The Good Father

lying.

“Hah! I knew it! From the moment you first walked into the office I sensed a vibe between you two. C’mon, give. What’s going on? Is he as hot as he looks?”

Jane shot Carol a sharp look.

Carol rolled her eyes. “He’s not my type-too young, too scrawny and too pale. But I recognize prime beef on the hoof when I see it.”

Jane gave an embarrassed laugh. “Carol, please.”

“You did it at lunch yesterday, didn’t you? Max came back to the office looking like he was going to burst, he was so happy.”

“Of course he was happy. He’d just gotten the Kidz’n’Stuff account.”

“You’re evading the question.”

They’d arrived at the deli, and Jane busied herself studying the menu as they stood in line at the counter. “They have a ham and swiss,” she said.

“I know, I just said that to jerk Max’s chain. He’s always talking about how great the delis are in New York. Interesting that the first thing you looked for when you picked up the menu was something for your man.”

“Carol, stop it.”

“If you want me to stop it, you gotta come clean. If you and the boss man are steam-pressing the sheets, it could cause problems. I need to know the truth, so I can commence damage and rumor control.”

Jane thought that was a pretty thin excuse for simply wanting to hear gossip.

“I’ll tell you,” Jane finally said.

She waited until they’d both picked up their sandwich orders and taken them to a small table on the sidewalk outside. Carol watched her with curious eyes, but she didn’t push further.

“We slept together one time. It was at his place, yesterday, and I have no idea where it’s going or even if it’s going. It might be that we got it out of our systems.”

In a way Jane wished that were the case. But Max certainly wasn’t out of her system.

“Hmph, I doubt that.” Carol took a bite of her turkey sandwich. “So what’s his place like?”

Jane hadn’t been paying much attention to Max’s condo at the time, because she’d been way too focused on other things. But now that she thought about it, she had some recollections. It was big. Two stories, probably three bedrooms. And it was fancy. Modern furniture, but good quality. Nice rugs. Nothing cluttered or fussy.

Still, she thought sharing details about Max’s home bordered on gossip. “Do you want your pickle?” She nodded toward Carol’s plate.

“Okay, I get it. You aren’t into sharing details. I can accept that. But just answer me one thing. Do you want it to get serious? ’Cause you could do a whole lot worse than Max Remington. His family is worth millions. Some day he’ll inherit. You could send Kaylee to Harvard.”

“Carol. I’m not attracted to Max because of his money.”

Or was she? One of the reasons she’d married Scott was because he was wealthy. She wouldn’t have admitted it at the time, but in the back of her mind she’d known that as his wife she wouldn’t have to worry about money.

Was she doing the same thing now? She was scarcely away from one rich husband. On some level, was she counting on Max to someday be Rich Husband #2?

Chapter Thirteen

Max reached into Sara’s Tupperware, grabbed a stuffed mushroom, and popped it into his mouth.

“Hey, let me at least get them onto a platter.” They were setting up refreshments on the Dragonfly in preparation for the first Remington Agency party. Carol was already there, and the others-his two account executives, Jane and Reece-would arrive soon. Cooper and Allie were readying the boat for a leisurely cruise around the bay.

“These are good.” Max reached for another mushroom, but Sara batted his hand away.

“No more. Give the guests a chance at the food, please. You know, Reece claims that when you were kids and you stayed at his house, if there was something on his dinner plate he didn’t like, he would slip it to you or the dog.”

He laughed, feeling happy and relaxed for the first time in a good while. “True. I’ll eat anything.”

A movement on the Princess II next door caught his eye, and his heart did a flip-flop as it always did whenever he saw Jane. She opened the hatch and stood in the doorway, barefoot but otherwise still in her work clothes.

Max stepped to the railing and waved. “C’mon over. We can start the party any time now.” He’d hardly seen her all day. He’d been taking around his new account exec, introducing her to clients he’d assigned her to, so he was looking forward to a few relaxing hours away from phones.

Not that he could touch Jane or kiss her or do any of the things he’d been constantly thinking about. But just having her near would be better than no Jane at all.

“I can’t come,” she said.

“What?”

“I couldn’t get a babysitter.”

Sara came to the railing. “You have to come. Why don’t you bring Kaylee with you?”

Jane shook her head. “That’s not a good idea. This is a grown-up party.”

Now Allie joined the conversation. “C’mon, Jane. You know Kaylee’s welcome. If you’re worried about her safety, she’ll have several worrywarts watching over her. I even have a safety line we can attach to her life jacket-”

“No, it’s not that. I appreciate the offer, but I think we better just stay home tonight.”

Max knew why she didn’t want to bring Kaylee, so he didn’t try to cajole her into coming, though he would feel her absence every moment.

Getting together with her was going to be something of a problem, he realized. Babysitters were expensive and unreliable, and he knew Jane wanted to spend her evenings with her daughter.

Maybe later, after the party and after Kaylee went to bed, he and Jane could go up on deck…and what? Would he forever be limited to clandestine meetings in the dark, stolen kisses, an occasional lunchtime tryst? That wasn’t what he wanted.

He wanted to shout from the rooftops that Jane was his, which was ridiculous.

Now Carol joined in the conversation. “Jane, I’m coming over there to get you. You better be changed into your sailing clothes when I get there, too.”

Ten minutes later, Carol had succeeded in dragging Jane and Kaylee to the Dragonfly. Jane looked incredibly sexy in her little white shorts and flowered T-shirt, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, though Max didn’t think she had intentionally dressed to seduce him.

Kaylee made the rounds, hugging every adult who showed her any interest. Max attempted to stay in the background, which wasn’t easy on a small boat, and when she inevitably saw him she ran toward him with arms outstretched.

“Max!”

What could he do? He wasn’t going to snub the child. “Hey, Flipper.” He gave Kaylee a brief hug, which was hard to do given her bulky life jacket. So he ruffled her blond curls, too.

Max expected Kaylee to move on, but she grabbed on to his hand. “I want to sit at the front.”

Jane had joined them, looking troubled. “Kaylee, I bet Allie would let you sit up on the bridge with her.”

“No, I want to sit in the front. Max, you come with me.”

“Max has things to do, sweetie,” Jane said. “This is his party, and he has to take care of his guests.”

Kaylee pulled on Max’s hand. “Come on, Max.”

Max shrugged helplessly, and Jane looked resigned. “Fine.”

The rest of the guests arrived, and Max greeted them all and invited them to eat and drink and make themselves at home. But as the Dragonfly got underway, he took Kaylee to the bow as