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“Rest, Miss Lightfoot,” he said tersely, then moved to the door.
“Chase?”
He stilled, his hand on the knob, his back to her. “Yeah?”
“This doesn’t change anything.”
He glanced back over his shoulder, looking her over. “If you say so.”
Tessa did not like the sound of that.
Not at all.
“He actually came in here and sold dresses?” Dia said when she arrived twenty minutes after Chase had left, and Tessa wanted to pinch her. It wasn’t that big a deal. Yet when Dana nodded, Dia squealed with laughter. Tessa gave her sister a thin-lidded glare, and Dana, impressionable creature that she was, gushed.
“He’s so cute and Miss Dewberry was just drooling over him. She bought the dresses you tried to get her to try on,” Dana said to Tessa. “You know, the ones that actually fit.” The salesgirl turned back to Dia. “He even sold her shoes and a hat! God—” Dana fanned herself, sighing dreamily “—he fills out those jeans sooo nicely. For a man his age, of course.”
“Of course,” Dia agreed, her smile quivering.
Dana looked at Tessa suddenly. “How do you know him?”
Tessa’s skin fused with heat and she glanced at Dia. “He’s ah—um—” How was she supposed to explain this? It was all getting so complicated. She looked at Dia, her expression pleading for help.
Dia let her squirm for a few seconds, then said, “He’s just a friend...of the family, you could say.”
Dana nodded, obviously satisfied, and excused herself to collect the remnants of Chase’s whirlwind sales victory.
“Where is he now?”
“How the hell should I know!”
Dia reared back, eyeing her sister thoughtfully. “God, you are tired.”
“No, I’m not.” Tessa flipped through hung garments, checking the sizes. “I’m angry. You were no help in that meeting yesterday, Dia. None.”
Dia’s brows drew down and she pulled Tessa from the center of the store and into the little alcove behind the register. She gripped her sister’s arms, forcing her to calm down.
“Whether you think that or not is irrelevant. Chase Madison could have sued for custody, Tessa. He still could.” Tessa paled. “We’re damn lucky he has a heart, because if he didn’t, as soon as you gave birth, this baby could have been taken by the courts until an agreement was reached. Do you want someone else holding your newborn baby before you? Caring for her? Deciding your child’s future? Or would it kill you to be his friend?”
“Yes. It will,” Tessa cried dejectedly, the images her sister painted striking her hard. “It will give him leverage. I can’t trust him.”
Dia let her go and stepped back. “No one says you have to marry the man, for God’s sake.”
“No one but him.”
“Oh, get real.” Tessa arched a brow and Dia’s features stretched taut as she said, “You’re serious?”
“Don’t listen to the messages on your private line much, do you? I called you immediately after our lunch, all night and this morning.”
Dia’s gazed faltered. “I was...out of town for the evening.”
Tessa gave her sister the once-over, then smiled softly. At least someone was having fun, she thought, then explained their lunch date.
Dia folded her arms and propped her hip against the counter, looking very much the high-powered attorney. “Did he badger you?”
Arranging ribbons on a dowel rod, Tessa gave her a side glance. “No.”
“Would you consider his visit harassment?”
“No.” How could she? He’d helped her, saw that her best customer was satisfied, and had only her best health in mind, damn him. If he hadn’t forced her to rest, she’d have kept going and that wouldn’t have been good for her or her baby.
“If we put a restraining order on him, it might make him pursue custody.”
“Then don’t.” Tessa dropped her head back onto her shoulders, sighing long and slow. “I’m not due for another three months—let’s not look for trouble. Maybe he’ll lose interest.”
When Dia didn’t respond, Tessa looked at her sister. “Don’t hold your breath,” she finally said.
Tessa felt as if she were tottering on a peg with nothing to stop her fall, waiting for the shove that would send her into oblivion. “Go ahead, say it, I see it in your eyes.”
“I’ve never seen a man more determined to be a father, Tessa.”
“Me, either,” came dispiritedly.
Dia laid a hand on her arm, forcing Tessa to meet her gaze and listen hard. “Then perhaps for once in your life you ought to quit planning out every facet with annoyingly meticulous detail and just go with it.”
Tessa eyed her warily. “You like him, don’t you?”
Dia shrugged elegantly clad shoulders. “I’m not the one who matters, but yes. He’s charming, handsome, smart, a decorated ex-Marine, owns his own business, comes from a good family.” Her eyes sparkled suddenly, devilishly. “Has two drop-dead gorgeous brothers—”
“Great.” She rolled her eyes. “If he’s won you over, what chance have I got? And isn’t that conflict of interest or something?”
“Hey, I wouldn’t worry so much, Sis,” Dia said, slinging her arm over her sister’s shoulder and dropping a kiss to her temple. “He hasn’t met Mom or Samantha. They’ll make any man run for the hills.”
Tessa laughed softly at the picture of her eccentric mother and Chase in the same room. Even though she never wanted him that deep into her life, it would be something to see. She wondered idly what he’d say if her mother read his palm before ever speaking to him.
The door chime jingled and Tessa said goodbye to her, sister. Dia flipped open her cellular phone, thumb-dialed a call as she grabbed her briefcase and left the shop in a brisk walk. Dia needed to slow down, Tessa thought. She was always in a rush to be somewhere she wasn’t.
Tessa walked over to the customer, smiling and offering herb tea. The older, distinguished-looking woman smiled back, so warm and endearingly gentle that Tessa felt the tension in her wash away like a summer rain. This was the first person in a long time to look at her and not her tummy. As Tessa went to prepare tea, she decided that Chase Madison could be as charming and as likable as he wanted. Her guard was up, cemented into place, and ex-Marine or not, he wasn’t storming past it.
Chase’s gaze snapped up from the pile of tomatoes so. carefully arranged in the bin. “Are you following me?” he asked hopefully.
“Hardly.” Tessa’s eyes narrowed on him, her hand on her hip. “I could ask the same of you.”
“Yes.” Unashamed, reckless.
“What?”
“I found out you shopped here, every Monday morning, at nine.” His forehead wrinkled a bit. “Are you always so predictable?”
“No.” She jammed tomatoes into a plastic sack.
“Careful, they’ll bruise.”
“I want to bruise you,” she hissed over the stack of red fruits.
Chase’s grin widened.
“Will you quit smiling!”
He didn’t. “Bothers you, doesn’t it?”
“Everything about you bothers me.” She dropped her selection into the cart and moved on.
Chase rounded the bin and dogged her heels. “What bothers you the most? That I’m the father of our baby or that you’re attracted to me?”
“Is your ego always so overblown, Mr. Madison?”
He caught the cart, keeping her near, and Tessa felt her insides shift and twist. And it had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with her baby. Those disgustingly sculptured shoulders of his looked bigger and more muscular than when he was in her shop on Saturday, his eyes a darker blue and unspeakably intimate as they traveled the line of her body, caressing it without touching. As if they weren’t in the middle of the produce aisle drawing attention, for heaven’s sake.
“Admit it, you feel this—” he inhaled through clenched teeth, his gaze simmering “—this assault on the senses, the blood, every time we get close.”
“Sexual attraction is hardly the basis for a relationship—” Oh, what made her admit that?
“Aha. So you have thought about it.”
He was grinning again, the rat. “No.” Her reddening cheeks contradicted her.
“Liar.”
“I’m not lying. Now, leave me alone.” She brushed him aside with the cart. He was right beside her, nodding to the eavesdroppers and interested customers.
“I’m here, Tessa, to stay. Get used to it.” Half threat, half coaxing.
“Not a chance.” She wouldn’t look at him, dropping item after item into her cart.
Chase knew he was getting to her. “God, you eat that?”
She looked to see what he meant and frowned, then snatched up the sardines, replaced them on the shelf and reached for tuna. Oh, just go away, she thought.
“Got you all confused, don’t I? Wondering where I’ll turn up next?”
She spared him a withering glance. “Amuse yourself with the idea, Mr. Madison. You have so far.”
“I’m going to do more than amuse myself with it,” he said with a long glance down her body. Those eyes were dangerous, she thought, and was about to ask him what he had planned in the let’s-rness-up-Tessa’s-life scenario, when someone called out.
“Hey boss, you’re needed on the site!”
Chase twisted, nodding to a man dressed in work clothes, a tool belt slung over his shoulder, a cellular phone in his hand.
Chase looked back at Tessa, loving her wide, puzzled eyes. He had her flustered nicely, he thought, and let impulse take him. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her flush against him. His child kicked, as if joining its mother’s effort as she pushed at his chest.
“Let go.” She glanced around nervously, then looked at him, embarrassment blooming in her face.
He bent, inhaling the scent of cinnamon near her ear, and whispered, “I can’t. I’ve never walked away from a challenge.” His words burned her skin, sending gooseflesh down her throat to her breasts. “And baby or not, Tessa Lightfoot—” Her fingers flexed on his chest and she closed her eyes. “It’s you I want.”
Even though she would never believe him, his words sank into her heart like tiny arrows, weakening her resolve. She pushed at his chest. “No, Chase, you can’t,” she whispered back, then gasped as his lips ground against her neck in a hot, quick kiss before he pulled away.
They stared at each other for an instant and Tessa touched her throat, feeling warm and tingly all over. That was... was... delicious.
He smiled slowly, privately. Then he left her standing in the middle of the aisle between the cabbages and kumquats. Gripping the cart, Tessa watched him, his broad back, his indecently tight behind. Her heart pounding in her throat, her body awake and alive with sweet, quick passion. It had been so long she almost didn’t recognize the sensation. Not that it had ever been like that. And she wondered, hoped, she had at least some effect on him.
When he met up with his crewman and back-stepped to look at her, Tessa’s gaze dropped briefly to the well-worn mold of his jeans. She smiled, smug as realization played across his face. His skin darkened, his expression sheepish as he shoved his hands into his pockets.
She wasn’t without a little power.
And it made them even.
Later that evening, Carole Anne Madison shifted to the edge of the Queen Anne tapestry settee, her hands poised on her lap as she stared up at her eldest son. Chase saw her gaze flick to his father, the pipe clenched in his teeth. Idly, Chase wondered if it was lit this time.
. “She’s a lovely woman, Chase.”
“You saw her!” Chase’s wide eyes narrowed suddenly. “She didn’t know it was you, did she? God, Mom, if she thinks we’re all ganging up on her, she might leave town!” He paced, wearing a path in the carpet. The last thing he wanted was to scare Tessa.
“Chase dearest, please.”
“You’re mother isn’t an imbecile, Chase, don’t treat her like one.”
“Carl, hush. He’s just concerned, as we all are.” She patted the space beside her, and Chase paced a bit more, then sank down beside her, rubbing his hand over his face.
“I like her, Chase. She’s poised, gracious. One can tell a great deal about a person when you’re in their territory.”
Though those were not the traits Tessa had shown him, Chase took his mother’s word for it. “And you discovered?”
Carole Anne looked thoughtful before she spoke. “She makes everyone feel welcome, instantly. Even offered tea and joined me to have it. She’s very honest about her designs and whom they suit.” His mother paused, her eyes unusually bright. “And your baby’s growing beautifully.” Chase enjoyed the happiness spreading across his mother’s face.
His father cleared his throat. “It’s just like you to do everything backwards, boy.”
Chase stiffened and left his chair in a lurch, wondering if his father would ever forgive him for not becoming a politician. As usual, his mother defended him with a sharp glare at his dad.
“Do you think Janis did this thing with the computer mix-up?” his mother asked.
Chase shrugged. “I wouldn’t put it past her.” He didn’t want to address his suspicions, not when Tessa could use them to keep him out of his child’s life. Things were just too fragile right now. “But then we all know how she hated being excommunicated from the Madison clan.” The divorce settlement had nearly made Chase broke, and he eyed his father, all too aware that the man had never liked Janis, thought she was a gold digger, and had let him know it on a regular basis. Yet Chase had understood her need to feel part of a family. Of course, only Senator Madison’s family would do. His dad thought Janis had married him because of who his father was, and finally, Chase had been inclined to believe it.
“Oh, Chase,” his mother said suddenly. “But this is so wonderful.” He gazed at her and saw tears, tears she never shed in front of anyone. He sank to one knee in front of her. “I hoped that you or your brothers would find women to love like I love your father.” Beyond them, Carl Madison softened, in expression and posture, and he came to his wife, settling beside her and enfolding her hand in his.
“I’m not in love with Tessa Lightfoot, Mom.” In lust would be a better word. He couldn’t believe how turned on he was by this particular woman, pregnant or not: “And I can truthfully say she wishes I was never born.”
Carole Anne’s brow wrinkled softly. “She really is obstinate about your involvement?”
