The Tycoon's Defiant Southern Belle (10 page)

They just sat and talked until it was almost midnight.  And when he walked her home,
he completely disregarded their agreement and took her into his arms, kissing her
gently but thoroughly until she was shaking with desire and clinging to him. 

“I have to go out of town again on business,” he said when he lifted his head, still
holding her close. 

Jade couldn’t believe how sad she was at the idea.  Swallowing painfully, she let
her hand move over his chest and asked, “How long will you be gone?”

“Less than a week if I can make things happen quickly.  Any chance you could come
with me?” he suggested.

Jade ignored the thrill of excitement that shot through her body at his offer but
she shook her head.  “I don’t think so,” she replied.  “But thank you for the offer.”

“Will you have dinner with me when I get back?” he asked.

Her smile widened and she nodded her head.  “Yes.  I can definitely have dinner with
you.”  Dinner was easy.  Traveling with the man was completely out of the question. 
A proper southern woman simply didn’t travel with men who were not relatives no matter
how thrilling the idea sounded or how handsome the man.  It simply wasn’t done. 

“Good,” he replied and touched her cheek gently.  “I’ll be in touch.” 

With that, he was gone, disappearing through the trees one more time.  She watched
that spot where he’d disappeared until Jasper became impatient and meowed loudly. 
She jumped as his cat-voice broke through the quiet of the night.  “Don’t even go
there, kitty,” she admonished the feline. 

Ignoring his twitching tail, but tripping over his large body as she made her way
through the kitchen and into her bedroom, she got ready for bed, unaware that she
had a silly grin on her face until she came out of the bathroom and caught Jasper
sitting primly in the middle of the bed.  Did the obnoxious cat actually have a smile
under all that fur and whiskers? 

“Don’t even try and pretend to be proud of yourself for luring me over there, Jasper,”
she admonished.  “You were naughty and you know it.”  She pulled the summer quilt
back and slipped under the covers.  “He’s just a very nice man and I got to know my
neighbor a bit better.  Don’t act like you’ve achieved world peace,” she said to the
still-preening cat. 

When Jasper continued to gloat, she turned off the light with disgust.  “You’re a
horrible animal,” she said, but reached over and scratched his ears as he curled up
next to her.  Rufus also jumped up on the bed, finding his own space with his cold,
wet nose nuzzling her other hand.  Jade smiled into the night, wondering what Angelo
would do about these two animals if he were here. 

Jade slipped through the aisles of the drugstore, picking up the items she needed
as quickly as possible.  She only needed a few items and was trying to hurry through
the errand before anyone else saw her.  She knew she looked a mess, but she was pulling
herself together.  It would just take a bit more time, at least for her skin to recover
from her chocolate binge over the past three days. 

It was all HIS fault, she thought as she dropped a new type of facial cleanser into
her basket.  If he had been here, she wouldn’t be depressed by his absence and she
wouldn’t be eating all the chocolate her friends and neighbors had brought over. 

She’d never been depressed when Dave had gone out of town.  Why was she so irritable
now with Angelo gone? 

She’d had fruit and milk for breakfast this morning and she was starting to feel alive
and normal.  Her next issue was to simply avoid Angelo except when there was a business
issue.  She didn’t like herself when he was here and she definitely didn’t like him
when he was gone.  So therefore, she’d concluded, he was not good for her temperament. 
Avoiding him was the best plan of action. 

She could do that, she told herself, trying to pick herself up from the doldrums. 
Today’s depression had nothing to do with the fact that she wasn’t going to see him. 
It was simply because she wasn’t eating properly and so she wasn’t getting good nutrients. 

She glanced at her watch and realized she needed to speed up even more.  There were
several samples for his house coming in today and she wanted to be able to show them
to Angelo once he came back.  His assistant had phoned yesterday to say that he was
behind schedule so she’d had an extra day to mope about.  If he liked one of the samples,
she’d need to hurry and order them because the one she thought would be perfect for
the library flooring was going out of stock.  She had no idea why, she thought as
she grabbed her favorite shampoo, the ceramic floor tile was really interesting and
different.  She really hoped that Angelo would like it.  Her second favorite was way
down the list of desired items but she suspected that he would choose that one instead. 
It would work, she thought.  But more importantly, she had to get that man’s preferences
off of her mind.  After the party last week and having ice cream with him earlier
this week, she had to separate herself from the man.  People were starting to talk. 

She hated being the subject of rumors, but that was part of living in a small town. 
Everyone knew everyone else, at least by name or reputation if not by face. 

It wasn’t going to matter, she told herself.  Angelo was just a client.  He meant
nothing to her other than as a very good client that she wanted to impress.  At least
that’s what she was trying to think.  Her mind wasn’t cooperating very well with her
intentions.  She had to stop thinking about him like this.  She had to stop dreaming
about him.  And she definitely had to stop wondering when he was going to return to
his home. 

She pushed the memory of their kiss out of her mind.  She would not think about him
in that way.  Just a client.

She didn’t realize that she was staring at the eye shadow display, her mind completely
focused on reliving the point when he’d taken her into his arms, the way his strong
arms had wrapped around her, making her feel safe and secure, but terrified all the
same.  And then when his lips touched hers….she took a deep breath and shook her head. 
“Stop it!” she told herself firmly.

“Dreaming of me?” a deep voice said from right behind her. 

Jade spun around, her basket almost emasculating the tall, audacious man.  It was
only his swift reflexes that grabbed her basket before she could do any real damage. 

“I’m so sorry!” she gasped when she realized what she’d just done.  “Oh my goodness!”
she said, her hands reaching out to…. “What am I doing?” she cried out and pulled
her hands away, looking up into Angelo’s black, amused eyes.  “Stop laughing at me!”
she growled and spun back around.

Good grief, just one look at Angelo and her heart was soaring!  She had to stop this! 
He wasn’t the man for her, he wasn’t good for her.  Everything about him was the complete
opposite of what she wanted in a man, what she’d hoped for in a mate. 

The man didn’t even want to get married! 

He chuckled despite her admonishment and followed her.  “Sorry.  I thought it was
very kind of you to offer to help me after almost knocking me out.”

She glared up at him.  “You wouldn’t have been knocked out.”

“How do you know?  Have you ever experienced that kind of pain?”

Jade pulled her eyes away and shook her head. “No.  I don’t have…” she searched her
mind for a polite term but could feel her cheeks warming up under his still-laughing
eyes.  “Oh!  You know exactly what I’m talking about.  But you don’t have to go through
childbirth so let’s just move on, okay?”

Angelo was stunned for a moment, his eyes moving down her exquisite figure.  “Are
you telling me that you’re going to let me try and get you pregnant so we can share
similar pain experiences?”  Angelo was shocked at how much he liked the idea of Jade
being pregnant with his baby.  It was so amazing that he actually stopped for a moment,
picturing her slender body swelling as the babe grew inside of her.  “Might be nice.”

“Absolutely not!” she gasped.  “Why would you…?” she thought back to the original
subject and sighed.  “I think this topic has gotten severely out of hand.”

“Happens a lot between the two of us.”  His eyes glanced down into her basket.  “Do
you really wear neon orange and yellow eye shadow?” he asked.  “Very modern.”

Jade’s eyes turned confused but she followed his gaze and groaned when she saw that
she’d put both of those colors of eye shadow into her basket.  Taking them out, she
slapped them onto the shelf in front of her.  “Of course not.  This conversation has
just made me…”

“I like it,” he returned as she struggled to put an adjective on her state of mind. 

She rolled her eyes and moved farther down the aisle.  She stuffed chap stick, doggy
treats and catnip into her basket, trying very hard to ignore the man she’d just been
thinking about.  How could he show up when she was vulnerable like this?  Did he have
some sort of psychic powers and knew exactly when he was on her mind? 

“What are you doing here anyway?” she asked.  “Doesn’t your housekeeper do all of
this kind of shopping for you?” she asked and randomly selected a dog and cat toy. 
They were cheap items, but maybe if she got something to entertain Jasper, he wouldn’t
wander into Angelo’s house so often. 

“That’s not going to help.”

Jade looked up at him, then back down at her basket.  “What won’t help?” she asked.

“The toys and the catnip.”

She sighed and turned to face him fully.  “Okay, so would you mind telling me why
my animals are suddenly so enamored of your house lately?” she asked, trying to dig
deeper to find some patience. 

He smiled, looking very mysterious and sexy.  “Haven’t you heard that you should trust
an animal’s instincts?  They like me.  You should too.”

She shook her head, refusing to laugh at his logic.  “I just got out of a relationship.”

“One you never should have gotten into in the first place.  First of all, he wasn’t
good enough for you.  And secondly, you didn’t love him.”

Her mouth dropped open at his declaration.  “Of course I loved him!” she countered. 
“I can’t believe you would say something like that.”

Angelo was already shaking his head.  “If you loved him…”

“I did!” she argued.

He hesitated.  “Did you cry over his betrayal?” he asked softly. 

“I cried!” she declared.

His eyebrow went upwards with that obvious lie. 

Jade shifted uncomfortably in front of him.  “Well, I was angry.  I’ll get around
to crying about our breakup soon.”

Angelo’s only response was to raise an eyebrow. 

Jade’s mouth firmed up.  “I refuse to argue with you about something so personal.”

“We’re personal,” he claimed. 

“A few kisses doesn’t make us personal,” she countered. 

He bent down low, his voice deep and husky while his lips enticingly brushed against
the shell of her ear before he said, “We’ll be intimate very soon.”

Jade couldn’t respond.  Her mind was too wrapped up in the image of becoming intimate
with this man.  Her pulse increased and her breathing was ragged.  He moved a step
closer, his hand coming up to touch her cheek.  “You know it’s going to happen, don’t
you?” he asked but it was more of a statement. 

“I don’t know anything of the sort,” she said, but the sentence didn’t have any heat
behind it.  She wished she could just tell him to go to hell, but she was too afraid
of him, and too entranced by his touch, the smell of him so close to her. 

Suddenly, her mind betrayed her and she started wondering what it would be like to
kiss him, to taste him once again.  And more!  She wanted to feel him, to run her
hands along his chest, to explore…

“I have to go,” she said, taking in a deep breath as she turned away from him. 

Jade was relieved that he didn’t stop her, that she could walk away from him and go
about her business.  The man was just too overwhelming to deal with easily.  She was
already up to the cashier when she remembered the samples that she needed him to make
a decision on.  “Angelo…” she started to say, turning her body slightly while Bob,
the store owner, rang up her purchases. 

“I’m here.”  And he dumped several items down on the counter beside her. 

Half of her brain was astonished that he’d been able to pick up all of these items
so quickly.  He definitely hadn’t been standing there with a basket when they were
talking to each other, had he?  She wasn’t exactly sure because she’d been so distracted
by the conversation, not to mention his enormous presence.  Then the other half of
her brain was quickly taking an inventory of the items he’d tossed onto the counter. 
There were the innocuous items such as deodorant and shampoo, both of which she knew
weren’t his brands since she’d been in his bathroom since she’d just finished renovating
the space.  But her eyes widened on the multiple brands of condoms.  She counted five
different kinds, all with the extra-large size. 

“What…?”

“Don’t worry.  We’ll definitely be prepared now for any eventuality.”

Jade’s mind was quickly zeroing in on the problem but it was slow since it was taking
so long to process the fact that Angelo had put birth control onto the counter.  Birth
control?  Birth control! 

And he handed the cashier his own credit card, not even allowing her to pay for her
own items. 

Jade watched as Bob’s face broke into his own blush, then she glanced behind at the
other patrons waiting to check out.  Mr. Levinsworth was right behind her, winking
hugely at her with an approving grin on his face.  There was also Ms. Johnson who
lived next door to Dave and Jade couldn’t believe it when the woman started shaking
her head in disapproval. 

“I’m not…” she started to say, but by that point, Angelo had already paid for everything,
it was all in a bag and he took it, placing a hand on the small of her back as he
nudged her outside.  “We are,” he stated firmly for whoever wanted to hear. 

When they were once again out in the sunshine, she pulled her arm away from his light
grip and turned to face him, unconcerned about the others on the street as they walked
around them.  She actually wanted them to hear her! 

“You did that on purpose!” she accused, glaring at him.

He shrugged and looked down into her furious eyes.  “I won’t deny it,” he said gruffly. 
“I don’t want anyone to think that you’re still pining for that ass.”

“His name is Dave and he’s a very nice person.”

Angelo shook his head. “Jade, you’re so used to defending the man, you don’t even
remember that he cheated on you at the party last week.  In the woods,” he emphasized.

She started to argue with him again, but the realization of what she was saying struck
her.  She pointed her finger, inhaled as if she were going to say something else,
then stopped, inhaled again with another thought, then stopped again.  In the end,
her shoulders slumped because there really was nothing she could say.  She couldn’t
defend Dave any longer.  It was ridiculous to do so.  He’d betrayed not only her,
but also the other women that he’d been seeing behind her back, lying to them all. 
The more she heard, the more the women were coming out of the woodwork claiming that
he’d treated them the say way.  All the way back to their high school days, Dave had
used women like tissues, using them carelessly and then throwing them away without
any concern.  She refused to use the same water bottle analogy on Dave as she’d used
on Angelo.  They were too different in all aspects. 

“I have to go,” she said and turned away, forcing her feet to move one in front of
the other.  “Why are you even here?”

“I’m only in town for an hour or so.”  He stopped her by grabbing her arm and pulling
her flush against him.  “I have to travel to San Francisco over the next week.  Will
you miss me?” he asked softly, his hands moving over her back, feeling her tremble. 
He even liked the way her hands moved up his arms unconsciously.