Leanne Banks - Trouble in High Heels

“Oh, you’re exaggerating.”

“Not by much,” he said grimly.

“You and I would get along much better if you would be a little more flexible,” she told him.

“Somebody has to hold the line,” he said with a growl in his voice. “I’m the unlucky guy.”

She could tell he didn’t enjoy his position any more than she was happy with hers. Lori sighed. “Are you nicer to your other clients? Can’t you be just a little nicer to me?”

“My other clients haven’t made any complaints, but I haven’t had to be as firm with any of them. The problem with being nice to you, Lori, is you are the proverbial example for give-her-an-inch-and-she’ll-take-you-for-a-hundred-miles.”

“Another exaggeration,” she said.

“Six figures for a finger painting,” he reminded her. “Six figures.”

“All right, all right,” she said. “I guess you should tell me about the prospects for the job as my husband.”

“Do you want to hear about it now or at your home?”

“Go ahead,” she said with a shrug. “I need to get my head turned back around to this idea. I may as well start now.”

He paused, studying her. “Second thoughts?”

She didn’t want to admit it, but he was clearly the kind of man who could smell any weakness a mile away. “Yes, and there will be more, but it doesn’t change my situation and it doesn’t change my decision,” she added quickly before he could interject anything. “I’m going to do this.”

“You have other options,” he said.

“This is the best plan. It’s just being around Delilah and Katie and hearing them talk about how much they love their husbands. And my little nieces and nephew, they’re so sweet, and-” A lump of emotion crowded her throat and she bit her lip. “And I need to stop thinking about it, because I’m on a different track. There.”

“Lori, are you sure?”

She met his gaze and felt his strength bolster her. Strange, she thought, that a person who annoyed her and frustrated her could make her feel more certain. “I’m sure,” she said and smiled. “Tell me about my future husband.”

He paused, and she saw a sliver of something almost like respect deepen his eyes. It was gone so quickly she wondered if she had imagined it.

“Bachelor number three,” he began.

“Let’s start with a fresh page. The first ones didn’t count.”

“These do,” he said firmly. “Bachelor number one is Dr. Frank Liebowitz. He’s a little older, but he has an excellent reputation and excellent communication skills. He would like to have money for research.”

It was weird, but Jackson approved of this guy just a little too much. “Why isn’t he married?”

“His wife passed away. He’s a widower,” he said.

“Oh,” she said, feeling sorry for the doctor she’d never met. “What kind of doctor is he?”

“A-” Jackson cleared his throat. “A psychiatrist.”

A shrink, Lori thought, noticing the way Jackson ’s eye twitched. “Not very subtle.”

“This isn’t a bad idea. Maybe he could do double duty. Help you with some of your-issues,” Jackson said and cleared his throat.

“As if I want someone around twenty-four seven putting me under a microscope, examining my every move, word, and thought. Wouldn’t you just love that, too?”

“This isn’t about me. He’s a respectable man. Worth your consideration,” Jackson said in a rock-hard voice.

“Tell me about the rest,” she said, inwardly fuming. He wasn’t joking when he said he thought she was nuts. He really believed it. Even though she knew her plan was unusual, she wanted to feel as if she and Jackson were a team. Knowing he really thought she was insane bothered her so much she barely heard him list the other prospects.

“And the last one is an English duke, if you’re into titles at all. He’s a financial loser, and I think he could be the most expensive of all of them. That’s why I put him last. He’s got these old mansions that need a bunch of repairs. From the list of repairs, it looks to me like they should ditch the current buildings and start over. Plus he’s got a stepmother who needs to be sent off for a twelve-step program for her shopping habits. Geoffrey Taylor can be a last resort.”

Lori brightened. “Geoffrey Taylor. Did you say Geoffrey Taylor? I met him! And I liked him. Somewhat,” she added, remembering he’d been a grouch at first.

“You did?” Jackson asked, surprise crossing his face.

Lori nodded. “I did. He was appealing in a lost, out-of-his-element way. He needed a haircut, but…”

Jackson was looking at her with a stunned expression. “You actually liked him?”

“I like a lot of people,” she said, miffed at his implication that she didn’t like people.

“So you might be interested in marrying this guy?”

Her stomach clenched. “I don’t know. I have to see how Kenny responds to him.”

“How’d he smell?”

“I’m not sure. I think a waiter had just spilled champagne on him, but I didn’t notice anything that bothered me.”

“You didn’t find anything objectionable about him?”

She shrugged. “I liked that he had a sense of humor. I think a sense of humor is going to be important for this situation.”

Jackson gave a growl-like laugh. “That’s an understatement. A great sense of humor or medication,” he said. “Maybe both.”

His sarcasm poked at her. “Do you have to be so insulting? You act as if I’m the worst person in the world a man could be stuck with for six years. Did you ever think that maybe you have the problem?” she asked, daring to poke his hard chest with her finger. “Maybe you’re not a people person. Plenty of people enjoy my company. You may not, but plenty of people actually think I’m charming. Plenty of people actually like me.”

He grabbed her finger and held it still. “You don’t get it. I feel sorry for the guy who agrees to do this because he’s gonna spend every day of his six-year sentence being close enough to smell you and touch you, but he won’t be taking you to bed. And if he’s a normal heterosexual man, being that close to you and not having you will drive him insane.”

Was that heat in his gaze? Lori wondered, feeling her pulse race. She felt an odd warmth flare across her skin, starting at her toes and moving up to her cheeks. She tried to take a deep breath, but her lungs would allow only a puny shallow one.

She cleared her throat. “The way you say that makes me think you almost find me somewhat attractive.”

“That would be wrong,” he said. “I don’t find you somewhat attractive. Despite the fact that you think I have computer wire for veins, I’m like the rest of my gender. I know you’re a knockout. I wouldn’t be male if I didn’t wonder what it would be like to take you to bed. The big difference between me and the other guys is if I got sexually involved with you, I could lose everything. Baby-blue eyes with the too-generous pocketbook, you could blow me away in bed, but I’ve been protecting my rear for long enough to know I need to protect it more than ever now.”

Lori didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted. “I didn’t ask you to go to bed with me.”

“Not in so many words, but there’s something there.”

She looked at him in surprise. “Pardon me?”

“I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I’m not looking back. You’re curious about me.”

“I-I-I-” she sputtered, embarrassed beyond words.

“It’s no big deal,” he said in what she guessed was his effort to reassure her. “We’re both curious. We’re both attracted. It doesn’t matter as long as we don’t act on it.”

The air in the closet suddenly felt thick and humid. Her mind shifted with rapid-fire speed to a vision of Jackson pulling off the jacket, whose seams strained from the breadth of his shoulders. His tanned skin revealed he spent some of his off-time in the sun. She could easily imagine the sculpted muscles of his chest and a six-pack abdomen. He would accept no less for himself, not out of vanity, but for strength.