Tender Touch Page 6

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jade sniffed.

  “Like hell you don’t.” Lanessa spoke with confidence. “Remember what you said a little while ago— very little gets by me. I’ll find out eventually.”

  “Take a sniff of reality, sugar. There is no ‘him’ to hear about.” Jade steered her to another subject.

  Jade made a silent vow to get this adolescent fog she seemed to keep slipping into under rein. Damon Knight was not in her personal future. Period.

  * * *

  “Got that last set of figures for me, Jade?” Lang beckoned to her as he came back from a big meeting with the other top cabinet officials. He used her first name with ease.

  “Sure do. Looks like the cost of Medicaid billings have gone down at about six percent in the last three months.” Jade handed him a green folder.

  “Good. Every little bit helps.” He unbuttoned his jacket and slumped into his chair. “Sitting in there with Howard is like being put through a wringer.”

  “He’s determined to make every dollar count. Mr. Howard has been talking about the problems with the state budgets for years, but no one listened.” Jade could picture the dark, bushy brows made even more prominent against his pale skin. Chester Howard had a reputation for being honest and not willing to say what politicians wanted to hear. “Too bad or we wouldn’t be in this fix.”

  “Well, we are. And some of the cuts will hurt, no way around it. Speaking of which, set up a meeting with the four assistant secretaries. We need to give them the bad news on how much of a hit their programs will take.”

  “Yes, sir. By the way, I’ll be at the Gracie Street Center tomorrow.”

  Lang frowned. “Hmm, I’d forgotten about that. Look, if you really don’t want to be bothered, send someone from the planning section.”

  “No, no—I’m looking forward to it,” Jade blurted out. A tickle of embarrassment went up her back at his questioning glance. “I mean, it will give me a chance to see firsthand what I’ll be writing about in the grant revisions.”

  “I see.” Lang gazed at her for a moment. “Damon and I were in school together. He’s a very impressive guy.”

  “Oh? I don’t know much about him. Anyway, Mr. Simon sent over a brochure they just had done describing the center. I left a copy on your desk.” Jade avoided making eye contact with him. “These are for your signature, and these are copies of memos sent out by the assistant secretaries.”

  “Thank you, Jade.”

  Something about the way he said her name made Jade pause. When she looked up, he smiled at her briefly and then began scanning the spreadsheets on home health billing of Medicaid and state funds. She gave a slight shake of her head. Her imagination was running wild these days.

  * * *

  The phone on her desk was ringing when she got to her office. She snatched it up. “Yes, I’ll hold.” Shaena came in and leaned against her door.

  “I’ll come back,” Shaena whispered.

  “No, this won’t take long, just someone confirming an appointment.” Jade placed a palm over the mouthpiece. A male voice sounded, causing her to jump. “Oh, hello, Mr. Simon. Yes, we’re on for tomorrow at ten o’clock in the morning. I look forward to seeing Gracie Street Center. I see. All right then, goodbye.”

  “What’s wrong?” Shaena crossed her legs. “You look like the wind got taken out of your sails.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jade forced a nonchalant tone to her voice.

  “Eddie Simon is the director at Gracie Street. You’re going over there, right?” Shaena looked the part of an attorney questioning a reluctant witness.

  “Yes.”

  “Damon Knight going to be there?”

  Jade waited a few seconds before answering. “No.”

  “Oh?”

  “He has some business to take care of and won’t be there. But Eddie Simon has all the information,” Jade put in quickly.

  “Umm.” Shaena kept her face blank.

  “Simon is the director. Actually there was no need for Damon Knight to be there at all. I’ll get the information we need.” Jade fidgeted with items on her desk. What was this? First Lang and now Shaena making her feel like a schoolgirl caught passing notes to a boy.

  “You’re disappointed. Admit it, girl.”

  “Shaena, will you give it a rest?”

  Jade wanted to protest she felt no such thing. But the truth was she’d felt a marked lack of enthusiasm about her visit when Simon broke the news that Damon would not be at the center. This was getting out of hand.

  “Jade, why don’t you give the strong independent don’t-need- a-man act a rest. I love you like the sister I never had. Let it happen and be happy.”

  “He has so many good-looking women throwing themselves at him; he hasn’t given me more than a glance.” Jade felt the familiar hollow feeling of being not quite good enough gnawing at her.

  “Jade...” Shaena took a deep breath.

  “Not that I care,” Jade said with a force.

  “There are men who’d give up a finger just to get you to look their way. Girlfriend, you’ve got a lot going on with you. I just wish you could see it.”

  “A finger isn’t exactly what they’re thinking of giving me, Shaena.” Jade snorted. “Getting that kind of attention from a man is no big accomplishment.”

  Shaena laughed out loud. “Well, a few maybe. I’ll just bet Damon Knight is checking you out. He’s playing it cool after that nasty divorce, I’ll bet.”

  “He can be as cool as he wants, all right? I’m about business, not getting a date. So if Mr. Knight thinks I’m going to follow the old pattern of every other woman he meets and throw myself at him, he can just think again.”

  Shaena gave a groan of exasperation. “Fine. I’m through with it then. You are one tough nut to crack when it comes to this.”

  “Thank you,” Jade answered.

  “Say, did you get a chance to see that memo on home health agencies? Strange stuff.”

  “Not really. Bill is trying to avoid even greater costs when people have to be hospitalized. I mean, care at home reduces the number of folks who end up in the emergency rooms.” Jade had long wanted to see more home-based health care.

  “I’ll buy that. But this new rule seems really vague to me. Sets up the opportunity for abuse of the system. I mean, the guidelines for home psychiatric care are...loose.” Shaena drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair.

  “Well, Bill and Mike worked with the Medicaid folks on it. They said they didn’t want to make them too exclusionary. Anyway, the costs are coming down. Man, look at all this paperwork.” Jade slapped a pile of memos and reports on her desk.

  “Yep, we kill a lot of trees in this department. Back to the salt mines for me, girl.” Shaena heaved herself out the chair. “Have a good tour at Gracie Street.”

  “Thanks.”

  “But Eddie Simon stuck a pin in your balloon. How much fun can it be since Mr. Wow-He’s-Fine! won’t be there. Bye.” Shaena winked at her then darted down the hall with a chuckle.

  “I’m not— He’s— I’ll get you!” Jade yelled after her. She fumed for the rest of the afternoon.

  * * *

  “Thanks, man. I don’t think I should miss being at court with LeVonne. He’s messed up, but I think his probation officer will ask the judge to give him another chance if we agree to work with him.” Eddie sat in the small conference room next to his office with Damon.

  “I understand. No problem,” Damon assured him.

  “I know you had other things with your stores to take care of today. I’m sorry to put this on you, but Christine had to be at the mayor’s office this morning.” Eddie explained for the third time why the assistant director could not take over for him.

  “Eddie, I said it’s no problem.” Damon felt guilty at being the source of Eddie’s discomfort. The fact was the tasks could easily be handled by his district manager. Damon had told himself he should stop du
mping dull tasks on his subordinate and spend more time attending to the family business. Yet he’d been pleased when Eddie called.

  “Well, it shouldn’t take more than an hour and a half. At least you won’t spend too much time here.”

  “Don’t worry about it, man. Besides, I’m looking forward to it.” Damon traced a line on the table with his forefinger.

  “Yeah, Jade Pellerin is quite a woman—brains and beauty in one nice package.” Eddie gazed at his old pal with amusement.

  “Who? Oh, I guess,” Damon said with a false casual tone. “She seems nice.”

  “Uh-huh. So you didn’t notice that great-looking lady?” Eddie prodded him, trying to get a reaction. Damon blinked rapidly at his words.

  Damon cleared his throat. “Yeah, but I meant it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to see the staff during the day what with just dropping in for a few minutes here and there.”

  “Sure.” Eddie’s expression did not change.

  “And the board meetings are in the evenings when the staff is gone.” Damon shifted in his chair. He cleared his throat several more times during the long moment of silence.

  “I’m sure they’ll enjoy seeing you, too.” Eddie’s mouth twitched with the effort not to laugh.

  “So LeVonne is in serious trouble?” Damon shifted back to the subject of the young man Eddie was concerned about. He didn’t like the way his friend was probing so close to the sensitive area of his erotic bone-shaking response to the enticing Jade Pellerin.

  Eddie’s face transformed into a grimace of worry. “He hasn’t been to school in two weeks. And a police officer picked him up in a neighborhood after a woman reported a suspicious man peering into windows.”

  “Peeping Tom charge?”

  “Nah, it was during the day when most of the residents were at work. He was probably getting ready to burglarize those houses.” Eddie shook his head. “That’s what he’s been arrested for at least ten times.”

  “Man, he’s heading straight for a long prison sentence one day. When he turns sixteen, they can charge him as an adult.” Damon had seen the same pattern countless times in his work with troubled teens.

  “The thing that gets me is how sharp this kid is. He has so much potential.” Eddie looked at the clock on the wall. “Twenty to ten. I better get a move on if I’m going to be in Judge Taylor’s court on time.” He got up to leave just as the door opened.

  “Mr. Simon, Ms. Pellerin is here to see you.” Eddie’s secretary, Tisha, stood in the door.

  “Show her into my office. Thanks,” Eddie said.

  “Come on in, ma’am,” Tisha said a few seconds later.

  Damon smoothed his jacket, tugged at his tie and adjusted the cuffs of his shirt all in quick succession. He was thrown off balance by the rapid arrival of the disturbing female presence whose effect on him he’d been unable to neutralize. Damon stopped in the act of patting his hair when he glanced up to see Eddie grinning at him.

  “Let’s go,” Damon snapped softly as he brushed past him.

  Eddie was still smiling when he extended a hand to Jade. “Morning, Ms. Pellerin.”

  Jade went breathless for a split second at the sight of Damon right behind Eddie. One thing she had to admit, he wore a suit like few other men could. The charcoal gray wool fabric was set off very well by the colors of dark red, blue and gray in his silk tie and the light blue shirt. Jade felt a warm flood of pleasure at seeing him. His deep voice turned up the heat.

  “Good morning.” Damon reached out a large hand to her also.

  Jade took his hand and felt her body begin to melt at the touch of satin flesh. “Hello” was all she could manage.

  Did her voice actually crack and shake? Did they notice? When Eddie turned to offer her a chair, she felt weak with relief. Maybe she had not made an utter fool of herself. Jade squared her shoulders and took control... she hoped.

  “I’m afraid something urgent has come up. One of the young people we’re working with has a court hearing this morning. I feel I have to be there,” Eddie said.

  “I see. Well, if you’d rather we reschedule...” Jade was careful not to look at Damon.

  “No, no. I’ve asked Mr. Knight to give you the grand tour. I’m sorry I won’t be able to stay and show you around.” Eddie watched her closely.

  Jade sensed this was a test of some sort by the searching look he gave her. She affected a cool, professional demeanor. “I certainly understand, Mr. Simon. But really, I can come another time. I know Mr. Knight had other obligations today.” He isn’t having silly daydreams about seeing you again. He’s here only out of necessity, so snap out of it.

  “Not at all. Today is just fine. I’ve made more than adequate arrangements with my employees,” Damon put in.

  “Then you’re all set, right?” Eddie looked from Jade to Damon.

  “Yes,” Jade said with a nod. She finally looked at Damon again. She was already tired at the thought of struggling to hide her strong physical reaction to the man for the next couple of hours. “I appreciate this, Mr. Knight.”

  Eddie’s dark eyes held a glint of mischief. “Listen to us. We’re being so formal. I’m Eddie. May we call you Jade?” He included Damon in his request.

  Jade blinked at him. “Certainly, Eddie.”

  Damon had watched her lips move and the swing of her thick hair with each movement of her head. “Well, Jade, let’s get started.” He surprised himself with the ease that her name popped out. There was no denying the rush just saying that lovely name gave him. He held open the door for her.

  “Goodbye, you two,” Eddie called out.

  “See ya,” Damon shot back. He gave him a sharp scowl that told his friend he knew what he’d been up to. To his chagrin, Eddie gave him a thumbs-up sign then darted off down the hall before Damon could respond.

  “Where would you like to go first?” Damon walked beside her down the hall leading from the main offices deeper into the center.

  Jade felt good being near him. “You choose,” she said with a smile.

  Damon forgot about Eddie or his annoyance as he looked into her eyes. “Let’s start with the large community room. It’s where we have lectures and workshops open to the folks in the neighborhood.”

  Jade followed him into a room that could seat up to fifty people. Rows of chairs were set up. At the opposite end of the room, across from the double doors leading inside, a podium with a microphone was set up. Several large tables were scattered around with pamphlets spread on them.

  “What kind of workshops?” Jade forgot to be uneasy. It seemed quite natural to be here with Damon.

  “We have speakers on a wide variety of topics. Mostly we set up events based on our surveys of the folks and comments we get from them. For instance, you can see the last lecture was on crime prevention.” Damon pointed to a brochure on home security.

  “That’s great.”

  “Yeah, a prominent police chief from North Carolina credited with turning his city’s crime problem around came. He talked about making the community better with recreation, neighbor-hood events for families and things like that as a way to reduce crime. We had a tremendous turnout,” Damon said with pride.

  Jade strolled around reading the few brochures left scattered along the tables. “Yes, but what I meant was how you based your programs on what the people who live here said they wanted. That’s unusual. Most of the time, a group of professional social workers decide what kind of programs they think are needed.”

  “Well, Eddie and the other social workers here have a very grassroots approach to their work. After all, this is really their center—which is why our policy requires that at least fifty percent of the board members live in the Gracie Street area.”

  “That must make a difference in how this center is run compared to more traditional programs.” Jade could not help but catch his excitement at what was happening here in one of the poorest, most neglected parts of the city.

  “A huge difference.”
Damon launched into a full-fledged description of the governing body as he led her toward another section of the center.

  For another thirty minutes, he talked about services offered such as the day-care center and parenting classes. They met staff and some of the neighborhood residents. Jade marveled at how the relatively modest center seemed to compare to full-service agencies in cities twice the size of Baton Rouge in terms of its comprehensive approach.

  She felt a growing appreciation for this man, who seemed as dedicated as any social worker she’s ever met. Strange for a businessman to take such a personal interest. He had not grown up facing the hurdles of those who lived in the inner city. Yet he showed genuine compassion for the poor people who face daily hardships—something quite exceptional in most of those born to a family with money and status.

  Jade watched his face brighten when they were surrounded by the toddlers in the Headstart class. He was relaxed with the elderly students in a nutrition class. This caring man intrigued her more than ever. Damon Knight seemed a far cry from the wealthy playboy she’d built him up to be in her mind. Jade began to think Shaena was right.

  “I must say, the people in this area are fortunate that you made your vision a reality.” Jade turned to him.

  Damon blushed. “It was a shared vision. I couldn’t have done it alone.”

  “But you were the guiding force. And you put your money where your mouth was, exact quote from Eddie.” Jade matched his slow pace as they walked back toward the administrative offices. She followed him into the conference room.

  “They’re both special people. In fact, everyone from the janitor up to the president of the board put their heart and soul into this place. It’s not just me.” Damon pulled out a chair for her to sit down. When she was seated, he poured them both a cup of coffee.

  “Come on, Mr. Knight—”

  Damon waved a finger at her. “Now, you heard Eddie give specific instructions before he left. Call me Damon.”

  Jade’s professional demeanor slipped just a notch. He looked adorable with that teasing glint in his eyes. “Damon, accept the accolades. You have reason to be proud. You’ve shown leader-ship, a valuable commodity in the face of the kind of obstacles this area of town faces.”