Jake closed her door, his hands gripping the open window as he watched her through weary eyes. For half a second, he toyed with the idea of releasing her from the promise. But he entertained the idea only fleetingly. He knew better.
“Can you take me home now?”
“Sure.” He hurried around the cab and climbed into the front seat beside her. A flick of the key and the engine purred. “You won’t regret this,” Jake said, flashing her one of his most brilliant smiles.
“I regret it already,” she said, and stared out the side window.
Those thoughtless words hounded Lily for the remainder of the evening. Jake was her friend—her best friend—and she was treating him like the tax man. Usually, at the end of the evening Jake would stop by the house on his way back to the dock where his sailboat was moored. But he didn’t show up, although Lily waited half the night. She didn’t blame him. They’d hardly said a word on the way home, and when he pulled to the curb in front of Gram’s rickety old house, Lily had practically jumped out of the taxi. She hadn’t even bothered to say good night.
The following morning, Lily was wakened by Gram singing an African chant. Tossing aside the covers, Lily leaped from the bed and rushed into the kitchen. Gram only sang in Swahili when things were looking up.
“Gram, what happened?” she asked excitedly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Two steps into the large central kitchen and Lily discovered Gram clothed in full African dress. Yard upon yard of bold chartreuse-printed fabric was draped around her waist, with deep folds falling halfway to the floor. The shirt was made of matching material and hung from her shoulders, falling in large bell sleeves. Wisps of bright red hair escaped the turban that was wrapped around her head. Ten thin gold bracelets dangled like charms from each wrist.
“Gram.” Lily stopped cold, not knowing what to think.
The older woman made a dignified bow and hugged Lily fiercely. “Nzuri sana,” she greeted her, ceremoniously kissing her granddaughter on the cheek.
Lily was too bemused to react. “Nzuri sana,” she returned, slowly sinking into a kitchen chair. Her grandmother might behave a bit oddly on occasion, but nothing like this.
Continuing to chant in low tones, Gram turned and pulled a hundred-dollar bill from the folds of her outfit and waved it under Lily’s nose.
“Gram, where did you get that?” All kinds of anxious thoughts were going through her mind. Maybe Gram was so worried over their finances that she’d done something illegal.
Hips swaying, Gram crossed the room and chuckled. The unmusical sound echoed against the walls. “Bingo,” she cried, and removed four more hundred-dollar bills.
“You won at bingo!” Lily cried, jumping up from the chair and dancing around the room. Their arms circled each other’s waists and they skipped around the kitchen like schoolgirls until Lily was breathless and dizzy.
“You buy yourself something special,” Gram insisted when they’d settled down. “Something alluring so those rich men at the Wheaton won’t be able to take their eyes off you.”
Lily did her utmost to comply. She left the house and spent the rest of the morning shopping. Half the day was gone by the time she’d located the perfect outfit. It was a silky black dress with a fitted bodice that dipped provocatively in the front, granting a glimpse of cleavage and hinting at the fullness of her breasts. Studying herself in the mirror, Lily turned sideways, one hand on her hips, and rested her chin on her shoulder as she pouted her lips. It was perfect.
After paying for the dress, Lily hurried home. She rushed up to her bedroom and donned her new purchase, eyeing her reflection in the mirror. Jake would tell her if the dress had the desired effect. Besides, she owed him an apology.
His boat was in the slip when she arrived a short time later. Lily had never visited him without an invitation and felt uneasy about doing so now.
“Jake,” she called from the dock. “Are you there?” The boards rolled slightly under her high heels and Lily had to brace herself. “Jake,” she repeated louder, hugging her full-length coat close to her.
“Coming.” His tone sounded irritated and he was frowning as he stuck his head out from belowdecks. He stopped when he saw it was Lily and smoothed a hand through his thick hair. “Hi.” Slowly he came topside. “What are you doing here? And why in heaven’s name are you wearing that ridiculous coat?”
Lily glanced down over the long wool garment that had once belonged to Gram and felt all the more silly. “Gram won five hundred dollars at bingo last night. I bought a new dress and want your opinion on it. Can I come aboard?”
“Sure.” Jake didn’t sound nearly as eager as she’d hoped he would.
She lifted the gray wool coat from her shoulders and let it slip down her arms. “What do you think?” she asked. “Be honest now.” One glance at Lily in that beautiful dress, and Jake could barely take his eyes off her. She looked sensational—a knockout.
“I … I didn’t know if you’d want to see me,” she continued.
“Why wouldn’t I?” His answer was guarded, his words quiet. Still he couldn’t take his eyes from her.
“I feel terrible about yesterday.”
“It’s no problem.” He reached out his hand in silent invitation for her to join him, and Lily deftly crossed the rough wooden dock to his polished deck.
“Gram insisted I buy something new. How do you like it?”
“I like it fine,” he murmured, doing his best to avoid eye contact. “You look great, actually.” That had to be the understatement of the century.
“Do you honestly think so?” she asked excitedly.
Jake smiled. “You look really nice.”
“That’s sweet,” she said softly. “Thank you.”
“Think nothing of it.” With a sweep of his arm, he invited her below. “Do you want a cup of coffee?”
“Sure.” She paused to remove her shoes and handed them to Jake. “Would you put these someplace where I won’t forget them?”
“No problem.” He went down before her and waited at the base of the ladder in case she needed help. One bare foot appeared on the top rung of the ladder and the side split in the skirt revealed the ivory skin of her thigh as the next foot descended. Jake felt his heart constrict. He sighed with relief as she reached the bottom rung and turned around to face him, eyes sparkling.
“I’ll get you a cup,” he announced, disliking the close confines of his cabin for the first time. Lily seemed to fill up every inch of available space, looming over him with that alluring scent of hers.
“How’s the writing going?”
“Good.” It wasn’t. Actually he’d faced writer’s block all day, and determined that it was Lily’s fault. He didn’t like what was happening between them and yet seemed powerless to stop it.
“Heard any more from Rex?”
“No.” Lily slid into the tight booth that served as a seat around the kitchen table. “I won’t see him again,” she told him. “I promised you I wouldn’t.”
“Someone else will come along.” And soon, he hoped. The quicker Lily found herself a sugar daddy, the better it would be for him.
“I know.” She smiled up at him briefly as he set the mug on the table.
He didn’t join her, fearing that if he slid into the seat beside her, they might accidentally brush against each other. And the thought of touching Lily while she looked so tempting in that dress shook Jake. It would be the attic all over again and he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop himself. As it was now, he could barely tear his eyes from her. She lifted her mug and blew against the coffee before taking a sip. Her dewy lips drew his gaze like a magnet. Jake turned around and added some sugar to his coffee.
“I didn’t know you used sugar.”
“I don’t,” he said, turning back to her.
“You just dumped three tablespoons into your cup.” She sounded as perplexed as he felt.
Jake lifted one shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. “It must be something in the air.”
br />
“Must be,” Lily agreed, not knowing what he was talking about. She dropped her gaze to the dark, steaming liquid. “I’ve been thinking that I need lessons on how to flirt.” Jake nearly choked on his coffee but did an admirable job of containing himself. Lily was so unconsciously alluring that he couldn’t believe that any man could ignore her.
“Will you teach me, Jake?” There wasn’t anyone she trusted more. Jake had been all over the world and done everything she hadn’t. Lily didn’t think there was a thing he didn’t know.
With that, he did choke on a mouthful of coffee. “Me?”
“Yes, you.”
“Lily, come on. I don’t know anything about feminine stuff like that.”
“Sure you do,” she contradicted, warming to her subject. “Every time I bat my eyelashes at a man, I’m convinced he thinks I’ve got a nerve disease.”
“Ask Gram.”
“I can’t do that.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Just tell me what Elaine did that made you go all weak inside.”
“I don’t remember.”
“Something like this?” She dropped her eyes and parted her lips, giving him her most sultry look.
Jake experienced a tenderness unlike anything he’d ever known. He couldn’t teach her to flirt. She was a natural. “Yeah,” he murmured at last.
Discouraged, Lily straightened. Elaine had known exactly what to do to make a man notice her. For months, Jake had been so crazy over the other woman that he’d hardly ever come by for a visit. It had shocked Lily when they’d split. Maybe Jake wasn’t the best person to teach her what she needed to know. But she knew he wasn’t immune to a woman’s wiles. The problem was, he thought of her as a sister. She could probably turn up on his dock naked and he’d barely notice.
“Forget it,” she mumbled. “I’ll ask Gram.”
Chapter Three
Jake paced the small confines of his galley like a man trapped in an obligatory telephone conversation. He had to do something, and fast. Roughly he combed his fingers through his hair and caught his breath. Lily was beginning to look good to him. Real good. And that was trouble with a capital T. Either he found himself a woman, and quick, or … or he’d take it upon himself to find Lily a wealthy man. Both appeared formidable tasks.
If he involved himself in a relationship, it would surely end in disaster. No woman would be satisfied with his carefree lifestyle. Every woman he’d known, with the exception of Lily, had taken it upon herself to try to “save” him. The problem was, Jake didn’t want to be redeemed by a woman’s ambitions.
But locating a rich man for Lily wouldn’t be easy either. It wasn’t as if he traveled in elite circles. He had a few contacts—buddies from school—but he didn’t know anyone who perfectly fit the wealthy profile Lily was after.
The only potential option was Rick, his friend from college days. From everything Jake had heard, Rick had done well for himself and was living in San Francisco. It wouldn’t hurt to look him up and see if he was still single. Jake didn’t like the idea, but it couldn’t be helped.
* * *
Humming softly, Lily smiled at the doorman at the Wheaton and sauntered into the posh hotel as if she owned it. She was practicing for when she could enter a public place and cause faces to turn and whispers to fill the air.
Lily felt good. The meeting with Jake hadn’t turned out to be the confrontation she’d expected. Jake had every reason to be angry with her, but he wasn’t. If anything he’d behaved a bit weirdly. He’d seemed to go out of his way to be distant. When she was on one side of the boat, he’d stood on the other. He’d avoided eye contact as though he were guilty of something.
The large bouquet of red roses on the piano was a nice surprise. A small white envelope propped against the ivory keys caused her eyes to widen, and her heart to do a tiny flip-flop. Lily knew without looking that Rex had sent the flowers. Her hands trembled noticeably as she removed the card and read the bold handwriting: Sorry you couldn’t make it, little filly. I’ll see you next month on the 25th at nine.
Lily swallowed a nervous lump that clogged her throat. Next month or next year; it wouldn’t make any difference. She’d given Jake her word and she wouldn’t go back on it, no matter how tempting. And tempting it was. Rex was interested. He must be, to send her the flowers and ask her out again.
With a heavy heart, Lily pulled out the piano bench and sat, her hands poised over the pearly keys before starting in on the same old songs.
As usual, Jake was waiting for her at the end of her shift. His gaze focused on the roses and narrowed fractionally.
“Daddy Warbucks?”
“Yeah.” Lily didn’t know why she felt so guilty, but she did. This was the first time in her life that anyone had sent her roses and she wasn’t about to leave them at the Wheaton. “He’s gone.”
Jake felt a surge of relief wash over him. He wished that he felt differently about that Texan. It would have been the end of his troubles. Lily could have her rich man and he could go about his life without complications.
“He left a note with the roses, asking me out next month. Apparently he’ll be back in town then.”
“Are you going?”
The muscles at the side of her mouth ached as Lily compressed her lips into a tight line. “No.”
“Good.”
Maybe it was good for Jake, but Lily was miserable. “Will I see you later?” she asked when he dropped her off in front of Gram’s house.
“I’ll be by.”
Even with all his hang-ups about personal freedom and restricting schedules, Lily knew that if Jake said he’d be someplace, he’d be there eventually. Purposely waiting up for him, she sat watching the late-late show dressed in a worn terry-cloth housecoat that was tightly cinched at the waist. In an effort to stay awake, she sipped Marmite, a yeast extract, which had been stirred into hot water. Years ago while traveling in New Zealand, Gram had had her first taste of the thick, chocolatelike substance and she had grown to love it. She received the product on a regular basis from family friends now and spread it lightly over her morning toast. Lily preferred the dark extract diluted.
The movie was an old Gary Cooper one that had been filmed in the late nineteen fifties. Soon Lily was immersed in the characters and the plot, and loudly blew her nose to hold back tears at a tender scene. A light knock against the front door announced Jake’s arrival. She opened the door, waved him inside, and sniffled as he took the seat opposite her.
Jake eyed her curiously. “You sick?”
Lily sucked in a wobbly breath and pointed to the television screen with her index finger. “No … Gary Cooper’s going to be killed in a couple of minutes and I hate to see him die.”
Jake scooted forward in the thickly cushioned chair and linked his hands. “I talked to an old friend today.”
Lily’s eyes didn’t leave the screen. “That’s nice.”
“Rick’s a downtown attorney and has made quite a name for himself in the past few years.”
Lily didn’t know why Jake found it so important to tell her about his friend in the middle of the best scene of the movie.
Jake hated it when Lily ignored him. He couldn’t imagine how she could be so engrossed in a film that it made her weep like a two-year-old. “Lily,” he demanded, “would you listen to me?”
“In a minute,” she sobbed, wrapping a handkerchief around her nose and blowing. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she wiped them aside with the back of her hand.
Knowing that there wasn’t anything he could do but wait, Jake settled back in the upholstered chair that had once belonged to a Zulu king and impatiently crossed his arms over his chest. He had terrific news to share and she found it more important to cry over Gary Cooper than to listen to him.
Ten minutes later, Lily grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. “That was a great movie.”
“You cried through the whole thing,” Jake admonished.
“I always cry during a Gary Cooper mo
vie,” she shot back. “You should know that by now.”
Rather than argue, Jake resumed his earlier position and leaned forward in the chair toward her. “As I was saying …”
“Do you want a cup of Marmite?” Remembering her manners, Lily felt guilty about being such a poor hostess. Gram had taught her better than this.
“What I want,” Jake said with forced patience, “is for you to sit down and listen to me.”
Meekly lowering herself to the sofa, Lily politely folded her hands in her lap and looked at Jake expectantly. “I’m ready.”
“It’s about time,” he muttered.
“Well. I’m waiting.” Sometimes it took Jake hours to get to the point. Not that he did a lot of talking. He’d say a few words here and there and she was expected to get the gist. The problem was, Lily rarely did and he’d end up staring at her as if her head were full of holes.
“I saw Rick—my lawyer friend—this afternoon.”
“The one from school?”
“Right. Anyway, Rick has become a regular socialite in the past few years and he’s invited me to a cocktail party he’s having Saturday night.”
Lily blinked twice. She wouldn’t have thought Jake would be so enthusiastic about a bunch of people standing around holding drinks and exchanging polite inanities. “That’s interesting.” She tried to hide a yawn and didn’t succeed. Belatedly she cupped her mouth and expelled a long, whiney breath.
Jake’s face fell into an impatient frown. He didn’t usually look that way until he was five minutes into his monologue.
“I thought you’d be thrilled,” he murmured. It hadn’t been easy to contact Rick—Mr. Success—and strike up a conversation after so many years.
“To be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t have believed you’d enjoy a cocktail party.”
“I won’t. I’m doing it for you.”
“For me?”
“There are bound to be a lot of rich men there, Lily. Undoubtedly some of them will be single and on the lookout for an attractive woman.”