Stolen Kisses (14 page)

“The baby is affecting your brain already,” she shot back with a sidelong look of disgust at her friend. “Arnette Montgomery is T.L.’s housekeeper. She practically raised Trevor.”

“That’s right. His mother died when he was a kid, a heart condition, I think.”

“Geez, what have you been doing? Hiring a private detective?” Jessie couldn’t believe her ears and gaped at her partner’s complacent face.

“I simply asked a few discreet questions here and there.” She breathed heavily on her fingernails and rubbed them on her shoulder.

“And?” Jessie prompted a few minutes later when Gina remained mute.

“So you are interested, huh?” Her friend’s triumphant smile grated on Jessie’s nerves, but she nodded anyway. “Okay, T.L. Planchet has been married three times. The first one produced Sanders and ended in divorce. Can you guess why?”

“Gina, he was only a little boy.”

“Probably a very stuffy little boy. Anyway, T.L. married the love of his life next, which gives us Trevor and his sister. Then the second wife died suddenly. Number three was supposed to be a mother to the three kids, but she walked out when her own kid, Curtiss, was in diapers. So this Arnette probably did raise all the kids.”

“You
have
been busy, haven’t you?”

“I’m not done yet,” Gina exclaimed, acting offended at the interruption. “Sanders is married and has his own stuffy little kid named Basil. Yuck. Curtiss is married as well and has two kids. Tory and Trevor are both very conspicuously single, although Tory was engaged about ten years ago. Our man, however, has never ventured into a serious relationship.”

“Don’t Curtiss’s children have names?”

“Ty Daniel and Amanda Sue,” she was told readily. “Do I get a prize? Like telling me why you aren’t throwing a hissy fit over Monsieur Bunny and the play.”

“I told you it was simply a coincidence, and Trevor was a perfect gentleman.” She thought Gina was almost as surprised over her behavior as Jessie had been that night. Maybe it would keep her friend occupied so she wouldn’t pester her about her new attitude toward the man. At least until Jessie figured out what she was going to do about it.

She wasn’t quite ready to eat crow. Gina would find out soon enough that Jessie was anxious to see Trevor in person, not just a long-eared representative. She needed to test her theory.

How was she going to admit anything to him if she couldn’t talk to him? That traitorous little voice inside reminded her that she could take the first step. Jessie had gotten as far as placing her hand on the telephone Sunday afternoon, twice, but couldn’t go through with it. Whether it was old-fashioned or cowardly, she decided that Trevor was the one who needed to make the next move.

She was going to have to swallow enough of her pride by admitting her mistake in misjudging him. There were times that it was easier to fall back on time-honored customs. Being a Southern lady had its advantages occasionally. She would let Trevor continue to be the man in pursuit, if he would only hurry up and do it.

Chapter Seven

“The ducks fly at the rise of a harvest moon.”

Trevor looked up at the brunette standing next to his table a few hours later. Her jacket collar was pulled up, and she had sunglasses on in spite of the cloudy sky outside and the softly lit interior of the restaurant. She gave a furtive look around the almost deserted room. He frowned as he got to his feet and held out a chair. “Pardon?”

“I thought with your mysterious phone call,” Gina explained as she dropped into the chair, “and arranging this cloak-and-dagger meeting that we needed, a password. Although I never thought of Bennigan’s as a spy’s hangout before this.”

“I guess I did sound a little like a character from a bad spy movie.” He chuckled in answer to her impish smile, beginning to relax for the first time in hours. After he had called Gina to arrange this meeting, he had been assailed by doubts. Did he really want to find out the type of man Jessie was looking for?

“At least you didn’t say it was a matter of life or death,” she returned good-naturedly. Then her smile disappeared. Narrowing her brown eyes, she gave him a long, hard look. “I hope to heaven your intentions are honorable. That sounds melodramatic, but I mean it.
If you hurt Jessie, I’ll tear out your heart with a spoon, in the words of my favorite villain.”

He knew she meant every single word, but he wasn’t offended by her loyal defense of her friend. That was exactly what he would say in her place. In spite of Jessie’s regal demeanor, there was also something vulnerable about her that brought all his protective instincts into play. It scared him to death. He’d never felt that strongly about a woman before.

“You have my solemn oath that I’m not playing around,” he stated firmly without committing himself too deeply. Gina would undoubtedly misinterpret his confusion over his feelings and walk out. Jessie was too important to him for him to lose out now. “I wish I had someone like you in my corner.”

“I think I am.” She gave him a chagrined smile. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t torn between the two of you. I know you’d be good for Jessie, no matter what she thinks she needs.”

“Which brings us to the reason for our little meeting.” He cleared his throat and straightened his spine against the back of his chair. He had the urge to ask for a cigarette and a blindfold, knowing exactly how a prisoner felt facing the firing squad. This was his moment of truth. “What kind of man does my Jessie want?”

“
Your
Jessie?” He hadn’t realized that he’d said the words out loud, but Gina’s satisfied grin took away his embarrassment. “Now I don’t feel like such a traitor about this.” She pulled out a folded sheet of paper from her purse and slipped it across the table.

Sweet heaven, there really is a list.
He stared in fascinated horror at the paper, wondering what to do next.

“It isn’t going to bite you, you know.” Gina tapped the piece of paper with a polished nail. “Jessie’s a very organized person, so when she decided it was past time for her to get married, she was as methodical about it as usual. She bought the latest books on relationships and began making a list of what qualities would make a suitable husband.”

“The books on the end table,” he murmured, still mesmerized by the white rectangle between them. “Why go to all that trouble?”

“She has her reasons, but that’s something you’re going to have to find out from Jessie.” Gina’s expression told him that she would go only so far with her help. “If Jessie hadn’t been so pleased with Monsieur Bunny this morning, I wouldn’t have agreed to come here.”

“She liked it?” he couldn’t resist asking.

“Yes, she did, but that’s all I’m going to say.” She didn’t have a chance to explain further as the waiter came by to take their orders.

Trevor reluctantly reached for the piece of paper, not bothering to look at it before he folded it and put it in his wallet. He was torn between the desire to read it immediately and the urge to burn it without knowing what Jessie had listed. For now he had to try to have a rational conversation with Gina as they drank the coffee that neither of them wanted.

“This lady has some unrealistic expectations,” Trevor announced as he slid into the wooden booth that evening.

Logan looked up from his beer and asked, “So you’ve met my mother.”

“Your mother? What are you talking about?” Trevor glanced up from the sheet of paper in his hand, noticing the morose look on the other man’s face for the first time.

“I got back from Texas yesterday to find my mother has been T.L.’s guest for a few days. Damn, I can still hear her asking Uncle Pres, ‘Who
are
these people?’ when he announced my trip down here.” He propped his chin in his hand, and stared balefully at his companion. “She’s been alone with Tory for five days now, something I haven’t been able to accomplish since I got back. I might as well pack my bags tonight.”

“A Yankee retreat? Why couldn’t you have had a few ancestors with the same spineless attitude about a hundred and thirty years ago?”

“Those are fighting words, son. I’ll have you know I had relatives with Sherman in Atlanta.”

“Big deal, so did I. My mother’s family is from Maryland,” Trevor explained with a smile. “I don’t know why I’m trying to cheer you up. All you have to do is corner Tory. I have some big problems. Take a look at this.”

Logan sat up and skimmed the typed sheet that was thrust in front of him. He cast a sympathetic look at his friend a few minutes later. “She really does have high standards. Do you fit any of these requirements?”

“My salary and my college degree. And I’ve never been convicted of a crime,” he stated firmly, dismissing three of the twenty prerequisites. At Logan’s raised eyebrows, he explained, “A Halloween prank when I was in college that the town folks didn’t like. We got off with a stiff warning from the judge.”

“Did you find out why she made out this list?”

“Not exactly. Her partner would say only that Jessie is looking for a husband, but I think there’s more to it. She was kind of reluctant to give me the list.” He sat back to reconstruct the interview with Gina. She had wanted to help him, but would go only so far. The big mystery was why Jessie was looking for a specific type of man. He was on his own to solve that puzzle.

“I don’t see anything about babies on here.”

“I know, and Gina wouldn’t talk about that either.”

“So, what next?”

“I began my challenge last Thursday night. While the next step is doing its work, I’m going to lay low,” he informed him, more than pleased with his plan. “I’m going to pique her interest this week but stay safely out of her way. Sort of the water-on-the-stone technique. By the end of the week I think I’ll have worn down her resistance.”

“Or made her madder than hell,” Logan remarked philosophically.

“There is that, but at least she’ll know I’m interested.”

“This is really serious, then?”

“The vote’s still out on that, but I’m more serious about this lady than I ever thought I would be about any woman.”

Logan solemnly lifted his bottle of beer.
“Morituri te salutamus.”

“How many of those have you had?” Trevor asked, eyeing his companion closely.

“‘We who are about to die salute you,’” he translated roughly, and shrugged. “It’s the only thing I remember from prep-school Latin, and damned if it didn’t seem appropriate. Tomorrow I try to get your sister’s attention away from her new store.”

“Here’s to the ladies,” Trevor responded solemnly. Was he a certifiable idiot to continue his pursuit? The lady wasn’t very encouraging, and her requirements for the perfect male were daunting. Looking at a couple whose arms were entwined by the bar, he knew the answer. The memory of Jessie’s hesitant responses to his kisses and the warmth of her willowy body in his arms made it worthwhile. He had to see what other magic she could bring into his life, if nothing more.

“Not another one?” Gina exclaimed as she spotted the third rabbit when she returned from lunch on Wednesday. “He didn’t happen to bring it in person, did he?”

“No,” Jessie practically snapped. She tried not to look at the hot-pink rabbit sitting next to the others, but her gaze was drawn to it. He was going to pay for this, she pledged silently, shooting a scathing glance at the tiny towel wrapped around the chubby pink waist.

“Should I bother to ask about the towel?”

“No.”

“Somehow I thought you would say that,” Gina returned morosely. “I have a feeling that you’ve been holding back some vital pieces of information.”

Jessica glared menacingly at her dearest friend.

“How about a message this time?” Gina wasn’t going to give up so easily.

“Yes, there was,” she answered, her expression still bleak. “He wants me to stop by the house on Saturday—”

“Hey, that’s great.”

“To discuss his final selections on wallpaper and paint,” Jessie finished through clenched teeth as if her friend hadn’t spoken.

“You’re not real happy about this, are you?”

“I haven’t been able to sleep or eat for the past three days. He has me so confused that I don’t know what to think anymore.”

“I would say he’s definitely interested.” Gina was always more optimistic.

“In what? Driving me slowly insane? I should have refused to do the house the minute I discovered he was the owner,” Jessie grumbled, burying her face in her hands with a groan for added effect. “I could have gone on with my life without Trevor Planchet waltzing in and out whenever he pleases. I also wouldn’t be having nightmares about Bugs Bunny chasing me with an ax.”

“You
are
in bad shape.”

Something in Gina’s voice made Jessie splay her fingers and peer suspiciously through them at her friend. “Is there anything you haven’t told
me
?”

“Why, heavens no. What would I know about any of this?” Her dark eyes widened in surprise.

“I don’t know,” Jessie moaned, realizing her mind was turning to mush because of one very elusive male. She was not, however, going to give in. “You’ve been his biggest cheerleader so far. He could turn out to be an ax murderer as I suggested, and you would still defend him.”