she could pull the phone out.
“Not yet, Scout,” he said. “It may get to that before the night is over, but not yet … please.”
And there they stood, the two of them in the middle of the room, holding hands while the phone rang and rang. She didn’t try to answer it, and he didn’t let go of her, and when it finally quit ringing, he was still holding her hand.
Unable to resist, he smoothed his thumb across her skin—and he reveled at the softness. She wasn’t like other girls, not like any other girl he’d ever met.
“Pansy,” he said, and let out a short laugh. “I couldn’t believe it when Con told me. You, of all girls, named Pansy.”
“Pansy Louise.” She was holding his hand, too, and Jack was very aware of the fact.
“So what does this Karl guy call you?” He was giving himself away. He knew it, but he wanted to hear it from her.
“Ms. Leesom.”
“Ms. Leesom?” He looked at her, not quite sure what she meant.
“Dr. Karl Reynder is the man teaching me to speak Dutch.”
“He’s your teacher, not your boyfriend?” Oh, man, was Con going to get it—if they all got out of here.
“Teacher, sixty-four years old if he’s a day,” she confirmed.
He’d be damned.
“So why did Con—” He cut himself off. So why did Con make it sound like she was in love with the guy—that’s what he’d been about to ask.
But he knew the answer.
Con was tying up loose ends, getting ready for the endgame. Jack had been played.
And rightly so.
He was going to need Scout as much as she needed him by the time this was all over.
He smoothed his thumb across the back of her hand again. He was paler than she, his skin rougher, his hands a lot bigger. Hell, the veins in his arms were bigger than her fingers—okay, not quite, but he was a big guy, and Pansy Louise “Scout” Leesom was everything he’d ever dreamed of, everything he’d ever wanted but had just been too damned chicken to try to get. Rejection from her would have thrown him for a loop. The only thing worse would have been her falling for another guy—and Con had known it.
He’d never known the boss to meddle in anybody’s personal life—except for raising Scout. He’d taken that job on because of her father, but he’d stayed on the job because of Scout. Con loved her, and the boss wasn’t alone in those heartfelt feelings.
“I love you, Scout.” The words slipped out so easily, words he’d never dreamed he would dare to say—words he’d never said to another woman. “I love everything about you, even the way you get mad at me.”
He kept smoothing his thumb over her hand and marveling at the softness of her skin. She was so beautiful, so much more than he deserved, but she was meant to be his. He knew that for certain, but he also knew things didn’t always work out the way they should.
Looking up, he met her gaze. “I love you, Scout. I’ve loved you since forever.”
She was gorgeous, her hair still all tied up with the scarf, dark curls tumbling down every which way, her eyes so green and so focused on him with a look that said she didn’t quite believe him. “You’ve done a darn good job of hiding the fact, Jack.”
He was a jerk. He knew it. But the truth was out now, and he was going to run with it.
“You’re the only thing on the face of the earth that scares me, Scout. I figured if I never told you how I felt, then I could keep cruising on, thinking there might be a chance. But if I stepped up and you turned away, then it was over, no coming back.”
“So you’re stepping up now?”
How she could doubt him was beyond him. He’d never been more serious in his life, at least not without a weapon shouldered and his finger squeezing off rounds. He was damned serious then.
“Yes, I am.” But about ten more seconds of her looking at him like she wasn’t sure what to think, and he was stepping out the door and doing a damage evaluation.
“You’re starting to sweat, Jack.”
Yes, he was.
“I love you, Scout, and I’m not backing off from that statement.” Whether he had to make a run for the door or not.
“You’re nothing but trouble, always have been,” she said.
Oh, hell, if they were going to do a rundown of his faults,