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At the moment it was far easier to put herself to the task of being a genial companion. With that in mind she kept up her end of a casual conversation, which remained centered on the past as they talked about the grammar school they’d attended and the first-grade teacher who’d taught several generations of the city’s residents.
“I haven’t seen Miss Hester since I got back,” Jenna said. “I wonder if she’d remember me.”
“My guess is she would,” Ross replied. “Although she’s over eighty now, she’s still as sharp as a tack. I think she really runs half the town, although no one will admit it.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. I could never get away with anything with her,” Jenna confessed.
He leaned back in his chair. “Neither could I, despite the fact that we’re related, at least through marriage.”
Now Jenna was surprised. “You are?”
“Yes. My grandfather married Hester Goodbody’s sister.”
Harmony was indeed, she thought, a small community. “I do know that your grandfather was mayor at one time.”
“That’s right. And,” he added, “there’s a possibility that I’ll be running for that office, too, provided our current mayor decides not to run for reelection.”
“Would you really want to do that?” she had to ask, again surprised. He’d seemed content with his business career.
“My grandfather would have wanted it,” he told her.
But that wasn’t the question she’d asked, Jenna noted.
She also noticed the lack of any mention of his father. And maybe that wasn’t quite so surprising. She’d heard about the events that had taken place during the time she’d been away. As far as her friend Peggy knew, the distinguished-looking man Jenna had little trouble recalling hadn’t set foot in Harmony since he’d abruptly walked out on his wife in favor of, as rumor had it, a far different lifestyle in California. As to the woman he’d left behind, she had immediately filed for divorce and had refused to discuss the subject in public right up to her death.
It wasn’t long before Ross paid the check and took a last sip of his coffee. “Ready to go?”
Jenna nodded and gave herself a mental pat on the back. She’d relaxed and had even managed to enjoy herself.
As he had before, Ross steered them both through the cheerful maze of small, candle-lit tables with a light grasp on her elbow. And as before, Jenna felt the barest grip of his long fingers right down to her toes. So much for relaxation, she reflected as sheer awareness had her shoulders tensing once more.
Sudden thoughts of how the evening might end surfaced as they left the restaurant and walked across the parking lot to her escort’s late-model blue sedan. If this were an ordinary first date, Jenna knew that something she hadn’t considered until now could well be taken as a fitting way to wind things up.
A kiss—a brief kiss—was almost customary.
Then again, even if this were an ordinary date, could the prospect of locking lips, even briefly, with Ross Hayward ever be judged an everyday average event? Not hardly, she acknowledged to herself. Not by you.
But then, he might not even be considering a kiss.
HE WAS GOING FOR IT. Or he was if he got the chance. If she didn’t slip away from him and head inside the minute they arrived at their destination, Ross thought as they started down a short walkway where a child’s tricycle was parked on one side of the path.
“Nice night,” he said, keeping his voice low as he glanced up at a black sky sprinkled with stars.
“Yes,” was her soft reply.
“Cool but pleasant.”
“Yes,” she said one more time as they reached a plain oak door lit by a small overhead lamp. She looked up at him and held out her right hand. “Well, thank you again for din—”
“I’d like to kiss you.” The blunt words were out before he even considered the tone of them. But he wouldn’t call them back if he could have. If he hadn’t said something, he’d probably be looking at that door closing behind her in a matter of moments.
When she just stared at him, brown eyes gleaming in the darkness, he cleared his throat. “Given the situation, I think we should find out what it would be like.”
“Oh.”
“I mean, it seems logical.” Right, and physical attraction has nothing to do with it, a more candid part of him mocked. He ignored it. “That way, we’ll have a better basis to, ah, make our decision.”
She studied him for a silent second. “So you haven’t reconsidered? You’re still thinking about marriage?”
“I am,” he assured her. “And I’m still of the opinion that, if we decide to go through with it, it would have benefits for both of us. But right now, I’d just like to kiss you. May I?”
She released a short breath. “Okay.”
The word was scarcely out when he lifted one hand to cup her chin. Then he lowered his mouth to hers, taking in her subtle floral scent and reminding himself that this was only a kiss. It wouldn’t—couldn’t—lead to greater intimacy. Whether there would even be an opportunity for any real body-to-body, skin-to-skin intimacy between them remained to be seen.
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t savor the moment. And he did exactly that as he deepened the kiss just slightly, just enough to discover that he’d like to take it deeper still, much deeper. Instead he made himself settle for a gentle exploration of a mouth far softer than his own. As he lingered, his blood heated despite the cool breeze, and in a matter of seconds he had to work at keeping an invisible fist tight on his control, denying feet ready to take a last step to get even closer and hands that wanted to wander. All of him, in fact, wanted many things, none of which he could have.
Which he would never have, not with Jenna, unless he became her lover. No, unless he became her husband.
He needed, he reminded himself, a wife.
At last he forced himself to lift his head and to drop the hand still cupped around a silky-smooth chin. Inhaling a rough surge of air, he took a brief step back to let his senses clear. It was hard to believe that a kiss, even an undeniably potent one, had been enough to have him making up his mind about something that would change the course of his life. But it had.
“I know you’re probably not ready to hear this,” he said with a huskiness he couldn’t hide, “but I’m prepared to suggest that we take this…all the way.”
Again Jenna stared up at him, her own breathing far from even. “All the way?” she repeated carefully.
“To the altar.”
There, it was out. And he found he had no regrets. He’d made his choice, although the woman still pinned under his gaze needed some time to make hers. That was plain enough by the way her eyes had gone wide with what might have been shock.
“You don’t have to say anything now,” he told her. “I’ll call you in a day or two so we can make plans for another date and talk about it more.”
Jenna merely nodded once in reply. As she let herself into the house, her escort turned and left with a final wave. Moments later she was inside, leaning against the door she’d closed behind her.
She could still feel the imprint of his mouth on hers. Still taste the pure, tangy maleness of his questing tongue. Still smell the light, woodsy scent of his cologne. Still…Heavens, she was still tingling all over.
Peggy poked her head out of the doorway to the family room. “Good grief, what happened to you?”
“What?” Jenna blinked.
“That was my question, friend.” Peggy walked down the narrow hall. “What in the world happened? You look like you’ve been knocked for a loop.”
Jenna took a steadying breath. “I’m…fine.”
“Sure, and I’m a rock star.” Peggy crossed her arms over the front of her T-shirt. “Is Ross Hayward responsible for that stunned expression on your face?”
“I suppose so,” Jenna had to concede.
“What did the man do?”
“He, uh, kissed me.” Right before he floored me by proposing on our first date.
But she was keeping that last fact to herself for now, Jenna decided. He really had asked her to marry him, hadn’t he? Yes, although he hadn’t actually done it in the most traditional of manners, his meaning had been clear.
“And that’s the effect his chiseled lips have on the female half of the population?” Peggy’s brows climbed. “I’m impressed.” She paused to take another survey of her friend. “If he’s looking anywhere near as staggered as you are, wedding bells could be in your immediate future.”
Jenna pushed away from the door and was grateful to find that her knees were no longer in danger of folding. “Only if I agree to go along with it,” she managed to counter.
Peggy shook her head over that statement. “I think you’re a goner, Jen. If he can have you looking like that with no more than a kiss, how can you turn him down?”
Choosing to duck a question she knew she’d have to face far sooner than she expected, Jenna only shrugged in reply. “I’m heading off to bed,” she said as the need to be alone grew.
“All right, see you in the morning.” Peggy stepped aside. “After that stunning experience, you’ll probably have some terrific dreams,” she added with a sly smile.
But that prediction proved to be wrong, and later that night Jenna was wishing she actually could dream—about anything—as she stared up at the ceiling in the small guest bedroom. At least it would mean she had finally fallen asleep. It seemed that as hard as she tried to shut it down, her mind remained on full alert and filled with questions.
What she had to do to win any prospect of peace was to try to come to some conclusions, she decided at last.
So, did she really want a husband? she asked herself. She had to admit that she’d always expected when she was growing up to have one at some point. Her parents’ happy marriage had been a wonderful example.
But did she want that husband to be Ross Hayward, former Golden Boy and possible future mayor?
Well, as the man himself had pointed out days earlier, their marriage would provide her with financial security. Which wasn’t a matter she could take lightly, Jenna knew, after growing up in a household where money was usually scarce.
And, as he also hadn’t hesitated to mention, it would give her children. Another thing she couldn’t take lightly, because she’d spoken no more than the truth when she’d told him that she wanted children.
The problem was that she had learned something tonight. Something that had been made plain to her even before Ross, who was obviously a man of action, had rendered her speechless once again by staring down at her with frank directness and suggesting that they take it all the way…to the altar.
Up until hours ago she had privately skirted the issue of an intimate relationship with Ross and how it might affect her. Now she knew that what he could make her feel as a woman was far more powerful than any teenage crush. Even if they became husband and wife, it wouldn’t be easy for her to allow it to become a real marriage in every sense, not when it could lead to her coming to care too much for him. Because if that happened and he wasn’t able to return her feelings as time passed, her heart would be on the line—as it already had been in another relationship, with far from happy results.
So what did she do now?
You take a chance, an inner voice told her, because you can’t turn him down, not when there’s at least hope that it could someday become a genuinely caring marriage on both sides.
Jenna sighed the softest of sighs, somehow, deep at the core of her, recognizing that silent statement as the simple truth. She could toss and turn for still more hours on end, even continue to rack her brain for days, but it all came down to one undeniable fact.
Both the starry-eyed girl she’d once been who had viewed an all-too-attractive Hayward male from a distance, and the levelheaded woman she’d become who had just experienced the impact of his closeness, simply couldn’t say no. Not to him.
So the next move was hers, she knew, and there was no point in waiting for the man in her thoughts to call. Instead she would place a call herself. And then she would say words that would change her life forever.
As impossible as it would have seemed only a short time ago, Jenna Lorenzo was going to marry Ross Hayward.
Chapter Three
“So you’re really going through with this?” Adam Lassiter asked as he faced Ross across the gleaming surface of a large, dark walnut desk.
“I am, trust me.” Ross reclined in his tan leather swivel chair. As the rest of his corner-office furnishings, it was practical, comfortable and modern in design—all of which his current guest ignored in favor of frankly studying him.
The engagement announcement had been printed in the local paper that morning, and his phone had predictably rung off the hook until he’d given in to an urge for a little peace and quiet and asked his assistant to hold his calls for a while. Then his tall, dark and nattily dressed cousin had arrived on the scene.
Days earlier Ross had called to notify some closer family members before the news became public, which had led to Adam’s unexpected appearance. In fact, the man who made an excellent living as a hot-shot business consultant in the Phoenix area had driven a considerable distance to come to Harmony.
Adam braced elbows covered by the well-tailored jacket of his steel-gray suit on the arms of a beige tweed visitor’s chair. “I told the Lassiters when you asked me to be your best man that if you said you were going to do it, it was a good bet you would. But they refused to believe it until I rescheduled several appointments so I could come here and look you in the eye.”
“Uh-huh.” Ross hid a smile. “And how is my aunt Doris?”
Adam’s grimace was swift and wry. “Okay, so maybe my mother was the chief skeptic. The truth is that if she wasn’t up to her elegant neck in getting things ready for a major charity auction back in Scottsdale, she’d probably be here instead of me.”
“I assume,” Ross said, “that I’ll see her at the wedding.”
His grimace turning to a grin, Adam replied, “I don’t think wild horses could keep her away, especially when the bride is somewhat of a mystery woman.” He paused for a beat. “When do the invitations go out?”
“Soon. As I told everyone, the wedding is the last Saturday of this month.”
Adam frowned. “It’s none of my business, I’ll admit, but I have to wonder why the rush.”
“Why not? You know I don’t hesitate over most things once I’ve made up my mind,” Ross said in the mildest of tones.
And that was all he’d say on the subject. The bargain he’d made with his future wife was, as far as he was concerned, private. Only a few people knew that his intended bride had first applied for a housekeeper’s position, and he saw little reason to spread the word. No, he was keeping mum on that score, even though he and this particular cousin were near the same age and had been especially close until Doris Hayward Lassiter had gone along with her husband’s plan to achieve bigger and better things in the corporate world—and its various society connections—by moving their family to a larger city.
“Hmm.” Adam lifted a hand and ran it through his expertly cut hair. “I suppose even the best man doesn’t get to meet the mystery lady until the big day.”
“It won’t be long,” Ross assured him, keeping his tone mild.
Silence reigned for a moment. “How are Caroline and Katie taking the news?” Adam ventured at last with a probing look.
Ross suspected the question held more genuine concern than his normally unruffled relative usually displayed. Maybe because Adam had a young child of his own, a son he saw mainly during the summers since the boy lived back east with Adam’s ex-wife.
“It was a surprise,” Ross acknowledged, “but they seem to be dealing with it as well as can be expected.”
Maybe he would have liked at least a bit more enthusiasm on their part, he reflected, but he could readily understand why they’d both been unusually quiet since he’d sat them down and told them as gently yet straightforwardly as possible about his plans after Jenna had called. He’d been more than a little surprised himself, he couldn’t deny, when she’d agreed to marry him without much debate. But surprises aside, things would settle down and his daughters would be grateful to have her in their lives. It was just a matter of time.
As for himself, he was damned grateful to have her in his life, and for more reasons than one after the potent first kiss they’d shared. So far, it was the only real kiss circumstances had allowed, but he had expectations of getting more, much more. Not that he hadn’t meant it when he’d said he wouldn’t press her. Still, he hoped he wouldn’t have to wait too long to get everything he wanted…because he wanted it all.
“You look just a tad on the eager side, cuz.” Adam’s soft laugh came from low in his throat. “This woman you’re keeping under wraps must be something.”
Ross lifted a brow. “I suppose you could say that.”
“Aha. No further explanation required. I read you.”
“You always were quick on the uptake, cuz,” Ross countered, repeating the nickname they’d once used on a regular basis to refer to each other.
Adam rose to his feet. “Well, I’ll report back to the family and tell them that things are still on track. Is it going to be a big wedding?”
Ross got up and came around his desk. “It’s already bigger than we initially planned on,” he said as he walked his cousin to the door, “but it won’t be too big.”
IT WAS GETTING BIGGER every day, Jenna reflected with a rueful twist of her lips as she addressed a stack of envelopes that would hold thick, ecru-colored cards edged with a scalloped border. With desktop publishing, it was hardly astounding that professional-looking invitations could be produced so quickly, but who would have thought that one of the most popular—if by no means the grandest—spots in town to get married would be available for a Saturday event on such short notice? Yet that had indeed been the case, as her friend Peggy had wasted no time in finding out, and after that discovery the guest list had rapidly multiplied.
