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All the men at the table, his card-playing baseball team buddies, glanced around to follow his stare. He should have told them about her, or at least prepared himself for their reactions. That may have prevented his fists from tightening as Ty Taylor made a soft wolf whistle and Ty’s twin brother, Eddie, muttered something mildly obscene under his breath.
Why he’d want to smash in the teeth of one of his longtime buddies, he really couldn’t say. But he gave Eddie a warning look that instantly shut the other man up.
“What is going on?” Her voice was thready and shaking.
“Poker night. Five card stud. Ten dollar max bid,” Mick explained. “And Jimmy here is kicking our asses.”
She clutched her bag. “I mean, why…why are youhere?”
He ignored the question. He also ignored his own slight tinge of remorse for planning this outrageous welcoming party for Caroline. He could have just called her and told her the truth any time over the past few weeks. But her snippy, impersonal little e-mails and faxed messages had kept him from doing it.
“Guys, this is Caroline Lamb. She’s the producer for the new TV show being shot up at the old Marsden place.”
Though he would have sworn not one of the men in the room would have held a door for his own mother after two hours of bourbon, cigars, raunchy talk and cards, each of them stood up and nodded to Caroline. Mick rose as well, acknowledging what he’d always known about Caroline. She brought out a basic male instinct from any man she came across. The good, the bad and the ugly. “The ugly” might have accounted for this whole welcoming reception, which had seemed like such a fine idea the other night over a few beers at the Mainline Tavern but was making him feel a bit small now.
He shrugged off the feeling, remembering that Caroline was a champion at making people feel small.
“Nice to meet you,” Ty said. His greeting was echoed by the other card players.
Mick quickly went around the table, introducing them all. Caroline remained silent until he reached the last name.
Then she just stared, waiting for the punchline. So he gave it to her. “Caroline’s my new roommate. How are you doing, roomie? Have a good flight?”
He almost heard her back crack as she straightened it in a stiff stance a Master Sergeant would envy. “This is your house?” Her voice didn’t so much as quiver.
“Yep.” He sat back down, throwing his cards face-down onto the pile in the center of the table. “Damn.”
“This isyour house?” she repeated.
He looked up. “Uh-huh.”
Her already creamy face went a shade paler, and her lips trembled a little bit. He wasn’t sure whether that was fury or dismay and had to gulp down another bit of unfamiliar guilt.
“Who was the woman? That day. Who was the older lady I met here, the one who baked the pie?”
“My mom.”
The guys, who’d slowly retaken their seats around the table, snorted. Then Jimmy said, “You need to change your locks.” He gave Caroline a glance and wagged his eyebrows at Mick. “Never know when she’s going to walk in on something, uh…personal.”
“Hey, she make you any of her chocolate chip cookies lately?” Eddie asked. Mick ignored him.
“You let me think.…” she began.
He shrugged. “I tried to tell you this wouldn’t suit you.”
“I thought this washerhouse,” she said, not seeming to care that she was basically repeating herself.
“I never said she was the landlady. And you never asked.” Chuckling, he leaned back in his seat, kicking his feet out in front of him and crossing his hands behind his head. “Hope you don’t leave panty hose and women’s crap all over the bathroom.”
“You’re a dead man.”
Mick shrugged, reached over and picked up the new hand of cards that Ty had dealt. The other guys just watched. Considering how wildly unpredictable Caroline had been in the old days, he couldn’t have warned them what they might expect. She could turn and stalk out, not even giving him a chance to laugh and tell her he’d arranged for her to stay at Sophie’s place…and that he’d give her back every penny of her rent.
Or she could pick up the nearest object—even the shoe off her foot—and lob it at his head.
Instead, she shocked even him. Shrugging off the suit jacket in a smooth, feminine move that made her silky blouse pull tight against her curvy body, she kicked off her shoes and strode over.
“Deal me in.”
