laugh. It was just his bad luck, he supposed, that she had such an appealing laugh. He heard her speak in that quicksilver way she had, and he stopped. Her bedroom door was open, and her voice raced out. It wasn't eavesdropping, he told himself. It was, after all, his house.
'Aunt Honoria, what in the world gave you that idea?' Kicked back in a chair, Jackie held the phone between her shoulder and chin as she painted her toenails. 'Of course I'm not annoyed with Fred. Why should I be? He did me a wonderful favor.' Jackie dipped her brush in the bottle of Sizzling Cerise polish and played her cards close to her chest. 'The house is absolutely perfect, exactly what I'd been looking for, and Nathan-Nathan's the owner, darling-yes, he's just adorable.'
She held her foot out to admire her handiwork. Between writing and cooking, she hadn't had time for a pedicure in weeks. No matter how busy, her mother would have said, a woman should always look her best from head to toe.
'No, dear, we've worked things out beautifully. He's a bit of a hermit, so we keep to ourselves. I'm fixing his meals for him. The darling's developing a bit of a paunch.'
Outside the door, Nathan automatically reached a hand to his stomach.
'No, he couldn't be sweeter. We're rubbing along just fine. He might be one of my uncles. As a matter of fact, his hairline's receding just like Uncle Bob's.'
This time both of Nathan's hands went to his hair.
'I'm just glad I could put your mind at ease. No, be sure to let Fred know everything couldn't be better. I'd have gotten in touch with him myself, but I wasn't sure just where he'd popped off to.'
There was a pause. For some reason, Nathan felt it was a particularly cold one.
'Of course, dear, I know exactly how our Fred is.'
In the hallway, Nathan heard little murmurs of agreement and a few light laughs. He was just about to continue when Jackie spoke again.
'Oh, Aunt Honoria, I nearly forgot. What was the name of that wonderful realtor you used on the Hawkins property?'
Jackie switched feet and moved in for the kill.
'Well, dear, it's rather confidential still, but I know I can trust you. It seems there's this block of land, about twenty-five acres. South of here, a place called Shutter's Creek. Yes, it is rather precious, isn't it? In any case…you will keep this to yourself, won't you?'
Jackie smiled and continued to paint as she received her aunt's assurances. Aunt Honoria's promises were as easily smeared as wet nail polish. 'Yes, I knew you would. Anyway, it's being sold at rock bottom, and naturally I wouldn't have been interested. Who would? It's hardly more than a swamp at this point. But the beauty is, dear, that Allegheny Enterprises-you know, the contractors who put up all those marvelous resorts? Yes, that's the one. They're scouting out the location. They're thinking about pumping it and filling it in and putting up one of those chichi places like they did in Arizona. Yes, it was marvelous what they did with a few acres of desert, wasn't it?'
She listened a few more moments, knowing how to play a line until the bait was well taken.
'Just a little tip from a friend of mine. I want to snap it up quickly then resell it to Allegheny. Word from my friend is that they'll pay triple the asking price. Yes, I know, sounds too good to be true. Do keep this under your hat, auntie. I want to see if I can have the realtor rush this through settlement before the lid's off.'
Jackie listened for a moment as she debated putting on a third coat.
'Yes, it could be exciting, and very hush-hush. That's why I don't want to tip my hand to the realtor here in Florida. No, I haven't said a thing to Mother and Daddy yet. You know how I love surprises. Oh, darling, there's the door. Must run. Do give my best to everyone. I'll be in touch.
Delighted with herself, Jackie stretched in the chair and sent it spinning in a circle.
'Well, hello, Nathan.'
'I don't know where you get your information,' he began, 'but unless you want to lose even more money, I'd look for someplace other than Shutter's Creek. It's twenty-five acres of sludge and mosquitoes.'
'Yes, I know.' With the ease of the limber, Jackie brought her leg around so that she could blow on her painted toenails. Nathan wouldn't have been surprised if she'd tucked her heel behind her ear and grinned at him. 'And unless I miss my guess, dear old Fred will own all those lovely mosquitoes within forty-eight hours.' Smiling at Nathan, she pillowed her head on her folded arms. 'I always figure when you pay back you should pay back where it'll hurt the most. For Fred, that's his wallet.'
Impressed, Nathan stepped farther into the room. 'You planted the seeds of his downfall?'
'Exactly, and like Jack's beanstalk, it should sprout overnight.'
Nathan mulled it over. It was a nasty trick, a very nasty trick. He only wished he'd thought of it. 'How do you know he'll go for it?'
Jackie merely continued to smile. 'Want to make a wager on it?'
'No,' he said after a moment. 'No, I don't think I do. How much are they asking an acre?'
'Oh, only two thousand. Fred should be able to beg, borrow or steal fifty without too much trouble.' Deciding against a third coat, she capped the bottle. 'I always pay my debts, Nathan. Without exception.'
He was aware he'd been warned and decided he deserved it. 'If it's any consolation, I doubt I'll be able to drink iced coffee again.'
She crossed her legs lazily. 'I suppose that's something.'
'And I'm not losing my hair.'
She flicked her gaze over it. It was thick and full and dark. She could remember with absolute clarity how it had felt between her fingers. 'Probably not.'
'Nor do I have a paunch.'
With her tongue caught between her teeth, she let her glance slide down to his taut and very flat stomach. 'Well, not yet.'
'And I am not adorable.'
'Well…' Her eyes were laughing when they came back to his. 'Cute, then-in a staid and very masculine sort of way.'
He opened his mouth to argue, then decided it was safer to give up. 'I'm sorry,' he said instead before he knew he'd meant to tell her.
Jackie's eyes softened along with her smile. Revenge always took a back seat to an apology. 'Yes, I think you are. Do you like fresh starts, Nathan?'
So it was that easy. He should have known it would be that easy with her. 'Yes, actually, I do.'
'All right, then.' She unwound herself from the chair. If he found himself looking at her legs again, he was only human. When she stood, she offered a hand. 'Friends?'
He knew he could have given her a list of reasons they couldn't be, certainly a lengthy one of reasons why they shouldn't be. But he put his hand in hers. 'Friends. Do you want to take a swim?'
'Yeah.' She could have kissed him. God, she wanted to. Lecturing herself, Jackie smiled instead. 'Give me five minutes to change.'
She took less than that. When she arrived, Nathan was just surfacing. Before he had the chance to shake the water out of his eyes and spot her, she dived in beside him. She came up cleanly, head tilted back so that her hair was slick against her head.
'Hi.'
'You move fast.'
'Mostly.' She moved into a smooth sidestroke and did a length and a half. 'I love your pool. That helped sell me on the place, you know. I grew up with a pool, so I'd have hated to spend three months without one.'
'Glad I could oblige,' he told her, but it didn't come out nearly as sarcastic as he'd expected. She smiled and switched to a breaststroke that barely rippled the water. 'I take it you do a lot of swimming.'
'Not as much as I used to.' With what looked like no effort at all, she rolled onto her back to float. 'I was on a swim team for a couple of years in my teens. Gave some serious thought to the Olympics.'
'I'm not surprised.'
'Then I fell in love with my swim coach. His name was Hank.' She sighed and closed her eyes on the memory. 'I couldn't seem to concentrate on my form after that. I was fifteen and Hank was twenty-five. I imagined us married and raising a relay team. He was only interested in my backstroke. I've always been able to go
