by Nancy Bush
As soon as her feet touched the ground, his hand curved possessively around her waist. Kelsey’s head snapped back. “What are you doing?”
“Escorting my new bride inside,” he said through his teeth.
Since the incident with her derringer, he’d treated her like a stranger. He’d had to make reparations with the hotel but money and Jesse’s charm had brought a wreath of smiles back to the manager’s face. The man had apparently even forgiven Kelsey.
Kelsey supposed she should be glad Jesse was ignoring her, but if he expected this charade to succeed, he should have put aside his own differences with her and tried to coach her a bit more. Now her legs quivered as she walked up the porch stairs, and her heart fluttered. How did he expect her to act like a loving wife when they could scarcely bear the sight of each other?
A black-coated butler opened the door and into the foyer. Noise from hundreds of excited voices met them like a wall. Color swirled in front of Kelsey’s eyes – hundreds of jewel-toned gowns. Light danced off diamonds and emeralds and sapphires circling women’s throats and wrists and sometimes even wound in ropes throughout their hair.
Kelsey’s hair was braided. Jesse refused to allow her to net it, but she stubbornly refused to wear down. They’d compromised. Her lush mane was pulled loosely back from her forehead, then braided in a thick rope that swung gently between her shoulder blades. The arrangement was starker than Jesse wanted, but still attractive, soft wisps of sun-streaked auburn curling near her ears and across her smooth forehead.
She’d given in on the ruby necklace at her throat. Of all the gowns Mrs. Honeycutt had fashioned, the burgundy was the least provocative. The neckline dipped low, but came in close to her neck so only a rectangle of skin showed. When Jesse realized which dress she planned to make her debut in, he bought the necklace. Kelsey had protested its cost and had succeeded only in irritating her new husband. She’d given in, finally, for two reasons: the necklace covered more skin, and it was too stunningly beautiful to resist.
Two black suited attendants guided the crowd into the ballroom. Chairs were arranged in neat rows beneath three monstrous crystal chandeliers. After the auction the room would be used as it was meant – for dancing. Kelsey planned to escape before she was forced to move into Jesse’s arms.
“How long will it take you to accost Montana Gray?” she murmured. His hand had shifted and was now in the small of her back, guiding her through the crush.
“I’m not certain. He obviously doesn’t remember my name, or I’d have been accosted myself.”
Jesse wondered how Lila had forgotten him. Lila was too clever and too self-preserving to ignore a threat like Jesse Danner. Montana might not remember his name, would have seen it on the guest list and known exactly who he was. He’d half-expected her to contact him in advance, but the fact that she hadn’t intrigued him.
Kelsey half turned to gaze curiously around the room, offering Jesse her lovely profile. Beneath his hand, the velvet was soft and crushable. Beneath the velvet, the small of her back curved gently. These last few weeks had been hellish torture, he thought angrily. When she’d aimed her pistol at him, he’d reacted on instinct and by God, they were both damn lucky to still be alive! Any sane man would have considered that grounds for divorce at the very least, but half the time he fantasized about consummating their marriage and getting her out of his system once and for all.
If that would work, he admitted to himself darkly, and he had the terrible feeling it would backfire on him.
For the first time since Montana Gray had ordered him to be killed and stolen his life out from under him, Jesse felt deterred from his goal. Deterred by a woman. His own wife!
Her rope of hair swung against his arm. His gaze traveled upward, following one glowing wine-red strand that wound through the rich brown braid. Her nape was white as moonlight, the curve of her jaw so enticing that he had to look away or let his tongue explore it.
God damn it!
Jesse released Kelsey so abruptly she stumbled. Glaring at him, she strode into the ballroom alone and settled into a chair in the back row. Expecting him to follow her, she was slightly dismayed when he took up a position at the back of the room, his hands thrust into the pockets of his trousers, his broad shoulders leaning against the crushed-velvet-paneled wall.
The devil take him! Kelsey thought in a huff. Between the shoulders of the men seated in front of her, and the coiffures of the women, Kelsey’s gaze was drawn to a familiar white-haired woman and her young companion: Agatha and Charlotte.
Her heart wrenched. So they’d come. She wondered painfully if it was because they suspected she might be here. Maybe that was why they’d accepted the invitation. Agatha detested Montana Gray and would never willingly attend one of his affairs unless there was another reason. But would they even care to see her? No. Charlotte positively loathed her, so they had to be there for something else.
Movement caught her eye. Directly across from her, and several seats in from the aisle, Samuel Danner was motioning to her. There was an empty seat next to him.
Kelsey glanced back at Jesse and caught him staring at her. He lifted one brow. Kelsey gave him a sweet smile, gathering her skirts, then excused her way down the row until she was next to Samuel.
“You look incredible,” Samuel told her.
Kelsey flashed him a grateful smile as she settled herself into the seat. “So do you,” she said, meaning it.
Like Jesse, Samuel’s suit was pitch black. With his dark hair and eyes, he looked harsh and forbidding, and only his slow smile reminded Kelsey that Samuel was more easy-going than his elder brother.
“What’s Jesse got planned?” he asked, inclining his head to where Jesse stood.
“I neither know nor care. Revenge isn’t my cup of tea.”
“I’m surprised it’s Jesse’s.”
Kelsey gazed at him with interest. “Why?”
“You must remember Jesse about as well as I do. He was careless and tended to buck authority. He and Pa were at each other’s throats half the time. But he was also honorable, in his own way. He certainly possessed family loyalty the one time it was really needed.”
Kelsey knew why Samuel’s voice deepened in memory. He was thinking of the night Eliza Danner’s first husband had reappeared from the grave, so to speak. The Danners had rallied to Eliza’s rescue, Harrison had nearly been killed, Lexie and Tremaine had saved Harrison’s arm and life, Jesse had been injured, and Samuel, the youngest, had chased one of Gainsborough’s men away with a shotgun.
It wasn’t long after that incident, however, that Jesse had left town and Alice McIntyre had cried rape.
“Jesse was a rake and a libertine and I don’t believe he’s changed except now we can add ruthless and vengeful to his list of qualities,” she said.
Samuel snorted skeptically.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you married him, Kelsey, my girl. There must be something about him you like and admire.”
“I was forced to marry him.”
Samuel just shook his head and smiled, annoying Kelsey to no end. The auctioneer rose to the podium and his assistants held up an original painting by a renowned East Coast artist, so Kelsey was forced to hold her tongue. That Samuel believed she’d married Jesse for other reasons than the one she’d named was unthinkable.
Throughout the auction, Kelsey gaze continually strayed to the back room. People stopped to chat with Jesse from time to time. Especially gorgeously turned-out women, one of whom had the pompous nerve to offer her hand to be kissed, which he did so with considerable enjoyment.
By the time the auction came to a rousing end, and thousands of dollars had changed hands, Kelsey’s temper was simmering. Her eyes were narrowed on a distant point, her thoughts focused on murder. Except Jesse – blast him! – had hidden her derringer and now she was defenseless.
What she wouldn’t do to get her hands on an honest-to-goodness rifle. She was going to h
ave to approach Agatha and ask that her belongings be sent to her new home.
She swept out of the ballroom ahead of Samuel and felt a hard hand grabbed her arm. Furiously, she shook off Jesse’s grip, never bothering to look at him.
That sparked his anger.
He caught up with her in a small anteroom off the foyer. “Where the hell are you going?” he demanded.
“I need some fresh air.”
“Well, I need a loving companion. Take a few deep breaths out on the balcony and get back here quick. Montana’s waiting to meet you.”
“To meet me? You mean you’ve already talked with him?”
“We’ve been introduced. He doesn’t remember me.” Jesse’s tone was dry. “Yet.”
Kelsey hadn’t seen Montana, and he was not a man to be easily missed. “Mr. Gray will just have to wait.” She picked up the folds of her skirt and aimed toward the nearest balcony exit until Jesse’s hand caught her elbow, spinning her around.
“I’ll accompany you,” he said flatly.
“Really, there’s no need. I’m perfectly capable of catching my breath by myself.”
“Humor me,” was his imperative response.
The balcony was a small one on the south end of the house. It overlooked a garden closed on all sides by a laurel hedge, and the stone fountain with a statue of a maiden filling a bucket placed squarely in the center. In the lambency from the house lights, the colors were blurred and darkened and shadows lurked in the corners. Nevertheless, its loveliness struck Kelsey and, for the first time since she’d moved into her new house, she felt a pang of regret that she wouldn’t be staying long enough to make it a real home.
“You’re very tense,” she told him when they were standing alone. Behind them, the house was a cacophony of noise with the faintest violin music sounding hauntingly above it all.
“Yes, well, it’s all I can do to keep from breaking Montana’s fat neck.”
“You hate him that much.”
“I owe him.”
“For stealing your land and your money.” Her mocking tone was full of reproach.
Jesse’s lips tightened. Revealing Nell’s fate at Montana’s hands was on the tip of his tongue; however, before she could utter one word, the reason he wanted to tell her entered his brain: He wanted her to think well of him. “Yes,” he answered shortly before he lost what little control of his senses he still maintained and did something as foolish as tell her the truth.
“I don’t understand you, Jesse,” she said, perplexed, reminding him vividly of the Kelsey of his youth.
“Understanding isn’t part of the bargain, Mrs. Danner,” he answered lightly. “Are you ready for the performance?”
“I suppose so,” she sighed, so full of reluctance that Jesse almost smiled.
“Do you think –” she began, looking at him, but his hands fell on her shoulders, startling her. Her eyes widened as Jesse’s head descended toward hers. Her intake of breath was an aborted gasp. She jerked backward and he cupped her nape, drawing her lips upward, her sweet breath fanning his face in rapid terror.
His mind was only half on the kiss. Lila Gray’s face was imprinted on his mind – Lila Gray’s curious face as it peeked around the French doors of the balcony.
Recovering herself, Kelsey squirmed beneath the pressure of his embrace and kiss. He dare not let her up for air or she would blast him. Squeaks of protest sounded. Her hands clenched in his lapels, thrusting against – no, battering – his chest.
Lila’s vituperative face disappeared and Jesse ended the kiss, crushing Kelsey’s face to his ruffled shirt at the same moment. “Shhh,” he warned in a whisper.
“You son of a…” The rest was lost as he pressed her face closer. He grinned to himself. Kelsey tried to kick him in the shin and he pulled on her braid, snapping her head back so that he caught the end of her furious diatribe. “… black-hearted scoundrel with no conscience!” she gasped, jerking backward, practically tearing her dress from his grasp in her attempts to free herself.
Jesse wrapped one hard arm around her and squeezed her to his chest once again. “Stop it.”
“You have no right to manhandle me, and by God, I won’t stand for it!”
He increased the pressure against her rib cage and Kelsey choked. “You said you were ready to play your part,” he hissed in her ear. “We were being watched.”
Instead of bringing her to her senses, his revelation had the opposite effect. “Watched?” she shrieked in a whisper. “You kissed me while someone was watching?”
“Because someone was watching,” he explained. “Lila, Montana’s lovely wife, nearly fell on her nose trying to get an eyeful.”
Kelsey regarded him with undiluted outrage. “In case it’s escaped your notice, you and I are husband and wife. We don’t need to paw over each other in public. In fact, it’ll only worsen our bid – your bid! – for acceptance. You astonish me, Jesse. Sometimes you act like you’ve had lessons in manners and breeding, other times you’re a Rock Springs hick. I ought to slap you. That’s what a lady would do.”
“Wives don’t slap their husbands unless they expect to be treated the same way,” he retorted, annoyed because she was right about the public display of affection. He’d done it purely for Lila’s benefit. Or maybe his own, he thought with an inward wince, knowing he’d been dying to kiss Kelsey all night. “Besides, you’re no lady.” He grabbed her arm and propelled her back toward the ballroom. “Ladies don’t shoot anybody.”
¤ ¤ ¤
Lila Harroway Gray thought about having an attack of the vapors in the center of the ballroom. She could swoon in her partner’s arms, a jelly-stomached gent with noxious breath who had a habit of squeezing her right breast when he thought no one was looking. Her freezing glare didn’t work on him either. He was Judge Barlowe, one of Montana’s paid “friends.”
But the odious Barlowe wasn’t the reason she wanted to create a scene. She was mad as spit and could scarcely contain herself. If she didn’t find some relief soon, she’d explode!
Jesse Danner, her Jesse Danner, practically had his tongue down that gorgeous bitch’s throat, and he’d done it on purpose! He’d known she was watching, the filthy bastard!
Lila steamed. Surely a woman of her supposed breeding would faint dead away upon witnessing that vile scene on the balcony. She could spread rumors. Ruin him.
That thought stopped her short. Ruin him? How on earth had he gotten an invitation to the auction? She’d thought he was dead, for God’s sake, and now here he was, as virile and handsome as ever. No, more so!
“Excuse me,” she said, peeling Barlowe’s fat hand from her overripe chest. Sailing through the crowd in layers of blue chiffon, she caught the eye of her husband, who was flanked by his hard-eyed bodyguards, Gardner and Al.
Montana watched her approach. “You should have let me read the guest list,” Lila spit at him. “We’ve got a gate-crasher.”
“Who?” he grunted, his pig eyes darting around the room. Montana didn’t give a damn about social niceties, but he knew that his enemies weren’t above attacking him in his own home.
“Jesse Danner and – friend.” She curled the last word on her tongue.
“Don’t know him.”
“You should. You were supposed to have killed him five years ago!”
“Use that tone with me, woman, and you’ll find yourself locked in your room for a week on bread and water.”
Lila reined in her fury, clenching her teeth to keep from screaming. Five years ago, when Montana had caught her with Jesse, he’d nearly beaten her to death. The only good thing to come out of that was that she’d been rendered incapable of having children. Now she could indulge her taste for men without fear of pregnancy. And Montana had been kind enough not to damage her face.
Stewing, Lila stalked away. Over her initial shock, she began to regret her hasty words as she recalled the lovemaking she’d experienced with Jesse. She didn’t want Montana to murder or castrate him.
Not yet, anyway.
Suddenly the scene with Jesse and the beautiful red-haired woman brought a wave of weakness to her lower limbs. Now she viewed the whole thing over again as a voyeur, not as a jealous one-time lover. Excitement crawled over her skin as she envisioned the passion that kiss; the hard, determined way Jesse had held his feminine companion; the fierce sexual tension of the moment. Oh, Lord, she thought in fear, seeing the way Montana’s men were fanning out across the room. She had to stop them from harming him!
“Wait!” she ordered, grabbing her husband’s arm. “We need to find out what he knows. We can’t just kill him.”
Montana was as determined and ruthless a man as had ever walked the earth, but he wasn’t stupid. He gazed coldly at his wife. “Leave it to me,” was all he said, but Lila was convinced that he’d listened to her.
Jesse’s hand was in the small of Kelsey’s back, guiding her back inside the main ballroom. He half-expected her to bolt, but her hand was on his forearm as if she were a willing partner. He shot her an amused look, uncomfortably aware of the hot color that still stained her cheeks and made her gray eyes shimmer with emotion. Much as he wanted a gorgeously turned out wife, he wished he were immune to her incredible beauty. It would sure as hell make life a lot easier.
He spotted Lila and Montana together, both of their expressions tight-lipped and stony. Whatever they were discussing was repugnant to both of them. “This way,” he murmured in Kelsey’s ear, his breath fluttering the reddish curls.
The throng of people was a hot crush of bodies. Jesse’s arm circled Kelsey’s back, pressing her to his side. They’d taken only three steps before Tyrone McNamara and Gerrard Knight blocked their path. Both men ogled Kelsey, their expressions, comical in their surprise.
“Miss Simpson?” Knight croaked out, his eyes bulging as his gaze traveled almost indecently down her neck, the front of her gown, to her feet, then settled on her lusciously outlined breasts.