Dangerous Attraction Romantic Suspense Boxed Set (84 page)

“Oh, that’s really not necessary,” Kelly said hurriedly. “I really don’t want her to have to do things for me. I mean, I don’t want you to have to change things for me.” Oh no, thought Kelly. This really wasn’t what she had in mind when she thought up this insane plan. Truth be told, she hadn’t even thought it through this far, or thought about what their lives would be like for the next year.

“It’s all right, Kelly,” Jack said with a shrug. “She does them for me so there’s no reason not to do them for you, too.”

“Come on,” Jack said as he headed up the staircase, taking the stairs two at a time on his long, lean legs. “I’ll show you the house.”

* * *

Jack showed Kelly the house and went back to the office to work. Kelly’s furniture had been put in storage but all of Kelly’s clothes, books, and personal items had been put in the largest of the guest rooms.

Kelly climbed the stairs to her new room and looked out the window to the view of Long Island Sound. She did have to admit, it was stunning here. She was going to be spoiled this year in Jack’s fairy tale house.

Kelly had turned back to the room to unpack her belongings when a plump woman in her late fifties, with short graying hair that once was brown, and kind smiling eyes appeared in the doorway.

“Oh!” said Kelly. “You startled me.”

“I’m sorry.” The woman smiled and came into the room.

“I’m Mrs. Poole. I saw Jack leave and thought I’d come get you settled in. Did Jack show you where everything is?” She immediately started to make herself useful. She had a singsong voice that Kelly found soothing and comforting.

Kelly responded to the woman’s genuine and warm smile with one of her own. “I’m Kelly. Thank you, yes.”

Mrs. Poole opened the curtains and blinds, pulled towels out of the linen closet and brought them into Kelly’s adjoining bath. She even started to help Kelly unpack.

“Jack showed me around, although I think it will take me awhile to get used to it all. With one sister and two brothers, I grew up in a fairly large home, but it was nothing like this.”

Mrs. Poole nodded and laughed. “It takes a bit of getting used to. You holler if you get lost and I’ll come find you and get you to where you need to go.”

Mrs. Poole whirled around busily, putting clothes away as she chatted with Kelly about the room. “I’ve always loved this room. Jack brought in a designer to do everything when he bought the house. I wouldn’t have thought of putting yellow with Wedgewood blue, but it turned out beautifully. So light and airy with the white wicker furniture and trim.”

“Oh, you don’t need to help me unpack,” Kelly said, embarrassed to be waited on. “I really don’t want to be a burden. I mean… I don’t mean… That is I don’t ….” Kelly stumbled nervously over the words, not knowing how to explain the situation to Mrs. Poole. She didn’t know if Jack had told Mrs. Poole about their arrangement yet or not.

Mrs. Poole smiled kindly at her as she crossed to hang several dresses in the walk-in closet. “It’s all right dear. Jack explained what’s going on. He thought it would be best for me to know about your little, uh, agreement. I have to say, it’s one of the funnier pickles he’s gotten himself into and I do find it entertaining that the whole thing was your idea. I’ll bet
that
caught him off guard. Jack is used to being in charge of things. I bet he damn near jumped out of his skin when his ‘fiancé’ walked into his office.” She laughed a full belly laugh as her eyes sparkled with amusement.

Kelly let out her breath and smiled at Mrs. Poole. The older woman’s blunt manner put Kelly at ease and Kelly had a feeling she would like getting to know this woman.

“Besides, it’ll be nice to have someone else around this big place. All of my kids are long grown and it’s too empty here when it’s just me and Jack. I like having people around the house to spoil.”

Kelly started to relax and felt better about the whole bizarre situation.

But Mrs. Poole’s next comment caught her off guard again, and Kelly realized she’d need to stay on her toes.

“That man needs this, though. You’ll be very good for Jack, even if it is only for a year,” Mrs. Poole said with a wink and walked out of the room.

Chapter Ten

Jack and Kelly drove to Hamden for her parents’ weekly Sunday dinner. They were in Jack’s Jaguar and she couldn’t help but appreciate the buttery softness of the leather as she melted down into the seat.

“Are you close to your family, Kelly?” Jack asked as he turned off of the highway at the sign for Hamden.

“Uh huh. I don’t make it for dinner every Sunday but I try to get there two or three times a month. My mom is a great cook so it’s not a hardship,” she said, with a small smile at Jack.

Jack made a left turn onto a tree-lined residential street. “Tell me again how many of you there are?” Kelly had told Jack about her brothers and sisters before and she suspected that in his line of work, he remembered names and details with very little effort. Kelly had a feeling that he wanted to keep her talking to calm her nerves and she was thankful to him.

“There are four of us. My sister Jessica who’s two years older than I am, and our older brothers Liam and David. My sister and my mom and I are really close so I know they’ll be hurt I didn’t tell them about you.” Kelly chewed on her bottom lip and looked out the window as Jack pulled over to the side of the street in front of the house where she grew up.

“You ready?” Jack asked her when she made no move to open the car door.

“Better get it over with, huh?” she said but she looked far from convinced of that idea as she stepped out.

Jack ran around to meet her, and took her hand in his as they stepped along the walkway. Kelly was surprised by how supportive and nice he was about meeting her family. She hadn’t expected this big business mogul to be so accommodating. Genuine and sweet. But he kept proving her wrong.

“It’ll be all right, Kel.” Jack squeezed her hand and for a moment Kelly felt as though they had been friends forever with the easy way he had fallen into calling her ‘Kel’ and the way he was able to calm her whenever she began to feel like she had fallen down a rabbit hole – which was a lot lately.

Kelly opened the front door and pulled Jack in behind her, still holding his hand. “Mom, Dad,” Kelly called out, “we’re here.”

Kelly’s mother came walking in from the kitchen wiping her hands on a dishtowel. “Who’s here, Kelly? Did you bring a friend?” Her mom stopped when she saw Jack. “Oh, you brought a friend,” she said, all smiles and beaming. Kelly knew her mother was thrilled that Kelly had brought home a man. Just wait until she found out he was a married man.
Her
married man! How would she react?

“Jim!” her mother called out over her shoulder. “Come meet Kelly’s friend.”

“Mom this is Jack. Jack, my mom, Betty Bradley.”

Just then Kelly’s mom spotted the diamonds on Kelly’s left hand and gasped. Taking Kelly’s hand in hers she stared at Kelly, gaping. With a pained look on her face, Kelly tried to get out the words.

“Um, Mom. Jack and I…. We, um….” Kelly couldn’t figure out the right way to tell her mother she had missed her daughter’s wedding.

“Ma’am….” Jack put his arm around Kelly. “Your daughter gave me the honor of becoming my wife,” Jack said in a somewhat old-fashioned way that was probably a little out of character for him, but was absolutely the perfect way to explain things to Kelly’s mom. Kelly felt a surge of gratitude for Jack and sank further into the curve of his body.

Kelly watched as her mother absorbed the news but the shock on her mother’s face was all she could see. She didn’t know if her mother was happy or mad or what.

“Jim!” Her mother really bellowed now. “Come meet Kelly’s new husband.” Her mother’s voice raised in pitch with each word so that she was practically squeaking at the end.

Suddenly the front hall was filled with her father’s large frame, her two older brothers, who both stood as tall as Jack and were both glowering at him, and her older sister – all talking at once. Jack kept his arm around Kelly and Kelly grabbed onto his hand as it wrapped around her waist, clinging to him as if he were an anchor. Her anchor. She didn’t know what to say. Jack’s calm voice broke through the madness once again.

“Sir,” Jack said, extending his hand to shake hands with Kelly’s father, “I’m sorry we didn’t come to see you all first. It’s just that this took us a bit by surprise.”

Kelly almost laughed at Jack’s explanation but she also knew that he was trying to throw himself under the bus for her and she was in awe that he would go to these lengths to take the fall with her father. She knew not many people could ever say they’d heard such a humble apology coming from Jack Sutton. The look on her father’s face was priceless and her brothers even seemed to relax slightly as they watched her father take Jack’s hand and shake it.

Suddenly her mom and her sister were pulling her into the kitchen as her sister squealed with excitement and looked at the diamond on Kelly’s hand. Jack was dragged off by her brothers and father to the study for a drink. She could only hope he would survive until she managed to rescue him.

Jessica held Kelly’s hand tightly and gaped at the ring on Kelly’s finger but all Kelly could do was look at her mother’s face. There was no anger, just pain. She could see her mother was trying to hide the pain and it tore Kelly up. She had known this would be hard, but she almost wished her mother would yell and scream. Anything would be better than this silent look of hurt.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” Kelly said quietly. “I know you probably wanted to be there but we just had a private ceremony at the courthouse. It was all so fast ….” Kelly broke off, not sure what more she could say to try to explain something that really couldn’t be explained.

“Are you pregnant?” Jessica asked in her melodramatic stage whisper.

“Oh, Jessica, don’t be ridiculous,” Kelly’s mother swatted at Jessica and turned to look at Kelly for a good long moment.

In her quiet way, Kelly’s mother asked her, “Are you happy, Kelly?”

Kelly nodded, “Yes, Mom, I really am.” Not for the reasons you think, but yes, I’m happy.

Her mother gave one swift bob of the head. “Then I’m happy, sweetheart. That’s all I needed to hear.” And with that, Kelly was wrapped in her mother’s arms. She couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt, though, and somehow her mother’s quick forgiveness made it worse.

Chapter Eleven

Kelly was sitting next to Jack at the dinner table but he couldn’t read her face as they all passed around bowls and platters, filling plates with her mom’s homemade chicken, macaroni and cheese, salad, and green beans. It was comfort food at its finest and Jack wouldn’t mind coming to more Sunday dinners if her mom’s cooking tasted as good as it looked.

“So, Kelly, Jack tells us you met at his office?” Kelly’s father’s question sent Kelly’s iced tea down the wrong pipe so that she coughed and sputtered. Jack laughed and patted her on the back while she tried to catch her breath.

“Um, yes, Dad. We met at Jack’s office,” she finally managed to spit out.

“Oh, what do you do, Jack?” asked Kelly’s mother.

“I’m in venture capital,” Jack answered. “My company identifies companies at various stages of development that we think are good risks to invest in. Sometimes they need seed money, sometimes growth or expansion. We invest and we get a share of the company if they’re a success.”

When Kelly’s mom smiled warmly at him and said, “That’s nice, dear,” in a way that Jack knew would sound condescending from some people, Jack knew that she meant it quite sincerely. She almost said it as if she were proud of him and Jack found himself missing his own mother. Searching for another topic of conversation, Jack turned to Kelly.

“Did you tell your parents about Yale, Kelly?” Jack had been referring to the fact that Kelly now had a way to pay for Yale but he was surprised to discover that she hadn’t even told them yet that she had been accepted. The room went silent as everyone looked at Kelly.

“Oh, no, I haven’t told them. I mean, we’ve had the wedding and everything. Then moving, you know,” Kelly said a bit weakly.

“Kelly got into Yale Law School!” Jack surprised himself with how much pride he felt as he announced Kelly’s big news. He found himself taking a hold of her hand on top of the table.

Once again, the family all talked at once as they congratulated Kelly and talked over each other in their excitement. When things quieted down, though, Kelly’s mom spoke up quietly.

“Kelly, dear, how much is that going to cost? I’m not sure we’ll have the money for Yale. Did you apply to any other schools, sweetheart?” she asked hesitantly.

Now Kelly, Jack, and Jessica, were all sputtering in their drinks and trying to recover while the rest of the family looked on with confused looks on their faces. Jessica recovered first and grinned at the rest of the family. She was the one in the family that read the gossip rags and kept up with who’s who in town and she had known who Jack was the second he walked in the door.

“You need to start reading the paper, Mom. Kelly’s rich now. I mean really, really rich. As in, filthy stinking rich with a capital R,” she said with very little tact or grace and Jack laughed as Kelly’s face turned red.

* * *

Jack stepped out the back door of Kelly’s parents’ house and walked across the lawn to the oak tree where Kelly stood. Sticking his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels, he stood behind her and followed her gaze out to the sunset as it created purple clouds spreading across the sky.

“Beautiful, huh?” Kelly asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

“Incredible,” Jack said quietly, looking at Kelly instead of the sunset. Kelly looked down at her toes and blushed.

“I’m so sorry, Jack,” Kelly said as she looked up at him. She bit her lower lip.

Jack’s eyebrows shot up on his forehead. “For what?” Jack asked, genuinely confused.

“For the mortifying dinner conversation. One minute my mom is practically telling you what a ‘nice little company’ you have and the next my sister is announcing your net worth.”

Kelly cringed and Jack imagined she was playing back her interpretation of the night’s events in her head. Jack laughed a genuine, full laugh. “I’m very used to people talking about my money, Kelly. And I happen to like your mom. She makes me think of my own mother and I like that, Kel.” Kelly looked up at him and he hoped she saw he meant what he said.