Jack & Jilted (12 page)

The worst part about it was, it wasn’t that Gerald even needed the money. His family certainly didn’t need the money. No, this was some kind of punishment although what she’d done to deserve vengeance was beyond comprehension. Hadn’t he been the one to abandon her at the altar here?

Had she been stupid? Or crazy? Had he always been this way? And if so, how did she miss all the signs?

How could I possibly have considered marrying someone this cruel?

She took a long, slow sip of her decaf coffee, the warm liquid thawing out the frozen numbness in her chest. No, he hadn’t always been like this. In fact, she was willing to bet he wasn’t really like this now. He wasn’t cruel—deep down, he was very easygoing and amiable, hardly the gung ho, take-no-prisoners business type his own family wanted him to be. No, he was the way he had always been.

He was weak.

She looked out the window at the busy street beyond, almost meditative. She had been stupid, she privately admitted. She’d known he was weak, but she’d thought it made him endearing somehow. All her family were people who enjoyed running in and saving people, giving suggestions, taking charge. She’d ignored his weakness or worked around it or catered to it. When he’d wanted to dodge one of the crankier older partners in the firm, she’d come up with excuses. When something had gone wrong with a project, she’d helped him fix it or often figured out a way to shift the blame. She’d protected him and supported him. In short, she’d done what she’d done her whole life, and he’d seen how her strength could compensate for his weakness. She’d thought that made them a perfect team and so had he. The only real sticking point had been his family—his mother. That was the one woman Gerald simply could not stand up to. Chloe had done everything she could to work around Gerald’s weakness there. She’d tried to win the woman over, which is why their wedding expenses had spiraled out of control in the first place. She’d thought that if she watched her step and jumped through whatever insane hoops the woman set out that she and Gerald would make it. It had caused enough of a strain that she should have seen—not only was Gerald (or any man) not worth it, but if that was the way their marriage was going to run, it wasn’t going to make it anyway. But she hadn’t.

Chloe got down to the last bitter drop of her coffee and realized that she had put herself into this mess as much as Gerald had.

She picked up her cell phone, grimacing with pain. Still, because she’d been stupid in the past didn’t mean that she had to lie there and take it now. One of her father’s other favorite sayings popped into her mind.

If you burn yourself on a stove twice, it ain’t the stove’s fault.

She wasn’t surprised when Gerald didn’t answer his phone; he hated confrontation, especially when he knew that, even if he didn’t admit it, he was somehow at fault. She waited for the message prompt, then said in a clear, quiet voice; “Gerald, this is Chloe. I got word from your lawyers that you aren’t satisfied with any of the offers on the house. I was also told that if I’m not able to keep up my end of the mortgage payments, you’ll just take over—and take the down payment and any profit, as well. They act like it’s some kind of magnanimous offer. Well, you and I both know that this is utter crap. I’m fairly certain this wasn’t your idea, but I don’t care. You’re letting it happen, and that is inexcusable.”

Her voice had risen a few decibels, so she took a deep breath as her eyes started to tear up. She paused, then continued.

“I’ll make the payments, don’t worry about that. But it’s my house, too. I’m bringing in my own Realtor, and you’re not authorized to take or refuse any offers without my input. And before you send your damned form letter saying I should handle all this through your lawyers, don’t worry, they’ll hear this, too. But I want you to know this, Gerald—you’re the one that walked out on me. You probably thought I’d been too much of a doormat the whole time we were together to fight you, no matter what you did. And you were almost right. One way or another, I want the house sold in one month. I repeat—one month. And I’ll tell you right now—if you or your fancy lawyers try to make things difficult for me again, I’m going to make sure you’re sorry you tried.”

She clicked the phone off and then noticed that several of the surrounding patrons were staring at her over the edges of their laptops. She ignored them, packing up her belongings and throwing out her paper coffee cup. She headed for the door.

This is what happened when she didn’t have a plan written out, she thought with grim determination as she headed back to her car. She was making enough to pay back Jack and make her mortgage payments, but her Mom was right—it was pretty frivolous when she had a war front with Gerald that she needed to be fighting. Jack and the ship were fun, but she couldn’t focus on fun. She needed to unload the house, get some money, then get back into the real world.

Jack, as much as she liked him—and as weird as their “business relationship” was—wasn’t real.

6

“WE HAD A WONDERFUL time,” the new Mrs. Spencer said to Jack and Chloe, shaking their hands as they left the deck of the Rascal. Her young face was beaming.

“We might even come back for our anniversary!” Mr. Spencer said, also shaking Jack’s hand. “Especially if you add fishing…”

“Oh, you and fishing,” his bride said, taking his arm and winking at him.

“We’re glad you had a good time,” Chloe said. They waved to the couple as they watched them walk away. Then Chloe sighed. “Okay. I’m off to clean their cabin and do a quick pass in the galley. Our next charter couple comes in this afternoon. I feel so stupid—I didn’t mean to book them that close.”

Jack took a deep breath. Since their little conversation after Inga’s display, he’d felt that things were tense, and what was worse, he got the feeling that he wasn’t the main reason Chloe was unhappy. That was a good thing, of course—the last thing he needed was Chloe unhappy with him, considering their partnership. But the bad thing was, at least when he was the cause of unhappiness, he had a pretty good grip on what the problem was and what, if anything, he could do to fix it.

He hadn’t really felt like fixing a woman’s problems until he met Chloe. Probably because the woman looked as if she’d been carrying a boulder most of her life and trying to look cheerful while she was doing it, to boot.

“You’re too hard on yourself,” he said, wishing he could reach out and give her a hug. “Besides, after this next charter, I’ll be able to cut you a check. The Spencers were generous with a tip in addition to their fare, so we’re looking pretty good right now.”

“That’s good.” She sounded relieved.

“You know,” he ventured, following her to the honeymoon cabin and leaning against the door frame as she stripped the sheets, “you’ve been pretty quiet lately.”

She threw the dirty laundry on the floor and got a new set out from a cupboard, making the bed quickly and efficiently. “Well, it’s not like I’ve had a lot of free time to stand around gabbing,” she said, and it was a little snappish for her.

“True enough.” This was not going well at all. “I just was wondering…oh, hell. What’s wrong? You’ve been upset since you hit that Internet café.”

And since Inga made such an ass of herself with that pen-dropping trick. But he wasn’t going to add that out loud—not even with a gun to his head. He wanted Chloe to be as attracted to him as he was to her, but that didn’t mean he wanted her to be upset with him for the rest of her life, either. That would make working together hell, and he was starting to realize that being in business with Chloe was probably the best thing that had ever happened to him, and the Rascal.

She ignored the question until she’d plumped up the pillows and put the multicolored comforter back on the bed. Then she turned to him. “I’ve been having problems with Gerald.”

Jack gritted his teeth. “I should’ve guessed.”

“We’re selling the house we bought together. It’s been a headache trying to get enough cell phone reception to talk to his lawyers. But I think it can get done,” she said. Then her cute heart-shaped face scrunched with determination. “No. It’s getting done.”

She sounded like a cross between a fairy princess and a drill sergeant, and he smirked. “That’s my girl.”

She looked at him, startled.

He wasn’t sure what had prompted him to say that, so he cleared his throat. “So with the house sold, you’ll be free and clear of the guy, right? That’ll all be over?”

“Yeah,” she said slowly. “Well, I could fight him for the wedding money he owes me. But I probably…I don’t know. This has been hard enough.”

“Is it that important?” Jack said, hating to see her so wracked. “Why don’t you let him have the damned thing if it means that much to him? Just let it go?”

Her eyes widened, and he realized she was shocked at the question. “He’s trying to screw me out of what’s rightfully mine,” she said. “He used me all the time, and I let him. He’s trying to weasel out of this now just so he doesn’t have to deal with his mother’s anger. And I’m tired of letting him!”

Her cheeks turned pink with emotion, and her eyes flashed. Jack suddenly wanted to drive out and beat the crap out of Gerald, just on general principle. “You’re right,” he said. “I just…I don’t want you to be upset, that’s all.”

After a few deep breaths, she shrugged. “That’s real life for you,” she said with a humorless laugh. “Upsetting.”

It doesn’t have to be.

Now Jack did go with his impulse. Before she could grab the dirty breakfast tray, he stepped in the room, the door shutting behind him, and he took her in a bear hug. It wasn’t sexual. It was meant to comfort and reassure.

She tensed against him like a board for a minute, then she melted against his chest.

“It’s going to be all right,” Jack said, rubbing her back with small circles. “You’re going to kick his ass.”

She chuckled against him and he smiled. “I know,” she said, pulling away, and he could see tears rimming her eyes. She brushed them away quickly, but not so quickly that he missed them. “I’m going to be fine. I just need to cover the mortgage until I get the thing sold and then I’ll be able to start over.” She grinned at him. “And then you’ll finally be free of your workaholic semipartner.”

He stared at her. He knew that this was temporary. Hell, he’d been nervous enough at first to insist that it be temporary. But he hadn’t realized how well Chloe was going to mesh with his team or, for that matter, with him. He had known that he wanted her and liked her.

He was starting to suspect that he could grow to need her, and as disconcerting as that thought was, it was nothing compared to the thought of her just walking away.

“You know, you’ve been doing really well here,” he said. “You like it here on the Rascal, don’t you?”

She laughed. “I get to see the ocean every day and cook and hang out on deck in the sun when I’m not working,” she said. “What’s not to like?”

“I know we’ve been working hard, but it wouldn’t have to be forever,” he said. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and…this may sound nuts, but have you considered, you know…”

He trailed off as she stared at him, looking puzzled. “Have I considered what?” she finally prompted.

“Staying.”

She blinked. Then she shook her head. “I enjoy the cooking, but the cleaning can be pretty wearing,” she said.

“But you’re good at everything else, too. The marketing and admin stuff,” he said. “I was thinking maybe you could stay on as something more permanent. That we could continue this working relationship. Like, you know…partners.”

There. He’d said it.

His stomach dropped as if he was on a roller coaster. Whew. Now he knew what guys who proposed felt like.

Funny that he should make that connection.

He didn’t have time to think of the ramifications because he was too intent on Chloe’s response. She looked dreamy for maybe a split second. Then she looked wary. “I don’t…I hadn’t really thought about it,” she said slowly.

“Well, maybe you should,” Jack said, sitting on the bed and nudging her to sit next to him. “You love it out here. I can tell. And you’re really getting the hang of stuff.”

“Yeah, but it’s like…I don’t know…a vacation,” she said with a small laugh. “This isn’t a real business.”

“I beg your pardon,” he said, offended.

“Well, I mean, it’s a business for you,” she said.

“And it’s making your mortgage payments.”

She digested that for a minute. Then she sighed. “I know. And it has been fun,” she said as if she were only just realizing it. “But…there are all sorts of issues to think through. I’d need to make a list.”

He barked out a laugh, then looked at her contritely when she glared at him. “Sorry. That’s just so you. Why can’t you just say, ‘sure, why not?’ Why not just roll with it?”

“Would you be okay with my being fifty-fifty partners?” she countered. “And would it be partnership in the business…or would I be able to partially own the ship?”

He jolted. He hadn’t thought about it in terms of numbers and money and whatnot. And the Rascal was his. Chloe might be hell on wheels as far as getting organized and booking business, but this was his home and his boat!

She smirked. “Your expression of horror is one good reason why I’m not just rolling with it.”

“Okay. I’ll give you that one,” Jack said, shaken. “But we could probably work out something. What other objections do you have?”