Australia: Wicked Mistresses(79)
As she watched him smile and tease, and the young girl’s shining face as she bantered with her new hero, something warm and heady washed over Jordan, through her. The cautionary walls she’d erected to protect herself melted and seeped away. Her heart began to beat, slow and strong, so strong she could feel it in her fingertips.A giddy feeling made her wobble on her seat and grab the side.
She loved him. It was as clear and shining and joyful as Christmas. She loved him and wanted him, and all the problems that would entail were as far away as the shoreline. Still there, still beckoning, but with a lower level of importance.
Nick said something to her and she was so distracted with her newfound knowledge, she had to ask him to repeat it. He reached out and ruffled her hair and she felt his hand there for long seconds after he’d taken it away, caressing, caring, branding her as his.
Once ashore, they reunited Letitia with her grateful parents and then Nick drove Jordan home. Her stomach growled as they entered her apartment, reminding her that the meager sandwich she’d had at lunch was many hours ago. “Would you like to stay for…”
“I thought you’d never ask,” Nick growled, pushing her up against the wall in the passageway. Her bag hit the deck, her clothes were roughly pushed aside. He ravaged her mouth and she soared so high, so quickly as he took her against the wall. They didn’t even make the bedroom.
Nick stayed the night, waking her early to make love once more before he had to go to the office. Jordan linked her arms around his neck as he kissed her goodbye. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
He smiled and leaned forward to sear her with another kiss.
“The sales agreement?” she laughed.
“Ah.” He nodded. “I’ll have my lawyer witness it.”
“What are you going to do with it?” Jordan asked, leaning back on her pillows, looking like Aphrodite.
“I haven’t decided yet,” he told her. “Maybe I’ll turn it into an exclusive art gallery and exhibit some starving but brilliant artist who’s got a bunch of insecurities about her work.”
Her eyes shone with amusement.
“And people will come from miles around,” he continued, enjoying himself, “and she’ll be famous the world over.”
Jordan chuckled. “Except that no one will ever know because the gallery is so exclusive, no one can find it.”
“Which will add greatly to her fame, in turn, making her forever grateful to me.”
Nick found he liked this, waking with someone, sex, chatter and banter before getting on with the day. The prospect of making it a permanent arrangement entered his mind. It was a win-win, as far as he was concerned. He enjoyed her company, and the sex was beyond incredible.
“Did you get around to having plans drawn up for the refurbishment?”
“As a matter of fact, I did,” she said, her eyes shining.
“Give me a look at them sometime.”
Jordan kissed him fervently and asked if she’d see him Friday.
Nick groaned. “Friday is eons away. I have to go to Sydney on Wednesday for a meeting, but I’ll be back late Thursday.” He lifted a strand of her hair, ran it slowly through his fingers. “You’ll be in court today, right?”
Jordan inhaled, her expression becoming cautious. “Nick…”
He knew what she was going to say: Don’t let anyone know that they were together. Not that they’d articulated anything yet…“Don’t worry,” he reassured her, bending for one last taste of her lips. “We’ll talk about it later.”
He drove to his apartment, struggling to keep the smile off his face, an alien concept to his facial muscles, he was sure. This was a watershed weekend, one which had gone exactly to plan. She was crazy about him, he saw it in her face every time she looked at him. And that was just fine by Nick. Things were moving along smoothly and he was enjoying the ride.
He showered, changed and headed in to the office, looking forward to seeing her in court in an hour or so. He wondered if anyone would guess they’d spent the weekend together, if something would show in the way he looked at her.
“I’ll be back after lunch—probably,” Nick told Jasmine as he left for court. Adam and Randall had gone on ahead after the court clerk had called to confirm that Syrius was fit to attend.
Leaving the office building, he noticed an eye-catching pale blue limousine parked outside. He noticed it because he’d seen it before somewhere. The driver leaned against the car but straightened when he saw him and tapped on the back window, then gestured for Nick to approach. He did so, frowning.
The back window slid down. “Hello Nick,” Elanor Lake said pleasantly. “May I have a few minutes of your time?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Nick got into the limo and sat opposite her, his mind racing.
Jordan definitely got her looks from her mother. Soft golden hair clouded around Elanor’s face. Her skin was creamy and smooth, her clothes elegant. She regarded him in a friendly, frank manner. The driver remained outside and Elanor pressed the window control closed.
“What can I do for you, Mrs. Lake?”
“It’s Elanor,” she said. “And I want you to stop seeing my daughter.”
He saw from her demeanor that there was no point denying it. “I would gladly do almost anything you asked of me,” he said sincerely, a slight inflection on the word you; his father’s guilt ran deep. “But not that.”
Her facial muscles tightened and she studied him at length. “This has gone further than I thought,” she said finally.
Nick wondered if it was she monitoring her daughter’s movements.
“I’ve always liked you, Nick. I’ve watched you grow, followed your career. You’re well known for being straight. Responsible.”
He inclined his head. Her approval of him could be helpful in the bun fight that would ensue when Syrius found out.
Elanor sat back clasping her hands in her lap. “My husband has heart disease. It’s quite serious. If he finds out about this—affair—it will possibly kill him. If it doesn’t kill him straight off, then he will take a gun and shoot you.”
Nick pretended to give it due consideration, allowing three heartbeats to go by. “I’ll take my chances, but thank you for the warning.”
“You’re not listening. I believe you are an honorable man. Your mother was my best friend for many years. We resumed our friendship in secret a couple of years before she died.”
Nick remembered then that’s where he’d seen the limo. At the cemetery on the day of his mother’s funeral. The windows were tinted and he couldn’t identify the occupant. The car left before the end of the interment.
“Your mother was incredibly proud of you. She said you were honest and fair-minded. Very strong without the headstrong traits of your brother. She said you could always be relied upon to do exactly the right thing.”
It seemed to Nick she enunciated every syllable with great care—do exactly the right thing. He continued watching her steadily, waiting for her to get to the point. His family owed her a hearing.
“Nick, I’ve watched my husband struggle over the years to try to modify his personality, and fail to do so. I’ve watched him have affairs and that’s all right because I can’t give him what he needs, and he always comes home to me. He treats me with the utmost care and allows me my dignity by being discreet. He loves me.” Elanor leaned forward, watching his face intently. “But that love pales in comparison to what he feels for his daughter. Syrius loves Jordan more than his own life.”
Nick grappled with some residual familial guilt that had unfairly passed down from his father. He and Jordan should never have started…it was self-indulgent and irresponsible. But it was too late now. “Elanor, I am sorry for what my father did to you. He is sorry for what he did to you. But it’s unfair to expect Jordan and me to take the rap for past mistakes.”
Her eyes were bright with sharp emotion. “I lost everything in that accident. My unborn son, only three weeks from birth. The use of my legs when my greatest passion—and my career—was dancing.”
Nick flinched and swallowed to clear the ball of sympathy that had closed his throat.
Elanor saw it and her mouth thinned. “Syrius will never accept this relationship, do you understand?” She raised her hand, pointing at him. “Your father took his son. He would die rather than let a Thorne have his daughter.”
Nick felt the blood drain from his face. He wanted to look away but a twisted respect forced him to keep eye contact.
Elanor wasn’t finished. “I will lose everything. Again. Jordan will never be able to look at you without seeing the tragedy of what will confront her beloved father, who will be either dead or in prison. Your own father will probably cut you off.”
He could only stare at her. For the first time, he began to truly understand the magnitude of the battle ahead.
“And all for a sordid turn between the sheets once a week. Something you could get from anyone.”
Nick inhaled. He wasn’t having that. “I care for her. I believe she cares for me.” He knew she did.
A ghost of a smile softened her lips for a second. “Jordan falls in and out of love every other week.”