She's Expecting

Mandy smiled in triumph, but let none of her jubilation show in her voice when the woman on the other end acquiesced. “Thank you, I’ll let them know he’ll be here by one.”

She hung up the phone.

“That was?” Jackson asked, leaning against the edge of his desk, his concentration on her. His dark eyes were narrowed, offering no clue to his feelings, yet the intensity was disconcerting. Mandy felt almost as if he touched her. A tangible awareness seemed to grow. Shivering slightly, she tried to ignore her reactions, and smiled in delight.

“The county building department. You’ll have an inspector here by one.” She wanted to jump up and dance around in triumph, but contained her excitement. Jeff had told her how frustrated they’d been with inspection delays. Let Jackson think it was all in a day’s work for someone with her expertise. A few more triumphs like that and he’d have to admit she was more than suitable—she was indispensable!

“And just how did you manage that feat?” His eyes never left hers as he awaited her answer.

“Knowing who to contact and how to apply the right pressure.” And a lot of luck, but he didn’t have to know that part.

He stared at her for a long moment. Mandy caught her breath, held it as her heart rate sped up exponentially. She couldn’t look away, couldn’t break contact, could only gaze into those dark eyes that gave nothing away. What was he thinking? Did he feel any of the shimmering tension that seemed to fill the office trailer?

Abruptly, he nodded once and moved to sit behind his desk. The phone rang and he snatched it up.

She glanced away, slowly letting her breath out and taking another. What had just happened?

She drew a line through that item on her to-do list, trying to focus on all she had to accomplish and not on the other occupant of the office. Getting the inspector out on such short notice was a small victory in the greater scheme of things, but it definitely didn’t hurt that Mr. Doubting Thomas over there had witnessed it. Chalk one up for her side.

Now if she could only ignore him and the strange reactions she experienced, maybe she could get something else crossed off her lengthy list.

Despite the edge of tension that seemed to permeate the office during the morning, Mandy was able to accomplish a great deal. But even as she diligently worked through the backed-up paperwork, she was conscious of Jackson Witt more than she should have been.

The way he ran his fingers through that thick hair had nothing to do with anything, and she had no business noting the gesture each time he made it. His hair was almost black, and thick. When he ran his fingers through it, it looked mussed. Sexy.

She blinked and stared back at her notes. Don’t go there!

The sound of his deep voice when speaking on the phone did not send shivers down her back. That was the draft from the door, she tried to convince herself. But the words before her blurred as she imagined him holding her close and speaking softly in her ear.

When he frowned at something, she was glad that glare was not directed at her, but her heart rate picked up, anyway. And she wondered what he’d look like if he smiled, or laughed.

Jeff joined them at ten, after reviewing plans with one of the masons on the far side of the site. His presence eased the tension a notch or two. Maybe with a third person there, her wild imagination would ease up and she could get something accomplished.

But Mandy couldn’t completely relax. She was too aware on a sensual level of the man at the adjacent desk. Did Jackson normally stay in the office all day? Wasn’t he needed on the construction site to oversee something? Had he only stayed in the office today to keep an eye on her—hoping to find fault and get rid of her even earlier than Friday?

She’d go crazy if he spent eight hours a day, every day, in such close proximity.

“It’s after twelve. When do you plan to eat lunch?” Jackson said unexpectedly.

Mandy looked up from the stack of invoices she was trying to put in order. She glanced at her watch. The morning had flown by.

“Is this the normal lunch hour?”

He nodded.

Silence outside indicated the men had stopped work.

She rose, smoothing her dark blue dress and taking her purse. “I’ll be back at one, then.”

“If I’m not here, follow up on these calls, will you?” he asked, holding out a small stack of pink telephone messages.

“Certainly.”

Jeff smiled, keeping his face down as if studying the blueprints spread across his desk.

Jackson glanced at him. “Something funny?”

His partner looked up and shook his head. “Thought you didn’t want Mandy here. You delegating work to her now?”

“If she were staying, she’d need to be able to handle the office when you and I aren’t here. Might as well see how she shapes up while we are still around.”

A hint of exhilaration swept through Mandy as she walked back to her trailer. Was Jackson thawing, as Jeff had predicted? One gesture wasn’t enough to judge. A cordial word or two would help. Was he as gruff with all his employees? Maybe he wasn’t used to being around a woman.

Not that she wanted special consideration.

After she prepared her lunch, she sat down on the sofa and put her feet up on a chair. Leaning back, she enjoyed being able to totally relax. She was tired—not that she’d admit that to her boss. She’d give anything if she could take a short nap.

Instead, she nibbled on her tuna sandwich, idly speculating about the taciturn Jackson Witt.

He seemed a hard man, with definite opinions and not much give in him. How had he and easygoing Jeff ever hooked up? He was years younger than Jeff, in his early thirties, she’d guess, while Jeff had to be in his mid-to late fifties. Did Jackson ever smile? She hadn’t seen him do so yet. Not that they’d spent that much time together. And, truth to tell, she didn’t mind if they didn’t spend any more time together. Until she could convince him she was the best person for the job, he was the enemy.

Ordinarily, she’d be pleased with what she’d accomplished with little direction on her first day. Still, she knew it might not be enough to suit him. He had the final say. But she’d go down fighting every inch of the way!

Jackson glanced up when, promptly at one o’clock, Mandy reentered the office. He nodded briefly and returned to scheduling the rotation for next week’s workload, trying to ignore her. Not an easy task.

Jackson was growing intrigued with the new secretary. He’d expected her to flounce around, ask a ton of questions, flirt with anything in jeans and play at office work.

So far the delicate-looking blonde had succeeded in getting an inspector out on a couple of hours’ notice, had organized the mess of her desk and not flirted once. She ignored the men who stopped by with one excuse or another. Was she playing some game, or was she for real?

He stared at her as she glanced through the phone messages he’d handed her earlier. After brushing back her blond mane, she picked up the phone and dialed the first number. She deliberately put a smile on her face, staring at the note in hand. He frowned. What was she doing? Following up on problems was nothing to smile about.

And were those curls and waves natural? Must be. With the impatient way she brushed them out of her way, it was unlikely they were a perm gone wrong.

Blond covered a variety of hues. Her hair was a mixture of gold, wheat-white and honey tumbling across her shoulders. Maybe she should have cut it like Sara’s, short and sleek. Or would those curls persist? Did they feel as soft and silky as they looked? Would they wrap around a man’s fingers if he threaded his hands through them?

He glanced away. What the hell was he doing, speculating about a woman’s hair? He rose and slammed out of the office, disgust warring with frustration. He’d told Jeff that having a woman secretary was a bad idea.

Before he could decide whether to head for home to grab a bite to eat, check out what Jeff was up to, or make sure Moose wasn’t hotdogging with the crane, Jackson spotted the county car descending the sweep of road leading to the site.

Taking a deep breath, he forced his mind on the upcoming inspection. He refused to think about Mandy Parkerson and her wild mop of curls. Or her blue eyes. Or her damned sunny smile. She’d be gone by Friday.

Jackson didn’t return to the office during the afternoon. Mandy took advantage of the opportunity to question Jeff. Getting a better picture of the operation would go a long way in bringing her up to speed. The atmosphere was much more relaxed, for which she was grateful.

There were phone calls to field, files to search for, and other routine tasks, in addition to trying to catch up with the work that had piled up since the former secretary had left. But Mandy still asked questions, tried to make sense of where they stood and how much they were trying to complete before winter.

By five she was glad to call it a day. It had been hectic, but exhilarating work. And she was making progress. Now she would change into something comfortable and take a short walk before dinner. Another early night was on the schedule. She suspected it’d take a couple of days to get used to the hectic pace, in addition to the catch-up she needed to do.

Her doctor had told her to expect to grow tired more easily. How right she’d been.