“Fine.”
“Fine?”
“I was held captive in a stuffy, smoke-filled room for most of the four days. This wasn’t exactly a vacation, you know.”
“How’d you get along with Mr. Lockwood?”
“Fine.”
“Is that the only word you know?” Disgruntled, Jan tore open a small bag of potato chips and dumped them on her tray.
“I have an adequate vocabulary.”
“Not today, you don’t. Come on, Steph, you were with the man day and night for four days. Something must have happened.”
The scene by the fountain, when Jonas had held her and kissed her, played back in Stephanie’s mind in living Technicolor. If she were to close her eyes, she might be able to feel the pressure of his mouth on hers. She strenuously resisted the urge. “Nothing happened,” she lied.
“Then why are you acting so strangely?”
“Am I?” Stephanie focused her attention on her friend, trying to look alert and intelligent even though her thoughts were a thousand miles away in an obscure Paris park.
“You have been acting weird ever since you got back.”
“What did you expect would happen?”
“I don’t know, but the others thought you might have fallen in love with him.”
“Oh, honestly, Jan, you’re mistaking jet lag for love.”
Disappointment clouded Jan’s eyes. “This isn’t going well.”
“What isn’t?”
“This romance. The girls and I had it all planned. We felt it would work out a whole lot easier than it is.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, in the romances, the minute the hero and heroine are alone together for the first time, something usually happens.”
“What do you mean, something happens?”
“You know, a kiss in the dark, an intimate dinner for two, a shared smile. Something!”
“We weren’t exactly alone; Adam Holmes was with us.” She avoided Jan’s eyes as she carefully peeled a hard-boiled egg. If Jan could see her eyes, she’d know all. The egg took on new importance as she shucked the shell off piece by piece.
“At any rate,” Jan continued, “we’d hoped that things might have taken off between you two.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint all of you, but the trip was basically a working arrangement and little else.” Stephanie sprinkled salt and pepper on the egg.
“Well, I guess that’s it, then.”
Stephanie returned the pepper shaker to the holder in the middle of the table. “What do you mean?”
“If Mr. Lockwood was ever going to notice you, it would have been last week. You were constantly in each other’s company, even if Adam Holmes was playing the part of legal chaperone. But if Mr. Lockwood isn’t attracted to you by now, I doubt that he ever will be.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Her heart contracted with a pang that felt strangely like disappointment. “Now can I get on with my life? I don’t want to hear any more of your corny romance ideas. Understand?”
“All right,” Jan agreed, but she didn’t look happy about it. “However, I wish you’d start reading romances. You’d understand what we’re talking about and play your role a little better.”
“Would you stop hounding me with those books? I’m not in the mood for romance.”
“Okay, okay, but when you are ready, just say the word.”
Stephanie took a look at her untouched egg, sighed, and stuffed it in the sack to toss in the garbage, her appetite gone. She couldn’t decide how she felt about Jonas. Part of her wished the kiss in the park had never happened. Those few minutes had made the remainder of the trip nearly intolerable. Each had taken pains to pretend nothing had happened, going out of their way to be cordial and polite, nothing less and certainly nothing more. It was as if Adam Holmes was their unexpected link with sanity. Neither Jonas nor Stephanie could do without him as they avoided any possibility of being trapped alone together. On the long flight home, Jonas had worked out of his briefcase while Stephanie and Adam played cards. For all the notice Jonas had given her, she could have been a piece of luggage. They’d separated at the airport, and Stephanie hadn’t seen Jonas since. It was just as well, she told herself. The incident at the fountain had been a moment out of time, and was best forgotten.
“Steph?”
Stephanie shook her head to free her tangled thoughts. “I’m sorry, were you saying something?”
Jan gave her an odd look. “I was asking if you’d like to meet Jim’s cousin, Mark. I thought we might double-date Saturday night. Dinner and a show, that kind of thing.”
For a moment, Stephanie couldn’t remember who Jim was. “Sure, that sounds like fun.” Anything was better than spending another restless weekend alone in her apartment.
“Mark said something about dating again, but I’ve held him off because I wanted to see how things developed between you and Mr. Lockwood.”
Stephanie stared at her blankly and blinked twice, carefully measuring her words. She was saddened by the reality of what she had to say. “It isn’t going to work between Jonas and me. Nothing’s going to happen.” The crazy part was that Stephanie was of two minds on the subject of the company president. He intrigued her. There wasn’t a single man who interested her more. He was challenging, intelligent, pigheaded, stubborn, and completely out of her league. Ah well, she thought, sighing expressively, you won some and you lost some. And she’d lost Jonas without ever really having known him.
“Saturday at seven, then?”
“I’ll look forward to it.” That wasn’t stretching the truth all that much. As far as men went, there was little happening in Stephanie’s life.
“The three of us will pick you up at your apartment. Okay?”
“That sounds fine.”
Jan groaned and laughed. “You’re back to that word again.”
Saturday evening, Stephanie washed her hair and spent extra time coiling it into a long braid that reached the middle of her back. The trick was one that her sister had taught her. She dressed casually in cords and a bulky knit sweater her mother had sent her last Christmas. The winter-wheat color reminded her of the rolling hills of grain outside her hometown.
The doorbell chimed, and Stephanie expelled her breath forcefully. She wasn’t looking forward to this evening. All day her thoughts had drifted back to Jonas and their time in Paris, especially their stroll in the park. If she went out with anyone tonight, she wanted it to be with him. Wishful thinking, and not a fountain in sight! She wasn’t especially eager to meet Jim’s cousin either. Jan had tried to build him up, but Stephanie knew from experience the problems that could be encountered on a blind date. Had she had her wits about her and been less concerned about revealing her attraction to Jonas, she would have declined the invitation. But it was too late now.
She needn’t have worried about Mark. He looked nice enough, although it came out in the first couple of minutes that he was newly divorced. Miserable, too, judging from the look in his eyes.
The vivacious Jan carried the conversation once the introductions were finished with.
“Would anyone like some wine before we leave?” The tray with the wine glasses was set up on the coffee table, waiting for their arrival. “It’s a light white wine.”
“Sounds marvelous,” Jan said, linking her fingers with Jim’s. The two claimed the sofa and sat side by side. Mark took a chair, leaving its twin for Stephanie.
Still standing, she poured the wine. “What movie are we seeing?”
“There’s a new foreign film out that sounds interesting.”
The doorbell chimed, and Stephanie got up to answer it. “I’m not expecting anyone,” she announced to her guests. “It’s probably the paperboy wanting to collect.” The youth seemed to do so at the most inopportune times. Last month she’d been in the shower shampooing her hair when he’d come.
Undoing the lock, Stephanie was about to tease the teenager about his bad timing when she stopped cold. It wasn’t the paperboy who stood on the other side of her door; it was Jonas Lockwood.
Chapter Five
“Jonas.” Stephanie experienced a sense of joy so strong she nearly choked on it. Just when she’d given up any hope of seeing him again, he’d come to her. But her joy quickly turned to regret as she heard Jan, Jim and Mark talking behind her. “What are you doing here?” she whispered fiercely.
Jonas stood stiffly on the other side of the door, his expression impossible to read. His grip on his cane tightened. “I came to see you.”
Jan apparently heard Stephanie’s exclamation of surprise and murmured something to Jim about Stephanie and Jonas.
“May I come in?” Jonas asked.
“Yes... of course. I didn’t mean to be rude.” She stepped aside, her hand still holding the doorknob. Jonas’s timing couldn’t have been worse, but she was so pleased to see him that she wouldn’t have cared if he’d arrived unannounced on Christmas Eve.
“Mr. Lockwood, how nice to see you again,” Jan said, tossing Stephanie a knowing look that was capable of translating whole foreign libraries.
Both Jim and Mark stood, and Stephanie made awkward introductions. “Jim, Mark, this is Mr. Lockwood.”
“Jonas,” he said, correcting her and offering them his hand.
“Would you care for a glass of wine?” Jan offered.
“Yes, please,” Stephanie hurried to add, her face filling with color at her lack of good manners. The heat threatened to suffocate her cheeks with its warmth. “Please stay and have some wine.” Before he could answer, she walked into the kitchen for another wineglass, filled it and handed it to Jonas, who had claimed the chair next to Mark.
Resisting the urge to press her cool hands against her flaming cheeks, Stephanie took a seat on the sofa beside Jan. The men were asking Jonas questions about the business of manufacturing small parts for airplane engines as though it was the most interesting topic in the world. Jonas answered each question with the same seriousness with which it was asked. While the men were occupied, Jan took the opportunity to jab Stephanie in the ribs with her elbow. “I thought you said he wasn’t interested,” she whispered under her breath.
“He isn’t,” Stephanie insisted. Glancing around, Stephanie wanted to groan with frustration. Although the small, one-bedroom apartment suited her nicely, Stephanie was intensely conscious that most of her furniture was secondhand and well-worn. She hadn’t been the least bit ashamed to have Jan and her friends view her mix-and-match arrangement, but entertaining Jonas Lockwood was another matter entirely. Oh, for heaven’s sake, what did she care? He hadn’t stopped by to check out her china pattern.
“I can see that I’ve come at a bad time,” Jonas said, standing. He set his glass aside, and Stephanie noted that he hadn’t bothered to taste the wine.
Stephanie stood with him.
“We were about to leave for dinner,” Jan explained apologetically. “But if you needed Steph for something at the office, we could change our plans.”
“That won’t be necessary.” He shook hands with Jim and Mark a second time. “It was a pleasure meeting you both.”
“I’ll walk you to the door,” Stephanie offered, locking her fingers together in front of her. He’d stopped in out of the blue, and she wasn’t about to let him escape without knowing the reason for his impromptu visit.
Instead of stopping to ask him at her front door, Stephanie stepped outside into the hall with him. For a moment, neither spoke. Stephanie was trying to come up with a subtle way of mentioning that she’d only met Mark a few minutes before, that the blind date had been Jan’s idea, and that she’d only fallen into it because she didn’t think that Jonas wanted to see her again. But she couldn’t explain without looking like a fool.
“I apologize for not calling first,” Jonas said finally.
“It... doesn’t matter. I’m almost always home.”
He cocked his brow as though he didn’t quite believe her.
“It’s true.”
He glanced at his wristwatch. “I must be going.”
“Jonas.” Her hands were clenched so tightly that she was sure she’d cut off the blood supply to her fingers. “Why did you come?”
“It isn’t important.”
It was terribly important to her. “Is it something from the office?”
“No.”
“Then... why?”
“I believe there’s a young man in there waiting for you. I consider it poor manners for you to remain in this hallway with me, discussing my motives.”
“What is this? Do you want to play twenty questions?”
He frowned.
“All right, you obviously want me to guess the reason you stopped by. Fine. Since that’s the way you want it, let’s start with the basics. Is it animal, vegetable or mineral?”
“Ms. Coulter.” He closed his eyes, seemingly frustrated by her tenacity.
“I’m not going back inside until you tell me why you’re here.”
“This is neither the time nor the place to discuss it.” His gaze hardened.
The look was one Stephanie knew all too well. “It’s common courtesy to tell someone why you stopped by.”
“The only manners you need concern yourself with are your own toward your friends. Now I suggest that you join them. We can discuss this later.”
“When?” She wasn’t about to let him off as easily as that.
“Monday.”
She didn’t want to agree, but she could hear the others talking and knew they’d long since finished their wine. “All right, I’ll wait until Monday.”
His gaze rested on her for a long moment. “It would be far better if you forgot I was ever here.’’
“I’m not going to do that.” How could she? She hadn’t been so pleased to see anyone in months.
“I didn’t think you would. Enjoy yourself tonight.” He said it with such sincerity that she wanted to assure him that she would, even though she knew the entire evening was a waste.
“Goodbye, Jonas.”
“Goodbye.” He looped the end of his cane over his forearm and turned away from her.
Stephanie watched him go, biting into her lower lip to keep from calling him back. If there had been any decent way of doing so, she would have sent Jan, Jim and Mark on their way without her. Reluctantly, she went back inside her apartment.
As she had known it would be, the evening was time misspent. Mark’s conversation consisted of an account of the wrongs committed by his ex-wife and of talking about how terribly he missed his children. Stephanie tried to appear sympathetic, but her thoughts were centered on Jonas. They wavered between quiet jubilation and heart-wrenching despair. More than once, she had to resist the urge to tell Mark to be quiet and go back to his wife since it was so obvious that he still loved her. A thousand times over she wished she’d never agreed to this blind date, and silently vowed she wouldn’t do it again, no matter how close the friend who arranged it. Stephanie hoped Jan appreciated what she was going through, but somehow she doubted it.