The Bargain (9 page)

“Quick study, aren’t we?”

There was the faintest hint of a smile on her lips. Nice, full lips. With her eyes still closed, he could watch her without making either one of them feel self-conscious.

He liked Shannon Mahoney. There was no doubt about it. From her fiery hair to the tips of her aching toes. It was hard to believe that in a week’s time he had gone from wanting to throttle her to offering her a foot massage. But Shannon was an unusual woman. If Drew had half a brain, he would pay her a little more attention.

Michael’s fingers slowed in their movements.

Shannon opened her eyes then as if he had signaled the end of the massage. “So, did I pass?”

He let her foot go, startled from his train of thought. “What?”

“Did I shrink?”

“Oh. No. A-plus.” He stood up from the bed and ran a hand through his hair. “Foot rubs one day, on to lotions and orgies the next.”

“What? No stops in between?”

Lord, but she did make him smile. He reached down to help her up, and she put her hands in his with only the briefest of hesitation. Progress, he thought as he pulled her gently to her feet. “Oh, sweetheart, there are plenty of stops, and I encourage you to explore them all further.”

It was a small room, and the close proximity of the bed to the chair meant that Michael’s proximity to Shannon was also close. He held her hands for a second longer than he had to, until right before her eyes met his, and then he released them. Now who’s shrinking away? he thought, wondering at his behavior, and he stepped to one side to give her more room to get by him.

She slipped her feet back into her shoes, wincing as she did so. “These things are horrible. I don’t know if I can make it through another day with them.”

“Lose them, then.” He kind of liked the way she looked out of them, actually. “Men don’t care half as much about shoes as women seem to anyway.”

“Yeah, maybe. Besides, another day in heels and I may be too crippled to stand up tomorrow night.”

“Something happening tomorrow?”

“Big charity benefit for some of the local youth organizations. A chili cook-off in the park. You haven’t seen the flyers around town? Bright orange?”

“Guess my mind was elsewhere.”

“Well, part of it is a bachelor auction, and your brother agreed to participate.”

The thought of Drew being sold to the highest bidder amused Michael until another thought occurred to him, and then somehow it wasn’t as funny anymore. “You planning on bidding?” He should be encouraging her to be bold like that, and didn’t understand his reluctance to do so.

“Me?” Her eyes widened. “I don’t have the guts or the money, especially after my shopping spree the other day. No, Clarissa insisted we go as a show of support. She and her husband are taking me.”

“I doubt she had to twist your arm too hard.”

“You’d be surprised,” she said under her breath, and he had to strain to hear her.

“What does that mean?”

She shrugged and headed toward the door. “Nothing. Forget it.”

“Tell me,” he persisted, following her.

Pausing at the door, Shannon put one finger to her temple as if thinking hard. “Let’s see. Go to a big party where I get to watch women with more charm, guts, and money than I’ll ever have compete with each other to see who gets to walk out of there on Drew’s arm. I had my fill of that in high school, thank you very much.”

“Oh.” None of that had occurred to him. “Well, it doesn’t have to be like that.”

“Why? Mind over matter?” she said with what he thought might be sarcasm, or possibly a touch of bitterness.

“No. Just … use tomorrow night as an opportunity to practice what we talked about. Forget about Drew for a little while and try flirting with somebody else. Nothing serious, just have a little fun. Truth is, that could work to your advantage anyway. Drew sees you with somebody else, he might start to get a little jealous.”

“I don’t know. That kind of game-playing reminds me of high school, too,” she returned dryly.

“High school is over,” he reminded her, remembering the way she described her experiences at McKinley. “Whoever or whatever you thought you were then, you get to decide who you want to be now.”

“Easier said than done. Anyway,” she said a little too brightly a moment later, “I’ll keep you posted about Drew and the youth center, okay?”

Michael stood in the doorway and watched her leave. It was true enough, what he had just told her. But her words “easier said than done” were ones he could relate to, also. The past was a hard thing from which to free yourself.

• • •

Shannon got in her truck, kicked off her shoes again, and stared through the windshield. That was not the evening she expected when she decided to come here. It was supposed to be a quick chat, nothing more. How on earth had she wound up with her feet in his lap?

It turned out to be surprisingly nice, though. And not just as a soothing treatment for her aching feet. Truthfully, she was a little sorry when he stopped. He was annoyingly perceptive about her lack of experience with men, and there had been something deliciously decadent about enjoying something so simple as having Michael rub her feet. For a moment there, feeling his hands on her and listening to the sound of his voice as he teased her, she had forgotten there was any sort of arrangement between them, even forgotten that the only reason she was spending time with him was because of Drew.

It was entirely possible, she thought with some confusion, that despite her best intentions she was starting to like Michael Kingston.

“Well?”

Shannon deliberately kept her eyes on her computer screen. “What?”

“You know perfectly well ‘what,’” Clarissa rebuked her. “Your date. How did it go last night?”

“It wasn’t really so much a date as … ”

“Coffee, drinks, meet-and-greet — whatever you want to call it. Tell me all about this guy of yours. Is he handsome?”

“Um. Yes,” Shannon agreed hesitantly, picturing Michael in her head. “Very, actually.”

“Smart? Funny? Charming?”

She nodded. He was definitely that.

“For a blind date, this sounds like it was fantastic.” Clarissa rubbed her hands together with delight. “So what’s his name?”

Please ring, please ring, Shannon thought at her phone, but it didn’t oblige her. “He … you know, truthfully, I’d rather not talk a whole lot about him right now, Clarissa. No offense.”

“Don’t want to jinx anything, is that it? All right, I can take a hint. But just tell me one more thing. Are you going to see him again?”

“I think that’s a safe bet.”

Her coworker sighed with happiness. “Okay, I’ll get out of your hair now. But please humor an old married lady and let me know how things go.”

Shannon nodded, helpless to do anything else. This was a fine mess she was creating for herself here. There had to be a good way to nip it in the bud before she wound up with an imaginary husband and a couple of imaginary children.

The phone on her desk suddenly rang, startling her. She gave it a scathing look. “Oh, sure, now you do it,” she muttered at it before picking up the receiver. “Drew Kingston’s office. Shannon speaking. May I help you?”

“Is Drew available? Tell him it’s Lana calling.” The voice was breezy and confident. “I’ll hold.”

“And what may I say this is regarding?”

“It’s a personal matter. He’ll know.” There was an impatient edge to the caller’s well-bred voice.

Personal. Shannon knew exactly what that meant. She wondered if “Lana” had enjoyed the dinner reservations at Le Joli the other night and was briefly tempted to
accidentally
hang up on her. “Just a moment, please,” she said, and she knew her voice sounded frosty. Putting the woman on hold, she pressed the button for the intercom to Drew’s office while she stared at the blinking light on her phone.

His voice answered. “Yes?”

“You have a call on line one. Lana? She says it’s — ”

“I’ll take it. Thanks, Shannon.”

After a moment the blinking light turned solid again, and she knew he had picked up. She also had a feeling she knew who was going to be bidding on Drew tonight.

• • •

Forget it. She couldn’t take the high heels for one moment longer. It would have to be flats tonight.

Shannon reached into her closet to pull out a pair of plain white sandals and then held them up in the mirror next to one of her new purchases. It was a simple sundress, white and embellished with bits of crocheted lace here and there that gave it a vintage look. It was pretty and feminine, and totally unlike the things she usually bought. The saleslady had picked out everything else, but Shannon had chosen this one. Why, she wasn’t sure. Maybe there was a part of her that secretly longed for an occasional dose of frilly girl things to go along with her power tools.

Dressing quickly, she glanced at the clock. She was still on schedule. It must be her nerves that made her feel otherwise. It wasn’t really Drew she was nervous about, or even this Lana, who would almost certainly be there tonight. No, she was determined to do as Michael suggested and try to ignore Drew’s presence in favor of other men, for this evening anyway. It couldn’t really be that hard, not if she jumped right in. A smile here, a joke there … she could learn to flirt. This would be the perfect opportunity to practice.

If only she weren’t terrified.

Her hands shook slightly as she wound her hair up into a tight bun and pinned it in place. It was like being sixteen again and going to a school dance. What if no one danced with her? What if the other girls exchanged knowing looks and giggled as she walked past? One could only keep one’s chin up and shoulders back for so long before feeling a panicky need to flee.

She was being ridiculous, she told herself firmly. She was not sixteen anymore, and this was a charity benefit, not the prom. People would be there tonight to support a good cause, not reestablish social strata.

Besides, it was too late to come up with a good excuse not to go. She heard the sound of tires on gravel and knew Clarissa and her husband were here.

Funny, but she found herself wishing Michael was coming tonight. It would have been comforting somehow. Her hand hovered over her cell phone momentarily as she felt a fleeting urge to call and invite him. Then she came to her senses and scooped up her phone and keys to drop them into her purse. They were partners, she reminded herself. Not friends.

“Wish me luck,” she said to Bo with more cheer than she felt. He wagged his tail and licked her hand before leaping onto her bed and snuggling down into the comforter. “And no wild parties while I’m gone, young man, you hear?”

He started to snore softly.

When Shannon stepped out onto the porch, Clarissa gave her a quick hug. “Shannon, you remember Jeff, right?”

“Yes, of course,” Shannon said politely to the middle-aged man fiddling with his tie as he stood beside his wife. “Christmas party, right?”

“Yep. I was Santa.” He patted his generous stomach unselfconsciously and grinned. “Can’t imagine why, huh?”

“Dear,” Clarissa said to Shannon, “you look lovely, but there’s something I just have to do. Please forgive me.”

“What do you — hey!” Shannon’s mouth fell open as the older woman abruptly pulled the hairpins from Shannon’s hair and sent it tumbling down around her shoulders.

“There. Much better,” Clarissa said smugly, carefully arranging fiery orange waves.

“What are you doing?” She tried to wind her hair back up again, but Clarissa stubbornly refused to hand over the hairpins and instead stuffed them into her purse.

“Honey, so help me, if you try to put that beautiful hair of yours back into a bun or a braid or even a ponytail, you’ll be riding to town in the trunk of the car instead of the back seat. Leave it down, trust me.”

“I can’t wear it down! Someone’s liable to throw water on me because they think my head’s on fire. Seriously, Clarissa — ”

Her friend gently took Shannon’s hands in hers. “Shannon, I don’t know when or why you ever decided your hair was unsightly somehow, but it’s not. It’s full of vibrancy and color, and you shouldn’t try to hide it from the rest of the world.”

To her shock, Shannon’s eyes were suddenly wet. How could a few kind words be enough to make her cry? Especially after a childhood full of unkind ones should have hardened her long ago. “I’m sorry,” she said with a shaky laugh as she quickly wiped her eyes. “This is silly. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m having flashbacks to school days, I guess. Don’t mind me.” Carrot-top was one of the gentler things kids had said about her then.

Clarissa cupped her cheek for a moment and then gave her another hug. “Come on. Let’s go before all the good parking spots are gone and we have to walk five miles to even
see
the park. And I mean it, leave the hair down or I will have Jeff lock you in the car. He does what I tell him to, you know.”

“It’s true,” Jeff agreed, frowning at an ink stain on his tie and wiping at it uselessly. Shannon laughed weakly but obediently left her hair alone as she followed them to their car.

• • •

Michael turned off the television after going through all the channels without really seeing any of them. He crossed the tiny motel room for about the tenth time in the last twenty minutes and stared out the window at his so-called view, restless as a caged animal. He could always take a drive into town and play a game of pool, maybe pick up a pretty girl and make a night of it …

But somehow that held about as little interest for him as the television. He pulled the orange flyer he’d picked up from an earlier errand from his back pocket and read it again. Shannon was right; these things were like traffic cones. How had he ever missed them? Because he’d had too many other things on his mind, he supposed.

He glanced over the events listed on the flyer, considering his options. Well, he did like chili, after all. There would be music, dancing, and lots of folks having a good time. What’s not to like? he thought. Maybe he would even get a chance to see how Shannon was doing with the “homework” he’d given her. See if she was having a good time with some new guy.