The Earl's Outrageous Lover (6 page)

When Edward had done the same examination with the reassembled Beretta, he turned back to the cashier.  “These will do,” he said grimly.  “Come along,” he said and led Jessica through the maze of hallways to the back where the aisles were located.  “Do you know how to do this?”  he asked.

When Jessica only stared up at him and shook her head, he nodded and positioned himself behind her.  “Look straight down the barrel through the top two points.  They’re called sights,” he explained and positioned her correctly with her feet staggered and her shoulders angled just slightly.  He gave her instructions and Jessica tried very hard to pay attention, impressed with the way he knew all the ins and outs of shooting a pistol.  But the problem wasn’t with his instruction.  It was with his proximity.  The way he touched her made her nervous.  He stood directly behind her, showing her how to aim, what to look for, how to breathe, to watch her pulse rate.

It was almost as if he were embracing her with his arms around her so closely, but not really touching.  It was very erotic, almost in a tantric sort of way.  She could smell his spicy aftershave that mixed so well with the smell that was completely Edward and male and just….hot!

When she fired the pistol for the first time, she almost dropped the weapon but Edward was right there to steady her.  He stepped behind her, his arms going around her, hugging her as he helped her sight down the pistol.  She smiled, feeling warm and secure as he went through the exercise of shooting the pistol.  Over and over again, he patiently gave her tips, coming closer to her when she needed help, stepping away when she wanted to try something on her own, but always there to help and advise.

When she got her first bullet on the target, she was so thrilled but remembered to carefully place the weapon on the table in front of her before she spun around, then threw her arms around Edward and jumped up in excitement.  He laughed and held her against him, looking down at her with equal excitement.

“I did it!”  she exclaimed, so thrilled with her newfound knowledge.  “I can’t believe I actually hit the target!  This is so thrilling!  I think I might have to come out here more often.”

Edward groaned and shook his head.  “Only come out here when I’m with you.  Promise me that?”  he asked firmly.

Jessica nodded her head, then realized what they were doing.  The smile left her face, replaced with surprise, and then awareness.  He too changed from amusement to understanding and her body felt his reaction.  She knew she should pull away, but they were the only ones in the area this early in the morning and it was ominously quiet after all the shooting moments ago.

“Yes….well…” she said, stepping back and smoothing her skirt down over her hips.  “That was quite….exciting,” she said awkwardly.  She wanted nothing better than to stay in his arms, maybe have him bend lower and kiss her gently.  To feel his arms tighten around her.  But he wasn’t the man for her and besides, he also wasn’t a free man and Julianna was a nice woman.

She cleared her throat and stepped back, letting her hands fall to her sides.  “I guess that’s enough for today,” she said and glanced down at her watch.  “Goodness!  It’s already eleven o’clock.  Where is this luncheon?”  she asked.

Edward also looked down at his watch, wondering how they could have spent two hours shooting this morning.  Time had definitely gotten away from him.

“We need to get out of here,” he said and slid the magazine out of the pistol, ensuring that there weren’t any rounds chambered before he took both pistols back to the front of the store.  He handed them back to the manager who inspected them, then led Jessica out into to the autumn sunshine.

“I’ll follow you?”  she asked.

Edward looked at her Mini Cooper and considered their options.  “How about if Tim drives us to the lunch?  I’ll have someone bring your car back to your house.  That will save a bit of time.”

Jessica wasn’t sure how it would save time, but worse, she had other activities tentatively scheduled for the afternoon.  “I’m not coming back to my house this afternoon.  I have plans,” she replied, not looking up at him now.

Edward looked down at her with something akin to trepidation.  “What kinds of plans do you have this afternoon?”

She smiled up at him, feeling proud of her next idea.  “I’m going to learn to box.”

Edward groaned and shook his head.  “You are not going to learn to box, Jessica,” he commanded.  He took her arm and led her over to the back of the limousine, Tim already holding the door open for the two of them.

Jessica tried to pull her arm away but he held her firmly.  “And just why am I not going to learn to box?  Lots of men box which means there will be plenty of men at the gym to meet.  I think boxing is a very manly sport and it would be exciting to box even if I don’t meet any men.”

Edward sat down and rubbed his forehead, wondering how he was going to get through the next two weeks if she continued to come up with ideas like boxing and shooting.  What might she come up with next?  Sword fighting?

“Jessica, can’t you just take the traditional route and meet me at social functions?”  he asked, his concern for her safety and well being causing a pain to run through the bridge of his nose.

She put a hand on his arm, trying to comfort him, but the intensity of the electricity that shot through the two of them was instant and powerful.  She immediately pulled her hand back, but not before Edward looked down at her hand, then into her eyes.  The heat was there once again, passionate and obvious and it terrified her.  She quickly pulled back and looked out the window, not sure of what was happening between the two of them.

“Of course I can,” she said softly, still reeling from the impact of her simple touch on his arm.  “But as you’re so quick to point out, I have a deadline.  I can’t mess around with this issue, Edward.  I need to meet as many men as possible.”

“Not boxing,” he countered.  He was determined to keep her from going into a boxing ring, his mind already picturing her soft, gentle skin with black and blue bruises all over the lovely surface caused by some idiot trying to show her how to box.

Jessica crossed her arms over her chest and sighed heavily.  She wasn’t sure what she should do about Edward.  Just sitting here next to him was distracting and she couldn’t come up with an argument for why boxing would be a good idea.  All the things she’d thought about this morning were out the window because he was nearby.  Maybe she shouldn’t tell him what her plans were each day.  He looked a bit anxious about her ideas.

Besides, she had liked him showing her how to shoot the pistol too much.  She liked the way he came close, his body almost pressing against hers as he wrapped his arms around her.  She moved in her seat and looked out the window, sighing at the scenery passing by.

She wanted to question him, to see if he felt any of the tension she was feeling or if it was all one sided but in the end, she didn’t want to know.  She might have the courage to pick up a conversation with a complete stranger, but she didn’t have that kind of courage when it came to Edward.  He was just too big, too intimidating and she cared too much about his answer.

The luncheon was a total waste of her time.  The men at the meeting were older, the youngest being in his late fifties.  It was a meeting of chief executive officers of various companies around the city who congregated occasionally to talk shop.  There were several other wives that Jessica could talk to while the men discussed business, but even Edward realized that the meeting wasn’t a productive atmosphere for her purposes.  She smiled to him each time he looked in her direction, but for the most part, she sat and talked with the women, listening to their stories about their grandchildren and the issues of being married to a man with so much responsibility.  Many of the women complained that they rarely got to see their husbands, and some even relished the nights he was gone or the weeks when their husbands were out of town.

Jessica looked over at Edward, surrounded by several other older men, none of whom were even close to his height or had his air of confidence.  All of them seemed to be asking his advice and she admired him for his patience in dealing with people she suspected he didn’t really like.

But she also knew that, if she were married to Edward, she wouldn’t be excited when he was gone.  She thought back to the shooting range only hours ago, the way he held his arms around her and how it made her feel.  She shivered at the memory, wondering what it would be like to have his arms around her for other reasons, personal and intimate reasons.  If anything, she would resent his time away from her, the times when he wouldn’t come home and put his arms around her or hold her at night while they slept.

She sighed, despondent that she had so little time and only one man who attracted her.  And that man’s personality was just….wrong for her.  Completely right for some woman, but not in her case.

By the following evening, her sentiments were completely different.  Jessica wished she’d never even heard of Edward Livingston.  As she descended the stairs in her black evening gown, her eyes searched for and found him at the bottom of the staircase.  But instead of the look of admiration she was hoping to find on his handsome features, all she saw was…irritation?

She wanted to run back up the stairs, or run down them and kick him in the shins for his reaction.  What was wrong with her dress?  The simple, black crepe was perfectly appropriate for the evening.

She’d tried so hard to look nice tonight and all he did was glare at her as she continued to approach.  She’d thought the black crepe dress with the unadorned neckline was exactly what he would prefer, something that made her look respectable and, hopefully, elegant.  So why was he staring at her like she’d just slapped him across the face.

“What the hell are you wearing?”  he demanded when she reached the bottom stair.

Jessica looked down at the black dress and glared right back at him, refusing to be intimidated by him any longer.  She crossed her arms over her chest, leaning forward slightly to emphasize her anger at his reaction to her wardrobe choice.  “I thought we were attending a charity ball tonight.”

With his hands on his hips, he glared down at her.  “We are.  So why are you dressed for a funeral?”

That infuriated her.  “What’s wrong with my dress?”

He stepped forward and shook his head.  “Are you the same woman who showed up in red cowboy boots just a few days ago?”  he demanded.

She gasped and leaned back, her anger increasing to fury at the possibility that he might be insulting her favorite shoes.  “What’s wrong with my cowboy boots?”  she growled back at him.  Her arms were no longer crossed over her body, they were by her sides, her hands fisted beside her while she tried to control her anger.

“Nothing is wrong with them.  They fit your personality perfectly.  So go put them on!”  he snapped right back at her.

Jessica was so stunned by his command that she simply looked up at him for a long moment before she burst out laughing.  “Red cowboy boots with a black crepe dress?  Seriously?”

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.  “You know what I mean,” he replied.  A moment later, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back up the stairs.  It took him several tries but he finally located her bedroom.  “Why aren’t you sleeping in the master bedroom?’ he demanded when he finally opened the door where she obviously was sleeping.

“That’s my parents’ room,” she said softly, standing in the middle of her bedroom, afraid of what he might deduce from the crazy riot of colors all over every available surface in her bedroom.  “What are you doing?”  she asked when he started picking up one dress after another.  She’d had so much trouble trying to decide what to wear tonight, afraid of being too brash, but not wanting to look dowdy either.  She wanted so badly to impress Edward and now he was staring at the results of her angst.

“I’m trying to find something that is more ‘you’,” he snapped.  When he saw the green and butter yellow dress that had been tossed onto the back of a chair, he lifted it into his arms to survey the design and then nodded.  “Here, put this on.”

Jessica absolutely loved this dress but knew it was slightly outrageous and the low V in the front might raise some eyebrows.  “This isn’t really a charity ball kind of gown,” she said cautiously, looking up at him with concern as she held the soft material in her hands.  “Are you sure that you want me to wear this one?”

Actually, he didn’t want her to wear it.  He wanted her to be wearing nothing at all.  He wanted to slide his hands over her figure and learn all the places on her body that made her gasp with excitement.  “Yes.  Go put it on.  I’ll wait and see if it works.  If not, then we’ll get something else.”

Jessica waited for him to leave her bedroom, but when he simply stood there waiting, eyebrows raised in challenge, she huffed and walked into her bathroom.

Jessica put the dress on, letting it slither over her figure.  The top was a bit risqué, with her larger than average breasts pushing against the fabric, the low cut of the V neck revealing the inside swells before it flowed down in gentle waves to the floor.  She loved the way the dress made her skin look soft and pale while it deepened the color of her hair.  But wasn’t it too sexy for a formal charity ball?

She shrugged and decided to enjoy the night.  If someone else didn’t like her dress, they could just gossip behind her back.  She loved dancing and maybe there would be some man at the event tonight who would get her mind off of Edward’s obnoxious behavior.  At the very least, she’d find someone who would treat her with more respect!  He’d practically shoved her into the bedroom and ordered her to take off the dress.

She stepped out of the bathroom, taking a deep breath as she waited for his reaction.  She was braced for him to tell her to change back into the boring, black dress.  But as she stood in the bathroom doorway, all he did was look at her.  From the top of her hair to the tips of her toes peeking out underneath the chiffon hemline.  She actually blushed when his eyes hesitated at the cleavage revealed by the low neckline, but he only nodded his head when he was finished.  “That’s better,” he finally said.  “Let’s go.”