“I don’t see why not,” Jassi agreed turning to give Pricilla brief smile although Pricilla took it as gloating while Waren had a feeling Jassi was thinking of something entirely different.
Delilah and Craig looked at each other brief frowns on their faces, but they didn’t comment while they chatted with Mike who was an old friend of Craig and Waren.
Almost an hour later, Waren stood up bringing Jassi with him. “Well, we are going now if you want to go with us, Pricilla.”
Jassi kept her face calm at the news while Pricilla’s face showed disbelief although she rose to her feet.
“Waren,” she started a slight whine in her voice that caught everyone’s attention although no one called her on it. “I just arrived this morning and I want some time to refresh myself after our long drive.”
Waren nodded his head in understanding not going to admit how excited that made him. “I understand so I guess you will have to go with us another time.”
He turned to Jassi with a challenge in his eyes lifting a brow commenting, “Are you ready to go, Jassi?”
Jassi frowned shifting her eyes to Delilah telling him, “I was going to see if Delilah needed any help…”
Jassi had barely finished the sentence when Delilah waved her hand at them.
“You helped yesterday and besides, this is Waren’s vacation,” Delilah responded back giving Jassi a wink. “He wants to spend it with you, and as his friend, I want him to have a long overdue vacation that he wants. Right, honey?”
She turned to Craig who nodded his head in agreement giving both Waren and Jassi a smile although there was a lingering smirk in his eyes that Waren caught with a shrewd look.
“Then we will be going,” Waren replied sliding his hand up Jassi’s arm to settle around her shoulders. “We will see you later.”
Craig and Delilah nodded their heads while Pricilla intervened. “I’ll go with you. Give me a second to get my purse.”
Waren’s face didn’t show his disappointment at her words but he nodded his head telling Jassi. “Let’s go out to the car.”
Jassi gave him a brief look, but she turned to Craig and Delilah with a polite smile adding, “When we return, I will help you Delilah.”
“Thank you, Jassi,” Delilah replied with a smile watching Waren hurry Jassi out of the room.
Pricilla had left after she agreed to go and Craig stated once they left the room. “He wasn’t too happy with Pricilla changing her mind to suddenly go.”
“I know,” Delilah sighed heavily. “I just hope that she doesn’t cause any trouble.”
On that note, they both looked at each other knowing that when they returned, there probably was going to be some problems.
Thirty minutes later, Pricilla hurried out of the house stopping briefly on the steps when she saw Jassi sitting in the front seat while Waren got out of the driver’s seat a hard look on his face.
“I had wanted to be gone by now, Pricilla,” Waren told her walking around the car to open the backdoor for her.
Pricilla stepped down the steps with slow and exaggerated strides parading the off-the-shoulder sundress she had changed into with a pair of strappy heels.
Waren glanced over her briefly before he helped her into the car closing the door behind her and going back around to the driver’s side sliding in giving Jassi a hooded look.
Pricilla caught the look and she smiled smugly knowing that he was comparing the two of them recalling what Jassi had been wearing when she came into the living room.
Waren’s hooded eyes went over Jassi from the blouse that covered her shoulders to the blue jeans that clung to her shapely lower half. He would admit that Jassi was dressed more casually than Pricilla, but what she wore hinted at the figure underneath which Waren would one day get to see for himself.
With one last lingering look, he reached for the ignition turning on the car and backed out of the drive while Pricilla started up a conversation from the backseat, and Jassi sat in the passenger seat staring out the window.
Waren made a few stops in town although Pricilla who constantly made her presence known while Jassi stayed quiet hindered that.
Waren was getting upset because this trip into town he was using to see what Jassi liked, but she wasn’t saying a word letting Pricilla do all the talking.
They were in a furniture store checking out new pieces since Waren pretended he wanted to get a new bedroom set.
“I like your bedroom just the way it is,” Pricilla remarked intimately throwing Jassi a taunting look that didn’t escape Waren’s attention.
“It is nice,” Jassi admitted glancing around the room when suddenly a gorgeous cherry wood bed with a high headboard caught her eyes while the footboard was even with the mattress. The bedframe itself had drawers on both sides while the matching furniture seemed to compliment the whole thing.
As Jassi headed in that direction, Waren watched her before Pricilla grabbed his arm with a cry. “I love this set!”
He stared at what she was looking at and he mentally cringed not liking the overly flamboyant set but he listened to her cooing over it while clutching his arm.
Waren wasn’t going to be impolite especially when one of the sale associates came over to them, but he glanced over at Jassi who was going over the furniture that had caught her eye and he watched a sale’s associate go over to her only for Jassi to smile and shake her head before walking away.
Damn, Waren mentally said to himself turning his attention back to Pricilla and the associate interrupting them smoothly.
“We are just looking, but thank you for your assistance,” he told the man with a smile ushering Pricilla away from him. He stopped briefly though turning back to the man. “That set over there,” he pointed to where Jassi still stood running a hand over the wood, “I like that.”
Pricilla’s mouth fell open while the sales associate smiled easily. “It is a beautiful set. Unfortunately, that is the last set we have although we can get another one in a month.”
Waren nodded his head before he reached into his pocket and pulling out his wallet. “When you do, please give me a call.” He handed a card to the man who took it and nodded his head with a smile.
“Yes, sir,” the man uttered tucking the card into a clipboard and making a note.
Waren smiled and ‘thanked’ him before walking away with Pricilla frowning next to him.
“Waren,” Pricilla gushed wrapping her arms around his arm as they joined Jassi at the entrance of the store. “You should look in getting that set. It was beautiful.”
They walked out on her words and Waren escorted both women over to the car stopping himself from actually hitting a woman for the first time in his life.
“Let’s go get something to eat,” Pricilla requested from the backseat an angry tone in her voice.
“I have a picnic basket already in the trunk that Delilah prepared for us,” Waren suddenly told her catching Pricilla’s look of surprise in the rearview mirror.
“But you didn’t know…” Pricilla began only to stop when understanding dawned and a scornful look went across her face.
“No, I didn’t,” Waren confirmed pulling away from the store. “I asked her for it so Jassi and I can have a picnic together. We are going to picnic on my land.”
The news brightened Pricilla’s mood and she began to ask questions although Waren noted that her questions had nothing to do with the design of the house itself but more about the number of rooms and so on that it would have.
He mentally shook his head while Jassi leaned her head back against the headrest closing her eyes a throbbing headache beginning to form.
Waren looked over at Jassi seeing the light grimace that went over her face and he asked in a low voice. “Are you okay, Jassi?”
“I’m fine,” she uttered back turning her head slightly to peek at him with a small smile. “Just a slight headache forming, that’s all, Waren.”
Waren frowned but before he could say anything,
Pricilla suggested, “If she’s not feeling well, maybe we should drop her off at the house.”
Waren didn’t respond to her but said to Jassi. “Maybe if you eat something, you will feel better.”
Jassi’s smile widened and she shifted her head slightly before admitting, “That may be it.”
Waren reached out and grabbed Jassi’s hand squeezing it lightly before settling it against the middle console between them.
Jassi left her hand in Waren’s hold while she allowed her eyes to drift shut again letting the motion of the car to soothe her while Pricilla, in the backseat, began to talk again making her voice slightly louder to get Waren’s attention.
With her eyes closed, Jassi didn’t see how Waren’s eyes hardened at Pricilla’s constant chatter but he continued listening and driving without telling her to shut up which was what kept springing to his mind.
Reaching the gate, Waren pulled the car to a stop and Jassi opened her eyes easing her hand away from his hold so he could get out and unlock it.
He winked at Jassi before sliding out of the car and Pricilla watching him said quietly. “I’m sure he bought this land for us, but he put those plans on hold. Now that I’m back, he probably is thinking of it again.”
Jassi glanced in the rearview mirror seeing the smug look that went across Pricilla’s face before she added watching Waren come back to the car.
“Waren has never forgotten me or the love we shared, and I doubt he ever will.”
Waren slid into the car a few minutes later giving Jassi a smile before he shifted the car into drive so he could go through the gates only to stop to get back out and close the gates.
Neither woman saw the harsh look that went across his face when he closed the gates Pricilla’s words coming back to him.
Waren has never forgotten me or the love we shared, and I doubt he ever will.
Pricilla thought she had spoken low enough for him not to hear her, but her words had carried from inside the car and he had wanted to snatch her out, and tell her the truth.
If she had come back three years ago, then her words would’ve been truthful but all of that changed one day when he walked into a restaurant at the invitation of some of his friends and accidentally ran into a young woman who literally had his breath stilling in his chest.
Up until that day, Pricilla was constantly on his mind with anger and love intermingling, but after that day something seemed to change and although it had been a brief moment, the woman in the restaurant began to take over Pricilla’s memory.
Waren had tried to find her even though he knew it would be impossible and the day of his wedding, after a year, he finally learned her name.
Then he arrived at the house where his wedding was held and everything changed from the moment he walked in the door.
“Waren,” Jassi’s soft voice jarred him out of his thoughts and he glanced over at her realizing that he had got back in the car but hadn’t moved it.
He shook his head giving her an apologetic smile before he shifted the car out of gear to pull it forward. “I’m sorry,” he glanced over at Jassi with a smile, “I was lost in thought.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the smug look on Pricilla’s face and he knew what she was thinking, and yet he smiled when he realized how far off she would be.
“Are you okay,” Jassi asked in a low voice staring at him with worried eyes.
“Oh, he is fine,” Pricilla interjected with a soft laugh. “Probably thinking about the past, right, Waren?”
Waren gave her a hooded look but returning his gaze to Jassi before he admitted gravely. “I was.”
He saw the way Jassi’s mouth turn down slightly at his words but she lowered her lids to hide her eyes and nodded her head reaching for the door handle to get out of the car.
“Jassi,” he began but stopped himself knowing now was not the time to try to explain.
For one, they had a third person and he didn’t want anyone around when they finally had their talk.
He sighed and slipped out of the car followed by Pricilla who immediately nestled against his side.
Waren unlocked the trunk grabbing the picnic basket and a blanket, which Pricilla looked at it in disdain before Waren called out. “Jassi, can you carry the blanket please?”
Without a word, Jassi walked over and took the blanket from him with a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
Waren shut the trunk and carrying the picnic basket with Pricilla wrapped around his arm, he started for a nice patchy area of grass that he hoped would one day be the backyard to their home.
Jassi walked on his other side carrying the blanket her eyes scanning the area her soft smile widening as thoughts went flying through her head.
“This will be a perfect spot for a gazebo,” Pricilla gushed when Waren exchanged the picnic basket for the blanket that Jassi held to lay it down.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Jassi ventured to say. “I was thinking that it would be a perfect spot for a club house for the children.”
“Children!” Pricilla exclaimed in a tight voice. “I don’t plan on having children…any time soon.”
She amended quickly seeing Waren glance over at her with raised eyebrows at her words.
“I’m sure a woman like you would want a houseful,” Pricilla said sweetly to Jassi who stared at the grass.
“I don’t know if I would be a good mother,” Jassi offered a few minutes later. “I didn’t have great examples to go by and my grandmother…well, that’s another story all together and I don’t think you want to hear about it.”
“But you do want children, right,” Pricilla persisted and Jassi glanced over at her with confused eyes.
“One day, yes I would like to have children, but not a houseful,” Jassi admitted with her eyes shining. “At least two and I wouldn’t mind if it was one of each, a boy and a girl.”
Pricilla smiled smugly before she added to Waren’s horror. “Waren told me before that he didn’t want children.”
Her words hung in the silence before Jassi began unloading the picnic basket saying, “I’m sure that Waren has his reasons for what he said, and at the same time, we are all can change our minds about certain things.”
Waren coughed to hide the smile that wanted to come out at Jassi’s words seeing Pricilla’s face blanch and her eyes narrowed at the subtle stab.
“That’s true,” Pricilla agreed turning her eyes to Waren seductively. “Have you changed your mind about anything, Waren?”
“Oh, many things,” Waren told her with a smile. “But now is not the time to discuss those changes.”
Pricilla felt confident since Waren didn’t want to talk about it, his feelings for her was one thing that hadn’t changed even if he was married.
She glanced over at Jassi with triumphant, but she was surprised to see that Jassi wasn’t even looking at her as she began to fix them plates.
Pricilla wasn’t aware that Waren caught the look and he settled back on the blanket knowing that he had to deal with Pricilla sooner than he thought turning his eyes to Jassi.
Much sooner, he conceded letting his hooded eyes go over Jassi’s form and he grinned when he saw the blush cover Jassi’s cheeks feeling his stare.
“Let’s eat,” Jassi suggested handing out plates before sitting back on the blanket tucking her legs underneath her.
Pricilla looked at the plate with a slight scowl before she began to ask Waren questions about the house he had in mind, and Waren answered them not in much detail as he gave Jassi the night before much to Jassi’s confusion.
Two hours later, they arrived back at the house with Pricilla complaining that she was hot and needed a cool shower.
Jassi mentally sighed having enjoyed her time with Waren and seeing the land again, but next time, she would find something to do so she didn’t have to go with them.
“Did you have fun?” Delilah asked when they walked into the house while she was arranging a set of flowers.
“Summer home,” Delilah echoed giving Waren a questioningly look only for him to shake his head.
“Yes,” Pricilla continued not seeing the look or the shaking head, but neither did Jassi who had started up the stairs.
“I’m going to take a quick shower,” Jassi called down. “I will be down in fifteen minutes to help you, Delilah.”
Delilah smiled nodding her head watching as Jassi ran lightly up the stairs before she turned back to Pricilla seeing the glaring eyes that followed Jassi.
“How rude,” Pricilla stated bluntly.
Waren frowned at her while Delilah asked, “How is it rude, Pricilla?”
Pricilla turned to her saying with a touch of sympathy in her voice. “You invited her here to help you and she goes off to spend time with Waren without doing her job.”
Delilah’s eyes went hard at Pricilla’s words and Craig coming in the house from outside hurried to her side knowing that she was about to blow.
“Honey,” he cautioned quietly sending a pleading look toward Waren only for his friend to slide his hands in his pockets and smile evilly that had Craig chuckling back a laugh.
“For one thing, Pricilla,” Delilah began stressing out her name causing Pricilla to stare at her with a frown. “I invited Waren and his wife, so I can meet the woman he finally decided to marry. As for helping me, I didn’t expect it, but Jassi offered it herself and I appreciated it because normally no one offers to help me including you when Waren first brought you to meet us.”
Pricilla’s face went red at the attack before she stated sharply, “I didn’t know that a guest had to offer their help and as for Waren, his marriage is a contract…”
“We know all about it,” Delilah intervened with a wave of her hand getting Pricilla’s startled reaction. “Waren told us all about it, and you know what, I think Jassi is just right for him. In fact, I’m going to help them to spend as much time together as possible because I think they could have something special.”
Arranged Marriage, Wanted Wife Page 10
