True Love (19 page)

It didn’t happen. He’d tried nudging her, but she’d just murmured and kept sleeping. Even when he put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her upright, she didn’t wake up. He had an idea that if he picked her up she’d snuggle against him like a child. Since he was as tired as she was, he was afraid that if he carried her up to bed he’d climb in with her.

In the end he’d kissed her forehead and let her sleep on the couch. He thought he’d go to the guesthouse, shower, then sleep in his own bed. Instead, he glanced at one of the plans on the floor and realized it had an error on it. He sat back down on the couch, meaning to fix it, but the next thing he knew Alix was standing over him, holding the plan, and saying, “This wall is wrong. It should be four inches to the south.”

It had taken him a moment to wake up but when he did, he said, “I agree.”

That had been two days ago and they hadn’t slept since. They had just worked.

Jared looked back at Alix, smiling at her sleeping. Last night—or rather, early this morning—when she’d fallen asleep, this time, he’d kissed her on the mouth. A sweet kiss, one of friendship more than passion. She’d kissed him back a bit then smiled in her sleep.

Jared had looked up to see his grandfather wearing a look that said, You’re pathetic, then he’d disappeared.

The second time around, Jared never even considered sleeping anywhere but on the couch facing Alix.

A movement caught his eye and he looked up to see his grandfather reappear by the doorway. He looked like he was going to say something, but in the next second Lexie stepped through the man.

“Jared!” she said loudly. “Where have you been? No one’s heard from you since you went out to see Dilys. Toby’s been so worried that she sent me over here to see about— Oh! Is that—?” She was looking at Alix asleep on the couch.

Jared crossed the floor in two strides, took his cousin’s arm, and led her out of the room and into the kitchen.

“Was that Alix on the other couch? Are you two a couple now? Already?”

“No,” Jared said. “At least not in the way you mean. And lower your voice. She needs her sleep.”

“What have you two been doing besides drinking rum?” There was an empty bottle on the counter and a half full one beside it. Lexie held up her hand. “Don’t tell me. You’ve been working.”

“Right,” Jared said. “She is worse than I am.”

“Couldn’t be,” Lexie said, then took pity on him because he looked tired. “At least she and Dilys got you to cut that mass of hair you had. Sit down and I’ll make you some breakfast. Toby sent over some jam she made. Will Alix get up soon?” She filled the coffee-maker.

Jared sat down at the banquette, rubbing his eyes to get the sleep out of them. “She’ll wake up when she does.”

“What does that mean?”

“That before she’s ready, an anchor falling on her feet wouldn’t wake her.”

Lexie had her back to him as she got things out of the fridge so he couldn’t see her smile. She was a very pretty young woman with the dark hair and eyes of all the Kingsleys, and the jawline was unmistakable. Her father had been an off-islander with blond hair and blue eyes, and his coloring had tempered the Kingsley darkness so that in the sun, lighter streaks could be seen in Lexie’s hair. And Dilys always said that Lexie’s eyes were lighter than the Kingsley blue that was so dark it was almost black.

“And you know this how?” Lexie asked as she put a carton of eggs on the counter.

Jared wasn’t about to answer that question. “How is Dilys?”

“Full of talk about you and Alix. Is it true that you make her call you Mr. Kingsley?”

Jared laughed. “It started that way but that was back when she was in awe of me. Now it’s just Kingsley, as in ‘Kingsley, you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ ”

“I thought architecture students thought you were some god to be worshipped.” Lexie’s tone told how absurd she thought that was.

“Not this one.” Jared was smiling. “At least not anymore, even though I
was
right about the wall in my cousin’s house.”

Lexie paused in breaking eggs to look at him. “You
listened
to her? From what I’ve seen, when it comes to buildings, it’s your way or get out.”

“Except with Ken,” Jared said.

“And that extends to his daughter? Dilys thinks that man can perform miracles. She used to tell me what you were like before Ken showed up. I was just a kid but—”

“You’re the same age as Alix. Dilys used to bring you over here to Aunt Addy’s to play with her.”

“I didn’t know that. She didn’t tell me.”

“I saw the two of you together once. I remember you kids sitting in the back and …” He stopped talking as he remembered the scene.

That had been the summer before Ken showed up. It was Jared’s second summer without his father. Even though people had told him that time would make it better, he’d found that time had made it worse. He’d dropped out of all school sports, he hadn’t opened a textbook that whole year, and he was drinking everything alcoholic he could get his underage hands on. He’d had several after-school jobs, but he’d been fired from all of them because he rarely showed up when he was supposed to.

His family had exhausted themselves talking to him, threatening him, offering him incentives to change his ways. Even his ghostly grandfather had endlessly lectured him on how he needed to be a
man and help his widowed mother, not make her life worse. But Jared’s anger had no ability to reason.

Only his great-aunt Addy didn’t nag him. In her very long life she’d seen a lot of death and knew about grief. Her only comment had been, “You’re a good boy and that goodness will come out again when it’s time.” As a result of her understanding, the only place on the island Jared felt any peace was at Kingsley House with his aunt.

On the day Jared saw little Lexie and Alix playing, he had just been fired from yet another job. He’d taken a beer from his aunt’s fridge—she never pointed out that he was a kid—and sat in a chair by her under a shade tree.

“Alix fits in here so well,” Addy said.

“You know that Victoria will take her away. She’s not the type to live here all year,” Jared said. “You’d do better not to fall in love with the kid.” He sounded very old.

“I know,” Addy said, “but I plan to enjoy her as long as I can.”

“What does Victoria do all day? The house needs a good cleaning.”

“I know. There’s dust everywhere.” Addy lowered her voice. “I think she’s reading the old Kingsley journals.”

“How the hell did she find them?” Jared looked at Addy’s face. “Sorry. How did she find them?”

“She knocked over a cabinet while she was dancing with a tourist.” Adelaide made it sound like Victoria had consorted with an enemy alien.

Jared smiled as he drank his beer. That sounded like Victoria. She was beautiful and vivacious and—

“Earth to Jared!” Lexie was saying.

He blinked a few times. “I was just remembering you and Alix together.”

“What did we play?”

“I don’t remember. No. Wait. I do. You brought over some little dolls and she built houses for them.”

“It’s a wonder you didn’t help her with the building.”

“That was before Ken arrived, so I would have built it out of fishing lures.”

“And we’re back to Ken. So what’s this about not telling Alix that her father trained you?”

“I’m caught in the middle,” he said and told her about his first meeting with Alix. “I had no idea she recognized me, then Ken called and laid me out for lying to her.”

Lexie slid a ham and cheese omelet onto a plate. “So that’s why you’re spending an entire week holed up with her? To make up for lying to her?” She poured two cups of coffee.

“I didn’t want her to leave the island, because I knew I’d get blamed for running her off.”

Lexie took bread out of the toaster and slathered it with the jam Toby had made. “Is that it? The whole, entire, and only reason you’ve not left this house for days?”

Jared cut into his omelet and took his time answering. “It started out that way.”

“And now?” Lexie took a seat across from him.

He looked at her with eyes that seemed to spark flames. “Now Ken’s the reason I keep my hands off her.”

“Oh, my,” Lexie said, leaning back in her chair. “You haven’t fallen in … you know, with her … have you?”

“I’ve known her for less than a week,” Jared said, frowning.

Lexie sipped her coffee and watched her cousin, fully aware that he’d not answered her question. Dilys said that Jared had never recovered from his father’s premature death. Lexie had been told how Jared and his mother had both nearly lost their minds when Six died. Jared had been angry at the world, while his mother had sunk into a depression that no counseling or pills could get her out of.

Then Ken Madsen had shown up and given the boy an outlet for his rage. But nothing and no one had been able to revive Jared’s mother. She’d died soon after her son graduated from high school.

Since then, Jared had been the family loner, living in two worlds, even using a different name off-island.

“And you’re doing all this out of respect for Ken?” Lexie asked.

“I owe him, don’t you think?”

“We all do,” Lexie said, smiling at her cousin. She and Toby weren’t the only people Jared had helped. He’d given friends and relatives jobs, had subsidized the mortgages of two destitute cousins, and he’d stayed with Aunt Addy at the end of her life. “So when are you going to tell Alix the truth about you and her father?”

“I’m not,” he said. “It’s not my place to tell her. Besides, she just found out that Victoria comes here every year.”

“She didn’t even know that?”

Jared shook his head.

Lexie got up to get the coffeepot. “Did you tell her about Victoria?”

“No.” Jared grinned. “She saw the bedroom, called it the Emerald City, and she knew it was her mother’s.”

Lexie laughed as she refilled their cups and sat back down. “I think you need to protect yourself here. When—not if—Alix finds out the truth about her father and you, she won’t be happy that you kept such a big secret from her.”

“That’s a good idea,” Jared said. “I’ll call Ken and say I want permission to tell his daughter about his visiting here because I’m so hot for her that my fingertips ache. That when she leans over me to look at a drawing her breath smells so good I want to swallow her whole. The way her body moves inside her clothes makes me sweat.” He looked at his cousin across the table. “You think if I tell Ken that truth he’ll give me his blessing?”

Lexie could only blink at him.

“Is there any more toast?” Jared asked. “Toby’s jam is great. Alix will like it.”

Lexie took a few breaths to recover herself, then got up to get the bread. “I think …”

“I’m open to suggestions,” he said.

“You didn’t actually promise Ken to keep your hands off her, did you?”

“I did.”

“Oh, my goodness. You have to get him to come here so he can tell Alix the truth. Then you’ll be released from your promise.”

“That should go over well,” Jared said. “Ken shows up and I immediately carry his daughter off to bed.”

Lexie thought for a moment. “The question is, how does Alix feel about
you
?”

Jared grimaced. “I’m her teacher. Although she doesn’t listen to me much. You want to hear what she’s doing?”

“Sure.” Lexie didn’t let him see her surprise. She’d never heard her cousin talk about any of the women he dated, but then he didn’t stay with them long enough to even remember their names. He had never brought one of them home to Nantucket, never introduced one to the family.

“While I was out on my boat, she and Izzy broke into my office.”

“The one you never let anyone into?”

“That’s the one.” He looked up as his grandfather appeared behind Lexie.

She turned around, but saw no one. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” he said, but he knew his grandfather was warning him not to tell too much. “I think Alix must have seen some of the drawings I did for small structures because she designed a chapel. She even found some card stock and made a model. I saw it hidden in a cabinet and it was great. Original. Perfect. I’m going to try to get some of my clients to build it and give Alix full credit for it. A great start to her career, right?”

“It sounds wonderful. What did she say when you told her?”

“She hasn’t shown me the model,” he said.

Lexie nodded. “She couldn’t very well admit she sneaked into your office. Maybe you could hint that you don’t just do big buildings.”

“I did, but it got no reaction from her. Maybe tomorrow I can—”

“You won’t have time,” Lexie said. “I’m here because we need to talk about this weekend. But go ahead and tell me about the chapel.”

“There isn’t anything else to tell. She hasn’t mentioned her design and the model’s no longer in the cabinet.”

“Why don’t you tell her you saw it and that it’s great?” Lexie said.

“It would seem like I was snooping. I think there’s a reason she won’t show it to me, but I don’t know what it is.”

“If it were me,” Lexie said, “I’d be terrified that you’d think it was awful. Sounds like she wants to impress you, but what if you see something done by her and you hate it? That would really hurt.”

“I pretty much told her I’d give her a job at my firm.”

“She probably doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that,” Lexie said.

Jared finished his toast, picked up his empty plate, and put it in the sink. He was frowning as he thought about what Lexie had said. “What were you going to tell me about this weekend?”

“What are you going to do about Daffy Day?”

“Same thing I always do, I guess,” he said.

“Stay home bent over a drawing board?”

“More or less.”

“You’ve spent all this time with Alix, working, drinking rum, but you’ve not made a pass at her?” Lexie asked.

“Not a touch.”

“No long, lingering looks?”

Jared smiled. “Not any that she saw.”

“Even though you’re very attracted to her?”

“You and Dilys! Are you two trying to make me feel bad? What are you getting at?”

“I’m just trying to see this from Alix’s point of view. This pretty young woman has spent nearly a whole week being rejected by a man known for … what can I say? … having numerous women in his life. But he—you—has fed her lots of rum but not so much as made a move toward her. And tomorrow she’s going out with Wes.”