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ETHAN PROPPED HIS FOLDED hands under his chin, giving her a level look. “I got wise. I found myself, you could say. It happened last autumn, shortly before my grandfather passed away. He had an office in town. When I was young, I spent hours there. I was fascinated with the stories of the people who sought his help and advice. I would sit in a chair beside him, taking notes, absorbing everything like a sponge. When I told him I wanted to be a lawyer just like him, well, you could’ve set off fireworks from the glow of his smile.”
Jessica smiled at the picture he’d painted. “He must’ve been very proud of you.”
“The day I graduated from Stanford, he gave all of his clients a box of cigars.” Ethan’s expression softened as he recalled the occasion. “I’d been approached by several firms, all willing to take me on while I studied for the bar exam. When I returned from my trip to Europe, there was an offer from Garner and Wade waiting.”
“That’s a corporate law firm, right?”
Ethan nodded.
“Why didn’t you take up family law like your grandfather?”
Ethan hesitated, measuring his words. “I’ve often asked myself the same question. Maybe I was rebelling a little. I knew I could do just what Gramps did, but I wanted to prove that I could be successful at something different. And corporate law is very different. The majority of the firm’s business was assisting in mergers and acquisitions. We helped large companies take over smaller companies, handling the legalities so everything was cut and dried. Most of my time was spent on phone calls and paperwork. I rarely saw what happened to the people who’d worked for those small companies.” His voice lowered. “Until one day, this guy storms into my office, screaming his head off that the firm had destroyed his livelihood, and he was going to kill himself. He pulled out a gun—”
“No. Did he—?”
“No.” Ethan gave a grim shake of his head. “No. The gun just clicked. It was an empty chamber. Before he could do anything else, I knocked the gun out of his hands. By that time, security had been called and then the police. They took him away.”
Jessica didn’t want to ask, but she felt compelled. “Do you know what happened to him?”
Unfathomable shadows lurked in the depths of his eyes as he stared at her across the table. “He was put in the psych ward at the hospital. Somehow, during the night, he got out of his room, climbed the fire escape to the roof and jumped to his death.” Ethan lowered his eyes. “I felt like I’d killed him.”
“No! Don’t say that. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I was the one who finalized the deal,” he continued resolutely. “I didn’t know that this man had lived hand to mouth while he designed a computer software program in his apartment. When he showed the program to his boss, he had no idea that the small computer company he worked for was being taken over by a bigger one. He had no idea that his un-copyrighted software would go along with the sale, courtesy of his scumbag boss.”
“Then it’s the boss who’s at fault,” she insisted. “Not you. That man should be sued!”
Ethan looked up at her, his eyes lighting at her fierce expression. “He was.”
“By you?”
“That wasn’t possible, but I helped the victim’s family obtain a good lawyer, and I offered all the information that my boss was aware of but had kept me in the dark about.”
“Did the family win?”
“Yes.”
“That must give you some kind of relief.”
“A little.”
She ached to comfort him, to smooth away the dark furrows on his brow. “What did your grandfather have to say about the situation?”
“Things came to a head just weeks before he passed away. I’d confided everything to him during the entire ordeal.” His mouth twisted contemptuously. “Garner and Wade didn’t have a clue that I was helping with that lawsuit. They didn’t know that I’d uncovered some nasty evidence that would incriminate the firm itself. Gramps told me to keep it that way. He advised me to tell them that I’d grown bored with corporate law and wanted to pursue family law instead. To put in my resignation and leave. He said they would get what they had coming to them eventually.”
“That seems like sounds advice. Did you take it?”
“Yep.”
“And how did they, uh, Mr. Wade and his daughter, take it?”
A thin smile cracked his stony features. “How would you take it if your fiancé suddenly said, Honey, I’m quitting my job, and we’re moving out of the big city to live in this little out-of-the-way farming town where you can actually hear the grass grow?”
She slanted her head to one side, giving his question serious contemplation before saying, “I suppose my answer would depend on whether or not I loved him.”
She didn’t know how wistful her face looked just then. She’d lowered her eyes and was studying her outspread hand resting on the tabletop. Ethan watched her with unwavering intensity. When she glanced up, he quickly lowered his eyes.
“Exactly,” he said in a rough voice. He glanced at his watch. “Well, I’d better head out to the barn and take care of some things. Cherry picking starts this week.”
Later, after she’d tucked herself into bed, she replayed every nuance of their conversation, dwelling on the moments when they’d exchanged a look or a smile. She was grateful that he’d finally shared a part of himself with her, but she also couldn’t help but feel some trepidation as she wondered where this newfound companionship would take them. Would this be it? A pleasant friendship and nothing more? If so, she would quickly have to find a way to halt the runaway train that was her heart.
The last thought to plague her as she drifted off to sleep was her inability to ask him the one question that was most important to her: was he still in love with Angelica Wade?
***
“JESSICA, CAN YOU COME here for a minute?”
Jessica set down her paintbrush and wiped her hands on a rag. She stepped into the hallway and headed in the direction of Jake’s voice. He was in the new bathroom, standing on a ladder, adjusting the wiring for a ceiling fan. “Yes?”
“Hold on a sec.”
She waited as he finished his task. He climbed down the ladder. Her curiosity was aroused when he poked his head around the door and glanced up and down the hall. “Ethan around?” he asked.
“Uh, no. He’s out in the orchards.”
Two consecutive days of hot weather had ripened the cherries. All the workers were in the orchards from dawn to dusk, picking the premium fruit designated for market before the cherries grew too ripe. Aside from an occasional brief encounter, Jessica hadn’t seen much of Ethan for the past five days.
“Good,” Jake said. He grinned at her. “I know he’s not going to like this, but I have to ask a favor of you.”
She lifted a shoulder. “I don’t need Ethan’s permission to grant a favor to a friend. What’s up?”
“How’d you like to go to a dance with me this Saturday night?”
Her eyes widened. “A dance?”
“I bought the tickets two months ago. My executive assistant was going to go, but she had to cancel yesterday. It’s a barn dance at Winner’s Circle Ranch, a fundraising event for King’s Valley Hospice.” He took off his baseball cap and ran a hand through his hair. “I kind of need to be there because I’m one of the sponsors. Since I started expanding my construction business, I like to put my name out there as much as possible.”
“I understand.”
Jake smiled coaxingly. “The tickets weren’t cheap. And I heard what a great time everyone had last year. What do you say?”
She thought of Ethan. What would he think if she went out dancing with his best friend? Then she chided herself. What would be the harm? Ethan was busy in the orchards anyway. And he hadn’t seemed to miss her company these last few days. Heck, he probably wouldn’t even notice she was gone. She could use a little excursion away from the farm. Besides, it was a friendly invitation. Everyone, it seemed, knew that Jake was in love with Ethan’s sister, Annie. “It sounds like fun. What time does it start?”
“Eight o’clock. How about I pick you up at six and we’ll go out to dinner first?”
“All right.”
Jake almost reached out to shake her hand. Then he chuckled bashfully and hooked his thumbs through the loops of his tool belt. “Well, back to work.”
“Yes,” she echoed. “Back to work.”
***
THE FARM WAS BUSTLING on Saturday. The first carloads of visitors, come to pick their own cherries, arrived early that morning, and it was nonstop from then on. Jessica spent most of the day in Ethan’s room, prepping the walls for painting. She’d informed him at dinner the night before that she would be starting on his room today. He’d grunted tiredly, barely acknowledging her as he ate his meal. But when she opened the door to his room that morning, the furniture had been moved to the center of the room. He’d even removed the pictures from the walls. So, he wasn’t hard of hearing after all, she thought, feeling miffed. For all the attention he’d paid her this past week, she could’ve been a scrap of the morning newspaper. After everything they’d shared the Saturday before, all the inroads they’d seemed to have made in their burgeoning friendship, she couldn’t help but feel hurt.
“I should be ashamed,” she scolded herself, not for the first time that day. “He doesn’t have time for anyone. Those cherries need to be picked before they rot.”
“What did you say, dear?” Zelda poked her head around the door.
“Oh, uh, nothing. Just mumbling to myself.”
“Did Jake leave?”
“A little while ago. He’ll start on the electrical work in the last bedroom on Monday.”
“Fine, fine,” Zelda sang. A merry whistle marked her excursion down the hall.
Jessica pushed the stepladder to the window. The curtain rod would have to come down. Screwdriver clenched in her hand, she clambered up the ladder. Bracing one hand on the wall, she bent forward to loosen the screws from the bracket.
The low rumble of an engine pulled her gaze outside. Ethan was driving a small tractor around one side of the barn. He pulled a cartload of crated cherries behind him. Manuel followed him on foot. He shouted something to Ethan, who switched the engine off and hopped down from the metal seat. Ethan lifted the tractor hood with an air of calm competence and looked inside, Manuel at his shoulder. At some point, in the heat of the afternoon, Ethan had discarded his shirt. His naked, muscled back glistened with sweat as he leaned over the tractor engine.
Jessica watched him with a bedazzled expression. She’d run her hands along that back when it was clothed. She wished she could repeat the embrace now.
The screwdriver fell out of her hand. Grimacing, she climbed down the ladder to retrieve it. For a few minutes, she succeeded in mentally blocking Ethan out of sight. When she found her eyes straying towards the window again, he and Manuel were gone. Releasing a pent-up sigh, she returned her attention to the curtain rod. The ladder could’ve been a smidgen closer, but if she stretched just a little bit...
“There you are.”
The sound of Ethan’s voice startled her. The screwdriver went flying out of her hand. Without thinking, she bent sideways to catch it, and she lost her balance. The ladder swayed precariously close to the windowpane, and she gave a faint squeal of alarm as she lost her grip and toppled forwards.
Ethan’s sure arms broke what could have been a nasty tumble. His hands clutched her waist and hauled her away from the wobbling ladder. He set her down gently on the floor, turning her around to face him, his fingers resting lightly on her hips. “Not a Pauline, hmm?” he teased, gazing down at her with a wicked gleam in his eyes. He’d put on a clean pale-yellow shirt, the color emphasizing his tan.
Her heart beat wildly. “You shouldn’t have come up behind me like that.”
“You shouldn’t have been standing on the top step. Lawyers spend hours formulating manufacturer’s warnings for people like you.”
Helplessly, her body swayed closer to his. He made a gruff sound deep in his throat, and his hands tightened against her, drawing her towards him. “Jessica, I—”
“Yoo-hoo!” Zelda’s voice chirruped from across the hall. “Is that you, Ethan? I need your help with these curtains.”
Copper eyes smoldered into Jessica’s. Ethan briefly touched his fingers to her cheek. He released a shaky sigh. “Don’t go anywhere,” he ordered. “I’ll be right back.”
Bemused, she walked slowly across the room and fetched the screwdriver. Then she climbed the ladder. When Ethan returned a few minutes later, he found her humming a happy tune while she pulled the curtain rod bracket from the wall. She twisted towards him, catching his stern look of disapproval. “It’s all right, Ethan. I’m not going to fall again.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “That stubborn streak of yours is really shining through today.”
“Oh?” She looked demure. “Would you like me better if I was always prim and proper?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Well, okay then.”
He came closer. To her astonishment, he seemed uneasy as he looked up at her. “Jessica, I was wondering. Uh, there’s a dance tonight, a fundraising event. I thought you might like to go.”
She almost lost her balance again and had to clutch the top of the ladder. Robbed of breath, she couldn’t summon an immediate reply.
Appearing to accept her silence for consent, Ethan’s voice regained its normal self-assurance. “It starts at eight. We could go out to dinner first. What is it?” His brow came down in a confused frown as he noticed the soft apology in her face.
“Oh, Ethan,” she said with a frustrated sigh. Tucking the screwdriver in her back pocket, she climbed down the ladder. It was difficult to meet his eyes.
There was an edge to his voice. “What’s the matter?”
“Jake has already invited me to the dance.”
“Jake?” Blotches of red highlighted his cheekbones. He looked completely dumbfounded. His mouth dropped open briefly before he quickly snapped it shut. “My friend Jake? Jake Lancaster?”
“His date cancelled. He didn’t want to waste the tickets.”
“Jake?” Ethan repeated, shaking his head. “I see. I wasn’t aware that you two were... What about Annie?” His eyes flashed dangerously.
“It isn’t like that.” Her voice rose defensively. “We’re going as friends. Nothing more.”
“I don’t believe this.”
Jessica compressed her lips. “Really, Ethan, you’re making too much of this. Besides,” she couldn’t resist goading, “you should have asked me sooner. As it was, I only accepted Jake’s invitation because I could see he was in a bind.”
He wasn’t listening. He fixed her with a reproachful look before spinning on his heel and striding out of the room. She heard the heavy thud of his boots on the stairs.
Zelda popped her head in the doorway. “What was that all about?”
Jessica felt slightly dazed as she looked at the other woman. “Ethan just asked me to the barn dance tonight. But Jake beat him to it.”
Zelda smiled knowingly. “Hmm. I do believe my grandson is a tad bit jealous.”
Jessica’s laugh was dismissive. “I don’t know about that.”
“My dear girl,” Zelda said. “Where have you been these last two weeks? Can’t you see that my grandson can’t take his eyes off you?”
***
“HOW LOVELY,” JESSICA commented as Jake maneuvered his truck along the winding drive leading towards a floodlit stone barn on the crest of a hill. Garlands of white lights dripped from the branches of the trees lining each side of the drive, looking like thousands of fireflies dancing in the balmy night. It was a few minutes past nine o’clock, but with summer solstice one week away, dusk was just giving way to the lavender shadows of evening.
Event staff in yellow shirts directed them to park in a field that was almost packed with rows of cars. Groups of partygoers strolled by, their laughter and merriment mingling with the distant whinny of horses and the nearer sound of music and revelry from the barn.
Jake parked the truck and came around to open Jessica’s door. The smile she gave him cloaked the regret and dejection that had been her nagging companion since Ethan had left her that afternoon. She hadn’t seen him since and, in the rush to get ready for the dance, there hadn’t been an opportunity to question Zelda as to her grandson’s whereabouts.
Though Jake had been an entertaining dinner companion, she’d often found her thoughts straying, lingering on the memory of Ethan’s expression when he’d invited her to the dance. He’d looked so eager, even shy. No, not shy, that wasn’t like him. Uneasy. Yes, that’s what it’d been. Uneasiness mixed with anticipation, as if he’d wanted to ask her but didn’t at the same time. When she’d told him that she was going to the dance with Jake, his initial confusion had quickly been masked behind that cool, aloof expression she’d hoped she would never see again. Their relationship, tenuous as it was, had seemed to gain some ground over the past week. Now, it appeared as if they were back to square one again.
“Are you feeling all right?” Jake asked. “You look a little pale.”
She brushed aside his concern with a tiny laugh. “I guess I shouldn’t have had that second glass of wine at dinner.”
“This fresh air will perk you up.” He tucked her arm against his. “Let’s go.”
She wasn’t being fair to Jake, she chastised herself as they strolled towards the barn. It wasn’t nice of her to wish that it was Ethan’s arm she was holding, Ethan’s rumbling voice greeting the people they met along the way. She straightened her shoulders with resolve as they drew closer to the barn. For the next few hours she would shove all thoughts of Ethan from her mind. She was going to have a grand time tonight. To agonize over the way things might’ve been was total foolishness.
A jovial woman took their tickets at the door and encouraged them to fill out some raffle coupons before she waved them inside. Rollicking country-western music blended with a cacophony of voices raised in conversation and laughter. Under a net of colorful balloons, a large dance floor took up the center of the spacious stone interior. Hay bales and chairs were placed in cozy groupings along the perimeter. Food and drink stations were scattered throughout the room. Wait staff in teal blue shirts and black ties wove through the crowd with trays of hors d’oeuvres and champagne.
Assessing the other women in attendance, Jessica felt more comfortable with her choice of attire, a tea length ice blue sleeveless silk chiffon dress with a front and back V-neckline. She had kept the jewelry simple, diamond studs on her ears, a matching pendant resting against the exposed ivory skin below her collarbone. A tiny silver beaded purse complimented the silver decoration on the straps of her heels. While there were many men dressed in suit and tie, most, like Jake, wore black dress jeans, western shirts and the prerequisite cowboy hat.
Jake grabbed two champagne flutes from a passing tray and offered one to Jessica. “Let’s sit and watch for a while,” he suggested, escorting her to a vacant cloth-draped hay bale. They sat down, sipping their champagne. They weren’t alone for long as one person after another approached to greet Jake. It seemed that everyone there knew him; Jessica’s head was soon spinning from the introductions.
“Are you the mayor and just haven’t told me?” she jested during a temporary lull.
Jake laughed modestly. “It’s a small town, and I’ve lived here all my life.” Then he winked at her. “I’m just an excuse to meet you. Looks like you’re the belle of the ball.”
She flushed. “Oh, I don’t think—”
“May I have this dance?” A young wannabe cowboy in polished boots complete with silver spurs tipped his hat to her and offered his hand. Jessica glanced from him to Jake, who nodded his head with a sly grin. “See what I mean?” he teased. “Go ahead, Jessica. I’m not much of a dancer myself.” She gave him a look as she handed him her purse. He laughed at her expression as he tucked the purse in his breast pocket.
“I’m not much of one either,” she muttered to the cowboy as he led her to the middle of the dance floor. “All I know is ballroom.”
“Hey, the two-step is one of the easiest dances there is,” her partner gamely replied. “Just put your hand on my shoulder and follow me.”
The two-step? Of course! Her father had taught her that dance, her feet propped on his as they’d wheeled around the kitchen while her mother playfully scolded that it was past Jessica’s bedtime. She remembered tilting back in her father’s embrace, giggling as the ceiling spun above his head. “Sweet pea, you’re gonna be a real Texas beauty just like your Mama, you wait and see.”
And here she was, years later, her feet gliding across the floor in a dance she’d thought she would never dance again. And she did, indeed, begin to feel like the belle of the ball when the song ended and another eager young man took the cowboy’s place. A two-step again. Then a slow waltz with a grandfatherly type who, upon hearing that she was staying at Zelda’s house, regaled her with amusing stories of his youth when Zelda and the Wakefield sisters were the most sought-after ladies in three counties. His reminiscences continued into the next two-step, but he begged off the following number. “This is a line dance,” he apologized. “Too many fancy steps for an old geezer like me to remember.”
Jake appeared at her side. “You’ll like this. Follow me.”
The dancers formed several rows of lines, kicking up their heels in synchronized steps as the band played an upbeat number. The steps were basic and repetitive enough that Jessica learned them fairly quickly, keeping her eyes on Jake who danced in front of her. A familiar saying came to her: you can take the cowboy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the cowboy. It was true. A vast gulf lay between this relaxed, joyful atmosphere, this music rooted in the heartland of America, and the pretentious society balls she’d loathed attending since she’d made her formal debut at seventeen. She’d always known that there was more to life than what lay inside the small, elite sphere in which she’d lived, that the values and qualities that had shaped her childhood were still present somewhere. Tonight, she was rediscovering herself, becoming reacquainted with a long-lost friend. A sense of belonging filled her, transforming her completely from Lorna’s wealthy, upper crust daughter to the woman she was truly meant to be, her father’s little girl, grown up at last.
Joy animated her features as the song ended and Jake escorted her off the dance floor. She perched on a hay bale, gasping for breath while he stood grinning down at her. “You can tell everyone you just learned how to dance the Tush Push,” he said.
Her mouth gaped. “The what?”
Jake threw his head back and laughed.
The evening continued to sparkle as revelers, infused with good spirits, not to mention heady champagne, rocked the dance floor until the barn seemed to reverberate. Jessica danced until she was giddy and breathless, spinning from one partner to the next, the skirt of her dress swirling around her legs, her heels gliding, kicking and stomping. She’d worn her hair loose, letting it fall down to her shoulders. When she spun, her hair spun with her, fanning around her laughing face. Around and around she went, totally immersed in the pure pleasure of gaiety and music.
She forgot about Preston, Amber and Lorna. She thought she’d even forgotten about Ethan, until she glimpsed a figure standing at the entrance who looked a lot like him: a tall man dressed in black jeans and a white dress shirt with a pretty blonde attached to his arm. Her view momentarily blocked by a throng of dancers, Jessica craned her neck over her partner’s shoulder, straining to get a better look. She tripped, almost losing her balance as she caught a glimpse of dark brown hair lacquered with gold and a pair of familiar brown eyes—eyes that zeroed in on her with unwavering intensity. No one else in the world had eyes quite like that.
“Hey, are you all right?” her dance partner asked as her legs threatened to buckle.
“I—I’m sorry. I think I need to sit this one out. Too much champagne I think.” She felt butterflies in her stomach as the man returned her to Jake, who was standing near the beer kegs with a boisterous gathering of men. Seeing her expression, he grabbed her elbow.
“Looks like the belle of the ball needs a breather,” he said lightly, steering her to a corner where several chairs were clustered around a hay bale that served as a table. Jessica couldn’t keep herself from looking around the room, searching for Ethan. Finally spotting him striding through the crowd towards them, she glanced quickly away, her body tense with anxious anticipation.
“No more champagne for you,” Jake teased, pulling out a chair for her before sitting down beside her. Then his face lit up with recognition as Ethan stood before them. Jake shot a glance at Jessica, his mouth sliding into a roguish smile at her dazed expression. “Well, well, well,” he murmured. “This is a surprise.” Yet he didn’t sound surprised one bit.
“Hello, Jake,” Ethan said. There was a weighted pause. “Jessica.”
Jake scratched his jaw, looking amused. “Now, how’d you manage to get a ticket? I was told the fundraiser sold out a month ago.”
“The Wakefield sisters gave me their tickets a few days ago,” Ethan replied in a reserved tone. “They said their nephew is visiting this weekend, and they’d be too busy to attend.”
“Devin Wakefield is in town? No kidding. What’s it been? Thirteen, fourteen years?”
“At least.”
“I always thought that guy would end up in prison someday. Remember what a troublemaker he was in school?”
Ethan gave a brief laugh. “He’s turned a new leaf, apparently. Bert and Jo say he owned some kind of boat charter business in Florida.”
They could’ve been discussing the existence of life on Mars for all Jessica cared. So, Ethan had obtained the tickets several days ago. Days ago! And, still, he’d waited until the last possible minute to invite her to the dance. Maybe he hadn’t really wanted to ask her. Maybe he’d already planned to ask someone else: the pretty blonde standing beside him, apparently. Jessica’s hands fisted in fury, and she quickly buried them in the folds of her skirts. She plastered a social smile on her face when Ethan finally turned to acknowledge her.
“Jessica, this is Lindy Matthews. You’ll be seeing a lot of her soon.”
What did that mean? Her stomach twisted as she gave the woman a cool nod. “Hello.”
Lindy’s smile was warm and friendly. “It’s great to finally meet you, Jessica. Zelda and Ethan have said such nice things about you.”
In the face of such genuine sincerity, Jessica was rendered temporarily speechless. Fortunately, the other woman was saying something to Jake, who seemed to know her well. Whatever she said must have been amusing because Jake laughed.
Jessica dropped her gaze to the hay-strewn floor, to her skirt, to Lindy’s hand still resting on Ethan’s arm. Then her glance flitted across Ethan’s crisp white dress shirt with its silver buttons, the silver and turquoise bolo tie, skittered over that implacable mouth, touched upon his eyes. Her gaze bounced away before rebounding, catching hold and staying there, her thoughts completely unraveling as she observed his eyes running boldly over her from head to toe. Her breasts pushed against the bodice of her dress in cadence with her accelerated breathing. His smoldering glance lingered on her exposed cleavage.
She lifted one fluttering hand to her necklace, sliding her fingers under the silver chain in an unconsciously sensual movement. His eyes went impossibly dark. How did he do it? With a mere look, he made her achingly aware of every singing nerve and dancing pulse in her body. It was almost too much to bear, sitting there in the middle of a crowd, longing with sudden fierce intensity to move her body close to his and allow him to caress her with more than his eyes.
“Join us,” Jake was saying, indicating the vacant chairs beside them.
The spell was broken. Ethan turned away from her, assisting his date to an empty chair and sitting down beside her. A waiter strolled by with hors d’oeuvres, and Jake and Lindy filled up several napkins, conversing over their selections while Ethan and Jessica maintained a stiff silence.
“I’m so excited about Zelda’s bed and breakfast, aren’t you?” Lindy commented to Jessica after the waiter had left. “I can’t wait to begin working with her.”
“Working?” Jessica managed to ask.
“Yes. After it opens, I plan on helping her a couple mornings a week with office work. I’ve already starting designing her website. I’ll be stopping by next week to show her some ideas for marketing materials. I’d love to see the decorating you’ve done.”
Jessica nodded distractedly, recalling Zelda mentioning that someone was going to help her. That must’ve been what Ethan meant when he said she’d be seeing a lot of Lindy. How long had he known Lindy? Had they dated in the past?
Realizing that the other woman was watching her with a puzzled frown, Jessica pulled herself out of her anxious musings. “I haven’t done much beyond painting so far.”
“And it looks great,” Jake said in a jocular tone. “You’ll be amazed, Lins. This lady is a color magician. The house will look fantastic when she’s done with it. Right, Ethan?”
Ethan lifted one shoulder. “We’ll see,” he murmured noncommittally, his eyes scanning the dance floor.
Feminine outrage swelled in Jessica’s bosom. What had been a wonderful evening was instantly spoiled. If Ethan had any regard for her at all, he should have stayed home, not come here to insult her with his aloof dismissal of her hard work. She rose to her feet, touched Jake’s arm and smiled stiffly. “I want to dance.”
Taken aback at first, Jake’s expression dissolved into amused understanding. “Well, all right. If that’s what the lady wants.” His hand rested against the small of her back as he followed her onto the dance floor. They moved silently in a slow two-step. Jessica was scarcely aware of the music and chatter, concentrating on keeping her simmering anger below the surface, a fixed smile on her face.
“It’s not what you think,” Jake remarked, pushing her into a spin.
“What?”
“Those two.” He angled his chin toward the dimly lit corner where Ethan and Lindy were huddled together in conversation. “Lindy’s the same age as Annie. She was part of the gang that spent their summers at Zelda’s place.”
Jessica shrugged. “Why should it concern me who she is?”
“You may as well stop pretending,” Jake gently admonished. “It’s written all over your face.”
She blushed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do.”
She knitted her eyes shut, silently chastising herself. When she opened them again, Jake was smiling down at her with empathy. She couldn’t help but smile back, though it was a smile tinged with dismay. “Is it so obvious?”
“To me it is. To him?” Jake paused as he maneuvered her around an inebriated couple attempting a line dance in the center of the floor. “Ethan’s become a different person since his grandfather died. He’s not so easy to read anymore.”
“Just when I think I’m beginning to know him, he puts up walls again,” she admitted in an indignant tone. “I feel like he’s always thinking about his ex-fiancée.”
Jake’s hand tightened around her waist. “Listen,” he said sternly. “You can bet sure as shooting that there’s only one woman on Ethan’s mind right now.” When she stared at him uncomprehendingly, he brought his face closer to her own. “It’s you, Jessica. I can guarantee that the only reason he showed up here tonight was to keep an eye on you. From the warning look he’s giving me right now, I should hold you three feet away.” Grinning, he tucked her close to his side as the song ended. “That little green monster has his work cut out for him tonight.”