The Earl's Outrageous Lover (2 page)

Chapter 2

Edward picked up his phone and looked at the number.  He didn’t recognize the number, but answered it anyway.

In response to his abrupt greeting he heard, “I’m sorry to bother you, my lord, but are you awaiting the arrival of a Ms.  Jessica Mallory, by chance?”  the voice asked.

Edward glanced at his watch impatiently.  “Yes.  Are you her boyfriend?”  he asked whoever it was that called for her.

The man chuckled.  “I wish.  But no, my lord.  I am calling on her behalf to tell you that she’s at the police station at the moment, a bit detained but she’ll be there as soon as she can.”

Edward closed his eyes and sighed inwardly.  The woman had been arrested?  Good grief!  He hadn’t even met her and he knew she was going to be trouble.  “Where is she being held?”

The man shook his head.  “She’s not really being held at the station, my lord.”

“Just tell me where she is,” he snapped, already thinking of acquaintances who owed him favors so he could extract a pitiful rebellious woman from a prison sentence which she probably deserved.

“She’s down at the Seventh Street Station, my lord.  She’s perfectly fine.  She says she will meet you as soon as she can.”

“I’m sure she thinks so.  Tell her I’m on my way and not to do or say anything until I arrive.”  Edward didn’t wait for a response before he snapped his phone shut, cutting off the caller.  He pulled on his jacket and walked out of his office.  “Tell Tim to meet me downstairs immediately.  I also want Tony Davenport at the door waiting as well.  Tell him to drop everything now!”

Edward had barely raised his voice, which made his commands so much more terrifying.  Alice took it all in stride though.  She was already on the phone with Tim conveying instructions and by the time Edward reached the elevators, she had Tony, Edward’s corporate attorney, on the phone with instructions to be in the lobby in thirty seconds for some crisis.

Edward could not believe that Charles had spoiled this woman for so long.  Right now, all he wanted to do was spank the woman who had disrupted his day and caused several meetings to be rescheduled.

“What’s going on?”  Tony asked as he stuffed papers into his briefcase, breathing heavily as he raced to keep up with his employer’s longer stride.

“I have no idea actually.  A woman I’ve just been charged with dealing with has been arrested and is being held at the police station.  I don’t know what she’s done or any of the details.  But I need you to get her out of whatever mess she’s landed herself in.”

Tony nodded and quickly ducked into the back of the limousine behind Edward.  By the time the car was moving, Tony was on his cell phone trying to get more information from his police contacts.  “You’re telling me that she isn’t in lockup?”  he asked into his phone.  “Hold on,” he said and covered the mouthpiece as he turned to Edward.  “My source at the station says she hasn’t been arrested.”

Edward rubbed his forehead.  “Good.  I guess that means she hasn’t been booked yet.  We might be able to push this all under the carpet in less time than I thought.”

Tim was already pulling up outside the police station and Tony jumped out, leading the way into the station with Edward right behind him.

It was one of the smaller stations in London, but it was still bustling with activity.

“I need to speak with Jessica Mallory,” Edward said with menacing authority to the first officer he ran into.

The officer immediately smiled at Edwards comment, then burst out laughing.  “You and all the rest of us!”  he guffawed.  “She’s in the back robbing us blind.”  The man turned around and pointed to a back door.  “Go through there.  And have your money out.  You’re gonna need it,” he said with another snicker as he moved through the cubicles towards another door.

Tony and Edward looked at each other with confusion.  Tony shrugged and led the way, walking through the door the officer had indicated.  When both men entered the conference room, six other officers all turned around with equally irritated expressions at being disturbed.  There was only one female face and Edward felt like he’d been punched in the gut when she lifted her head and smiled towards him.

“Who the hell are you?”  one of the officers asked belligerently.

Tony stepped forward with all of his lawyerly mannerisms.  “I’m here to represent Ms. Mallory.  Please explain the charges against her and why there are so many men interrogating her at once.”

There was a moment of stunned silence, then as one, all six police officers burst out laughing.  The woman was also smiling but she stood up and placed her cards on the table quietly, putting a gentle hand on the two officers nearest to her until they quieted once again.  “I’m Jessica Mallory.  And I believe there’s some confusion here.”  She looked to Tony, narrowing her eyes before she shook her head.  “You’re not Edward.”  She glanced behind Tony to survey Edward, taking in his tall, muscular appearance with the angry, irritated expression and nodded.  "You’re Edward Livingston, right?”

Edward stepped forward and examined the woman standing on the other side of the table.  “You’re Jessica Mallory?”  he demanded.

She smiled brightly and nodded her head.  Edward couldn’t believe what he was seeing.  Could this bright, beautiful woman really be so outrageous that she was arrested as soon as she’d walked out of the airport?

“What are you being charged with?”  he asked, more gently now that he’d seen her.  Her curls bounced around her face and her eyes danced in….amusement?  She was stunningly beautiful and something happened to his stomach when her smile widened.  His eyes even traveled down her figure, pretending to check for abuse or handcuffs, but all he saw was a knockout figure in a white, peasant blouse and jeans that hugged her figure.  She wasn’t tall, was in fact significantly shorter than the officers who stood up as if they were trying to protect her.

“The lady isn’t in any trouble, my lord,” one of the officers stated firmly.  “In fact, most of us are in trouble so if you’d like to take her off of our hands, we might end up with a few bucks in our pockets tonight when we head home.

Edward’s eyes snapped from the woman to the table.  Sure enough, there was a poker game going on.  And most of the money was sitting right in front of the lady in question.

Jessica’s eyes went from smiling to worried as she looked around.  “I’m not really going to keep all of this,” she declared.  “We were just having some fun.  You all need to take back your money.”  She pushed it all into the center of the table, mixing it in with the pot that had been building from the most recent round.  “Besides, I was going to win that pot as well,” she said and turned her cards over to show three kings.

Six men stared in horror at her cards, ending in groans and guffaws as they smacked each other on the back, arguing on how they were going to split the money now that Jessica had comingled all of the funds.

She noticed Edward’s thunderous expression and knew that she needed to get out of this situation quickly so she could diffuse his anger somewhat.  “Okay, I think I need to leave now,” she said brightly and moved around the table.  “I think Nate should be here by now anyway.”  She reached out and hugged each man, giving some a kiss on the cheek and others a punch on the arm.  Each burly officer took her kiss or her jab with good humor, but he could tell that every single one of them wanted to claim her for his own.

“Thank you so much for the ride from the airport, guys!”  she called out as she pulled open the conference room door and walked out.  She turned back slightly to Edward and Tony.  “I’m really sorry about the confusion,” she said.  “I told Officer Mike to just let you know I would be later than anticipated meeting you at your office.”

Edward turned to Tony, both of them looking a bit shell-shocked by what had just happened.  Edward was the first to snap out of it and he followed the young woman out of the room, determined to find out exactly what was going on.  Unfortunately, by the time he caught up with her, he found her chatting up a man who had his hands handcuffed behind his back, a leather strap circling his neck with metal studs coming out in every direction and tattoos on every visible piece of skin.  Since he was only wearing a leather vest, there was a lot of skin to be seen!

Looking down, he noticed one more thing about her.  She was wearing red cowboy boots!  He wasn’t sure why, but of all the things that surprised him most about today, the boots actually hit the top of the list.  They worked somehow, but they were so unexpected, especially when she looked so sweet and….delectable…everywhere else.

Jessica smiled at Joe and patted him on the shoulder, careful to not punch him on his most recent knife wound.  “You’re a lawyer, right?”  she asked as Tony approached.

Tony hesitated, once again at a loss which was extremely rare.  “Umm…yes,” he finally answered, looking from the slender beauty to the huge, tattooed man and then to Edward, his employer.

“Good!”  she smiled brightly.  “This is Joe and he’s been completely misunderstood,” she explained.

Edward already knew where this was going.  “Absolutely not!”  he grumbled and pushed Jessica towards the exit.  “Move,” he commanded.

Jessica glanced up at the tall man nervously.  She didn’t want to leave with him when he looked this angry.  She remembered him so differently from his mother’s funeral!

Her dreams had definitely not come close to the reality of the man, she realized quickly.  He was well over six feet tall with thick, black hair cut short and neat.  His hazel eyes were no longer filled with pain, thankfully, but they were definitely filled with anger over something, although she had no idea what that could be.  And the intensity of those eyes was almost terrifying.  Over the past several years, she’d compared every man she met to the sixteen year old boy she’d remembered from the day of his mother’s funeral, the man who had been so filled with emotion and a love for his mother but with an inner strength that had impressed the five year old girl.  Standing before her now, she knew that he retained that inner strength and deeply bred integrity and paired that with a killer body that made her mind freeze in surprise and….well just something she couldn’t really define.

Shaking her head suddenly, she reminded herself that she needed to forget about him and focus on finding someone more suitable.  Unfortunately, all other men paled in comparison, seeming weak or pallid, not nearly as intelligent or honorable.  And now that she’d been face to face with the man, she could add ‘sexy’ to her list of adjectives other men didn’t match up to.

With a bright smile, she turned to fully face the man, not allowing him to scare her with that scowl that created interesting indentations between those intelligent, hazel eyes.

“I know we’ve met before, but it was so long ago that we should probably introduce ourselves again.”  She stuck her hand out and said, “I’m Jessica Mallory.  And you’re Edward Livingston.  Your uncle said you might be able to help me with my problem.”

“We’re not discussing anything here,” Edward said with finality and took her arm to lead her out of the building.  When they were out on the street, he started to turn to face Tony, about to tell him to catch a cab back to the office so he could have a private conversation with this woman, but she stopped him.

“There’s my ride.  I was going to head over to your office, but since I’ve already interrupted your day enough, how about if I let you get back to work and you can come over to my house for dinner tonight?”

Edward stopped her with a hand on her arm.  “Let’s discuss the issue on the way back to my office.”

She looked up at him warily, wondering why he was so angry with her.  “Let me just go talk to Nate, okay?”  she suggested.

Edward looked at the guy on the curb leaning against a motorcycle and nodded sharply.

He walked over to his car which had been waiting in the front of the station while he and Tony were inside.

Tony was watching the woman as well but also noting the way his employer scrutinized the woman in question.  He understood what was happening and decided to make himself scarce.  “I’ll catch a cab back to the office, unless you need me for anything else?”

Edward didn’t take his eyes off of Jessica when he shook his head.  His muscles relaxed slightly when she turned back around and headed in his direction.  Tim held the door for her and she ducked down into the back seat and Edward followed her in.

Jessica took the seat opposite so that her back was towards the driver and she could face Edward, wanting to see the expressions on his face as they conversed.  The man was filled with confidence and authority, and the intelligence shone out of those hazel eyes.  It was quite a turn-on!  She even liked the way he moved, with conviction and determination.  Goodness, this man was sexy!

He picked up the papers he’d brought with him, the documents his uncle had e-mailed to him earlier in the day.  “So you’ve been gallivanting about Europe with my uncle instead of seriously trying to get down to the business of fulfilling your father’s provisions, am I correct?”  he asked as he forced his eyes to skim through her father’s will instead of watching her elegant, temptress-like figure sway while Tim drove through the London streets.  He refused to look up as she crossed those long legs.  How could her legs be that long, he wondered.  She wasn’t that tall.  His first impression of her was that she was barely five feet, five or six inches so her legs were just an optical illusion created by the line of her jeans and those ridiculous red boots.

He wondered if she painted her toenails red as well.

Jessica was slightly taken aback at his negative portrayal of her efforts to find a husband.  She bristled, but reminded herself that she’d interrupted his day and he was probably a very busy man.  “I wouldn’t really describe my time as ‘gallivanting’.  That seems to have a negative connotation.”

One of those dark, interesting eyebrows went up and she forced herself to sit still, to not wiggle at his implication.  “Are you telling me that you applied yourself diligently and exclusively to the task of fulfilling your father’s will over the past eleven months?”  he asked.