“We met through her work,” he answered. He had both hands in the back pockets of his jeans and was standing, almost lazily, with his weight on one hip.
“Are you a lawyer, too?” she asked, and went on before he could answer, “You don’t look like the men Savannah usually brings home.”
“I don’t bring scads of men home,” Savannah protested.
Susan whispered, “Don’t tell him that. Keep him guessing.” She faced Jared. “Lawyer?”
“Nope.”
“Politician?” she asked, but she doubted that. He looked just a little too comfortable in his jeans and sweater to be the type to spend hours on end in a suit.
“Nope.”
There was something familiar about him, but she couldn’t decide what it was. An awful thought struck. “Oh God, you’re not another cop, are you?” She rose from her seat. “Because, if you are,” she ranted, stalking to the side of the room, “you can tell Sam Craig everything I said.” She whirled around. “You guys spend your days and nights playing cops and robbers, and you go so far undercover that people rarely see the real you. But I saw the real Sam, and he’s no knight in shining armor. He’s a louse.” She turned suddenly cautious eyes on Savannah. “Have you seen him?”
Savannah was beginning to think Susan was truly smitten. “Not since last week. When did you two fight?”
“Yesterday.”
“He hasn’t called since then?”
“Are you kidding?” Susan drawled sarcastically. “Macho man isn’t about to stoop to apologizing. I’m sure that as far as he’s concerned, he’s totally in the right.”
“And as far as you’re concerned,you’retotally in the right.”
“Of course.”
“I guess that’s that, then,” Savannah said.
“Exactly.” Chin held high, Susan returned to her chair. She sat down, crossed her legs with an elegant flourish, and laced her fingers together on her lap. She looked as though she planned to sit for a while.
Had Susan been anyone but Savannah’s sister, Jared would have picked up the silver-fox fur and held it in a blunt invitation for her to leave. He couldn’t quite believe that she was sitting there so complacently, totally unaware of interrupting anything. Then he remembered some of the things Savannah had said, and it occurred to him that, quite possibly, Susan didn’t realize there was anything to interrupt.
He intended to correct that.
Crossing to the sofa, he hunkered down as he had before, framed Savannah’s body with his arms and said in a near whisper, “Want that aspirin now?”
She shook her head, smiled, and whispered back, “I’m okay.”
“Maybe you should go to bed.”
“In a little while. You have to go to work soon, don’t you?”
He nodded. “I want to know you’re okay before I leave.”
“I’m fine,” she assured him. Her smile was soft and gentle, while her eyes devoured his face. “But I’m glad you came.” When he leaned forward, she kissed him.
Susan stared. She had taken Savannah at her word, that she and Jared were friends. Apparently, that was only half the story. As improbable as it seemed that Savannah, the brain, was romantically involved with as sexy a man as Jared, Susan couldn’t find any other explanation for their low, intimate tones and that kiss.
And the kiss went on. What Jared had intended to be short and sweet became an expression of love, and love couldn’t be rushed.
As for Savannah, she momentarily forgot Susan was there.
Susan cleared her throat. “Savannah?”
Jared was the one to hear and reluctantly end the kiss. “Yes?” he answered.
“I was calling Savannah.”
