by Miranda Lee
'Promises, promises,' he drawled after her in a sardonic echo of what she'd said to him the previous night.
She didn't stop to spar with him this time, peeping up and down the veranda before running as quietly as she could around the corner.
The sight of her abandoned clothes brought her up with a jolt. They looked so... so abandoned!
Closing her mind to the memories that flooded in, she snatched them up and bolted to her room, expecting any moment to hear Evie's shocked voice behind her. But she made it inside without any humiliating encounters. Her perfectly made and unslept-in bed seemed to stare at her, looking pure and pristine with its white lace quilt. Would she ever use it again during the next month? she wondered.
Not if I can help it, came the wicked thought.
No, not wicked, she denied. Wonderful. Being made love to "properly was wonderful! She didn't aim to spoil it with any thought of blame or shame. She didn't know what the future would bring with Sebastian but she aimed to enjoy every single moment she had with him.
Let tomorrow worry about tomorrow! she decided with a recklessness new to her. She usually had a prosaic and pragmatic way of looking at life. She'd always been a planner, and so damned practical. To hell with that for the next month! To hell with everything except Sebastian.
Jessica carried a silly, fatuous smile into the shower with her. She was still carrying it when she made it to the kitchen some twenty minutes later.
'Well, if it isn't Miss Sleepyhead!' Evie said brightly from where she was chopping up vegetables at the sink. 'Sebastian told me he'd let you sleep in. He said he kept you up playing games till the wee small hours and that you were a bit wrecked. I had no idea you liked games. Lucy was quite an addict, too. Which one's your favourite?'
Jessica's whirling mind finally ground to a halt. She was going to kill Sebastian when she got him alone... amongst other things. 'Oh, I like them all,' she said swiftly, and tried desperately not to blush.
'That's good. It'll give you and Sebastian something to do in the evenings while you're here. You must be bored without a television. I must say your sleep-in seems to have done you good,' Evie rattled on. 'You look positively glowing this morning. Bright blue suits you, doesn't it?'
'What?' she said, distracted by her thoughts of the coming evenings. Boredom would no longer come into it, of that she was sure! 'Oh, yes. Blue. I suppose so, but I think blue looks good on just about anyone, don't you?'
Actually, she'd dragged on the blue shorts and matching singlet without much thought except for the heat. It was much warmer than it had been the previous day, the sun shining brightly. Her face was scrubbed free of makeup, and her hair was scooped up in a ponytail.
She was a far cry from the sleek sophisticated number who'd stepped off the plane on Sunday, but she felt much more alive and incredibly relaxed.
'If you'd like a cuppa, I haven't long made a pot,' Evie offered. 'It should still be hot. You don't mind getting it yourself, do you?'
'Not at all,' Jessica said. She began humming as she did so.
'Pour Sebastian a mugful at the same time, will you?' Evie asked. 'He says he has a bit of a hangover this morning and hasn't been able to stomach any breakfast as yet. And I don't wonder why,' she added dryly. 'The whisky decanter's only half-full, I noticed. He said he had a touch of insomnia. Not that the drink seems to have done much good. You should have seen his bed. He must have tossed and turned all night. It was a right mess, with pillows on the floor and all.'
Jessica thought she did well not to look guilty, though she was relieved Evie's observations carried no noticeable insinuations. 'Insomnia's an awful thing,' she commented lightly as she poured the tea.
'I'll say,' Evie agreed. 'I'm making a simple grilled steak and salad for lunch, since Sebastian's stomach is feeling a bit fragile. Is that all right?'
'Perfect. I'll just take this tea along to him. Is he in his room?'
'Should be by now. He did pop along to the other bathroom for a shower and shave while you were showering. But I dare say he's back at his desk by now, writing away, trying to meet his deadline.'
He wasn't writing. He was standing on the veranda outside his room, dressed in nothing but shorts again.
Jessica swallowed as she walked through to join him, telling herself she would soon get used to his goingaround half-naked. Surely, she would not always look at him and feel an emptiness yawn in the pit of her stomach. Maybe, after he'd made love to her for a week or two, the intensity of her feelings would wear off.
'Here's the tea you wanted,' she said, smiling at him as she handed him the mug. She was glad that she'd thought to bring her own mug with her. It gave her an excuse to stay.
He gave her a strangely thoughtful look over the rim of the mug as he lifted it to his lips.
'What?' she asked.
'What what?'
'What are you thinking, silly?'
'That I'm going to be wicked and play hooky from my writing today.'
'Oh?' She was thrilled but tried not to show it. 'What happened to the hangover?'
'It's still there, hovering. But I can endure it provided I don't do any mental work. Not that I could. My creative ability seems to have still flown the coop. Actually, I'm feeling awfully basic this morning.'
'Hangovers are basic things,' she said.
'I wasn't thinking of the hangover,' he said dryly as his eyes washed over her.
'You could have worn a bra, Jess. What are you trying to do to me?'
She had to laugh. 'That's the pot calling the kettle black.'
'What on earth are you talking about?'
'Do you have any idea what you do to me, going around half-naked all the time? What you've done to me from the first moment I saw you?'
His eyebrows lifted, his expression going from surprise to a pleased speculation. 'No. What do I do?' 'You put indecent thoughts into my head.'
And her eyes drifted over his bare chest and past his navel. He groaned. 'God, don't look like at me like that, woman. It puts thoughts into places other than my head, and I'm just not capable of making love at the moment. Give me an hour or two.'
'Poor Sebastian.' She ran a teasing finger down the middle of his bare chest.
'I might have to have a little rest after lunch. Care to stroke my brow for me? And any other parts you fancy?'
'Only if I can brush your hair, as well.'
He seemed taken aback. 'Brush my hair? Why, is it that messy?' One hand reached up to rake through its tangled glory with an elegantly nonchalant grace.
'No,' she said. 'I just like the thought of brushing it.'
'Whatever you like.' He shrugged.
I'd like a lot of things, she thought as she looked at him and sipped her tea. I'd like to touch you all over, kiss you all over. I'd like to massage sweet scented oils into your beautiful body and hear you groan with desire. I'd like to take you with me into the abyss you took me to last night, make you tremble and cry out with mindless joy.
'Evie's making steak and salad for lunch,' she said, for all the world like lunch was the only thing on her mind.
He moaned. 'I can't think of food.'
'Don't think of it. Just eat it.'
He slanted her another of those thoughtful looks. 'You like giving orders, don't you?'
'No, but I'm disgustingly sensible.' Most of the time, she thought. 'Besides, someone has to give orders or nothing gets done.'
'Why should anything have to get done?' he said with a flash of irritation.
'Now don't start that with me, Sebastian. It won't wash. You imagine you're a free spirit with your life here, but you still discipline yourself to write your book most days because if you don't, it won't get done.'
'That's different.'
'Why?'
'Because it's what I choose to do. No one orders me to do it.'
'How fortunate for you. Cast your mind back to when you were dirt poor and you'll find you didn't have that option. You had to work to live, and worki
ng usually involved someone giving and taking orders.'
'That's a smart mouth you have, Jess. Frankly, I'd prefer you to use it for other things than making me feel a fool.'
Her face flamed at the image of what he'd implied. He stared at her.
'Don't tell me you've never done that, either. That's stretching credulity too far.'
She looked away from his sceptical face, out at the view. 'Believe what you like,' she said, a painful constriction around her chest.
'Hey, don't get upset with me. I do believe you. Honest. It's just difficult getting used to your being so different to what I first thought.' He reached out to touch her face, stroking her cheek while everything inside her melted with longing for him. 'Not that I mind. I like the Jess I'm discovering.' The back of his hand grazed across her mouth. 'Such sexy lips, yet so innocent...'
They didn't feel at all innocent at that moment. They burnt to do all that his words evoked in her mind. Her eyes met his and she knew he saw her utter willingness to do anything for him. Sexually, anyway.
'Have you changed your mind yet?' he murmured, his hand drifting down to stroke her jawline.
'About what?' she asked, even though she knew what he was asking.
'About selling this place. I'll look after it free of charge.. .if it will keep you coming back to me.'
Despite her deciding earlier to throw caution to the winds, Jessica hesitated.
'No...I haven't changed my mind,' she said carefully. 'Look, let's not talk about that just now. If we do, we'll only end up arguing again, and I don't want to argue this morning.'
He snorted, then swept his mug of tea around in a panoramic wave. 'How can you possibly prefer the city to this?' he demanded.
Jessica looked at the deep valley, and while she saw its beauty and splendour, it was still just a view. See it every morning and you'd soon get used to it. 'It's very lovely,' she said. 'And I do appreciate it. It's very peaceful and relaxing.'
'Meaning it's a nice place to visit but you wouldn't want to live here,' he scoffed.
'I am not going to let you provoke me this morning, Sebastian. I'm too happy.'
He scowled for a moment, then smiled. It was a very sexy smile. 'What are you going to let me do, then?'
'Nothing you're not capable of, that's for sure,' she said, her eyes dancing with mischief as she lifted her mug of tea to her lips.
He took the mug out of her hands, balanced it with his on the top of the railing then drew her into his arms.
'I think this should wait till Evie leaves after lunch,' she said firmly. 'Much as you don't care if she finds out about us, I do!'
'Tough.' His kiss was as uncompromising as his attitude towards keeping their affair a secret.
'I thought you said you weren't capable,' she mocked softly when his mouth finally lifted. There was nothing remotely incapable about what was pressing with undisguised urgency against her stomach.
He cupped the back of her head and kissed her again, quite savagely, his lips bruising as they reduced her supposed willpower to pulp. 'Now you know,'
he muttered into her gasping lips.
She stared into wildly glittering blue eyes.
'Know what?' she whispered shakily.
'That I'm a liar.'
For a split second she didn't know what to think. There was something quite frightening in the way he was looking at her. But then he laughed, whirled her round and pushed her off with a smack on the bottom. 'Get thee behind me, Satan.'
Still slightly disoriented, she stopped and glanced over her shoulder at him, aware that she was suddenly holding her breath. But he was smiling at her so sweetly that her earlier momentary qualm seemed ridiculous. What possible reason would he have for lying to her? It wasn't as though he'd declared undying love, or proposed marriage, or anything like that. They were just having an affair. If Jessica secretly hoped for more than that, then it was her own silly female fault!
No, she had to stop hoping for too much and do what she'd vowed to do last night. Enjoy each moment for what it was and leave the future to fate. With a surge of devil-may-care mischief, she whirled and walked towards Sebastian, enjoying the surprised flaring in his nostrils and eyes as she drew right up to him, her arms seemingly going round him in a tender embrace. When she drew back, laughing, with the empty mugs in her hand, his eyes narrowed and he pouted at her.
'I'm really going to make you pay for that one,' he warned darkly.
'Ooh. I'm petrified.'
'So you should be.'
'Before my punishment begins, would you be able to run me down to the shops again? I really must do my toenails this afternoon.'
'Let me guess. You bought the wrong colour nail polish?'
'No, I forgot the cotton wool balls. You have to separate your toes with cotton wool balls so that you don't smudge the polish.'
'How come I didn't think of that?' he scoffed.
'Because you're not a woman. As I said, I'm not going to bite today, Sebastian. Now, if you'd like to put a shirt on, we could get this little emergency fixed up before Evie serves lunch.'
'You're giving orders again.'
'You can punish me for it later,' she countered blithely, and swanned off to the kitchen before he could accuse her of wanting her bottom smacked, or some such other kinky thing.
'Sebastian's driving me down to the shops, Evie. We won't be long.'
'Better not be. Lunch in half an hour. Then I have to dash off. Monday's my craft afternoon. And I won't be back till five-thirty. What do you think you'll do all afternoon? You can bet Sebastian will get back to his book once he's got some food in his stomach.'
Jessica was amazed at her artfully nonchalant shrug. 'Oh, I don't know. I'm sure I'll find something to occupy my mind.'
CHAPTER TWELVE
'You two seem in bright spirits tonight,' Evie said as she served the evening meal.
Jessica swiftly forked some of the mouth-watering beef casserole into her mouth in an effort to hide her guilt from Evie. Though guilt was a bad word. She didn't believe she'd done anything wrong in spending all afternoon in bed with Sebastian. It had been a wonderful few hours, full of tenderness and pleasure, passion and fun.
Yes, fun!
Jessica smiled when she thought of Sebastian painting her toenails for her after she'd brushed his hair at length, then given him a long, deliciously sensual massage to get rid of the last vestiges of his hangover. He'd done an excellent job on her nails after a few practice runs, and while she'd giggled over his mistakes, it had been a surprisingly sensual experience, having a man paint her toenails.
Perhaps it had something to do with having him sit between her legs as she lay on the bed in spread-eagled nudity. Or the way his fingers kept brushing over the highly sensitive soles of her feet. By the time he'd finished, it had been hard to keep her bottom half still for five minutes while the polish dried. She'd wanted him so badly that she'd been easily seduced into accommodating him in more imaginative ways.
She'd never dreamt that her breasts could be used in such a way. She couldn't claim to such an innocent mouth any more, either.
'Jess and I are great mates now, aren't we?' Sebastian said naughtily. 'I decided, in the end, to abandon my book for the day and do the right thing by our guest.'
'And high time, too, Sebastian. So, where did you take her? You had a lot to choose from since you only managed Kingston and Emily Bay yesterday.'
'Places the like of which she'd never been before.'
Jessica wanted to strangle him as an embarrassed heat started creeping up her neck and into her face.
'Well, of course she'd never been there before, you crazy man,' Evie pointed out impatiently. 'She's never been to Norfolk Island before, have you, Jessica?'
'No,' was all she could manage, averting her burning face while she picked up and ripped her bread roll asunder. She'd have liked to stuff it all into that mischievous mortifying mouth of his!
'Did you take her to Anson Bay?' Evie asked S
ebastian.
'Not yet.'
'The top of Mount Pitt?'
'No.'
'Cascade Bay?'
'No.'
'Then where on earth did you take her?'
'I wanted to go to Kingston again,' Jessica lied in desperation to stop Evie jumping to the right conclusion. 'And I did some more shopping. Those duty-free prices are so tempting.'
'I promise I'll give her a more in-depth tour tomorrow, Evie.' Sebastian's glittering blue eyes were full of wicked promise as they locked onto Jessica's across the table.
Dear God, just how more in-depth could her sexual education become!
She knew her cheeks had to be a fiery red by now, and this time, Evie noticed. Her eyes went from Jessica's face to Sebastian's before a decidedly wry smile appeared.
'I'm so glad to see you're getting along better than you were yesterday,' she said with deliberate understatement. 'Your Aunt Lucy would be pleased, I'm sure,' she said to Jessica.
Jessica bit her bottom lip as she realised she'd almost forgotten about Aunt Lucy, not to mention all those questions she'd been so eager to find answers to yesterday. Being in bed with Sebastian all afternoon had wiped everything from her mind but the present.
Now that she was reminded, her thoughts turned to her mother once more, and the mystery of her flight from her family and Norfolk Island.
'Speaking of Aunt Lucy, there's something I've been meaning to ask the both of you,' she said to Evie and Sebastian. 'Aunt Lucy must have left some personal papers and effects behind. Letters, photo albums and the like.'
Jessica frowned as she realised there were no photos around the house at all, either on the walls or sitting on shelves, which was unusual. 'Have they been packed away? I'd really like to look through them. There might be some clue to... you know...'
'There's a small boxful in the bottom of her wardrobe,' Sebastian said abruptly. 'She did throw quiie a lot of things away when she knew she was dying, but you might find something in what's left. I doubt it, though.'
'Why's that?' 'I went through everything myself when I was looking for her will. There's nothing relating to the falling-out Lucy had with your mother. Still, there are some photos you'd probably like to look at. I didn't think to give them to you. I'm sorry. It was remiss of me.'