Just the Man She Needs (26 page)

“Did she tell you she felt something for me?”

“Yes, and when I asked her if she minded my telling you, she said she wanted me to tell you.”

“She’s in my mind twenty-four-seven. She’s…Do you like her?”

“Very much, indeed, or I wouldn’t have mentioned her to you.”

Suddenly he showed his teeth in a grin that quickly covered his face. “I told Ash that what I needed was a sister. It’s time he gave me one. Let’s go back.”

“Where’s Damon?”

“He’ll be in sometime tonight.”

“I wish you blessings with Leslie.”

“Thanks.

They joined the others, and she noticed Jake’s attentiveness to Leslie. He spoke directly to Cade. “Son, do you realize we’re going to lose Leslie at the end of September when she goes back to the university? I don’t see how we can run the riding school without her.”

Cade took a seat beside Leslie and draped an arm across her shoulder, an act that obviously surprised her. “Ever wonder why the weather forecasts miss the mark half the time, Granddad? It’s because mankind is unable to predict the future with accuracy. So let’s not get into the matter of Leslie’s leaving here.”

Let that be a lesson to you, girl, and never forget it. Even the strongest, most self-assured man needs encouragement from the woman he wants.
She remembered her seductive behavior that brought Ashton’s mouth in contact with hers for the first time, and cautioned herself not to forget that a man needs to know that his woman wants him.

“I’m going up to put Teddy to bed,” Ashton said, looking at her. “Want to come along?”

“I want to sleep with Miss Felicia, Daddy,” the boy said as they climbed the stairs to the room in which they would sleep.

“You’re too big a boy for that, son, so you stay with me tonight.”

“Aw, gee whiz. Can she sing something to me, Daddy? Miss Eartha can’t sing.”

“You’re trying to postpone going to sleep,” Ashton said, sat Teddy on the side of the bed and began removing his shoes and clothing.

“I’ll sing one song for you, and then you have to close your eyes and go to sleep,” Felicia told him.

Teddy dived into bed and looked at Felicia. “Now, you can sing,” he said. She sat on the edge of his bed and stroked his cheek while the soft sounds of Gershwin’s “Summertime” flowed from her throat. At the end of the song, she leaned forward to kiss his cheek, and his little arms encircled her neck in a gripping hug. “I love you, Miss Felicia,” he whispered.

“I love you, too,” she said, pulled the sheet up around him, got up and without glance in Ashton’s direction, almost stumbled out of the room. He caught her before she reached the stairs.

“What’s the…” She turned into his arms. “You’re crying. What is it? What’s the matter? You’ve got to talk to me right this minute.” He guided her into the guest room where she would sleep and sat with her on the side of the bed. “Talk to me.”

“I…It’s dangerous to love somebody else’s child, when that child can be t-taken from you in a second.”

“Don’t forget that it’s equally as dangerous for him. He loves you, and he would be devastated if he lost you. He doesn’t feel the same for Eartha as he feels for you. Don’t worry. I’m not planning voluntarily to separate the two of you.”

“I should ask what that means, but I won’t. When you want me to know, you’ll tell me.”

“I brought you here, because I wanted you to meet my family and for them to get to know you. How’d you make out with Cade? Did he interrogate you?”

“We got on fine. He asked questions, and I answered them. We also talked about his relationship with Leslie. I think he loves her, and I doubt he could find a finer woman.”

Ashton grabbed her shoulders and gazed down at her. “Do you mean that? Then why can’t they get together?”

“Because they’re both alike. She’s crazy about him, but he doesn’t make a move, and I told him so. And she loves it here so much that she’s dreading the time when school opens. She admitted that her love for the place is bound to her feelings for Cade. If he finds her warm and loving, I’d say she’s for him.”

“Well I’ll be damned. I thought she was a serious professor who couldn’t see past the back of a horse. Oh, she’s friendly, but—well, since I knew Cade was interested in her I haven’t talked with her much. Granddad thinks the world of her.”

“That ought to tell you something. He’s a discerning man. We’d better go back.”

They found Jake sitting alone. “Felicia,” he said, “since you, Ashton and I have some privacy, I hope you and my grandson will make a life together. I’m happy that my grandson has a woman like you. He’s blessed. He’s a fine man, but don’t let him get used to you. When a man and a woman are in love, they should get married. Relationships don’t stand still. Next time I see you—”

“Granddad, you’re about to overstep your bounds.”

“Well, I didn’t raise you boys to be so slow. Cade couldn’t get a move on until he saw how things are with you and Felicia. They left here practically locked together. We may not see him again in a year.” Ashton laughed out loud. “Well,” Jake said, obviously on a roll, “she’s been here two months and I’d swear he’s never had his hands on her. Tonight, he put his arm around her shoulder, and she almost jumped out of her skin. Minutes later, they leave here all hooked up to go off someplace and howl at the moon.”

“I think you got that wrong, Granddad. Cade’s been baying at the moon alone for the past two months, but he won’t be howling tonight.”

“Humph,” Jake said. “He’d better not let that fine woman get away.”

Felicia patted Jake’s hand, one that had been in use so long that every vein impressed itself upon his skin. “He won’t let her get away, Mr. Underwood, and she doesn’t want to get away.”

“Humph. I’ll wait and see. I’m also going to be watching you two.”

Late Sunday afternoon, he was preparing to board a Piedmont Airlines plane at Frederick Municipal Airport with Teddy in his arms and Felicia’s hand held tightly in his own. He wanted to take her home with him to spend the night, but he had to think about his family’s reactions to finding her there Monday morning. Moreover, he didn’t think that Felicia, with her strong sense of privacy, would like the idea. All right, she bunked with him in Mississippi, but circumstance drove her to it and, even then, she slept with him only once.

“Is Miss Felicia coming home with us, Daddy?”

“Don’t you remember that we went to her home and got her? Well, we have to take her back home.”

When Teddy’s bottom lip protruded, he knew he had a problem. The child folded his arms and refused to get on the plane. He didn’t want to let Teddy’s behind feel the palm of his hand, but he did not tolerate disobedience from his child.

“Listen, son,” he said as gently as he could, “you get up and walk into that plane or Felicia and everybody else in this airport will see my hand go to your behind. Is that clear? I am ashamed that you would let Felicia see you behave so badly.”

Teddy got up and walked over to Felicia, but he spoke to his father. “I wouldn’t be bad if you’d take her home with us. I want her to go home with me.”

“Some other time, but not now. I do not reward you for bad behavior. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir. Come on, Miss Felicia.” Teddy took her hand, and she looked to Ashton for some guidance.

“Go ahead, you two,” he said, aware of her split allegiance in her desire both to give Teddy motherly love and to please him. “She’ll have to get used to it,” he told himself. “Teddy could be a handful.”

“I’d give anything to come back to you tonight,” he told her as he stood at her door holding a sleepy Teddy in his arms, “but by the time I get him to bed, it will be late. Your going with me to meet my family this weekend means more to me that I can express right now. When we speak, I’ll try to tell you what your talk with Leslie has meant to Cade. After this weekend, well…I think he’s besotted with her, and he’s happier than I’ve ever known him to be.” He leaned forward and kissed her as best he could with Teddy asleep in his arms. “Don’t forget that I love you.”

“I won’t forget anything about you. And you remember that I love you.” He tweaked her nose and walked off with a smile that began in his heart.

Still in a state of euphoria from her weekend with Ashton, Teddy and their family, Felicia sailed into the offices of the
New York Evening Journal
that Monday morning singing softly and anxious to start her working day. Within minutes her editor managed to prick her balloon.

“John Underwood is in another fight with the Barber-Smith people over ownership with his company, Dream. Something screwy’s going on there, and I want the inside scoop. Get it from anybody willing to give it, except Underwood, of course.”

“What? How do you know this?”

“I don’t have to know it,” Ray said. “The story will sell papers.”

“Forget it. I will report the truth or nothing. You want me to ruin my reputation by fabricating a story that every financial media will pick up and carry? No, sirree. And, Ray, have you forgotten that Underwood owns this paper?”

“Sure. I know he bought the chain…as if he didn’t have enough money already. My brother used to own this paper. Old man Skate bought it out from under him, but he let him stay on as manager and me as editor in chief. Underwood wants to run the thing himself.”

Her back stiffened, and the bile of irritation coiled inside of her. “Surely, he doesn’t plan to edit this paper.”

“No, but he intends to keep his muddy fingers in the running of it, right down to handling the payroll from his office. I want a juicy story on that merger, and I’ll edit it myself. I don’t demand approval of your column, but I will approve this one.”

She decided not to confront him, but to submit her column and, if he altered it to distort the facts, she would speak to Ashton about it. She warned Ray, “I’ll write a column on the merger, and if you distort the facts, I’ll go over your head, Ray. I like working with you, but if you sink this paper to the level of a supermarket tabloid, I will expose you.”

“You’ll go over my head, eh? To whom?”

“Just please don’t make me do something that we could both regret. Is that all?”

“No. I want the article for your Thursday column.”

She hung up and began wondering where, other than Ashton, she could find information on the Underwood/ Barber-Smith tug-of-war. As she was about to check out some Internet blogs, her phone rang.

“This is Ashton. How’s my girl?”

“After that wonderful, relaxing weekend, I’d feel sorry for myself if I wasn’t looking forward to seeing you this evening. I am, am I not?”

“You bet. Would you be willing to go with me to Hobart and Buffield’s annual garden party? It’s an event for the board of directors, which includes me. Will you go with me?”

Taken aback, she stammered her agreement. It hadn’t occurred to her that he’d be on the board of such a high-powered firm. “I’ll be delighted. Is this a wide hat and billowy skirt affair?”

“Wide hats and gloves, but I don’t remember any billowy skirts. Most years, they’ve looked sleek and sexy to me.”

“Okay. Just tell me what you’re wearing.”

“White tuxedo.”

She’d probably faint if she saw him in that getup. “What time?”

“I’ll pick you up at a quarter after five. It shouldn’t take us more than fifteen minutes to get to there.”

“Doggone,” she said after she hung up. “Now I have to find a long, sexy, chiffon dress and a hat to match. Those rich dames are not going to shame me.”

After work, she headed for the East Village and a shop that sold expensive “antique” clothing and found precisely what she wanted—a peach-colored silk chiffon sheath and matching wide-brimmed hat. White, elbow-length gloves would have to do.

On the day of the garden party, she got home at about five o’clock, hung the dress in a closet, and headed for the shower. While the water cascaded over her naked body, in her mind’s eye she envisaged Ashton’s hands replacing the stream and trembled with anticipation of the evening to come. Ashton’s granddad had warned her not to let Ashton become complacent with her, and she didn’t mean to let that happen, but it seemed like years since she’d felt him storming inside of her. When her mouth watered and her nipples puckered, she turned off the water, and as she dried her body, frissons of heat fired her libido. She could think of nothing but the minute when she would feel his mouth all over her body.

She slipped into her scant, peach-colored bikini pants and demi-bra, eased into the evening dress, zipped it up and gazed at herself in the mirror. “He’s got the self-control of a heavenly angel if he gets out of here tonight without making love to me,” she said to herself. She stuck her feet into a pair of silver sandals, rolled her hair into a French knot put on the hat and admired the effect. Just as the doorbell rang, she pulled on her gloves, got her silver lamé evening bag and opened the door.

His sharp whistle was all the approval she needed. She stepped back and stared at him. “Cary Grant and Duke Ellington would have to genuflect to you,” she said as marbles battled for space in her stomach.

“If I did what I feel like doing,” he said, “we wouldn’t leave this apartment.”

Her left eye closed in a slow, seductive wink. “There’s always later.”