Lonely Millionaire (21 page)

She scarcely ever thought about him anymore, sometimes only once a day, when the fog rolled in about five o'clock and she remembered the day on the beach when he'd told her the truth. She would have preferred being hit over the head with the flat spade she used to dig clams. It would have been less painful. A lump on the head would have been better than the empty hollow in the pit of her stomach and a throat so dry she could hardly swallow.

But the worst part had been coming face-to-face with the fact that she'd been naive and stupid. But what else could she think? She'd overlooked the most blatant clues to Adam's background. The questions he'd asked, the questions he hadn't answered. It was all there and she hadn't seen it. She'd been blinded by his good looks and his charm.

Adam must have wondered where her brain was. He must have been amazed at how easy it was to fool her. There were times during the past weeks when the humiliation had washed over her like a tidal wave and it had taken all her efforts to keep a smile on her face for her guests.

Standing on top of the ladder with the star beaming at her, she knew that the very worst part was finding out that Adam had never cared for her at all. He'd only been investigating her for his friend. He'd certainly thrown himself into his work. She'd say that for him.

Fortunately it was almost Christmas and she had so much to do, so much to look forward to. Laurie would be home in a few days and there would be guests staying in the guest rooms. She brushed the pine needles off her hands and ran for the door.

"Hi, Mandy." Jack Larue stood on the doormat holding a package under his arm and looking so tentative and uneasy that she opened the door wide and invited him in. Then she offered him a glass of hot mulled wine she'd made for her guests.

He sat in the chair next to the fireplace, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. She assumed he'd say what he'd come to say eventually, so she sat down across from him and waited. Funny, she wasn't angry with Jack for his part in the charade. Maybe it was because Jack hadn't hurt her feelings. Jack had followed through. He'd even asked her to marry him, even though he wasn't in love with her. He was a nice guy, rich, too, but... She had to admit it, Laurie was right. The only thing wrong with Jack was that he wasn't Adam.

"How've you been?" Mandy asked at last. "Are you, have you found a wife or a job?"

"Funny you should ask," Jack said, crossing his leg over his knee. "It turns out jobs are easier to find than wives. My old boss Gene called and asked if I'd fill in up on the North Sea for the guys who are coming home for Christmas."

Mandy looked up at him and he read the question in her eyes. "No, not Adam. Adam's staying there. Adam has no place to go."

Mandy pressed her lips together and hardened her heart. You mean, he has no place he wants to go, she wanted to add. She would not feel sorry for him, if be had no place to go it was his own fault. He was the one who had put his work first all these years.

"Not at all," Mandy assured him. "I'm sure Adam is more than satisfied with his life up there. After all, it’s what he's always wanted, isn't it?"

Jack shrugged. "It’s what he always said he wanted." He turned to Mandy. "What about you?"

"Me? I couldn't be happier. If I think about Adam at all, which I hardly ever do..." She crossed her fingers behind her back. "It's with..." Oh, God, what was it with, anger, sorrow, regret, disappointment? "Mild interest," she finished.

"That's all?" Jack asked, drawing his eyebrows together.

"Yes," she said firmly, and changed the subject so that Jack could tell her about his travels and his gold mine. She even went to the kitchen and brought back a fruitcake wrapped in cellophane and tied with a red ribbon.

He thanked her, then brought the subject back to Adam again. "I'm sorry for sending Adam down here to spy on you. It was all my idea, you know. Adam didn't want to do it "

"If he didn't want to do it, why did he?" Mandy interrupted. "What did you do, twist his arm in a hammerlock? I can't believe Adam could be forced to do something be didn't want to do."

"But it’s true. The guy is so generous, such a damned good friend."

Mandy got to her feet and ran her hands through her hair. "Come on, Jack. I know what he is. I know what he did. He's unscrupulous. At least you were sincere. You were sincerely looking for a wife. Adam was just toying with me.

Jack narrowed his eyes. "I'm not sure about that."

"You weren't here, you didn't see him," Mandy insisted.

"No, but I can imagine." Jack got up from his chair and gave the package to Mandy with an awkward gesture. "I don't know if you'll want this, probably not, after what you just said, but I thought I'd bring it by and show it to you, anyway. Go ahead, open it."

Mandy ripped the flap of the padded envelope and pulled out an old, framed black-and-white photograph of a tall man and a small boy standing in front of an oil well in a desert somewhere. The boy's level gaze met hers with a self-assurance beyond his years. Mandy's heart stopped beating and her eyes smarted with tears as she recognized the smile and the confident set of his shoulders.

"Is it..."she choked.

"Adam and his dad. My boss found it in his office. They were old friends, Gene and Adam's father. Thought the world of him. A loner just like his son."

Mandy nodded, unable to tear her eyes away from the picture of the boy with the shock of dark hair slanted across his forehead, the father with his arm draped over the boy's shoulders. The affection between them was unmistakable.

"You never know," Jack said, and then he was gone, into the night, leaving her with the picture in her hands, staring at it until her guests descended for hot mulled wine and hors d'oeuvres.

Adam expected the short-term vacation replacements, but be didn't expect Jack to be one of than. Jack didn't work for the company anymore.

"How'd he talk you into coming?" Adam demanded over coffee in the mess hall.

Jack shrugged. "No place else to go. I thought I'd be married by now. But since I'm not, I wanted to let some lucky bastard go home to his wife and kids."

Jack gave him a mock salute and was back in minutes with the gift-wrapped cake. He watched while Adam carefully peeled back the wrapping and inhaled the scent of nuts and fruit and brandy with his eyes closed.

Jack shrugged. "Don't ask me. I don't understand women. She probably made too many. Or maybe she's got mixed feelings about you. Maybe she's confused. Love and hate are very close to the same thing, you know."

Adam shook his head. "How did she look?"

"The same."

Adam nodded. The same curly hair framing her face, the same wide blue eyes brimming with laughter one minute and burning with passion the next. The hands that could set him on fire with just a touch or beat against his chest in helpless fury.

"Oh, she said something else," Jack said, refilling his coffee cup.

Adam fastened his eyes on Jack and drummed his fingers on the table, though he would have preferred grabbing his friend by the shoulders and shaking him until he'd spat out everything that had happened between them.

Adam took the fruitcake to his quarters at the rear of the barracks. A single room was a luxury reserved for senior scientists which be had never appreciated as much as he did at that moment. How strange, after pouring his heart out nonstop to Mandy all those months in letters, that he should be stumped at the thought of a simple thank-you note. He started it four times and when he finally finished, he had filled the wastebasket full of crumpled stationery.

He reread the final copy.

Dear Mandy,

Thanks for the fruitcake. It looks great. I hope business is good at the inn. Life up here is pretty much as I expected and then some.

Adam thought about telling her he missed her, but he didn't. He thought about confessing that life was not as exciting as he'd expected, but why bother? He didn't want her to feel sorry for him.

He thought about telling her he thought about her all the time, but she probably wouldn't believe him. It was unbelievable, coming all this way only to wish he'd stayed where he was, only to wish he could start all over again with Mandy without any deception or lies between them. But it was too late for that. He should have told her the day he'd walked into her house, the day he'd seen her for the first time. Because he'd known, even then. He'd known that she was the one. His destiny.

He opened the fruitcake and let the fragrance fill the small room. Just this once he'd give in to the memories and remember the good times and pretend they still had a chance, pretend that she still cared about him. But when reality set in, he knew the most he could hope for was that she'd forgiven and forgotten him.

On Christmas Eve, Mandy placed little gifts under the tree for her guests and after they'd retired to their rooms upstairs, she and Laurie sat on the floor next to the tree and opened their presents from each other.

"Just what I wanted, new stationery. I love the flowers around the edge," Mandy enthused.

Laurie smiled. "Just in case you have someone to write to again."

Mandy shot her a warning look. "I won't. And you can cancel your subscription to Yukon Man, as far as I'm concerned. Don't you think I've learned my lesson? You don't seriously think I'd ever write to a stranger again, do you? After what happened?"

"What about a non-stranger, someone who's stuck on an oil-drilling platform in the North Sea?"

Mandy set the box of notepaper down in front of her. "Nobody's 'stuck' anywhere," she explained patiently. "Anyone who's working on an oil rig is there for a reason. Because he's fulfilling some dream, or to make money, or to relieve one of the workers so he can come home for Christmas, like Jack."

Mandy shook her head. "Jack's a sweet guy, a great guy, for someone else. Jack never would have done what Adam did to me. No one would have." Mandy smoothed a wrinkle in her long, wool skirt, wishing she could smooth away the hurt and ache in her heart as easily.

"What did he do that was so terrible?" Laurie asked.

Mandy gave her sister an exasperated look. "I've told you before, about a thousand times before. This is the last, the absolute last time I'm going to mention his name. As far as I'm concerned, he's out of sight and out of my mind. Gone, disappeared from my life forever. Have you got that?"

Laurie held up her hands. "I've got it. Just indulge me one more time and I promise I'll never mention him again."

Mandy took a deep breath. "First, he lied to me about not knowing Jack. Then he asked a lot of questions to find out if I was good enough for Jack.''

"When I was here," Laurie mused, "I had the distinct impression that you were interested in Adam, and vice versa."

"Adam is an attractive man," Mandy said defensively.

"No kidding," Laurie agreed. "He's also funny, sexy, and he does dishes."