The Wedding Dress (12 page)

The soccer ball bounded away, but nobody chased it. The students all but twisted their heads right off their necks looking from the dog to Jared to Veronica.

Jared was listening. Emma could sense it, like the prickle of tiny hairs on her nape just before an electrical storm hit. But she doubted anyone else suspected what he was doing. The big Scotsman acted so absorbed in his work an explosion wouldn’t budge his attention.

“I really hate to be a bother, Davey,” Emma said, “but if you could point me in the direction of some food before Captain here faints dead away?”

Emma turned toward one of the picnic tables, grimacing as a ray from the setting sun blazed in her eyes. Davey scrambled to help, grabbing the edge of the table.

“You sit down over here, Ms. McDaniel. I’ll move this so the sun won’t be in your eyes.” He started to drag the table toward the shade of a tree. Surfer Dude elbowed him out of the way.

“Don’t hurt yourself, Einstein. Let the men take care of it.”

She knew exactly what the kid was doing, that pointed banter guys fell into when showing off for girls. The only defense: firing an even sharper smart-aleck answer right back. Unfortunately Davey’s arsenal of sarcasm wasn’t nearly a match for this crew.

Emma hated the humiliation in Davey’s eyes, worse still the resignation. She remembered having that same sinking feeling in her stomach so many times in her own teenage years. Davey didn’t even bother to argue. How could he, considering the obvious physical difference between him and the other guys?

All lanky arms and legs, Davey looked as awkward as a newborn colt, his shoulders not yet filled out, his face still a bit too soft, his eyes just a little too sensitive.

Davey stepped back, as if wishing he could disappear, but Emma blocked his path, shining her brightest smile on the embarrassed kid.

“They’re right, Davey,” she said. “You shouldn’t be moving furniture.”

The jocks elbowed each other in pleasure. Emma could feel every eye on her.

“Leave the menial tasks to the servants,” she told Davey with a wave of her hand. “You’ve already done enough today, rescuing me on the rocks.”

The ringleader of the soccer players swore as he thumped the table leg down right on one of his size-eleven Adidas. “Einstein rescued you?” he asked in disbelief.

“If it weren’t for Davey, God only knows what might have happened. I could have fallen right off the cliff.” Emma curtseyed to Davey and smiled gratefully up into his eyes. “Would you do me the honor of dining with me, sir knight?”

The poor kid looked like he was ready to faint. Emma shifted Captain’s weight into her left arm, then linked her other with Davey’s. She gave the boy an encouraging squeeze. “Please?”

“I’d be honored, my lady,” Davey finally said.

“I have so many questions about the castle I’m sure you can answer.”

Surfer Dude groaned. “Einstein’s already got a swelled head. Don’t make him worse.”

Veronica flashed a long-suffering look in Jared’s direction. “Children, children. Shall we just get out a ruler and settle this once and for all? You know Davey is smarter than the rest of us, Sean.”

Davey gaped as if she’d spoken a foreign language. Emma ground her teeth, angry that Veronica would use the vulnerable young man in an effort to play to Jared.

Emma was tempted to tell the girl that Davey was certainly smart enough to remember when he was supposed to bring a guest her lunch. But this wasn’t about Veronica, or even about Jared. Emma ignored everyone except Davey Harrison as he led her to her seat.

“Veronica, go get Ms. McDaniel some food from the canteen,” Davey commanded, glancing down at his watch. “They should be serving dinner now anyway.” The blonde compressed her mouth into a sour line.

“I’ll go,” the redhead volunteered. She climbed to her feet, brushing a twig off of her canvas shorts.

Davey’s smile grew suddenly shy. “Thanks, Beth.”

Beth. So Davey had a definite crush on the girl, bless his heart. Not that he’d ever have the confidence to let Beth know it.

Emma felt someone watching her, angled her face so she could see. Jared Butler’s wolflike gaze fixed on her, so inscrutable she shivered almost as much as her dog did. But why should she care what Jared thought? Davey Harrison was beaming as if she’d crowned him king of the world.

J
ARED WISHED
Emma McDaniel would get the hell out of his head so he could get some work done. Even as a lad he’d been able to compartmentalize his life into neat little boxes, lock away his emotions and immerse himself in centuries past.

How many times could he remember his father’s wistful face peeking into his room of an evening? Angus Butler had been so fiercely proud Jared was top of his classes that the old man would never have dreamed of pulling his son away from the pile of books that always littered the boy’s bed. Yet now Jared understood the price his father had paid for such unselfishness. Jared knew about silences too deep, where ghosts lived just waiting for a chance to haunt you.

While Angus had been silent when Jared withdrew, Jenny had been sad.
I thought things would be different once we were married. But you feel so far away and I can’t reach you….

He’d grown so damned impatient.
I’m right here.

No. You’re somewhere off inside your head.

She’d been right. He’d lived most of his life cut off from the present, building castles in his mind, peopling them with ladies and knights far more real to him than his wife had been. Even students he cared most about—like Davey—he managed to keep boxed up in his head when necessary.

But damn if Emma McDaniel would stay where Jared put her. She kept popping out like some crazed Jack-in-the-box just when he least expected it. Jack-in-the-box? Ha! More like any red-blooded man’s hottest fantasy popping out of a cake at some stag party.

No wonder college lads decorated their walls with her picture. She had the kind of beauty that stopped men in their tracks—elegance, grace, a natural sensuality that made men want her, know they could never have her. She might as well be the moon; she was so far beyond their reach.

And now she’d smashed his concentration again. She’d glided across the heath like a princess in ancient tales of magic, about to sacrifice herself to some dragon. But this time no knight had ridden to her aid. The lady had done the rescuing, sweeping into the midst of the football game and transforming Davey from the shy butt of the more athletic boys’ jokes to her chosen champion. The boy looked as if he hadn’t a coherent thought left in his head.

Jared bundled away the site maps he’d been updating and watched Emma from beneath hooded lids.

So the lad is dazzled by her. At least Davey has the excuse he’s not even twenty yet. What about you, Butler? Admit it, man. When the woman carried that disaster of a dog out of your tent, she took your brain as well.

Jared closed his eyes, remembering. The skin exposed when Emma had opened his shirtfront still burned, but not from the wounds her vampire dog had inflicted. Soft, feminine fingertips had blazed invisible trails on his bare chest, leaving Jared so hot, another plunge in the cold burn would’ve been a relief.

She’d been so warm, so real when she’d pulled his hand into her lap, her red mouth vulnerable with regret that he’d been bitten, her eyes shining as if he had slain dragons instead of driven off a crotchety old farmer and his dogs.

But he’d broken the spell with a vengeance when he’d betrayed the fact that he’d read her letters.

How would you feel if I read private letters of yours?

Letters so emotional he’d actually cried over them the way she obviously had? He’d feel violated, exposed…furious. But then, he never had poured his feelings out on paper. Not since he’d learned the danger. Once in writing, your words could be used to trap you.

He heard a silvery ripple of laughter and opened his eyes to see Emma, transfixed by whatever Davey was talking about. The woman seemed to relish the fish and chips on her paper plate with the unabashed delight most people of her type would reserve for cuisine from a five-star French restaurant. Yet despite her animated conversation with Davey and her own obvious hunger, she paused now and then to slip her ridiculous-looking dog the choicest bits of food.

Something about the woman hammered at Jared’s heart: her ratty dog cradled on her lap, her beautiful smile thawing Davey’s shyness, the way the first spring sunshine thawed the heath, coaxing flowers out of winter-barren ground.

In half an hour Emma McDaniel had managed to achieve what Jared had struggled to do for years—forcing the other students to see Davey in a different light. But why had she done it? Questions racketed through Jared’s mind.

He saw Veronica slide onto the bench across from Emma and Davey, something sharp in the blonde’s gaze. Beth, Sean Murphy and the rest of Veronica’s adoring throng crowded into the remaining seats.

It was a strange combination. Curiosity, Jared’s fatal flaw, got the better of him.

He rose, took his notebook and a Ziploc bag containing a recent find to the table next to Emma’s.

“Dr. Butler, won’t you come join us?” Veronica called. “I’m sure someone would be happy to move.”

Just like a dog juggling for alpha status in a pack, Veronica was always nudging one of the quieter kids to give up their seat. Usually, Davey would have bailed, but Jared doubted a crate of explosives could blast the boy from Emma McDaniel’s side tonight.

Even if Davey
had
started to fall into his old habit of moving, Jared instinctively knew Emma would have stopped the boy. Whiskey-dark eyes had the same protective glint in them Jared had seen when the lady had been a heartbeat away from plunging into the middle of a dogfight after that little scrap of a mutt whose life she’d saved.

“I’ve got work to do,” Jared said, staking out an empty table by spreading his things across it. He drew a magnifying glass from the leather pouch on his belt, removed the finger-length chunk of metal from the plastic bag, then chose the seat where he’d have the best vantage point to keep an eye on the unfolding scene.

For a heartbeat Emma’s gaze locked on the find Jared was pretending to study, her avid curiosity surprising him.

But a second later, Jared was sure he’d imagined it. Emma focused on Davey once more. The kid was describing the evolution of castles to her, from wooden motte and bailey fortresses to the grand stone structures like Castle Craigmorrigan. Emma listened with rapt attention, peppering the conversation with surprisingly astute questions, as if her sole purpose was to make Davey shine.

Jared figured it took Veronica about three seconds to hijack the conversation.

“We can talk about castles all summer, Davey,” she said, sprinkling malt vinegar on her own fish. “But we’ll only have Emma here for a little while. Wouldn’t you all rather hear about her?”

A chorus of enthusiastic approval rose from the other students. A resigned aura settled over Emma’s features, as if she’d expected to be hit with questions at some point. But Jared sensed a wariness about Emma, too. Smart girl, he thought. Veronica sounded way too friendly considering the glint in her eyes.

“You look so different in person!” Veronica said, nibbling meditatively on a chip. “Of course, women who work out in the real world can’t waste hours in front of a mirror. It must be hard for you to adjust, having to dress yourself and do your own hair.”

“I’m trying not to crumble under the hardship,” Emma said breezily. “I suppose I’ll even have to clip my own toenails here.”

“I’d be happy to help,” Sean offered, elbowing his friend.

“No thanks. It’ll be good for me. If I can just figure out how to unfold the little lever thing on the clippers.”

Veronica’s mouth tightened as everyone at the table laughed, as charmed by Emma as the terrier was. Emma slipped the dog a thick wedge of potato and the animal smacked his lips in pure bliss.

“You don’t look nearly as…well,
you
know,” Veronica said. “It’s amazing what the world’s most famous makeup artists can do. I read someplace that there are women who don’t go anywhere without one.”

“I usually pack Pierre in my carry-on luggage, but these days they barely let you carry on a tube of lipstick. Besides, I couldn’t figure out how to declare him in customs.”

The kids roared, some sputtering mouthfuls of milk or fizzy drinks. Score one for Emma, Jared thought.

Veronica feigned a laugh. “That’s wonderful. But then you obviously get a lot of practice making snappy comebacks, being famous and all, I suppose. Especially lately, you poor thing.”

Poor thing? Jared saw Emma’s dark eyes glitter.

“Somehow I manage to bear up under the pressure.”

“Knowing you’re second choice as Lady Aislinn must be tough,” Veronica commiserated. “But it’s a very complex role. You can’t blame Barry Robards for having reservations about giving it to—well, your roles thus far haven’t exactly had much depth.”

“What a horrible curse,” Emma lamented. “Starring in movies that are box office draws when plenty of actresses with a whole lot more talent than I have are waiting on tables and eating stale cornflakes, hoping for their big breaks.”

“No way!” Sean exclaimed, a chorus of denials breaking from the other lads.

“Emma’s fantastic as Jade! No one looks better in spandex than you do! You sure wouldn’t, Ronnie!”

“We’ll never know, will we?” Veronica rejected a slightly burned chip. “It’s hard enough for a woman to win respect in academia without dressing in some skintight catsuit that…well, you must admit, Emma, it doesn’t leave much to the imagination.”

Emma selected an even darker chip and popped it in her mouth. “All that exposed skin is pretty risqué. Showing my hands and my face and—that’s all, isn’t it? You might want to rethink your shorts and T-shirt, Veronica. There’s more of me covered in my Jade Star costume than you’ve got covered right now.”

The boys made a swishing noise, shooting their arms up like referees signaling a goal.

“She’s got you there, Ronnie,” Beth said, stifling a giggle.