Hot Property (11 page)

“I missed you.” His voice was thick and
inviting as he stood gazing at Betsy with longing in his eyes.

Longing hell, she thought. It was nothing
more than lust kicking in thinking he was getting close to
relieving the throbbing hardness beginning to bulge in the front of
his jeans.

Betsy stiffened in her desk chair with every
intention of smothering the flames that were beginning to lick at
those precious female parts of her own anatomy.

“Are we alone?” he whispered as he moved
closer.

“Skylar, I can’t have lunch with you.”
There, she’d said it. And she was extremely proud of the firmness
in her tone.

The color drained from him as swiftly as his
strides toward her stopped. “You can’t?”

“I won’t.” Two very difficult words to get
over her lips. But once they passed, Betsy knew she’d be able to
proceed without wilting beneath those spellbinding blue eyes of
his.

Skylar stood taller. “I thought we
were--well you know--”

Betsy cleared her throat out loud. “I had
some time to think about us this morning.”
“Dare I ask what this thought process left you with?”

“I’ve decided we should hold to our earlier
agreement not to mix business with pleasure.”

“You decided?” His voice broke over hers
like a roar of thunder. “Need I remind you that in order for an
agreement to be binding you need both parties’ consent?”

Betsy remained rock solid in spite of the
powerful vibrations from his voice. “But you did agree.”

A moment of silence before he spoke. “I have
the solution.”

Betsy was giving it her all to fight the
urge to feel the burst of excitement Skylar suddenly portrayed.

He was smiling when he shrugged his broad
shoulders. “It’s simple. You’re fired. Now can we go to lunch?
There’s this little place I found--”

“You can’t fire me,” Betsy protested once
she fully absorbed what he said. “We have a binding contract. And I
full well intend to live up to my end of the agreement. I have six
months to produce a buyer and--”

“Not quite. I told you this morning I want
that house sold by the end of the year, remember?”

The way he had jumped right in wasn’t what
threw Betsy a curve. It was being reminded of his betrayal. Well,
she refused to cave in even though his words had struck a powerful
blow.

“The written contract giving me six months
is binding. But your house will be sold by the New Year,” Betsy
assured in one biting breath.

She focused on the paperwork scattered about
her desk and pulled a contract out of the mess and pretended to be
studying it because she couldn’t bear looking at him.

Her words had been spoken softly. But it
became apparent they were loud enough for him to hear. He only
hesitated a few seconds before storming down the steps and
finalizing his departure with the sound of the front door slamming
behind him.

The telephone rang before Betsy had time to
give what happened a moment’s thought.

“Alexander and Gold Real Estate Agency,
Betsy speaking…. Yes, I’m familiar with that property…. Eighty-two
five….”

The line went dead just as Betsy had
predicted. She recognized the voice. The woman had called several
times over the last week checking house prices from the For Sale
signs she’d seen posted in yards. Betsy gave up trying to get her
name.

She put the receiver back in its cradle and
prayed it would ring again. At least then she wouldn’t have time to
think about him. To wonder what he was thinking. Where would he go
after storming out of her office? Did he think her ridiculous to
enforce the agreement they had made after that first kiss?

It was the only excuse she could come up
with. She certainly couldn’t tell him the truth. She refused to let
him see her humiliation if she were to tell him she knew about his
engagement to Stephanie. She didn’t dare let him know how severely
that fact hurt her. Surely it would only boost his ego knowing he
had broken her heart.

Betsy was confident hers was not anywhere
near being the first. He was probably putting notches on his belt
for each heart he successfully broke. Well he wasn’t going to add a
notch for hers. He was never going to know the truth. No one
would.

When Mary returned from lunch she came up to
Betsy’s office to let her know she was back. Betsy saw her do a
double take after glancing at her desk.

“First you’ve seen the wood in a while,
isn’t it?” Betsy said, pleased with herself for finally putting
some order into the clutter.

“Your lunch hour appointment didn’t show?”
Mary asked continuing to stare wide-eyed at the neat desk top.

“He was here. But we cleared away business
quickly.”

“And you got bored?”

The truth is I needed to do something to get
my mind off the man I fell head-over-heels in love with, Betsy
wanted to tell her. But she couldn’t. Or tell her their affair was
nothing more than a little fling for him before he married
Stephanie Rogers.

Loyalty to a client had nothing to do with
Betsy not confiding in Mary. She didn’t feel she owed Stephanie a
thing. Especially not her loyalty after she had privately arranged
the sale of her house while under contract with the agency. But
Betsy would keep the secret Stephanie had shared with her early
that morning. Not a soul would hear it from Betsy’s mouth. Besides,
everyone would know about the engagement soon enough, Betsy
decided, confident it would make front page headlines in the local
newspaper when Stephanie was ready to make it public.

Betsy saw the way Mary shifted her gaze to
her. The way she seemed to be examining her, Betsy expected an
onslaught of questions. Precisely why she picked up her purse and
clipboard and started for the door.

“I have to do that appraisal at the corner
of Saint Paul Street. Then I have several showings. I doubt I’ll be
back before you leave at five,” Betsy rattled off before pulling
the front door closed behind her.

Betsy never made it back to the office at
all. She got tied up with her last house showing until almost
eight. A quick stop at the fast food drive-thru and she headed
home.

She knew it was hazardous to eat and drive.
But she hadn’t eaten all day, so couldn’t resist the steaming aroma
floating up from the seat next to her where she’d placed the
take-out bag.

She gobbled down the last bite of her
sandwich as she walked in the door. She saw nothing of importance
as she flipped through her mail and tossed the envelopes to the
coffee table on her way to the bedroom.

I’ll just stretch out on the bed for a
couple of minutes, she told herself. Just long enough to recharge
my batteries so I can shower and maybe catch up on my reading….

The pleasant sound of birds singing reached
into her subconscious and dragged her into semi-consciousness. With
a smile on her face, she rolled to her back, moaning pleasurably as
she stretched her arms in front of her. She blinked several times
before finally focusing straight ahead. The smile disappeared.

It took a few seconds for Betsy to
comprehend where she was or what day it was. She slowly lowered her
eyes and saw she was still wearing her lucky dress. It wasn’t until
she glanced over at the digital clock on the night stand that she
realized what she’d done.

“Eight o’clock!” she shrieked and shot out
of bed and into the adjoining bathroom.

She showered, brushed her teeth and combed
her hair. No time to dry it or apply makeup, except for a quick
swipe across her lips with lipstick. When she opened her closet
door the real panic set in. The only thing hanging was the royal
blue short sleeved sweater dress she hadn’t worn since last fall.
And for no other reason than she thought it jinxed. Anything that
could go wrong that last day she wore it had.

“To hell with superstition.” She yanked it
off the hanger and pulled it over her head.

She didn’t have time to root through the
dryer for something else. She had promised the young couple she
showed the Miller house the night before she’d be at her office
promptly by eight-thirty to type up the offer they wanted her to
present to the seller today.

Barely a minute late Betsy still found a
pair of disgruntled customers waiting on the office doorstep.
Typing up the sales agreement and going over it with the pair was
anything but a treat either. If this was an indication of how the
day ahead would be, the dress was indeed jinxed and would be tossed
instead of laundered.

It was after ten before she concluded
business with the difficult pair. Next up she went over the day’s
schedule with Mary. Then she placed the call. Hopefully, the beauty
queen would be up and willing to see her at ten-thirty. The only
spare hour Betsy saw all day after a quick glance at her
appointment book.

* * *

A giddy sort of sick feeling washed over
Betsy when she stepped up to the front door of the corner Victorian
about to ring the doorbell. As her finger poked the gold button the
door swung open.

“Betsy dear, come in.” Stephanie smiled that
brilliant way she did to reveal those perfect front teeth.

There was no doubt in Betsy’s mind that with
her looks she could make any man’s mouth water. Especially if she
greeted all her callers dressed in the revealing black negligee she
was wearing now. And Skylar Blakewood certainly was no exception.
But Betsy still couldn’t understand why he planned to marry her.
She thought him intelligent enough to see through her. So why
hadn’t he? The woman was cunning, she’d give her that much. But
Betsy never figured Skylar to fall for someone so manipulative and
self-centered.

For as long as Betsy had known Stephanie,
which was too long, she always had to have things her way. No
matter who got trampled on along the way.

“This shouldn’t take long,” Betsy mentioned
as she followed Stephanie’s lead to the large eat-in kitchen.

Betsy watched her gather two cups and
saucers from one of the cherry cupboards that wound around the
room. She filled each cup with coffee, while Betsy opened her
briefcase on the table and pulled out a partially completed listing
agreement.

As Stephanie placed their drinks on the
table Betsy couldn’t help but notice her twisted smile.

“I hope you can keep a secret, Betsy,
because I’m absolutely going to burst if I don’t tell
somebody.”

“You already told me about your engagement,”
Betsy reminded drearily and pulled out a chair and sat.

Stephanie slithered into the chair next to
her, beaming. ”This is something even better than that.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. Skylar has agreed to resign his
position on the bank board. Isn’t that wonderful of him? Actually,
with everything he has going right now, he’s just too busy to
devote the necessary time required anyway.”

Betsy watched her take time out to flick a
curl off her shoulder.

“Of course none of this will be official
until the start of the New Year.”

“And this is good news?”

“It’s exactly what I’ve been waiting for.”
Stephanie took a breather, eyeing Betsy. “You look confused.”

“I’m a little lost. I thought you’d like the
prestige of Skylar’s board position.”

“Why should his standing in the community be
more important than mine? But you are sort of right. I do like it
known that I’m associated with the important people.”

Betsy wanted to throw up. “Is there a point
to all this, Steph?”

“Of course. You were aware it’s a rule the
board not allow family members to hold a position on the board at
the same time, weren’t you?”

“I didn’t know that.”

“So there you have it, my girl.” Betsy knew
if she made reference to her as a girl one more time she’d slug her
one. For now, she left her get away with it so she could finish
giving her wonderful news. “With Skylar’s resignation, the board
has agreed to give one of the two vacant seats to me. Isn’t that
wonderful?”

“I suppose if it means that much to
you.”

“I would think to you too. And all the other
women who have taken a back seat to a man in the business world. I
mean I’m the first female board member in the history of that
bank.” Stephanie stiffened and held her head proud. “You should be
very grateful and proud of my accomplishment.”

Betsy inhaled deeply and felt some of her
hostility toward the woman dissolve. Maybe she’d been judging her
too harshly. Maybe Stephanie was capable of doing a good deed for
others. But Betsy still had this nagging feeling that acquiring
that board position had nothing to do with scoring another victory
for women in the business world. Stephanie Rogers had her own
selfish motive.

“Congratulations. Now can we get on with the
signing of this contract?”

Betsy quickly wrapped up her business with
Stephanie and was happy to be heading back to the office, even
though she was plagued with thoughts of Skylar. But anything was
better than listening to more of Stephanie’s boasting.

“She must have you twisted around her little
finger,” Betsy was thinking out loud. Well, you’re certainly not
the head strong man I thought you were Skylar Blakewood. Otherwise,
you wouldn’t be resigning the position you worked hard to earn on
the board to accommodate that woman.

Betsy headed into the office with the full
intention of spending the next several minutes reviewing the
contract she planned to present to one of her clients. The man had
a sharp mind and she wanted to be certain when he hit her with a
question about the legal document that she could come right back
with an answer for him.

“How come you’re so frazzled when I’m the
one that just had to face Steph?” Betsy quizzed Mary almost the
instant she stepped inside and got a look at her partner banging
shut drawers on a filing cabinet.