She backed away from him so quickly that she stumbled, lost her balance, and careened into the far wall. She folded her arms across her chest and moved her hands up and down her arms as though trying to scrub them clean. Her eyes were so round that white showed all around the alarming, electric-blue irises.
“I said no,” she cried raggedly. “I told you no. No. No. Don’t you understand? No.”
Flabbergasted, Dillon took a step toward her. “Jade, I—”
“Don’t touch me. Don’t.” Her voice rose to a hysterical pitch, and she thrust a hand out in front of her to stave him off.
He raised his hands in a sign of surrender. “Okay, okay, I won’t touch you. I swear.”
He had never been in a situation like this before. Women sometimes put up token resistance to be coy, but none had ever gone hysterical on him. She wasn’t faking it, either. If he had thought it was an act, he would have been furious. It wasn’t an act. Without a doubt, she was genuinely terrified of him.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me, Jade,” he said gently. “I won’t force you to do anything.”
“I can’t.”
“I see that now.”
“I can’t,” she repeated.
“It’s cool, all right? Now, please stop looking at me like I’m Jack the Ripper. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Gradually her panic subsided. She stopped rubbing her hands up and down her arms, but kept them crossed over her chest. Her eyes lost that trapped, wild animal alarm, but they were evasive. She smoothed her hand over the breast he had caressed. That very feminine, self-protective gesture made him feel as vile as a child molester.
Still avoiding his eyes, she hastily gathered up her purse and keys. “I’d better get home or Cathy will start worrying again.”
“Jade, what—”
She shook her head brusquely, eliminating any plans he might have to probe for a reason behind her bizarre behavior.
She left the building at a near run and climbed into her Cherokee. Dillon stood in the doorway, staring after her with perplexity. He watched until the darkness absorbed the red glow of her taillights.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The idea that George Stein had discussed with Jade on the first of May involved building a GSS corporate annex somewhere in the vicinity of the TexTile plant. It would accommodate not only the upper-echelon executives of that facility but those affiliated with GSS’s shipping, petroleum, and diverse other industries located in the Southeast. In the month since then, he had called her almost daily, asking for a report on land acquisition. She had stalled him by saying that she was being very choosy. Recently, he had hinted that if the job was too much for her to handle alone, perhaps he should send someone to assist her.
She recognized the intimidating bluff for what it was, but knew that she couldn’t stall him forever. The annex was an enticing prospect, one that she wanted to be an integral part of… but all in good time. Unfortunately, once Mr. Stein conceived an idea, he wanted to see work in progress immediately.
The morning following Dillon’s return, Jade decided to approach Otis Parker again. As unobtrusively as possible, she had had his farm appraised, along with several other tracts of land in and around Palmetto.
She arrived at the farm early, just as Otis was climbing onto his tractor, about to leave for the fields. “I won’t take but a minute of your time, Mr. Parker,” she said as she approached him.
“If you come about me selling the place, you’re wasting your time.”
“Please hear me out.” She waited while he reluctantly stepped to the ground. After a moment, she continued. “I find it hard to believe that you and Mrs. Parker wouldn’t like living the rest of your lives in luxury. You could buy a beautiful place in town and retire. You wouldn’t have to work another day of your life unless you wanted to. Think of all you could do for your children and grandchildren.”
He looked at her resentfully. “That all sounds real attractive, all right. But if I ever did decide to sell, it wouldn’t be to you.”
“What do you mean?”
He whipped a faded, red shop towel from the hip pocket of his overalls and pretended to tinker with the tractor. “I don’t owe you any explanations.”
“Mr. Parker, I asked you not to discuss my interest in your land with anyone.”
“I didn’t. But you, better’n most, ought to know how things is in a small town. Word gets out. That appraiser feller you hired was out here for two days straight. He made some other folks curious.”
Hastily, she zipped open her attaché. “Here is what GSS is offering for your property, including the house.”
She handed him the legally prepared contract and pointed to the sum at the bottom of the page. He blinked his poor eyesight into focus, then his narrow jaw went slack.