Creating Merry Hell (2 page)

Chapter Two

Now that Merry was safely across the room, Grace rounded on Rose. “Whiskey my backside. What’s really in that cake?”

“Well, I think I’ll be off. You seem to have made a miraculous recovery and did I mention I was looking for your father? Your aunt thought he might have come this way.” Waving her arms around, Rose vaguely indicated the better part of the room.

“He is clearly doing the sane thing and staying well out of harm’s way.
How could you?”

“How could I what, dear heart?”

“Quit the innocent act right now. I know what you are up to. You put the hocus pocus on that cake and deliberately gave a slice to Merry. Didn’t you?” If anyone needed a less-messy love life it was Merry. When would her mother learn to stop meddling?

Rose touched a bejeweled hand to her throat and fluttered green-shimmered eye lids. “What you must understand is people expect a lucky charm or two at these shindigs and I’d hate to disappoint anyone. Besides, it’s high time she found someone permanent in her life.”

“And what gives you the right to decide when that should be? Or who that should be? Did it ever occur to you that perhaps Merry is happy as she is?” Grace whispered furiously.

“For your information, young lady, Merry has been unhappy for some time.”

“And how would you know that? Merry hasn’t said anything to me.” Her mother’s words took her by surprise, but she didn’t doubt them. Rose was rarely wrong when it came to the human condition.

“Intuition.”

Tapping a manicured finger on her elbow, Grace simply raised a perfectly plucked brow and waited for Rose to explain.

“Oh all right, I took the liberty of reading her aura at your wedding. She might have brought her young man with her but do you know what I saw? Loneliness. That girl’s heart is pining and she’s doing what she’s always done, putting a brave face on it when what she really wants is someone to call her own.”

Grace closed her eyes and pressed cool fingertips to her temple, needing a moment to gain her composure. She hadn’t been surprised when Merry had called to tell her the engagement to Rex was off. Truthfully, she’d been more surprised her friend had accepted his proposal in the first place. What kind of friend was she that she hadn’t noticed Merry was so unhappy? She’d talk to Merry later but first things first, she had to concentrate on sorting this mess out and for that she needed hard facts.

“How many charms are in the cake?”

“I lost count.”

Another deep breath later she somehow managed to restrain herself from what she really wanted to say. “Oh Goddess, give me strength, we don’t have time for games. What did you enchant?”

“Only the cherries,” confessed Rose, a wicked grin spreading across her face. “I was very reserved.”

Reserved, hah! That would be the day. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because I only mixed in two cherries, that’s why. Despite what you think, I’m not senile.”

“Did you at any point give consideration to who might actually eat that other cherry?” It was at that moment Grace’s eye’s flicked to where Jack was still chatting with her Aunt Iris and felt her stomach lurch. Jack was holding a plate with a massive slice of cake. Panic shot through her and she actually felt the color drain from her face.

“Mother. Who has the other slice of cake?” Barely coming up for air, she went on. “Please, please,
please
tell me you did not give the other piece of cake to Jack.”

For once Rose had nothing to say for herself.

“Oh, sweet Diana, how could you? This is a disaster.” Grace had to hand it to her mother, she really had outdone herself this time.

Sighing, Rose reached out to tuck an errant curl behind her daughter’s ear. “Calm down, Gracie, you worry too much.”

“Someone has to. You have to go over there right now and get that cake back from Jack before he eats that damn cherry.”

“Stop worrying, you wait and see.” Rose patted Grace’s shoulder. “Everything will be fine. Everything will turn out exactly as it should.”

“I doubt that,” Grace insisted, her gaze firmly on Jack.

“Has it ever occurred to you that some good may come of this?”

“No.”

“Be careful, Grace, it sounds like you are also making decisions for Merry.”

“Hardly. Unlike some people, I’m actually trying to help.”

Rose looked as though she was about to say something else then thought better of it. Turning away from Grace, she set off toward Jack, her heels clicking on the slate floor. Grace tried to convince herself that everything would be okay. Then what happened next made her heart stop. Jack Campbell dug his fingers into the cake, picked out a sticky red blob and chucked it into his mouth. Looking over her shoulder, Rose caught Grace’s eye and shrugged as if to say
I tried
. And then she was gone. No doubt in search of more trouble.

Round one to Rose.

Just when Grace thought she might actually be sick, Finn came toward her balancing their ten-month-old daughter on one hip while holding a glass of water. “
Merry’s
been commandeered by one of your aunts. She asked me to bring this over.”

Accepting the glass, Grace took a big gulp of the water.

At his wife’s crestfallen expression Finn asked, “Everything okay?”

“No. Not really,” she said flatly.

Finn put his arm around her waist, pulled her close to his strong body and dropped a kiss on top of her flame colored curls. “What’s up? Your mother?”

“However did you guess?”

“What’s my second favorite witch been up to now?” Finn chuckled.

Drawing comfort from his strong body, she sank into him and let out a long, weary sigh. “You really don’t want to know.”

* * * * *

Jack scowled at the picture he’d wedged between the bathroom mirror and the wall and wondered for the umpteenth time that evening what the hell he’d let himself in for. Cursing under his breath, he turned his attention to his reflection, peered hard and smeared creamy black liner around his eyes. Using his index finger, he smudged it the way Grace had told him to. He looked at the picture again and added more. Next he unscrewed the mascara cap, dropped the stupid stick thing twice, and then on the third attempt poked himself in the eye. “Fuck!”

Eyes watering and blinking furiously, he wondered for the tenth time in two minutes why the fuck women would torture themselves like this. Jack tipped the contents of the bag Grace had handed him earlier onto the counter and rummaged through a selection of earrings, glass beads and silk scarves. He cursed Grace yet again for insisting on a second party for the evening, a costume party at that. Wasn’t it enough they’d had baby Emily’s naming ceremony earlier this afternoon? But then nothing was ever simple where Grace was concerned, she was more like her mother than she realized. Not that he was in any hurry to tell her that—he liked his balls just fine thank you very much.

The thing was, he wasn’t even mad at Grace—he was mad at Merry. Apart from her stint as Grace’s bridesmaid last year she hadn’t set foot on the island in years, too busy in Edinburgh building her lingerie empire. And he liked it that way. It meant he didn’t have to deal with her. Think about her. See her. That was when he realized that the person he was actually mad at was himself.

He’d never forgotten her. Could barely remember a time he didn’t want her.

They had been in their final year at school—going to the same parties, hanging out, flirting—when the gossiping tongues had begun to wag. Turned out he wasn’t the only Campbell to have a thing for a Lewis woman. Jack remembered the shame of their parents’ affair. Scandal travelled like the wind in small communities and nothing beat it for putting the skids on a blossoming romance. He and Merry had avoided each other after that. Prom had been the last time he’d seen her. At one time he had hoped she would go with him, but instead he had to settle for moodily watching her dance and laugh with every guy in the room other than him. With a stolen bottle of his father’s best whiskey he had gotten his underage self royally roasted and woke the following morning facedown in the cow shed. Merry had left for Edinburgh soon afterward and he hadn’t seen her again until Grace and Finn had married last year.

He’d found her sitting alone on a bench at the bottom of the garden, looking out over the loch at the sunset. Hair had been swept up and secured with a blood-red rose, shoulders bared she’d looked so damn beautiful it took his breath away. Unaware he was watching her from the patio she’d raised fingertips to swipe at her face. She’d been crying. With no idea what he would say to her but with an overwhelming urge to comfort her, to hold her, he’d set off through the garden only to come to an abrupt stop when a tux clad figure reached her first. Instinctively he’d stepped out of sight.

“Meredith, whatever’s wrong?”

Startled, she’d turned in the direction of the voice. “Oh, don’t mind me. Weddings always make me cry. I thought I’d hide out here until it passed, but you caught me.” She’d laughed then, trying to brush off her tears, obviously embarrassed at being found in a moment of weakness.

“People are asking for you. Are you going to come back inside?”

Jesus, hadn’t the idiot seen she was upset. Merry wasn’t the crying type. Didn’t city boy know her at all?

“You go ahead and I’ll join you in a minute. Let me get myself together.”

“All right.” The man had bent and kissed her on the lips. “Don’t be long. I miss you.” Then he’d gone the way he’d come.

Jack had stayed where he was in the shadows, watching as she took a deep shuddering breath and squared her perfectly tan shoulders. Opening her purse, she’d withdrawn a small compact, reapplied her makeup and fixed her hair. Another shaky breath later and she’d been ready to go. Like an idiot, he’d done nothing but watch as she’d walked out of his life for the second time.

Today, she was at her sparkling best and he reacted to her in the same way he always had—his tongue all but rolling out of his head. Honey hair styled in glossy waves like a 1960s movie star hung past her shoulders and framed her heart-shaped face. She had the body to match too, all Jane Mansfield curves and long, long legs. Cherry-colored lips and those impossibly innocent gray eyes completed the picture. After the wedding he convinced himself there would never be any future for them, told himself he was over her, his obsession with Merry Lewis was finally at an end. That was until he’d seen her today. Even then he’d made a feeble attempt to shut her out just to prove to himself he could. Waste of time. Years of lust boiled to the surface when she’d looked at him, really looked at him like she was finally seeing him for the first time and not the mess their parents had made. He couldn’t explain it, yet he knew whatever else happened to him in this life he would never be over her, which was fucking madness considering she’d never been his to begin with.

What was to stop it from becoming a reality? If the way she looked at him today was anything to go by, she wanted him too. Just once, that was all he needed, one time between Meredith Lewis’ shapely thighs and he’d be a happy man. Maybe then he would finally get her out of his system once and for all. Sure they had history, but it was ancient history. For too long it had come between them. Tonight that was going to change.

Chapter Three

“Hello, Princess.”

Despite the warm summer air goose pimples broke out all over
Merry’s
body. She didn’t need to turn to know who was behind her, but she looked over her shoulder anyway. “Hello, Jack. Or should I call you Captain Jack?”

Flashing her that sexy as sin smile, he said. “It was Grace’s idea.” Oh God, she might as well give in now because when he smiled at her like that it made it too easy to forget everything.

“It’s a great costume. You look good.” Boy did he ever. He’d removed the wig but even without it he knew how to work the pirate look. He’d shaved so that all that was left was a sinful-looking goatee and those eyes were even more intense now that they were ringed with black. As for his body…wow! She could only presume Grace had loaned him the ruffled white shirt that was doing such a fabulous job of exposing his tanned chest. Merry made a mental note to thank her friend later. “And you look amazing.” Taking in her burlesque costume, he let his lustful gaze caress her exposed flesh. “Great legs by the way. Love the stockings.” Before she knew what he was doing he reached out and snapped the elastic.

“Stop that!” she yelped, slapping his hand away.

Simple as that, she felt sixteen again. Flustered, her cheeks hot pink, she furiously tried to come up with something clever and witty to say. Before she could think of anything, Jack asked, “What are you doing out here all by yourself?”

“Wasn’t feeling much like company.” Hardly clever or witty.

Not taking the hint, he took a seat beside her and handed over one of the glasses he held. “You left this inside.”

Taking her drink from him, she discreetly scooted farther along the bench. Not that she got very far before she bumped her hip against the wooden arm, but it did put some much needed distance between them. The way her body reacted when she was around him was not good. She was far too aware of him, and the longer she spent around him, the more she was in danger of letting her resolve weaken. The plan was to avoid him—that was the reason she’d sneaked out to the garden in the first place. Needing something to do, she raised her glass and took a sip.

“And here I was thinking you were avoiding me.” Jack’s lips curled in a knowing smile.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” She swished her ice around in her glass, unable to look him in the eye.

“Come on, Merry, we both know you’re avoiding me.” When she looked like she was about to protest he held up his hand to stop her. “Don’t. We both know it’s the truth.”

Merry tucked a stray tendril behind her ear but said nothing. Maybe he’d lose interest and go away.

“Why, Merry?” he prompted softly.

So much for wishful thinking
.

“Why do you think?” She wondered if Rose actually had a useful spell in her repertoire. Perhaps one that would make him disappear, that would be so much more helpful than a stupid love spell.