The devil and Jessie Webster

by Lydia Burke

  She looked over several pairs of plastic-wrapped shoes and boots in the suitcase and selected a pair of tennis shoes. The shower shut off as she was slipping them onto her feet. Quickly she grabbed her suit and panty hose off the bed and hung them on a single hanger in the closet.

  "Jessie, do you know where Ben keeps the towels? ... Jessie?"

  The bathroom door opened and Allie's head popped out just as Jessie was making her exit. "Where are you going? Darn it, Jessie, you get back in here!"

  Jessie laughed and waved cheerfully before pulling the broken door as near to closed as it would go. Allie yelled her name once more in frustration, but Jessie continued down the hall. She didn't feel a bit guilty about thwarting her sister's intended third degree. Allie, after all, had a lot to answer for herself.

  Jessie found Ben and Ed talking quietly at the kitchen table. "Ugh! Coffee, again?" She grimaced. "I was hoping for some food."

  Ed stood with a chuckle and put on the jacket he'd slung over the back of his chair. "Thanks for reminding me it's supper time. I should just have time to stop for a hamburger on my way over to the jail."

  "There's a fast-food place on the access road on your way out," Ben said.

  Jessie's mouth watered at the thought. "That sounds wonderful. I could go for a juicy cheeseburger myself."

  Ben shook his head. "Sorry, Jess. I can't leave you and Al-lie alone, and ifs not safe for either of you to go out. We'llhave to make do with frozen dinners."

  "Well, now, I don't guess it would hurt anything if I picked up some burgers and fries for all of you before I take off," Ed said. "Another half hour one way or the other won't matter too much, since I'm probably going to have to wait around until Leutzinger finishes interrogating the suspect, anyway."

  "In that case," Ben said, rising from his chair, "I'll let you take the spare remote to the security system so you won't have to get out of your car to buzz in when you get back. Come on, I'll get it and show you how it works."

  The deed was accomplished swiftly, and Ed left through the back door with a promise to be back before they knew it. In his hand he carried a remote like the one Jessie had seen in Ben's car.

  After the door closed behind him, Jessie told Ben, "You're a fraud, you know.''

  "Say what?"

  "That was a thoughtful gesture, giving Ed the remote, just to keep him from getting a little chilled.''

  "Is that right." Ben moved closer.

  "Mmm-hmm. You're not so tough, after al-"

  Her last word was cut off as Ben reached out and pulled her middle flat against his. "You're dynamite in these jeans, princess." His strong, splayed fingers rhythmically squeezed her denim-clad seat. "What were you saying?"

  For the life of her, Jessie couldn't remember. The excitement only Ben could generate blossomed where their bodies touched. She batted her eyelashes.

  "Why, Officer Sutton, what fast moves you have."

  "Don't flirt with me, woman, or I may show you just how fast I really am." A wicked light glinted in Ben's eyes. "Ever do it on the kitchen table?"

  Jessie whispered back naughtily, "Not with my sister in residence." She hooked her hands behind his elbows and used the leverage to undulate her pelvis provocatively. Ben grunted his

  pleasure, his lashes dropped, and she felt his manhood grow firm.

  Suddenly his eyes opened wide, as though he'd just heard what she'd said. He looked dumbfounded. "You've done it on & table?"

  Jessie laughed up at him. "Of course not. You're talking to the winner of the Miss Sexually Inhibited award for years running. You'll have to show me how it's done."

  "Miss Sexually Inhibited, is it?" said a wry feminine voice from Jessie's right. "Don't look now, sis, but I think you're going to lose the title this year."

  Two pairs of eyes swung to the doorway. The vision standing there was pure Allie, from the long, sensuously tossed hair brushing her face and neck to the tips of her neat ballet slippers. In between were skintight leggings and a hip-hugging, wide-necked sweater falling carelessly off one creamy shoulder.

  Ben swore. Jessie pushed out of his hold and put a respectable distance between them, still feeling the imprint of his fingers on her backside as though they'd been cast in plaster.

  "Sorry," Allie said, grinning mischievously. "I thought Fd better remind you two that you have company. Where's my deaf and dumb chauffeur, by the way?"

  Embarrassed and more than a little irritated that her sister had overheard the lovers' teasing between her and Ben, Jessie would have answered sharply. Ben, however, beat her to it.

  "His name is Ed, and he kindly offered to take time out of his busy schedule to go out and get your dinner. So I'd watch the insults, if I were you."

  "Oh, good—food." Allie airily disregarded his annoyed tone. "I hope he gets back soon. I'm starved. Do you have cable, Ben? It's been days since I've seen a newscast." Without waiting for an answer, she turned and walked away, her voice drifting back into the kitchen. "Never mind, I'll figure it out."

  Ben and Jessie shared a rueful smile.

  "She really is a nice person," Jessie said, apologizing.

  "She could be Mother Teresa, and I'd still wish her to Hades right now."

  "Mother Teresa she's not," Jessie stated, so emphatically they both chuckled. Ben caught her in an impulsive hug and placed a brief, sweet kiss on her smiling lips.

  "Even so, I guess we'd better be good," he said. "Shall we watch the news until Ed gets back?"

  "We might as well." Jessie floated into the living room, not caring whether Allie saw the stars in her eyes.

  Ed returned shortly after that with cheeseburgers, French fries and colas for three, staying only long enough to place the aromatic bags on the table and hand the security remote back to Ben. Ben refused it, suggesting he hold on to it until he came back with Leutzinger later, so Ed slipped it into his pocket and left.

  During dinner Ben made a futile stab at getting information out of Allie. Stubbornly, whenever he brought up her activities in Port Mangus over the past several weeks, she rebuffed his questions with her own queries about the FBI investigation. Ben, of course, was equally unwilling to answer.

  Jessie decided to stay out of it. She loved her twin and she loved Ben. After the travesty at the museum, she wasn't about to take sides again.

  In spite of her earlier claim of pending starvation, Allie pushed away from the table after eating less than half her food. "I'd like to lie down for a while, maybe take a nap, if it's all right. I haven't been getting much sleep lately."

  "Go ahead," Ben told her.

  "If you have a spare blanket, I'll use the bed and just lie on top of the bedspread."

  "There's a blanket on the overhead shelf in the closet."

  "Oh, I'd rather not rummage through your things. Would you get it for me, please?"

  Allie's sweet politeness caused Jessie's antennae to quiver. Her twin was up to something.

  Ben put down the last bite of his sandwich and rose from the table. As they left the kitchen together, Jessie heard him warn Allie again that the alarm was set, so she'd better not try sneaking out the window. Her sister laughed, but they were too far down the hall for Jessie to make out what she said after.

  For a moment the legacy of self-doubt left by Antonio gripped her, but she dismissed it immediately. In spite of that kiss Ben had told her about, she had sensed absolutely no sparks between her sister and her lover; besides, she knew Al-lie would never deliberately hurt her.

  When Ben returned to the kitchen, he looked preoccupied.

  "What?" she asked.

  He sat down and shoved the remaining bite of his cheeseburger into his mouth. She waited while he chewed and swallowed. "Your siste: is very protective of you, isn't she? Aren't you going to eat the iest of that?"

  "Here." She pushed the uneaten portions of her sandwich and fries across the table. "What did Allie say to you?"

  He dumped her leftovers onto his paper plate and resumed eating as he talke
d. "Basically she wanted to know what my intentions were."

  Darn it, Allie, you better not have messed things up, Jessie thought grimly. She'd almost done that herself this morning. If Allie were to suggest that Ben should make an honest woman of her, he would bolt for sure- "She seems to think you're some kind of hothouse flower, or something."

  Jessie watched him take a huge swallow of his drink, wondering whether they were off dangerous ground yet. "Compared to her, I guess I am. With any set of twins, there's always one who's dominant. In our case, I'm the other one."

  Ben eyed her curiously. "Explain 'dominant.'"

  Shrugging, she said, "You know—the leader. The stronger one, the more outgoing. The more everything, for that matter."

  Her cheeseburger was polished off in short order, and now Ben tackled the fries, dipping them into a pile of catsup three at a time. "You've hinted as much before. Why do you put yourself down like that?"

  "I'm not putting myself down. At least I don't think I am. That's just the way things are."

  "What a load of crap, Jess."

  "Excuse me?"

  He pushed his plate away and leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. "You and Allie are different, sure, but

  to say she's stronger is pure hogwash. She's just more reckless. You've got far more sense than she does."

  "You would think that. After all, I let you push me around and she doesn't. Which only proves my point."

  Ben snorted. 'Tush you around? That'll be the day. You give as good as you get, princess. What I mean is, in a crisis situation like all of us are in right now, you're levelheaded enough to make the right choices, unlike your sister. That's strength, not weakness."

  "You're forgetting this afternoon," she reminded him.

  "Even that was because of your concern for Allie, which is more consideration than she's shown you, in my opinion."

  Ben's evaluation pleased her, but Jessie protested, "Poor Allie. If only she knew what a thorough roasting you're giving her."

  "Okay, I'll stop. I just wanted you to know that you don't take a back seat to your twin or anybody else."

  "Why, Ben... thank you."

  "Especially not in bed," he added with a wink.

  Jessie's bubble of pleasure burst abruptly when he reduced his compliment to sexual terms. It was hard to pretend it didn't bother her, but she wadded up her napkin and threw it at him in mock irritation.

  Deftly he caught it and, smirking, tossed it back. "Come on, let's clear this stuff off and go start a fire in the living room."

  Jessie wondered what kind of fire he had in mind.

  He did, in fact, light a real fire in the fireplace before joining her on the couch. Then be surprised her by stretching out on his back with his head in her lap.

  "Tired?" she asked.

  "If your sister wasn't hogging my bed, I could be talked into a nap. She's not the only one who hasn't gotten much sleep lately. Not that I'm complaining. It's times like this when I wished I'd remodeled some of the upstairs bedrooms."

  Jessie smiled and idly began playing with his hair. It flowed like water through her fingers, soft and clean. Ben took the hand lying on his chest and pressed it to his lips, enfolding it in the warmth of his before returning it to the cotton of his shirt. He closed his eyes, giving a huge sigh of contentment.

  She looked down at him, enjoying their quiet closeness. "This is nice, isn't it?"

  For a moment as she gazed into his dear, freckled face, she was almost overcome by yearning.

  His eyes opened suddenly and he looked up at her. " Jess..."

  Not sure she could hide her wistful emotions, Jessie lifted her gaze to the brightly burning flames in the fireplace. "Hmm?"

  He kept his eyes fixed steadily on her face. "Want to know what I said to Allie before, about my intentions toward her twin?"

  She managed to keep her voice even. "What did you say?"

  "I told her to butt out. What we do is our own business, right? She doesn't have anything to say about it. Right?"

  "Right."

  Ben seemed to relax when she gave her agreement. "Does it bother you that she knows we're sleeping together?"

  "like you said, it's none of her business."

  "That's right." He closed his eyes again, but they popped open immediately. "About this morning, Jessie, when you... I don't know if I made myself clear. I mean, what's happened is only natural when two healthy people with a strong physical attraction are thrown together the way we've been. That doesn't mean ... I don't want you to get hurt. If I thought you were really serious about me..."

  She gave his hair a little tug. "Hey, stop worrying about me. I've given what you said this morning some thought and realize I just got a little carried away. People have affairs all the time. They don't have to be in love to enjoy each other. I appreciate your pointing that out to me."

  After a moment of silence, Ben's mouth twisted into a wry smile. "Glad I could help."

  "You've been good for me, Ben, and not just because you showed me how wonderful making love can be. Someday I'll find Mr. Right, I suppose, but until then, I've decided an occasional relationship won't hurt me—if I like the man and am careful of diseases and everything."

  "Here's a tip, Jess," he said brusquely. "Don't plan your next affair in front of your current lover."

  "Oh, sorry. I just wanted to assure you that I'm not taking this too seriously—circumstances being what they are. I know what I'm doing." At least, I think I do, she added silently.

  "Good," Ben said.

  "When all this business with Allie is over and I'm back home again, we'll probably wonder—"

  "Jessie." Ben maneuvered his body to a half-sitting position over her lap and braced himself on one elbow, lifting his free hand to the back of her head. He pulled her face down dose to his so their mouths were just touching. "You convinced me. Shut up."

  Jessie closed her eyes and gave herself over to his kiss, hoping with all her heart she wasn't making the worst mistake of her life.

  Ben drank in the honey of Jessie's mouth greedily, even while he damned his own soul to hell. He knew when it was over she would be hurt, and he wasn't going to do a thing to stop it.

  There was a limit to a man's nobility.

  He'd tried to tell her this morning that there could never be anything permanent between them, but she'd changed the subject. Her doing, not his. To be brutally honest, at the time he'd still been reeling from their night together. Hearing Jessie say she loved him had given him a hell of a rush. On the heels of that surge of emotion, though, had come the reality of who and what he was. He'd felt duty bound to set her straight about her expectations, all the while knowing that it probably meant the end of sleeping with her.

  Could he help it if she hadn't backed away?

  It wasn't until busybody Allie had challenged him that he faced his suspicion that Jessie might not have taken him seriously, and he had to admit he hadn't made a wholehearted attempt to convince her. Allie's protective streak had prodded his conscience, so he'd fdt compelled to give Jessie another chance to back away. Well, he'd tried—sort of.

  Ben didn't believe the rot she had just spouted any more than she meant it. But he wasn't going to call her bluff. She'd had her chance to make a break, and instead she'd elected to ride it out with him. Her choice. No reason for him to fed guilty.

  He did, though. He knew she thought she could change him, and he wasn't going to try again to talk her out of hoping.

  Jessie moaned and drew back, breathless from his kisses.

  Ben smiled. "Why don't you stretch out here beside me, honey? With Allie in the next room, I can't do what I really want to, so we might as well try to catch a few winks before Leutzinger comes."

  "Will we both fit?"

  "If we snuggle up."

  The next few minutes were a scramble of arms and legs while they got situated spoon-fashion on the cushions.

  "There." Ben slipped his arm around her. "Are you comfortable?
"

  "Very," she murmured.

  Heel, cad, snake in the grass—Ben deserved every disparaging epithet ever heaped on a man who led a woman on to get what he wanted. Because the fact was, he just wasn't ready to let Jessie Webster go. He had to have her sweet warmth a little longer.

  Chapter 13

  Was that the famous Agent Leutzinger?" asked Allie an hour or so later. She came out of the bedroom as Ben hung up the phone, in fine form after her lengthy nap.

  Jessie, on the other hand, felt bedraggled. It seemed she had just fallen asleep when the call had wakened them.

  Ben, too, was looking a little worse for wear. He rubbed his bristly jaw tiredly as he accepted the steaming mug Jessie handed him. Jessie wondered if there was anything left of his stomach lining after all the coffee he'd drunk today. This had to be his seventh or eighth cup.

  "Thanks, Jess." He took a worshipful sip before he turned to Allie. "Yeah, he and Ed are on their way over here now. Rory Douglas is posting bail, by the way. His lawyer will have him out in a couple of hours/'

  "You can't be serious!" Allie exclaimed. "Didn't they check the guy's record? If you ask me, he's a serial rapist or something, a creep who chooses old women for his victims. Sickos like that shouldn't be out on the streets."

  "He's an assistant U.S. attorney," Jessie said.

  "So? I hear it happens in the best of families."

  "You don't understand, Allie," Jessie began.

  Ben interrupted her. "You should know, Allie, that his version of what happened today is quite a bit different from the one you gave the arresting officer."

  "I'm not surprised/' she said disgustedly. "Lying would be the least of his sins.''

  "He's threatening to file charges against you for assault as soon as he's cut loose from jail himself.''

  "Against me." Allie's eyes flashed. "I'm the victim/ 99

  Jessie laid a soothing hand on Allie's arm. "I've been dying to hear what happened ever since we got your call. Why don't we all sit down while you tell us about it?" She guided her volatile twin to a corner of the sofa and took a seat beside her.