's eyes, the softness around his mouth.

Jessica looked away.
It was hard to keep her mind on track when her senses were derailed. "I'm truly sorry about the mess. It's just that Arthur's been through such a hard time lately. If you'd only give him a little time to get used to all this."

“He can have all the time he needs.”

His breath stirred her hair and she knew he was right behind her. Had he really said Arthur could have all the time he needed to adjust. Jessica closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She didn’t know her head had gone back till she felt the hardness of Karl’s chest. She wasn’t dreaming. Jessica’s eyes flew open.

“Th…thank you so much.“

The silence forced her to turn around, look up. The gleam in Karl’s gaze was brighter, the intent look in his eyes highlighting his pupils. Twin lasers of light leaped out and bound her, as he said humorously, "With my mouth, do I have any other choice?"

Her eyes slid to his mouth and for the life of her Jessica couldn't look away.

She didn't resist when his hands took possession of her shoulders, or his head blocked out the sky. In the one second his lips rested on hers, the world tilted on its axis. Her soul leaped out of her body to touch Karl's in midair. Time held its breath.

When she opened her eyes Jessica blinked rapidly to bring the world back into focus.
It was a good thing Karl had his arms wrapped about her, her face crushed to his chest. Her limbs weren't capable of supporting her just yet. Sensations strong as a tidal wave swamped that part of her brain that dealt with calm, cool, collected. Jessica's eyes closed again. Why fight anything that felt so good? This might be short but she was going to enjoy the sweetness of every second. She concentrated on absorbing the feel of Karl, inhaling his personal scent, listening to his heart pound under her ear.

No one, Jessica acknowledged dreamily to herself, had mentioned a kiss could have so much power.

Molly called Jessica, Thursday night. "Uncle Karl's picking me up straight from school, Friday afternoon. Can you come over Saturday morning to help me give Arthur a bath?"

He hadn't contacted her since Tuesday, proof that the kiss had been just a we're-both-curious-so-let's-get-it-over-with type of thing.
Of course the way she'd acted after it wasn't exactly cover material for Poise magazine either. She'd backed away from him, opened her eyes with a super human effort, to find him watching her. Straightening her angled neck she'd pushed her glasses up and said. "I have to get back to work."

Karl hadn't tried to stop her, merely nodded.

She was on the second step of the redwood deck when Karl had caught her arm. She'd looked up. Another kiss and she wouldn't have the use of her legs.

"The front door's the other way, Jessica," he'd said kindly, turning her towards it.

She hadn't looked at him as she'd fled.

Now Molly wanted her to go back.

"Have you checked with your uncle about having me over?"

"I did," came the airy reply, "He said it was fine with him but I wasn't to monopolize all your time.
He has to go to the clinic for a couple of hours. If you can come I don't have to have a baby sitter."

The patent disgust in Molly's voice at the idea of needing a babysitter, made Jessica chuckle.
If he wasn't there, going over to bathe Arthur could hardly be classified as chasing the man.

"I'll be there."

Defiantly Jessica looked at her reflection. Her closet had yielded long magenta shorts, and a matching tank top. Over it she wore an outsize emerald shirt. Massive green triangles dangled from her ears. She didn't care if it wasn't haute couture. It was the ideal dog bathing outfit for a warm California day.

Karl had left a brand new hose hooked up to a tap in the yard.
To look at the yard now no one would guess it had been redone only recently. Money and instant grass had worked wonders in five days.

Molly hugged Jessica.
Her smile was bright with affection. Jessica smiled back. She was becoming very attached to the eight year old. "Uncle Karl said we could bathe Arthur on the side patio."

Jessica followed Molly around the side of the house.
The patio was covered with tiny grey and black rock embedded in a bed of concrete, shaped a perfect oval.

Molly pointed to the closed double doors, "That leads to the formal dining room.
When Uncle Karl has parties he opens the doors and people sit out here and look at the view."

It was certainly worth looking at.
From this angle, the snowcapped San Gabriel Mountains were plainly visible. At night, the cities clustered at its foothills would sparkle like a diamond necklace.

"The last party Uncle Karl had here, I saw him kissing Maddy Brenton, his dentist friend."
Molly giggled at the memory. "Mommy says she wishes Uncle Karl would hurry up and get married but that Maddy Brenton's not the right one for him."

Already Jessica found herself liking Karl's sister.
She bent down to pat Arthur. There was no explanation for feeling winded. It was obvious Karl would have someone in his life.

"Jessica?"

"Hmm?" Maddy Brenton. Jessica rolled the words on her tongue. It was an awful name.

"How do you know the right person when they come along?"
Molly looked extremely thoughtful.

"Well," Jessica said softly, her eyes on the grey blue mountains in the distance, "When you meet someone you want to spend all your time with.
When being away from that person makes you feel part of yourself is missing. When you look at him and know you don't want to change places with anyone else in the world. Then that's the right person for you."

"Oh!"

Jessica wondered what had prompted Molly's question.
But a more urgent thought of her own pushed its own way in. Since when had she become an authority on the subject?

"Have you met anyone like that?"
Molly's next question was guileless. But with Karl's niece that only cloaked devious.

"No, I haven't," she told Molly briskly, hoping her tone carried conviction.
"Now, we've got a dog to bathe remember? I don't think this is such a good spot. The patio's small and we might get some water on the white double doors. Let's just go to the back and bathe Arthur by the deck. The shampoo and water won't hurt the grass. I read somewhere that soapy water aerates the soil."

Keeping busy ought to put ghosts of Maddy Brenton's kisses to rest.

Molly had bought enough shampoo for a dozen Great Danes. "I wasn't sure which kind to get, so Uncle Karl said to take one of each."

"He would," thought Jessica grumpily putting Arthur on his leash.

Money was no big deal after all.
Nor were people's feelings. How dare he kiss her just because he'd felt like it? What about Maddy Brenton? It was time someone told him off.

"Watch the water, Molly."
It had been a wise decision to wear her oldest clothes. The hose was being wielded with more enthusiasm than skill. Jessica watched Arthur lick Molly's face and the girl giggle happily. The Great Dane was definitely beginning to respond to Molly's love. Their developing rapport chased some of the chill around Jessica’s heart away.

"How's your mother doing, Molly?"
Cupping her palm, Jessica tilted the bottle and watched the golden liquid slide into her hand. The shampoo smelled good enough to use on her own hair.

"Better, but she has to stay in bed an awful lot.
She had an ultrasound and I saw a picture of the baby. We can't tell if it's a girl or a boy. Mommy and Dad don't want to know anyway, but I hope it's a sister."

Jessica lathered Arthur's legs while Molly blew bubbles for him.
The temperature had already climbed into the late seventies but a light breeze tempered the heat. Two flowering pear trees provided a burst of bridal white on the slope. It was a beautiful day. A day for enjoying life.

Jessica determined to ignore the emptiness inside that longed for Karl's presence.

"Jessica, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."
Gently she cleaned Arthur's face with the old washcloth Molly had brought out. With Karl's niece one had to be prepared for a discussion of anything from politics to dog ticks.

Molly set the hose down and looked straight at her.
“Do people die from having babies?"

The sunshine seemed too bright all of a sudden.
There was fear.... and pain in Molly's voice. A heavy burden for an eight year old to carry around.

"These days," Jessica said gently, sitting down on her heels and taking Molly's hands in hers, soap suds and all, "people seldom die having babies.
Doctors are very careful. They have so many new ways of making sure mothers and babies are not in any kind of danger."

Molly's mouth wobbled, "I don't want anything to happen to my Mommy."

Jessica wrapped her arms around her and held her close, her own eyes stinging, "Nothing will, honey, nothing will. She just has to stay in bed so she doesn't have the baby too soon, not because she's ill."

"Will the baby die if it comes too soon?"

Jessica swallowed. She couldn't make promises she couldn't guarantee. "Do you know when I was born I weighed four pounds? Twenty three years ago, doctors and nurses took such good care of me that I went home after a month. These days they have so many better ways of taking care of little babies, so much better equipment. I read somewhere that a mother had twins that weighed two pounds each and they were both doing fine."

Some of the worry left Molly's eyes.
The rest, Jessica knew, would take time and the birth of the baby to remove.

Arthur helped restore things to normal by nudging Molly with his nose.
They both looked at the patient Great Dane covered in lather and laughed.

"Let's get back to work, before this stuff sticks to Arthur permanently," Jessica suggested.

With a giggle Molly picked up the hose and started washing him off, while Jessica scrubbed the dog's coat with a soft nylon brush to make sure she got all the soap out. Molly, with a child's ability to switch moods, was telling Arthur he would smell like roses when this was all over. Deliberately Jessica encouraged Molly's excitement, with stories of her own dog Trucker and his hatred for their unfortunate mailman.

Jessica wondered if she'd said the right thing to Molly.
It was evident Molly didn't want to share her fears with her parents or her uncle. Worry was too big a burden for a child to bear alone. Maybe, thought Jessica, she should mention it to Karl when she saw him next. He might do a better job of reassuring his niece.

Buried in her thoughts Jessica didn't see Karl on the deck, or Arthur brace his legs to shake the excess water out.
She was looking for the top of the shampoo bottle when the giant spray hit her. Backing away from it, she tripped on the hose and sat down hard. Molly giggled helplessly, "Arthur got you Jessica. Are you okay?"

When Jessica nodded, Molly continued mischievously, "You're soaked from top to bottom.
A little more won't hurt."

Before she could say a word, the nozzle was turned on her.
Jessica gasped. The water was a gentle stream but the first blast was cold.

"Stop that!"

They both turned to locate the source of the sound.
The hose in Molly's hands swung around too. Jessica's eyes closed in disbelief as a jet of water hit Karl's snow white shirt.

"Molly!" they both rapped out the name in unison.

"I'm sorry," the quickly dropped hose created a miniature pool around Jessica. She sat in it wondering why she always looked her worst for him. Had her fairy godmother taken one look at her the day she was born, thrown her hands up in despair and resigned on the spot? Wasn’t she supposed to be around at times like this, paint her charge with a beautiful, hypnotic brush.