Trouble Me: A Rosewood Novel (39 page)

“Well, I didn’t know how quick on the draw you might be in the morning,” she teased. “Though parts of you seem pretty alert.”

He swatted her lightly on the butt. “Let’s get wet.”

Yeah, she was fun and energetic and game, and he loved having her long legs wrapped around his hips, meeting him thrust for grinding thrust while hot jets sprayed down upon them. She came in a shuddering climax, triggering his own near-violent release. The kisses she rained over his face as they both regained their senses were hotter than the shower.

She was also surprisingly sweet. He loved her shy smile of unexpected pleasure when, after dressing—he in his jeans and she in a pair of breeches and a cable-knit sweater that looked about as old as she—he offered to help her with the ponies.

“You sure you don’t need to leave?”

“I’ve got some time. I’d like to spend it with you.”

“Well, all right, then.”

And his heart swelled when she slipped her hand in his. As slim and strong as the rest of her, it felt good—and right—in his grasp.

“I’ll make you breakfast afterward,” she continued as they headed out into the crisp morning air. “I do an outstanding bowl of cereal.”

Feeding and watering the ponies was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. He found himself chuckling at the ponies’ excited whinnies when he and Jade, arms loaded with hay, approached the stalls. The sounds the animals made changed then, and the air filled with grinding and munching and slower contented snorts. Jade made quick work of watering, dragging a hose from stall to stall and replenishing the buckets. Though it was fun, he also appreciated the dedication and time it took to care for the horses at Rosewood, day in and day out, in good weather and bad. Jade was probably so used to this life, she wouldn’t see it as the huge responsibility it was.

By the time they’d finished giving the ponies their breakfast and were making their way back to Jade’s cottage, the sun had risen. The dewy grass glistened and the leaves on the trees sparkled bright red and gold.

“It’s beautiful here,” he said as they paused before the cottage’s front step.

“Yeah, it is.” She opened the door and stepped inside, shucking her sweater. “We’re lucky. Even with Margot
taking on fewer modeling jobs, we’ve managed to keep Rosewood Farm operating in the black. Jordan’s design company, Rosewood Designs, is doing well, so she’s able to put some of the money she makes back into the farm. If I can build up my lesson program, then I’ll be able to do the same.”

Walking as she talked, she led him back toward the kitchen, making a beeline for the coffeemaker. Grabbing two cups, she filled them with steaming coffee, handed him one, and smiled. “I should give you fair warning that the real goal of the children’s riding program is to make lifelong horse nuts out of each and every one of my students. It’s a sport that comes with a pretty steep price tag. But because you seem like a nice guy, I’ll give you a really good deal on that first Rosewood horse you buy for Hayley.”

He opened the fridge and took out a container of milk. At her nod, he poured some into her cup and then into his own. Leaning against the counter, he took a sip. His eyebrows rose in surprise.

“This is great coffee.”

“Thanks.” She seemed ridiculously pleased at the compliment. “Owen taught me how. He takes things like good coffee very seriously. We’ve turned him on to horses too.”

“In Hayley’s case, I think it’s safe to say she’s already a horse nut. But at least now I’ve been warned. I’ll open a horse fund to go with the college fund I started when she was a newborn.”

“You opened a college fund for her? Good for you.”

The wistful note in her voice had him remembering that her father left his three daughters with what rumor had was a prodigious pile of debt. He was suddenly glad that she had such a close bond with her sisters. “So how about that cereal you promised to wow me with?”

“Coming right up.” She, too, seemed to want to avoid
any melancholy memories. “I can also do toast. Ellie Banner, Rosewood’s housekeeper, gave me some strawberry jam she made.”

He grinned. “Cereal and toast with strawberry jam. I’m overwhelmed. Can I help?”

“No, it’s totally under control. You can keep the coffee coming, though.”

He sat at the small kitchen table while she set about preparing their breakfast. Once she’d placed the cereal and the toast on the table and brought over the butter and jam, she sank into the chair beside him and launched into a lively commentary on the art of buttering toast.

The performance, a riff on a TV cooking show, was damned entertaining. The joy she got out of explaining how to spread sliver-thin slices of butter over warm toast and exactly how much jam should be allotted for each slice was infectious—the joy she got out of
life
was infectious.

She was good for him.

He wanted more. Much more, he decided. He wanted days with Jade and her quick intelligence and offbeat humor. He wanted nights with her generosity and passion.

She’d finished her first slice of toast. No time like the present, he decided. “I was wondering if you might be free to—” he began, only to have his sentence interrupted by the peal of her cell.

She picked it up off the table where she’d deposited it when they came into the kitchen. Her lips pursed as she read the display. “It’s Topher.” She sighed. “I should see what he wants.”

Rob could have told her what he wanted, but he didn’t want to spoil the morning. Furthermore, he didn’t believe in wasting his breath. She’d already thumbed the button and said, “Hello?”

She was silent while Topher made what was evidently a long-winded pitch.

“Sorry, Topher. I can’t tonight. I have to prepare for school tomorrow.” She paused to listen to his reply, and Rob saw her green eyes flash with annoyance. “Yeah, well, you’d be surprised how much time goes into preparing for a full day of school. On top of that, the class is starting a new social-studies unit.”

She fell silent again. “Okay, I guess I have time for that. I’ll see you later.”

She ended the call and caught his look. “What?”

“Are you going out with him again?”

“No—not really.” She opened the box of cereal she’d selected from the cupboard and poured it into two large ceramic bowls that were white with multicolored dots. She passed him one bowl and the carton of milk. “I’ll let you pour. How much milk to use on cereal is such an individual decision.”

He waited several beats, and when it was clear she wasn’t going to pick up the dangling thread of her earlier comment, he said, “So, ‘not really’—what does that mean?”

She gave him a long look. “It means that I refused to go out to dinner but said I’d be willing to be around the barn at four this afternoon when he comes to sign the papers for Carmen. Why he needs me around is a deep mystery, since Margot and Travis are the deal makers and Ned and Felix know Carmen better than anyone. But, as I told you before, we’re keeping our horse farm afloat financially—not an easy thing to do in this economic climate—and we wouldn’t be even glimpsing a profit if we went around alienating our clients. Does that answer your question?”

“Yeah.” He sloshed some milk over the cereal, dug up a spoonful, and shoved it in his mouth, chewing vigorously.

Okay, he had to stop overreacting.

He could handle the idea of her seeing Topher at Rosewood. After all, Topher wouldn’t be so stupid as to try to stick his tongue down Jade’s throat with Travis Maher nearby. Swallowing, he gave her a teasing grin. “This is exceptionally tasty cereal.”

“I know,” she said, beaming. “Cap’n Crunch is the best.”

“The toast is delicious too.” He took another bite of jam-slathered toast.

“Well, I can’t take the credit for that. It’s Ellie’s jam.”

“No need for modesty,” he said. “You spread the butter.”

She nodded happily, clearly relieved that they’d overcome the hurdle of Topher’s all-too-obvious interest. “I did, didn’t I?”

For his part, Rob was pleased that he hadn’t ruined the goofy silliness of their breakfast. He hadn’t felt this lighthearted in many a morning.

He leaned over and kissed her, savoring the taste of her, more delicious than any jam ever created. As their tongues mated, the heat between them flared. He smiled as she raised her arms to loop them about his neck and parted her lips wider, deepening their kiss.

With a low growl of approval, he wrapped his arms about her waist and shifted back in his chair, lifting her onto his lap. The move allowed him full access to her neck, and as he dragged his mouth down its length, he breathed in her warm soap-scented skin. His head spun with memories of her in the shower, wielding the bar of soap all over their entwined bodies.

Free to rove, his hands cupped her breasts, and a savage pleasure flooded him as her nipples grew pebble-hard against his palms. He knew if he opened the closure of her breeches and slid his hand inside her panties and touched her, she’d be hot and wet for him, as intensely
aroused as he—and he wanted her with a force that left him shaking.

“Jade,” he whispered as his hand closed about her breast, fondling it. “Let me take you back to bed.”

Her eyes fluttered shut as she arched her supple body against his hand. “Mmm-mmm,” she moaned. Disappointment flooded him as she straightened. “I’d love to, but unfortunately even a quickie would take too long,” she said, regret in her voice. “I’m teaching the whole nepotic gang in a half hour, Neddy and Will included. They’ll be rolling in any minute.”

How many women would give up their precious Sunday morning to teach their nephews and nieces? he wondered, floored anew by her energy and generosity.

“Okay.” He gave her a final kiss, knowing he’d be remembering the sweetly wild taste of her for the rest of the day.

His need unabated, he lowered his hands from the soft globes of her breasts and brought them to the relatively safer region of her back, stroking its silken length. Yet even there her response, a supple arch against the flat of his hand, like a sleek cat demanding to be stroked, had him wishing he could strip off her top and rain kisses down her spine to the sweet curve of her buttocks, while his fingers roamed and dipped—God, what had made him think touching her back would be “safe”? He could graze her pinkie, and desire would explode inside him.

With an effort, he reined in his hunger. “I was thinking earlier, I’d like to reciprocate for this fine breakfast you served. Come to dinner tomorrow.”

“Dinner?” Again, he glimpsed in Jade’s shy surprise a side of her she rarely revealed.

“Yeah, with Hayley and me. We make a mean pizza.”

“Do you think it’s a good idea? Will Hayley—”

“She’ll love it. She’s nuts about you, Jade. I want you to be with us.”

“Well, okay, I—” Her answer was cut off by the peal of her phone. With an apologetic look, she leaned forward and grabbed it, glancing down at the screen.

With the phone cradled in Jade’s hands, Rob could see the words
PRIVATE CALLER
displayed. At least it wasn’t Topher calling again, he thought. But when she pressed the on button and brought the phone to her ear, he was close enough to hear a man’s voice say, “Jade, it’s me, Greg.” He felt the instant stiffening of her body and saw the telling look of horror that crossed her face just before she slid off his lap to carry the phone out of earshot.

The conversation lasted less than twenty seconds, but the obvious tension in Jade told Rob plenty. Greg was somebody important and Jade didn’t want Rob to know about him. He’d never seen her look so guilt-stricken—except perhaps the night he’d busted her at the Den with a fake ID.

She’d been silent, listening intently. Then he heard her say, “Yes. I can do that.” Her gaze swung to his face, then skittered away. “Listen, I’ll call you back.”

She hung up but remained standing by the entrance to the kitchen, staring into middle space.

“Everything okay?”

She started. “Yes. Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” Her voice was too casual.

“Who’s Greg?”

She looked at him. No, she looked
through
him. He might have been holding her in his arms minutes ago; right now it was as if she were a million miles away.

“Greg? He’s a”—she hesitated, as if searching for some acceptable description—“a friend.”

He told himself to ignore the jealousy that, like a snake, had uncoiled to slither cold and lethal through his insides. “I see. So about dinner Monday—”

“I’m sorry, I can’t. I’m busy tomorrow.”

He knew, as the snake struck and sank its fangs deep,
that the reason she’d be busy was Greg. “What’s going on, Jade? A second ago we were discussing dinner with you, me, and Hayley, and from the sound of it you wanted to come.”

Oh, God
. Jade cast a desperate glance in the direction of the front door. Would that she had special powers; she’d will it to burst open and have Olivia and Max tear inside with their usual high spirits. Quick on their heels would be Georgiana and then Kate, who, like Jordan, was always so self-possessed. Only the kids’ chattering presence filling her small cottage would distract Rob and his too-perceptive gaze from uncovering her secrets.

She struggled to maintain a calm façade, which Greg Hammond had blown to bits with these few words:
I think I’ve found your TM, Jade. Are you free to meet me tomorrow?

She didn’t know how successfully she’d hidden her reaction from Rob; she was still reeling from the aftershocks of Greg’s announcement.

After all these years, the idea that she might learn the identity of her mother’s lover was nearly impossible to grasp. The news made her heart pound, less from excitement than from a strange sort of dread. The reaction was unexpected, and all she wanted right now was to have a moment alone to sort out her feelings, at the very least to pull herself together. Instead, she had to pretend that her world hadn’t altered dramatically because of Greg’s call.

“Jade?” She heard the trace of impatience in his voice and realized she hadn’t answered his question.

“What?” she asked, stalling. The kids really should be coming any second.…
Please be on time
.