"Yes, you should quit. But you're not going to. I've heard Sarah ask you to stop smoking for years."
"Only because she didn't like nasty ashtrays and the lingering smell of tobacco smoke. She never asked me to quit because she was worried about my health." There was the merest glimmer of bitterness in his amber eyes. Someone with less sensitivity than Jenny wouldn't have noticed it.
"I worry about your health," she said.
"Do you, now?"
"Yes."
"Are you asking me to quit smoking on that basis?"
She knew he was only teasing her, but she played along. Her chin lifted a notch and she said decisively, "Yes."
He tossed the cigarette into the dirt and ground it out with the toe of his boot. "Done. There. I've quit."
She laughed. Little did she know how remarkably pretty she was when she threw her head back like that and laughed. Her throat arched gracefully, showing off her honey-toned complexion. Her soft brown hair swung free and silky against her shoulders. Her green eyes sparkled. Her pert nose wrinkled delightfully. She had a whiskey-husky laugh that was flagrantly seductive, though Jenny never realized it.
But Cage did. His body responded to the sultry sound and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. He lowered his eyes to her petal-soft lips and glistening teeth.
"That's the first time I've seen you smile tonight," he said.
Jenny sobered instantly. "I don't feel much like smiling."
"Because Hal's leaving?"
"Of course."
"Because you've had to postpone the wedding again?"
She ducked her head and scraped the fence rail with her thumb nail. "Certainly, though that's not important."
"Why the hell not?" Cage demanded roughly. "I thought a woman's wedding was the most important day in her life. At least to a woman like you, it is."
"It is, but when measured against this mission Hal's going on—"
Cage muttered a scandalously obscene word beneath his breath which effectively silenced her speech. "What about the other times?" he asked brusquely.
"You mean the other postponements?"
"Yeah."
"Hal had to get his doctorate. It was important that he finish his dissertation before we got married and … and started a family."
As always, Cage had made her stammer like an idiot. She wanted to ask him not to stand too close, but he wasn't that close. He only seemed to be. He had always had this effect on her. He caused her to go breathless, to suffer a slight vertigo. She felt a need to clasp her hands tightly together, to hold herself intact as though she might fly apart if she didn't. He unsettled her. She had never found a reason why that should be so, but it was. Tonight especially, when her nerves were already ragged and her carefully maintained control was frayed, she found it difficult to meet Cage's intent stare. He saw too much.
"When did you and Hal actually start dating?" he asked abruptly.
"Dating?" Her tone implied that the word wasn't part of her vocabulary.
"Yeah, you know, going out. Holding hands. Necking at the drive-in. Dating. It must have been while I was up at Tech, because I don't remember it."
"Well, we never actually started dating. It just … just evolved, I guess you'd say. We were constantly together. We were considered a couple."
"Jenny Fletcher," Cage said, crossing his arms over his wide chest and staring at her incredulously, "do you mean to tell me that you've never had a date with anyone else?"
"Not because I wasn't asked!" she retorted defensively.
Cage put up his hands in surrender. "Whoa, girl. I wasn't hinting that. You could have had all the young bucks in town panting after you."