No Wife Required!

CHAPTER TWO

“HI! You made it. I’m Rob Clark. Max Jarvis will be with you in a minute. I take it you’re Lorraine.”

Lacey nodded and shook his hand. For the time being, she was stuck with Lorraine’s name. “Pleased to meet you, Rob.”

She put her briefcase next to a Naugahyde couch. The radio station was a small bungalow situated on a lonely road in the southwest part of the city not far from the condo. There wasn’t anything about the place that resembled what she had pictured in her mind throughout her trip to Idaho and back.

“Can I get you coffee, or a cold drink?” He stood there with his hands in his pockets, looking expectant.

“Nothing for me, thank you.”

“Is this your first time as a guest?” He watched with avid interest as she sat down on the couch and crossed her legs.

“That’s right.” Because he was trying so hard, she gave him the benefit of a full-bodied smile. “Do you have any advice for me?”

Her question caused him to blush, which made him appear even younger than she’d surmised. “Just remember this isn’t television. There’s no camera trained on you, so you shouldn’t be nervous. But even if there was a camera, you would have no worries, believe me.”

“I agree,” The Voice concurred.

Startled, Lacey looked around and found herself the focus of Max Jarvis’s unnerving scrutiny.

She blinked. He reminded her of somebody’s brother. How many times in her life had she been told that one of her friends had this gorgeous brother Lacey just had to meet? The perfect male. Six feet two inches, dark blond hair, rugged features, blue eyes, lean, a white smile, intelligent, successful.

She’d heard it all, but for once in her life there he was, standing three feet away. And like all things too good to be true, he was probably married with one or two little offshoots showing just as much promise.

A glance at his tanned hands revealed a huge white opal set in antique gold. Not your typical wedding ring, but she knew from listening to his show that Max Jarvis was a man with discriminating tastes. He’d traveled and lived in many parts of the world.

He’d probably picked up that stone in the Australian outback. His tan certainly didn’t come from lying around a swimming pool all day.

She happened to know he had recently been on a trip to Alaska. But whether or not he’d gone with his family was anyone’s guess. Of all the radio hosts, he was the only one who didn’t discuss his personal life, which was an irony considering he loved to discuss everyone else’s.

To Lacey’s way of thinking, it was a deliberate ploy to keep him mysterious and intrigue his listeners. The ploy worked. He had the biggest following of anyone on Radio Talk. At this point, not even Lacey was immune.

A phone was ringing somewhere, but no one seemed particularly worried about it.

His laserlike glance took in her conservative navy skirt and blazer with a snowy-white silk blouse that tied in a large bow at the neck. There was something intimate about that male assessment which made her heart give a little thump.

His gaze flicked to her face, studying her classic features, the cut of her cap of glossy black curls.

“I guess I’d better answer it,” his producer finally murmured, and disappeared.

“Lorraine?” Her host extended his hand as she rose to her feet. “I’m Max Jarvis. We’ll be going on the air after world news. If you’ll step into the booth, I’ll acquaint you with the setup. As Rob said, you don’t need to be uncomfortable. If you come across the way you did when you called in last week, we ought to have a lively half hour.”

She bit on the velvety underside of her lip with her small, even white teeth.

“It’s a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Jarvis, but I have a problem. I came in early, hoping I could talk to you before the broadcast.”

Max’s lips twitched. “I hope it’s not serious,” he called over his shoulder as she followed him down the hall and into the booth with her briefcase in hand.

“I’m afraid it is.” She sat down in the chair he indicated and opened her briefcase, pulling out a legal-size folder. “This file contains information on Dr. Ryder I think you should see, but Nester warned me I couldn’t talk about it over the air.”

“Nester?”

“Nester Morgan, of Morgan and Morgan law firm. I’m a close friend of his as well as being his CPA. He said you’re free to look at the information. In fact, I hoped you would have time before we went on the air. It’s a printout about Dr. Ryder’s credentials.

“Among other things you’ll discover that his real name is Horace Farr. He’s a doctor of divinity, not psychology. There’s a copy of his transcript and it only lists a few psychology classes. You’ll also find out that ten years ago he was excommunicated from his church for preaching false doctrine from the pulpit.

“If you read further, you’ll see that he changed his name and started his own church before this book came out. One of his followers lived with him until she’d given him all her money, then he left her and moved in with someone else. She came to Nester to try to get her money back.”

Max took the file from her well-manicured hands and quickly perused some of the findings. After a moment, he sent her a long, penetrating glance.

“I’m amazed you would allow anyone to see this,” he muttered in a serious tone. “You must be on amazing terms with...Nester,” he mocked dryly. “In fact, you could be arrested if this information were leaked to the public. Why risk it?” He sounded genuinely surprised.

She bristled. “Because your show is listened to by thousands of people who hang on your every word, and I hate it when you go on about a guest when you don’t know the real truth. The fact is, you’re from—”

“California,” he supplied in a testy tone.

“Yes,” she affirmed haughtily because he’d made her so mad.

He sucked in his breath. “I bow to your superior knowledge on this one, Lorraine. It appears I’m going to have to be much more thorough in my background checks from now on.” He flashed her a quick smile. This time it made her heart turn over. “What else do you have in that proverbial bag of tricks?”

She chuckled softly. “Nothing which could get me into a legal entanglement.”

“But I might have to eat crow.”

“Maybe a little. I’ve lived here all my life.”

His eyes blazed a hot blue. “And I haven’t.”

“Correct. And it shows. Dr. Ryder comes off sounding smooth, but his central Utah accent gives him away.”

He held her glance until she felt the heat rise to her face. “An honest woman who speaks her mind...”

Beneath his words were serious undertones. A strange shiver chased across her skin.

“All right, we’re on in thirty seconds. Pick a subject and we’ll talk about it. We won’t discuss your views on Dr. Ryder unless a listener brings it up. Fair enough?”

He moved too fast for her. “More than fair.”

“We’ve got ten seconds. What shall we talk about first?”

She seized on the first thought to enter her head. “Football and romance.”

One brow quirked. “Something tells me I might be sorry.” While Lacey reacted to his quiet irony, he spoke into the mike. “Welcome to Radio Talk. Tonight we have a guest who is going to give me a little lesson about the differences between men and women.

“Lorraine is in the booth now, and I think what we’ll do is conduct a poll. For each issue we touch on, we’ll have our listening audience call in their vote. Make it a ‘yes’ if you agree with Lorraine.

“If you don’t go along with her opinion, make it a ‘no.’ I’ll have my producer tally the votes at the end of the program. Is that all right with you, Lorraine?”

“That’s fine, Mr. Jarvis. But if I get more yeses than noes, will you give me a free sample of that lotion Lon Freeman pushes on the morning show? I want to see if it’s really as miraculous as he says it is.”

A nerve twitched in his jaw, letting her know she’d said something to amuse him. Unable to resist, she added, “The other day he interrupted a dialogue with an important spokesman from the United Nations, just to advertise it. He has interrupted a lot of famous guests for the same reason, and I can’t figure out why.

“He didn’t use to do things like that, and I’m afraid he’s losing his listeners, which would be a shame since he’s always been a local favorite.”

“Rob—” The exciting man seated next to her called to his producer. “Why don’t we take a poll on that issue first?”

She decided Max was trying to smother a laugh, which relieved her nervousness a little.

“Let’s find out if our listeners agree with her. If they do, we’ll pass the information along to Lon. To think I believed myself to be the only one in the doghouse with Lorraine.

“She wants to talk about football and romance. I have a feeling we’re in for a provocative half hour. Lorraine—” His eyes impaled her. “The audience is as curious as I am to know why you’ve chosen those two particular topics as a lead-in for tonight’s show.”

Lacey had to give Max Jarvis full marks for diplomacy. She’d been waiting for him to make a cutting remark about the fact that she hadn’t published a book or distinguished herself in any way to merit being a guest on his show.

But he didn’t use those kinds of tactics. As far as she could see, he was open, fair, honest, decent, and he definitely lived up to her image of The Voice.

Clearing her throat, she said, “Last week you sided with dozens of men callers who complained about the large number of women who waste their time going to romantic movies and reading romance novels. You said, and I quote, ‘The story lines are boring and repetitious because all the two people ever do is fall in love, get married, and live happily ever after.’”

He grinned. “I did say that.”

She schooled her features not to let his charisma disturb her train of thought. “The same point could be made that men waste their time watching soccer or football. The plays are repetitious and boring, and everyone knows either side A or side B is going to win. At least in a romance, everyone goes home happy after the game is over.”

His eyes were dancing. “That’s true. And my producer is signaling me that all the lines are lit up, anxious to jump in. You’re on the line, Anna.”

It was difficult, if not impossible, to remain irritated with him. Later he conceded defeat with such good-natured humor, when he asked her to stay the last hour of the Heart Talk segment, Lacey agreed.

Unfortunately she didn’t realize until too late that she’d been lured into a trap. The second he opened up the last hour, he went for the jugular.

“I know our loyal listening audience has been hoping to hear more about your painful story, Lorraine. For those of you who weren’t tuned in last week, I opened up my show with a statistic about the large percentage of women making up today’s workforce outside the home.

“When I asked why more women weren’t at home while their husbands faced the cruel working world, Lorraine gave us a very sobering response, then hung up before we could explore her story in-depth.”

He stared her down. “With a week to think about it, are you now prepared to tell us if you were the betrayed wife or girlfriend of the man who hurt you? There are thousands of sympathetic listeners out there who want to know.”

Lacey’s gaze darted to the opal ring on his finger. “I might be persuaded to discuss my story if you were willing to let your listeners in on your marital status first,” she challenged. “You never talk about a wife and family. Does that mean you’re not married?”

The brilliant blue of his eyes intensified. “I make it a policy never to discuss my personal life over the air.”

“Don’t you think that’s rather hypocritical when you’ve just asked me to reveal something extremely personal?”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “Why do you want to know if I’m married or not, Lorraine?”

She sucked in her breath. “I imagine everyone who listens to your show wants to know.”

“I find that a little hard to believe since I have no curiosity about the marital status of my callers.” His voice mocked. “That’s the beauty of Radio Talk. We block out the unimportant and tune in to real issues affecting lives.”

“Your marital status is a real issue as far as I’m concerned since it might explain your viewpoint on dozens of subjects in which you and I have a tendency to disagree.”

“Name one.”

“Living together. If you’re not married, then I can see why you sided with last week’s guest. If you are married, then I don’t imagine your wife is too happy with some of your opinions.”

“I wonder if my other callers are as curious as you are. Let’s go to the Utah county line. Hi, Nancy. You’re on Heart Talk with Max Jarvis.”

“How are you doing, Max?”

“I’m terrific, Nancy. Now is the chance to get in on this illuminating discussion.”

“Say, you know Lorraine has a point. I figure you’re happily married, otherwise you wouldn’t have asked that question about what ever happened to the woman who stayed at home while her hubby went off to bring home the bacon.”

Lacey watched his face, but his expression gave nothing away.

“Are you married, Nancy?”

“You bet ya. Forty years, to the same man.”

“Did you stay at home all that time?”

“Nope. He was a truck driver, but we couldn’t make ends meet so I drove a school bus nearly all that time to help pay the bills.” She paused. “Lorraine? Are you there?”

“Yes, Nancy.” Lacey spoke into the mike. “I’m listening.”

“Good, honey. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. I can tell you’re in pain. To be honest with you, I guess I’ll never know if my hubby ever played around with another woman or not. But if I had found out, I probably couldn’t have changed anything, not with six kids.

“You sound pretty young. If your husband did step out on you, he’ll probably do it again and again. If you don’t have kids yet, then I say leave him if you haven’t already, and find a job that will take care of you. Good luck, honey.” The older woman sounded totally sincere.

“Thank you, Nancy,” Lacey murmured quietly.

“All right,” Max interjected. “Let’s go to one of our local lines. Hello, Stan. You’re on Heart Talk. Have you got something you want to say to Lorraine?”

“That’s right. Lorraine? Your voice is sexy as hell and you’re probably in your early twenties. I bet you’re a real looker and single. What’s your take on that, Max?”

Max flicked her a probing glance that made her heart turn over. “As my producer said earlier, if this were a television show, Lorraine would have no problem in the looks department. That’s as much as I can legally reveal.”

“Okay, Lorraine. Then let’s face it, there are a lot of married men out there who would like to get to know you, but the huge majority will never act on that desire.

“If you’re single, it’s a given that a small percentage of married men will lie to get what they want. But don’t blame all of us.

“If you’re married, then it sounds to me like your husband is a fool for straying so far from home, unless you’ve got something going on behind the scenes while he’s out there earning money to support both of you.”

“Single or married, I would never do that to a man with whom I was having a relationship. I’d break up with him first!” she countered indignantly.

“Unfortunately, statistics don’t lie and there are husbands who go home to their wives, only to find them involved with someone else,” Max inserted so swiftly, Lacey wondered if his remarks were rooted in personal experience.

“It happened to my brother,” Stan muttered.

“Thanks for the input, Stan. I’m sorry we don’t have more time to talk, but the phone lines are jammed with callers and I have to go to commercial. We’ll be right back.”

For the rest of the hour, people continued to call in with all kinds of advice for her, and the time was gone before she knew it. The talk show host for the six-to-nine segment had already come into the booth to get ready.

Lacey removed her earphones and rose to her feet, picking up her briefcase to leave.

“Where do you think you’re going in such a big hurry?” Max stood in the corridor outside the booth door, larger than life, blocking her exit. “After winning the poll on every issue hands down, the least you can do is have a drink with me on the way home so I’ll feel a little better.”

“You don’t fool me,” she murmured. “You loved every minute of your defeat.”

“You’re right,” he grunted. He folded his arms across his chest. “You saw the note Rob stuck on the window. We had a dozen first-time callers. The owner of the station will probably give me a raise. He wants you to come on the show again. So do L How about next week? The listening audience loved you. You’re one of them.”

Her pulse was racing too fast. “Thank you, but I’d like to stay a listener. I appreciate you giving me time on your program however. With your sense of fair play, I can see why you were brought to Salt Lake.”

Something flickered in the depths of his eyes. “You have my permission to call in any time and tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about. That is—” his sensuous mouth quirked “—if you’ll give me equal time. I’m off for the night. Will you go out with me?”

A long time ago Perry had asked her the same question and she’d said yes. A month later she found out about his wife and children. Max Jarvis was tempting. She was tempted. But...

“I make it a policy not to go out with a man who can’t reveal his marital status over the air.” She glanced at her Mickey Mouse watch. After all these years it still worked perfectly, while two other expensive Swiss watches sat broken in her jewelry box. “I’m also a half hour late for home already.”

“Another time then,” he declared as if it were a statement of fact, then walked her to the front door. “We didn’t explore the football versus romance angle enough. I’d like to hear the rest of that argument sometime soon. I’ll call you.”

She started to say, “don’t bother,” when she was interrupted by his producer.

“Lorraine—don’t forget your lotion. Lon Freeman heard about what you said. He called in to tell me to give you a free sample. It’s really good stuff. Try it on your legs. Not that they need improvement or anything.”

Max Jarvis’s all-encompassing gaze did a swift inventory of her legs, which suddenly felt as shaky as rubber. This time her face went hot.

“Thank you very much. If it works those purported miracles, I’ll call in with my own testimonial, but don’t hold your breath.”

She turned to Max. “Thank you, Mr. Jarvis. I didn’t expect to enjoy this evening so much.”

A mysterious gleam entered his eyes. “The surprise was all mine, Lorraine. Good night.”

Shaken by their meeting, Lacey hurried out to the car and sped all the way to the supermarket located a few blocks from the condo. Every time she thought of Max Jarvis, which was pretty constantly, a spurt of adrenaline shot through her system.

She’d given him a chance to tell her the truth, but he hadn’t taken it. No man that attractive was still single. He had to be married, or living with a woman, she groaned inwardly. To waste her time fantasizing about him would be absurd. The only way to get over him was to stop listening to the radio during his show.

Later, when she stood in line at the counter, a voice she’d know anywhere murmured, “I’m glad I found out you’re a vegetarian. I was going to ask you out for a steak dinner next week.”

Shocked, Lacey turned around and discovered Max Jarvis standing behind her, staring at her groceries; lettuce, sunflower seeds, greens, and yogurt. Her heart was being given the greatest workout of its life.

Her fear that he might have a wife at home prompted her to put an end to this right now. “Did you follow me here?”

His features hardened perceptibly. “I hate to disappoint you, but the answer is no. This is where I shop.”

That was funny. She always bought her groceries here, but this was the first time she’d ever seen him on the premises.

“Interestingly enough,” he drawled, “the thought did occur to me that you had followed me. Have you changed your mind about going out for a drink?”

“No!” she defended hotly, then had to force herself to calm down. “I shop here, too. I—I’m sorry if I jumped to conclusions.”

Embarrassed and out of sorts, she avoided his narrowed gaze and waited nervously in line to pay for her groceries.