A smile began to tug at her lips, then spread. “It does, doesn’t it?”
“From every angle I can think of.”
Impulsively, she reached out and gave his hand a squeeze. “Thanks.” She slid open the sliding door to the kitchen and stepped inside. “Mary Vaughn!”
“In the living room,” she called.
Jeanette walked in and found her sitting across the table from the couple who’d arrived just moments before. There were papers spread out on the table that suggested they were about to enter their own offer.
“Mary Vaughn, could I speak to you for a moment?” Jeanette said. “Alone.” She smiled at the couple. “I’m sorry for the interruption.”
Apparently sensing that she might have a bidding war on her hands, Mary Vaughn excused herself and followed Jeanette into the kitchen. “What’s up? Did Tom decide he wants to make an offer? Because that young couple is about to do the same.”
Jeanette took a piece of paper from her purse and scribbled a number. “That’s my offer. If you need me to fill out a formal bid, I can do that.”
Mary Vaughn stared at her without even glancing at the paper. “This is your offer?”
“Mine,” Jeanette confirmed.
“And Tom?”
“We’ve worked this out. He’ll keep looking.” Or he’d keep pestering her about moving in here, but she didn’t think she should share that with Mary Vaughn, not if she was to have a chance at getting this house. Mary Vaughn might be forced to go with the high bidder for the sake of the seller, but she might not be above seeing to it that the other bid was little more than pennies higher just to keep Jeanette and Tom from moving in here together.
Now Mary Vaughn glanced at the bid Jeanette had written down, then shrugged. “I’ll get you the paperwork to make the offer formal.”
“Is it high enough to beat what they’re going to offer?” Jeanette asked.
“I’ll take your offer and theirs to Nancy,” Mary Vaughn said evasively. “She’ll make the decision.”
“Are we in the same ballpark?” Jeanette persisted. “I want this house, Mary Vaughn.”
She knew it was a mistake the second the words were out of her mouth. Mary Vaughn now knew Jeanette would up her offer, if need be.
“I’ll call Nancy as soon as I have your paperwork and theirs.”
She went inside, returned with several forms and waited while Jeanette filled them out.
“I’m going to try to reach Nancy now,” Mary Vaughn told her. “She told me she’d stick close to home today during the hours of the open house, just in case someone made an offer. If you want to wait, you can, though she may need time to think this over.”
Jeanette nodded. “I’ll wait. I’ll be in the garden with Tom.”
She found him sitting on the steps that led from the French doors in the dining room to the patio. He stood as she approached. “Well?”
“I gave her an offer. So did that couple who just arrived. Apparently this is their second visit.”
“Mary Vaughn’s taking both offers to the seller?”
She nodded, her expression glum. “If there’s any way to justify it, I think she’ll see to it that Nancy takes their bid.”
“Why?”
“Because she’s ticked off about me being here with you.”
“Oh, come on, she’s a professional. She won’t let her personal feelings interfere with doing the best job she can for her client.”
“You’re not really that naive, are you? Or is it just that you don’t know Mary Vaughn that well?”
“Okay, it’s true I don’t know her well at all, but come on, she wouldn’t be as successful as I’m told she is without being thoroughly ethical and above reproach.”
Jeanette thought of the way the woman had gone after Ronnie, but that wasn’t business. It was personal. “I suppose she has standards about this kind of thing,” she conceded.
“Not exactly a ringing endorsement,” Tom noted. “Do the two of you have a history?”
“Not us. The history’s between her and Dana Sue. When Ronnie first got back to town, Mary Vaughn was all over him, despite the fact that he was trying to work things out with Dana Sue. She made no bones about wanting him. It got a little sticky. There’s no love lost between her and Dana Sue.”
“And by extension, you?” he asked.
“Oddly enough, no. We’ve always gotten along okay. She’s a client and she encouraged me to join the Christmas festival committee, but that was before she set eyes on you. Something tells me she now considers me a rival.”
He gazed into her eyes and smiled as he touched her cheek. “There can’t be a rivalry when there’s no contest. You’re the one I want, Jeanette. The only one.”
She shivered at the intensity in his voice, then forced her gaze away. “Stop saying things like that.”
“Even if it’s true?”
“It can’t be true. You’ve only gotten this crazy idea because I’m unattainable. Some men are like that. They only want what they can’t have.”
“But I can have you,” he said with so much confidence she was tempted to smack him.
“I don’t think so,” she insisted, backing out of reach. There were a dozen different ways he could prove her wrong just by a touch and they both knew it. She just didn’t intend to admit it.
The kitchen door slid open a few feet away and Mary Vaughn stepped out. “Jeanette, could you come inside?”
Nervously, Jeanette went into the kitchen. She glanced around and saw that the other couple was gone. Did that mean what she hoped it did? Or was Mary Vaughn about to tell her that her bid had been rejected?
Mary Vaughn gave her a halfhearted smile and held out the portable phone. “I have Nancy here and she’d like to speak to you.”
With her pulse scrambling, Jeanette accepted the phone. “Hi, Nancy, how are you?” she said. “How’s Florida?”
“Just wonderful,” Nancy said, sounding happier than she had in months. “I love being so close to the beach and the kids.”
“I’m glad,”
