Joker's Wild Page 8

  “What happened?”

  “I fell again. We had an ugly scene. Mark wanted to bring in another skater to take my place—only until I was well.”

  “But surely you had an understudy with the show?”

  “Yes. But you see, he’d had another offer.”

  “What kind of offer?”

  “With Dance Europe. After our season was over he was going to Europe. He was leaving me at home to recuperate, give my body a chance to heal.”

  “But you didn’t stop skating?”

  She had, for a time, until she knew that Mark wasn’t going to come back for her as he’d promised. Then, hurt and angry at his deception, she’d taken refuge in the only thing she knew—skating.

  “No. After I recovered enough to skate again, I skated alone. Until that last night when even the spectators heard the crunch of my knee when I fell. I left the show and went straight to Boston for the operation. So you see, Joker, everything about me is damaged. I’d only disappoint you.”

  He frowned and caught her chin in his hand. “You’d never disappoint me, Beauty.” He stroked her cheek and bent to place a light kiss on her lips. “Believe me. I know you better than you know yourself. Let me show you.”

  Allison pulled her face from his grip. She took in a deep breath as she tried to quench the wildfire that seemed to leap through her body.

  “You don’t understand, Joker. I’m not what you think. You’re creating a fictional character, a product of your imagination.”

  “All right,” Joker said with determination. “You’re as ugly as a stick, and you’re not my type at all. Does that make you happy?”

  He was grinning broadly, rubbing her upper arms with his rough hands. How could a simple motion seem so sensual, she wondered. How could a big man with a beard turn her body into mush? She’d always wanted a slim, graceful man with drama in his eyes and the wind in his hair. And Joker? He was a man of the earth—powerful, strong, and stubborn. Allison shook her head. She didn’t know anything anymore.

  “That may be the first honest statement you’ve made, you … you beastly man! Now, put me down.”

  “Where I’ll put you is at the breakfast table so you can eat!” Joker lifted her from the counter and swung her around. “Ah, Beauty, don’t fight me. I only want to help you. Can’t you trust me?”

  “I wish I could, Joker,” she said softly. “But I’m not very confident of anything or anybody right now. Trusting people hurts.”

  “I wish I had him here in these hands!” Joker’s voice went threatening, and Allison felt his fingertips tightened on her shoulders.

  Allison jerked her head up in panic. “Who?”

  “Mark, the man who sent you skittering off into oblivion convinced that you’re an inch lower than a triple-toed mugwump. I’d like to pull his antennae off one millimeter at a time.”

  “His antennae?” Allison felt her lips twitch.

  “Well, that’s as good a name as any for what I’d like to amputate. A little pruning is good for the soul.” He gave Allison one last brief kiss and turned back to the stove. “I’ve made coffee and put it in the thermos so that you won’t have to get up. There’s bread in the toaster right next to the juice. You remember the nice fruit juice filled with natural wheat germ and vitamins.”

  Allison shook her head in mock defeat, lifted the glass of juice, took one swallow, and gagged. “Yuck! This isn’t orange juice, this is yellow mud, thick, gooey, yellow mud.”

  “Drink it, Beauty. It’ll make you grow up to be strong and healthy and,” he said with a leer, “I’ll let you in on a secret. I have it on the best authority that it’s nature’s own aphrodisiac. Stimulates hormones and passion, and makes your hair grow.”

  Allison giggled. “Is that what you’ve been drinking?”

  Joker picked up his saw and did his Texas two step out the door. “I’ll never tell.”

  A loud noise cut off the end of Joker’s comment as a large delivery truck backed into view.

  “Aha! Here’s Mac and the boys.”

  “Who’s Mac?”

  “He’s the Pretty Springs Golf and Tennis Retirement Community construction supervisor, and he’s a good friend. If you’re going to do a job, get the best advice possible,” Joker said sincerely.

  Allison shook her head in despair as she watched a dark-haired slim young man open the door of the truck and slide to the ground.

  “Morning, Joker.”

  “Yo, Mac. Good to see you.”

  “Here’s what you ordered: two-by-fours, paneling, plywood, and shingles. Two of the boys are right behind me. The princess in her tower?”

  Allison watched Joker frown and motion toward the house. The two men spoke in low voices for a moment. They were joined by two other workmen who began unloading the truck and stacking the supplies next to the brick patio. Through the morning Joker worked steadily alongside the other men, pausing now and then to spot Allison through the windows or the hole in the wall.

  Mentally she tallied up her savings. She was practically broke. Where on earth would she come up with enough money to pay rent for any length of time? Guiltily she swallowed the vitamins Joker had laid out, as though that might in some way show her good faith. The yellow mud seemed to be a bit more palatable as she drank. Actually, by the time she took the last swallow, she was beginning to develop a liking for the juice.

  After watching the walls take shape and the roof become a solid structure, Allison realized that she was beginning to ache unbearably. Reluctantly she swallowed the pills from the prescription Joker had managed to have refilled. She knew she ought to drive into Pretty Springs to visit Gran, but she couldn’t get her car past the big truck.

  After a telephone call where she learned that her grandmother was making another trip to bathe in the mineral springs, Allison left a message that she’d be by for a visit in the morning.

  Allison’s plan to move to a lounge chair where she could watch the work in progress more comfortably was aborted when she stood and felt a wave of dizziness overtake her. She sank back to her chair and contemplated a long nap instead.

  Joker watched Allison’s head begin to droop. She was getting sleepy. Good. Her body needed rest, lots of rest. He nodded to his helper, moved lightly into the breakfast room, and lifted Allison once more. She sighed and curled her head against him as he walked.

  Upstairs Joker laid her down, lingering for a moment to push a strand of soft dark hair away from a face innocent and lovely in sleep. Planting a light kiss on her forehead, he backed away and returned to his construction.

  After a quick sandwich and icy sweet lemonade for lunch, Joker and Mac went back to work. It was late afternoon when the final piece of roofing went into place and the rain began to fall. By the time Joker had cleaned up and returned to the kitchen, the rain was coming down in torrents, and Allison was standing in front of the open door staring out into the garden.

  “What are you doing, Beauty?”

  “Watching the rain fall. I love to watch the rain and the snow. Everything is clean and pretty afterward. When I was in the hospital, I used to wish I could run out and let the water make me pretty.”

  “You want rain, Beauty, you got it.” Joker swooped her up and walked through the open hole in the wall and into the garden, swinging her round and round in a circle. The rain pelted them, soaking their clothes and hair in seconds. It made little rivers down his face into his beard and turned Allison’s long lashes into spikes that dripped crystal beads of water.

  “You idiot,” Allison said, laughing. “We’re getting soaking wet. I feel the way I did when I was a child and Gran turned on the water sprinkler for me to play in. Except I didn’t play in my clothes.” She held her face up to the water as if she were a parched flower.

  “Well.” He stopped and grinned at her. “We can take care of that in a heartbeat. Wanna get nekked?”

  “Too late. We’re not children anymore.”

  “Speak for yourself, Beauty. I never i
ntend to grow up. Playing is good for the soul. Look how beautiful we’ve become. Look at us, Allison. Don’t you see?”

  She gazed at the burly man with the strong arms. “Yes, I think I do. You never see the ugly in life, do you?”

  “Never. If I don’t like what I see, I just find a different way of looking at it.”

  “I wish I had eyes like yours,” she said seriously, “Eyes that see beauty in everything.”

  “You want new eyes? I’ll make them new, if you’ll let me.”

  She hugged him, pushing her face into the shelter beneath his chin. “Maybe you can, you crazy man. Maybe you really can.”

  An early morning call from the Chattahoochee construction site took Joker Vandergriff reluctantly away from the estate. He didn’t feel good about leaving before Allison was awake. The previous night had seemed to be a milestone in their relationship. He’d taught her to accept him, and he’d wanted to stay close to her.

  He looked in on her before he left, taking in the relaxed way her hand lay against her cheek. Satisfied that she’d sleep very late, Joker called and delayed Mac and the construction crews arrival until lunchtime before heading to the office to settle the delivery date for the junipers he’d ordered and to check the planting schedule for the sod.

  Later he stopped by the glass company to be certain that the glass panes he’d bought would be delivered and installed in the new sun room. The last stop was the nursing home, where he found Miss Lenice bright-eyed and eager to share the news of a second visit from her granddaughter.

  “Take care … Joker,” Lenice had managed to say, and he’d known she wasn’t warning him. She understood that something was wrong with her granddaughter, and she was passing on that problem to him just as she had her home. He’d nodded and had spent the next twenty minutes keeping up a nonstop patter of nonsense about frying chicken and planting marigolds. When Mrs. Josey began to tire, he pressed a kiss against her forehead and left. She hadn’t had to ask him to look after Allison. He’d accepted her as his responsibility the moment she’d fallen into his arms in the gazebo. She needed his help just as much as the gardens he was slowly bringing back to life.

  After leaving the nursing home, Allison drove past the old grammar school she’d attended. She had fond memories of that time in her life, when Gran had walked her off to school and kissed her good-bye at the door.

  When she’d awakened earlier, she’d felt better than she had in a year. For the longest time she’d waited for the sound of Joker’s footsteps. But the house had been silent. Finally she’d realized that she was alone—totally alone—and she’d missed her red giant. She’d lounged around all morning waiting for Joker to return.

  Days before she’d demanded that he leave, and he’d ignored her request. Then he’d gone, and the house had become a tomb, until the phone had rung, and the angry voice had demanded to know where Joker was hiding out. She’d imagined terrible things. Suppose he didn’t come back? She really would be alone.

  As the hours dragged by she became restless. Finally, she’d folded herself back into the small red car she’d spent her first paycheck on and driven to the nursing home. She’d even managed to get into Gran’s room and settle into a chair before Gran woke from her nap. Gran was glad to see her, but she hadn’t fooled Allison for long. After several glances around the room, Allison had answered her unasked question.

  “Joker isn’t here, Gran. He had some business to take care of today. Did he tell you that he was building a room on the house off the dining area?”

  “Yes … sun room will be … nice.”

  “You approve?” Allison tried to keep the sound of dismay from her voice.

  “Yes. Joker knows best.”

  She wanted to ask her grandmother why she sold the house, but she took one look at her and knew she couldn’t. Asking about money was totally out of the question. She settled instead for questioning her on Joker’s rebuilding plans.

  “Gran, you like Joker, don’t you?”

  “Yes … good person. You?”

  “Yes,” Allison admitted, “but, do you think it’s a good idea to let Joker spend his money on me? I mean, well, he didn’t even discuss it with me. He just cut a gaping hole in the wall and went to work. Is he always so stubborn?”

  Lenice Josey’s eyes lit up. She nodded her head and managed a half smile. “Always … if he loves you.”

  “Loves me? Don’t be silly. He’s a man who loves dirt and rain and moonlight. He probably loves worms and insects too. If he doesn’t, well, he’ll just blink his eyes and they won’t be there.”

  “Yes. Joker’s … special man.”

  When one of the staff members came to change Gran’s bed, Allison managed to slip out the door without calling attention to her crutches. She planned to call back later and make an appointment to discuss Gran’s condition with her doctor. She couldn’t leave everything up to a stranger, even if the stranger was a special man.

  And Joker was a special man. Ever since she’d stepped into that gazebo, her world had changed. She’d come there seeking solitude and had run into a man intent on invading every part of her life. He was so different from Mark. Mark was temperamental and demanding, the man she’d spent the last years of her life trying to please—and he’d never smiled the way Joker did. They never had taken time to play in the rain or cook hamburgers on a grill. Every part of their life had been spent on working toward perfection of an illusion.

  Only now did she understand the truth. Illusion came from inside. It couldn’t be manufactured or orchestrated. It was a reflection of the soul’s most intimate desire. Joker had known that instinctively. Joker, who saw only beauty, was showing her the eyes of her soul.

  Allison had to do something in return.

  The Bolton Boys Ford dealership came into view as she drove. It occupied the corner where the ice rink used to be. Allison pulled in. They paid her cash for her car and arranged to have someone drive her home. She hadn’t stopped to think why she was doing it. She’d just sold the car, collected the money, and gone home to wait for Joker.

  One company problem led to another, and it was late afternoon before Joker exchanged his motorcycle for his van and returned to the estate. He knew Mac Webster and his workers would be gone, but he hadn’t expected to find Allison’s MG missing from the driveway. Allison couldn’t be gone. She wouldn’t have left without telling him. Joker felt a slash of pain invade his chest as he raced inside.

  “Allison …”

  Six

  “… Allison! Allison!”

  There was no answer. Joker’s pain seeped into every one of his pores and turned into an icy fear as he tore up the stairs into Allison’s room and jerked open the closet door.

  “Thank God! She left her clothes.”

  “I doubt they’ll fit, but whatever turns you on, big guy.” The amused voice came from behind him.

  Allison, wrapped in an oversize bath towel, was standing in the bathroom doorway supporting herself on one crutch. Her hair was still damp, though it was obvious that she’d been drying it. She’d been in the shower and hadn’t heard him call. She hadn’t left. Joker breathed a long sigh of relief. “Your car is gone. I thought …”

  “Yes.” She made her way over to the bed and sat down clumsily. “Where have you been all day, Joker? I was … worried.”

  She was worried about him. His heart rate took off again. He could smell the fragrance of the soap she’d bathed in. Through the terry cloth towel he could see the clear outline of her nipples. Even as he walked across the room and stood beside her, he didn’t understand the great need he felt to hold her. “Why?”

  “A man called here looking for you. He said that you were doing some work for him and that you were late. He sounded angry and said if you didn’t get over there, he’d send Chief Newton for you.”

  King, no doubt. His brother had just vented his displeasure that Joker wasn’t there and hung up. Solemnly Joker lifted her and sat down on the bed, placing her kne
e across his thighs with the intention of examining it. Just touching her set off warning bells in his head, and he tensed his muscles. Take it easy. She doesn’t know how you feel.

  “I didn’t know what to tell him.”

  “Who?”

  “The man who called. I was afraid that you’ve been spending time helping me when you should have been somewhere else.”

  There was a catch in her voice. She’d tried to protect him. Joker felt a great wave of tenderness wash over him, and he shifted her so that she was in his arms. She curled against him and hid her face in the curve of his shoulder. Her body seemed to belong there.

  She felt fragile, as though he were holding some delicate shell. Her heart was thudding against his chest, and he knew that he was in trouble again. The sweet scent of her invaded his senses, and he squeezed his eyes shut as forbidden images captured his imagination.

  “Hey, don’t worry, Beauty,” he said, making swirls across her shoulder with one hand and grasping her knee with the other. “He wasn’t serious. It was just my brother, being cute. I had some family business to oversee, which I did. Nobody is going to bother us here.” Don’t touch her, he told himself. Don’t start something you can’t finish. She’s in need of simple comforting. Forget that she’s nearly nude and burrowing herself against you as though you were her last refuge.

  “What about Chief Newton?” Allison asked softly as she felt his hand slide up her leg and rest on her thigh. Awareness of what she was feeling sifted through to her. She was tingling all over with a curious warmth that seemed to have no central source. Everywhere her body touched Joker’s, she felt her skin vibrating. Now he moved his hand back to her knee, and the tingling sensation accelerated. She felt as if her leg had been asleep and was coming back to life.

  “Of course, I could be in trouble with Chief Newton. He doesn’t hold with compromising a lady. For that he usually starts with messing up a person’s face,” Joker ad-libbed flippantly. “Then if that doesn’t work, he goes on to other things, like chopping off fingers and toes, nothing too drastic, you understand, just little subtle suggestions to get your attention.”