The Game of Love Read online

  Don’t look at me right now, she thought. Please don’t look at me right now.

  “You’re divorced, I take it?”

  “Of course.” He was silent for a moment, and she thought his voice had a bitterness to it when he spoke again. “I see. As a ‘dumb, tobacco-chewing, hick baseball player’ I would have asked you to dinner the other night whether I was free or not.”

  “I didn’t say that!”

  “And again, Mrs. McLane, you didn’t have to. Want the ketchup back in the refrigerator?”

  Jade spun around. “Stop making me sound so bigoted!”

  He opened the refrigerator. “Top shelf?” he asked, his eyes slightly narrowed.

  “Yes. Thank you. I’m sorry, Mr. Martin. I’m sure you’re quite respectable.”

  “I think so, yes.”

  “All you really wanted the other morning was coffee.”

  “The other morning, yes. What about the mustard? Top shelf, too?”

  “Yes!”

  Frustrated, she turned around and attacked the dishes again with a vengeance. “Then I do extend my apologies, Mr. Martin. You’re most certainly a saint. I have nothing whatever to fear. You’re not interested in—”

  “Your body? Sleeping with you?” he suggested, leaning against the refrigerator.

  She wanted to throw the sponge at him. Heat washed through her again; she felt a tremor of excitement that made her want to scream at herself in fury for being a fool.

  “Of course,” she said as blithly as she could manage. “You’re not after a single thing except a house and a platonic friendship.”

  He laughed. “Now that, Mrs. McLane, is something that I most assuredly didn’t say, either.”

  He moved away from the refrigerator. “Ryan!” he called. “It’s late, we’ve got to go!”

  Ryan appeared almost instantly. Maybe the boy recognized a deadly tone when he heard it. For despite Jeff’s amusement, she had angered him, Jade realized. He was cool and distant when he turned back to her.

  “Thank you for dinner. I’ll see you in the morning. Ryan, tell Mrs. McLane thank-you.”

  Ryan did that dutifully and Jade wanted to hug him. He had such a fragile look about him. He seemed so eager for approval.

  “You’re welcome, Ryan. It was very nice having you.”

  Ryan beamed; Jeff tousled Sean’s hair and said good-night. He didn’t glance at Jade again. The door closed behind him, and Jade discovered herself locking it very quickly—as if she could lock out the devil.

  “I’m going to take care of him, Mom.”

  “What?” Jade turned around to see Sean standing there with a faraway expression in his eyes. His hands were on his hips, and there was a stubborn cast to his jaw.

  “Ryan. Some of the kids were teasing him today `cause he couldn’t pitch anyone out. But I like him. And I’m going to take care of him.”

  He turned around and started for his bedroom. Jade watched him.

  “Hey!” she called.

  He paused and turned around to look at her.

  “I love you,” she told him.

  He grinned slowly, then ran back and gave her a big hug. She hugged him back, very glad that there were still times when he was a little boy, little enough to be cuddled and held when she needed very badly to be cuddled and hugged in return.

  CHAPTER 4

  Jade knew Jeffrey was outside before he tapped at the door. She’d heard the low hum of his car and had watched him from the window as he parked, got out and walked around her Corvette a number of times. He looked very “Miami” that day, she thought, in off-white slacks, a casual white jacket over a knit shirt and no tie. The outfit was fashionable, and he wore it well. His hair was very dark against the light suit, his features tanned and healthy. She found herself wondering exactly how old he was, what he did to keep up the deep dark tan, the muscles, what he looked like shaving in the morning…

  She gave herself a little shake as he came up the porch steps, and hurried to the door to be there when he knocked.

  “Hi. You’re early,” she said.

  “Am I?”

  “I made coffee. Want some?”

  He grinned slowly. “I thought you didn’t drink it.”

  “I don’t, but I know how to make it.”

  “Sure, I’d love some.”

  A few minutes later, he was seated at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, and Jade was across from him. As usual, she was acutely aware of him. He had just shaved. She liked the texture of his cheek. His hair was still damp from a shower. Jade couldn’t sit still, not while she was so close to him. She jumped up and produced a map of the area, showing him U.S.1, the Grove, Main, Sunset and the uneven splotches of property where the Gables began and ended. She leaned over the map, trying to explain the divisions.

  “Greater Miami is really twenty-seven municipalities. South Miami, Miami Beach, Miami Shores, et cetera. Coral Gables is a municipality, Coconut isn’t. It’s a section of the main city. It makes a difference when it comes to taxes and laws. Coral Gables is strict—you need permits for anything you build. But, the property values always remain high because the neighborhoods are so nice. The Grove is intriguing, and property values in the Grove stay high just because it’s the Grove. It’s a strange place—you have million-dollar mansions, medium housing and ghettos, one on top of another. In the end, it all comes out to where you decide you want to be.”

  She had leaned over his shoulder to point out various areas on the map. He turned to her curiously, and she realized their faces were almost touching.

  “You didn’t get your car fixed yet.”

  “I haven’t had time,” she lied quickly, moving away from him. She glanced at her watch. “I guess we’d better get going.”

  His car, she discovered as she climbed into the passenger’s seat, was a Lincoln Town Car. Strange, she mused, that she hadn’t really noticed what it was when the damned thing had made mince meat out of her Corvette.

  Well, now she knew. A Lincoln Town Car. Nice, she decided a little bitterly. Roomy, and very comfortable. The stereo system was wonderful, the air conditioning quiet, and the seats so comfortable that she thought she could curl up and go to sleep.

  “Where to?”

  “I thought we’d just drive first.”

  “Fine. Where?”

  She directed him to the road leading past the guard tower into Gables Estates. Waterways came into view, and on either side of the road were immense homes that looked like country clubs.

  “Are we going into any houses here?” he asked her.

  She shook her head. “No, not today. We can, though.” She smiled. “I was going to show you a lot that is for sale. It curves right onto the open water, near the Wackenhut castle.

  “It’s quite an area,” he said admiringly.

  A few minutes later they parked and got out to walk around the lot. It had been cleared, but there were a few palms left, their fronds drifting in the cool breeze from the bay.

  “What do you think?”

  “It’s nice. I’d still like something more overgrown, with shrubs and trees and all.”

  It’s nice—that was all he had to say about Gables Estates. She lifted her nose a little. “Just as well. This land alone will go for about eight hundred thousand or more.”

  He didn’t say anything but led the way back to the car. Their next stop was Cocoplum. Jade showed him a number of new homes, exquisite houses, with every modern convenience: beveled glass windows, marble floors, high-tech kitchens, decorator family rooms and designer pools. He barraged her with questions about square footage, construction, wiring, lot size and so on. She answered them all, grateful that she had prepared herself so well.

  Their third stop was on a waterway with “no bridges to the bay” in the south Gables. The house had been built in the thirties; it had beautiful turrets and balconies, a spiral staircase and a separate guesthouse. She knew that he liked it far more than he had the others, and she decided that she w
ould be smart to show him older homes from here on out. The owner was home to go through the house with them, so it wasn’t until she left them in the yard sloping down to the water that he told her his real thoughts.

  “This is more of what I had in mind, except that it’s too small.”

  “It’s twenty-five hundred square feet. Three bedrooms, three baths. How many rooms do you need for two people?”

  He laughed. “More than this. I’m going to have to hire a live-in housekeeper. And I’m not planning on being ‘two’ forever.”

  He was staring out at the water, hands in his pockets. The breeze ruffled his hair.

  She felt restless, as if she wanted to get very close to him and run away at the same time. She couldn’t begin to hazard a guess at his feelings, but she kept remembering what he’d said when she had suggested that he was interested only in a platonic relationship. “I didn’t say that, either,” he had told her. Yet today he had been all business. He had opened her car door with perfunctory courtesy at each stop; he hadn’t touched her at all. Not even casually.

  “You’ve got a remarriage all planned?” she asked with what she hoped was casual humor.

  He kept staring at the water. “Sure,” he said with a shrug. “I’d like to marry again. I like commitment, family life.”

  “You make it sound very easy.”

  “I still believe that it can be.” He looked at her then, his eyes the color of the midday sky. “You sound skeptical, Mrs. McLane. But you’re a widow, not a divorcée.”

  Jade turned around. She wasn’t about to tell him that though she had loved Danny with all her heart, her marriage had been on the rocks right from the start.

  “Let’s go, shall we? We have an appointment in five minutes.”

  He liked the next house, too. The owners had meticulously restored it to its original grandeur, and it was gracious as well as modern. It was located on the water; it had a dock for a yacht. It had four bedrooms and was almost four thousand square feet.

  “The only problem here,” he told her with a sigh, “is that the yard is too small.”

  “It’s a half acre!” Jade protested. “Land is at a premium here, you know!”

  “But surely you can find me more of it.”

  “Only if you want to spend a fortune,” Jade advised him.

  He shrugged. “Is this it for the day?”

  “Yes, this is our last appointment.”

  “Let’s go get some lunch.”

  She opened her mouth to protest, then wondered why she should. She didn’t have to be anywhere today until it was time to pick up Sean. Sandy didn’t expect her to come into the office. Besides, she rationalized, Jeffrey Martin was a client, one who might bring her badly needed income.

  “All right. Where?”

  “You pick the place, madame.”

  She smiled as she settled herself in his car again, feeling curiously carefree. It had been an eternity since she had been with a man like this, a man who made her feel giddy and feminine, young and sensual.

  “Vintons,” she announced. “You appreciate antiquity. It’s a French restaurant in an old hotel and it’s lovely. It’s near Miracle Mile in the Gables.”

  As they drove, she allowed herself to lean back, close her eyes and smile slightly. Let it happen, she told herself. No, don’t be a fool, a stern voice counseled. He was striking and strong and so sexual. She’d be setting herself up for a gigantic fall….

  He liked the restaurant. As soon as they were seated, he ordered wine. Jade reminded herself to go slowly, but her first sip of wine went down so smoothly that she forgot her own advice. She found herself smiling at him, longing to flirt a bit.

  “I love this place at night,” she told him. “The waiters bring the ladies roses and pillows for their feet.”

  He gazed at her over his wineglass. “You come here often?”

  She shook her head. “Dinner is very expensive. It’s a special occasion type of thing.”

  He asked her how long she had been in her house, and she smiled, telling him that she had inherited it from her grandparents. “My grandfather was a true pioneer. As a teenager, he worked on Henry Flagler’s railroad. My mother hated the old place; I loved it. She and Dad moved up to Daytona when he retired, so I inherited the house.”

  She asked him about his work, and was surprised when he mentioned that he had actually majored in broadcast journalism in college. She asked him if he came from Chicago originally, and learned that he’d been born in Monona, Wisconsin.

  And all the while, she continued to sip her wine. She wasn’t drunk, exactly, but she felt like smiling, like shruging away inhibition to ask personal questions.

  “Have you always had money?” she asked him.

  He laughed. “That’s rather blunt. It could even be considered rude.”

  She shrugged. “Don’t answer, then.”

  But that enigmatic smile was on his lips, and he moved slightly closer to her, idly running a finger over the ashtray.

  “I wasn’t exactly born with a silver spoon, but my dad was a fairly prosperous attorney. And yes, Mrs. McLane, I made lots and lots of money throwing that little ball around the field like a dumb jock. I know that insults your sensibilities, but I’m afraid it’s the way of the world.”

  She stiffened slightly, but then laughed. “I asked for that one, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, you did.”

  The wine seemed to rush through her. No, that was an excuse. It was his presence that intoxicated her.

  “Did it bother you much to quit playing professionally? Aren’t you ever…bitter?”

  He grimaced, leaning back. “Not really. I knew the moment I heard my leg shatter that it was all over. I just felt lucky to walk again.” A smile played about his mouth. “And I actually was aware that there could be other things in life beside playing ball.”

  Jade lowered her eyes and stared at her quiche. “How long have you been divorced?”

  “Two years.”

  She didn’t care if her questions were personal, even rude. She lifted her eyes to his once again. “What happened?”

  He shrugged. “The usual. Things went wrong. We just didn’t see eye to eye anymore.”

  “Were you being a jock? Maybe running around a bit too much?”

  The compression of his lips warned her that she had gone too far.

  “Sure. Something like that.”

  He picked up his wineglass and drained it. Then he reached out and caught her hand across the table. “And what is your thing, Jade? Your husband died, so you decided you’d spend your life dwelling in memory? Have you turned him into a saint, someone mortal man could never match?”

  She snatched her hand away. “We’d better go. We both have children to pick up from school.”

  He signaled for the check. When he pulled her chair back, he almost—almost—touched her.

  She felt very stiff in his luxurious car. She knew she should keep quiet, but she seemed to be on a road to destruction that she couldn’t leave.

  “Isn’t it strange that you have custody of Ryan?”

  “No,” he replied briefly, braking for a yellow light. “Diana didn’t want custody. I did.”

  She ran her hand over the upholstery. “This is a big car for two people,” she murmured.

  He made an impatient little sound. “A friend of mine was killed in a compact. I like big cars—they’re safer. Not like that little death trap you ride around in.” He glanced her way just before the light changed. “Our cars barely connected the other day. Mine had a few scratches—yours is a mess. And the way people drive down here—”

  He broke off when she stiffened all over again. “It’s the Northerners who come down who don’t know how to drive.”

  He chuckled softly. “That still rankles, doesn’t it?”

  “Of course.”

  She glanced out the window. He seemed to know where they were going well enough; he was heading east on Douglas, past Grand, ready to turn onto
Main.

  “Oh!” she gasped suddenly. She had been struck by an idea so wonderful, it left her breathless for a minute.

  “Oh what?”

  “I just thought of something.”

  The Harrison house was her own listing. And Jeff was so damned determined to spend money. The commission…all her own!

  Commission—what a way to think of life. But she couldn’t help it. She could fix her car and her roof. She would be able to go to the grocery store without trying to count the bill in her head. It Jeff really wanted to spend that much…

  “What time is it?” she asked him anxiously.

  “Two-thirty.”

  “Turn left up ahead.”

  “Up ahead where? All I can see is branches.”

  She laughed. “I know. But trust me. There’s a road.”

  He turned into the driveway and braked quickly at her warning. Jade jumped out of the car, fumbled in her purse for the ring that held keys to the various houses she was listing and opened the high wrought-iron gate. Then she hurried back to the car.

  “Drive in,” she told him.

  He arched a brow. “What’s this?”

  “A house. It’s on over two acres of land. You’ve got tons and tons of foliage, six bedrooms, four baths. Upstairs, downstairs, pool and dock. And it’s an historic landmark.”

  “We can see it now?”

  “Yes, it’s my listing. I have the keys.”

  They moved slowly down the curving driveway. Jade couldn’t help smiling as she watched him survey the lush bushes and trees. There were crotons in a variety of colors, banyans dripping moss, hibiscus in bright red and yellow and pink.

  “Is this more of what you had in mind?” she asked lightly, feeling a flush of excitement rise to her cheeks.

  She could see that this was what he wanted. Lock, stock and barrel. The price of the property was more than double that of anything else she had shown him, but if he couldn’t afford it, at least he’d see that he would have to lower his standards a little to buy something less expensive.

  She loved the Harrison house. Somehow it had all the grace and dignity of the man who had built it.

  “Stop here!” she said excitedly. “It’s fun to come up the walk.”