Clay didn’t wave back. His head pounded from the liquor he’d consumed, and he was disgusted with himself.How could he have said those things to Ellie?
Because in a way he meant them. Ellie wanted him. He knew women. Yet every time the two of them got close to having some sort of relationship, Ellie went off with Gerry Winslow, or Flex McGrath. Maybe even Jake.
She’d slept with them when he felt certain he was the man she wanted.
Clay cursed himself for a fool. He should have taken her out to dinner tonight, brought her back to his room, and taken her to bed, would have, if she hadn’t had such a bad experience the night before.
When he’d seen her at the show grounds with her groom, he’d gone off half-cocked, gotten drunk, and picked up the girls in the bar on Rochussenstraat. By the time they headed back to the hotel it was almost morning. Now he’d driven another wedge between him and Ellie. Was Ellie Fletcher worth all the trouble?
The voice inside him continued to answer,yes.
Jake spent the next two days trying to think of a way to convince Maggie to take Sarah and go home. None of his rehearsed speeches sounded convincing. In the end, he decided to say whatever seemed right at the time.
By Thursday, he realized Maggie was doing everything in her power to avoid him. She didn’t go to any team dinners, went to the show grounds as rarely as possible, and generally stayed out of his way. Maggie was doing the same things to him that Jake had been doing to her ever since she arrived in Europe.
It was only by chance he spotted her through his hotel room window, standing on the curb out in front, helping Sarah and her nanny into a cab. The little girl must have been looking up at his room. Through the rear window, Sarah waved good-bye as the cab drove away.
Jake’s stomach tightened. He glanced at his Rolex. Seven p.m. The sun was still shining, but copper tinged the evening sky. As Maggie walked back into the hotel, Jake stepped away from the window.
He’d just showered and changed after a long day of competition at the Rotterdam show, during which most of the team had done well. Ellie had taken a first and second. Flex had won a first and a third. Shep had done passably well, winning a third. And Clay hadn’t shown up.
Typical Clay. When he wanted to be, he was brilliant. When he wanted to be, he was an ass.
Jake glanced at his reflection in the mirror above the dresser. His eyes were lined with worry, his skin less swarthy than usual. After Ellie’s attack, he’d made a point of finding out where Maggie and Sarah were staying. Since then, every evening before he went to bed, he quietly checked that wing for anyone who looked suspicious.
Long strides carried him down the hall. He turned left into an empty corridor and stopped outside Maggie’s room. With a steadying breath, he rapped lightly on the door. There was movement inside the room, the scrape of a chair being pushed back, soft footfalls, then the door opened a crack.
Gentle blue eyes widened as she spotted him on the other side of the door.
“I need to talk to you, Maggie,” Jake said.
She hesitated a moment then slid back the chain to let him in. The room, a duplicate of his own, was orderly, a Danish modern chair next to the table, clothes all put away. Only Sarah’sPeanutscomic book, strewn carelessly on one of the twin beds, betrayed the child’s presence.
Maggie’s gaze followed Jake’s. “Sarah went to dinner with Flora.”
“I know. I was looking out my window when they left.” His gaze drifted over her. She looked beautiful in an elegant dove gray skirt that fell softly over her slender hips. Her embroidered silk blouse outlined the peaks of her delicate, upturned breasts, and Jake felt a tightening in his groin.
She’d kicked off her shoes, but still wore her stockings, showing off her long, shapely legs. He wanted to pull her into his arms, bury his face in her hair, and never let her go.
“Thanks for letting me in,” he said a little gruffly. “Why don’t we sit down?”
Her blond brows drew slightly together. “Maybe we should go downstairs to the café.”
Jake ignored the suggestion. “How’s Sarah?” he asked, trying to ease into the conversation.
“She’s fine.” Maggie flashed him a nervous look that said she wanted to know why he was there, but politeness won out. “She loves traveling, wants to see everything everywhere we go. Thank heaven Flora is here. I’d never be able to keep up with her.”
“She’s got plenty of energy, all right.” Jake forced a smile he didn’t feel. “What about you, Maggie, how are you getting along?”
Maggie’s shoulders tightened. “Work keeps me busy. There’s plenty to do. More than I would have dreamed. In the morning I join the dressage team in Belgium for a couple of days.”
“I wasn’t asking about work.”
“What are you asking, Jake? Is this a personal visit, or a professional one? Because if it’s personal, I think you’d better leave.” To make her point she started for the door.
“Please sit down, Maggie. This is difficult enough as it is.”
Casting him an uncertain glance, Maggie walked back and sat down in the chair. Jake sat down on the edge of the bed.
