In the Market for Love (5 page)

“Rachel, I didn’t come her
e to talk about work,” he said. “I wanted to talk about
you
. You said you weren’t married. You’re single?”

He waited
for her answer. Surely she couldn’t have found someone in the last few weeks since they met. Although it would be a miracle if a woman like her were unattached.

Wh
y had he waited so long?

*          *          *

Single. That word seemed so simple that to Rachel it didn’t even begin to describe her situation or feelings. To be single implied being available yet Rachel hadn’t been available for years. She was asked out from time to time and occasionally she accepted but even then it was as though she wasn’t there. It had been years since she’d had a man in her life.

Jake’s voice shook her from her thoughts. “Rachel?”

She didn’t like to talk about the past but it wasn’t a secret. And Jake had asked.

“I
’m not married but I used to be,” she said. “My husband Nick passed away four years ago.”

“Rachel, I…I had no idea.
”

“He died unexpectedly. Not that I think it would have been any easier if I’d known it was coming. It was a car crash. He was hit by a drunk driver. Head on. There w
as no hope for either of them, Nick or the other fellow. And it was quick. When I got the phone call from the hospital, they wouldn’t tell me what had happened straight away. They don’t tell people things like that over the phone but I think I knew before I got there.”

“
I’m so sorry.”

Jake put his hand on hers. She felt its warmth radiate across h
er skin.

Except f
or business like handshakes, he hadn’t physically touched her since their first meeting and she was taken aback at the effect. His hand was strong and masculine and with that one simple touch he made her feel small and delicate.

“That must have been terrible,
” he said. “To have been happily married and lost that. I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you.”

Rachel stiffened. She hadn’t said she’d been happily married but people always made that assumption. It’s true she
thought
she’d been happily married but after her husband died, she’d made a discovery which made her doubt all of that.

Her marriage hadn’t been so perfect after all. But she never spoke about it. Not to anybody.

“That was a long time ago,” she said. “And I have so many good things in my life. I have a good job, friends, you know, the usual.”

She didn’t know what to make of the man. At nearly all of their meetings Jake had been charming and he certainly seemed to be propelling the Skin Plus campaign at great speed but at yesterday’s meeting he’d been demanding, undermining and hindering her at every turn.

Was he arrogant or charming? Which was the real Jake?

He had a way of turning her insides into a surging molten pyre over which she had no control. She could feel all thought and reason disappearing when she snapped herself out of it.

All she had to do was keep this encounter brief and, most importantly, stick to business. That was largely why she’d refused to offer Jake a seat but that hadn’t prevented the conversation turning well away from the campaign.

“Y
ou don’t have someone special at the moment?” Jake asked, his hand still on hers. The question sent a tingle up her spine.

“No, I don’t.”

His deep set eyes had always seemed dark and impenetrable but they seemed softer now as though they were beckoning her.

Before, she’d only seen the business side of Jake but she was starting to see a complex man, an intricate personality made up of many facets.

“Would you like to go out for a drink with me after work?” he asked.

Her
lips curled to a shy smile. She was a mature woman with no need for a serious relationship in her life yet now she felt like a school girl being asked out on her first date. Talk about ridiculous.

H
e tilted his head. “Is something funny? Because this is a serious invitation, not a joke.”

“Actually,
I’m leaving work early today.”

Her sister had an appointm
ent and Rachel had promised she’d leave work early to collect her two nieces from school and baby sit them.

“That’s
okay,” Jake said. “I can pick you up from your place later. It won’t be a problem.”

Not wishing to explain she’d be at her sister’s house in Balmain, Rachel diverted him. “No, I’d rather you didn’t pick me up. I have a couple of things to do this afternoon.”

“Then I’ll meet you there. The Ebony Bar. At 6.30pm. It’s not far from here. You know where it is, don’t you?”

“I know the place.”

Although it wasn’t far from Rachel’s work, she’d never been there as she rarely went out in the evening, particularly to bars.

“Great. I’ll see you at 6.30. And if you’re up to it we can grab some dinner afterwards.”

At that moment, the receptionist stuck her head around the door to let Rachel know there was another call for her.

Jake walked towards the door. “You go and take your call. I’ll see you later. I’m looking forward to it.”

He left.

Leaving her in
a daze. She was going on a date with no idea what had happened or how it came to be.

She hadn’t said she’
d go on a date with him. The word ‘yes’ had not passed her lips. Had he tricked her?

Now he’d gone, she wasn’t even able to reprimand him, tease him and tell him
she hadn’t accepted.

He made her
feel like no other man had before but that didn’t mean she wanted him. Surely her mind was in control of her feelings and actions. She wasn’t weak and wanton, at the mercy of her emotions.

Yet something about him
made her nervous as though he was different in kind from other men. As though he had a power over her that no one else did.

Still,
it was her life and she was in charge of it. She wouldn’t be duped by Jake Austin’s charm and she also wouldn’t back down.

She would meet him.

It was only a drink, after all.

*          *          *

Rachel admired Jake’s choice of venue as she walked into the Ebony Bar.

One wall was taken up by a long dark wooden bar behind which bottles
had been lit to glitter like jewels on the shelves. The rest of the room was divided into different areas through the clever use of furnishings. There was a standing area, a section filled with tiny tables and chairs and another area decked out with sofas.

Elegant though
it was, it was a bar, and she wasn’t sure she was comfortable there. She also didn’t understand how she’d been trapped into going for a drink with Jake. He’d twisted her words and now here she was.

“Hello Rachel.” She heard the soft suede of Jake’s voice behind her. “Let me take your jacket for you.”

His fingertips brushed the back of her neck as he gently slipped the dark linen jacket off her shoulders. A tingle shot up her spine.

He grinned and his whole face lit up. H
is eyes, normally dark and mysterious, were full of warmth.

“Let’s go over to the sofas,” he suggested.

She was in a quandary over where to seat herself as she didn’t want to sit on a single lounge chair as if she were scared of sharing a seat with him. She decided to sit at one end of the sofa but not at the very end, giving her some room to retreat if needed.

“Nice bar,” she
said.

Was that the
best she could do? She knew her attempt at small talk was pathetic but she had to do something, say something. She couldn’t just sit there and allow herself to be consumed by this man.

“Yes, I think so too.
” Jake draped her linen jacket over a chair before relaxing beside her. “It’s not very nice when it’s crowded. Too many people looking to make an impression or a pick-up or something. Have you been here before?”

“No, not here,”

She hoped he wouldn’t ask her which bars she went to as a conversation on that subject would be extremely brief. She waited anxiously as he went to the bar to order the drinks. He appeared to know the bar staff.

It gave Rachel the chance to admire him from behind. And he did look good from behind. His jeans followed the contours of his firm butt. He’d dressed the jeans up with a navy shirt that stretched across his broad shoulders.
He was certainly a fine example of manhood.

“They’ll bring the drinks over,” Jake said
when he returned to the sofa. “You look good in red, you know. It suits you. It contrasts beautifully with your hair.”

Rache
l had debated what to wear. Not wishing to look overdressed and make herself look too keen, she’d decided on a pair of black boot leg pants and a simple red sleeveless top. The top showed off her toned arms and followed the silhouette of her waist down to her hips without being provocative.

“Thanks. Y
ou look good out of your work clothes too.” She shuddered at her poor choice of words. “I mean, you know, in jeans.”

Thi
s wasn’t going the way she’d hoped.

Jake grinned, clearly
enjoying her embarrassment. “I liked the way you put it better the first time.”

“Perhaps you shouldn’t
be so pleased with yourself. It was just a slip of the tongue. Or are you used to having women make saucy comments to you?”

“Maybe they do. But
you
don’t. Unless you’d include ‘Mr Porsche’ as being saucy?”

She shrugged
. “No, that was more of an observation.”

He had a way ab
out him. Even when he was teasing her, he made her feel like a woman. Attractive. Desired. She wasn’t a marketing manager any more. And she didn’t think she was a friend either.

This wasn’t the first date she’d been on since she’d been widowed. And he wasn’t the first man to show some interest in her. But he was the first one who made her fumble w
ith her words and lose her self-restraint.

She couldn’t let him guess her feelings. “So, you’ve got a son?”

“Yes,” he replied. “Connor. He’s seven.”

“D
oes he live with his mother or with you?”

As Rachel asked the question she suddenly had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. He had said he was single, hadn’t he?

She’d found herself going out on a date with a man and she didn’t know anything about him. She’d assumed he must be single but the longer Jake took to answer the question the more her stomach churned.

Something wasn’t right.

*          *          *

Jake
didn’t usually feel anxious at the thought of explaining his marital situation to anyone. What he felt tonight went beyond anxiety. It was closer to turmoil.

“
Connor lives with me,” he said. “I’m lucky in that way. So many fathers miss out when their children live with their exes.”

Jake lived with his son but their house also had another occupant.

“And does your ex, his mother, live far from you?” Rachel asked.

The thought of Bianca sent a distressing pang through Jake as he recalled her constant threats that she would get custody of Connor should they divorce. Nothing was more important to Jake than his son. Nothing.

“No, she lives close by and that’s been good for Connor but a little hard for me.”

Connor’s mother lived very close by indeed. In the same house.

“So you’re divorced?” Rachel asked.

“
No, separated. We have been for about four years now.”

“But not divorced?”

He had to tell her now. This was the time.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting
.” A slender young waitress appeared, bearing a tray with a long neck of cold Stella Artois, a stemmed beer glass and a glass of white wine. She took her time as she poured the beer with its thick creamy head into Jake’s glass and placed the wine on the coffee table in front of them.

Rachel had been cold and unflinching when she said there was no excuse for a married man seeing another woman. And at the time they’d only been discussing two actors smearing sun screen on each other. What would she think when she found out he and his wife
still lived in the same house? She wouldn’t want to have anything to do with him after that.

Other women in the past hadn’t questioned Jake’s predicament but then none of them had Rachel’s high standards and none had been important to him in the way she was.

He wanted her so badly but knew how close he was to losing her respect with just a few words. And he didn’t even have her home phone number or address yet. Surely he should get that before risking their relationship by trying to explain his situation.

But as they swapped phone numbers, Jake found himself increasingly trapped.