“No,” Jared said and stood back. “Come on in.”
But Susan didn’t move. She stared at him with dawning awareness, her frown returned. “You’re Savannah’s messenger.” She leaned forward and called, “Savannah?” but her eyes never left Jared.
On the living room sofa, Savannah was immobilized by a momentary panic. She had known that sooner or later Susan would have had to find out about Jared, but she had counted on later. She didn’t want that confrontation now. Under the best of circumstances, she couldn’t hold a candle to Susan in appearance, and this was far from the best of circumstances.
But there was no avoiding the meeting. She simply had to decide how best to handle it. Her first impulse was to join Jared at the door, but that required too much effort. Instead she drew herself higher on the sofa and called, “Come on in, Suse.”
Tearing her gaze from Jared, Susan swept past him. She was frowning when she stopped before Savannah. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing much. Exhaustion. Cramps.”
“Cramps.” Susan sighed in dismay. “Cramps. You’ve done it again, haven’t you? Here we are, all set to go off for a weekend of sun and surf, and you’ve got your period. This happens every time.”
Savannah was thinking that it shouldn’t have happened this time, though not for the reason Susan thought. She glanced at Jared, who had followed Susan into the room and was standing to the side with a hand in his pocket. “Unfortunately, I had no say in the matter,” she told Susan. “Is everything okay? I didn’t expect you.”
“Obviously,” Susan drawled. Her gaze bounced from her sister to Jared and back. “A messenger? What’s he delivering this time?”
“A little consolation,” Savannah said on impulse.
“Consolation? Since when do you need consolation? You won your case. That must please you. Another victory for the legal eagle.”
Jared wasn’t sure he liked her tone of voice. It gave him the same unsettling feeling his brother did. But she wasn’t his brother, she was Savannah’s sister. He trusted that Savannah knew best how to handle her.
“It was a victory for the people of this state,” Savannah said quietly. “I’m just glad it’s over.”
“So who’s he?” Susan asked, tossing her head toward Jared.
“He’s a friend. Susan, Jared.”
Susan gave him a slow once-over. “Not bad for a friend.” She eyed his leather jacket. “I didn’t think it was from K-mart.” Slipping out of her fur, she tossed it over the free end of the sofa and sank into a nearby chair. “Is he joining us?”
Savannah had fully expected Susan to make an instant play for Jared, but that wasn’t happening. And Jared, while he studied Susan in a curious kind of way, looked far from enamored. That gave Savannah a bit of courage.
“The question,” she amended, “is whether you’re joining us. What’s up?”
“You know what’s up,” Susan muttered, glowering. “Sam Craig is a bastard. Do you know what he had the gall to do? After I went to the trouble of taking pictures of his place, sending them by courier to Dennis Becker, spending hours on the phone with Dennis telling him what I had in mind, and arranging for him to fly in, Sam wouldn’t even give us the time of day. If that’s an example of the kind of gratitude your friends show, I’m not sure I want to meet this one.” She tossed her head in Jared’s general direction.
Savannah sent Jared an indulgent glance before facing Susan again. “You were going to decorate Sam’s place?”
“Yes, I was. That’swas.Past tense. I have no intention of doing another thing for Sam Craig. I have no intention ofseeinghim again.” Abruptly, she sat forward. “He’s a throwback, do you know that? He’s a throwback to the Stone Age. So you think he’s an eighties man? Think again. Old-fashioned as they come.”
“Sam?” Susan asked in some surprise.
“Yes, Sam. He makes all the decisions. No give and take. A regular dictatorship. He’s the king of the castle, period. Have you ever heard anything so backward?” Before Savannah could answer, Susan turned on Jared. “Are you the dictator type, too, or have the times actually sunk into that pea-brain of yours? Pea-brains,” she repeated, turning back to Savannah. “That’s what men have, and if we don’t watch out, we’ll be in trouble. Look what happened to the dinosaurs. Their tiny pea-brains couldn’t cope with change, so they died off. If we sit back and let men rule the world, that may well be our fate.” With a certain finality, she sank back in her chair.
There was total silence. Then Savannah took a breath and said, “Well. That’s an interesting theory.”
“There’s merit to it. Men are far inferior to women. Just look at what they’re doing to the world. People are dying in Central America and Northern Ireland and the Middle East, and it’s not women who are doing the killing.” She threw a hand up in disgust. “Why I waste my time on them is beyond me. They’re not worth it. Not for a minute.”
“I don’t know,” Savannah mused. “Seems to me there are a few things they can give us that we can’t give ourselves.”
Susan was surprised, not by the suggestion itself, but by Savannah’s making it. Savannah wasn’t a sexual being. She was an intellectual one. Traditionally, she’d have been the one to talk about the ills of the world, with Susan tossing in the sexual innuendo. It seemed that the tables were momentarily turned.
Susan’s excuse was her anger at Sam. She wondered what Savannah’s was. Studying her curiously, she asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
Then it had to be Jared. More curious now, Susan turned to him. “How do you know Savannah?”
