Both Mac and Dixie were busy the rest of the week, with little time for communication except for telephone calls late at night and early morning kisses when he showed up to take Jamie to work. It was driving him crazy. No more than a kiss or two was allowed thanks to Jamie and his obvious bad timing. He never failed to show up just as things were getting interesting, leaving Mac frustrated. He could hardly wait until Friday night.
Adding to Mac’s frustration, another break-in had occurred at one of the model homes in a new subdivision Chance was supervising across town. In his inimitable flair for the dramatic, Chance had committed himself to putting a stop to this travesty of justice as he loudly and drunkenly proclaimed at Montana Max’s saloon one evening. He’d magnanimously offered a reward for anyone with information leading to an arrest, and declared that he and his brothers would be personally overseeing the security of each new home. Unfortunately, he forgot to mention that fact to his brothers until later that week. Mac was ready to strangle him.
“I can’t believe you announced to the world that we would be providing night watch for these homes.” Mac stormed into the weekly staff meeting held in the office conference room on Friday afternoon. Brandon, Chance, as well as two other brothers, Nick and Lucky, were consuming coffee and cookies provided by Dottie.
“Well, look at it this way. Business is bound to pick up when people know we’re providing security,” Chance boasted.
“You have any idea what that will cost?” Mac fumed. He didn’t want to listen to this shit. He wanted to be getting ready for tonight. Once this problem was resolved, he’d head home to a soothing shower and a much-anticipated evening with Dixie. He could hardly wait. Wine? Check. Roses? Check. Condoms? Double Check.
“It will cost next to nothing. We’ll do it. We will take shifts. Right now, we’ve committed ourselves to building only a few houses at a time, so there’s really no problem. And there’s five of us, plus Jamie. We can handle it,” Chance predicted smugly.
“And just how do we handle this tremendous influx of housing contracts that are going to be flooding our “in” boxes? Staying up all night is guaranteed to make us a bit too tired to take on additional projects,” Lucky grumbled.
“And what about Jamie? He seems a good kid, but there is no proof that he wasn’t in on at least a part of the sabotage,” Nick stated.
At the mention of Jamie, Mac pulled himself together. “He’s not. Just look elsewhere,” His dark voice left little room for argument.
“Mac, there’s a Ms. Trumbull here to see you. She doesn’t have an appointment, but apparently she’s connected to Trumbull Investment Properties,” Dottie said at the doorway of the conference room. She peered at Mac over her bifocals sending him a severe frown. Very few people breached Mac’s inner sanctum without Dottie’s approval and an appointment. Mac noted she was not a happy camper.
Apparently, Ms. Trumbull must be quite determined. Mac wished he could place the name. It was always better to know who you were talking to in any particular situation. “Show her into my office. I’ll be there in a few minutes and find out anything you can because I don’t remember who the hell she is.”
“No need. Ms. Flashy Pants is already ensconced there. She said she never waits in a lobby,” Dottie said sarcastically.
Mac groaned. Just what he didn’t need. He finally remembered the name. Christina Trumbull was a spoiled brat who liked to pretend she ran her father’s company. Unfortunately, Daddy did listen to her on occasion, so it would probably be best not to ruffle her feathers. Her father was an extremely rich and powerful man in the state of Illinois. The only reason she could be here was because of the marina project proposal.
Mac excused himself and headed down the hall to his office. Closing the door quietly, he took a moment to remember the woman waiting by his desk. One day of marina proposal meetings with her father; one night of totally forgettable sex with her. It had been over two years ago. He didn’t even remember what she looked like until she turned around. “How can I help you, Christina?”
“Hello, Mac. It’s been a long time.” She glided over to him on high red heels, her tall slim body encased in an all-white suit. Perfectly manicured red nails grazed over his face. Her tawny tresses were artfully styled to complement her amber eyes, which smoldered with desire. The silent invitation in her delicate pose was designed to bring a man to his knees. But Mac felt absolutely nothing but irritation.
“Again, how can I help you, Christina?” he asked impatiently as he sauntered around his desk. He immediately felt better as soon as there was a desk space between them.
Christina frowned. “Father heard about your plan for a new winery near the marina. He wanted to find out a bit more before he makes a decision whether to back your proposal.” Christina sauntered over to the brown leather couch and sat down, as she crossed her legs and leaned back provocatively.
“Proposal was six months ago. What’s taken him so long? I may have already found all the financing I need,” Mac stated dryly. He hadn’t found all the financing, but he was angry enough to let her think so. She was taking up valuable time he could be spending with Dixie, and her attempts at seduction left him cold. Dixie left her in the dust at every level.
“My father’s a very busy man. Someone as hard-working as you can appreciate that, I’m sure.” She stood up, crossing to the large window, letting the sun silhouette her figure to perfection. “Nevertheless, he has instructed me to act on his behalf. If I find the property worthy of consideration, my father would like to contribute the amount specified in the original proposal in exchange for a seat on the board. I am assuming the proposal still stands?”
Christina leaned over Mac’s shoulder, offering him a glimpse of her breasts beneath the jacket of her suit. “Why don’t we go to dinner and discuss it? That is, if there is somewhere to eat around here.” She touched his arm in an intimate gesture making sure he understood she would be more than willing to dine in, preferably in his bedroom.
Damn! Mac cursed. Dixie was looking forward to dinner tonight and so was he. This woman was so artificial and lacking compared to Dixie’s natural beauty and vivaciousness. He felt nothing but revulsion when she touched him.
On the other hand, business was business. And if he could get her old man to put his share into the marina project, it would guarantee success. The other investors would fall in line, and the town would have a new marina to attract tourists and businesses. It could very well mean the start of something big for his small town. Surely Dixie would understand that.
He sighed in resignation. “Just let me make some adjustments to my schedule. I’ll be right back.” A few minutes later, everything was taken care of, but as he escorted Christina to his truck, he couldn’t help but think of a smaller, sweeter woman who would fit in his arms perfectly.
*****
As Dixie walked up her front porch, she heard the phone ringing in her purse. Fumbling with the groceries, her purse, and her messenger bag, she tried desperately to get to the phone. The teachers’ meeting had run over and subsequently, she was running late for her date with Mac. If she hurried, she could just manage to get a shower and dress before he came to get her. Not that he seemed to mind finding me in my bathrobe. She smiled, and her body trembled as she remembered the outcome of that encounter.
Perhaps tonight.
“You’ve become a wanton witch, Dixie Harris,” she murmured under her breath as she finally located the phone. She dropped her purse on the porch swing and the contents came tumbling out, rolling in every direction. Dixie scrambled to retrieve the mess as she swiped open her phone. She hit the voicemail and Mac’s deep timbre filled the silent room. “Dixie, I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news. I’m going to have to break our date tonight. I’m sorry, but something very important to Grafton has come up at the office, and I’m not going to be able to get away. I hope you understand. I’ll have Chance bring Jamie home. I really hate doing this. I’ll call you soon as I can, and we can schedule something then.”
As the voicemail ended, Dixie shut off her phone. Disappointment welled up inside her as she opened the door to the house and flopped down on the sofa. She felt totally deflated. “Stop acting so pathetic,” she scolded herself. She sighed, thinking of Mac and his flirty smile. His gruff exterior harbored a tender side that melted her heart. He wanted to bring this town back from devastation so badly. She couldn’t fault him for his noble nature.
Even if she was dying to feel his touch again.
“I wonder if cold showers work for women, too?” she mumbled.
She gave her herself a mental shake for her pitiful attitude, and with a heavy sigh she picked up the groceries she left on the porch and trudged into the kitchen to fix something to drink. What was so important that would keep Mac away from their date? Maybe they had finally gotten a lead in the vandalism case!
When Jamie came home two hours later, he couldn’t give her any clues as to what was happening. He had been out at the recently vandalized homes most of the day, and he hadn’t seen Mac since early morning. “I guess this means your free this evening, Dixie. Why don’t we catch that new movie playing at the Starlight?”
“No, let’s just have a quiet evening here. I’ll order some pizza and pick up a video. What do you want to watch?” Dixie really didn’t care about eating or the movies, but spending the evening with Jamie was better than just sitting here pining away and waiting for the phone to ring. Dixie ordered the food from a restaurant in Grafton and went to pick it up along with the movie as Jamie got a shower.
Pulling into the parking lot of the restaurant, Dixie noted the streetlights were just beginning to turn on. The days were getting longer and the nights shorter, but she was ready for spring. What was that saying? When all God’s creatures turn to thoughts of….love. She smiled to herself as she noticed a couple locked in an amorous embrace by a car. She sighed, thinking of Mac and wondering again what might’ve happened tonight. She had never felt the passionate intensity she knew in Mac’s arms. He could make her fall apart with passion, shattering any objections or fears she might have just with his kisses.
Dixie got out of her car quietly so as not to disturb the loving couple and made her way across the parking lot. As she neared them, the man raised his head and the illumination from the streetlights cast his features in perfect profile. Silver eyes gleamed at her then narrowed fractionally in recognition. Dixie drew to a halt and took a fortifying breath. It’s not Mac. It’s Chance. He’s a hit with the ladies and he resembles Mac. It’s not Mac; don’t let it be Mac.
“Dixie?”
Pain sliced through her heart when he called out her name. It was Mac. She would know that deep voice anywhere. Dixie stood numb with shock. Mac was seeing someone else. She couldn’t believe it, but she had seen him with her own eyes. The woman’s hands were rubbing against Mac’s shirt. She tilted her head up and brought her hand to his face, placing a kiss on his lips.
Dixie had seen enough. She began walking briskly back to her car, ignoring the man calling her name, anger quickly replacing the numbness.
“He’s not married to you. You haven’t even been on a real date yet. You have no right to be angry. He never said he was dating you exclusively,” she muttered as she reached her car. I have every right to be madder than hell. He lied to me. He stood me up for some other woman. He hoped I wouldn’t find out. He thought he could have me and still keep this other woman. Well, now I know the truth and soon Mr. Mackenzie Coalson is going to learn a few things. I don’t play second fiddle to anyone. So she can have him. She’s welcome to the low-down dirty creep.
Her anger drained away at the end of her tirade leaving only the pain of loss and abject humiliation. Despite all she had seen, she couldn’t help but wish she was the one Mac was holding right now.
She made it to the car and started the engine before the tears began to fall. I thought after the other night, that he felt the same way I did, that what we shared was special. He deliberately led me to believe that. I was such a fool. Oh God, it hurts!
“I suppose I should just be glad my brother walked in when he did or I’d have even more to cry about now,” she mumbled to herself, swiping at her tears with the back of her hand. It didn’t help.
She began crying in earnest as she backed out of the parking lot. A few passionate kisses from the first man she was attracted to and she melted like butter before fire. Well, there was no sense beating herself up about it. She had learned her lesson the hard way. She wasn’t going to play the fool again. Not even if he came begging her to take him back.
Stupid, gullible, virgin fool.
She dared a hasty glance at her rearview mirror. It showed Mac, with his arm around the other woman, helping her into his truck. He couldn’t even be bothered to try and chase her down. Dixie gunned the engine and headed home.
Mac swore as the taillights of Dixie’s Jeep faded in the distance. He tossed a rather inebriated Christina Trumbull into his truck. She moaned softly, and he looked at her in disgust. If it wasn’t for her, he and Dixie would be enjoying a pleasant evening together. Now he doubted he would even get a chance to explain the situation. He had seen the expression on Dixie’s face. She had drawn her own conclusions. He couldn’t blame her. He knew it looked bad.
Mac came around the driver side and got in. The sooner he got rid of Miss Flashy Pants, the better. He had felt like a deer being stalked by a wolf all evening, but short of being downright rude and possibly losing a chance at funding the marina project, there wasn’t much he could do about it. He managed to fend off her hands, and her less than subtle propositions. When it became clear that he wasn’t interested in what she was offering, she had the gall to try and use the project as leverage. When that only produced an expression of disbelief from him, she had subsided into her fit of sulks, drinking steadily throughout their dinner and continuing to pass him slight innuendos.
And the clincher of it all was he still didn’t know whether her father was going to fund the project. Contract or no contract, I should have let Chance handle this one. No doubt about it. Mac glanced at his now sleeping client. Her red lips were open slightly. He wiped his own with the back of his hand in an attempt to rid himself of her lipstick.
Talk about bad timing. He had almost made it to the car when Christina had turned in his arms and pressed her greedy lips to his. He’d endured the sloppy kiss while at the same time trying to extricate himself from an embarrassing situation. He had pulled back as soon as possible. But it had been too late.
He had spotted the diminutive woman as he lifted his head. Peering over Christina’s shoulder, his blood ran cold as he noticed the light blonde hair visible under a street lamp. The woman’s face had been in shadow for only a second, then with a slight movement forward, the streetlight had bathed her features in perfect light. Dread washed over him as he murmured her name. Her wounded expression had made him wince. Dixie had obviously seen everything and drawn her own conclusions. He had started to follow her to explain, then Christina had groaned, and he had been forced to help her into his truck.
“As soon as I get rid of you, woman, Dixie and I are gonna talk. She is going to believe me,” he murmured as he gunned the engine and roared into the night, heading for Christina’s hotel.
Jamie said Dixie had a volatile temper and he remembered vividly her explosion in his office. It had led to their first passionate embrace. Well, her anger was worth the effort if the outcome would be another example of the recently released passion she had found his arms. Mac smiled to himself. They would fight, but then they would make up and everything would be just fine. He could hardly wait to get started.
Jamie looked up from the book he was reading as Dixie walked into the house. One look at her face and he was taking her in his arms. “What happened? Are you hurt? Was there an accident?” While he was questioning her, he was running his hands up and down her arms checking for broken bones.
Dixie pushed out of his arms. “No, nothing like that. I just want to lie down. I’m sorry about dinner. There’s leftovers in the fridge. Fix yourself something, okay?”
She walked through the house like a zombie, closing her door softly in his face.
Once inside her bedroom, the tears spilled over once again as she flung herself on the bed and cried her heart out.
Moments later, she heard a pounding on the front door. “Dixie, open up. I know you’re in there. Let me explain,” Mac said forcefully as he continued to knock.
“Dammit, Dixie, open up. I’m not leaving here until you talk to me. I’ll make so much noise the neighbors will call the police. Do you hear me Dixie?” he roared.
She heard Jamie open the door. “I don’t know what you did, but you better fix it. She’s in her room crying her eyes out,” he groused.
“Not that it’s any of your business, Jamie, but your sister misunderstood a situation she found me in tonight, and I’m here to clarify it. Now get out of the way.”
“You gave me the benefit of the doubt, so I’ll do the same for you. I suggest you both calm down a little. My sister has a horrible temper and between the two of you, I feel like the house is gonna explode. Take some advice from a person who knows. Let her rant and rave until it’s out of her system, and then explain things to her. Otherwise, you’ll just be wasting your breath.”
Dixie heard Mac on the other side of the bedroom door. She wanted to run and hide. She needed to lick her wounds and come to grips with what a fool she had been to trust Mac and his kisses. She didn’t want to listen to reason. She was hurting too badly and nothing he could say or do would erase the picture indelibly printed on her mind of him in the arms of another woman.
So when Mac knocked softly on the door minutes later, she turned a deaf ear to his plea. “Dixie, please let me in. I want to explain what you saw,” Mac whispered.
Oh my God! Did he think she was blind? Or just plain stupid? Or so deeply enamored of him that she was gonna let this stand?
“I saw what I saw. I took biology. I know all about sexual reproduction. Please leave.” She was privately amazed she was able to carry on any kind of conversation with the two timing jerk. She congratulated herself on how collected she’d been, considering her temper was threatening to erupt again.
Knocking again a little more forcefully, he pleaded. “Dixie baby, please open up. You didn’t see what you thought you saw. Please. Just let me explain.”
“I may be young, but I’m not stupid. And I am most certainly not blind,” she snapped at him from the other side of the door. The man was unbelievable.
“You are the most infuriating bit of baggage I have ever encountered. If I didn’t care for you so much, I’d leave right now and never look back.”
“You call that caring?! I call it a line of crap! The only thing you cared about begins with an “F” and ends with me losing my virginity!” Oh, God! Had she really just shouted that?
Pounding on the door with his fist, he shouted, “Dixie Harris, you open the door this minute, or I’ll break it down!”
“Then I’ll just have you arrested for breaking and entering. Sort of ironic, don’t you think?” she countered sweetly. She felt like crying the Mississippi River because he broke her heart, but she was not going to let that arrogant pain-in-the-ass know just how much she was hurting. She had her pride!
“Fine. Just fine. I should’ve known better than to get involved with a little girl, anyhow. Maybe, in a few years, when you grow up and if you have apologized nicely, I might just take you back! And bring a damn soapbox to stand on. My neck’s getting sore from looking down at you!” he snarled. After giving the closed-door another good pounding, he stomped out of the house, slamming the front door.
“Oooooh!” Dixie’s eyes narrowed to mere slits and her hands balled into fists as Mac’s last remark registered with the banging of the screen door. It was like pouring gasoline on a bonfire. She was out of her bedroom and on the front porch in seconds. Heedless of the people walking down the street, she advanced like a mad woman across the yard, screaming. “Apologize to you? When pigs fly, you Mississippi River rat. I wasn’t the one caught fornicating in the parking lot of the local pizza parlor. Hell will freeze over before I apologize.”
Mac saw her coming out on the front porch, and he started toward her, but the smugness left his face, however, with each shouted word. By the time she was finished with her tirade, Mac’s eyes were tempered steel and his face was set granite. “Well, the Devil better get ready for a heat wave, baby, because I feel the same way.”
He hopped in his truck and with a squeal of tires, he was gone.
“On the whole, I think that went pretty well,” Jamie commented as he walked up behind her to watch the disappearing headlights.
“Oh shut up,” she snarled and fled back to her room, weeping once again.