Blame It on Paradise (19 page)

“Perhaps you should let him go,” Jack suggested with a sardonic lift of an eyebrow.

Reginald stuck the twisted end of the cigar into the cutter and guillotined it. “Burke is a necessary weasel. As much as I hate to admit it, his talents come in useful from time to time.”

Jack crossed his arms over his chest and tipped his head toward the photographs. “That’s not talent. That’s desperation.”

“I’m sorry about those, Jack. If I’d known that you were already on it, I never would have let Burke off his leash.” He lit the cigar and took a series of long, deep draws on it. Plumes of smoke the same color as his hair formed a haze about his head. “You really should try one of these, Jack. They’re Cuba’s best.”

Jack gritted his teeth and forced himself to be patient. If he’d heard Reginald’s ode to the Cuban stogie once, he’d heard it a thousand times.

“A perfect draw, every time.” Reginald stared lovingly at the cigar. “You know, I got this package for a steal.” Passing a liver-spotted hand over the highly polished finish of the humidor, he said, “I got the box and two dozen cigars for four thousand dollars.” He took another long draw on the cigar. “Sweet as vanilla, Jack.”

Jack silently wondered how something that tasted like vanilla could smell like wet raccoon fur.

“You know, I had high hopes for you when you joined this firm.” Reginald sat back in his leather chair and laced his fingers over his stomach. “I’m glad to see that you know how to find creative ways to solve difficult problems. You should have told me about your involvement with this woman.”

“I won’t apologize for my relationship with Lina, sir, because quite frankly, it’s none of your business.”

Reginald’s white eyebrows met in confusion. “Who’s Lina?”

“Ms. Marchand.”

“Oh.” He sat forward. “Well. Be that as it may, I have to confess that if I were thirty years younger, I’d have employed a similar strategy to get what I wanted.” A lascivious snicker squeezed past Reginald’s stogie. “Oh, yes. Millicent wants to go back to Darwin, and I think I might just go with her. She can get the tea and I’ll get some T & A. Remember the photos of all those broads from the slide show Millie and I presented in January? I took those photos. Millie thought I was just doing research for the presentation.”

Jack stared at his feet to hide a snarl of distaste. This was his first glimpse of the dirty old man wrapped in Reginald’s five-thousand dollar suits.

“I’m looking forward to hearing the details,” Reginald said. “Have your girl call mine and set up something, let’s say lunch at the Union Oyster House.”

“Details?” Jack looked up. “Of what?”

“About what you’ve gotten out of J.T. Marchand during your island interludes,” Reginald laughed, greedily wringing his hands together. “Millie’s convinced that no woman could ever resist your charms. And all this time, I thought your success was built on cold, efficient brain power, not beauty. Is Marchand any closer to signing over her precious tea?”

“We don’t discuss business at home.”

Reginald blinked in surprise. He tapped a finger against his desktop and grinned. “ ‘Home,’ is it? You’re going the extra mile to suck her in, aren’t you? Women love that, Jack. You’re good, boy.”

“I’m not trying to put anything over on her,” Jack said. “Either you’ll get what you need through the tea trials or you won’t. I’m not trying to trick her into signing with Coyle-Wexler.”

Reginald’s smile melted. “Am I to believe that you and that island woman are up in Nahant playing house for real? Jack, tell me you’re joking.”

Jack glanced at the Chippendale highboy housing Reginald’s fifty-year old port and twelve-year old Scotch. His gaze wandered over the pair of John Singleton Copley originals hung on the walls before settling on the sprawling view of Boston Harbor behind Reginald. Jack looked everywhere but at the old man’s eyes as he wondered why he’d ever wanted anything that Reginald had, why he’d wanted to someday be just like Reginald.

Elbows on his desk, Reginald leaned forward, still sucking on his cigar. “Give me a sneak preview of what she’s like. I’ll bet she’s a wildcat between the sheets, isn’t she?”

Jack stood up a bit straighter, pulled his shoulders back a little, and slightly lowered his chin. Whether Reginald knew a fighting stance when he saw one didn’t matter. It had the desired effect, and Reginald sat back in his chair. “I don’t like this line of questioning, sir,” Jack said.

“And I don’t like your tone, son.”

“My tone and I have work to do, so if there’s nothing else…”

“You’re a smart man, Jack. Surely you understand the ramifications of what you’re doing with Ms. Marchand.”

“What am I doing?” Jack picked up the photos and sorted through them one by one. “There’s nothing incriminating here.” He let the first photo flutter to the desktop. “I’m enjoying my view with a business associate.” The second photo fell. “I took a business associate to my mother’s for her Irish soda bread and a New England boiled dinner. And this,” he sent the third photo flying toward Reginald on an air current, “this is an embrace, nothing more.” He quickly turned from the old man before Reginald could see the lie etched on his face.

Reginald collected the photos and very neatly stacked them. “Now I know how your adversaries must feel once you start presenting your arguments, Jack.” He spent a long moment thinking and smoking. “So in all the time the two of you have spent together, Ms. Marchand has given you no information we can use to advance our pursuit of Darwin’s tea?”

“No,” Jack snapped. “She hasn’t.”

Reginald studied the top photo, the one taken of Jack and Lina on the deck at dusk. “I didn’t realize this was you, at first. You look so…human.” He pulled his overpriced cigar from his mouth and ground out the burnt end in a heavy Baccarat crystal ashtray. “Let me ask you something, Jack. If Ms. Marchand
had
told you something we could use, would you tell me?”

“No,” Jack decided right there on the spot. “I could never betray her.”

Reginald’s jaw slowly fell. “Are you—are you in love with this woman?”

Jack’s eyes fell on the top photo. He and Lina had spent so many nights sitting on the deck, doing no more than talking as they watched the water. At first, he hadn’t recognized himself any more than Reginald had. The man in that photo looked so relaxed and content. Jack’s first thought upon seeing it was that Anderson, the happy, carefree DeVoy son, had somehow traded places with him.

Anderson had at least three girlfriends at any given time, but for Jack, there was only one woman. A barefoot island goddess whose silence had seduced him, whose wrath had built a shaky bridge between him and his family…and whose “I love you” made him happier than he’d ever thought possible.

“Yes,” he finally answered, thinking back on Adrian’s words. “I’m head over ass in love with her.”

“Well,” Reginald sighed heavily. “I guess that changes things.…”

CHAPTER 15

Lina stood before the full-length mirrors lining one wall of the master bathroom. Dressed all in white, she wore loose-fitting pants with a drawstring waist and a sheer mohair sweater over a cotton camisole. The furry sweater delineated her upper body against the stark white surroundings of the bathroom as she gathered her hair in one hand and twisted it into a loose knot at the back of her head.

It had taken an hour for her to achieve the look of casual comfort, but it still felt wrong.
White’s too virginal,
she decided, peering at her reflection more studiously.
That’s a bit incongruous with the subject I plan to address with Jack tonight.

She had to tell him as soon as he returned from Coyle-Wexler. Her visit to her
ob/gyn
two weeks ago on Darwin had confirmed the result she’d gotten in Spain. She was at eight weeks now, and it was time that Jack knew. “I should have just blurted it out when he told me about Beth,” she said aloud, moving into the bedroom. “Jack, dearest, you and Harry have much more in common than you realize. You’re both going to become fathers and uncles at nearly the same time,” she practiced.

Her knees weakened and she sat heavily on the foot of the bed. Cold, sticky sweat coated her palms while howler monkeys chased their tails in her belly. Very little frightened her, but the thought of telling Jack about the baby…

She forgot about changing clothes. She scampered over the bed to the nightstand and picked up the phone. It became a lifeline as she picked up the receiver and dialed the digits that would connect her to Levora, whose cheerful voice did much to calm her nerves.

“Hey, Mama,” Levora greeted. “I was just sitting down to a cup of Kona. Did the muffins keep for Jack?”

“He’ll have them tonight,” Lina said, to herself adding,
if he still has an appetite after what I have to tell him.

“How are you feeling, kiddo? Still fighting back the tummy trouble?”

“I’m scared. I’m really scared.”

“That’s natural with your first,” Levora soothed. “You were so young the first time I was pregnant, so you probably don’t really remember what a basket case I was. I was terrified at the thought of being responsible for such a tiny, helpless person.”

Her knees drawn up to her chest, Lina huddled in a nest of pillows at the head of Jack’s side of the bed. “That’s not what scares me. That’s actually the part I’m looking forward to. I was ten when Louise was born, and I can recall the first time you let me hold her. She was the littlest thing, and I remember how sweet her breath smelled, and the softness of the skin of her bum.” She slid a hand over her abdomen. She had no tangible proof of the life tucked in there, but she felt its presence as strongly as she felt the beat of her own heart. “I want this baby more than I ever imagined I could. I’m not afraid of becoming a mother.”

“So why’re you calling me in the middle of my coffee break instead of putting a nice hot casserole on the table for Jack’s dinner?” Levora teased.

“He’s why I’m scared.”

Levora sobered. “Handled the news badly, did he?”

“He doesn’t know yet. I’m telling him tonight and I’m afraid of how he might react.”

“Maybe you should wait a few more weeks before you say anything to anyone, kiddo. It’s still really early yet, and you never know what could—”

“He loves me, Levora.”

“Oh, sweetie…”

“It slipped out this afternoon. We were at Coyle-Wexler, performing our sworn enemy routine, and he said it. Mostly. I love him, too, and I told him. I have to tell him that we’re having a baby.”

A dull thud stole Lina’s attention. Her head spun toward the doorway, and she saw Jack, the blood draining from his face, his hands lax at his sides, and his briefcase fallen dead at his feet.

Lina’s voice rasped through the dryness of her throat. “Levora? I have to call you back…”

* * *

Once he was capable of movement, Jack threw up his hands and stepped over his briefcase. “Can this day get any worse?” He stared through the ceiling as if it were God’s basement, still ranting. “That wasn’t a challenge, because obviously, You’ve outdone Yourself so far.”

Lina hung up the phone. “Who are you talking to?” she asked, pleased that she sounded completely normal for a woman who had just inadvertently changed a man’s life, completely and forever. “Would you like some water? I think I need water.”

She started for the bathroom, which had a tiny fridge built into the lower section of the linen closet. She grabbed a bottle of water, and the cold neck of the cobalt glass bottle gave her something to cling to as Jack dogged her steps.

“You’re pregnant?” he nearly shouted.

“Yes. Almost nine weeks now.”

“You’re having a baby,” he stated uncertainly.

“Well, unless ‘pregnant’ means something different here than in other English speaking parts of the world, then—”

“This is unbelievable!” Jack cried over her. He followed her back into the bedroom, and then began wearing out a patch of carpeting near the windowed wall.

Sitting on the foot of the bed, Lina elegantly crossed one leg over the other. Her heart pounded so hard and fast, the fine hairs of her sweater seemed to vibrate. “And why’s that?”

“You aren’t…you didn’t…” He tore off his jacket and threw it over the back of the office chair. “You run around half naked on that damned rock of yours, just waiting to seduce some unsuspecting tourist, knowing full well that something like this could happen! Why didn’t you do anything to prevent it?”

Lina’s apprehension drained away and anger flooded into its place. It seemed to enter her bloodstream, loosening the muscles of her neck and shoulders and adding amplitude to her voice. “I didn’t force you into anything, Jack. And if I’m not mistaken, contraceptive devices exist for men as well as for women, in Darwin
and
in Nahant! As I recall, we went through the complimentary condoms at your homestay as though they were snack mints, so it’s not as if we’d completely lost our heads.” She vaulted to her feet and gave him a good hard poke in the chest. “Before you, Jack, I hadn’t been with anyone for more than two years, and I couldn’t be with anyone else once you left. I wasn’t taking or wearing anything to prevent pregnancy because I wasn’t doing anything that could knock me up!

“This baby wasn’t planned, but neither did I plan on falling headfirst in love with you.” Her bottled water tipped over onto the bed when she got up and marched to the closet. Jack darted forward to grab the bottle, to stop its contents from saturating his custom-made mattress. “I wanted to tell you my own way, and I’m sorry you overheard it like that,” she said, opening the closet. She dragged out her garment bag and unzipped the top of it. “I understand this is a shock to you, given the determination you’ve shown in keeping yourself alienated from everyone other than your financial advisor.”

“What are you talking about?” he grumbled. “And what are you
doing
?” he demanded when she began snatching her blouses, pants and jackets from their hangers and shoving them haphazardly into the garment bag.

“This is a shock to me, too, Jack.” Her voice cracked, and she abruptly turned to throw open a dresser drawer. “But I couldn’t be happier!” Quiet tears dropped onto the armful of silky, lacy undergarments she scooped up and forced into the garment bag. She struck the tears away before she faced Jack again. “I’m not asking you for anything. My baby and I will have everything we need on Darwin.” She moved to his nightstand and picked up the phone.

“Calm down so we can discuss this like two responsible adults.” He grabbed handfuls of her underwear and put them back into their recently abandoned drawer. “Of course,” he muttered under his breath, “if we’d been responsible in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“I heard that,” she called over to him. “Yes,” she said into the phone after the party she had dialed picked up. “This is Jaslyn Thérèse Marchand and I need my driver as soon as possible…Yes. Thank you.” She hung up and went to her bag, shunting Jack aside with her shoulder so she could force the zipper closed. “I’m going back to the hotel. I think we need to spend some time apart.” Clasping the retractable handle of her garment bag, she began dragging it to the staircase.

Jack hurried ahead of her, to carry the heavy bag down the stairs before she attempted to do it herself. “You can’t go now.”

“Is that so? Well, you didn’t waste any time getting my bag down the stairs, did you?” She took it from him and parked it by the front door.

“You shouldn’t be lugging luggage in your condition.”

“I’m perfectly healthy and capable of doing whatever I like,” she insisted stubbornly.

“Don’t go, Lina,” Jack said wearily.

“Why not?”

“Because you’re pregnant.” He vigorously unknotted his tie as he paced the living room.

“Is that the only reason I should stay?”

“Yes! We need to talk about this, consider our options.”

Still pacing, he failed to notice the heartbreak reshaping Lina’s features. She took her coat from the closet in the entry hall. “I have one option, and I’m taking it. I’ll stay in Boston for what’s left of the tea trials, and then I’m going back to Darwin. I can give my child a home there, a real home.”

“Have you forgotten that I have a say in this, too?” Jack’s frustration erupted. “I can’t just pick up and go to the other side of the world. I’ve built a life here and I won’t just leave it! It’s not fair for you to expect me to.”

“I don’t,” she said very precisely. “I know how much your life here means to you.”

“You are the most self-righteous, supercilious person I’ve ever met!”

“We’ve more than
met
, Mr. DeVoy! Go twist your body in knots or check the totals in your stock portfolio or whatever it is you do when I’m not around. Let me leave in peace.”

“He’s my baby, too, Lina. I think I deserve more than ‘I’m pregnant, I’m leaving.’ ”

She threw up her hands. “You’re right. How unkind of me. Okay, Jack, I’m all ears. Tell me, how should we proceed? What do we do now?”

“Have you seen a doctor? Are you even sure you’re pregnant?”

“I took eight over-the-counter tests in Spain and my physician confirmed those results two weeks ago. That’s why I went back to Darwin after Madrid. I wanted to see my own physician.”

Jack lightly pounded a fist into his palm. “Lina, we used condoms. We were careful.”

“Obviously not careful enough. Particularly the night of the beach party.”

“Bullseye,” Jack recalled with a defeated chuckle. “I thought I got out in time.”

“Funny you should phrase it like that.” Lina cracked a weak smile. Biology, timing and carelessness aside, that night with Jack had been so powerful, so all consuming, as if their souls had mated along with their bodies. She shook herself out of her glassy-eyed recollection of that moment to see Jack looking at her with such tenderness, she knew that he had been thinking of it, too. “On Darwin, the night we met…did you mean any of the things you said to me?”

He heard the tremble in her voice, and he would have gone to her if his feet had not been rooted to the carpet. “Yes. Even more now than then.”

“Baby or not, I was planning to return to Darwin soon, Jack. I’m tired and I want to go home.”

“But Lina, this is…” He wanted to tell her that this was her home too, but in all honesty, he couldn’t. She couldn’t leave Darwin any more than the moon could leave night.

“I can’t leave New England right now,” he said, more to convince himself than her. “There are too many loose ends at Coyle-Wexler. Reginald called me into his office today because he wanted to show me photos of us. He had Burke hire someone to watch you, to try to get a leg up on securing the rights to the tea.”

“No business,” she said softly.

“Make an exception for this.”

“You’re his attorney, Jack. You’re violating confidentiality by revealing any of his business tactics to me. Anyway, if Wexler’s going to watch anyone, it should be Edison Burke. He and Carol Crowley were stitched at the hip on Darwin. She works for one of your competitors, doesn’t she?”

“She and Burke are a couple?” Jack wrinkled his nose. “I didn’t think Burke liked blondes. Blonde women, that is.”

“She was deported along with him. She was the woman with him in the boys’ loo at The Crab and Nickel. I, for one, will never eat there again. I might even have the place razed and the earth sown with salt.”

Jack thoughtfully stroked his chin. “Interesting. I think that information will be extremely useful to Mr. Wexler.”

“I’m sure Mr. Wexler would be even more pleased to know that at a time like this, his interests are the ones you have at heart.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“You know, I’d prefer it if I were competing against a string of beautiful women. It’s rather humbling to know that I’ve lost you to a creepy old man.”

They stood a few feet apart, looking at each other. Jack refused to drop his gaze. He deserved the disappointment shaping Lina’s lovely face, and he wouldn’t shy away from it.

No longer able to stomach the shock hardening Jack’s face, Lina broke away first, thankful for the ringing of the doorbell. She slipped on her heavy black coat and turned up the high collar to face the cold, dark night, and then opened the door for the driver. She directed him to her bag.

Jack moved forward and took her arm, gently pulling her out of earshot of the driver. He stroked her arms, wishing he could feel her warmth through the tight weave of her wool coat. Her lithe body, which normally melted against him, stayed rigid, even when he bowed his head and touched his forehead to hers. “He knows I love you,” Jack murmured.

“He who?”

“The creepy old man. Reginald asked me if I loved you today, after he saw those pictures. I told him yes.”

Jack imagined that he felt her shiver. Her lips parted, her breathing became a bit heavier. He might have lowered his mouth to hers if she had not drawn away from him and backed toward the door. “There really is hope for you yet, counselor,” she said somberly before turning and hurrying out to the waiting car.