Brand of Possession

Jake stood up to come to her side. ‘Brad arrived with the breakfast,’ he explained softly, putting a protective arm about her shoulders.

Brad stood up with a shrug. ‘You should have explained, Jake. I wondered at your abrupt attitude. And then there were the two breakfasts. I should have realised,’ he finished lamely.

Stacy blushed anew, burying her face in Jake’s chest. ‘Help me!’ she pleaded in a muffled voice.

He cradled her to his side. ‘I’ll get you some clothes, that should make you feel better.’ He smoothed her hair down her back, a brilliant red colour against the white robe.

She huddled against him. ‘Don’t leave me here,’ she begged.

‘Brad’s all right,’ he soothed gently. ‘This isn’t like it looks, Brad,’ he spoke to his friend. ‘Don’t frighten her while I’m gone,’ he warned. ‘Give me the key to your room, honey,’ he requested softly.

She moved with slow jerky movement to get her key out of her bag, reluctant to leave his side. The thought of going back to her room reminded her about Juliet. She would have some explaining to do about her absence last night when she saw her again.

‘You won’t be long?’ Her eyes pleaded with him, her embarrassment very acute in the presence of the other man.

‘No. Just tell me what to bring you.’

‘Any one of the cotton dresses in the wardrobe. Just enough to get me down to my own room. I don’t intend going anywhere else today.’ She put up a self-conscious hand to her swollen mouth.

Jake removed her hand to touch her tender skin with his long caressing fingers. ‘I didn’t hurt you?’

&n

bsp; She looked pointedly at Brad Delmain as he watched them with curious eyes. ‘No,’ she replied abruptly.

‘I’ll be as quick as I can. I only hope your room-mate has left,’ he grimaced.

Stacy hovered in the bedroom door once Jake had left, not sure what to do next.

‘Come and have some coffee,’ Brad made up her mind for her. ‘You look as if you could do with some.’

She came and sat down, taking the steaming cup of coffee he held out to her and wincing as the hot liquid stung her mouth.

‘That looks sore,’ Brad commented.

‘It is,’ she acknowledged, not enlarging on the subject.

‘I hope I haven’t interrupted anything,’ he continued without embarrassment.

‘No,’ she denied sharply. ‘As Jake said, this isn’t like it looks.’

‘I wasn’t judging, Stacy,’ he said gently.

She gave him a sharp look. ‘How can you do anything else! You come here to see Jake, and I walk out of his bedroom clothed only in his bathrobe.’ And the briefest pair of briefs Jake had ever seen! ‘You can come to only one conclusion.’

‘Not necessarily …’

‘Of course you can,’ she said angrily. ‘And you must have some opinion of me, staying the night in a married man’s bedroom.’

‘Married man?’ he frowned.

‘Yes, married!’

‘You mean Jake?’

‘Who else?’ She gave him an impatient look.

‘Who told you he was married?’