16 Marsden Place

by Rachel Brimble

  She turned around to find him looking at her with the same no-way, no-how expression her dad had worn when, at age thirteen, she’d wanted to go to a party lasting until midnight. That had been the last time someone had told her off, and defensiveness now raised her hackles again, making the hairs at the back of her neck prickle. Back off, Dad. This is between him and me.

  As for Jack, he wasn’t her father. And he’d soon know it.

  Sienna crossed her arms as the kettle cranked and wheezed to boiling behind her. “I’m not doing this to piss you off. Why can’t you understand that?”

  Jack pulled out a seat at the kitchen table and sat down. Leaning his bare forearms on the table, he met her eyes. “Believe it or not, I don’t want to fight with you about this either.”

  Sensing some of the ire leaving him, Sienna’s heart settled to a more regular beat. “Then we need to come up with a solution to fit us both. I’m thinking the first step is to tell me what this is really about, and then maybe we can do something about it. I don’t want us to end up enemies over this…I kind of quite like you.”

  His lips curved into an incredibly slow, sexy smile. “You’re not too bad yourself.”

  Sienna grinned. “See? Better, much better.” She cleared her throat. “The point is, if I had any other choice, do you really think I’d bring the business here? Into my home? I took that shop because it was the cheapest in town. It was a bargain deal I cut with the landlord. How was I to know he’d whack things up once the going got tough?”

  “I sympathize, but I can’t handle it being around my girls.”

  “We’re in a recession, Jack. We all have to make allowances.”

  “I never said any of this was fair. Me moving my kids here for a fresh start only to have a sex shop open next door isn’t fair. You’re doing what you have to, and I’m doing the same. The problem is, one of us is going to lose.” He paused, a muscle jumping in his jaw. “I hate to say it, but it won’t be me.”

  “You are one cocky bastard when you want to be, Beaton.”

  They appraised each other before Sienna whirled back around to the kettle. Damn him. He clearly thought himself her match. So why wasn’t it annoying the hell out of her? Why did she feel something far too close to respect for him?

  “Black or white?” she asked once more as she poured water over the coffee.

  “Black, no sugar.”

  Sienna rolled her eyes. A man’s coffee. Adding milk and one sugar to hers, she carried the mugs to the table and put one down in front of him.

  “Thanks.” He closed his hands around it.

  Sienna watched his knuckles turn white as she took a seat opposite him. “My shop is a place for the women of Potterford to come and talk, laugh, and have fun. They feel safe there. I make it safe.” Despite the tension throughout the rest of his body, Jack’s eyes appeared open and interested as he listened. She struggled to concentrate on them and not his mouth. “When my dad was killed, it sent shockwaves through the community like nobody had seen before. People were scared. My mother spiraled into depression…”

  To her distress, tears filled her eyes. Jack slid his hand across the table and took hers. She stared at their interlinked fingers.

  “Your dad died in the worst way possible.”

  She snapped her head up. “You know what happened? Who told you? They had no right. It was my place to tell you, nobody else’s.”

  He remained silent, and pain gripped her chest. Of course he knew. Who couldn’t resist telling him he’d moved next door to the daughter of the town’s hero. A hero who had died and left a great gaping hole in her heart and the responsibility of her mother in her hands?

  “Who told you, Jack? I want to know.”

  “A colleague at the paper mentioned it. I don’t want to upset you more than you already are, but—”

  “You’re going to anyway?”

  His eyes grew soft. “From what I’ve been told, your dad sounds like one hell of a guy.”

  “He was. One hell of a guy I miss every day.”

  “Sienna—”

  “I’m okay.”

  Silent seconds passed. What she wouldn’t give to stand up and plonk down in his lap, wrap her arms around his neck…

  “The day we buried him, I made a vow to stay in Potterford, to look after my mum and do my part in making this a good place to live. I don’t want to leave. I don’t want some hotshot career in the city. This is my home. My shop is a place for women to chat, rant, rave, or whatever the hell they want to do. I won’t close it, no matter how hard you push me.”

  He looked at their joined hands. “This whole situation stinks. I don’t want to be the one up in your face.” He lifted his head. “The mess with the twins’ mother? Not entirely her fault. I want to make things right.”

  “And forcing my business out of here will do that?”

  His hand slipped slowly from hers as he shook his head. “No.”

  Relief quivered in her belly. Maybe they could resolve this after all. “Good. Then the next job is to work out what will.”

  He nodded, and an invisible thread wove between them. She was aware of every part of her face, her body, her entire self as he studied her. When his appraisal glided down to her chest and back again, Sienna’s heart raced. She wasn’t a virgin; she knew how these things worked. And she sensed he wanted to kiss her. Worse, she wanted him to. It felt appropriate, a way of sealing the deal.

  But nothing could happen between them. He’d only get inside her and tear away her resolve; his potential to leave her open to his desires had been tangible just from the feel of his hand around hers. She was nowhere near ready for a relationship. Relationships took compromise and time. Her makeup wasn’t prone to either, hadn’t been for a while.

  The tension stretched taut between them. Sienna opened her mouth to say something, anything, when he pushed to his feet, the chair scraping along the tile and hitching her nerves higher. Their coffees steamed, abandoned on the table.

  Taking her hands, Jack slowly pulled Sienna to her feet as well.

  No. Stay back, she thought, but the words lodged in her throat. They now stood so close, she saw flecks of silver in his midnight-blue eyes.

  “Jack…”

  Like a giant handling a porcelain doll, he gently smoothed his thumbs over the backs of her hands. She shivered as tiny darts of electricity shot up her arms.

  “You’re beautiful, do you know that?”

  He’d spoken so quietly, Sienna wasn’t sure she’d heard him right. “What?”

  He raised one of her hands to his mouth, and her heart stopped. His lips brushed on a whisper against her knuckles. “I said you’re beautiful. And kind.”

  “Jack…” Why did she keep saying his name like some swooning heroine from a Charlotte Brontë novel? She cleared her throat. “Jack.” Yeah, great, Sienna. Much better.

  He leaned closer, and her eyelids grew heavy. She couldn’t fight him if she wanted to. He brushed his mouth softly, tentatively against hers. Asking permission. She nodded.

  His tongue touched hers, and easing her hands from his, Sienna lifted them to grip his muscular biceps. She groaned, and the pressure of his kiss increased as his hands gripped her waist. A feverish heat whirled around them on a palpable wave until Sienna teetered back on her heels. Jack touched her neck, then plunged his fingers into her hair and held firm.

  No sound but their breathing, no sound but the joining of their lips.

  Until, after a moment, they separated. Jack’s eyes were wide with shock, undoubtedly mirroring hers. Words battled on Sienna’s tongue, but her brain was mush. She blinked and, with it, regained the ability to speak.

  “Well, that’s gone and done it.”

  Sienna Lloyd, you should write a freaking novel.

  What the hell had he done? Jack ran his hand through his hair. His chest was a pool of nothing, like Sienna had reached in and ripped his heart right out.

  Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes dark. Melted c
hocolate under the rays of golden sunlight. Jack considered running through the door.

  Coward.

  “I don’t know what to say.” He lifted his shoulders and walked to the table to sit down. “I shouldn’t have…I don’t know what just happened.”

  She took the seat opposite him. “We kissed.”

  Jack laughed. “You’re too damn hard to resist, I guess.”

  The quick comeback he expected from her didn’t come. It was still his turn. She’d been honest with him about the effect of her father’s death and what the shop meant to her, so he owed her the same courtesy. His lingering concern about Martina wasn’t Sienna’s fault, after all. God, it wasn’t either of their faults, and the fact was, each time he looked into Sienna’s beautiful eyes, concern about his ex-wife slowly dissipated.

  He’d kissed a woman whom he really liked. He’d opened up a chance of something maybe happening between them. Why ruin that? Why let an if, but, or maybe prevent a different future for him and the twins? Did he really want to be that guy who never let go of the past? He had to find a way to fix this, and as far as he was concerned, it started with her landlord.

  “Do you have your landlord’s details?”

  “What?”

  It was a cold thing to say after sharing such a passionate kiss, but surely they could both use the diversion? The awkwardness in the room was palpable.

  “I want to find out who this guy is.”

  “Why?”

  He shrugged. “It a hunch, but I think there’s possibly more to this rent increase than what we’re seeing. It’s not just you who’s been forced to shut down in a short amount a time, and I think it’s worth investigating.”

  She studied him for a moment as if weighing his words. “And what are you hoping to find?”

  “I don’t know yet.”

  “I’m not stupid, Jack. I’ve had my lawyer-friend, Kelsey, who you briefly met the other night, look over the contract, and the guy is perfectly in his rights to kick me out if I don’t agree to the rent. Simple.”

  “But why do it? Why slam on an increase that leaves the shop empty. Does he own the others who’ve shut down?”

  Interest sparked in her eyes. “He could.”

  Jack smiled as the familiar excitement of a story clutched inside him. “Then let me do some digging. It might help.”

  After a moment, Sienna pushed to her feet and walked over to a stack of papers on the counter. She rifled through them, and drawing out an envelope, she tossed it onto the table in front of him. “I must be mad to trust you after you’ve looked at me like I’m some sort of rabid dog more times than I can count. But it’s all there. That’s where he works and how much he wants from me and when.”

  Without looking at it, Jack slipped the envelope into his shirt pocket. “I’ll let you know what I find out.”

  She seemed to inspect his face for sincerity before giving a curt nod. “Okay.”

  They both took a sip of their coffee. Putting hers down first, Sienna asked, “So what else?”

  Jack coughed. “Else?”

  “Come on, Jack, you have to give me something.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You owe me an explanation.” She winked. “Not for the kiss. That was kind of consensual.”

  Her eyes were dangerous. Jack picked up his coffee and drank until the dryness in his throat eased enough that his words could flow. His mug clinked against the tabletop. “You were right. None of this is about the girls and your potential to turn them to the dark side.”

  Sienna smiled. “I didn’t think so.”

  “It’s my ex.”

  Her smile dissolved. “Ah.”

  “Two years ago, before we officially divorced, she left us. Just up and went. It was no big deal at first. Our marriage was over the minute she had slept with someone else and left my girls to fend for themselves. The trouble came when she started ringing me up, out of her head on God knew what, demanding money and threatening to take my babies away.”

  “And she’s still calling now? Is she still threatening you?”

  “No. I’ve heard nothing from her in a year. She rings her mother every now and then, though, as do I.” He took a breath. “To be honest, I spoke to her mother recently, and there’s a chance Martina is finally straightening herself out.”

  “Which is a good thing, right?”

  “Of course. No matter how much I, her parents, or our friends did to help her back then, nothing worked. Clearly she wasn’t ready for it, but she is now.” He straightened, relaxing against the back of the chair. “I wish her all the luck in the world, but it doesn’t mean I’m prepared for her to see the twins.”

  “I understand that,” Sienna said, nodding. “You need more time.”

  “I moved Holly and Katy here in the hope she won’t find them. I’m not proud of it, but I’ve done what I feel is right considering everything she put them through. Legally, they’re mine. I can take them where I want. The problem is, by law, I should be letting Martina know where I am. But I can’t. Not until I’m sure she’s one-hundred-percent on the road to recovery.”

  Sienna’s hand covered his. “She isn’t likely to find them here. Potterford’s tiny.”

  Jack drew in a long breath. “I told her mother where we are. I had to. The legal implications binding me to that far outweigh the odds she’ll actually turn up here.” He exhaled. “But now her mother knows…I don’t know. She promised she won’t tell Martina where we are, but I’m not ashamed to admit I’m concerned she’ll slip. Until I know for myself Martina can be trusted around the girls…” Jack tightened his jaw.

  “Wouldn’t it be a good idea to find out sooner rather than later? This not knowing is eating you up from the inside out as far as I can tell.”

  She had a point. Jack was a fool to think he could run and hide. Sooner or later he had to face Martina, but…“Not yet. I don’t…like the man she turns me into.”

  Sienna pulled her hand from his, and Jack looked into the depths of his coffee mug, knowing he’d probably just sealed the deal of his first and last kiss with her. Her father had been killed with violence, and now she lived next door to a man capable of it for all she knew. He pulled his hands into his lap.

  “She’s the twins’ mother, but I’m their father. I should’ve been there, and I wasn’t. I neglected them, too, back then. I should’ve seen what was happening sooner, and I’ll never forget that. I failed as their father, big time. But I won’t again.” He looked at her, willing her to understand his motives weren’t entirely insane. The compassion he perceived in return ignited a new realization. “Maybe it’s time I moved on. What will be, will be.”

  She gave a soft smile. “Sounds like a plan.”

  “Sienna—”

  “How about we call a truce, Jack? How about we just get along and forget your ex-wife for now? I need to move my shop here, and you need to be there for the twins. We can both do that without anyone getting hurt. Can’t we?”

  Chapter Ten

  SIENNA GLANCED AT HER WATCH. Time to call it a day. She’d been working on decorating the front room all morning and afternoon, and things were finally shaping up. The walls shimmered as they dried to a soft cotton-candy pink. The ceiling glistened with a fresh coat of paint. The floorboards were sanded and stained walnut.

  She stretched out the kinks in her back. If nothing else, she’d given her front room the makeover of its life.

  Everything would be dry by morning, and she could start erecting shelving and putting out stock. All would work out just fine. She and Jack were talking, and there would be at least twenty people coming to the closing-down party in less than a week’s time. Most importantly, her heart was still firmly in its place. Kind of.

  She leaned against the doorjamb. With her and Jack having called a truce, things felt better in her mind and soul, but his kiss still lingered. She licked her lips and immediately regretted it. It was as though the taste of him was branded there, tormenting her.
It had only been a simple kiss; she’d kissed plenty of men over the years, and it had never been something to get her all hot and bothered and sleepless over. Yet, with Jack, her entire body had come alive from that soft, erotic interlude that had allowed her a tiny peek into the potentially explosive and sexy pairing the two of them could be. Sienna shivered. How good could he make her feel if she ever got beneath the surface of the man?

  Whether he realized it or not, he’d spoken to her through that kiss; she had sensed how much he hurt. His ex-wife wouldn’t come anywhere near Jack and his children if Sienna had anything to do with it, but that wasn’t even the problem. Jack was defending the twins against something that hadn’t happened, and though it told Sienna a million things about him that made her like him more and more, he shouldn’t be living a life that uncertain.

  Yet wasn’t she doing the same thing, albeit in a different way? Fighting against the past becoming the present?

  Jack fought to protect his girls; she fought to protect her heart.

  Pushing away from the doorjamb, Sienna wiped the worst of the paint from her hands on a rag as she walked into the kitchen. Night was falling, and the room sat in semi-darkness. She shook off her stupid melancholy and focused on the evening ahead. Wine, bath, bed.

  After trying and failing to switch on the overhead light with her elbow, she made her way to the sink in the moonlit kitchen. Humming softly, she attacked the paint on her fingers with vigor. Yet as Jack filled her thoughts once more, her vision blurred, and she scrubbed away more than paint—hopeless wanting stripped away from her skin and swirled down the drain.

  She couldn’t consider the possibility of him becoming a part of her life, no matter how attracted she was to him. It wasn’t just Jack either; it was Holly and Katy. They were a package, a unit. An amazing unit. For so long, she’d given every effort to encourage people to embrace the moment and live it. Effort she knew was poorly lacking in her own psyche, but hey, she was working on it…and Jack and the girls were nudging that work into overdrive.