It Had to Be You (Chicago Stars #1)(99)

20


“Are you sure you’ve told me everything that happened after I left?” Since the Ferrari’s heater was going full blast, Phoebe’s teeth weren’t chattering from cold, but from an overdose of adrenaline.

“As close as I can remember.”

She still couldn’t quite comprehend the amazing fact that right now, Ron and Jason Keane were in the process of renegotiating their stadium contract. She thought about her father and experienced an unfamiliar sensation of peace as she realized she’d never had anything to prove to him, only to herself.

The Ferrari bounced on a bump in the road and she suddenly became conscious of their rural surroundings. “I thought you were taking me home.”

“I am. My home.”

“Why?”

“Because the last time I stopped by your house, Miz Molly was there along with three of her girlfriends. I don’t think I ever realized what high-pitched voices four teenage girls have.” He glanced over at her. “It occurs to me that you and I need some privacy so we can talk a few things over.”

Phoebe couldn’t think of anything they had to talk about that wouldn’t wait until the next day. After what had happened last week in the weight room, she wasn’t up to any more rejection, and she knew she shouldn’t be alone with him. Since he was already driving down the lane that led to his house, however, it was a bit late to ask him to turn back.

“First we’re going to talk,” he said. “Then we’re going to burn that dress of yours.”

He was scowling, so she doubted that his remark was intended to be sexual, but as the Ferrari sped beneath the bare trees whose skeletal branches were silhouetted against the night sky, she realized her palms were damp. “It’s Versace.”

“Beg your pardon?”

“My dress. Versace. The designer. Or at least it’s a Versace rip-off. I have this friend in Manhattan who can rip off any designer.”

“What’s wrong with your voice? It sounds funny.”

“My teeth are chattering.” The low-slung car bounced on a rut.

“I’ve got the heater on. It’s warm.”

“I’m not cold. I guess it’s a delayed reaction. I was a little nervous this evening.”

“You damn well should have been. Phoebe, in all my born days I never saw anything like what you did tonight. I’m a little disappointed in Ron, though, for not letting me in on your plans, especially since he invited me along.”

“Ron didn’t know exactly what I had in mind.”

“Are you telling me he was winging it in there?”

“Not entirely. I told him the attitude I wanted him to assume, but not the details of what I planned to do. He has this problem with heart arrhythmia. It kicks up when he gets too nervous, and I was afraid he’d give me away. But he’s gotten very good at improvising, so I wasn’t too worried.”

“My respect for my good friend Ron grows by the day.”

They stopped in front of the stone farmhouse, where faint puddles of golden light spilled through the living room windows onto the porch. The Dutchman’s-pipe vine hung dry and withered on its trellis at the end of the porch, but it still somehow managed to be beautiful in the cold December night. She waited until he came around to open her door, and when he did, she was forced to swing her legs out first because her dress was so tight.

He extended his hand to help her. When his fingers closed around her own, she tried to repress a shiver of excitement. A leaf crunched under the toe of her beaded black heels as she and Dan climbed the front steps together.

He unlocked the door and held it open for her. “I thought it was all over when Keane placed that phone call to your close personal friend, Donald Trump.”

“Donald has quite a sense of humor. It didn’t take any persuasion on my part to convince him to back up my story.”

The hallway was lit by a single brass library lamp with a black shade that sat on a small antique chest. She followed him into the living room, where he flicked on more lights until the interior was filled with a cozy glow. Once again, she was struck by how snug his house was. A discarded navy sweatshirt lay across the arm of the green and red plaid couch, while copies of the Chicago papers, along with the Wall Street Journal, were scattered on the floor near one of the overstuffed chairs. She smelled clove and cinnamon.

“This place is so homey,” she said wistfully.

He followed the direction of her gaze toward a rush basket piled high with pinecones on the hearth. “I like outdoors things around me.”

He shed his tuxedo jacket and, while he made his way across the rug to the fireplace, pulled at his bow tie. The ends dangled as he leaned forward to ignite the fire that had been laid. After it caught, he closed the screen and straightened.

“Are you going to take off your coat?”

Maybe it was the result of all those weeks of wearing pearls and headbands, but she didn’t want to stand before him in the vulgar dress she’d used to disarm Jason Keane, not while they were enclosed by the cozy comfort of this wonderful old house. “I’m still a little cold.”

If he knew she was lying, he gave no sign. “I’m going to have a beer. Do you want something to warm you up? Coffee? Tea?”

“No, thank you.” As he moved into the open kitchen at the back, she slipped off her coat and replaced it with the zippered sweatshirt he’d left on the arm of the couch. It held the fresh scent of laundry detergent along with a fragrance that wasn’t quite spice and wasn’t quite citrus, but was indisputably Dan Calebow. She sat down at one end of the couch just as he came back into the room with a bottle of Old Style in his hand.