by Raine Hughes
Before Noah was more than halfway out of his chair (when had he sat down?), Jasmine had regained her feet. “That is what I do now. I will make the shaye, the tea.”
Noah passed her a meaningful look. Jasmine nodded politely to him. “Tea is something I am very good at, too.”
Along with addling my brain! Noah tamped the thought down before it had other, unsettling effects on him again. He caught himself perched on the edge of his chair and pushed all the way back to watch Jasmine pull the simmering kettle from the back of the wood-burning range and place it over the hotter surface. Her every move was a study in grace and beauty.
From this angle every curve accented her perfect body, from her high, pronounced breasts to her slender waist and gently flaring hips that blended into a heart-shaped bottom. Of course he couldn’t actually see that last part of her delightful anatomy since the fabric sheath didn’t allow that observation; had she been wearing her usual pantaloons, it would have been all too evident.
There you go again, scrutinizing her incredible body. He tried not to think about her feminine softness and her curves, her bottom that was shapely and sensual.
He glanced at their guest and discovered his mother’s amused look was focused on him rather than on Jasmine. He’d been watching Jasmine like a schoolboy with a crush! Noah couldn’t ever remember looking at any female with such intensity, and he had to stop it immediately!
Noah was thankful when Jasmine stepped between them to place tea settings on the table. He kept his gaze riveted on the intricate design of the D’Ark wedding gift cups and saucers left behind by Carol since she hadn’t wanted anything that came from his family. It appeared that Jasmine loved them, carefully positioning the sets.
“Don’t forget yours,” Noah said, realizing that Jasmine wouldn’t know that she should partake with them. He knew such repast wasn’t the same in her culture.
When Jasmine stepped back to fetch a third cup and saucer, balancing them in one hand while she moved to the stove, Noah was left meeting his mother’s knowing grin. His breath stalled in his chest like he was being squeezed.
Jasmine’s return blocked eye contact as she proceeded to pour the tea now that it was steeped. She sashayed with a natural sway around to the end of the table to place her setting down and pour it before returning the teapot to the stove. When she joined them at the table, his heart was pounding loud enough for all to hear!
Noah couldn’t think of a single thing to say to break the silence as they sipped. For something to cover his lack of verbal sociability, he blew over his hot brew.
“This is very tasty,” Martha said, breaking the quiet as she took a sip of tea. “What other talents do you have, Jasmine?”
“Oh, I love raqs—to dance.” Jasmine enthusiastically gave a slow motion wriggle as she sat on her chair, her hands swaying enticingly above her head, her ringed fingers steepled.
Exotic dance practically shouted in Noah’s head. He jerked reflexively at the suggestive motion. Both women looked his way as heat washed over him in waves.
“How long did you say you would be staying, Jasmine?” Martha asked, though her gaze was fixed firmly on Noah who was seized with a compulsion to squirm. I will not!!
He felt like a naughty child whose parent was speculating on what he was up to.
“Until your snow melts and I can find—”
“—work,” Noah broke in, finally finding his voice. “She’s looking for employment.”
Martha nodded, and gave him a scowl for cutting in. She turned to Jasmine again. “You know, with what you’ve done for this house already, I suspect you could get work decorating some of the older homes hereabouts. Most folks just don’t know how an older home can be perked up so artistically. Even this candle setting changes the atmosphere of a room, though I am surprised Noah didn’t veto it.”
Jasmine nodded with obvious pride at the praise and cast him a brief glance. Noah guessed she probably didn’t know what veto meant.
“I am the Shamaa Princess, the Candle Princess,” she said.
Noah’s breath caught in his throat, having not known that she’d been endowed with a special ranking to go with her proficiency.
Much to his amazement, his mother only laughed. Apparently she’d taken Jasmine’s bit of bragging as pride in a professional title bestowed on her by satisfied customers.
He was just starting to breathe normally when his mother’s next suggestion hit him mid-breath.
“If people saw how you’ve improved Noah’s place, I’ll bet you would have more jobs than you can handle.”
Noah choked on a mouthful of tea. He spluttered and coughed and when the tears quit flowing he choked out, “I doubt she’ll have much time left after she’s finished with me.” That came out all wrong.
“Yes, I’m sure the rest of the job here will take longer,” Martha said, her voice ripe with amusement. “I’m looking forward to seeing all the changes.”
Noah stifled a moan. Possibly her statement had been innocent enough, that it was his over-stimulated mind reading more into it. However, the way his mother quirked one eyebrow at him suggested he’d been right with his initial thought. Once more he held back a groan.
“Thank you for coming, Mom,” Noah said instead, bounding to his feet because he didn’t know what else to do to rescue himself. He quickly retrieved her coat and scarf.
Martha rose. “I look forward to visiting with you again, Jasmine,” she said while shrugging into her coat and donning her boots.
Noah yanked the door open, giving his mother no choice except to take her leave. Martha paused in the doorway, fixing him with a motherly look. “Of course I expect you will bring Jasmine along for Christmas dinner, dear.” She smiled at his look of consternation that he wasn’t in time to stop.
His mother peeked around him. “In case Noah didn’t get around to telling you, dear, his father is a clergyman. His parish is wherever he finds himself on his truck route. But, when he’s home he likes to practice on family and friends. He always manages to come up with a suitable sermon for most any situation.”
She hitched a telling brow at Noah before turning back to his exotic houseguest once more. “Until next time, dear.” She departed with a wave.
Noah watched his mother back her car carefully around and slowly chug out of the yard. He was positively drained.
“I like your mother,” Jasmine ventured as she too watched his mother drive away. “I think I am liked, too.”
Maybe she was. But, it was time to reinforce that no one, not even his parents, should find out that Jasmine had magical powers. That secret was going to be difficult to keep. While his mother took people at face value, his father liked to dig deeper, and he did it without appearing to do so. As a minister he liked to know which of the sins needed to be expelled. With his own son, he was sure to try harder.
Maybe he needed to.
Noah took a fortifying breath to take him through the next few minutes as he explained things to Jasmine.
Chapter 5
As the days turned into a new week, Jasmine’s slinky lambskin kept her warm while the house gradually heated up. By afternoon she could wear her strings, chiffons and silks. Noah’s appraising gaze was practically enough to keep her warm, leaving her highly aware of his attraction.
That he unwillingly found her so tantalizing made her smile.
That he was resisting appealed to her sense of challenge. While she was used to being stared at, no previous master made the attempt not to take their fill of looking.
Nor could Noah resist touching the soft black curls at the turned-out cuffs and lapels of her slinky outfit, repeatedly exclaiming over the softness. On the all too rare occasion when his fingers accidentally brushed the bare skin at her neck, awareness leaped to his gaze, but before she could take advantage of it, he would speedily take his leave.
She sighed at how opportunity was slipping away. It was her inexperience that was to blame, she was sure. She had to act quick
ly to take advantage of Noah’s brief moments of vulnerability. How would she ever experience him, if he kept resisting his own temptations?
It all started with the smoldering passion in his eyes the day his mother had come to visit. Want had clearly blazed in his eyes but as usual, as soon as his mother left, he had practically raced from the house, after delivery of all the reasons no one should find out what she was. He had not let his guard down since.
When he was not occupied elsewhere, he studiously kept up a teacher/student relationship that was anything but romantic. She now knew a dozen or more ways to use ground beef. She also learned what the various mechanical household devices were. After watching him demonstrate the use of a strange, noisy machine called a vacuum cleaner, she declined to use it, preferring to practice her magic to make the house clean and tidy, and he had not objected.
Today she would try her hand at using the cake mixer. Noah demonstrated first, beating several eggs in a bowl until they were frothy. Then he added milk. “Now you try blending the flour mixture into it,” he said, handing the small machine over to her as he poured the contents of a paper envelope into the same bowl.
She hit the switch and suddenly they were showered in a spray of eggs, milk and powder. “Ahhh!” she gasped with a jerk that disconnected the electricity. She stared at him in horror, having no idea what just happened.
“The beaters need to be in the bowl before switching on the electricity,” was all he said and guided the mixer into the bowl, simultaneously flipping the switch off. He replaced the plug so she could try again. To his go-ahead nod, she did, and gradually she was able to take a sustaining breath as nothing more happened.
“This is easy, Noah,” she said above the high-pitched whirring of the little machine.
“We still have to add the caramel chips and nuts,” he pointed out, and dumped them in the bowl while the beaters whirled.
That’s when things really got out of hand. The added ingredients formed into clumps that sent the mixer on a tangent of its own, zipping this way and that.
“Keep it in the bowl, Jasmine!”
It leapt and bounced in her hand as she tried to wrestle the mixer into submission. Bits of batter and chips and nuts flew everywhere. Only when Noah placed his hand over hers to help her guide it around the bowl, did it become submissive.
When the mixer was finally silenced, Jasmine saw that her master was splattered practically head to foot in food. With his scowl, the exhilaration of moments before faded. When he raised his hand, Jasmine braced herself for a physical reprimand. Instead, something lightly whisked across her cheek.
She peeked through her eyelashes. Noah was smiling. He was also licking his finger. Then he reached to a spot just above her breast. When he lifted his finger away there was food on it.
“It’s good, Jasmine. Have a taste.” He extended his finger and in the next instant, she found herself obediently licking the digit off.
They both grinned expansively as they continued to clean each other off, feed each other and lick their lips, all the while maintaining eye contact. Noah’s eyes took on a glazed look as she sucked on his finger. She heard his breathing become labored.
“Making cake is fun,” she whispered.
Abruptly, Noah pulled his outstretched hand back. His eyes went big. He looked around them as if just discovering what they had been about and yelped, “You won’t think so after you’ve cleaned up the rest of the mess. I have chores to do.” With that he swung on his heel and practically galloped for the door leading into the porch, pausing only long enough to say, “Once you have the batter in the pan, just follow the baking instructions.” Before the door closed behind him, she saw him lift his snowsuit from a hook. Moments later she heard the outside porch door slam and knew she was alone.
Jasmine sighed. It was her fault he was gone. She should not have spoken, broken the mood. Just before his eyes glazed over, hunger had been there, but not for cake. Plainly, his moments of weakness were short. She had to act sooner to take advantage of them.
Noah was a mere mortal. Surely she could accomplish a seduction, motivated as she already was by her own attraction to him. It seemed that he held some sort of extraordinary power in his touch. Her skin blazed whenever his fingers brushed her, igniting a strange fire within her that she wanted to explore, for it was not the fire of the Djinn.
Even as she imagined Noah’s hands sweeping over her body, sending waves of delight washing through her, the idea brought on an ever-increasing yearning, because of course he had not touched her in that way at all. But if he ever did, she would practically melt in his hands. It was up to her to entice him to intimacy.
Apparently mortals were slow to act on their desires. She doubted that her father’s assumption about dull and lifeless mortal men was true; some possibly were just slow to ignite. How could she ensure ignition would happen?
“In order for anything to happen, we have to spend more time together,” Jasmine reminded herself aloud. “I must discover what Noah is working on and join him!” With a nod she was dressed for winter, feeling quite proud of herself as everything went on properly and all at one time.
She followed a thunk, thunk sound that echoed through the crisp air. Her footsteps were loud and crunchy on the snow. As she rounded the corner of the barn she saw Noah. He appeared to be building a fence. The posts were standing in long rows, a few planks nailed into place. She looked around in amazement. There were numerous pens completed and more to go. Little sheds were in some of the pens.
* * *
Noah saw a shadow fall over him as he pounded a nail in. He knew it was Jasmine even before he looked. Whenever he was around Jasmine his sense of awareness jumped. It was no different today. The blood quickened in his veins and his heart picked up its pace for the second time.
He opted to speak first. “Now you know what keeps me busy.”
He straightened from his task and turned her way. She was positively delectable in a snowsuit the color of blue flames that she’d created for herself. The snowsuit looked much better than the faded army green one she’d found in his attic. The colors leaped and danced as she moved in the sunlight and he wondered if the fabric was anything like the stuff that lined some rooms in his house. He was afraid to touch her and find out.
A blue-black fringe of fleecy wool trim accented the graceful contours of her face, highlighting her creamy complexion and full lips. Lips that just a short time ago, had been lavishing his fingertip, short circuiting his brain!
He swallowed with difficulty. He marveled at her unsurpassed beauty and she was here, with him. They were two adults, alone. He pulled his thoughts away from that path before his manhood became any more aroused than it already was. God bless my bulky snowsuit!
Jasmine nodded in answer to his statement, totally unaware of the way the blood was rushing though his veins at her mere presence for she only passed him one of her genuine, open smiles. “You will have more animals, Noah?”
He dragged his gaze from her to look out over the expanse of ground covered with a network of pens and corrals. While the decision to rebuild had always been there, follow through had come to him only since arrival of Jasmine. At first he’d thought it was something to keep him occupied, away from his unexpected and most desirous houseguest. Now he looked forward to full revival of his dream. He was not letting ex-wife, Carol, kill that.
“These all burned when the barn was destroyed. I have to replace them before I replace the livestock. I’ll be ready to start buying come spring.”
“What animals will you have?”
Noah grinned. “You must use your imagination to see how things will be when everything is occupied.” He waited for her to nod understanding before pointing while he began his explanation. “I’ll be making doors in the side of the barn so that the animals can go in and out on their own. They’ll have private runs and shelter outside, too.” He indicated the first pen, a small one. “In here will be goats, and beside it, sheep.�
�� He waved his hand to indicate beyond that. “I want donkeys and horses, hogs and llamas, and more.”
“What plans have you for all of these animals?”
“Oh, I only want two of each. I’m going to put them on an ark, like God’s Noah did in the Bible.” He wondered if she would laugh at him, like Carol had.
Jasmine didn’t laugh. Her eyes widened. She looked horrified. “A big rain will come to wash everything away?”
Jasmine’s fearful expression was so genuine that Noah laughed instead. It took several moments for him to get his mirth under control, even in the face of Jasmine’s puzzlement. “No. I want to give rides on my ark—my zoo-ark,” he explained, refusing to use the term Carol had used, floating zoo. “There’s a picturesque lake bordering my property. Mystery Lake will be perfect for my venture. We are barely an hour away from a large city full of people anxious to experience something totally new and different. Nowhere else is there such a tourist attraction, not even in British Columbia, Canada’s west coast province. They boast about having practically everything!”
Jasmine regarded him with an approving grin that spread right up into her eyes, making them sparkle and dance, much like the changeable blue flame outfit she wore. The next instant he found his arms full of dancing Djinni.
“Oh, this sounds like so much fun. Let me help, please, Noah. I have never seen an ark before. I want to sail on it, too, with thee and your animals. Will you let me, Noah?”
Jasmine was an enthusiastic person, he realized, and gently extracted himself from her embrace, for his peace of mind.
“My dream has been in the making ever since I was a boy of eight,” he admitted a little shyly. “No one took me seriously. By the time I was fourteen I knew better than to talk about it. Noah’s Ark, everyone called it, and they ridiculed me.” Jasmine’s eager look encouraged him to continue. “When I was in my twenties, I seriously thought about the ark once more and I looked into the feasibility of it. It didn’t take much to realize what a success the project could be.”
