by Maggie Cox
‘Christopher Abingdon?’ Jarrett’s blue eyes visibly widened. ‘He was your father-in-law?’
‘You know him?’
He shook his head, grimacing. ‘I don’t know him, but I know of him. I’ve seen him on enough political talk shows to know that he’s perfectly odious and reprehensible. Don’t worry about affording legal fees, my angel. I happen to have a very good friend in the legal realm—a man who is particularly dedicated to stamping out injustice wherever he finds it. If he can’t represent you then he’ll know someone who will. We’ll find you the best damn lawyer money can buy, and that’s a promise. Just don’t tell me that you won’t accept my help. It would mean a lot to me if you let me.’
As she absorbed the passionate intent of his words she relaxed against him in the realisation that, for the first time since she’d lost her father, she felt safe and secure in the presence of a man—a man she was slowly but surely beginning to allow herself to trust. To have Jarrett’s sincere regard made Sophia feel more valued than she’d felt in a long, long time. It also lifted her spirits to know that at last someone really wanted to help her.
Raising her head, she knew her smile was a little shy, but she couldn’t hide how much his words had meant to her. Before she could say a word Jarrett’s hand had moved round to the back of her head to bring her face closer to his. Then his mouth covered hers. She had already had an example of how his kiss could make her dissolve, but this kiss—gently coaxing at first, then inexorably gathering in heat—was so gloriously seductive that she wondered how on earth she’d lived without his touch for so long.
The sultry caress quickly turned into a helpless, hungry demand that she couldn’t help but rise to. As Jarrett’s tongue melded hotly with hers and the roughened prickle of the beard that studded his jaw scratched against her skin his sensual ministrations sent her spinning. Suddenly she was caught in the eye of a storm that she didn’t want to escape from.
When he cupped her breast through the thin jersey of her dress and teased the already rigid nipple between finger and thumb the force of the pleasurable groan that eased huskily from her throat didn’t sound like the repressed and lonely woman of her hard, embittered marriage. It didn’t sound like her at all … And when he carefully but firmly moved her off his lap to lay her on her back next to him she had not one single thought in her head about protesting. On the contrary, she just about contained herself from ripping his jacket and shirt from off his back so keen was her desire and need for him to love her.
As if reading her mind, he kicked off his shoes, then shrugged off his jacket. In less than a heartbeat he was leaning over her, his mouth continuing its exciting barrage on her senses, mind and body with luxuriously hot and exploring kisses to die for. But then came the dizzying point when even the most combustible kisses weren’t enough …
‘If you want me to stop then you have to tell me now, sweetheart. Although I’m strong I’m only human—and you’re driving me wild.’ Lifting his head, Jarrett threaded his fingers through Sophia’s hair, smiling wryly down into her eyes.
‘I don’t want you to stop.’ Her reply was a broken whisper of long-suppressed need and remembered heartache, but she knew there was no way on God’s good green earth that she wanted to put an end to what they both so urgently desired.
‘That’s what I’d hoped you’d say,’ Jarrett murmured, already reaching towards her to help her remove her dress.
In the flickering firelight as she lay down again, shivering in anticipation of what was to come, she was treated to a candid view of his fit male body as he disposed of his shirt. There was not one ounce of spare flesh on his hard-muscled chest with its smattering of ebony hair. And his strong arms with their silky, toned biceps were in a mouth-watering category all of their own. But her appreciative musings were instantly laid aside when he hungrily claimed her lips yet again and ran his hands lightly but expertly down over her body.
‘You’re so beautiful,’ he murmured, his riveting blue eyes glancing passionately down into her face.
‘So are you,’ she answered.
‘Does that mean that you now find me more appealing than when we first met?’
‘I’m not going to encourage your vanity by saying anything further.’
‘Good. Because I think the time for talking is past … at least for now. Don’t you?’
He bent his head and put his lips to her breast. A spike of molten heat shot through her, rendering her boneless and making her tremble. The sensation was so off the scale of any barometer of pleasure she could have imagined that Sophia’s eyelids drifted closed in order to deepen the deliciousness of the experience … to lose herself in a sensual world that for so long had been denied her. The moan that left her throat was soft and low, and as Jarrett’s warm lips and beard-roughed jaw moved down over her heated skin, she drove her fingers through his silky cap of ebony hair.
For a moment she went rigid when his mouth dipped lower to caress the more sensitive skin between her thighs. After his long, lazily exploring kisses, the urgency that was building inside her was at breaking point, and suddenly she couldn’t wait to hold him close and feel his body moving over hers, skin to skin …
‘Jarrett …’ His name left her lips on a breathy sigh, and he immediately responded by lifting his head and giving her a heart-stopping smile.
‘What is it, sweetheart? Tell me what you need.’
Utterly transfixed by his devastating blue-eyed stare in the firelight, for a moment Sophia couldn’t think straight. Tell me what you need … To answer the sexily-voiced command was almost beyond her powers, so alien was the sensual request.
‘I need—I need you to love me,’ she breathed.
In just a couple of effortlessly fluid movements Jarrett moved up, sat back and tugged off his jeans. Before he let them fall onto the floor he extricated his wallet and a small foil packet therein.
Her cheeks burned red at the impressive sight of his aroused sex, and in her mind she immediately scolded herself. For goodness’ sake, Sophia … it’s not as though you’re some untried virgin! But the thought gave her no comfort, because it made her remember that she’d given her virginity to a man who had despised her.
As if intuiting that just such a thought had stolen into her mind, her would-be lover sheathed himself with his protection and carefully straddled her, stroking back her hair as he gazed deep into her eyes. ‘Don’t let the past spoil this time we have together,’ he urged. ‘Because everything’s going to be all right.’
‘It is?’
Any further speech she might have been going to utter was silenced by the warm pressure of his mouth against hers. As she lost herself in the spell of the intimate duelling of their lips and tongues his hand deftly moved to the apex of her thighs to prise them apart, and in one smooth, urgent stroke he drove himself into her.
His possession was dizzying. More than that if felt so right. Tears surged hotly into Sophia’s eyes. When Jarrett started to move rhythmically inside her she wound her arms round his neck to invite even more of his incendiary kisses, but he glanced down at her with surprised concern when he saw the moisture that slid down her face.
‘What’s wrong? Am I hurting you?’
‘Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s perfect, in fact … promise.’
‘But—’
Now it was her turn to silence him with a lingering and sexy open-mouthed kiss. She sensed his pleasure straight away, because he began to move inside her with more purpose and intent, anchoring his hands round her hips and urging her to wrap her thighs round him as he rocked into her more deeply. Catching her breath, Sophia dug her nails into his back and held him to her with all her strength. Suddenly the powerful waves of pleasure that were transporting her to only one destination crested, and the resultant erotic laps of blissful heat that throbbed through her entire being made her gasp out loud.
The lovely emerald eyes that glanced up at him had never appeared more beautiful, Jarrett thought, even thou
gh it was the heart-rending glitter of tears that rendered them especially bewitching tonight. But all further thought was suspended as he sensed her muscles clasp him hotly and contract. Clasping her arms about his neck even more tightly, she murmured his name with what sounded very much like a sob.
Dear God! He could lose himself in this woman’s charms for ever and not regret a single moment he spent with her whether he lived to be a hundred or died tomorrow. No other woman had made him feel this good, this glad to be a man … ever.
As his lover’s breathy little gasps died away he could no longer keep a grip on the wild storm of need that held him in thrall, and as his desire peaked and soared beyond the point of no return his body convulsed hard. The fierce shout that left his throat was inevitable. The only sound he heard straight after that was the creak of the old couch’s springs as he lay down in his lover’s arms. With her gentle fingers tunnelling in and out of his hair, Sophia’s warmly velvet lips pressed tenderly against his cheek.
‘Are you all right?’ she enquired softly.
Jarrett raised his head to examine her with a mixture of amusement and disbelief. ‘“All right”’ doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel. I’m ecstatic … in heaven. Can’t you tell?’
Her cheeks dimpled with pleasure. ‘My great-aunt Mary would be scandalised if she knew what we had just done on her antique couch.’
‘Maybe she would … maybe she wouldn’t.’
Her green eyes widened in surprise, ‘Are you suggesting that Great-Aunt Mary wasn’t the terribly proper, stiff-upper-lipped lady that she presented to the world?’
Grinning, Jarrett waggled his eyebrows. ‘I haven’t a clue what the lady was like, but don’t forget appearances can be deceptive. Don’t you think it might be nice to imagine that underneath her very proper exterior she yearned to let her hair down and have a little fun? You said she lived on her own. Was she ever married?’
Thinking back over the scant history her father had told her, Sophia lightly shook her head and sighed. ‘No. She stayed single all her life. My dad once told me it was because she didn’t particularly like men.’
‘That doesn’t mean she didn’t have any lovers … does it?’
‘I suppose it doesn’t.’ She reddened a little. ‘Anyway … she’s gone now, and if she found some pleasure in the arms of someone, good luck to her! She’s been very good to me, leaving me this incredible old house, and I’ll never forget her.’
The fire spat and hissed in the grate, and the robust log that Sophia had laid at its centre cracked and settled deeper into its fiery bed. Gazing down into her flushed beautiful face, Jarrett moved, tugging the prettily patterned eiderdown over them both. Lying down again, he arranged a cushion behind his head, then put his arm protectively round her slender shoulders. As she willingly rested her head on his chest her silky hair felt like the softest down against his skin, and, his body throbbing warmly in the aftermath of their lovemaking, he marvelled at the sense of perfect rightness that rolled over him.
There was no doubt in his mind that being with Sophia was the best thing that had ever happened to him. And now that he’d made love to her Jarrett made a silent vow that if it was at all in his power he would never let any danger threaten her again. The gentle glow of the firelight and the lamp on the small mahogany side table hadn’t been able to hide the fading scars he’d glimpsed here and there on her supple, slender body, and he’d had to tamp down the anger that had threatened to choke him at the sight. Men who hit women were the lowest of the low in his book.
A sense of urgency gripped him to help her deal with the despicable father-in-law who was still intimidating her and get him out of her hair for good. What he and her worthless husband had put her through was nothing less than criminal, and the remaining perpetrator shouldn’t get off scot-free. Not if Jarrett had anything to do with it.
As Sophia settled herself more comfortably against him, she covered her mouth to suppress a yawn. ‘I’m sorry,’ she apologized. ‘I guess my broken night’s sleep has caught up with me.’
‘There’s no need to apologise. Why don’t you just let yourself drift off? I’ll stay here with you until the morning.’
‘Will you really? It’s not exactly the most comfortable couch in the world to sleep on.’
‘I give you my word. Now try and get some sleep.’
Sophia was still sleeping when Jarrett peered out between the closed red velvet drapes at the window and saw that it was daylight. The fire in the grate had long gone out, and the temperature in the lofty room was icy enough to make him wince.
Making his way back to the couch, he carefully arranged the quilt more snugly round Sophia’s pale shoulders. She stirred a little, but didn’t wake. In repose, her lovely face looked peaceful and young. A faint smile raised the corners of his mouth. Rubbing his hands to warm them, he turned on his heel and moved across to the fireplace to rebuild the fire. He didn’t want Sophia waking up to a cold room. After that he made his way to the kitchen.
Ten minutes later, sitting at the old-fashioned breakfast table with its dented and scratched oak surface, revived by a steaming mug of strong black coffee, he searched for his lawyer friend’s phone number on his mobile and rang him. He knew for a fact he would already be at his desk. After a long, heated conversation he ended the call and got restlessly to his feet. He hadn’t mentioned Christopher Abingdon’s name, but it had been enough for him to tell his friend that Sophia’s father-in-law was a renowned QC for him to get the bit between his teeth and promise to do all he could to help just as soon as Sophia personally instructed him to act on her behalf. The case was ‘potential dynamite’, he said.
Staring out of the window at the shadowy back garden, where a large portion of the light was cut off by the untamed shrubs growing wild, he was deep in thought when—still attired in the pretty blue dress of the night before and with her hair endearingly tousled—the lady herself appeared at the kitchen door tiredly rubbing her eyes.
‘Good morning.’
‘Morning, sleepyhead.’
‘You made up the fire in the living room. Thanks for that.’
‘The temperature put me in mind of Siberia when I woke up, and I didn’t want you to be cold. Want some coffee? I hope you don’t mind, but I made a pot.’
‘Of course I don’t mind.’ Her smile was a little uncertain, almost as if she didn’t quite know how to proceed after the passion that had erupted between them last night. After tucking some hair behind her ear, she crossed her arms over her chest as if to warm herself. ‘I thought you might have had to dash off. I didn’t mean to lie in so long. I’m normally up at the crack of dawn, and I’m a light sleeper. If I hear so much as a sparrow cough it wakes me up.’
Jarrett chuckled. ‘I’ve no intention of dashing off—if that’s okay with you? It’s not even eight in the morning—surely you’re entitled to have the odd lie-in? Especially when Charlie’s staying at his uncle’s.’ In truth, he had plenty of work to get on with at home, but he’d already decided that it wouldn’t take priority over being with Sophia today.
‘I’d really like it if you stayed for a while. But I’ll say no to your offer of coffee, thanks. What I’m most in need of right now is a shower and a change of clothing. No doubt you feel the same?’
‘Are you suggesting that we take a shower together?’ Keeping his tone teasingly light, he moved to stand in front of her. At first Sophia seemed to find it inordinately difficult to meet his glance. But then Jarrett lifted her hand and raised it slowly to his lips, leaving the warm imprint of his mouth against her fingers. His senses were already rioting at her touch and her sweetly addictive scent.
His romantic gesture brought the smile to her face that he’d hoped for. ‘Maybe … maybe we could do that some other time? Right now I’d just really like to freshen up. You’re welcome to jump in after me, though.’
‘Fair enough … but you don’t know what you’re missing.’ He grinned.
Sophia’s emer
ald eyes visibly darkened. ‘That’s not true after last night. I don’t think I’ll ever forget what you did for me, Jarrett.’
‘What I did for you?’ He was puzzled.
‘I mean the way you turned up in the middle of the night like that … just when I needed you.’
He suddenly realised that he was still holding her hand. He used it to impel her firmly into his arms. ‘Don’t you know that I needed you too, Sophia?’
The last thing he registered just before he kissed her was the gentle quiver of her lips as he lowered his head and helplessly and hungrily crushed his mouth to hers …
CHAPTER NINE
JARRETT had showered, and apart from knowing that Sophia had used the cramped cubicle before him it had not been the most salubrious experience of his life. Clearly her great-aunt had not considered a little luxury in the bathroom high on her list of priorities, and the addition of a shower stall in the Victorian bathroom looked to have been installed somewhat grudgingly.
At any rate, it had forced him to be somewhat creative with his use of the slow trickle of barely warm water that emanated from the shower head. It had taken a long time to rinse Sophia’s vanilla and honey scented shampoo from his hair, so he’d simply spent the extra time recalling every sensually intimate detail of their lovemaking the night before. Maybe he should have tried harder to persuade her that they ought to shower together?
Abruptly turning off the water, he stepped out of the cubicle. Brusquely drying himself with the generous-sized white bathtowel that had been thoughtfully left folded neatly over the back of a rattan chair for his use, he scowled when he realised there was no radiator to warm it.
Other than dwelling on his sexual frustration, and the fact that the temperature in the room was cold enough to give him hypothermia, he forced himself to think about topics less apt to make him irritable.
