The Danforths: Wesley, Ian & Imogene. Brenda Jackson

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СКАЧАТЬ since I don’t have a boyfriend. I don’t believe in dating.”

      She’d said the words with such a firm conviction that Wesley immediately believed her. “Why don’t you believe in dating?” he asked more than mildly curious.

      “Mainly to keep peace in my family since it seems my stepsisters have a tendency to want anything I have, and they have proven in the past that a boyfriend is no different.”

      He was glad the car had come to a complete stop for a train so he could look over at her. “One of your sisters took your boyfriend?”

      Even as tired as she was, Jasmine couldn’t help but grin at the look of shock on Wesley’s face. “Yes, they’ve done so a couple of times, although now as I look back, they were doing me favors. Especially with one man I had planned to marry by the name of Paul Sanders. But still, it was just the principle of the thing.”

      Wesley shook his head. Evidently, in addition to there not being any love lost between Jasmine and her stepsisters, there wasn’t any loyalty, either. “But why would they do something like that?”

      “Because neither of them feel I’m deserving of anything, especially a little love and happiness.” She wondered why she was even sharing this information with Wesley. She was obviously more tired than she had thought to be talking so freely about an issue that had caused her such pain two years ago. The only other person who knew about the strained relationship between her stepmother and stepsisters was Ronnie.

      “Why didn’t you tell your stepmother so she—”

      Jasmine cut off his question with outright laughter. “She’s the one who orchestrated the entire thing. My fiancé was an attorney and we had set a date to marry. It had really bothered my stepmother from the first that Paul had shown interest in me and not her darling daughters. One day I left to go out of town and she arranged for me to walk in and catch him and Alyssa in a very compromising situation when I returned. I had to applaud my stepmother for her cunning and boo Paul for his weakness. I broke our engagement and walked out the house that day thinking they deserved each other. That’s the same day I moved out.”

      He nodded. “Are Alyssa and Paul still together?”

      “No, that happened over two years ago. Alyssa decided that she needed a richer husband than an attorney and has since shifted her sights on greener pastures.”

      Wesley shook his head, thinking that if he lived to be the ripe old age of one hundred, he still wouldn’t be able to figure out the workings of a female mind. Moments later, he pulled into Jasmine’s apartment building and brought the car to a stop. “Are you sure you don’t need me to take you to get your car tomorrow?”

      “Yes, I’m positive,” she said, deciding it was best to get out of the car and go inside now that she’d become awake and her awareness of him had doubled. But for some reason, she couldn’t move and for an endless moment their gazes met and held.

      “Thanks again for tonight. I’ll probably sleep like a baby, I’m so exhausted,” she said quietly.

      He nodded, doubting he would sleep at all no matter how tired he was. “You’re welcome, and I had fun, too.”

      Wesley knew what he wanted to do as he stared at the tumbled mass of braids on her head, the deep darkness of her eyes and the fullness of her lips. This wasn’t a dream like he’d had the other night. This was the real thing and they were together, sitting close and their mouths were just inches apart.

      Oh, what the hell, he thought as a wave of longing washed over him. He leaned in closer to capture her mouth, knowing he needed to taste her just as much as he needed to breathe.

      The moment his mouth connected to hers, a rush of heated desire took over and he slipped his tongue into her mouth as easily as anything he’d ever done. There hadn’t been any hesitation; just anticipation for the sweet, sensual taste he’d known awaited him.

      Red-hot sensations poured through his bloodstream. He seemed incapable of getting enough of her taste and the little moans emitting from deep in her throat indicated she felt the same way. Her arms reached over and wrapped around his neck, locking his mouth to hers…as if he would go anywhere else. He was right where he wanted to be.

      He knew that from this moment on, he would continue to have wonderful dreams about her mouth but never again would he have to wonder about the flavor. It was just as he’d thought, spicy hot with a rich blend of passion and a dose of rapture, of the toe-curling, quick-arousal kind. The interior of the car oozed with sexual chemistry and he was more aware of her than any woman he had ever known. Tonight, right now, control was not an issue—satisfaction was, and feasting on her mouth was giving him satisfaction of the most rewarding kind.

      Moments later, when he finally pulled his mouth away, he heard her sigh of disappointment and it matched his groan of frustration. He leaned back against the seat feeling boneless and weak, but two hundred percent gratified. He wondered what were his chances of ever taking her in the back seat of his other cars. Maybe the Mercedes. Just the thought made him aware of just how much he wanted her. He might think differently in the morning after he got his head back on straight, but now, this very minute, he wanted her with a passion that was totally consuming him.

      He glanced over at her. She had her eyes closed as she tried to regulate her breathing. He watched as she slowly opened her eyes and looked at him and said. “That should not have happened, Wesley.”

      Somehow he found enough strength to shrug his shoulders. “But it did.”

      She nodded. There was nothing else for her to do but to acknowledge it was true. “We can’t let it happen again.”

      He squinted, wondering whom she was trying to convince? Him or her? “Is that how you feel?” he asked, wondering if there was a way they could control such a thing from happening again.

      She shook her head. “No, that’s not how I feel, since I can’t deal with my feelings right now. But that’s what I think. We don’t like each other. I’m your enemy. I won’t stop trying to find out information about Abraham Danforth, if that’s what tonight was all about.”

      He stared at her. It was probably a good idea if he returned her locket and never saw her again because although she wasn’t dealing with her feelings, he was. Emotions he didn’t know he had were slamming through him.

      “Tonight had nothing to do with Abraham,” he said, more frustrated with himself than with her. He scowled. Hell, tonight should have been about Abraham. Her obsession with finding out information to use against Abraham Danforth was the main reason they had met and why he was shadowing her every day.

      “So you won’t give up?” he asked, but he already knew what her response would be.

      “No.”

      “Then I’ll continue to shadow you, but I will give you a reprieve tomorrow since I have to make a short trip to Brunswick anyway. But tonight was about us, Jasmine and not Abraham. And whether something like that kiss will happen again is up to us.”

      “We need to keep our relationship on a business level, Wesley. We can’t have it both ways.”

      Without waiting for him to say anything else, Jasmine quickly opened the car door and got out, leaving Wesley sitting in the car thinking of her parting remark.

      Five

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