His body, pressed against hers, was not so solid or lithe as it once had been but it stirred her senses and made her anxious for the time when they would be together forever. In her mind she would always see him as the young, wildly exotic man he had been when they met. He filled her heart with such joy, there was little room left any longer for regrets.
“We can’t tell them yet,” she said. “Callie’s life is in turmoil. I’m so terribly afraid for her.”
She described the accident, the terrible headline in that tabloid, the fight with Jason and her own dread over what tragedy tomorrow’s charity softball game might bring.
“I will be there with you,” Mikel declared. “We will look out for her.”
“You wouldn’t mind?” she asked, surprised. “You have a full day of classes on Saturday.”
“I will cancel them,” he said without hesitation. “My students can work on their own, if they are dedicated enough. If they are not, then they will relish the unexpected day of freedom. My place is by your side.”
Regina smiled at him in wonder. She had forgotten what it was like to be with a man who made her the center of his world. “Do you know how very much I love you?”
“And I you, my Gina.”
“Will you come with me now?”
“Where?”
“There is someone I must see,” she said, thinking of Jason’s dark expression as he’d left the apartment the night before. Perhaps if Callie wouldn’t initiate a compromise, Jason would. Mikel could help her to explain the high cost of stubbornness.
* * *
For the fourth time on Friday morning, Jason pulled the phone toward him and started to dial the organizers of Saturday’s charity event to withdraw the Within Our Reach team. It was his prerogative as network president, to say nothing of his duty as someone who cared for one of the participants and feared for her safety. A man in his position should act, not waver, he thought fiercely, punching in the first numbers.
Once again, though, he stopped, muttering a harsh expletive under his breath as he considered how furious Callie would be if he did so.
If Callie wanted to risk her own neck and that of her best friend, why should it matter to him? A couple of murders or even a violent assault on one of the stars in Central Park would send the soap’s ratings soaring, he thought cynically.
But even as the crude thought slipped into his head, he shuddered. He couldn’t bear the possibility of losing her. A huge emptiness opened up inside him just thinking about it.
When had she become so important to him? From the beginning he’d told himself that she was just another diversion, that he would tire of her as he had of all the others.
He hadn’t. His body ached for her when she was out of his arms for too long. His mind seemed duller when she wasn’t around to challenge it.
Of course, he had Freddie for the latter. Freddie had been poking his head into Jason’s office all morning, looking increasingly worried about his boss’s foul mood. He’d ventured inside only once, long enough for Jason to tell him to get the hell out.
This was one decision Freddie couldn’t help him make. As Jason saw it, he could withdraw the team, earn Callie’s wrath and risk losing her over his protectiveness and interference. Or he could let the game go on and risk losing her to a far more deadly fate. The decision should have been a snap for a man used to making difficult choices, but for once his innate decisiveness failed him. There was too damned much at stake.
When his secretary buzzed, Jason scowled at the phone. He’d ordered her not to interrupt him. She usually took his edicts seriously. Was everybody in his life rebelling these days?
“Dammit, I thought I told you I didn’t want to see anyone,” he bellowed without benefit of the phone. People three offices away probably heard him. He didn’t care.
The door to his office inched open and Regina Gunderson regarded him with grim determination.
“I’m afraid I am the one at fault,” she said, not looking all that apologetic. “I insisted. Is it all right to come in?”
“I’m sorry,” Jason said at once. “Of course it’s all right.”
He still couldn’t quite get over her transformation from mousy farmer to a self-confident, attractive, radiant woman. When a stocky, stoop-shouldered man with a full head of thick gray-streaked hair entered with her, Jason thought he understood what had happened. The adoration shining in the man’s eyes would be plain to anyone, even a cynic such as Jason.
“This is Mikel Rolanski,” Regina explained. “He is—”
“An artist,” Jason said with amazement and genuine pleasure. He rose at once and grasped the man’s hand. “I know your work. I have several of your paintings in my collection.” They were, in fact, among the few he’d bought not as trophies but because he genuinely liked them.
“Then I am honored,” the older man said. “You must come to my studio sometime and see Gina’s work, as well as my own.”
Startled, Jason stared at Callie’s mother. “You paint?”
Regina blushed as Rolanski answered for her. “She was one of my best students once. I intend her to be again.” He reached for her hand. “But first I must make her my wife.”
Well, well, well, Jason thought, and wondered how much of this Callie knew. He suspected she would be as stunned as he was.
“We did not come here to talk about us,” Regina said determinedly. “It is this game.”
Jason sighed. “I have thought of nothing else since last night.”
She leaned toward him imploringly. “Could you not reach some compromise with Callie, one that would not put her in danger?”
“I wish I could think of one. Do you have any suggestions?”
“I’ve been thinking about it and Mikel agrees. Perhaps the team could
