'Quite,' Patricia murmured, then nodded to Philip.
She sat with a thud.
'And I'd take that sulky look off your pointy face,' her father suggested. 'Unless you want him to turn right around and leave again.'
Jackie gritted her teeth, glared arrows at him, then settled down. Maybe they were right, she thought. Just this once, she'd look before she leaped. But when she saw him she would have been out of her chair in an instant if her father's foot hadn't stamped down on hers.
'Jack.' There was something strained and husky about his voice, as though he hadn't spoken for days.
'Hello, Nathan.' Pulling herself in, she rose easily and offered a hand. 'I didn't expect you.'
'No, I…' He felt suddenly and completely foolish standing there in a travel-stained suit with a brightly ribboned box under his arm. 'I should have called.'
'Of course not.' As if there had never been any strain between them, or any passion, she tucked her arm through his. 'I'd like you to meet my parents. J.D. and Patricia MacNamara, Nathan Powell.'
J.D. shoved himself to his feet. He'd already made his assessment, and if he'd ever seen a more lovesick, frustrated man before, he couldn't bring it to mind. It was with both sympathy and interest that he offered a hand.
'Pleased to meet you. Admire your work.' He shook his hand with a hefty pumping stroke. 'Jack's told us all about you. I'll get you a drink.'
Nathan managed to nod through these rapid-fire statements before turning to greet Jackie's mother. This was what she would look like in twenty or twenty-five years, Nathan realized with a jolt. Still lovely, with her skin clear as a bell and the grace that only years could add.
'Mrs. MacNamara, I apologize for dropping in on you like this.'
'No need for that.' But it pleased her that he had the manners to do so. She took stock in much the same way her husband had and saw a breeding and a kindness that she approved of. 'Won't you sit down, Mr. Powell?'
'Well, I-'
'Here you are, nothing like a nice shot of whiskey to put hair on your chest.' J.D. slapped him on the back as he offered the glass. 'So you design buildings? Do any remodeling?'
'Yes, when there's-'
'Good, good. I'd like to talk to you about this building I'd had my eye on. Place is a mess, but it has potential. Now if I-'
'Excuse me.' Forgetting his manners, Nathan shoved the glass back in J.D.'s hand and grabbed Jackie's arm. Without another word, he dragged her through the terrace doors he'd spotted.
'Well.' Patricia raised both brows as if scandalized and hid her smile in her drink. J.D. merely hooted and downed the whiskey himself.
'Up to planning a wedding, Patty, old girl?'
The air was balmy and full of flowers. The stars were close enough to touch, vying with the moon for brilliance. Nathan noticed none of it as he stopped, dropped his package on a gleaming white table and hauled Jackie into his arms.
She fit perfectly.
'I'm sorry,' he managed after a moment. 'I was rude to your parents.'
'That's all right. We often are.' She lifted both hands to his face and studied him. 'You look tired.'
'No, I'm fine.' He was anything but. Searching for lost control, he stepped back. 'I wasn't sure you'd be here, either.'
'Either?'
'You were gone when I got home, and then I tracked down your apartment, but you weren't there, either, so I came looking here.'
Hoping she could take it slowly, she leaned back against the table. 'You've been looking for me?'
'For a couple of days.'
'I'm sorry. I didn't expect you back from Denver until next week. Your office certainly didn't.'
'I came back sooner than- You called my office?'
'Yes. You came back sooner than what, Nathan?'
'Sooner than expected,' he said with a snap. 'I left Cody in charge, dumped the project in his lap and flew home. You'd gone. You'd left me.'
She nearly flew at him, laughing, but decided to play it out. 'Did you expect me to stay on?'
'Yes. No. Yes, damn it.' He dragged both hands through his hair. 'I know I hadn't any right to expect it, but I did. Then, when I got home, the house was empty. I hated it there without you. I can't think without you. That's your fault. You've done something to my brain.' He'd begun to pace, which made her lift a brow. The Nathan she'd come to know rarely made unnecessary moves, 'Every time I see something I wonder what you'd think about it, what you'd say. I couldn't even eat a blue plate special without thinking about you.'
'That's really dreadful.' She drew a breath. It needed to be asked. 'Do you want me back, Nathan?'
There was fury in his eyes when he turned, a kind of vivid, blazing fury that made her want to launch herself into his arms again. 'Do you want me to crawl?'
'Let me think about it.' She touched the bow on the package, wondering what was inside. Wondering was almost as good as knowing. 'You deserve to crawl a bit, but I don't have the heart for it.' She smiled at him, her hands folded neatly. 'I hadn't gone anywhere, Nathan.'
'You'd cleared out. The place was tidy as a tomb.'
'Didn't you look in the closet?'
Impatience shimmered, then stilled. 'What do you mean?'
'I mean, I hadn't left. My clothes are still in the guest room. I couldn't sleep in your bed without you, so I moved, but I didn't leave.' She touched his face again, gently. 'I had no intention of letting you ruin your life.'
He grabbed her hand as if it were a lifeline. 'Then why are you here and not there?'
'I wanted to see my parents. Partly because of the things you'd told me. It made me realize I needed to see them, to thank them somehow for being as wonderful as they are. And partly because I wanted to tell them I'd finally done something from beginning to end.' Her fingers curved nervously over his. 'I sold my book.'
'Sold it? I didn't know you'd sent it in.'
'I didn't want to tell you. I didn't want you to be disappointed in me if it didn't work.'
'I wouldn't have been.' He drew her close. Her scent, so needed, was all around him. It was only then that he understood that you could come home even without the familiar walls. 'I'm happy for you. I'm proud of you. I wish… I wish I'd been here.'
'This is something I had to do, this first time, by myself.' She shifted back, not out of his arms, but circled by them. 'I'd like you to be around the next time.'
His fingers tensed on the back of her waist, and his eyes went dark. Jake's look, she thought yet again, giddy with love for him. 'It's that easy? All I had to do was walk in and ask?'
'That's all you've ever had to do.'
'I don't deserve you.'
She smiled. 'I know.'
With a laugh, he swung her in a circle, then brought her down to crush his lips to hers in a long, breathless kiss. 'I came prepared to make all kinds of offers and promises. You aren't going to ask for any.'
'That's not to say I wouldn't like to hear them.' She laid her head on his shoulder. 'Why don't you tell me what you've got in mind?'
'I want you, but I want it to be right. No long separations, no broken promises. I'm doing something I should have done a year ago and making Cody a partner.'
When she drew her head back, he noticed that her eyes could be as shrewd as her father's. 'That's an excellent decision.'
'A personal one, as well as a business one. I'm learning, Jack.'
'I can see that.'
'Between the two of us, the pressure will lighten enough to make it possible to start a family, a real family. I don't know what kind of husband I'll make, or father, but-'
