“She didn’t even have enough money to get lunch?” Emma’s insistence on modeling was starting to make sense to Finn.
“No. I ended up giving her my lunch a couple times,” Mandy said. “I told her I had too much. She was too proud to take it, but I talked her into it eventually. I tried to talk to her, but she was so scared and closed off she wouldn’t tell me much. I just remember feeling really sorry for her.”
“Did she come to the brother’s trial?” James asked, brushing his nose against Mandy’s jaw as he snuggled in closer.
“Yeah. She testified for him, saying that he wasn’t perfect, but he’d always been a good brother. I think her testimony is what really got to Judge MacIntosh.”
Finn sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Well, that explains why she’s modeling. She said she needed the money. I didn’t understand. She really seems to hate it.”
Mandy raised her eyebrows. “Would you like people staring at you while you’re half-naked for hours?”
“Baby, I think that’s every guy’s dream,” James said. “It’s different for women, I guess.”
“Is she the one you’re lovesick for?” Mandy asked, glancing over at Finn.
“I’m not lovesick,” he growled.
“Is she the one you’re attracted to?” Mandy corrected, rolling her eyes.
“I’m not attracted to her,” Finn said. “She just seemed so … sad and vulnerable.”
Mandy and James exchanged a look.
“Yeah, I know that look,” Mandy said. “You’re already to rush into danger to save her.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m hot for her,” Finn countered.
“I didn’t say you were,” Mandy said. “I would just be really careful with her. She’s been through more than you … or I … or anyone, for that matter, could ever fathom.”
Finn pushed himself to his feet. “Let’s get one thing straight, shall we? I’m not attracted to her. After everything she’s been through, I just want to make sure she doesn’t get hurt. Is that so wrong?”
Mandy shook her head. “No. Just be careful with her. I know you Hardy men think every woman will break. That’s not usually true. With Emma, she actually might break.”
Finn waved a half-hearted goodbye, leaving out the front door with Mandy’s words swimming through his head. He had a lot to think about.
When he was gone, and it was just James and his girlfriend, Mandy lowered her forehead to his.
“You realize he’s already a goner, right?”
“I knew that before you came down,” James said. “I knew it the minute I laid eyes on him. I think what you told him just made him all the more … conflicted.”
“I wasn’t kidding about him breaking her,” Mandy said. “The good news is, if anyone can get through to her and treat her right, it’s your brother.”
“Are you saying I don’t treat you right?” James asked, poking Mandy in the ribs.
“No. You treat me better than right. I’m not Emma, though. She’s been through a lot more than I have. She really is fragile.”
James reached up, tilting Mandy’s mouth so he could give her a sweet kiss. “You have a huge heart. This is Finn’s thing, baby. We just have to let him handle it, and be there for him when he needs help.”
“You’re being awfully smart tonight,” Mandy teased. “It’s like you’re a really smart teacher or something.”
“Tonight?” James raised an eyebrow playfully.
Mandy shifted so she could straddle James on the chair. “Do you want to show me just how smart you are?”
James groaned as he felt Mandy grind against him. “Class is definitely in session.”
Five
“Why are you up so early?”
James glanced back to his bed wistfully. Mandy was there, shrouded under a mountain of covers, but still naked from their night together. If there were any way around it, James would have stayed there with her for another hour – or all day, if he could have talked her into it.
Since Finn was returning to the boat show, James felt he should offer some moral support. And, the truth was, he wanted to meet Emma Pritchard for himself. “I’m going to the boat show.”
Mandy peeked out from under the covers, her blonde hair tousled in a hundred different directions. She was beautiful every time of day, but James loved her best in the mornings – when she was all soft and warm from sleep, her face bare of makeup, her mind sloppy with the previous night’s memories. “You’re going to the boat show? Are you going to buy a boat?”