Reunion for the First Time (25 page)
“I have nothing to say to you. Just leave me alone.” Cornered, she scanned the crowded room for an escape route.
Jack moved closer, his large body hulking inches away and barred her from slipping past him.
“We need to talk.” He grasped her arm.
“I don’t want to hear what you have to say. Let me go,” she hissed.
“Never.”
Lizzie needed to get as far away from him as possible. Being in such close proximity to him played havoc with every one of her senses. “I
don’t
want to talk to you.” She jerked her arm free of his hold with little resistance.
Jack lowered his head and whispered, “We’re making a bit of a scene, Beth.”
Looking at the floor Lizzie whispered, “I am not making a scene. Just leave me alone.”
She raised her head and met his eyes. “Don’t ruin this night for Charlie. He worked so hard. Even if you seem to have forgotten how difficult it is for him, I haven’t. He needs support, and that’s the only reason I’m here. Still, if I had known that you were going to be here, I wouldn’t have come.”
His jaw clenched, his blue eyes darkened. “Just hear me out. Give me a few minutes. After I have my say, if you still want to go, I won’t stop you.”
Oh get it over with.
A few more minutes in his company and it would all be over. She nodded, yes.
Gesturing for him to follow her, she stalked out of the reception area and led him to his office. He walked in behind her. She closed the door to end the questioning stares their earlier exchange had attracted.
Facing him, she folded her arms across her chest, and stared, unblinking. “What do you want from me? A repeat performance so you can leave me again? I don’t think so. What is the old saying? Hurt me once, shame on you?”
“Beth, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Really? You weren’t really trying? Just imagine what you could have done if you had given it your all.”
Her heart pounding, she continued, “Just tell me one thing, Jack. Was it worth it? Was beating Wallace on a personal level as satisfying as on a professional one? Was stooping to his level worth it to you?”
Tears threatened to fall but she willed them away. She refused to cry in front of him. “I can’t do this anymore. I’m leaving.”
Lizzie tried to bull her way past him, but he grabbed her arm again and pulled her stiffening body against his.
“How could you ever think that I would stoop to Wally’s level?”
She stopped struggling and gazed at the floor.
His lips moved against the top of her head. “I was a fool.”
“I hope you’re not waiting for me to disagree with you.”
Releasing her, his fingers under her chin tipped her head up. “I was at least hoping you’d change that expression on your face.”
Staring at him straight-faced, she drummed her fingers on her arm, and didn’t change a thing.
“I saw red when I saw you in Wally’s arms…” His voice wavered.
“Wally’s arms? What the hell are you talking about?” She paced a few steps away, reversed and faced him. “Do you really think I could have given myself to you so willingly with Wallace still in my heart? What a low opinion you have of me. When did you see me in his arms?”
“Sit?” Jack gestured to a chair tucked under the front of his desk and she nodded.
Dragging two chairs over to the center of the room, Lizzie sat on one; Jack took a seat in front of her. “I missed you after you left my place Christmas Eve, and I came by yours to surprise you with coffee. I saw Marty with the little girl next door. She told me where you had gone. I decided to be with you and Kay for the big event.”
He missed me?
“Did you ever make it there? Why didn’t I see you?”
Elbows on his thighs he leaned toward her. “Yes, I made it there. The first thing I saw when I got to the maternity floor at the hospital was you and Wally in a passionate embrace. Ring a bell?”
Lizzie resisted refuting the phrase “passionate embrace,” curious. “Did Wally know you were there?”
“He sure did,” he replied wryly.
Clear now.
That worm can’t be trusted.
But Jack should know that he can trust me.
“If you had stayed long enough, you would have seen my reaction to that one-sided
passionate embrace
,” she related sarcastically. “Or if you had trusted me you wouldn’t have needed to see me slap him away to know that I wouldn’t cheat on you. But you didn’t trust me enough.”
“I’m sorry.” His expression was humble with no trace of his usual over-confidence.
“Why didn’t you trust me?”
“I don’t know. Something snapped. I’ve never let any woman…get to me. I’ve seen what loving someone can do. Look at Charlie, Dad. None of that mattered when it comes to you.”
He wet his lips. “You have to believe me. Beth, I love you.”
Sitting erect, he held his hands toward her palms up, and she placed her hands in his, thrilling at the encompassing warmth of his touch. The passion in his blue eyes made her heart race. “It’s that complicated and that simple. I’m a fool for you. I’ve never loved like this before, never told a woman I loved her. Only you, Beth. Only you.”
Her heart leaped, elated, as tears welled. “I love you, too.”
He drew her arms forward, kissed each hand and linked them behind his neck. With his hands around her waist, he pulled her off the seat to stand before him. As he buried his head against her abdomen, her every nerve ending tingled. He stood and Lizzie looked up into his navy blue eyes tenderly.
“I don’t want you to run away to Africa. Stay with me,” he implored.
“What?” Twisting away, she strode toward the window and stared at the city lights, his footsteps behind her.
Is that what I planned to do? Run away? No. Not this time.
She spun around and confronted him. “It’s my job and I love it. Where did you get the impression that I was
running away?”
“I talked to Kay.”
Lizzie glared at him. “Look, Jack—”
A powerful sweep of his arms crushed her against his chest. His mouth covered hers, delicious, teasing the fight out of her. For seconds she luxuriated in the kiss, floating dreamlike on this potent current of attraction.
The kiss ended, and she opened her eyes, studying his face.
“You go wherever, whenever you like. Just always come back to me,” he pleaded. “Do you forgive me, Beth?”
Lizzie could only nod and let the tears fall.
Heaving a sigh, he dug in his pocket. “One other thing. I never got the chance to give you your Christmas present.”
He handed her a wrapped box. She tore the wrapping paper off, opened the velvet jeweler’s box and laughed when she saw her gift: two tickets to a Green Bay Packer playoff game at Lambeau Field.
Lizzie chuckled. “A man who admits he’s a fool and gives Packer tickets as a gift? I just might have to marry the boy.”
“You just might.” Jack took something out of his pocket and cupped it in his hand. Her gaze riveted on his midnight blue eyes, then down on his hand. Slowly he uncurled his fingers revealing an heirloom ring in his palm.
Love shining in his eyes, Jack beamed her a smile and slipped it on her trembling finger.
A word about the author…
K.M. Daughters is the pen name for team writers and sisters Pat Casiello and Kathie Clare. The pen name is dedicated to the memory of their parents, “K”ay and “M”ickey Lynch. K.M. Daughters is the author of twelve award-winning romance genre novels. The “Daughters” are wives, mothers, and grandmothers residing in the Chicago suburbs and on the Outer Banks, North Carolina. Visitors are most welcome at http://www.kmdaughters.com
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