Kitabı oku: «It Started With... Collection», sayfa 20
‘That’s good to know as well.’
Her arms slid even tighter around his neck, pulling their bodies hard against each other. ‘Aren’t you going to kiss me?’ she asked breathlessly.
‘Soon.’
‘You have a sadistic side to you, Kane Marshall.’
‘I never claimed to be a saint.’
Neither was he a masochist. His mouth was within a millimetre of contacting hers when there was a knock on the door.
His head lifted, and they groaned together.
It was Dora, all a-flutter.
‘I saw Kane’s car out the front,’ she said. ‘Is anything wrong?’
Jessie gave her a quick run-down on the little drama with Emily. Dora looked relieved.
‘I’m so glad it’s nothing serious. And that Kane could help. Sorry I wasn’t here, dear. But you’ll never guess what’s happened.’
Kane and Jessie exchanged a look that carried both amusement and exasperation.
‘Why don’t I make us all some coffee,’ Jessie said, ‘and you can tell us what’s happened?’
Kane suppressed a sigh and pulled out a kitchen chair for Dora, sitting down himself once the old lady was settled.
Apparently she’d received an unexpected call from her brother that morning, the one who hadn’t been much support to her during their mother’s last years. Dora hadn’t spoken to him for a good two years.
‘If it hadn’t been Christmas I wouldn’t have spoken to him today, either,’ she said defiantly. ‘But I’m so glad I did.’
Apparently, her brother explained how he’d been inundated with business and family problems when their mum had been ill, but admitted that he knew he hadn’t done enough. He’d recently had a health scare himself and had been thinking that he wanted to make it up to Dora. The upshot was he’d come and taken Dora out to lunch, over which he’d asked her to go to his place for Christmas, and for the week afterwards, right up to New Year. It seemed his business was doing very well now; he owned a couple of cafés down around the Wollongong area on the south coast. He had a huge holiday house down there, and every one of their relatives was coming.
Kane saw Jessie’s face fall at this news, and guessed that she and Emily always spent Christmas with Dora. After all, she had no one else. It was just the opportunity he’d been waiting for.
‘That’s great, Dora,’ he piped up. ‘And it sure takes a load off Jessie’s mind. You see, I asked her and Emily to come spend Christmas with me and my family. But she was worried sick about you, thinking you’d be all alone. Of course, you’d have been welcome to come too, but this solves everything much better.’
Dora seemed relieved and pleased at this announcement, whilst Jessie went a little quiet. After Dora bustled off to go do some more Christmas shopping, Kane was left to face a slightly cool Jessie.
‘What a smooth liar you are,’ she said.
Kane could feel the doubts rising in her again.
‘There’s nothing wrong with little white lies, Jessie,’ he pointed out. ‘Especially when they’re partially true. I was going to ask you to spend Christmas with me.’
‘And with your family?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what were you going to introduce me as?’
‘What would you like me to introduce you as?’
‘I don’t know. You tell me.’
‘How about fiancée?’
She stared at him and he sighed. ‘I guess that is rushing you somewhat. How about my new girlfriend, then?’
Jessie just kept shaking her head, her expression bewildered. ‘Were you seriously asking me to marry you? You weren’t joking?’
‘I wouldn’t joke about something like that.’
‘But we’ve only known each other ten days!’
‘I know I love you and I know you love me.’
‘But we don’t really know each other.’
‘I beg to differ. I know you very well. Much better than I knew Natalie when I married her, and we’d been dating for months. The problem is you don’t think you know me. But you had the wrong picture of me from the start. I rather hoped I’d managed to get rid of that poor image by now, but it seems I haven’t.’
‘That’s not true. I…I think you’re wonderful. You must know that. But marriage? That’s a very big step, Kane. For one thing, we don’t agree on one very important issue. The same issue you didn’t agree on with your first wife.’
‘What? You mean you don’t want children, either? Hell, Jessie, I thought…’ A great black pit yawned open in Kane’s stomach. He could not believe it. Jessie didn’t want his children. The woman he loved. The woman he adored. How cruel was that?
Jessie blinked. Had she heard that right? His ex hadn’t wanted children? But that couldn’t be right. She’d said she was pregnant that day in Kane’s office and that she was keeping the baby. Of course, lots of women who didn’t think they wanted children changed their minds once they actually got pregnant. But if that was the case…
‘Hold it there,’ she said. ‘Why, exactly, did you divorce Natalie?’
‘Mainly because she refused to have children. But I think I also realised I didn’t really love her.’
‘Oh!’ Jessie exclaimed with a gasp. ‘I thought it was you who didn’t want children!’
‘Me? I love children. How on earth did you get that ridiculous idea? I thought I explained the reasons behind my divorce quite clearly.’
‘You told me you disagreed with your wife over the matter of having children and I just assumed it had to be you who didn’t want kids.’ Jessie felt truly chastened. But secretly elated. ‘I’m so sorry, Kane. My old prejudice against men again.’
He nodded, unable to feel unhappy, now that he knew Jessie wanted more children. ‘An understandable mistake.’
‘So you really do want children?’
‘A whole tribe of them, if possible. The more the merrier.’
Jessie beamed. ‘Me, too.’
‘What about your career?’
‘My career would never come before my kids. But hopefully I could juggle both.’
Kane’s delight was as great as his despair had been. ‘In that case, come here, woman, and make it up to me for thinking such dreadful things.’
She ran into his arms. This time, he actually got to kiss her for five seconds before they were interrupted.
‘Mummy…’
They pulled apart to find Emily standing in the bedroom doorway, rubbing her eyes.
‘Hello, sweetie,’ her mother said. ‘You feeling better now?’
‘I’m thirsty. And my eyes are sore.’
Jessie gave a small sigh. ‘I’ll get you a drink of water. Kane, where are those eye drops?’
‘Over here on the coffee-table. I’ll get them.’
Their eyes clashed momentarily, Kane seeing that Jessie was watching him for signs of impatience.
Instead, he smiled, then hurried over to sweep Emily up into his arms. ‘Did you have a good sleep, princess?’
She tipped her head on one side. ‘Were you kissing Mummy just then?’
Jessie stopped breathing.
‘I sure was,’ Kane said. ‘It was very nice, too. Do you mind my kissing Mummy?’
‘No. Will you kiss me, too?’
He laughed and planted a peck on her forehead. ‘There. Now let me get those eye drops into you.’
‘Do you have to?’ she wailed.
‘Yes. I have to,’ Kane returned firmly.
Jessie heaved a great sigh of happiness. Even more wonderful than everything which had happened today was having someone else put Emily’s eye drops in.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
WORK the following Friday came to a halt by lunch-time, at which point the males on the staff pitched in to transform the main office floor into party land. Several of the central cubicles were dismantled to provide a more than adequate dance floor. Desks were cleared and decorations and disco lights went up.
Peter—who apparently loved playing DJ each year—set about filling his area with his latest hi-fi gear, whistling Jingle Bells as he worked. Kane and Karen took charge of stocking up the temporary bar, whilst Margaret roped Jessie and Michele into helping her with the food, which they spread out, buffet-style, on several desks pushed together. A local catering company had supplied a wide selection of cold meats, seafood and salads, with some delicious cream-topped cakes for the sweet tooths, plus loads of snacks.
Jessie thought that there was way too much to eat and drink for their small staff, but when she remarked on this to Michele, she was informed that their office party was so popular that loads of other people in the building came, along with clients, past and present.
‘And everyone’s other halves usually drop in as well,’ Michele added. ‘Tyler’s sure to be late, workaholic that he is, but he’ll make an appearance at some stage, even if only to see me safely home.’
Tyler, Jessie knew by now, was Michele’s husband.
‘And speaking of other halves,’ Michele said after a glance over at Kane, ‘yours is looking very bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tonight. What have you been doing to him, girl?’
Absolutely nothing of what Michele was implying. There’d been no actual lovemaking, despite their spending every evening this week together. Kane didn’t seem to mind stopping at a goodnight kiss. He’d even promised he wouldn’t press her for more in any shape or form here at the party tonight.
‘He does look yummy in black, doesn’t he?’ Jessie said with that swirl in her stomach that always occurred whenever she looked at the man she loved. It had been difficult controlling her own desires these past few days, but it had been more important to her to know that Kane’s love was not just sexually based than to indulge in some passing pleasure.
‘You haven’t told anyone else here about our being engaged, have you?’ she added swiftly. She didn’t mind Michele knowing. They were fast becoming firm friends and she just couldn’t keep her good news totally secret.
Still, it was good that Kane hadn’t bought her a ring yet. That way he couldn’t be annoyed with her for not wearing it at work. Jessie was still worried over what the other people at Wild Ideas might think.
‘No. I haven’t told anyone else,’ Michele said with a sigh. ‘But if you keep looking at each other the way you do, people will begin to suspect something is going on.’
Kane turned his head at that moment, and their eyes connected. His smile carried so much obvious love that Jessie could see what Michele meant.
‘OK, everyone!’ Kane announced to the room. ‘Everything’s ready for the party. Time for the girls to go and put their glad rags on. The guys too, if you’ve brought something more colourful to change into.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘At three o’clock, the doors will be thrown open and it’ll be all systems go. Though speaking of systems, please make sure that your computers are safely turned off, passwords hidden and all important files discreetly locked away. I don’t want Harry coming home and finding that all your wonderfully wild ideas have been stolen, or sabotaged. OK?’
‘OK, boss!’ they all chorused, Jessie included.
How proud of him she felt, this wonderful, gorgeous, sensible-thinking man who loved her.
Twenty minutes later, she was nervously viewing herself in the full-length mirror that hung on the back of the ladies’ room door. Her cocktail dress was brand new, and very sexy. Black silk with turquoise swirls on it, it had a halter neckline, a wide, extremely tight waistband and a swishy skirt.
Her shoes were new, too. Turquoise, in the currently fashionable slip-on style, which showed off her pretty ankles and scarlet-painted toenails. This time she’d been able to afford fake tan, so her bare legs and arms glowed a nice honey colour. Her hair was down for once, and not too bushy, courtesy of the more expensive hair products she could also now buy and which tamed the frizz somewhat. She was wearing more make-up than she would usually wear in the office as well, and considerably less underwear. No bra for starters and just the briefest thong underneath.
‘Wow!’ Margaret said when she saw her.
‘Yes, wow!’ Karen agreed.
Michele just raised her eyebrows in a knowing fashion.
Kane’s reaction when he saw her was not quite as enthusiastic. He wasn’t too pleased, either, when Jessie was subjected to instant male attention. The men flocked around her, getting her drinks, constantly asking her to dance and pretending to be devastated when she refused.
Jessie suspected Kane was jealous, but if so, why did he keep his distance? Why didn’t he come and ask her to dance? She wouldn’t have said no to him.
Finally, after the party had been raging for over two hours, he walked over to her, his expression tight.
‘Could I have a private word, Jessie?’
‘Of course,’ she replied, and threw her circle of admirers a bright smile. ‘Won’t be long.’
Kane’s grip on her elbow was firm as he steered her away from the party and along the corridor towards his office. Jessie quivered inside at his forcefulness, but it was a quiver of excitement, not nerves. A few glasses of champagne had dispensed with her earlier worries, replacing them with a deliciously carefree attitude.
‘I said I wasn’t going to do this, remember?’ she remarked blithely, all the while quite happy with the prospect of being ravished on Kane’s desk.
‘I haven’t brought you here for sex,’ Kane snapped as he banged the door shut behind them.
‘Oh…’
‘Look, I know you’re worried about the rest of the staff thinking you weren’t hired on your merits. And I’ve tried damned hard tonight not to embarrass you by staking my claim on you publicly. But you are my woman, Jessie,’ he pronounced firmly. ‘Mine. And it’s time everyone out there knew that.’
‘Oh…’
‘I’ve asked you to marry me and you’ve said yes. You should be wearing my ring.’
‘But…’
‘No buts. I’m tired of your buts.’ With that he drew a blue velvet box out of his jacket pocket and flipped it open. ‘I hope you like it.’
Jessie stared down at the solitaire diamond engagement ring, then swallowed. Oh, God, she was going to cry. ‘It…it’s beautiful,’ she stammered.
‘You’re beautiful,’ he said thickly, and taking the ring out of the box, he put the box back in his pocket, then came forward and picked up her left hand.
‘I love you, Jessie Denton,’ he said as he slipped it on her trembling ring finger.
Her eyes flooded, then tears spilled over, running down her cheeks. ‘And I love you,’ she choked out.
He wiped the tears away with his spare hand, then bent to kiss each wet cheek. ‘That’s nothing to cry about,’ he said with a soft smile in his voice. ‘At least, I hope not.’
‘Oh, no,’ she denied hotly. ‘Never!’
With a rush of sweet emotion, Jessie wound her arms up around his neck and pulled him close. ‘You mean the world to me!’ she proclaimed.
His hesitation was only slight before he kissed her. Soon, there was no hesitation, only passion. His kisses were fierce, his clasp so tight around her back that her breasts were totally flattened against his chest.
His sudden wrenching away came as a shock.
‘Sorry,’ he ground out. ‘I promised I wouldn’t do that.’
She loved it that he cared enough about her to stop. But the time for testing him further was long over.
‘It’s all right, Kane. I want you to make love to me.’
‘What? You mean…here?’
‘Yes, here. Now.’
He watched, gaze smouldering as she kicked off her shoes then reached up under her skirt to peel her panties off. That done, she untied the bow at the back of her neck, letting the straps fall so that her bare breasts were exposed.
When Kane sucked in sharply, her stomach quivered and her already erect nipples tightened further.
‘I’d better lock the door,’ he rasped.
He did so, then took her hand and led her over to the nearby Chesterfield. There, he drew her down onto his lap, kissing her and playing with her breasts till she was breathless and shaking. Only then did he slide one hand up under her skirt.
‘No,’ she protested. ‘No, I don’t want that, Kane. I want you. With nothing between us.’
‘But…’
‘No buts. It’s all right. It’s a safe time in my cycle. And if I’m wrong, what does it matter? I love you. You love me. We’re getting married. A baby would be just fine.’
Kane could not believe the impact of her words. She must really love him and trust him, if she didn’t mind conceiving his baby before they were married. He could not ask for more.
How he wanted her! His lovely Jessie. His woman.
He groaned at the first contact of their naked bodies, then moaned when his flesh began to enter hers. The look on her face as she sank all the way downwards told him she felt very much what he was feeling. When her hands cradled his face and she looked deep into his eyes, it took all of his will-power not to weep.
‘I love you,’ she whispered, and began to rise and fall upon him in a voluptuously sensual rhythm. ‘I love you,’ she repeated, pressing tiny kisses all over his face at the same time.
Kane closed his eyes in defence of the emotion that ripped through him. Never in his life had he felt anything like what this woman could make him feel. He could not wait to marry her, to promise to love and cherish her till death did them part. Because nothing short of death would destroy their union. They were as one, not just in their bodies but also in their minds. She was going to be his soul mate. His best friend. The mother of his children.
When he took her hands from around his face and held them to his lips, she stopped moving to stare at him with glazed eyes.
‘I…I never thought it could be like this,’ she said in a voice that betrayed some lingering bewilderment over their relationship.
‘I don’t think it is very often,’ he returned. ‘We’re very lucky.’
‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘Very.’
‘We’re going to go back to the party afterwards and announce our engagement,’ he commanded, taking full advantage of the moment.
Jessie nodded. ‘Yes. All right. But Kane…about tomorrow night…’
Kane frowned. ‘What about tomorrow night?’ She and Emily were supposed to be coming to sleep over at his house. It was Christmas Eve. He’d already bought a Christmas tree. A real one. And loads of decorations, which he planned on putting up with Emily. Not to mention more presents than was wise.
But how often did a man fall in love and get an instant family, one that probably hadn’t been spoiled as he intended to spoil them, if he was allowed to?
‘Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind about coming!’
She laughed a wicked little laugh. ‘I’ll be coming all right. Tonight. But Kane…about tomorrow night. I know it’s probably old-fashioned of me, but I won’t sleep in your bed with Emily in the same house. Not until we’re married.’
Kane wasn’t going to argue with her. Not at this precise moment. ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘But I give you the right to change your mind again.’
‘I won’t change my mind this time.’
‘We’ll see,’ he said, taking hold of her hips and urging her to start moving again.
When she cried out in naked ecstasy, Kane suspected he was in there with a pretty good chance.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
‘LOOK, Mummy, it’s a Felicity Fairy doll!’ Emily squealed as she ripped off the rest of the wrapping paper. ‘And her horse! And her castle!’
‘What a lucky girl you are,’ Jessie replied from where she was curled up in the corner of Kane’s sofa, dressed in the red silk nightie and robe Kane had given her on the stroke of midnight last night. They’d been up late talking and wrapping presents for Emily.
Of course, he’d insisted on seeing Jessie in his gift, one thing had led to another and, well…at least she hadn’t actually slept in his bed. This room, however, had been witness to some torrid but tender lovemaking between even more provocative present-giving: perfume, body lotion and chocolates, which he’d fed her one by one as rewards for various services rendered.
Around one o’clock, a sated Jessie had given Kane the gifts she’d bought him. A book about the teachings of the Dalai Lama, a Robbie Williams CD and a DVD of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. She’d gleaned his taste from their many talks. He’d been so overcome that he had to listen to the CD and watch some of the DVD before making love to her again as a thank-you.
Shortly before three, a totally spent Jessie had stumbled into the second guest room, climbed into the bed and fallen into a deep sleep, where she had remained, not moving an inch, till Emily started tugging on her hair around six, saying Santa had been and Mummy just had to get up.
After Jessie had opened a single bleary eye, Emily had rushed off, saying she would wake Kane up, too.
That had been about fifteen minutes ago.
Jessie yawned just as Kane came into the living room with two mugs of freshly brewed coffee. He was actually wearing clothes. Shorts and a T-shirt. He needed a shave but he looked good like that. Very sexy.
‘I really need this,’ she said as she took one of the mugs and cradled it in her hands. ‘It’s just as well you took me to meet your family the other night when I looked all right. I look like something the cat dragged in today.’
‘You look beautiful,’ he said, and bent to give her a peck on the forehead before settling next to her. ‘Glowing, in fact. Being in love suits you.’
Jessie glanced down at her engagement ring then up at the man who’d given it to her. ‘Being in love with you suits me,’ she said. ‘You are the most incredible man.’
‘But of course!’ He grinned. ‘Didn’t I tell you that from the start?’
She laughed. ‘You’re also very arrogant.’
‘Not true. I just know what I want when I see it.’
‘Mummy, look at this!’ Emily said, holding up the prettiest pink dress. ‘Isn’t it beautiful? I’m going to wear it when we visit Kane’s mummy and daddy. I’ll look like a princess, won’t I, Kane?’
‘Indeed.’
Jessie’s heart turned over at how happy her daughter was. Kane had brought joy to both their lives, as well as the promise of a secure future.
‘So, did Santa bring you everything you asked him for?’ Jessie asked her daughter.
‘Oh, yes,’ Emily said, surveying all her new toys and clothes and games. ‘He didn’t forget a thing.’
‘What do you like most?’ Jessie asked, knowing exactly what her daughter would say: the Felicity Fairy doll.
‘I like my new daddy the most,’ came her unexpected reply. ‘Can I call you Daddy now, Kane?’ she added, crinkling her forehead up into a frown.
‘I’d like nothing better, princess. Now, come over here,’ he said as he put his coffee down on a side-table, ‘and give your new daddy a hug.’
Emily smiled as only a child could smile, then ran into Kane’s waiting arms.
Jessie frowned.
‘Emily,’ she said once her daughter was comfortable on Kane’s lap, her arms tightly wound around his neck, ‘did you ask Santa for a new daddy that day at the shops?’
‘Yes,’ came the reply. ‘You said if I was a good girl he would get me anything I asked for. And he did.’
Jessie blinked at Kane, who shrugged. ‘The ways of the lord are very mysterious.’
She stared at him. ‘I didn’t know you were religious.’
‘I’m not overly. But I think we might pop into a church later today, just to say thank you.’
‘Can I go to church with you, Daddy?’
‘But of course, princess. That’s what daddies are for. To do whatever our little girls want us to do. And our big girls, too,’ he added with a sexy wink Jessie’s way.
‘Next year,’ Emily said excitedly, ‘I’m going to ask Santa for a baby brother.’
‘What a good idea,’ Kane replied whilst Jessie tried not to choke on her coffee. ‘I’m sure Santa won’t have any trouble with that order. Though you have to remember that even Santa can’t order the sex of a baby. That’s up to God.’
‘Then I’ll ask God.’
‘Go straight to the top. Excellent thinking. What do you think, Mummy?’
‘I think we should clear away all that paper over there, then have a shower and get dressed.’
Emily pulled a face when her mother got up and went over to start picking up the mounds of Christmas paper.
‘Mummies aren’t as much fun as daddies,’ she pronounced.
Kane smiled. ‘Oh, I don’t know, Emily. Your mummy has her moments. And she is a very good mummy, isn’t she?’
‘Oh, yes,’ Emily said, and smiled over at her mother.
Jessie thought her heart would burst with happiness. She didn’t know what she had done to deserve such happiness but she resolved never to take it for granted, to work hard, to always be a good wife to Kane, and an even better mother to Emily and whatever other children she might be blessed with.
Her mother was going to be surprised when she rang her later today and told her that some man did want to marry her, even with some other man’s baby.
But of course Kane wasn’t some man. He was a very special man.
‘Daddy,’ Emily whispered to Kane, ‘why is Mummy crying?’
‘She’s crying because she’s happy, princess,’ he told Emily, a lump in his own throat. ‘Grown-ups cry sometimes when they’re happy.’
‘When I cry, Mummy kisses me better.’
Kane nodded. ‘What a good idea. Let’s go kiss her better.’
