Our Little Secret Part 33

He held up a nylon jacket. "I thought you might be chilly out here."

"Thanks." She took it gratefully.

"Just one, huh?" Meg exchanged smiles with Drew. "Then I guess I'll be going inside."

"'Bye." Drew waited until she left, but didn't claim her vacated chaise lounge. Instead, he straddled Lauren's, forcing her to pull her knees up to make room. With Drew's arms braced on either side of her, she was effectively trapped.

"I hope you weren't talking about me," he said.

"Why?"

"Because you're biting your nails again, which means you're nervous about something. You haven't been doing that lately."

"I haven't?"

"Not even when we were shot at in Florida. Which means this must be pretty bad."

"I guess only certain things worry me." Like saying good-bye to Drew. Like wondering if saying she loved him would make a difference.

"Like seeing Jeff again?"

She blinked, startled. "No. I hadn't even thought about him. But I doubt he'll want to see me again. I'm sure he's embarra.s.sed about having to tell everyone we broke up."

"Probably annoyed, too. You've ruined his vacation plans. Probably can't even get a refund on his deposit."

Lauren gave him a puzzled smile, unsure why Drew had been giving this any thought. "I'm sure you're right."

"Ruined your your vacation, too," he mused. vacation, too," he mused.

At least Drew appeared to be taking it well. "It doesn't matter."

"But now you have one more week off and no place to go."

She suddenly saw a possible direction to this conversation, and tried not to quiver with a hope that could be dashed at any second. "I hadn't thought about that."

Drew pretended to think. "You know, you could come visit me. I have to work with the camp kids part of each day, but we'd still have plenty of time together."

She couldn't prevent the tiny smile that crept to her lips. He wanted to continue their relations.h.i.+p. Even if these two weeks of vacation were all she could have with Drew, she'd take it.

But she couldn't appear too eager. "I don't know. What's it like at this place of yours?"

"My cottage is big, a house really. And there's just me, so we'd have lots of... privacy."

The lift in his eyebrow told her exactly what that meant, and she had to bite her cheek to keep from grinning.

"There's a large fireplace, and a big dining room table, and a comfortable couch, and of course, a king-size bed."

She felt a flush creep into her cheeks as she realized he was offering several unorthodox locations for making love. She cleared her throat. "That sounds nice."

Seeing he had her interest, he leaned closer with a sly smile. "There's a meadow out the back door that's very pretty in the moonlight. Also very private. And of course hundreds of acres of wilderness with no one around."

Making love with Drew outside, with the open sky above and acres of wilderness around them-just the idea made her warm all over. "I've never, um, done that."

"No?" His gaze held hers. "I could help you correct that oversight. The property also has a lake. Of course the water's freezing cold this time of year, so you might want to come back in the summer." He paused, watching her closely.

Her heart faltered. "Come back?"

"Or just stay. I close up for a couple weeks in the fall and let the entire staff have some time off. We'd have the whole lodge to ourselves then, just the two of us."

It felt like her lungs had constricted, each breath catching in her throat. "Stay? Until fall?" she whispered.

Drew's smile was gone, his gaze sharp as he leaned forward, caressing her arms. "Lauren, I know I shouldn't rush you. You've just bounced out of a relations.h.i.+p that stifled you, and you need some s.p.a.ce."

He obviously thought she felt some sadness about ending her relations.h.i.+p with Jeff. Lauren opened her mouth to correct him, but he put a finger to her lips.

"No, hear me out. Right now you're probably afraid to hear words that imply commitment, and I understand that." He drew a deep breath. "But I have to be honest with you, Lauren. I'm in love with you, and I don't intend to let you go."

She knew she'd heard correctly because she saw the concerned look in his eyes, as if he were afraid of how she might react. Her mouth opened again, but all she could manage was, "Um..."

A deep crease appeared in his brow. The reason occurred to her in a flash of amazement-he was nervous.

"Honey, if you need time, I'll wait." His pained look made her want to kiss him senseless, but she was still paralyzed with disbelief. "But I have to warn you right now, I'm going to keep trying to change your mind."

He was waiting for a reply. She managed a shaky nod.

"And I won't be satisfied with a live-in relations.h.i.+p. I want marriage and children."

His jaw clenched with determination and he set his shoulders, apparently braced for the impact of rejection.

Lauren swallowed the lump in her throat. If her mouth weren't hanging open in shock she'd probably be grinning like an idiot. "That's quite a lot for me to think about," she told him, careful to keep her voice casual.

He nodded, looking as serious as she'd ever seen him. "I know what you're thinking," he said, wincing.

"You do?"

"You're thinking my place is remote and the town is too small for you to find the sort of responsible position you have now."

Actually, she hadn't given it a second's thought.

"But if you're willing to consider a slightly less glamorous job, I'm planning to expand Camp Windhaven's services in the future, and I could use a good financial planner."

"You mean, work for you?"

"Work with with me," he corrected gently. "It would be your place, too. Your home." me," he corrected gently. "It would be your place, too. Your home."

Her heart had already decided, but Lauren weighed the decision one time to satisfy her conscience. She could return to her old job crunching numbers for an engineering firm and hope to find a man as wonderful as Drew, or live in a mountain paradise with the man she loved, the man she knew she would love for the rest of her life, building a home and family together, while giving troubled kids a second shot at life.

She bit her lip as she touched his chest and stroked down the hard muscles of his arms, the arms that would always be there to hold her.

She allowed a tiny smile as she met his eyes. She didn't want to appear too easy, which was going to be a challenge, because she was already visualizing those children he'd promised. "You said the house has a fireplace?"

He nodded cautiously. "Yes, a big one."

"I don't suppose there's a bear skin rug in front of it?"

Drew's eyes blinked with surprise. As he got her meaning, his mouth twitched upward. "I'll buy one. Tomorrow."

"Take your time." She leaned forward, pressing her lips to his in a lingering kiss. "We can start on the dining room table."

Turn the page for a sneak preview at the next s.e.xy, romantic caper from Starr Ambrose Thieves Like Us the sequel to Lie to Me Lie to Me Coming soon from Pocket Books Dumping the world's worst husband called for more than a celebration. It required a symbolic act-like hocking her engagement ring.

"You know what this is? It's poetic justice." Janet Aims admired the tasteful display of diamonds twinkling in Portman Jewelers' storefront window as if she were buying, not selling. "This is where Banner bought the stupid ring in the first place. I found the receipt."

"That doesn't mean they'll buy it back," Ellie pointed out. "I don't think jewelry stores do that, especially high-cla.s.s places like Portman's." Ellie admired the diamonds, too, then glanced at her watch. She'd been doing that a lot today.

Janet pretended not to notice her friend's obsession with time. "They buy estate jewelry. This ring is now part of the Westfield estate, which ought to be enough to impress anyone in this town. I just have to suck it up and be a Westfield one last time."

She s.h.i.+fted to get a better view of her reflection and finger-combed the hairs that barely covered her ears. She wasn't used to the short haircut yet, but she liked it. It was all part of the new Janet-new haircut, new condo, and new marital status: single, with no dazzling diamond ring to remind her of the biggest mistake of her life.

"Do I look rich and influential enough to impress them?"

Ellie laughed. "You were born rich and influential. You can do rich and influential in jammies and bunny slippers."

"Not Westfield rich, I can't. That's a whole different cla.s.s of wealth." She gave Ellie a significant eyebrow wiggle. "One you'd better get used to."

"Jack's a Payton, not a Westfield."

"Payton, Westfield, what's the difference? They all connect to Elizabeth Payton Westfield, and it doesn't get any richer than that, at least not in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan." She pulled a white ring box out of her purse. "Come on, I'll take advantage of my status one last time and show you how the rich folk throw their weight around. I can't wait to get rid of this thing."

"You demonstrate. I'll take notes." Ellie snickered and gave her watch another glance before reaching for the door.

That did it. "Okay, hold it." Janet stuck a hand in front of her friend.

"What? Why?"

"What's with the watch? That's about the fiftieth time you've looked at it today."

"It is?" Ellie looked embarra.s.sed.

"Yes it is, and every time you do, you get all anxious and tense. Do you have an appointment somewhere? 'Cause we can leave, I don't have to do this now."

Ellie's lips quirked upward. "Well, it's not exactly an appointment."

Suspicion grew. "This isn't about my divorce being finalized, is it? Because if you planned a surprise party or something, I want to know about it right now. You know I hate surprise parties."

"No party, I promise. It's not about you. It's about me."

Ellie's smug little smile made Janet relax. She smiled back without knowing why. "Looks like something good. You gonna share?"

Ellie leaned closer so the few shoppers wandering by couldn't hear. "I have to be home by three o'clock so I can get pregnant."

Janet's mouth opened. "Huh?"

"My temperature chart says I'm ovulating, and Jack promised to leave the office early so we can"-she lifted her eyebrows-"make a baby. Maybe."

"Really? "She grinned at her best friend for several seconds. "It's about time!"

"Yeah, well, we didn't want to wait this long, but it's not happening as fast as we hoped."

Janet bounced on her toes, unable to contain her excitement. "It will, don't worry. This is a good day for both of us, I can feel it. I get rid of the last reminder of Banner, and you get started on a baby. This is exciting! Come on, let's get this over with so you can get home and get pregnant." Janet grabbed her hand and pulled her inside the store.

Ellie walked fast to keep up. "I'm glad you're so agreeable, since I have to ask you for a favor."

"Anything."

"It involves Rocky."

d.a.m.n! That was not not what Janet wanted to hear. Ready to accuse Ellie of taking advantage of her good mood, a voice behind Janet said, "Mrs. Westfield! Welcome to Portman's. How may I help you?" what Janet wanted to hear. Ready to accuse Ellie of taking advantage of her good mood, a voice behind Janet said, "Mrs. Westfield! Welcome to Portman's. How may I help you?"

Janet hissed, "We'll talk about this later," then replaced her glare with a smile as she turned toward the man behind the counter. She didn't know him, so he must have recognized her from newspaper photos. The wife of the accused. One more reason to hate Banner.

"h.e.l.lo, Mr.-"

"Portman. William Portman."

"Mr. Portman. I'm Miss Aims now."

He flushed. "Of course, I'm sorry."

Letting him feel a little embarra.s.sed might work to her advantage. She reached into her purse and pulled out a small box. Opening the white silk lid, she set it on the gla.s.s countertop. "Do you remember this ring, Mr. Portman?"

He smiled as soon as he saw the large diamond flanked by two smaller stones. "Oh my, yes. A beautiful piece, we designed the setting exclusively for..." His smile slipped and he cleared his throat. "For Mr. Westfield."

"Yes, you did. So you can understand why, as beautiful as it is, I don't want it anymore."

"Uh, hmm, yes." He pursed his lips and frowned, apparently unsure of the protocol when acknowledging one's a.s.sociation with a notorious criminal.

"How much can you give me for it?"

Portman looked even more uncomfortable. "Miss Aims, Portman's doesn't accept returns on used jewelry."

"Used?" She arched an eyebrow. "Mr. Portman, this jewelry belongs to the Westfield estate. Do you, or do you not, deal in estate jewelry?"

Janet saw his gaze dart across the room to a tall display case labeled "Estate Jewelry," then look quickly away. "Yes, but those are heirloom pieces, crafted by well-known artists. They have historic value in addition to their intrinsic worth."

"I see." She smiled sweetly. "And my ring was crafted by-who did you say?"