Their Secret Bargain Page 11

  No doubt she would be pretty tonight, too.

  Even though Nick wanted to kill the engine and go back inside, he put the truck into gear. “Seat belt on?”

  “Yup.”

  “Then I suppose we should go get our date.”

  SHE FELT LIKE a stuffed sausage. Jenn struggled to breathe normally as she hurried down the stairs after someone laid on the doorbell as if it were a game-show buzzer in the final seconds. Nick was five minutes late, but Jen had needed every one of those minutes to make up for the time she’d lost wriggling herself into body-shaping underwear guaranteed to make her look ten pounds thinner.

  Surprisingly, the skirt had actually buttoned and the jacket had fit—but only because it was left open over the cami. She couldn’t take a deep breath for fear of popping the button at her waist, but she’d packed a safety pin in her purse just in case. Silently, she praised the makers of spandex.

  Jenn crossed the hardwood floor, her three-inch heels already pinching her toes. Doesn’t matter. They make your legs look longer. The key to looking slimmer, according to the fashion magazines, was lengthening the body.

  If that’s the case, you should try stilts.

  Jenn grabbed the knob with one hand and the lock in the other, swinging the door wide. “I’m sorry I’m—” Her mouth dropped before she caught herself and forced it closed. Oh. My. Word! “You look…um, hi.”

  To say Nick looked gorgeous was such an understatement. He was…delectable. A mixture of GQ and Ralph Lauren on six-foot-plus of brooding male. Nick’s jet-black hair had been gelled into the kind of finger-mussed disorder that actors paid big bucks to achieve. A black shirt stretched across his chest beneath a charcoal suit jacket lined with fine black pinstripes, all of which molded his broad shoulders to perfection.

  Sooty black lashes lowered over his eyes and Jenn watched as Nick studied her from her hair right down to her feet. Conscious that he was taking in every detail of her appearance, she sucked in her stomach as best she could and prayed it worked.

  “Matt said you’d look pretty.”

  “He did?” How sweet! She’d come to love Matt all too easily. He was smart and funny, with old-fashioned manners that made her smile. His yes, ma’ams and no, ma’ams went straight to her heart.

  “Sorry we’re late.”

  “No problem.”

  “Are you ready?”

  “Yes, I—I just need to lock up.”

  Nick turned to get out of her way, but then stopped and swung back to face her. “Jenn, I’d appreciate it if you’d keep the tutoring thing quiet. I don’t want anyone, especially in my family, to know.”

  She frowned at the intensity she heard in his voice, but since he’d admitted he and his family didn’t get along the last thing she wanted to do was say something awkward. “Of course. I wouldn’t want to embarrass Matt or reveal a confidence. And I hope you’ll extend the same courtesy to me. About the training.” She swallowed and smoothed her hand over a hip to wipe away the moisture on her palm. “Nick, I’m sorry about today. Forcing you to do this. I could just tell it meant a lot to your grandmother and I hate to see families fight. I know what that’s like.” She made a wry face. “A little too well, to be honest.”

  He gave her a grim smile. “Then you’ll understand and not argue when I say I’ve had enough?”

  A laugh bubbled up. “Absolutely.”

  Out beside the truck she waited patiently while Nick moved two audio bestsellers off the seat and helped her into the cab. Nick was quiet the entire drive to the Beauty Ridge Country Club, while she and Matt talked about the merits of the latest Nintendo Wii game and how he hoped to get it for his birthday. Finally they arrived and Nick’s scowling countenance grew even darker as he escorted her inside, making her wish she’d kept her mouth closed and allowed Rosetta Tulane to be disappointed.

  Nick really didn’t want to be there, but why? What was so bad about their relationship that he couldn’t spend a few hours with his family? Jenn didn’t get along with her sister, but it didn’t stop her from going to see her parents.

  But Megs usually isn’t there when you go, either.

  True. Come to think of it, her parents hadn’t heard from Megan in a while. But self-centered people are all about them. Meg’s behavior was the norm. Typically, the Roses only heard from Megs if and when she needed something.

  Shaking her head, Jenn frowned and hurried to keep pace with Nick’s longer strides. He walked so fast that she wondered if his plan was to enter the building, walk through it, and keep right on going out the back door.

  Inside, Jenn resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She noted she’d been correct in assuming that genetics had been kind to the Tulanes. They were easy enough to pick out of the crowd, every member tall, dark-haired and striking in looks, just like the grand dame herself. Rosetta cheerfully took over the job of introducing Jenn to the others, who were gathered around a long table, leaving Nick to his brooding by the bar.

  “And this is Luke.”

  Jenn automatically smiled as she heard the new name and turned away from Nick’s younger sister only to gasp in surprise. Two? There were two of them?

  Nick’s identical twin smiled and winked at her. “I love that expression. You didn’t know?”

  Nick hadn’t said a word. “N-no.” Did he look hurt to find out that Nick hadn’t mentioned him? “But we haven’t talked about family much,” she hurried to reassure Luke.

  His gaze shifted momentarily to Nick before he refocused his attention on Jenn and smiled. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Jennifer.”

  She murmured a polite response, but couldn’t stop staring at Luke in amazement. He and Nick were identical, but Nick, thanks to his many hours in the gym, was broader and more solid, with a harder edge to his features. Sexier than any of his siblings.

  “How did you and Nick meet?”

  “I was about to ask the same thing,” Alexandra, Nick’s sister, chimed in. “Nick hasn’t brought a girl to meet us in…What?” She glared at Luke, who’d nudged her and was now giving her a brotherly glare.

  Rosetta patted Jenn’s arm with a chuckle. “Don’t mind them, dear. It’s just that Nick hasn’t brought a girl to meet us for a long time, which makes you something of a novelty. I hope you’ll forgive our curiosity.”

  “Of course.” She paused, then realized that they were waiting for her to continue. “Oh, um, Nick and I met at the Old Coyote,” she said, searching the room for Nick and finding him just behind her left shoulder. One glance told her that he was listening to every word. So why didn’t he join them?

  “How long have you been dating?” Alexandra asked. A small, feminine version of her brothers, Alex—as she preferred to be called—was slim, with sleek black hair and amazingly beautiful violet eyes.

  “Oh, um…We’re just friends.”

  Marilyn Tulane joined them. “Jennifer, I’m so glad you could be here this evening. I don’t mean to interrupt, but has any of you seen Ethan? I’ve tried to call him all day today, but he hasn’t returned my calls.”

  “Having fun?” Nick murmured from behind her while his mother went on to discuss the possible whereabouts of the missing brother.

  She started, not aware that he’d moved close until she felt the moist heat of his breath in her ear. A shiver ran over her body and she hoped no one noticed.

  Nick did. Amusement warmed his cool blue eyes before his gaze dipped.

  “What are you doing? Stop that.” She glared at him, careful to keep her voice low, so that the others wouldn’t hear. She was keenly aware of their interested glances.

  “Stop what?” A smile layered his voice.

  Heat shot through her. So that was the game? He would distract himself from his family issues by flirting with her? Jenn glared at him, but couldn’t quite ignore the chuckle rumbling up from his chest. The sound was low and rich, and, oh, those eyes…It was a wonder she hadn’t melted into a pool at his feet. A girl could certainly forget herself around Nick.
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br />   A blush continued to warm her cheeks, and Jenn bit her inner lip and prayed Nick’s relatives wouldn’t make too much of their byplay. But then a group of people came into the country-club dining room, laughing and talking loudly, behaving like prep-school chums and drawing everyone’s notice. It took the Tulanes’ attention from Jenn and Nick, especially when the crowd of men parted. Jenn moaned when she spotted Todd in the middle of them. Was he the one being congratulated? And by the head of the hospital, no less.

  “Oh, no.” Apparently Nick had come to the same conclusion, because his expression lost the teasing warmth it had held and changed to a dark and dangerous-looking scowl.

  She placed a hand on his arm. “Oh, Nick, I’m sorry. Ethan must be so disappointed.”

  “He had to do it today,” Nick snapped. “Pierson had to get the last word in and ruin things, didn’t he?”

  Behind her, Nick’s family whispered among themselves and Jenn saw Garrett’s bride-to-be grasp his arm to detain him when he moved forward as if to speak to the group by the door.

  “What’s going on?” she whispered to Nick. “Besides the obvious?”

  “The woman Garret dated before Darcy is Harold Pierson’s daughter. When it became obvious things were on the rocks with Garret’s old relationship, Pierson threatened to scuttle Ethan’s chances of becoming chief of surgery if Garret wouldn’t stay away from Darcy and propose to his daughter as expected.”

  Her heart sank. “So he announced the promotion on the same night as your brother’s engagement celebration and then he brought Todd here? How petty.”

  Nick shifted his weight toward her, without taking his eyes off his family. “Your ex and Pierson are a lot alike. They’re both—”

  He broke off. Jenn turned to see Alan, Nick’s father, and Luke trying and failing to stop Garret. The groom headed toward the newcomers with a menacing stride.

  Handing her his drink, Nick stepped in front of his brother.

  “Get out of the way.”

  Garret was tall, but Nick was taller. He was also broader and more powerfully built. Nick stood toe-to-toe with Garret, as the rest of the family gathered round.

  “You go over there and Pierson wins. Is that what you want?”

  “Ethan—”

  “Is a big boy. He’ll get over it and he’ll extract his own revenge—if he wants it. You go over there and rip Pierson’s head off and you’ll be in jail instead of getting married, and Pierson will be telling everyone how he thinks he’s made the right choice.”

  Jenn watched from two feet away, her attention torn between Nick and Garrett and Todd’s smirking expression of superiority, which was matched by Mr. Pierson’s. They really were two of a kind.

  Then Ethan Tulane entered the room. Jenn was one of the first to spot him, and it seemed as if every person present caught their breath at once. A knot tightened in her stomach. What would happen now?

  Ethan took in the scene with a swift assessing glance, his chest lifting and falling with the wry look of a know-it-all older brother when he spotted his siblings’ battle-ready stances. Ignoring the hospital president and the new chief of surgery entirely, he joined his family with a lazy, deliberate stride that had more than one woman there giving Ethan interested glances.

  “Down, boys.”

  Garret lifted a hand to the back of his neck and rubbed hard. “I’m sorry, Eth. I never thought he’d actually do it. He threatened to go to the board and recommend someone else but—”

  “It’s done. It doesn’t matter now, and Darcy is wringing her hands and worrying herself sick. Go take care of her, and leave Harry to me.”

  “You’ve got a plan?” Nick asked.

  “Let’s just say the news has helped me to make some decisions.” Ethan’s gaze locked on Jenn. “Hello again, Jennifer Rose. You look lovely.”

  Jenn tried to smile despite the fact that everyone was watching her. “Thank you. I’m sorry about what happened.”

  “So, how about doing something to make me feel better?”

  A low rumble erupted from Nick’s chest, surprising everyone who was near enough to hear it—including Nick himself, if the ruddy hue creeping into his face was anything to go by.

  Ethan laughed. “Take it easy, little brother. We all know who Jenn came with. But I’m going to beg a dance to soothe my battered ego, all the same. Jenn? Shall we show them how it’s done?”

  She glanced at the Tulanes and studied their expressions, ranging from concern to humor to curiosity. “Um, I-I’d love to, but that’s probably not the best idea. I don’t dance.”

  Tobias Richardson, Garret’s best man, chuckled. “Turned down again today, Eth.”

  “No, I—I didn’t mean that. It’s just…”

  “We’ll keep it to a slow dance. Come on, make a guy’s day a little brighter?” Ethan held out his hand, and after a quick glance at Nick, Jenn accepted, unable to say no when it might seem to Todd or anyone else who was watching that she had rejected him. As if any woman would pass on a dance with such a gorgeous doctor.

  Aware of Nick’s gaze on them the entire time, Ethan led Jenn out onto the dance floor, where the band was playing an old Sinatra song.

  “So,” Ethan murmured, as he drew her into his arms, his mouth by her ear and a smile in his otherwise low voice, “are you and Nick serious?”

  Chapter 11

  NICK SWALLOWED THE LAST of his drink and studied the gentle curve of Jennifer’s face as Ethan led her across the dance floor and held her way too close. If his brother’s hand drifted down her back one more time…

  “You look good in a suit. You should wear one every day.” Alan Tulane walked over to join Nick at the table closest to the dance floor.

  “The dry cleaner wouldn’t be too happy with all the grease and sweat stains.” As it always did, the reminder of Nick’s professional life made Alan Tulane scowl. Some things never changed.

  “I’m surprised to see you here tonight. Your mother said you weren’t coming.”

  “Gram wanted us to be here. Take it up with her.”

  “I wasn’t complaining, Nick—we all wanted you to attend. Mind if I sit down?”

  “It’s your club, not mine.” Nick took in his father’s Brooks Brothers suit, picturing his old man among the white shoe boys out on the golf course with their plaid pants and embellished polo shirts, fat Cuban cigars in their mouths.

  Without a thought, Nick’s gaze shifted to the rest of his family and the uncomfortable lump in his stomach grew. Alex was wearing designer heels and a too-sexy dress, and Luke, Garret and Ethan all sported suits that cost more than his well-paid employees earned in a week. His family fit in here, and they were perfectly comfortable. But not him.

  He was an exception to the Tulane majority. Normally, the club wouldn’t let someone like him through the door without a hefty contribution and a background check, but with his father’s name attached to his, the valet had parked his truck and called him “sir”. Same with the host who’d shown him and Jenn to the table located in the center of the large dining room as if he wouldn’t have been able to find it himself.

  “Matt’s wound up.”

  Nick focused on his son. “He’s only excited about being in the wedding.”

  “It’s more likely due to him being in the punch bowl all night. That probably hasn’t helped.”

  Nick’s grip tightened around his glass. “He’s fine.”

  “Just thought you might want to have his blood checked, if he’s that thirsty all the time. Can’t be too careful.”

  His father was just looking out for Matt. That’s why he was so critical. But what would his father do if Matt’s summer plans became public knowledge? How many lectures had Nick sat through because of his own grades and behavior?

  “Matt doesn’t get a lot of sweets. When he has access to them, he enjoys them while he can. That’s all.” Which made it sound even worse. As if Matt was out of control and on a sugar binge. And his father didn’t care. “I think I’ll g
o save Jenn from Ethan’s four feet.”

  Nick stood, more than ready to walk out the door. How long was the song going to go on?

  “I’m glad you came, Nick. Christmas was six months ago.”

  Nick didn’t remind his father that he knew where Nick lived and worked. That the phone lines ran both ways. He’d given up on Alan Tulane acknowledging anything positive he did a long time ago. If he screwed up, yeah, his father would be there to criticize and point out what he’d done wrong, but when he succeeded? Never that.

  Nick stared down at his father’s thinning hair. Would his father like him better if he knew the net worth of Nick’s garage and gym?

  “Talked to Cyrus. He and Dorothy are heartsick that they’re going to miss the wedding on Saturday. They appreciate you taking care of things for them at the grill while they’re gone.”

  Nick smirked. His father liked to refer to the Old Coyote simply as the grill because he hated the name Cyrus had chosen. He said it reflected badly on the family and called to mind their less than distinguished beginnings in early New York, where their great-great-somebody had owned a pub known for the wild and wanton behavior of its patrons. Nick figured it was better than being a stick in the mud. “It’s not a problem.”

  His father tugged at his ear. “Your mother and I worry, though. Matt’s out of school now. Should you be working such long hours over the summer?”

  “It never stopped you.”

  “Yes, but I had your mother at home to take care of things.”

  “And I don’t,” Nick muttered softly. “Matt gets all the attention he needs. He isn’t neglected, and I know where he is at all times.”

  “But he spends too much time alone. Under the circumstances I understand why—I think it’s amazing you do all that you do. You should be proud, Nick….”

  He would be. If his father hadn’t just turned his accomplishments into a backhanded insult.

  “But he’s getting to an age where boys like to stray.”

  Nick barely managed to control an angry retort. Meaning boys like Nick? Was he amazing because he ran a business without a degree tacked to a wall? Where did his father get off making that kind of statement? He’d tried so hard to be the son his father had wanted him to be, and here he was, thirty years old and still trying to measure up. And failing. The same with Jennifer. He could flirt and tease, but facts were facts, and the truth was, she wasn’t for him no matter how cute she looked in her snug camisole and those heels that he could picture around his waist.