‘I believe I’ve had enough,’ Jackson retorted. His eyes swung to Angela. ‘Tarts and all.’ And he walked out through the door as if he was being shot from a cannon.
CHAPTER TEN
IT WAS nine o’clock in the evening and Molly hadn’t yet recovered from the disastrous ‘business’ lunch. Sam was asleep, but under protest. ‘How can we have such a great froghouse and not finish it?’ he’d demanded. ‘Our frogs are only here for three more weeks. The way it’s going we won’t finish until it’s time for them to leave.’
‘Yes, we will,’ Molly told him, staring in dismay at the instructions for frame assembly. Maybe they could just fill it up without putting it on legs, she thought. Maybe she could get Angela and Guy to stop thinking about each other for long enough to come over. Maybe she could figure it out herself.
Ha! None of those solutions was remotely possible.
‘I’ll ring the aquarium,’ she told him as she tucked him in. ‘They’ll send someone over.’ Though it’d cost her money she could ill afford.
‘Mr Baird said he’d fix it.’
‘Yeah, well, let me tell you something. Have you noticed how good-looking Mr Baird is?’
‘Um…no.’
‘Trust me. He’s good-looking. And it’s time you took on board some sage advice, young man. Never trust the good-looking ones.’
He thought that over and frowned. ‘Girls, too?’
‘Yes. Girls, too.’ But mostly men, she thought. Mostly men.
‘I really thought that he’d come,’ Sam said sleepily into his pillow. ‘I’m sad that he’s so good-looking he breaks promises.’
And so am I, Molly thought, back in the living room and staring at various construction bits. Really, really sad. And if I wasn’t a girl with responsibilities I’d go find myself another tub of Tia Maria ice cream. She stared down at Sam’s frogs, who stared back at her from their too-small box with expressions of mutual lack of interest.
‘Okay. Okay. I’m useless as a builder but I make a great realtor. When I go to bed I’ll let you guys free in the bathroom.’ Then she thought back to something Jackson had said and an appalling possibility presented itself. ‘Only you have to promise to leave the toilet alone. Even I don’t think life’s that bad.’
This statement didn’t cheer the frogs up at all. Well, why should it? It certainly didn’t cheer her up.
Bed…
The doorbell rang and she jumped a foot.
It’ll be Trevor coming to haul me over the coals, she told herself. He’d been appalled that she hadn’t finished lunch with a signed contract. She swung open the door with a sigh.
‘I’ve come to fix your froghouse,’ Jackson told her, and walked straight in.
To say she was shocked would be an understatement. ‘You what?’
‘I’ve come to fix your froghouse. Like I promised.’
She thought about that while he set his toolbox on the floor and rolled up the sleeves of his sweater-and somehow she made her voice work.
‘You know…what went on at lunchtime…I sort of figured that might negate any promises.’
‘I didn’t promise
‘Hey, nice outfit,’ he told her, and she forgot about the toolbox and flushed scarlet. She was wearing rose-pink jogging pants and sweatshirt, both of which had seen better days.
‘You’re kidding.’
‘Beats the funeral clothes.’
She glared and decided to concentrate on the toolbox. It seemed safer.
‘Do you know how to use that stuff?’
‘Sure I do.’
But there was something about the way he said it that defied belief. Her lips twitched, despite her shock. ‘Why don’t I believe that?’
‘Hey…’
‘What’s this?’ she demanded, picking up an implement of not so obvious destruction.
He looked superior. ‘That’s a router.’ His tone was of such confidence that she didn’t believe a word.
‘What does it do?’
‘It routs of course.’ He grinned. ‘Anything you want routed, I’m your man.’
Yeah, right. Drat the man. How could he unnerve her so completely and then make her want to laugh? She swallowed a giggle and tried to be serious. ‘That’s the biggest set of tools I’ve ever seen.’
‘I knew you’d be impressed,’ he told her. ‘That’s why I bought it.’
‘You bought a set of tools-
‘There’s lots to do tonight.’
He was looking lovely, she thought. Just lovely. In his faded old jeans and a soft cashmere sweater that looked lived in and loved, he didn’t look like a millionaire businessman. Tonight he could be anyone, she thought. Anyone’s boyfriend? Anyone’s lover?
He wasn’t. He was Jackson Baird, client, with his arrangement with an unknown Cara, and she’d better remember it.
‘The froghouse shouldn’t take too long,’ she managed.
‘Not with these tools. But then we need to hang your frames.’
‘My frames?’
‘Your knots.’ He concentrated on his tools, fitting a fierce-looking blade into a screwdriver handle. ‘I’m not going back to the States until I see your knots on the wall. I’ve decided you’ve been a doormat for long enough.’
She stared. ‘I’m not a doormat.’
‘Yes, you are. You sit back and let things happen to you. For instance, have you tried suing this Michael character for the money you put into your home?’
‘Michael’s a lawyer,’ she told him stiffly. ‘He could beat me hands down in a legal fight. And I’d have legal costs and he wouldn’t.’
‘That’s what he’s counting on. What if I lend you my Roger Francis? He should be nasty enough to take on any Michael.’
‘I don’t like-’
‘You don’t like Roger Francis?’ He grinned. ‘Neither do I, but the man’s clever. I’ll be willing to bet he could take on any Michael you like and expect to win. So the offer’s there.’
‘Why are you doing this?’ she asked, and he shook his head.
‘Beats me. Give me a hand with these legs.’
But the question still hung.
And it hung all that night. They worked side by side, erecting the froghouse and then filling it with water and standing it in all its glory against the bar. It meant you couldn’t lean against the counter, but Molly didn’t do a lot of bar-leaning anyway, and it was the most sensible place to put it. Then she watched as Jackson gently released two little frogs into their new home.
Drat the man; he still had the ability to make a lump form in her throat. He stood in his lovely casual clothes, with the two tiny frogs nestled in the palm of his hand, and he handled them with the care he might well use if they were diamonds.
More so.
Jackson was a frog prince, she thought inconsequentially. With those two little creatures in his hand he seemed transformed himself, from ruthless businessman into someone…
Someone she could love with all her heart and with all her soul.
