“You don’t really even know what the facts surrounding this job are yet,” he said.
“No, I don’t. I’ll want to know the facts, of course, but I’m assuming you’ll tell me what I need to know before either of us has to make a decision.” The visual details of those gray eyes were indistinct, but Jeremy could nonetheless feel Eden’s gaze resting on him. He breathed in deeply and caught a hint of a violetlike scent. No doubt it was the gathering darkness of his condition that forced him to rely on cues other than vision, but he was aware of Eden in a way he never had been. There was almost an electric hum buzzing between them, as if some primal toggle switch had been turned on that long-ago day when they touched, and he was now having difficulty turning it off. That wasn’t good, and yet in these few moments he had decided that he was glad she wasn’t a total stranger. Pride had gotten him through the worst moments of his life. He’d kept his secrets locked inside. Now he had even more secrets, and they were too painful and personal to trust to a stranger. The very thought of the situation that had made this job a necessity nearly doubled him over with regret and anger, but he forced himself to somehow keep standing and breathing. He concentrated on Eden, even though concentrating on her offered clear risks.
“I’ll tell you what you want to know,” he agreed, “before I ask you to take on this task, but I need to ask you some questions first.”
Eden nodded, but she looked suddenly wary. She took a deep, audible breath. “All right. Ask. Let’s get this party started,” she said, then groaned. “I can’t believe I actually said that. I’m really not living in a time warp.”
But the tension that had been ripping through him eased a bit. Jeremy couldn’t help chuckling. “Let’s just say that you have a good memory, Eden. And that’s a good thing. I had almost forgotten how much I used to use that phrase.”
Eden fought to keep sitting still. She hadn’t realized how difficult it would be to find herself this close to Jeremy. He was more handsome than ever, his amber eyes intent, his chestnut hair sun kissed. He obviously still worked out, from the look of his body. Those broad shoulders and lean hips had raised her temperature all too many times.
Only the way he tilted his head and seemed to focus on some point to one side of her face gave away his situation. And the lines of tension that hadn’t been there before. None of that could hide the fact that he was achingly attractive.
And she was apparently lucky that she had remembered that phrase from the past. Back when Jeremy had been young and wild, he had been known to say that frequently, probably to irritate his aunt, from what Ashley had told Eden.
“I guess it was a small detail that stuck in my mind,” she said with a shrug.
He nodded. “Details can be important. Very important in some cases. Tell me a few details about yourself.”
The intensity with which Jeremy was focusing on her moved up several notches, and Eden’s breath stalled in her throat. He had been looking at her all along. Indeed, when she’d made that stupid comment about him not having to worry about her kissing him again, his gaze had locked on her, raising her temperature and her awareness of him as a man. She had cursed herself for even using the word kiss. But this was different. Jeremy’s concentration seemed to increase a hundredfold. Eden could see why he had been so successful at chasing new clients in the field of technology if he went after success with such fervor. It felt as if he was concentrating his whole being on her, as if every cell in his body was waiting for her response.
She had to ignore that if she was going to keep breathing and functioning normally. She couldn’t go silent and shy now.
“I’m not sure what Ashley told you, but as a teacher in a private school in St. Louis, I have my summers free,” she managed to say. “I’m available until the end of August.”
Incredibly available. Six weeks ago her car had conked out and had to be replaced. Then, when her school had been forced to make cuts last month, she’d kept her job but lost all her extracurricular positions. The largest and last of the huge debts her ex-husband had left her with still had to be paid off, and the creditors were growing impatient. All her second chances were gone. With this job, she could get free. Without it, she was staring at bankruptcy.
But as Jeremy nodded, Eden didn’t get the impression that her answer about her schedule had made much of an impact. Ashley had probably already explained all of this to him. She still hadn’t convinced him.
Jeremy straightened to his full height, moved away from the sideboard and took a few steps closer. An errant lock of that chestnut hair fell over his forehead, and Eden felt an urge to lick her lips, to shift nervously in her chair, to get up and pace the room. Instead, she carefully folded her hands in her lap and waited.
“Ashley told me that you raised your siblings almost single-handedly.”
Blinking, Eden forgot to be nervous for a second. He hadn’t known that? But no, why should he have? Just because he had been Ashley’s friend hadn’t meant that he would have been privy to her cousin’s private information. “Yes. My parents divorced early and my uncle, Ashley’s father, let us live in a building on his property, so we had a roof over our heads, but my mother was frequently ill.” Her mother had been an alcoholic before her death last year. She had been loving but mostly unavailable.
“So between your job and your personal life, you’ve had a great deal of experience with children and parents.” Jeremy was studying her more closely now, his expression more intense.
“Yes, of course.” Eden frowned. “I’m afraid… I don’t understand. Ashley told me that you had a short-term project, but these references to children…do you have a child you need me to care for?” She supposed it was possible. Jeremy had surely made love to a number of women, she knew, trying not to conjure up the image of a passionate and naked Jeremy. He might have conceived a child.
“Forgive me, Eden. Just a few more questions. Then, if we’re in agreement, I’ll explain,” he said, his expression gentling.
She understood. If they weren’t in agreement, he would send her home and she would never have any idea what this was about. She would go home empty-handed. “All right,” she said around the nervous lump in her throat.
A few seconds of silence followed. Jeremy tented his fingers. “If you had to deliver bad news to a child or that child’s parents, do you feel confident that you could do so in a tactful manner? And…I don’t mean to insult you in any way, but could you promise that whatever news you were privy to would go no further than the primary parties involved?”
Eden nearly laughed at that. She had spent years explaining her mother’s lapses and absences to her sisters. Plus… “Jeremy, I’m a teacher. Delivering less than positive news is part of the job. I work hard at letting people down gently during those occasions when disappointing news has to be conveyed. As to your second concern, confidentiality is a given in my profession. I deal with touchy issues on a regular basis. Abuse, abandonment, learning disabilities, psychological problems. I would never discuss those situations outside the bounds of the primary parties. I would never betray a child or that child’s parents.” She searched her mind for proof. Words were so easy. They could be so unconvincing. “I never told anyone about the car,” she said softly.
Jeremy’s intensity eased slightly. He laughed. “You slid that into the conversation pretty smoothly.”
“You hadn’t forgotten?”
“Eden, a man doesn’t forget when he totals an Aston Martin. It’s a life-changing event. I wasn’t even supposed to be driving that car. It was my aunt’s favorite. Practically a family member to her. And while I never liked the woman and she detested me, even so…what a jerk I was.” He shook his head. “And no, I guess you never did tell, because when I came out of the coma two days after the accident, everyone assumed that it was another driver’s fault that I hit that stop sign.”
“It