North Dakota Weddings (59 page)

She was staring at her feet. He lifted her chin and slid his thumb down her cheek. “I care for you. I think you know that.”

“Why? Because you come out to my farm, stay with my family, kiss me, and now…”

“That’s exactly why I’m putting a stop to my actions now. I never should have come here. I made a mistake.”

“Well, that’s just great, Jack. Thank you for sharing.” Rayne began stomping back through the trees.

Jack followed, feeling as if he’d made a monumental blunder. But he wasn’t sure which mistake was worse—coming to the farm and allowing the kiss with Rayne or now rejecting her.

What a jerk he was.

He trudged behind her, hoping to make her understand. “You should know I’m damaged goods. I’m no good for you as anything other than your boss.”

“I’m not sure you’ll have to worry about that much longer.”

Jack hoped Rayne didn’t mean that. “What? You’re not going to quit, are you? Look, I apologized, didn’t I?”

“You said it yourself—we can’t work together.”

Jack snatched her around to face him.

Seeing her so visibly shaken pierced his heart to the core. How could he hurt her like this? “All right.”

She frowned, confused. “All right, what?”

Jack gently tugged her toward him. She resisted at first then willingly came into his arms. He pressed his face into the crook of her neck. “Let’s try to make this work. I can’t stand to hurt you.”

She drew away from him. “So you want to try this, whatever it is between us, because you feel sorry for me?”

“No, that’s not what I mean. I feel sorry for myself. I would be a mess without you. But we have to be careful. We have to take this slow. It wouldn’t do for anyone at work to know. Not yet. We need to keep this personal and private.”

“I think Barb is the only one who would care.”

“Don’t kid yourself. There are plenty who are jealous of you. They would think I’m showing you favoritism. Harold would certainly care.”

“You’re right, then. We should take this much slower.” Rayne reached for the handlebars of the snowmobile, preparing to throw her leg over.

This weekend Jack had seen a different side to Rayne. He’d watched her maneuver a snowmobile like a pro, watched her break ice on a pond and feed cattle, watched her interact with her family.

Grief squeezed his chest. “You know, seeing you with your family reminds me of…”

Emotions lodged in his throat, creating an ache.

Rayne released the handlebars and slid her hand over his shoulder to rest on his arm. “Of what?”

“My own family. They’re gone now though.”

“What happened?”

“They died in a fire.”

“Oh Jack,” she whispered, her eyes watering. “I’m so sorry.”

“Reminds me of all I’ve lost.” He’d closed this off for years, kept it buried, and now he wasn’t sure he wanted to experience the pain again.

She stared up at him, more than concern emanating from her face.

At the moment, Rayne was all Jack wanted. But why did caring for her have to be so complicated? Why did being with her invoke painful memories?

Growing close to Rayne would cost him.

J
ack ballooned his cheeks, capturing air in his mouth before releasing it in a sigh. Staring at his computer screen, he saw nothing but the mess he’d made of everything. When he’d first accepted the position with FountainTech and moved to North Dakota, he’d had big plans for himself and for the company.

First, he’d planned on getting his personal life back on track. Kiera was out of his life for good. He wouldn’t have to see her every day at work, or happen upon her anywhere in the state of California. Second, he wanted a new start professionally—this time
he
was heading up a division and calling the shots.

Jack’s desk phone rang, but he was too busy looking at everything that had not been accomplished in the last few weeks. Nothing appeared to be going as planned or on schedule. And the fountain design itself—Rayne had not been involved in the process enough to touch it with her magic. Granted, she’d taken time to be with her father as he recovered.

This week she was back in the office, focusing on tweaking the fountain design the rest of his team had labored on in her absence. Passing her office to get his morning coffee, Jack couldn’t decide whether to stop and say hello. They’d agreed to slow down their rapidly accelerating relationship. Fortunately, someone had been in Rayne’s office, effectively making the decision for him.

Once in his own office again, Jack leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head. He almost regretted that he’d been right about how much he needed her to make his plans for FountainTech work. Depending that much on one person was never a good idea.

He thought about how that wisdom applied to matters of the heart as well. How had he become this attached to Rayne so quickly? Though his painful and embarrassing breakup with Kiera two days before their wedding had happened months ago, that wasn’t enough time, was it?

The phone rang again. Jack ignored it. Calls always came through the receptionist unless he’d given out his direct number, which he hadn’t.
Take a message, Gail
.

So much for his “Jack is back” motto. His vow to avoid love had crumbled the second he’d looked into the deep pool of Rayne’s eyes. They’d brimmed with emotion, seemingly giving a meaning to his life he didn’t realize he needed.

And then going to the farm had dragged out memories he’d kept buried for years. They’d tortured him since leaving Rayne’s farm two days ago. But now that he was back in the real world, he saw things clearly—caring for her the way he did wasn’t good for either of them, and apparently it wasn’t good for FountainTech either.

He was off his game.

A soft knock on the door jolted him back to his surroundings. “Come in.”

Gail stuck her head in. “Uh, Jack. I’ve been trying to reach you.”

He leaned forward to lift a pen on his desk and shuffle through a stack of paperwork. “I know. I’m busy. Didn’t you take a message or send it to voice mail?”

She frowned. “Harold wants you in his office five minutes ago.”

Jack stilled. “I’m on my way.”

He snatched up his laptop, dreading Harold’s untimely request. Had he heard something about Jack and Rayne? Pasting a confident smile on his face, he strode down the hall to Harold’s office. If he smiled big enough, he just might convince himself that he was on top of things before he got there.

With his knuckles, he gave a knock on the opened door and grinned. “You wanted to see me?”

Frowning, Harold focused on the papers strewn over his desk. “Come in and shut the door,” he said without looking up at Jack.

Not good
. Jack did as he was told and tried to ignore the shrinking feeling he always had around Harold. But that was the man’s intention—he loved to intimidate.

While Jack waited for Harold to acknowledge him, he opened his laptop. Harold wasn’t the only one who was busy. Jack could give as good as he got.

Harold cleared his throat. Jack pulled his gaze from the laptop screen and shut it, smiling.

“How’s the creative design team doing?” Harold rocked back in his leather executive chair.

Jack guessed that Harold had heard something, or else he wouldn’t be asking the question in this manner. They had meetings for this sort of thing, where Jack would present a PowerPoint that he’d prepared ahead of time.

Maintaining his confident veneer, Jack tugged his laptop open and waited for the screen to load the image of the water sculpture the team had been working on. He placed the laptop on the desk, allowing Harold to see, and smiled like he was a proud new father. Harold might not notice anything missing.

As Jack expected, Harold simply nodded, unaffected by what would normally mesmerize anyone else.

“The client wants to move the project up by two months,” Harold said.

Jack stared.
Two months?
And he was already behind.

“Don’t let me down, champ. I’m counting on you.”

How could Harold have agreed to that? It was lunacy. At the moment, Jack was too stunned to think of an adequate response, but he had to recover, give Harold something—anything—so he could remain his “champ,” even though he hated the reference.

“I’ve got something you should see,” Jack said. Sooner or later he planned to share the news with Harold anyway, though before he did that, he’d prefer to be certain it would perform the way he hoped.

“What’s that?”

On his computer, Jack pulled up the schematics for his new pump.

Harold leaned forward, appearing a little curious, momentarily taken aback.

Good
. Jack had made the right decision. His confidence began to soar for real now.

Harold put on his black-framed reading glasses to study the schematic more closely. “Anyone else know about this?”

Rayne rubbed her eyes then squinted at the design team as she explained again the nuances that she’d added to the fountain—what Jack had defined as Rayne’s magic. She hoped he was right, because she was certainly not feeling the magic today.

Instead, she was beginning to feel the sleep deprivation of the last couple of weeks as the team had labored hard to make the new deadline. Add to that, they were in the middle of a bid for another large-scale water sculpture and would need to start on that one immediately. All of the busyness had trumped any expectations she had of having time with Jack.

She caught a glimpse of him in her peripheral vision, leaning against the back wall as though standing out of her way. His lean physique distracted her. As the team members, including Simon and Barb, discussed the fountain, Rayne couldn’t focus on their words. The kisses she had shared with Jack seemed like a lifetime ago. The pressure they had been under to complete this fountain was probably a good thing—keeping them both busy. Keeping her from having time to think about Jack. Or his kiss.

Still, she felt that something between them had changed. Yes, she and Jack had decided to slow things down, but she sensed a distancing in him. And she’d noticed he’d been purposefully avoiding her—his creative lead.

The way things were working out, Rayne was almost thankful that her mind had been consumed with work. Even though the team’s ramped-up schedule had forced her to reschedule her lunch interview to this evening.

Oh Jack, I hope you understand… 
. She drew in a ragged breath, hoping that entertaining thoughts of a new opportunity at another company wasn’t a mistake. Working somewhere else could give her and Jack freedom to explore whatever was between them. Maybe even give her a chance for the promotion she’d lost at FountainTech.

Except there was one small detail that needed to be worked out. The man she would be interviewing with tonight, Carvis Clark, had lured her with the possibility she could work from Fargo and not have to leave North Dakota. That incentive persuaded her to at least listen to him.

Suddenly, she realized that everyone was staring at her. “I…uh, I’m sorry. Did I miss something?”

“I’m still not seeing it, Rayne.” Simon smirked. “What exactly makes this fountain better than what we did before you worked your
magic?”

Rayne frowned, never having heard Simon speak to her this way. Jack was right—Simon was jealous.

“All right, let’s break for lunch.” Jack stepped into the fray, standing next to the computer screen. “You’ve all been working very hard to meet the new deadline. I’m proud of you. We’ll meet again tomorrow—plan for a working lunch.”

A few sighs and groans escaped the group, and Jack frowned. Rayne knew they all probably blamed him for accepting the new deadline. She grabbed her notepad to leave, a small part of her wishing that Jack would tug on her sleeve, ask her to stay behind while he discussed some attribute of the fountain he wanted added.

That would have been a normal thing to do. It would even have been expected. Instead, as she swung open the door, she glanced behind her to see Barb sliding herself to sit exotically on the conference table.

“Jack? I’ve got some ideas I’d like to share with you.” She crossed her slender legs, easily showing them off with the short skirt she wore.

For a moment, Rayne hung back, waiting—no, hoping—that Jack would shove Barb away, or at least flash Rayne an apologetic I’m-sorry-I-have-toendure-this look. But no, he simply smiled at Barb.

Burning with rage, Rayne shoved the rest of the way through the door and marched down the hall to her office, the surroundings a blur. She slammed her office door behind her, quickly regretting it. Someone would certainly question her actions, and then what was she supposed to say? That she didn’t appreciate Jack smiling at Barb, responding to her flirtation?

Rayne covered her face with her hands, hating the tears that came.
Lord
,
I can’t do this. I can’t keep this up
.