Guarding the Heiress

by Debra Webb

  One eyebrow tilted upward. “Kiss you?” Anticipation roared through him. This was not a good idea. But, damn, if he didn’t want to.

  She nodded. “I don’t think I’ll make it through the night if I don’t get my mind off—” she flung her arms open wide “—all this. I need something else to focus on. I figure a kiss would do it.” She stared at the floor but not before he saw the beginnings of a blush creeping up her cheeks. “I’ll never go to sleep if I don’t find something else to dwell on.”

  If she hadn’t looked so damn needy or so absolutely vulnerable, he might have been able to say no. But, there was simply no way he could deny her anything, least of all a kiss.

  “Come here,” he demanded softly.

  Stealing a glance up at him as she tortured that gorgeous bottom lip, she took a halting step toward him and then another and another until she stood directly in front of him.

  “You don’t mind?” she whispered, looking fiercely uncertain and undeniably sexy.

  “Shh,” he scolded as his mouth descended toward hers.

  Her breath caught when their lips met. Doug hesitated, waited to see if she’d changed her mind. Two seconds later she took a hesitant taste of him. So soft, so uncertain. So damn sweet. He struggled to hold back the need mushrooming out of control and forced himself to remain still, letting her do what she would. She kissed him experimentally at first, then tiptoed to kiss him more aggressively. Her fingers fisted in his shirt and control snapped.

  He plunged his fingers into her hair and angled her head just the right way so that he could kiss her thoroughly. She tasted rich and sweet, like the wine they’d drank at dinner. Desire coiled more deeply inside him, threatening to burst and push him completely over the edge. She moaned softly, opened her mouth to him and he thrust inside, ravenous for the full taste of her. Not until that moment had he confessed just how much he wanted her. He wanted to know all of her.

  But a kiss was all this could be.

  She melted against him, all soft curves and feminine heat. His body hardened instantly, sharpening the demand for more.

  He drew back, his breath ragged. If he didn’t stop now there would be no stopping.

  “Enough?”

  Her lids fluttered open and she looked at him through dazed eyes. “No…yes…I…”

  “Good night, Eddi.” He ushered her to the door. “Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”

  She nodded and padded across the hall to her own room. He watched her go, gripping the door frame to keep from following her. She paused at her door and smiled at him. “Good night.” Then she was gone.

  Doug sighed. There was no chance in hell he would have a good night. A long night, yes, but definitely not a good night.

  Chapter Nine

  It was the curse.

  Eddi was sure of it. The matchmaking members of the Club had put the idea in her head and she was subconsciously acting on it.

  That’s all it could be.

  Why else would she have done something so incredibly stupid last night? She’d practically begged the guy to kiss her.

  Eddi groaned and collapsed onto the bed. She had lost her mind. It was official. All the years of financial worry and hard work were finally catching up to her at the ripe old age of twenty-five minus a few days. Of course it didn’t help that her whole life had been turned upside down by an old family secret.

  Temporary insanity. That’s what she’d plead. She would explain to Doug that she’d snapped, lost it, and he would understand. After all, he knew what she’d been through the past few days. Who wouldn’t have snapped? Anyone else would have reacted the same way.

  She closed her eyes and tried without much success to block the memories of his utterly amazing kiss. Never in a million years would she have imagined a kiss that pulse pounding, knee weakening was possible. He’d kissed her tenderly at first, then his attention had turned possessive and fierce. A moment’s fear had claimed her but that sensation had swiftly sizzled into flat-out, core-melting desire.

  All she’d wanted was a distraction…something to take her mind off her surroundings. What she’d gotten had been just another worry to add to the growing list. No, that first part wasn’t right. She’d wanted more than a distraction. She wanted him to kiss her so that the spell would be broken. Her momma had always told her that most folks spent the better part of their lives wanting what they couldn’t have. The longer one dwelled on it, the more attractive it became. She’d figured that was the case with her growing attachment to Doug. She knew he would never be hers…that no sort of relationship would be possible between a world-wise man like him and a plain Jane like her. So she’d decided to nip the situation in the bud. All she had to do was prove to herself that he was just a guy and that his kiss wouldn’t be any better than any other she’d ever had. Not that she’d had that many.

  Boy, had she ever been wrong.

  Now she was doomed to live with the truth—Doug Cooper was one heck of a kisser and definitely “the one” for her. She didn’t need the matchmakers here to tell her; she’d felt it all the way to her bones. She was in love with the guy. One kiss was all it had taken.

  Lord have mercy, she’d used the “L” word.

  What a mess.

  A light tap echoed from her closed bedroom door. Her breath trapped in her throat.

  “Miss Harper?”

  James, the butler, she recognized. Forcing thoughts of her pitiful love life to the back of her mind, she shoved off the bed and strode to the door. She incorporated the walk Doug had told her about. Shoulders back, chin held high, but the high-heeled pumps made her a bit unsteady. She wished again for her sneakers. Dress shoes were for one thing only, wearing to church on Sunday. She had decided long ago that the discomfort served as her penance for whatever bad thought she’d allowed that week.

  Today she would wear them to remind her of the foolhardy thing she’d done last night.

  The very idea that a big-city guy like Doug would take even a second look at a blue-collar girl like her…Talk about fairy tales. Guys simply didn’t look at her that way.

  Eddi opened the door and produced a smile for the elegantly dressed man who waited on the other side of her door.

  “Good morning, Miss Harper.” He nodded once in acknowledgment of her smile. “I’ve brought your coffee and toast up as Mrs. D’Martine requested.”

  A frown crinkled Eddi’s forehead. “Is there some reason she wanted me to be served in my room?” Maybe she had company this morning and wasn’t ready for Eddi to be seen.

  James smiled. “No, madam. Mrs. D’Martine doesn’t breakfast until eight o’clock. She didn’t want you to have to wait.”

  It was seven now. She could have waited. But, he was here. Might as well make the best of it. She certainly didn’t want to hurt feelings or offend anyone. She did wonder though how her grandmother knew she was an early riser. “Sure. Okay. Come in.”

  James entered the room, his back ramrod straight, and crossed to the sitting area. After placing the tray on the table he faced her once more. “Is there anything else that would pleasure you this morning, miss?”

  Eddi clasped her hands behind her back and strolled over to the table. She dismissed the idea of telling him the guy across the hall could definitely pleasure her. “Do you mind answering a few questions for me?”

  His expression never deviated from its emotionless state. “If I can, I will be quite happy to.”

  She circled the table and studied the bounty he’d delivered on a silver tray. The toast was browned to perfection. Softened butter sat nearby. A small jar of blueberry jam completed the menu. The matching silver coffeepot looked just large enough to hold two cups of coffee. Cream and sugar were artfully arranged nearby.

  She poured herself a cup of the steaming brew and sat down in one of the two chairs flanking the table. “Are you allowed to sit while we talk?”

  “Certainly.” He settled into the adjacent chair as gracefully as a ballerina executing a da
nce move and with every bit as much pomp and circumstance.

  James Montgomery had gray hair and gray eyes. He stood tall and thin and looked friendly, in a vague sort of way. She liked him.

  “How long have you worked with the D’Martine family?” Couldn’t hurt to know some background. She had an hour. She probably didn’t need to spend any more time alone with Doug, and she definitely didn’t need to obsess on that unforgettable kiss.

  “Thirty-five years.” His chest seemed to puff with pride to punctuate his words.

  “So you knew my—Edouard.”

  “I did.” His gaze roamed her face then. “If I may, you are assuredly his daughter. The resemblance is remarkable.”

  Something like pride welled in Eddi’s chest then and she hadn’t even known Edouard. But somehow she knew that if her mother had loved him he must have been a very special man.

  “What was he like?” A prickle of apprehension needled her. She hadn’t meant to ask that. But there it was all the same.

  “A very fine, passionate young man.” A glimmer of sadness showed briefly in the other man’s expression. “He is still sorely missed.”

  “Mrs. D’Martine—” Eddi swallowed and rephrased her question, “My grandmother never leaves the house?”

  James shook his head, his expression openly grim now. “She has not left this house since her husband was buried only weeks after Edouard.”

  Eddi thought of the woman she had met just yesterday. How sad that her life had been stolen also. She’d lost all that she loved within a matter of weeks and then she’d turned her back on life as well.

  What kept her going in spite of her losses? That was something Eddi longed to know. For Eddi’s mother, it had been her child and the love of a good man. But Solange D’Martine had had neither.

  “Is there anything that has made her happy even once in all these years?”

  “Her devotion to keeping the family business alive and growing has kept her passion for life alive…just barely. But only one thing has truly made her happy in the past twenty-five years,” James said, his expression unreadable once more.

  So there was something in her life that kept her going besides work. “What’s that?” Eddi had to know, had to understand a little more about her grandmother.

  James stood and for one second Eddi thought he would leave without answering her question, then his somber gray gaze settled onto hers. “Why, you, miss. You.”

  ONCE THE BUTLER HAD LEFT Eddi’s room, Doug walked across the hall and rapped on her closed door. He didn’t look forward to facing her this morning. He’d lost control for a moment last night and that couldn’t happen twice. No matter that kissing her a second time now held the top spot on his list of things he had to do again before dying.

  His integrity had slipped and he could not permit such behavior. He wasn’t about to do anything that would screw up his new life. Or hers.

  The door swung inward and Eddi stood there, dressed in the emerald-green skirt and sweater that both fit like a glove and complemented her pale coloring.

  “Good morning,” he said in the most professional manner he could summon while looking at her.

  She nodded mutely. Only then did he notice that she looked ready to burst into tears.

  “Is something wrong?” Had Montgomery, the butler, passed along some disconcerting message? Or had the man said something inappropriate to Eddi. Doug had fully expected some animosity toward her from those who’d served Mrs. D’Martine the longest. They would see Eddi as an outsider, a gold digger.

  She shook her head and shrugged at the same time. “I don’t know.” With a beleaguered sigh and some rapid blinking she appeared to get her emotions under control. Leaving the door open for him to follow if he chose, she trudged across the room and dropped into a chair. “This is going to be complicated,” she muttered and promptly plopped her chin into her hand.

  It was definitely going to be that.

  In more ways than one. Already his pulse had tripped into double time simply being alone in the room with her.

  “Would you like to take a walk?”

  Her expression lifted instantly. “Yes!”

  THE GROUNDS OF THE D’Martine estate proved as tranquil as they were beautiful. So much so that even the beefed-up security measures did not detract from its appeal. Doug had spent most every summer of his life on the island since his family owned a summer-house in Tisbury. Not unlike the D’Martine property, the Cooper-Smith compound projected a look and feel of luxury, only in a more understated and contemporary manner.

  “This place is unbelievable,” Eddi said again. “Keeping those gardens in shape must require an entire staff of gardeners.”

  “Probably,” Doug agreed. The gardens of which she spoke were close reproductions of the distinguished ones he’d been exposed to as a boy on one of his mother’s numerous trips abroad, specifically to England and France.

  In fact, the whole estate had a very European feel, from the architecture to the landscaping. The salt air and crash of the waves on the sand below only added another layer of elegance to the ambience. He imagined that bringing a touch of home, of old-world flavor, had been the D’Martine’s intent.

  Eddi stopped and stared out over the blue waters of the Atlantic. She said nothing for a long while, but Doug sensed that something specific was on her mind.

  “She’s not going to expect me to live here, is she?” The gaze that very closely resembled the color of the foaming water locked with his. “It’s a truly beautiful place, but this isn’t my home. How could I stay?”

  Doug wanted to reassure her, to allay her worries on that point, but anything he said might prove wrong in the end. “Eddi, this is your home now,” he said frankly. When she would have argued, he added, “It won’t replace the one back in Meadowbrook, but it will become a part of your life.”

  Already her life was changing and she wasn’t even aware of it. He had observed little things. Like the extra trouble she’d taken to add a jeweled clip to her long hair. The hint of extravagant cologne on her skin. She might not understand what was happening, but it was happening.

  She looked away then. “I didn’t ask for this.”

  The words were spoken so softly he scarcely heard them.

  “I know.” An ache throbbed through him so deeply that it took his breath for a moment. He simply could not stand there and allow her to suffer this burden alone. He draped one arm around her shoulders and gave her a comforting squeeze. “But fate has a way of carving out our destiny even when we don’t want it to.”

  For a very long time they stood there, watching the waves roll to the shore and foam on the sand. The crisp breeze and the occasional seagull flying overhead was all that moved above the surface of the water. They could have been standing on a deserted island. Doug had never felt more connected to anyone in his life.

  Eddi was right, things were very complicated, and only growing more so by the moment.

  EDDI STOOD OUTSIDE HER grandmother D’Martine’s private suite for as long as she dared before knocking and then opening the door. She’d tried to pull herself together, to tamp down the anxiety skyrocketing inside her. But it was just no use.

  “Please join me,” Solange requested with a wave of her hand toward the sofa next to her.

  Her feet aching after the long walk around the estate, Eddi just did manage to cross the room without a noticeable limp. Propping a smile into place, she settled next to her grandmother. Her gaze went immediately to the table before them and the numerous photo albums piled there.

  “I wanted to introduce you to your father.”

  Eddi didn’t bother correcting her, she knew what she meant. Instead, she brightened her smile and said, “I’d like that.” And she would to an extent. This was an important part of who she was, or so it seemed, and she needed as much background information as possible. “I have some pictures to share with you, too.”

  For the next two hours, Solange D’Martine led Eddi on a journ
ey through time. Just over fifty years ago a beautiful child had been born to a couple who had only recently settled in this country. Hailing from France, the D’Martines had decided that they wanted to live in America. To bear and raise their children here. They had purchased this estate the moment they laid eyes on it since it reminded them so very much of home with its European flair and setting.

  Edouard had been a joy as a child. Beautiful and gregarious. He lacked for nothing while growing up and in return he served the family business well, including working toward a degree in contract law. He was to be in charge one day and since he remained an only child, he was everything to his parents. Eddi shared the photo album of her childhood her mother had prepared with Solange.

  “I had no idea he’d met someone,” Solange said as she studied the pictures of Edouard with Eddi’s mother. Eddi’s chest ached as she shuffled through the loose stack of photographs that belonged to her grandmother.

  “Where did you get these pictures?” If her mother and Edouard’s relationship had been secret, where had the pictures come from?

  “They were among his things in Boston. He had a small apartment there for facilitating his attendance at the university.”

  God, her mother looked so young…and so happy. And Edouard, well, he was just about the handsomest man she’d ever seen. Guilt immediately nudged her. Besides her dad, she amended.

  “I had no idea who she was and, quite honestly, I was too grief stricken to pursue any such matters. It was months before I accidentally discovered the pictures. By then your mother had disappeared.”

  “They were really in love,” Eddi said more to herself than to Solange.

  “Very much so.”

  Eddi looked up at the sound of pain in her grandmother’s voice.

  “If he had only trusted me perhaps this horrible thing would not have happened.”

  Unable to help herself, Eddi placed a hand atop her grandmother’s. She looked so forlorn, so stricken, Eddi ached for her. “What do you mean?” she asked, not certain she really wanted to know but unable to ignore the statement.