Thoroughbreds and Trailer Trash Read online

  Emily gently pushed her toward the gate. “Just get on the plane. Most men would stare and not hear a word you’re saying anyway. Besides, you’ve always known how to handle a guy.”

  “But I can only handle them when it doesn’t matter.” Jenna’s voice cracked. “And this matters. He matters so much—”

  Emily shoved her into the moving line and Jenna stumbled forward, her eyes hanging onto her sister until Em was no longer in sight.

  ***

  It wasn’t nearly as much fun flying alone. Nor was it as much fun flying economy. The man on Jenna’s right made several persistent attempts, but she was too tense for conversation. There was a good possibility she was risking hotel and airfare, along with her fragile heart.

  Wally had confirmed Burke Industries now controlled Edge Technology in California, and that Derek Burke was the acting manager. The office address was close to the LA Airport but what if he wasn’t there? She had enough money for two nights’ stay, a couple cheap meals and some taxi fare. Wally had pressed a credit card in her hand for emergency purposes, but his concerned expression hadn’t been reassuring.

  “Be careful, Jenna. LA isn’t like Stillwater,” he’d said.

  She controlled a shudder and stared out the tiny window. At least she was seeing the country unfold. It was a clear day. That had to be a good omen.

  The plane landed in LA exactly on schedule. Another good omen.

  She watched and waited as the luggage carousel creaked in slow circles. A woman shouldered her aside to snag a bulging black suitcase covered with red stickers, and all around her, passengers grabbed bags, hugged friends and squealed at relatives. Eventually only a sprinkle of people remained.

  She stepped back, checking the carousel number. Definitely she was in the right place and quite definitely, her bag wasn’t.

  The disinterested man in the baggage booth stamped her claim form and placed it on a towering stack. “We expect the bags to arrive within forty-eight hours.”

  “But that’s two days—”

  “Next,” he called.

  She drifted toward an exit, clutching her purse, slightly dazed as people rushed past. Everyone seemed to know exactly where they were going, everyone but her. The last airport she’d visited had been much nicer, much friendlier. Not nearly so intimidating. Of course, Burke had been by her side, and no one would dare lose his luggage. I wonder what he’s doing now.

  Soon she’d know.

  His office address meant nothing, simply a blur of numbers, but the taxi driver nodded and ushered her into the back seat, then zoomed away from the queue of yellow cabs. Jenna stared out the window at the backlog of traffic, the chaotic side streets, the looming office towers.

  How can he stand it here? It would be hard to find any nails to pound in this place; she doubted he’d be wearing a hard hat when she finally saw him.

  “Here you go, lady.”

  She paid the taxi driver too many of her precious bills, feeling a bit forsaken when he sped away in a rush of gas fumes. Burke’s building shimmered beneath the sun. It appeared to be made of dark glass and towered over many of its rivals. People rushed in and out, slender women and chiseled men, good-looking people with officious-looking briefcases, golden skin and haughty expressions.

  She stared up, shielding her eyes. Did he actually run this thing? Three Brooks seemed small now, a tiny blip of enterprise, not very important at all except to the horses and town. But whatever they did in this ostentatious building, they couldn’t be helping animals. She set her shoulders and pushed open a thick glass door.

  Her face immediately cooled as she stepped into the air-conditioned lobby. To reach the elevators, she had to pass between a cascading fountain and an imposing security desk.

  A guy in a stained ball cap, delivery bag flapping, rushed past and almost knocked her into the bubbling water as he charged toward a swiftly closing elevator. The man at the reception desk ignored him and smiled at Jenna. “May I help you, miss?”

  “Yes. Can you tell me what floor Derek Burke, Edge Technology, is on?”

  The man’s attention shifted to a big screen then back to her face. “Edge has many floors but it’s restricted access. You’ll need an appointment.”

  She faked a confident smile. “Can you call Mr. Burke? Tell him Jenna Murphy is here to see him.”

  “Just a moment, please,” he said. She leaned forward, following his gaze, reading quickly. Derek Burke, floor fifty. So he was on the top. She eased back, waiting as the man lifted his receiver and addressed someone named Miss Higgins. His gaze flickered over Jenna twice before hanging up.

  “I’m sorry.” He leaned back in his chair. “Mr. Burke is out of the office. You’ll need to call this number and make an appointment.” He handed her a card.

  “But how long is he out of the office?” Her voice squeaked as she took the phone number. “Not for more than a few days, I hope?”

  The guard’s smile faded to a tight line. “As Miss Higgins suggests, you’ll have to make an appointment.” He looked past her, nodding at a man in a light sports jacket and silk tie.

  Dismissed, she jerked back, cold with panic. She couldn’t afford to stay for more than two days. Was he gone or just out of the office for an hour or two? And was he really out? Wally always told Frances to say he was out when he didn’t have time for visitors.

  She glanced wistfully at the elevators. Looked like all deliveries were routed to the sixth floor. But Burke’s floor was on the top, and she couldn’t even see that elevator. The guard’s eyebrows narrowed in clear warning and she turned away, stepping back into the bright sunshine.

  Now what?

  She could check in at her budget hotel but her best bet was to see Burke now, while her only clothes were still relatively clean. Emily would have a fit if she knew her wardrobe plans for Jenna had already been scuttled.

  “This is for traveling. This is for your first meet,” her sister had said with breezy confidence. “After that, it won’t matter what you wear.”

  Yeah, right. Jenna snorted. Maybe tea would help. And she’d have a good vantage point from the little coffee shop across from the office tower.

  “We don’t have lemon but we have fifty flavors of coffee and boba milk tea,” the waitress said, gesturing at an overhead chalkboard.

  “Just plain hot tea, please,” Jenna said, staring at the confusion of items.

  She sat in the only remaining chair by the window, intent on the people scurrying into Burke’s building. ‘Out of the office.’ Maybe that meant he was at a lunch meeting and would be back soon.

  Please, please, please, make him come back soon. Her body hummed with anticipation, her nose pressed against the glass. Another delivery guy swooped in on a shiny bike, muscled legs pumping as he hunched over his handlebars. Not a whole lot of people coming or going now. Mid-afternoon lull?

  She sipped her tea, watching the office door and eyeing the creeping hands of the wall clock, but even so, she almost missed him. Oh, thank you, God. It was him, walking toward the building. Something twisted in her chest, and for a moment she stopped breathing.

  Dark pants, white shirt, loosened tie. He looked so good she simply stared, drinking in the sight. His hair was longer and he seemed relaxed, even smiling at something his companion said. Not a lip twitch but an actual smile.

  Odd.

  She pressed her nose further against the window and studied his companion, a woman whose pretty coral suit seemed a tad too tight for office work. And those ridiculous heels. Be interesting to see how she managed the concrete steps.

  Ah, ha. Not well. She bobbled on her right heel. Burke’s hand shot out, such a familiar, protective gesture that Jenna jerked back, spilling her cold tea. She leaped up, swiping at the brown blotch, frantically staring over her shoulder but the pair disappeared into the building.

  Oh, shit. She sank back, squeezing her eyes in despair. He didn’t give away smiles, not those kind. In fact, he’d never even looked at another
woman—not the entire time he’d been with her—not even when women flirted outrageously.

  She sat numbly while people laughed and joked and came and went. What a wasted trip. Clearly people like her didn’t belong with people like him. She’d been delusional. Thank God he hadn’t seen her. She was too sick to move. Could only sit in a heartbroken daze.

  A teenager with baggy pants pushed a broom around her feet. “We’re closing in ten minutes.”

  Jenna glanced numbly at the wall. Seven o’clock already. Unbelievable. One thing about California, time passed quickly.

  She stumbled from the coffee shop, glaring at the snooty office building. Silent now. No visitors for the security guard to turn away. Burke and his lady friend could have all the privacy they needed.

  Hopefully they wouldn’t see her. Probably he’d left through another door. No doubt he had underground parking, a secure place for his fancy car, or SUV, or whatever model he drove now. She glanced down the alley. On the left side of the building, a small sign marked a parking entrance. Not that she cared anymore. Absolutely not.

  Her hotel was only a ten-minute walk, an ugly concrete walk past aloof pedestrians and a shriveled lady who smiled gratefully when Jenna dropped some change in her plastic container. The air stunk, and Jenna’s ears rang from the blaring horns of a wall of Hummers, Jaguars and Escalades.

  She arrived at her hotel, tired, dirty and desolate. Stopped in front of the reception desk crammed into a tiny but spotless foyer. “Did my luggage arrive?” she asked with a spark of hope. A shower and clean clothes might loosen the hammy fist stuck in the middle of her chest.

  “Sorry. Nothing for you. Sometimes it takes days.” The hotel clerk flipped a dark braid over her shoulder, studying Jenna’s stained blouse with outright sympathy. “But we have toiletry items. There’s also a tourist shop next door that sells T-shirts.”

  “Thanks.” Jenna forced a smile and accepted her room card. This mission was over anyway. She couldn’t get to Burke and even if she did, she couldn’t possibly appear in a tacky T-shirt. Not when he was surrounded by beautiful babes in even more beautiful suits.

  She stepped into her cramped room and flopped on the bed. With the time change, Emily would be asleep so thankfully, it was too late to call. Tomorrow would be early enough to admit the trip was a total bust.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  A phone chirped in Jenna’s ear. She bumped the bedside clock as she groped in the dark for her cell.

  “Good morning,” Emily whispered. “Is he right beside you? Don’t talk. Just say ‘yes’ and hang up. I couldn’t sleep all night wondering.”

  Jenna squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t sleep all night either, but there had been no wondering involved. “It’s five o’clock in the morning here, Em. And it’s not easy to get into his building. Also, I think he’s seeing someone else.”

  Silence for which Jenna was grateful. She kept her eyes squeezed tight, reluctant to face another pissy California day.

  “You need a kick in the ass.” The vehemence in Emily’s voice bumped Jenna wide awake. “Not so easy to get into his building! Since when has anything ever been easy? And so what if he’s seeing someone else? Didn’t you go out for dinner with Colin just last week?”

  “That was different,” Jenna said. “Wally was there too, and we were discussing the company scholarship.” And it hadn’t been fun. She hated seeing the longing in Colin’s eyes, realized now how horrible it was to love someone who didn’t love you back—the most desolate, awful, bleakest feeling in the entire world.

  “Did Burke kiss this woman?”

  “No, but he smiled and touched her elbow.” Jenna’s voice trailed off in fresh misery.

  “If you were that close, why didn’t you rush up and say hi?”

  “I looked awful.” She didn’t want to admit the sight of Burke smiling at someone else had slammed her in the gut. “Plus the airline lost my luggage, and I spilled tea on my blouse.”

  “You whine more than me,” Emily snapped. “Do you love him?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you better dig deep because if you’re anything like Mom, he’s the only man for you. Hell, you fight tooth and nail for everyone else—me, Wally, Peanut, friends, even strangers—yet when it’s for your own happiness you turn into a jellyfish. Come on, Jenna. At least find out. Otherwise, you’ll wonder the rest of your life. You’ll sit alone on the trailer porch, shriveled up on our ancient swing, a lonesome loser, never—

  “Okay, Em. You can shut up now. I get the picture.”

  “I’ll call you later,” Emily said, her voice threatening.

  Jenna sighed. Her little sister was turning downright bossy. However, it was rather comforting to know there was another adult in the family. Not that Em was right. Of course, there were other men in the world she could love. Other men whose company she’d enjoy. Men who could control their temper, who wouldn’t yell and smash and hit and go on drunken binges that lasted for weeks.

  Colin, for example. Although he didn’t make her heart jump with a single look, couldn’t arouse her with the sound of his voice, the touch of his finger—not like Burke.

  Thank God, she’d fallen in love with a good man.

  Unlike her poor mother. No wonder, she’d been torn. Jenna gripped the sheets, her usual bitterness tempered with fresh empathy. It couldn’t have been easy. Her father had been a charming bastard—smart, handsome but selfish. However, he had loved them. There was no doubt, he’d loved them.

  And for the first time in her life, she prayed to her parents. Please, Mom. Please, Dad. If you can, please help me out here.

  ***

  “Derek Burke, please,” Jenna said crisply, checking the bedside clock, even though she’d been staring at it for the past three hours. Eight am. Finally, they were answering their phones.

  “One moment, please,” the friendly voice said.

  A nanosecond later. Click. “Derek Burke’s office. May I help you?”

  This voice was cool and efficient, not quite as welcoming as the first. Maybe it belonged to the woman in the coral suit? Was this Miss Higgins? “I’d like to speak to Derek, please,” Jenna said.

  “And who may I say is calling?”

  “Jenna, Jenna Murphy.”

  “One moment please,” the voice said.

  Jenna’s knuckles whitened around the phone. In the hall outside, a cleaning trolley rattled past. Someone laughed and muted conversation drifted through the thin door. She swallowed but her heart wedged in her throat.

  She paced to the window and back. Two minutes. Paced some more. Felt like an hour. He must have someone in his office, was trying to get rid of him—or her—so he could talk. Another minute dragged.

  “Ms. Murphy?”

  Jenna stiffened. The cool voice again, no emotion.

  “Mr. Burke wants you to know Impact Management now handles Three Brooks. This is the phone number. They’ll be glad to help you out.” She recited a number then paused. “Did you write that down?”

  “Yes, thanks. Good bye.” Jenna said, her voice scratchy. She fumbled and the phone tumbled to the carpet. Shit, shit, shit. This was worse than she’d thought. But Burke didn’t know she was so close. Couldn’t know. Of course, he’d want to meet once he knew she was in LA.

  She leaned over and snatched up the phone, trying to control her burgeoning panic.

  Another call. Same friendly initial voice, same cool second voice.

  “This is Jenna Murphy again.” She spoke quickly, hating the note of desperation in her voice. “Please tell Burke I’m in the city and hope to see him today.”

  “Ms. Murphy, I’m afraid Mr. Burke is extremely busy. He’ll be out of the office for an extended period. Impact Management is handling all queries. Now have a good day.”

  This time Jenna didn’t drop the phone, could only stare at it with growing incredulity. He didn’t care enough to see her. She couldn’t imagine being so cruel. Or so blunt. Clearly, with him, it was a
ll or nothing. And right now she was nothing. A piece of trailer fluff he’d enjoyed and forgotten.

  Or was trying to forget. Oh, God, she prayed he hadn’t forgotten.

  She grabbed her purse and rocketed from the room. Found a tourist shop just outside the hotel entrance, with racks and racks of T-shirts, shirts of every color, size and slogan. She picked a tiny peach one that read ‘Private Deliveries’ and bought a ball cap to match. Tight black biker shorts. The flip-flops didn’t fit her outfit but they were only three dollars, and she doubted the security guard would be looking at her feet.

  She detoured to her friendly hotel desk clerk. “Do you have a large envelope?” she asked, nodding with approval as the receptionist produced an officious Fed-Ex envelope.

  “Sorry but your luggage hasn’t arrived yet.” The dark-eyed receptionist gave an apologetic shrug. “Maybe this afternoon.”

  “It doesn’t matter now,” Jenna said. She wasn’t going to sit around any longer. In fact, she was looking forward to showing Burke just how piss-poor his security actually was.

  She pulled on her new clothes and checked her reflection in the bathroom mirror. All the delivery people yesterday had worn shorts and T-shirts, not quite as tight as what she had on, but she needed some confidence. And she did look rather…good.

  Emily would groan if she saw the ball cap that hid her fancy new haircut, but her cheeks looked nice. A little lipstick, then Em’s glossy stuff, and she was ready.

  She stuffed some blank hotel stationery in the Fed-Ex envelope and headed toward Burke’s office. The streets were crowded but people seemed friendlier today, streaming by with loose-hipped walks and in-line skates. Now that she knew where she was going, what she was doing, she felt invigorated. Now she had something to think about rather than worrying about Burke’s reaction. She could almost smile.

  “Excuse me. Can you tell me how to get to the Herbalife building?” a slim lady asked.

  “Sorry. I’m not—” Jenna glanced up and spotted the sign on top of a towering building. “Look. It’s right over there.” She pointed helpfully.