Maddy's Oasis (13 page)

Duke whined.

“Stay, Duke,” Jake ordered. “He likes the
coyote gals.”

“Coyote?” Madeleine asked. “Is that what that
is?”

“She had a litter of pups about a month
ago.”

She raised on her toes to see.

“You can see better down there,” Jake stated,
motioning a short distance down the fence line.

He led her a good dozen feet before stopping
and peering into the well-lit night. Madeleine waited, glancing
toward the movement and yaps.

“Right here,” Jake murmured. He waved her
toward him and rested his hands on her hips as she neared, moving
her in front of him.

Her blood began to hum. His large hands were
hot even through her jeans. Their size and heat, coupled with the
ease at which he shifted her, made her feel more delicate than she
had in a long, long time. His presence at her back was as warm and
solid as his hands. He'd touched her before, but this felt …
different, more intimate.

“You see?”

She blinked, aware she had been too affected
by his touch to know what she was looking at. Her face felt hot--
her entire body felt afire. She hadn't had such an intense reaction
to any man she dated, even Mark.

“Yeah,” she answered.

Three small pups danced around a seated
coyote, their fur sprinkled with silver moon dust.

Watching, she and Jake stood
silently for a long moment. She held as still as possible,
uncertain of whether she wanted to feel his body against hers and
terrified she actually
might.
She had too much to lose if she allowed her
feelings to distract her.

“Why are you fighting with Mark?” she asked
to break the growing tension between them.

Instead of the rigid or angry response she
expected, Jake said simply, “Doesn’t really matter right now.”

She twisted out of his grip to face him. “Why
not?”

The Texas desert seemed too small to contain
the heat between them. Jake’s hands rested at his sides, and he
gazed at her intently enough to make her more aware of the blooming
attraction between them.

“Because I’m here, and he’s not,” he
said.

She blinked, her throat tightening as she
swallowed her response.

Toni and Javier were
right,
her traitorous mind
whispered.

Unnerved by his intensity, she looked away.
Her hands trembled. She felt as awkward as a high schooler with a
crush.

“Madeleine, would you let me kiss you?”

The words floored her. She met his dark gaze
again, her quick breathing uneven.

God, yes!

Alarmed by her body’s response, she eased
away, a heartbeat away from all out panicking. There was too much
at stake, as much as she wanted to say yes. She didn't belong here
with him under the magical moonlight, pretending like the rest of
the world was okay.

“I have to go, Jake,” she whispered. “I’m
sorry.”

She said no more but turned
and walked quickly to the car, her pulse and heart somersaulting
within her. By the time she reached the car, she knew she was a
coward and a fool. Out of breath and completely off guard, she,
Madeleine Winters, had just turned heel and fled from a
kiss
from the sexiest man
she'd ever met.

CHAPTER SIX

Her day of reckoning was finally here. His
had already passed. He hadn't wanted anything to do with her since
she walked away from him. He'd avoided her and thrown himself into
the lobby work with effort even she would deem acceptable.

One kiss. That's it. He wasn't asking her for
her hand in marriage. He wasn’t even asking her for more than a few
minutes of her time.

Was he that wrong in reading her? She'd been
interested, he felt it. Her breathing changed, her face glowed,
even her eyes lit up. And then she'd turned yellow and ran. He drew
a deep breath and entered the office, trailed by Toni.

“Are you satisfied with everything?” His tone
was emotionless.

Madeleine looked at him from behind her desk.
She wore city-girl clothes again in anticipation of Mr. Howard’s
visit. Judging by the blue circles beneath her eyes, she hadn’t
slept since fleeing his kiss two days ago.

He took no pity on her. After her blatant
rejection, he refused to think of her as anything but what she was:
a typical, self-absorbed city-girl worthy of a typical,
self-absorbed city-boy like Mark. She'd been in the trailer since
before he arrived at six. Twice she had toured the site and the
lobby. Toni had trailed her and Eric while Jake remained as far
from her as he could.

“Yes, thank you,” she said, and rose. “Mr.
Howard’s staff is setting up right now. You’re not obligated to
stay, though I'd appreciate if you did, just in case there are
questions I can't answer.”

She searched his face. He remained coldly
professional. He felt the familiar tension between them that had
plagued their relationship since meeting.

“We wouldn't miss the show,” Toni said from
the doorway. “Is that Duke that smells so bad?”

Her phone rang. Jake turned and crossed to
the door.

“Come, Duke,” he ordered as he stepped into
the hot mid-morning sun.

Mr. Howard’s security detail and staff,
reporters, and caterers already swarmed over the site. Jake watched
them approach the roped-off areas of the lobby and construction
site, tense for more reasons than one. Madeleine was forefront on
his mind despite his attempt to dismiss her. Just as insistent was
the knowledge of how stupid people could be around a plainly marked
construction site, and how disastrous one misstep into the roped
areas could be.

The small parking lot was filled, the freshly
graveled road leading to the site broken in by catering trucks and
the hurried steps of city-folk preparing for the infamous Mr.
Howard. The reporters loitered between a tent and their seats in
the lobby while caterers worked within two massive, white
air-conditioned tents. Mr. Howard even had an emergency EMT crew on
stand-by.

Mark was there, running between all the major
parties and relaying phone calls. Jake watched him for a long
while, unable to shake his anger.

“You wanna watch or not?” Toni prodded.

“Yeah. Have a feeling things won’t go
well.”

“Eric already caught two reporters in
restricted areas,” Toni said. “If Mr. Howard steps too far to the
left up there, the whole stage’ll go.”

“She knows and doesn’t care, so long as it
looks pretty,” Jake said. Toni glanced at him at his tone.

“Something happen? You’ve been prickly for a
couple days."

“No.”

Toni didn't pry further.
They made their way to the lobby area and off to the side, beyond
one of the ropes. Dressed in jeans and
Javier and Sons
T-shirts, they could
be mistaken for none other than the construction crew.

Jake watched the activities in silence, from
the movement of food and people to the placing of signs and red
carpet. No expense was spared in the welcoming of the site’s
benefactor; even ice sculptures were carried in from refrigerated
trucks to one of the two air-conditioned tents. Madeleine had
thought of everything down to the fuel for the sparkling new
generators delivered early in the morning.

He forced himself to admit: she'd nearly
pulled off the impossible. He'd never thought her able to arrange
everything as she had.

She was damned good.

Two black Lincolns with tinted windows
arrived, and Eric emerged from the office. Jake watched him hurry
toward the Lincolns and greet the six well-dressed men that emerged
from the cars. A movement from the office caught his attention as
Madeleine exited more slowly, clipboard and phone in hand. She
signaled Mark as she strode toward the newcomers, and the athletic
man jogged to join her.

Jake turned away.

“Mr. Howard has enough staff
members to build this place,” Toni said, surprise in his voice.
“Never knew a man who needed so many
personal assistants.
Bet that’s the
Nigel Eric was talking about. He looks like a weasel.”

Jake turned, his gaze lingering on Madeleine.
She looked even more unhappy. Walking beside her was a tall,
slender man of about forty speaking privately to her. The others
trailed with Eric and Mark addressing them.

“They’re all the same,” Jake muttered.

“Eric and Madeleine seem all right,” Toni
said. “They can keep Mark.”

“Eric, maybe,” Jake responded. “Not
Madeleine.”

“You have to pity her somewhat, Jake. She’s
been set up for failure, and she knows it.”

She looked toward them, and Jake met her
gaze. He knew as much, but his pride couldn't excuse her blunt
rejections.

“I think she’s doing well,” Toni continued.
“Even if we have to tear down the lobby. She’s annoying at times,
but she doesn’t tell you how to do your job. Remember Old
Willy?”

“That man was hell to work for,” Jake agreed
with a nod.

“Maybe after Mr. Howard’s visit, you can try
again,” Toni said.

“Looks like I’ll be lonely at the end of the
world,” Jake replied.

“Hey, she wore your boots. You don’t think
that means something, no matter how small?”

Jake returned his gaze to Madeleine. He'd
been too angry at her to look at her feet. He took in her shapely
form in its stark black suit, his gaze resting on the black boots
peeking from beneath wide pant legs.

“She did,” he said with a small frown. With
her, he wasn’t sure what that meant.

He recalled how it had felt to stand with her
under the magical moonlight two nights prior. She was affected by
him; her breathing changed when he touched her and she grew
nervous, an unusual reaction for one accustomed to giving orders.
He remembered how clear her green eyes had been in the moonlight,
how turmoiled she appeared, and how she had completely walked away
from him. He had never seen anything as beautiful or enticing as
she appeared that moment before she turned her back to him.

Angered by the memory, he looked at the boots
in a new light.

“Those are expensive boots,” he muttered.

“Yes, they are,” Toni said with a
chuckle.

They fell into silence and returned to
observing the scene before them.

Soon after the arrival of the black Lincolns,
the distant sound of a helicopter filled the air. Jake and Toni
turned, watching as a white helicopter landed in a newly poured
concrete helipad a short distance away. Two all-terrain Land Rovers
met the helicopter.

Madeleine, Mark, and Nigel assembled their
party near the entrance of the lobby. Madeleine was pale but calm.
Eric rounded up several roaming reporters before the Land Rovers
reached the lobby area.

Jake and Toni watched as a tall, grey-haired
man near sixty emerged from one of the Land Rovers. Immediately,
photographer bulbs began flashing. A security detail of four men
surrounded Mr. Howard, blocking him from Jake’s view until he
proceeded down the red carpet and arrived at the lobby
entrance.

Jake and Toni leaned forward on the wooden
fence dividing the remainder of the site from the lobby. They
watched Mr. Howard greet each of those in Madeleine’s party before
he stepped into the lobby, followed by Nigel. Madeleine remained
behind and signaled Eric, who darted to the catering tent.

Jake shifted to watch. Toni noticed the
ill-placed reporter chairs first. Jake glanced at him at the hard
nudge and followed Toni’s gaze with his own.

The floor was sinking already on one side of
the lobby.

“Christ.” Jake stiffened and started around
the grizzled foreman. "Did they double the amount of chairs we told
them was safe?"

“Leave it. You can’t do anything, and if you
make a scene, Madeleine will never forgive you,” Toni said, placing
a hand on his arm.

Mr. Howard took pictures with local
politicians before walking the length of the lobby to stand behind
a red ribbon stretched before a lectern. He pulled out his notes
and began his speech.

Jake attention was caught by something far
more interesting: the crack in one of the faux finished floors
lining either side of the marble entrance. The crack crept into the
lobby. Jake counted the number of chairs set up for staff and
reporters, grimly realizing Mr. Howard’s staff hadn't just doubled
the numbers Toni supplied Madeleine as being safe-- they'd tripled
them, as if daring fate to destroy what they'd built.

Jake could only watch as the worst possible
scenario unfolded too quickly to stop. The crack reached the back
wall, and with a sickening sound of wood splintering, the floor on
the right side of the marble walkway dropped, cracked, and popped
much like an ice-coated pond thawing. People were pitched off their
chairs.

The crack crept up the back wall and down the
seam of where the marble walkway separated from the surrounding
flooring. Mr. Howard was ushered by an alert bodyguard onto the
walkway as the floor beneath the rest of his staff snapped. The
back wall shuddered; the lights flashed; the ceiling split in
several directions.

Following a long, stunned pause, people
dashed out of the building. Jake and Toni stared.

“Never seen that before,” Toni managed.

“Wow,” Jake breathed.

Jake hurried through the construction to the
front of the lobby. While plainly ruffled, Mr. Howard tried to
appear calm and took a few more pictures before his bodyguards
shepherded him toward the waiting cars. The crowd milled out in the
open. Caterers and their staff exited the tents to witness the
commotion and waved those displaced by the crumbling lobby into the
tents.

Jake’s gaze found a furious-looking Eric
glaring down a satisfied Mark. Farther in the distance, he made out
Madeleine being pulled hastily toward the parking lot by the man
Nigel. They were followed at a distance by a few others and paused
just before the parking lot.