A tall, bald man with whiskers was pouring a drink at the furthest end of the room. Seated on the sofa nearest him were two ladies, one slim and blonde, the other a pretty and curvy brunette. Standing close by was Jay and three other people-a lady and two other men. The lady was standing arm in arm with one of them, a handsome older gentleman.
Just as she decided they must be Colonel and Doctor Potter- the only married couple there would be that night- Jay noticed her standing at the door, the same time the whiskered fellow looked up from his cocktail.
"Finally a new face," he declared.
"Come in Karen."
She stepped into the room and became the centre of attention.
Perhaps it was her hair- half up and half falling over her shoulder. Perhaps it was the velvet boy suit she wore with matching ballet flats. The shorts buttoned closed just above her knees and the fitted vest was open with the single chain clasped under her bust allowing the ruffled front of her butter coloured blouse to show.
"And she's a sight for sore eyes," said the unattached man standing with Jay as she came abreast.
"Everyone meet Karen Fox. My house guest."
He introduced her to the Colonel and his pleasant wife. Mark Thornton- the one who thought she was a sight for sore eyes- was a lawyer. Whiskers' name was actually Steve O'London.
"From Manhattan," he told her.
The willowy blonde was Tamlyn and her prettier, plumper companion was named Eve. They were both photographers.
Steve, a restaurateur, made her orange and soda, making sympathetic noises about her being unable to drink for a while.
"He would cluck the same way if you told him you were pregnant," Tamlyn told her drily. "To Steve, alcohol is a salve."
That caused him to bellow, "Hear, hear!"
For some reason, Karen was glad his voice matched his size.
"I love your suit," Tamlyn was telling her, "and the way your hair matches the whole thing. I wouldn't look half as good in that because my hair only matches the shirt!"
Eve laughed. "It is lovely, doll."
Karen flushed a little at the pet name. "Thank you."
She knew she was lucky her hair didn't clash with lots of her clothes and it seemed there were enough shades to match pretty much anything.
The doorbell rang and Jay went to answer it.
Karen heard a myriad of sounds the moment he opened the door. Female and male voices and another car.
"We arrived at the same time. Oh and look, it's Tim and Sandy."
And the party was complete.
Veronica, the designer, Timothea- a business partner of Jay's, Sanders — the physical trainer and David the painter cum author all came in and were introduced to Karen.
Veronica shook her hand pleasantly enough before greeting her other friends. Tim smiled and loved the suit, Sanders shook his head and good naturedly commented on how Jay caught all the good ones. David groaned, telling her that her hair would haunt him.
Soon after that, Mrs Brown announced dinner.
Veronica was pleased to be seated at the opposite end of the table until she realised Karen Fox was sitting to his right. Steve saw this and laughed.
"Veronica doesn't know which role she wants to fill more, Jay- mistress or pet."
Almost everyone laughed with him and Veronica had the grace to smile.
Karen sent a worried glance at Jay and he smiled a quick reassurance before saying, " I can run into her and invite her home if it'll make her feel any better."
He looked across the table at the woman in question and Karen saw that he'd left some words unspoken. It was all in that intense gaze that belonged only to Jay Madison.
Veronica looked away first, saying, "No thanks, not with the rowing championship up next month. I'd kill you, dear."
"Highly unlikely, Ronny," Tim said, "unless you're dying alongside him."
Steve chuckled, "Good one, Tim."
Once everyone was seated Doctor Potter said grace and the dishes began moving around the table.
The Colonel sat next to Karen and whenever something Jay hadn't offered her came by, he insisted she try some.
"Mrs Brown has outdone herself," Steve proclaimed. "She makes me want to stop drinking to make more room for food."
Karen wondered if he was joking since he owned a couple food stores and a restaurant. She watched Jay's friends interact over the meal and she liked the way they treated each other and joked around. They were all clearly comfortable with each other. Probably knowing each other for a long time added to that ease.
When dessert came, all the talking stopped for a moment.
"Divine" Eve finally said.
Tamlyn agreed. Karen noticed that she had eaten her food, but she seemed to take a great amount of consideration into what she put on her plate. It made her wonder, but she wasn't going to say anything.
After the meal they all went into the drawing room. Veronica said she wanted to dance and that gave Karen a chance to look at her more closely.
Veronica wasn't very tall, the artist noted, but she moved with grace and ease even in heels. She was wearing a long white skirt with strands of silver threaded at the waist. Her off the shoulder lavender sweater matched her eyes and showed off her slender neck, as did the fact that her hair was all clipped back.
Ronnie had fine facial features, Karen decided justly. Her naturally ruby lips were poised in an inviting half-smile as she held out her hand to Jay. That's when Karen noticed she had long fingers too.
This observation happened all in the minute it took Jay to find music to play and join her on the makeshift dance floor. Karen didn't want to stare at her host, so she looked around the room, finding something else to muse over.
Timothea settled down on the sofa next to Karen with a warm smile.
"Having fun?"
"Of course I am!" Karen laughed, "I just wish I could sketch some of the stuff that I am taking in tonight. My hands are literally itching to get back to work."
Tim's smile turned sympathetic. "At least you won't run out of content when you get better."
"True." Pause. "Is it just me or there aren't any speakers in here?"
Jay's colleague smiled some more. "There are. Veronica designed the room to sort of hide them in plain sight."
"Veronica did the design work?" Karen was surprised.
"Yes. She's very good at it. She also did Steve's shops- the gourmet one and the organic food co-op."
Karen was impressed and said as much.
Tim shrugged. "Ronnie would be pleased to hear that someone can still be impressed by her work... we're all so used to it being pretty good."
"I guess I can understand that."
At that moment, Sanders pulled her to her feet as David grabbed Timothea and soon the elderly doctor and her husband were the only two seated. They were sitting as content as two parents watching their children have a good time.
"Jay told me you don't have the strongest left."
"Well," Karen laughed, "I can use it but sometimes I just lose control as if it knows that I shouldn't be using it."
Sanders smiled. "You could flex it every now and then, maybe some light weight training for the upper arm."
Karen wrinkled her nose. "I'll look into it."
"I don't think you have to look very far. There's a gym in the basement here." The he snorted. "Not that that the owner ever uses it."
"Do you know why?" Karen asked curiously.
"He's convinced a woman jinxed it."
Karen looked up into Sandy's twinkling eyes with surprise. That couldn't be it!
Sandy didn't elaborate, he only said, "Only Benson and some of the guys use it occasionally."
"Who's Benson?"
"The guy who does Jay's landscaping and basic maintenance."
Karen bit her lip and considered what she had just been told.
Sanders saw the glint in her eyes and asked, "What's funny?"
Karen took a moment while the song changed and then said, "I thought British people were the stolid type who didn't stand by superstition."
A giggle escaped her lips at the very thought.
In that moment, she won Sanders over.
"Nah," he grinned. "Jay may be a blue blood but he's human and he's convinced Roxanne left a curse on him," he laughed.
Blue blood?
Sandy went on. "When Roxanne and Rachel moved out, Jay got pretty boring for a bit." He glanced at his friend before looking down at the little lady from South Carolina. "But you seem to be bringing some light back to him."
"Me?"
"Sure."
Now that was interesting. It made Karen smile a little to know that she was affecting Jay Madison.
David soon took over from Sandy and asked Karen if she was the Fox in Carter's gallery.
"Guilty as charged!"
"But you're so good!"
"Why, thank you," she said a little wryly.
"I mean it, really! Is that how you met our Lord Madison?"
Lord? She shook her, trying not to get side-tracked by the abounding mysteries around Jay Madison. "Not at all."
She waved her cast. "He did this."
David gave a loud shout of laughter. "Tell me you didn't, Jay!"
Involuntarily everyone stopped and turned to gape at David, who, still laughing, asked incredulously, "You broke her hand?"
All eyes turned to the host who smiled and said, "It was an accident! Count on you to find that out though." Pause. "I did say I ran into her... she's the reason the truck's at the shop."
"We thought you just missed an appointment with your landlord." Steve chuckled. "Stopping traffic were you, Karen?"
Karen flushed, not out of embarrassment. "I do try."
The colonel laughed.
"No need to stop dancing," she continued, as the song changed again. "I promise I will tell you all about it!"
Karen took David's arm and glanced over his shoulder at Veronica, who had looked on the verge of saying something similar.
In bed, a while later, her sides were aching from all the laughing she had done. Her right hand was throbbing dully.
In her mind, fighting the sudden urge to fall asleep, she drew sketches. Inevitably her medicine took over mere willpower and sent her into the blackness of dreamless sleep.
When Karen awoke, it was still. She looked at the clock and triumphantly leapt out of bed. Throwing on a robe, as carefully as possible in order not to snag the cast on the fine material, she ran through the corridor to her studio. Boxes were piled against one wall but she ignored them for a while, heading straight for the windows.
The sun was making its slow ascent and Karen had to see the splendid sight for herself.
Suddenly, artificial light flooded the lawn below, catching Karen's eye.
The harsh illumination made Jay's face pale. His jaw was clenched and as he strode towards the pool Karen wondered what made him so unhappy so early in the morning.
She watched him for a brief moment. He dived smoothly into the pool, swam swiftly and turned after a length. That's when she gave her attention back to the sun.
As it rose, she stepped back from the glass and stood in the middle of the room, looking around her. As the clear, yellow rays became stronger and dawn faded, she found a piece of chalk and scribbled clumsily on the floor in large letters.
When Karen was through, she went back to her room, fell on the bed and slept some more.
When she woke up, she went straight downstairs and bathed. Back in her room, she put on the first skirt she found and a t-shirt. Pushing her feet into sandals, she ran her hand through her hair and took the back stairs to the kitchen.
"Morning, Mrs Brown."
"Good morning, dear. Did you sleep well?"
"Twice!" she laughed on her way to the breakfast nook, fresh biscuit in hand.
"Good morning, everyone," she sang.
"Good morning, Fox," Jay said.
Steve and Mark were seated with him. Steve grunted, evidently not a morning person.
Mark cried, "How come you got one? She rapped my hand with a wooden spoon when I reached for a biscuit!"
Karen shrugged her small shoulders and sat down next to Jay with a smile. "I'm special, I guess."
As she said so, Jay poured coffee for her with plenty milk and one spoon of sugar.
Steve watched, amazed. "I have never..."
"Never what, Steve?" Jay asked, pinning his friend with a look.
Wide-eyed, Steve said, "Nothing."
At that moment, the last two guests who had slept over after the party entered. Veronica ruffled Mark's hair and winked at Steve before kissing Jay on the cheek. Tim just sat down and yawned.
Karen giggled.
Tim's long brown hair was drawn in a simple ponytail. She was wearing a sweatshirt and shorts and her brown eyes told Karen she though it was too damn early.
"I won't get good conference out of you looking like that, Timothea," Jay said, having accepted Ronny's kiss placidly.
Timothea's lips parted in a parody of a smile, which made him smile.
Evidently, Karen wasn't the only one who thought Jay had a lovely smile. Veronica watched him with a distinct light of longing in her eyes.
Karen though then that Veronica had a rather patrician profile. Her shoulder-length hair was still wet and curling at the ends. The bits that framed her face, highlighted those features Karen had noticed yesterday.
Mark nudged Karen and brought her attention to Tim, who had returned from the kitchen with a beer mug- full of coffee, she informed them.
"Karen," Veronica spoke, "Jay tells me you're an artist."
"It was supposed to be a secret," she chuckled.
"Why? He also told me you're sold out at Carter's."
"I was joking. Yes, I am."
"I am," Steve put in, "a loyal friend Karen. I bought one set before I ever knew you."
She was delighted. "You didn't!"
"I did," he told her smugly, unable to resist the innocence of her pleasure.
"Which one, Steve?"
"Caged Child." Pause. "It reminded me of myself as a child."
Karen laughed. "But you haven't even got any hair."
"Purely by choice, Foxy."
She wrinkled her nose at the pet name but said, "Thanks for the support."
It turned out that even Tim wasn't immune to the cheery air Karen brought. She said her first voluntary sentence of the morning to Karen.
"You should put something up in our gallery too."
"Even if I wanted to, nothing else is complete, I'm afraid. All my other works are in storage." Pause. "You would have to talk to my agent anyway."
Veronica spoke again. "Would you do my portrait?"
Silence claimed them for a moment before she got a reply.
"When my arm is healed and I've cleared all my other commissions."
"Lord Madison," Tim said after a while, "if you were a king, Karen would be your queen and Veronica your concubine. At least with the way you're seated, right now..." her small teeth flashed briefly before her small face disappeared behind her mug.
Veronica's eyes burned. "You always were a bitch in the mornings, Tim. It's a wonder Jay can work with you."
Timothea's smile merely widened.
"Please pass the jam," Karen and Jay said at the same time.
Mark choked. Steve merely covered his mouth with his hand.
Later on, Timothea and Karen were sitting in the gazebo. They were both too small- in Mark's words too short- to pick fruits unaided and everyone else had gone inside with the first baskets for Mrs Brown.
"I thought you and Veronica were friends."
After a pause, Tim said, "We are friends of Jay's and can variably get along. Until she opts to fawn over and cling to Madison.
"Are you and he-?"
"More than business partners? No, not at all. Veronica had her chance- before Roxanne actually- but then, after they ended, she never truly let him go and I think it's childish."
"Well, why did they break up?"
"She's a very demanding personality. And I think the idea of a title appeals to her as much as he himself does. When he fell in love with Roxanne, it took weeks for her to relent... maybe she does care but it doesn't help if he doesn't reciprocate. Theirs was a very brief coupling." Sigh. "My cousin hates the word 'no'."
"Wait a minute, Veronica is your cousin?"
Tim shrugged. There was a long pause. Then she said, "Besides, she's not really his type. I've worked with him for over ten years- way before he was based here... she's not his type," she repeated.
Karen let that information sink in. She had so many questions about her handsome host. And this woman everyone kept mentioning as though Karen knew her.
The rest of the day went by pleasantly. No cat fights, just happy exchanges and laughter.
Sunday, they watched the God Channel for an hour and then went to lounge by the pool, feeling a little less like sinners.
Veronica wore a lavender monokini. Her figure was fairly impressive, Karen's first thought. In a muscular kind of way, though.
Mark was chubby and in complete oblivion. He was so unconscious of how Veronica pointed out Jay's physique Tim kissed his forehead.
"Enchanting, isn't he?" Steve snorted.
For a lawyer, indeed, Mark had a youthful naivety to him that inspired Karen. Not for the first time, her hands itched.
"Isn't anyone going to swim with me?" Tim asked.
"I swam this morning," Jay said.
"Liar," Mark said.
"He did," Karen said.
"How do you know?" Ronny challenged lightly.
"I saw him from my studio- I was watching the sunrise."
"How poetic... the sun fairy pining for her home above the clouds."
"Shut up, Steve," Tim said, splashing him.
Karen smiled.
"Here I was thinking I was first up."
"Maybe next time Mark," Jay said before turning to Karen. "So how come you came to breakfast when you did?"
"I went back to bed," came the easy reply.
Steve laughed out loud.