Stolen Kisses

by Sally Falcon

  She didn’t bother to question what answer he wanted. He held his breath when she hesitated a moment before saying, “Won’t you come in? It’s a little chilly to stand here talking.”

  He nodded and silently stepped inside. Was it his imagination, or did she seem much more at ease in his company tonight? Of course, he hadn’t done anything stupid yet. Was she being nice because tonight was the end of their brief acquaintance? he wondered as he followed her into the living room.

  “Please sit down. Would you like something to drink?” she asked politely as if she were entertaining the minister.

  “No, thank you,” he returned in the same civil tone. He took a seat on the edge of a horsehair chair, feeling as stiff as any of his Victorian ancestors. Not wanting to make a false move, he waited for Jessie to speak. She moved quickly around the room, turning on two more lamps. Her glance strayed more than once to the table near his elbow.

  “I want to thank you for the rabbit and the balloons,” she stated, her hands clasped primly in front of her. Standing in the middle of the room, she had the stance of the perfect society hostess. “I really think I owe you an apology as well. There was no excuse for what I did. I overreacted, and I’m sorry.”

  Should he accept her apology? Would he be damned if he did, or damned if he didn’t? Maybe he should simply be noncommittal. “That’s all right.”

  Silence descended again, making Trevor look around for anything that would be a suitable topic. Jessie’s fondness for Victorian decor showed clearly in her choices. The medallion-backed sofa and parlor chairs were good reproductions, much more delicate than the furniture he’d grown up around. The fringed shaded lamps and other bric-a-brac were antiques that blended well with more contemporary pieces. On the marble-topped table next to him were a number of photographs in ornate frames, almost hidden by a pile of books. He cursorily glanced at the titles, then reached over to pick up a photograph of a large group of people.

  “Is this your family?” He glanced up to find her brilliant blue gaze trained on him. Her expression was hard to read, almost bittersweet.

  “Yes, those are my brothers and sisters on the farm in Tennessee.”

  “You’ve come a long way from a Tennessee farm.” He was impressed with what she had accomplished.

  “Hearing my life story wasn’t why you came here tonight, though,” she answered quickly, seeming to shake off the memory conjured up by his question about her family.

  Realizing that she didn’t want to say any more about her family, he took a deep breath. He might as well get this over with as quickly and as painlessly as possible. “No, I came to find out if you’re still going to work on my house.”

  “Yes.”

  He cocked his head to the side, waiting to see if there was more. “Yes, that’s all?”

  Jessie actually, smiled, sending his pulse rate into double time. There was some quality he still couldn’t quite define when she smiled. He wished he could pin it down. That might be the answer to his fascination with the lady. Maybe it was only because he hadn’t seen her smile at him very often.

  “I’ll reserve judgment for now,” she answered easily, her expression almost turning playful. “My partner says I haven’t been very fair to you. So I will try to keep an open mind, within reason.”

  He smiled grudgingly in return. Who had been treating whom unfairly? Tonight was going to be a sleepless night over Jessie again, he acknowledged glumly. She was one surprise after another. He had been sure she would turn him down; that was why he hadn’t waited until Monday to see her. The suspense had been gnawing at him. Maybe he should also send her friend a token of appreciation for her defense of him. He was probably going to need all the help he could get. Unable to think of another topic to discuss, he rose to his feet to leave.

  The lady hadn’t expected his sudden movement and took a cautious step backward. He smiled sadly at her reaction. “I’m not really all that dangerous.”

  Jessie didn’t answer, merely raising an arched brow that seemed to contradict his words. He simply walked to the front door, trying to tamp down his instincts. What he wanted most in the world at that moment was to take Jessie in his arms. He was sure, however, that would be the worst move he could make. She remained silent as she followed him to the door.

  When he grasped the doorknob, he turned to glance down at her. For perhaps the first time, she wasn’t looking at him with anger or disdain. Her blue eyes were wide with curiosity. Even without makeup, her face was alluring.

  Not stopping to think about his actions, not calculating the result, he slowly bent his head. His lips feathered across the full warmth of hers. Reluctantly, he raised his head. She didn’t pull away, which he thought was encouraging. The temptation of her flushed face and slumberous eyes was too great, and he bent to kiss her again.

  Just as before, the world went into a tailspin. A mixture of feelings coursed through him. He felt a basic, primitive desire for the soft woman in his arms, mingled with a need to cherish and protect her. When she trembled against him, his arms tightened instinctively, but he didn’t deepen the kiss. He didn’t trust himself.

  “I’m not dangerous,” he told her, his voice not quite steady, “but I don’t have much will power where you’re concerned. I’ll try to keep to the agreement, but I won’t promise that I’ll always keep my hands to myself.”

  Before she could say a word, he walked out the door, closing it firmly behind him. Pausing on the front step, he took a deep breath to clear his head. Even a brief kiss from Jessie was potent. He had felt her lips move under his, he was sure of it. Liquid desire still coursed through him, and he wondered if he would be able to survive actually making love with her.

  As he ambled to his car, a sudden thought occurred to him. What was a woman like Jessica DeLord doing with books on dating and babies? More important, what was Jessie’s preoccupation with babies? Before he grasped the door handle he looked back at the house. He tried to remember the titles of the books by the photographs. Shaking his head, he climbed into the car. Every time he solved one piece of the puzzle about the lady, another one seemed to spring up.

  “Hi, beautiful.”

  Jessie almost spilled her tea on the fabric samples in front of her. Somehow Trevor had materialized out of nowhere after a three-day absence and was now sitting on the edge of her desk. “Hello.”

  “Did you miss me over the weekend?”

  She caught the teasing glint in his brown eyes and relaxed. After Thursday night, she decided to take things one day at a time. She wasn’t going to let Trevor goad her into any rash behavior. They’d been able to have a rational conversation that night, so if she was careful, they could get along. She just refused to remember his departure. “Was I supposed to miss you?”

  “You could pretend. At least tell me that the news was flat without me.”

  “I don’t watch the local news.” She smiled gently to soften her denial. As long as she kept her distance from him and didn’t think about her physical reaction to his touch, she was perfectly all right. At least she was with the width of the desk between them.

  “That’s sacrilege!” he exclaimed, clasping his hand to his heart in a movement that was terribly familiar to Jessie. With Trevor now attired in an old football jersey and jeans, the gesture wasn’t quite as dramatic as the first time she’d seen it.

  “So sue me. Did you come in here only to harass me, or was there a reason?” she asked brightly, more than pleased with her handling, of the situation. Leaning back in her chair, she was able to look at Trevor and see her partner’s stunned reaction to the by-play.

  “A little of both, actually, as my friend Logan says. I wanted to show you these pictures of the kitchen cabinets we’re putting in this week.” He passed her the photographs before he continued. “We’re planning to use a light walnut stain on the wood. Sometime while you’re shopping around for some items, would you look for some dishes and glasses that would be displayed well in the upper cabinets?�
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  “I think so.” Looking at the picture of the glass-fronted cabinet, she felt yet another twinge of longing to own this house. Apparently her thoughts were all too clear.

  “Love my house, tolerate me?”

  “That about sums up the matter.”

  “Jessie!” Gina’s chastisement broke in before Trevor could respond. “You shouldn’t be rude to a client.”

  “He started it,” she shot back, realizing that she was enjoying herself without feeling threatened. Maybe this partnership was going to work after all. Then she looked up and was stunned at the sudden transformation in Trevor’s expression.

  One minute, he was boyishly teasing. A second later, after his attention strayed over her shoulder, a blatantly sensual smile curved his lips. He didn’t bother to hide the masculine appreciation in his gaze as he looked down at her.

  “Nice rabbit,” he said only for her ears.

  She could feel the heat rushing into her cheeks. Although she’d taken the deflating balloons home, the rabbit now stood next to her credenza. The beast was only there to remind her to go very carefully, not what Trevor seemed to think. The man had a distinctly proprietary air about him now.

  The phone rang before she could disabuse him of the idea. “Oh, hello, Wes. No, I can’t really talk right now,” she said, blessing him silently for calling at that moment. Trevor seemed to be looming closer, a frown taking the place of his seductive look. “Yes, that sounds wonderful. Why don’t I meet you at the restaurant about five-thirty? Thank your client for me as well. I’m looking forward to it. Bye.”

  “Who’s Wes? Another idiot lawyer?”

  “He’s an accountant,” she answered, making a show of opening her organizer to write down the name and time. With an air of surprise, she looked up and asked, “Was there anything else besides the cabinets you wanted to discuss?”

  “Not right now,” he answered, making it clear that he still had some unfinished business to discuss. His eyes had darkened to almost black. “Just remember that I didn’t make any promises.”

  He stood and walked quickly to the door. Just as he was about to step into the corridor, Jessie called his name and he turned back to face her. “Don’t push me, Trevor. I have my limits.”

  He left without another word.

  “Well, that was the most disgusting performance I’ve ever seen,” Gina exclaimed, barely waiting for the door to swing shut.

  “I thought you liked Trevor.” Jessie gave her friend a wide-eyed innocent look.

  “Don’t be obtuse. I was talking about you.” Her temper was beginning to show from the rapid tapping of her pencil against her desk blotter. “I thought you were going to give Trevor a chance?”

  “I said I would be nice to him. I didn’t say I was going to throw myself at his feet.” For a moment, she remembered a few nights earlier when she had melted against him the second he touched her. What Gina didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. She had enough trouble with her friend’s loyalty without admitting the man’s kisses should be declared lethal weapons.

  “Do you really think he fell for that ‘other man’ nonsense? The jealousy routine went out years ago.”

  “I wasn’t trying to make him jealous,” Jessie shot back more heatedly than she intended. “I didn’t arrange for Wes to call. A grateful client gave him tickets to Les Miz for Thursday night. Wes usually doesn’t make plans this close to the tax deadline, but he didn’t want to miss this.”

  Gina’s answer was a snort of disgust as she returned to her work. The floor plan in front of Jessie was neglected as she reviewed this last encounter with Trevor. She realized that he had changed his tactics, but just what was he going to do next?

  “Tory, this wasn’t quite what I had in mind when I asked you to have lunch with me,” Trevor complained from his seat on the freezer in the Bill of Fare kitchen. His sister and Abby were busy shouting orders at the workmen in the front of the shop.

  “I’m feeding you and not putting you to work, so stop whining,” she called to him before she disappeared through the swinging red saloon doors.

  He bit viciously into his sandwich to appease his feelings. Tory was preoccupied with expanding her catering business to retail stores, the first one opening in two days. If he could just get her to stand still for ten minutes, he’d get out of her way.

  “You know, after that prank you and Curtiss pulled on me on Saturday night after the rally, I really shouldn’t be talking to you at all,” Tory snapped as she bustled back through the doorway. She propped her hips against the freezer and grabbed his hand to steal a bite of his sandwich.

  “Hey, get your own, Piglet.” He then regretted reverting to her childhood nickname. He wanted her to be on his side. It was just as well she didn’t know about the little talk he and Curtiss had with Logan on Saturday evening over dinner. If she was annoyed that they had tricked her into driving Logan back to Little Rock from the rally, then she wouldn’t be thrilled about her two brothers playing good-cop/bad-cop to find out the guy’s intentions.

  “So what was so all-fired important that you got out of bed at a decent hour?”

  “Don’t get too smart, or I’ll tell the Yankee that you’re madly in love with him.” He couldn’t help teasing her and enjoyed seeing his usually self-possessed sister blush. “I need to ask your advice about—” He broke off as Abby came through the swinging door.

  “Did I come in at a bad time, I hope?” She gave Trevor a threatening look to tell him he was still in the doghouse. He groaned inwardly, since Abby was the last person he wanted to overhear this.

  “I think my big brother is having girl trouble. Isn’t that cute?” Tory teased, ready to get back at him, though still unaware of the worst of her family’s interference in her personal life.

  He debated on telling his sister about the family’s betting pool on how soon she and Logan would be engaged. Looking at the sharp knife she was wielding as she prepared her sandwich, he decided against it. Besides, he owed some loyalty to Logan, even if he was a Yankee. He also had his money on a week from Wednesday and didn’t want to ruin the odds.

  “You might as well go ahead and spill your guts,” Tory told him, jumping up beside him a few minutes later. “Abby probably isn’t going to leave.”

  “It’s not that exciting. I’m just getting some mixed signals from this particular lady,” he said grudgingly as Abby wrinkled her nose at him. “I think she likes me, but I’m not sure if she’ll go out with me if I ask her. I’ve done a couple of dumb things that involve her, so now she’s a little wary of me.”

  “This must be pretty important, if you’re scared to approach her.” His sister munched on her sandwich, her dark eyes watching his every move.

  “I talked to her yesterday, so I’m not scared of her. She just confused me. She accepted a date with someone else while I was sitting right there on her desk.” He couldn’t hide his indignation over what had happened. “She seems to have some ideal type of man, and I apparently don’t fit the bill.”

  “What? She doesn’t want to date some irresponsible ex-jock who has a warped sense of humor? Smart girl,” Abby put in. “I’ve told you there isn’t an intelligent woman in the city who will take a risk of being your next victim.”

  “You make me sound like Bluebeard, for God’s sake,” he grumbled, wondering if there really was a conspiracy against him. This is what Jessie had brought him to: paranoia. “Look, I’m not sure, but I think this one could be serious. I didn’t even flinch when she mentioned babies.”

  That announcement left both women speechless, but not for long. Tory was the first to break the silence. “Let’s back up a little bit, okay? You can’t get a date with this woman, but she’s been talking about having a baby. She sounds like she has her priorities a little mixed up.”

  “I’m not exactly sure what the deal is about the babies. It has something to do with my not being responsible enough to father her children. She was kinda angry at the time.”

  “S
he wouldn’t be responsible for the crème de menthe stain on my linen tablecloth, would she?” Tory’s smile was pure malice as she considered the matter. “And Arnette was complaining about mysterious green stains on some of your clothes in the laundry she did this weekend. The woman didn’t happen to use you for target practice, did she?”

  “You don’t have to look so pleased about it.”

  “I told you not too long ago you’d have a hard time finding a woman crazy enough to take you seriously,” his sister declared, waving a pickle spear at him to emphasize her point. “What you’re going to have to do is quit pulling stunts like that one at Abby’s party. No woman is going to put up with your grabbing strange women and kissing them as a practical joke.”

  “That’s true. Darn, I still haven’t called Jessie to apologize to her about that,” Abby added, making Trevor break out in a cold sweat. He didn’t want Abby and Jessie comparing notes too soon, at least not until Jessie got to know him a little better.

  “Your best bet is to show her that you can behave like a rational, adult man.” Tory scrutinized him from head to toe. “That may be tough, but you might be able to pull it off. What about this guy she accepted the date with?”

  “All I know about him is that he’s an accountant.” He shrugged as if it didn’t matter, while thinking about taking a satisfying punch at the guy.

  “Since she’s going out with him, he must fit her scale of perfection,” Tory decided after a moment’s consideration. “Your next move is to find out about this list of hers, then see what the competition is like.”

  Trevor finished his sandwich in two bites, digesting his sister’s advice as well. Jessie said that her partner told her to be nice to him. Would Gina be willing to tell him about Jessie’s list of requirements for the ideal man? And maybe she knew about the baby business as well. After saying good-bye to Abby and his sister, he walked down the mall in a much better frame of mind.