“I don’t know,” Federica whispered. Four days. Maybe five. It was as if a dense fog had come down and cut her life off four, maybe five, days down the road. She couldn’t see anything beyond the four or five days Jack had just given her. She couldn’t think about what was waiting for her in the fog. “I guess it’ll have to be.”
“I guess it will.” His deep voice was soft. Federica wondered what he was thinking.
She wondered what
she
was thinking. Her mind had switched off.
But her body hadn’t.
She could feel Jack’s body heat, though she could barely see him, a large black mass in the surrounding blackness of the night. She needed to turn to him as a sunflower needed the sun.
Without thinking, she reached out with her hand and found it captured in his large, hard one. He pulled slowly, gently, until she rested her head against his heart, listening to the solid, heavy beat. Her own heart had gone into overdrive. Without any conscious thought of what she was doing, she lifted her head just as his descended. His hand moved through the mass of short curls and held her head still, mouth hovering just above hers.
Then Jack’s mouth covered hers, moving gently until she opened her lips, and he began a slow, heady invasion.
Excitement. Comfort. Promise. Danger. They were all present in his long, slow kiss. Federica heard small, breathy moans and thought,
that can’t be me.
But it was.
She was dizzy with desire when he finally lifted his head. One hand rested on his chest, just over his heart, which had begun thudding almost as heavily as hers.
His face was stark in the moonlight. He wasn’t smiling as he lifted his head.
“I was afraid of that,” he said, the muscles in his jaw jumping. He released her, stood up and walked back down to the van.
Chapter Five
June 2nd
EMAIL FROM: [email protected]
Paul,
I’m sending this encrypted. Message below.
Thanks for the update on our Muau Loi property. There is no reason whatsoever to hire an outside engineer, certainly not when we’re keeping Russell White on staff. If it means an extra workload for him, tough.
If he’s in debt, he needs the job.
But I do want you to find out exactly how much he’s in debt. A worried employee is a careless employee and I don’t want him making mistakes on our dime. Talk to Walker at AmeriBancorp and have him give you particulars of White’s current account.
If Walker won’t cooperate, hint that Mansion Enterprises could take its business elsewhere. If Walker still won’t play along, play hardball. In double encryption, you’ll find the name and address of a hacker who will get past AmeriBancorp’s firewalls and access data on White’s credit profile.
The hacker charges $300. Don’t pay a penny more.
Frederick
EMAIL FROM: [email protected]
Russell,
This Prague business is going to take more time than I thought. We were supposed to meet today with the Deputy Prime Minister, but he’s out of the country. It might very well be a stalling tactic, but the Foreign Trade Commission intends to wait it out. Which means that I’m here for the duration. In my absence, report to Paul Cobb.
We need you to go out to Hawaii to oversee the construction of a lava break. I want you to leave immediately, on the first flight out. You’ll find a round-trip ticket at the airport.
Of course, I expect you to continue to stay on top of the Carson’s Bluff project, but we can let the deadline slide by five days, bringing it up to the 15th of June. Keep in touch by email. I know it’s an extra workload, but we have to justify keeping your office open and keeping a staff engineer.
I had our Finances office look into the estimates for hiring out whenever we needed engineering work done, instead of having you and your crew on staff, and the figures looked good. Get going.
F. M.
FAX FROM: Russell White, Mansion Enterprises, SF
FAX TO: Federica Mansion, c/o Sheriff’s Office, Carson’s Bluff
Federica,
I have to leave for Hawaii today, but I shouldn’t be gone for more than three or four days. In my absence, please fax or email the following information regarding the Carson’s Bluff property to the SF office.
1. The original surveyor’s certificate. Some of these small towns have the original documents dating back to the nineteenth century.
2. The last official survey of the property and any geological reports available.
3. Find out if the local agency of the USDA has carried out any soil composition testing, and if so, what the soil composition is over the entire property, and not just at the building site.
4. Any records regarding the structure of the property, also known as the “Folly”. Was there an architect on record, and if so, who was he? Are the original blueprints available? Has the building undergone any structural changes or have there been any additions to the original plans?
That will do for starters, though of course more information will be necessary during the course of negotiations.
The $10,000 a day clause will lapse for the period during which I’ll be in Hawaii, since you won’t have a Mansion Enterprises representative this end.
I trust that you will emerge from the first round of negotiations today. We haven’t been able to get in touch with you up to now and it is, quite frankly, rather bothersome. Why aren’t you checking your email?
Russell
MESSAGE NOT RECEIVED/NO SIGNAL
EMAIL FROM: [email protected]
Hey Russ,
I called to confirm our squash date tonight and your office said that you’re off to Hawaii. You lucky stiff. The farthest I’ve traveled for Mansion Enterprises is Sacramento to lobby for tax breaks.
Should I reschedule the squash court for next Tuesday?
By the way, sorry to have to turn your loan application down.
Will
Federica woke up very late, very suddenly. She had slept through the usual early morning cacophony around the Folly. Sunrise at the Folly was to the accompaniment of blue jays and robins chattering at each other and a brisk breeze soughing through the oak stand. By late morning, though, the noise died down and a peaceful hush enveloped the Folly.
The light was slanting in at a high angle through the half-open window and there was a deep hush, so she knew it was late.
As always at the Folly, she had slept well and dreamlessly. If only she could bottle the peace of Harry’s Folly and take it with her, she thought wistfully.
For months now, her sleeping had been fitful. She would wake up in some strange hotel room with a dry mouth, unrested, her head full of half-remembered images. Not like now, waking up totally refreshed, thinking of Jack’s mouth on hers…
Federica bolted up in the bed.
Had she really kissed Jack Sutter last night?
It was unthinkable. She barely knew the man. Not to mention the fact that he was slated to be on the opposite side of the bargaining table. Once she could force herself to sit down at it—whenever that would be.
If there was one thing she should have learned from her brief and disastrous affair with Russell White, it was that work and romance do not mix.
Ever.
Though that heavenly blend of excitement and ease she felt when in Jack’s presence was not what she had felt with Russell.
She was here for a purpose and that purpose was to leave Jack Sutter, Mayor, Jack Sutter, Sheriff, Wyatt Sutter, Treasurer, Lilly Sutter Wright, Clerk, and God knows how many other cousins and friends facedown in the dust and to tip Carson’s Bluff into the maw of Mansion Enterprises.
Horace Milton was right, she thought glumly. Within a year of the purchase of the Folly, the Town Council would be stacked with Mansion Enterprises lackeys, most of the shops would be mere service providers to the executive center up at the Folly, and nothing that could be even remotely considered detrimental to Uncle Frederick’s interests would ever happen in the town.
Of course, she hadn’t seen Carson’s Bluff in the flesh, as it were. Maybe Carson’s Bluff was a charmless dump, a pimple on the face of beautiful Northern California, and no great loss. Somehow she didn’t think so.
And she, Federica Mansion would be the one to change its nature. For she would win.
She always won, both because she was good at what she did and because she had the vast financial and logistical resources of Mansion Enterprises behind her. Carson’s Bluff would fight and Carson’s Bluff would lose. There was no doubt about that. Just as there was no doubt about the fact that the Sutters and the rest of the Town Council would prove to be honest but ineffectual adversaries.
They would be eaten alive.
Kissing the man she was destined to engage in a dogfight with—and the man she was going to send spiraling down in flames—was not a good move.
Suddenly Federica had a thought that made her cheeks burn. Surely Jack didn’t think that she was trying to
seduce
him into surrender?
What had he said?
“I was afraid of that
.”
As if he had suspected that a potent kiss, a kiss she hadn’t even known she had in her, was a wily trick she could pull out of her ostrich-skin briefcase. Why, that would make her no better than…no better than…
Federica’s stomach rumbled and she remembered that between the quality of Lilly’s cooking and Horace Milton’s harangue, she hadn’t eaten more than a few bites last night.
Jack’s little care packages from Stella were obviously no more, so she’d have to see about feeding herself, presumably for the next few days.
Moving out from the seductive peace of Harry’s Folly was painful to think about, and it was highly unlikely that the magic of the Folly ran to a Breakfast Fairy who would show up every morning with a couple of Danish and heavenly coffee. It was time to start taking care of herself.
Feeding herself. Dressing herself. Even hauling out clothes from her still unpacked bags. It all felt like too much, when what she really wanted to do was snuggle up in the Folly’s big four-poster forever.
Her stomach rumbled again as she heard the familiar sound of Jack’s van rolling up in the Folly’s driveway. She was astonished at the unstoppable rush of pleasure welling up inside her. The rush was followed immediately by a desperate desire to hide away. Maybe if she didn’t show, Jack would leave a paper sack on the veranda and steal away.
Federica waited in her bedroom for Jack to drive off, but there was only silence.
It was clear she was going to have to face him.
Federica took a leisurely shower, then wrapped a big bath towel around herself. She rummaged in her suitcase for something to put on, fingering the various suits she’d worn on her travels, discarding each one. Just the thought of her work clothes was enough to give her hives.
She had power suits and power pumps and power blouses. And for off-work time, two silk shells to go with the black leggings. By now, both shells were grungy. With a sigh, she opted for the turquoise one, which she’d worn the day before and the day before that, and descended the staircase.
Federica opened the front door and there was Jack, in his usual position on the top step of the veranda.
“Good thing I brought lunch, too.” He didn’t turn around. He was sitting on the top step, big hands dangling over his knees. “You’re late.”
Hungrily, Federica took in Jack’s broad shoulders, the lean muscles visible through the white polo shirt, his strong, tanned neck, the indented ridges of his spine. He was so good to look at it was sinful. She shouldn’t be looking at him the way she was. She certainly shouldn’t be thinking what she was thinking.
Federica sat down next to him, mimicking his posture, wrists poised on her knees, hands dangling. “I didn’t think I’d see you today.”
“You thought I’d just let you starve?” His hard profile didn’t change, but his voice sounded amused. “You don’t strike me as the kind of woman who can trap and skin her own food.”
“No, I—I guess I thought Newton would come up.”
“You thought I’d avoid you?” They both looked out over the Folly’s lawn. A small falcon suddenly swooped down like a brown, feathered bullet, but it missed its prey and flew up again, talons empty. “To tell you the truth, I won’t say that it was easy convincing Newton that I should come up. We, um, discussed it at length. He seemed to think that he had to defend you against me.”
“I guess after last night…”
Jack looked up at the cloudless sky. “Before or after I took you home?”
Before or after I kissed you?
He might as well have said the words aloud.
“Before.”