Cautious Lover

by Stephanie James

  “How did you get involved in all this?” Frank Gaines inquired aggressively of Jess as the crowd was seated in a corner of the hotel’s dining room.

  “Isn’t it obvious? I’m about to become part of the family. It’s only natural Elly would ask for some ad­vice.”

  Elly’s eyes widened at the blatant lie. She had never asked him for advice. In fact she’d been doing her ut­most to keep Jess out of this.

  Aunt Clara was already pouncing. “Part of the fam­ily? What’s that supposed to mean? Just because you’re living with her on a casual basis doesn’t mean you’re family!”

  “Elly and I will be married next month.” Placidly, Jess opened his menu while everyone else at the table ab­sorbed the news.

  It was Cathy who recovered first and turned to Elly in amazement. “You’re marrying him? He doesn’t look at all like the sort of man I thought you’d end up with. I thought you were dating various and assorted bearded dropouts.”

  “The wedding,” Elly tried to say firmly, “hasn’t been actually scheduled yet.”

  Jess glanced up from the menu. “The wedding,” he said just as firmly, “is very much on schedule.”

  Elly didn’t know how to respond so she took refuge once more behind her barricade of silk and makeup.

  From that position, she watched Jess calmly take con­trol of the evening. He listened until Aunt Clara ran out of breath and arguments, and then he put forth his own rationale for not selling Trentco. To Elly’s astonish­ment, everyone paid attention..

  Not only did they pay attention, but as the dessert ar­rived there was even a gathering sense of agreement around the table. Jess’s assurance and obvious expertise were proving persuasive. He never once lost his temper and he was extraordinarily patient. But he had an in­stinct for using the right approach on each individual at the table.

  “Cathy. Elly tells me you have two young children. I realize you probably think that taking the immediate profit and putting it in the bank for the kids’ education is the safest move, but in the long run there will be more economic security in this if Trentco is revived.”

  “Well, I…” Cathy stammered, unable to explain that she really hasn’t been thinking that far ahead.

  “I know you’re a good mother and want to do what’s best for the children,” Jess went on easily. “Believe me, this is your best option.

  “Now about that boat you’re thinking of buying, Jim. I think we can arrange some kind of loan against your stock. Something just between you and me. Believe me, after looking at the Trentco financial picture, I have no objection to your using your shares as collateral. Wouldn’t mind owning some in the least. That way you’ll have the best of both worlds.

  “Clara, we’re talking family tradition here. I seri­ously doubt that you’d want to sell off the Trent family heritage. You’re the kind of woman who values the im­portant things in life, the meaningful things. It’s people of your generation who have to protect family heritages, don’t you agree? I want you to take another look at this.”

  It went like that for some time, with Jess managing to find just the right button to push with each member of the family. By the time everyone rose to leave, Eily was mesmerized by the adept way Jess had handled the en­tire evening. Monday’s vote had become a mere formal­ity. The family was now in agreement. Aunt Clara paused in the lobby to pat Elly’s hand.

  “You’re a lucky young woman, my dear. You’ve al­ways had such an unruly streak of independence in you that we couldn’t help but worry on occasion. Now I think you’re in good hands. Good night, Elly.” She beamed at Jess, who was standing beside Elly. “See you both on Monday.”

  Uncle Jim pumped Jess’s hand. “Did you mean what you said about that loan?”

  “I always mean what I say,” Jess assured him.

  “Great! That’s wonderful. I’ll get in touch with you later.” He grinned at Elly. “Elly doesn’t understand how badly I’ve wanted a seagoing boat. She hates the sea, you know. Or, at least, she hates swimming in it. It’s scared her ever since that time when she was a teenager. She was at the beach with my boy, Dave, who was just a little tyke, then. He got out too far and got himself into trou­ble. Elly swam out to get him. Brave kid. The water was rough, and some fool watching on shore thought he saw a shark. You can imagine the panic. But Elly here just kept swimming, dragging little Dave back with her. Gave us all one hell of a scare. Elly’s stayed out of the sea ever since.”

  “Elly can be very determined about some things,” Jess murmured with a sidelong glance at her. “Good night, Jim. I’m glad to have met you.”

  The other man nodded pleasantly and turned to join the others.

  Elly stood very still in the center of the plush lobby, unaware of the well-dressed people coming and going around her. She stared after the last of the family.

  “Very impressive, Jess,” she said at last.

  “I told you they weren’t going to be all that tough, Elly.” He took her arm and guided her toward the ele­vators.

  “But it won’t be the end of it, Jess,” she said desper­ately. “Don’t you understand? Aunt Clara will start calling on you constantly for advice. And what was all that about a loan to Uncle Jim? And Cathy’s going to expect you to take a lasting interest in her two kids now. Jess, don’t you see? You’re getting yourself involved in a very messy family situation!”

  “I can handle it.” He seemed totally unconcerned. In the hall outside their room he paused to get out his key. “They’re all easy to figure out. You’re the tough one, Elly.” He opened the door.

  She glanced up at him warily as she walked inside.

  “What do you mean, I’m the tough one?”

  He shut the door and turned to study her. “I think you know.” His eyes moved over the cool, expensive facade she had created for herself. He folded his arms and leaned back against the door.

  The sensation of being pushed into a corner intensi­fied. Elly stared at him, torn between uncertainty, re­sentment and fear. Instead of coming out of the corner fighting this time, she frantically began to explain.

  “It was all because you implied I wouldn’t have the right clothes for the city. I was upset because you kept insisting on getting involved with this messy business. I decided to show you that I wasn’t just a…a hick who had only jeans in her closet. Jess, it’s very complicated to ex­plain, but I guess I wanted you to see there was another side to me. I never thought… never realized…”

  Jess came purposefully away from the door. “Any more surprises in store?”

  She shook her head forlornly. “No.”

  “Good. I think I’ve had about enough today. I’m ready for the real Elly.” He came to a halt in front of her and threaded his hands through her carefully contrived chignon. Quite deliberately he pulled her chestnut hair free and watched in satisfaction as it tumbled around her shoulders.

  “You’re not angry?” she asked hesitantly.

  “Still love me?” he countered.

  She threw herself into his arms, wrapping him fiercely around the waist. “Of course I still love you.”

  “Then I’m not angry.” His voice darkened with the first stirrings of desire as his hands went to the thin zip­per at the back of her gown.

  Seven

  A long time later Jess quietly contemplated the hotel room ceiling and the sense of relaxation that pervaded his body. He was cradling Elly in one arm. She seemed to be asleep and that pleased him somehow. She looked so trusting, so right—a woman who had just surrendered to her lover and who now bore the subtle evidence of his claim on every inch of her body. Jess’s claim. When she was lying like this, limp and still damp from his lovemaking, he felt so much more certain of her.

  Lately it seemed as if he’d been engaged in some sort of unnamed warfare, the rules of which were being set by Elly. She was both his opponent and the prize of victory. For the past two months everything had been proceed­ing on schedule. The shift in his life-style was going ac­c
ording to plan. Elly had seemed to fit into that plan so perfectly that Jess couldn’t believe she didn’t see it for herself.

  But there was no doubt about the fact that things had been going wrong ever since Carrington had pulled that Peeping Tom stunt. Damn the man. He had always been a source of malicious mischief. Jess had been so sure the guy was out of his life for good. Why the hell did he have to choose now to reappear? This time, Jess vowed, he would have to do something permanent about Carring­ton. That threat on Wednesday evening was the last straw. There were ways of dealing with men such as Car­rington. Jess decided he would find one. The man was a born con artist. He couldn’t have lived this long without having broken a few laws involving fraud or misrepre­sentation. Perhaps the research that the investigation firm was doing would turn up enough to throw the fear of jail into him. If that didn’t work Jess had no qualms now about taking more drastic steps.

  Carrington had come near Elly. Any closer and, as far as Jess was concerned, the other man had written his own sentence. No one would really miss Damon Carrington.

  But some damage had been done, there was no doubt about it. Elly had begun questioning the relationship and all the plans Jess had spent so much time making. She had begun withdrawing, as if she were trying to put an emotional distance between herself and him. She had tried to keep him out of the private side of her life. And this morning, when she’d arrived on his doorstep look­ing so coolly formal and aloof, he’d known just how far things had gone.

  It was a battle, all right. He’d had to force his way into her family business. She should have welcomed his ad­vice and expertise. She should have wanted to share the problems with him. Instead, he’d been obliged to push past her defenses and assume the role of her consultant.

  It wasn’t, Jess decided objectively, that he had any real doubts about winning the war. The little barricades Elly tried to maintain were fundamentally undermined by the fact that she loved him. Still, it annoyed him that he had to fight in the first place. She should have accepted the situation for what it was. Jess was considering that when she stirred in his arms.

  “Jess?”

  “Hmm?” He tightened his arm around her and rolled onto his side to look down into her face. The shadows of the room concealed the color of her eyes, but he thought he could detect some of the warmth of the gold in them.

  “I wasn’t sure if you were awake,” she murmured.

  “I don’t dare go to sleep while you’re lying on my arm. It would be numb by morning.”

  “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.” She started to strug­gle but he gently pushed her back.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll let you know when the cir­culation problem gets critical.” He dipped his head and kissed away a trace of dampness between her breasts. The scent of her filled his mind and his body. It was a warm, earthy, utterly feminine fragrance, and he realized vaguely that he was incredibly attracted by it. It was uniquely Elly and he would know it anywhere. The hu­man male was a very primitive animal in many respects. “You smell so good.”

  “Very gallant. The truth is I probably smell the way I do after I’ve spent a day stocking shelves and hauling out old produce.” She touched his shoulder experimentally, drawing a small pattern on his skin.

  Jess turned his head to kiss her wrist. “You smell sexy and very female. I like it.”

  “Beast.”

  “I was just thinking the same thing.” He met her eyes again, the small smile that had been edging his mouth disappearing. “Elly?”

  “Umm?”

  “I want you to tell me you’re finished playing stub­born little games as far as your family business prob­lems are concerned.” He felt her stiffen slightly under the weight of his sprawled body, but he made no move to ease away from her. Damn it, Jess thought, he wanted her to know she couldn’t keep trying to dodge him on this issue.

  “I’m not playing games, Jess.”

  “You’ve been trying to keep me at arm’s length ever since Carrington showed up at your window the night you set out to seduce me. You wanted time. You didn’t want me getting involved, you said. You started backing away, started acting warily. Don’t pretend otherwise, Elly. Everything was going fine up until that point. You knew we were going to get married, and you weren’t questioning it or anything else.”

  She stared up at him. “That’s not quite true, Jess. I was having a few qualms. And after you thought you saw your ex-wife at the window, I had a lot more!”

  “After seeing Carrington you must realize I wasn’t having visions that night!”

  She nodded uneasily. “I realize that. You’ve told me they were twins, and I suppose a brief glimpse of his face at the window would be enough to startle you into thinking you’d seen her face.”

  “Since there’s a logical explanation for what I admit wasn’t exactly the most diplomatic thing I’ve ever done, why the continued wariness? Why try to keep me at bay?”.

  She braced her hands against his chest as if trying to keep him from holding her closer. The action irritated him. Deliberately, Jess leaned more heavily along the length of her.

  “I told you, Jess, I’d been a little uncertain about our relationship before that night. Afterward, I started doing some serious thinking.”

  “You mean you started getting nervous,” he cor­rected bluntly.

  “Well, yes, I did.”

  “Even though you know damn well you’re in love with me.” Her lashes lowered, veiling her gaze. She didn’t re­spond to the statement, but Jess sensed the stubborn re­sistance in her and was determined to break it. He leaned forward and brushed his mouth lightly over hers. “Say it, Elly,” he murmured. “Tell me again that you love me.”

  She surrendered on a small sigh. “I love you, Jess. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to marry you.”

  “You will,” he said. “I guarantee it.”

  “I have to be sure, Jess,” she whispered pleadingly.

  “Of what? That I want you? You’ve got proof of that by now, and I’ll be happy to supply more. Sure of the fact that I’ll look out for your best interests? I’ve shown you I’ll do that, too, even though I have to get past your roadblocks in order to accomplish that goal. Sure that we’re compatible? We’ve spent enough time together for you to know that by now, too. Elly, for over two months you’ve known where we were headed. What’s more, you’ve come along very willingly until recently. There’s no need to get stubborn and defensive now. You’re in love with me, and you’re going to marry me. That’s fi­nal.”

  “It is not final,” she said, her temper flaring. “I’d like to be sure of a few other things, too!”

  “Such as?” He caught her wrists and pinned them to the pillow beside her head.

  “For starters, I’d like to be sure I won’t have to spend the rest of my life walking on eggs, worrying about say­ing or doing something that reminds you of your past.”

  He was startled. “Reminds me of my past? What in hell are you talking about?”

  Her eyes turned mutinous. “I saw your face when you opened the door this morning. You took one look at me and went cold. You’ve been acting that way all day. It was because I reminded you of Marina, wasn’t it? That was probably the way she used to dress. All you’ve ever seen me in is jeans. Then you found out I used to work in the business world the way she did. I haven’t spent my whole life in a small town on the coast. I used to be very ‘Big City,’ too. Just like she was.”

  He glared at her for a minute and then groaned as he realized what was going through her head. “Listen to me, Elly Trent, you couldn’t remind me of Marina Carring­ton if you tried. The difference between the two of you is like night and day.”

  “Then why were you so… so distant all day?”

  “Because I thought you had deliberately used the clothes and the hairstyle and the makeup as another way of keeping me at arm’s length,” he said growled. “It was as if you were trying to wear a sign that said Don’t Touch. If you wan
t the truth, it made me angry. It sure as hell didn’t remind me of Marina. What made you think you could hide the real Elly beneath the stylish clothes and the big-city manner? Or that I’d ever mistake you for some­one else?”

  Looking up at him, Elly suddenly realized he was tell­ing the truth. No man could look that impatient and that thoroughly annoyed unless he was genuinely irked at her misunderstanding. She began to feel a little foolish. “Well, it was a logical assumption for me to make. It was the only reason I could think of for your actions today.”

  “It was not a logical assumption. It was a damn stu­pid assumption. Now that we’ve disposed of that no­tion, let’s talk about something else. Why have you been trying to keep me out of your family business problems? You’ve been digging in your sweet heels every step of the way. I’d like a good reason.”

  She gazed up at him mutely for an instant. Then Elly said carefully, “I’ve told you, Jess. I didn’t want you getting involved.”

  “That’s not good enough. I want to know why.”

  Elly lost her own patience. “Because I was afraid that would remind you of the past, too. You’d told me about all the family financial problems you’d had with the Carringtons. I was terrified you’d start equating my family business problems with them. I was afraid you’d see us all as leeches.”

  His gray eyes gleamed with sudden fierceness. “Of all the dumb, idiotic, crazy ideas. Elly, that’s nonsense. There’s nothing remotely similar about the two situa­tions. There couldn’t be. Don’t you understand that? You’re you. Nothing connected with you could be in any way the same as it was with the Carringtons. Believe me, it’s inconceivable.”

  “Jess, are you sure?” She searched his face, seeking confirmation.