by Leigh Morgan
Jesse crinkled his eyes as she glowered at him, as if he were reading her thoughts and exulting in the fact that he made her feel them. It was hard to stay angry with him when he smiled at her like he was now, eyes warm and inviting, tinged with equal parts of empathy for her turmoil and pleasure that he’d engendered it.
He was barefoot and bare-chested, his worn jeans low on his hips. He hadn’t bothered to secure the rivet at the top and that was far more erotic than it should have been. He was lounging, long and lean, at the counter, cupping a steaming mug of tea. His perfectly mussed waves of rich mahogany hair brushed the tops of his shoulders. When he flexed, the tattoo over his heart rippled. Taryn wanted to touch it, but the look in his eyes said if she reached out to touch him she’d find herself spread out on the countertop before finger met flesh.
“What does it mean?” She’d asked before about his tattoos, but he didn’t answer.
He didn’t try to misunderstand her question. “Not yet.”
“When?”
“When you’re ready.”
“When do you think that’ll be? What, pray tell, do I have to do to be ready?” Her tone wasn’t quite as sharp as she’d intended. His raw masculinity was affecting her in ways she didn’t quite understand and that scared her more than it sho,uld have.
“When you are ready to hear the answer, I’ll know. When that’ll be, I can’t say. That depends on how long you pretend what’s between us is less than it is.” He said, his tone patient and kind.
If she tried and put all her effort into it she could have shut out his sensual appeal. No matter how hard she tried though she’d never be immune to his kindness and his understanding. Jesse was one hell of a man. She liked him. She respected him. She sure as the earth revolves around the sun, wanted him. She just wasn’t about to contemplate wanting him forever. The thought of seeing him like this every day for the next three and a half months thrilled her. Surely she’d get Jesse and his unprecedented appeal out of her system in that time.
“I’m not pretending.”
“Liar.”
Taryn’s chin jutted up, but since she was lying she changed the subject. “I don’t like the way you’re looking at me. Like you want to eat me.”
His eyes crinkled deeply and his smile flashed strong white teeth. “I do.”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it. Just stop it.”
“Stop what, exactly? I aim to please and I’ll stop doing what I’m doing if it offends you, but I believe it’s what you really want.”
“Stop trying to seduce me with your eyes and your-”
Taryn gestured to all of him and his semi-nakedness that was more appealing than it should have been. Jesse was wearing more than any of the male beach bums who hang at the lakefront in the summer, all of whom look pretty wonderful in surfer shorts and quick smiles, none of whom she wanted to do more than smile back at or possibly wink.
“-near naked…maleness.”
Jesse pushed away from the counter and stood so close she could feel his body heat. “No. Not now. Not ever. I’m not going to change the way I look at you or the way I feel every time I look in your eyes. The way I look at you is never going to change. Not when you are fat with my babies. Not when you are ninety-nine and you have to put your teeth in a jar every night before we go to bed.”
Jesse picked her up and sat in her chair with her in his lap. She really was going to have to tell him how much she hated it when he picked her up. She’d get right to that as soon as she told him how dictatorial and demanding he was being, other traits she didn’t appreciate. She decided to wait until he was done spewing his absurdities and then she’d set him straight, one ridiculous statement at a time.
“As for my near-naked-maleness…” Jesse lowered his head whispering in her ear. The effect was so intimate she shivered. “Get used to it, sweetheart. I’m going to be as close to naked as I can get around you from now on. I’m going to touch you every time you’re near, whether we’re in a crowd or alone. I’m going to give your body and your heart everything you need whether you want it or not every time we make love. Every time, Taryn. Until there’s nowhere left for you to hide.”
Jesse stood in one swift graceful movement then set her back down and stepped away. Taryn felt the loss of his heat immediately. She felt the loss of something else as well, but he didn’t give her time to focus on it. He kept talking and his words became spear pricks to her heart.
“You never have to be alone again, Taryn. I’m right here. All you have to do is reach out and touch me.”
Taryn visibly shuttered. He’d used the one word that resonated through her mind, heart and soul, and made her body shake with the effort to keep it in…alone. Why it should frighten her now made little sense to Taryn. She’d always been alone, even when her parents were near she’d felt a sense of aloneness. That separate feeling wasn’t scary or disconcerting until now. Jesse took a step away from her and Taryn felt it like a rift in the fabric of her universe.
“You can pretend that the only thing making the air sing between us is sex. You can pretend that the way you melt around me doesn’t matter. You can even pretend to hate me for the way I make you feel. But sooner or later, love, you will come face to face with the fact that all your pretending won’t save you from what you feel for me.”
Jesse stared at Taryn’s tortured expression, wondering if she knew how clearly every emotion she felt showed in her eyes and on every line of her lovely face. He doubted it. She visibly shook when he said the word ‘alone’, and her eyes flashed when he mentioned children, something he hadn’t given much thought to until now. He’d take her with or without them, but now that he’d said it he liked the idea.
Taryn was going to fight him. Worse than that, she was going to fight herself and what she already felt for him. For the life of him, Jesse couldn’t think of one good reason why. Then it hit him like a water balloon falling from the sky, startling and bone-chilling. She felt exactly as he had at fourteen when Reed found him. Afraid. Afraid to risk the existence she now had for something that could be a world better or could crush what was left of the small seed of hope her heart nourished for a happily-ever-after life.
That he understood. He also understood how to get around the fear and nourish that seed at the same time. He’d learned from Reed, and the patient way she inched into his heart, one kindness at a time. And, he’d learned from Jordon how to never give up on what is fundamental to the identity of the soul…love. Of course Jordon also taught him that no path to that goal, no matter how nefariously plotted, was beneath a man whose quest was to gain a woman’s love. It was a lesson Jesse learned well and now planned to utilize, shamelessly and with great enthusiasm for the effort.
Jesse moved so that the morning sun streaming through the kitchen windows framed him in golden light. He didn’t want Taryn to miss an inch of what he was unveiling. His hands moved to his jeans, which he unzipped slowly. Not so much for the show, although the look in Taryn’s eyes said she appreciated it, but because he hadn’t bothered with his boxers and he was fully aroused.
He didn’t take his gaze away from her for even a second. He eased the denim over his hips, exposing the phoenix that twisted around his hip, letting the fabric fall to the floor. Jesse stood before Taryn and flexed. He looked good and he knew it. He didn’t train to look good, he trained to train, but he was grateful for all those painful hours. Taryn couldn’t look away from him and he’d use that every damned day of the week if it would further his cause.
He let her get her fill of him before turning away, smiling at her quick inhalation of breath. This time, honey, if you want what I can give, you’ll have to come to me.
“I’m taking a shower. You are welcome to join me.” He said, walking away without a backward glance. His smile grew when he heard the clatter of dishes and the scrape of the chair as Taryn violently pushed away from the counter and what was left of her soggy breakfast.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
/> She came to him in the shower, knelt and took him in her mouth. She stroked his arms in her sleep as she reached for him and sighed her contentment at simply having him near. When she didn’t think he was paying attention she undressed him with her eyes, but more devastating than that, she allowed her heart to shine as she surreptitiously pulled him to her with the invisible waves of longing that rode her. A longing she refused to acknowledge even to herself outside the throes of her passion, while he was making her come.
Jesse ran both hands through his shower damp hair. He would have cut it, it was just long enough to get in the way, but Taryn touched it whenever she could and made that little…umm…noise every time she did. Jesse wasn’t about to get rid of anything about him that gave her pleasure. He needed every advantage he could get.
Giving his now sated and sleeping bride a long glance, he headed out the door as silently as he could. He had work to do that he couldn’t risk doing when she was awake. Jesse headed toward the room Ram referred to as the game room. It was the only room in the castle that was completely inaccessible to anyone who didn’t have the access code. It held no games. What it contained was a computer system specially designed by Ram’s stepson while he was a grad student at MIT.
In giving Jesse the code to the game room, Ram had given him the key to Taryn’s e-mail and so much more. He didn’t much like snooping, but, and it was a platinum coated but, he’d do anything to keep Taryn safe, even if it pissed her off, which when she found out about it, this would.
Jesse punched the code into the keypad and the game room clicked open and immediately clicked closed behind him. There was a separate keypad and code to get back out. Ram took his tech seriously. Jesse crossed to the keyboard and in seconds he’d accessed Taryn’s e-mail, Facebook and Twitter accounts. She’d listened to his warnings and hadn’t posted since she went to his home. It didn’t look like she’d accessed her e-mail either, and that surprised him. In the future, when her life wasn’t at stake, he’d be more trusting.
She had a number of e-mails, some junk, some advertising, some from fans and historians and those interested in archeology and anthropology. Two were from her aunt. One was from Mary Campbell. The ones that stood out were the seven from Lauren MacBain. As he read them, Jesse’s eyebrows shot up and an unreasonable jolt of juvenile jealousy burned through him.
Darling, where are you? You haven’t answered my calls. Aren’t you supposed to check in with your employer when you arrive on site? Four more days until tape rolls. Call me, Taryn. Missing you. Yours as always, Lauren.
“Daaa…rrr…ling…” Jesse mocked in a light-loafered voice that bore no resemblance to MacBain’s deep, but still British tone. “I m…i…sss you…”.
The next six e-mails weren’t as saccharine or as patient, making Jesse smile. “Not so smooth after all, are you, you limey bastard?”
The seventh e-mail ended without an endearment. Taryn,contact me immediately. Your father’s work needs to be carried on with the attention to detail it deserves. If you can’t do that, I’ll replace you with someone who can. I didn’t send you to Britain to honeymoon.
MacBain’s terseness and unveiled hostility toward Taryn’s marriage lightened Jesse’s mood considerably. Taryn may be merely pretending, but MacBain didn’t know that, and with a little luck, he never would.
Jesse’s fingers flew over the keyboard, typing a short response he left unsigned. Script memorized. In Glastonbury tomorrow. Ready to film. Honeymoon absolutely…Jesse’s fingers stilled as he searched for just the right word. …orgasmic. Thanks for asking. Jesse hit the send button whistling Heart’s Crazy On You to the walls.
Then he sent a message to Shay about what he’d found out so far and asked Shay to meet him at Sacred Springs Cottage tomorrow with whatever weapons he’d be able to procure. When he finished, Jesse sent an encrypted e-mail to Potter’s Woods, setting out everything he knew so far and what he planned. The e-mails he’d sent to MacBain and to Shay weren’t encrypted, but then that was the point.
Jesse turned to leave, but something stopped him. A tingling feeling at the back of his neck, one he knew not to ignore. Unsure why he was doing so Jesse did an online search, the kind Ram’s stepson had taught him, finally coming up with Mary Campbell’s e-mail history. One subject line stood out among the others. It was from the Mayo Clinic, Department of Oncology.
Mary’s determination to see Taryn firmly ensconced at Potter’s Woods suddenly made sense to Jesse. Taryn was going to need him and their family more than ever now. That was just another reason he wouldn’t be letting her go.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Taryn looked at her bracelet again, twirling it, liking the way the silver and gold jingled on her wrist, unsure where to begin trying to decipher its meaning. There should be some clue, some ‘ah-ha’-ness to the process.
She’d felt Jesse’s attention as they drove from Rhia Macleod’s castle to Taryn’s inherited home at Sacred Springs Cottage. The compact diesel that mysteriously appeared at the castle was like everything else in her life since she’d met Jesse Mohr, it was just there making life seductively easier, and more frustrating. The man could have arranged for a vehicle that didn’t force her to eat her knees, but then again, he drove a first generation Prius, so it probably never occurred to him to put comfort first. Her husband was truly a study in contrasts and contradictions. If she had a lifetime she didn’t think she’d figure him out.
“You’ve been jingling that bracelet for the past twenty minutes like it’s made of tin sleigh bells. Aren’t you afraid you’ll damage something so intricate and rare, something made especially for you from someone who loved you?” Jesse spoke like he was just curious, but Taryn knew enough about him to know he was a man who took gifts very seriously when they were given, and even though he’d had many things made especially for him, he cherished each and every one.
She stopped jingling. She’d never known the depth of feeling he put into a scrap of worn cotton. He was right. This was the last thing her father had given her. It mattered to her more than her mindless jingling suggested.
The more perverse parts of her wondered if it was a gift for her or really a gift for him, to ensure she carried on his legacy after his death. James Campbell was a good man, better in later life than in earlier, but a good man nonetheless. Still, Taryn didn’t hide from the fact that he was always driven: driven to find the latest and greatest treasure of the ancient Celts. Driven to un-earth and decipher the most relics. Driven to be the most eminent scholar in his field. Driven to unlock the spiritual gates and know the ultimate truth of the Celts.
Taryn jolted upright and smashed her knees into the glove box. “Son of a bitch.”
“What did I do?”
Taryn glared at him, rubbing her knees. “Stop the car.”
“I can’t stop the car, there are no passing places. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re on a one lane road in the middle of sheep country.”
“Stop. The. Car. Pleeeaaase.”
Jesse stopped the car. It always pays to be polite. The Code of Bushido; number Four also known as REI. See, Sensei, I did learn something. I put it into practice and it worked.
Karate always works. It’s the practitioner who screws up.
Get out of my head.
You brought me here.
So I did. Now I don’t need you. Go away.
“Right now, I’d love to, but there’s nowhere to go. Even the GPS isn’t working. It’s got me going off a cliff.”
“At least it got something right.” Taryn said under her breath. “What do you mean ‘you’d love to’?”
“You told me to go away.”
“I wasn’t talking to you.” Taryn said, getting perturbed with his prattle. The man actually took the time to look into the back seat, at her, and over the tiny gear shift separating them as if expecting to find some tiny person she was talking to. Then he looked at her again sideways, chin pointed down and raised both brows, like a two year old wonde
ring why his parent had suddenly lost it, but unwilling to give offense with an actual narrowed eyed look that questioned the sanity of the recipient of that patient expression.
Taryn lost her patience. “Are we actually having this conversation?”
“Lord, I hope not.”
Taryn locked her jaw, trying not to grind her teeth, and took a deep breath. She tried to focus on not really seeing Jesse and yet being present in the moment as she controlled her response.
She closed her eyes…
And then she grabbed the portable GPS and threw it out the window.
Feeling loads better, she turned to Jesse, a giddy smile transforming her face. She said, “Take me to Avalon.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
He was married to a crazy person.
Jesse wondered in that moment if he’d lost his sanity as well. He should have known better than to love anyone with Reed’s DNA. Reed, Finn, and his sister, Daisy, were crazy, one and all. They were crazy for taking him in. Crazy for making him one of their family. Crazy for loving a broken child with more black than white in his life and very little color at all. Crazy for loving him without condition and always standing by him when no one else was willing to give his black eyes, broken bones and scars a second look. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy.
Jesse let that sink in for a millisecond before looking at Taryn’s open, excited expression and the woman-on-a-mission look in her Mediterranean blue eyes. His heart told him more than words could have that it was time to man-up.
He reached over her, opened the glove box not even trying to hide his unrepentant grin as the cover hit her bare thighs, and pulled out a map of Britain.
“Where, exactly, is Avalon?”
…
There were moments in Taryn’s life when she saw the world with absolute clarity, when the earth was in perfect alignment with the rest of the universe and everything in it fell effortlessly into place. This was not one of those times, but it came close. Jesse didn’t ask her why, or comment about her demand, he simply asked her where exactly she’d like to go. He could be a royal pain, but he supported her on this crazy path fate found for her. He supported her and held her hand along the way. No one had ever done that for her before. Part of her, an ever growing part, loved him for it. It was the other bits of him she wasn’t so crazy about, or so she fervently kept telling herself.