An Irresistible Bachelor (An Unforgettable Lady #2)(45)

Jack was the one making her uneasy. He was a constant source of movement, tapping his foot on the floor, folding his napkin again and again, rearranging his place setting. He looked like he couldn’t wait to get the meal over with, and as a plate of pasta was set before him, he told the waiter to start preparing the dessert.

Gray grinned at her. “You’ll have to excuse Jack. He hates downtime. Any wasted moment is a crime to him.”

When Jack’s mouth tightened, Gray cocked an eyebrow at him. “Do you want to leave? I can assure you, Callie and I will do just fine on our own.”

Jack looked as if that was about as attractive an option as staying was. He brushed a hand through his hair and seemed tired. “Just ignore me. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

Gray looked across the table at her. “Did he tell you we were roommates at Harvard?”

When she nodded, the man poured himself a little more wine and settled back in his chair. “Did he tell you how we were almost expelled?”

“No, I didn’t,” Jack said.

“Ah, good. A fresh slate.” Gray rubbed his palms together. “Picture this. It’s right before Christmas break, around midnight. Jack, his brother, Nate, and I decide that we’ve had enough of studying. We head out of Eliot House, convinced there has to be more to life than Aristotle, Homer, and their crew of deep-thinking, togawearing wordsmiths.”

“I think I was studying stats, actually.”

Gray waved Jack into silence. “We end up at the boathouse and decide that taking a shell or two out on the Charles will be a great way to burn off some energy. The three of us get on the water in separate boats and decide we’ll race between bridges. Losers have to take off a piece of clothing after each sprint. The winner gets bragging rights and seventy-four dollars and fifty-three cents, which was all the cash we had on us at the time.”

“God, do you remember how cold it was that night?” Jack interjected.

“Now, Nate and I, we know who we’re going up against. Jack was captain of the varsity crew team. The man could row anyone under the table. Hell, he probably still can. In light of his scary skills, we made him start twenty yards back. But you cheated, didn’t you?”

“Like I had to with you two lightweights?” Jack was warming up now, his eyes flashing. “I don’t think so.”

“So we start racing,” Gray went on. “After four laps, Jack is fully clothed, Nate and I are rowing without shirts and shoes. A crowd starts to gather on one of the bridges so, of course, we start showing off. Jack didn’t lose once, but Nate and I put on one hell of a strip show at the end of each pass. We were down to our underwear when the accident happened.”

Callie glanced over at Jack and saw his smile dim.

Gray also got more serious. “Nate was taking off his boxers and waving them to the crowd when his shell tipped. I can still see him right before he went in, tilted at a totally wrong angle, arms pinwheeling, eyes wide. He hit his head on an oar as he went into the river. Before I was even out of my seat, Jack had whipped off his jacket and plowed into the water. How cold was it?”

“Probably forty-five degrees. It hadn’t frozen yet, but it was close,” Jack said, bringing his wineglass to his lips.

“Anyway, Jack dragged Nate back to shore. The police, alerted by the rowdy crowd, showed up just as they collapsed on the ground next to the bridge. The two of them got carted off with the lights going. It was very exciting.”

“At least they gave us blankets.”

Gray looked at his friend thoughtfully. “I’ve never seen anyone move as fast as you did.”

“It was my brother in that river.”

The two fell into silence.

“You were very lucky,” Callie said, imagining what could have resulted from such a plunge into that kind of water. “But what happened to you, Gray?”

“Nothing.” He grinned widely. “I’m no dummy. As soon as I could see Nate was fine, I hid under the bridge in my boat until the fervor died down. Snuck the shell back in the boathouse. Was never caught.”

Jack smiled. “Isn’t that just like a consultant.”

“Hey, I posted your bail.”

“Yeah, you did. My father had no interest in taking care of that. He told me later he would have preferred we’d spent the week in jail.” Jack looked over at her. “Fortunately, the charges of public indecency and misuse of private property were later dropped, but only because one of my crewmate’s fathers was the judge. Harvard put us both on probation.”

“We were heroes that last semester in school,” Gray said, with a chuckle.

When dinner was over and their plates were being cleared, Gray had started to talk about his vacation home in the Adirondacks.

“It’s been in my family for generations. Jack’s spent a lot of time there, although Blair hasn’t been there yet, has she?” He leaned back while a cup of cappuccino was set in front of him. “We’ll have to get the two of you up this summer for a proper vacation. Come for a week.”

Callie looked away quickly as Jack made some noncommittal reply. Gray pressed on. “You know, I think she’d really like it up there. She strikes me as the kind who’d be just as comfortable in hiking boots as she is in a ball gown.”

Jack’s response was quiet, something along the lines of agreement.