Man Trouble Read Free Page A

time to enjoy the fresh air and the sun.”
    “Oh, no,” Oliver said. “I'm—”
    “Oh, yes,” Cora said. “I insist, dear. In fact, I have a wonderful idea. You should take a drive over to the west side of the island and see the site we've marked out for the new golf course. We've only just broken ground, but you'll get a sense of the layout. The views are stunning.” She smiled. “Amanda, would you be a sweetheart and go with Mr. Arias? I'm sure he'd enjoy the company.”
    “Now?” Amanda asked with a clear lack of enthusiasm.
    “Now,” Cora said firmly. “Oliver needs a break. My son will work us all to death unless someone intervenes.”
    Amanda began to pout. “But—”
    “Jake and I have a few more things to discuss, but we'll see you this evening, at dinner. All right? Good. Now, go ahead, you two.”
    Cora waited until they heard the sound of the hall door closing behind Oliver and Amanda before she spoke again. “Well,” she said in a tone that made Jake wonder if he should have gone with the others, “I've been waiting for a chance to ask what got into you this morning at breakfast. It's the first time I've ever seen you read the newspaper through a meal. You know how I feel about that.”
    “Sorry. But it was preferable to the company.”
    “Oh? I had no idea that I'd become so tedious, darling.”
    “You know I'm not talking about you,” Jake said. “Every time I looked up, there was Amanda, staring at me over the orange juice. Those blue eyes blinking, those glossy lips pouting…I'm sure it works on the boys at school, but I don't want to play.”
    “You've hardly given this a chance!”
    “Why should I? It would be a waste of my time, and hers. She's a pretty little package, and I'm sure that she'll meet another nice businessman, marry him, and spend the rest of her life shopping and doing token charity work. Frankly, though, if I wanted a pet, I'd buy a collie.”
    “Jake!”
    “Oh, come on, Ma. You should know me well enough to know that I could never take Amanda seriously. She thinks Watergate was a spa.”
    “She's young.”
    “Exactly.”
    “She'll grow up, get more worldly.”
    “I don't give a damn about worldly. I'm talking about character. Amanda has always had everything handed to her on a silver platter. She's never worked or struggled for anything in her life.”
    “You're being deliberately difficult,” Cora said. “How can you complain about Amanda's character? What about all of the other women you've dated?”
    “What about them?”
    “Darling, they've hardly been a lineup of Nobel laureates. I fail to see how Amanda Harper is any more deficient in character than Skye Elliot, or Tamara Thomas, or…or…who was that woman who kept writing to you?”
    Jake grinned. “Kristy Kreme?”
    “That's the one. She said she was a dancer, but I've never heard of a ballerina with a name like that. I think she was a fraud.”
    “I wouldn't know. I never actually met her.”
    “My point,” Cora continued, “is that if you insist on running around with shallow women, couldn't you at least pick one from a good family?”
    “No. Harry is my friend, and I'm not going to date his daughter. It wouldn't be ethical.”
    Cora regarded him with barely controlled frustration. “Why on earth not?”
    “Because Amanda—and her daddy—would expect too much from me. I'm not going to settle down, and I'm sure as hell not going to cut back on my work schedule. The women I date don't want Prince Charming, they want a good photo op. That's as committed as I intend to get.”
    “How interesting,” Cora said. “I think you may have forgotten to mention that to Skye Elliot, darling.”
    Jake exhaled sharply. His mother was the only person on earth who could needle him with impunity, but sometimes she went too far. “I didn't forget,” he said. “Miss Elliot has selective hearing. She knew exactly what she was getting into when she had her publicist call me. But she tried to