Brand of Possession

‘Come on, then,’ Stacy chuckled. ‘Although don’t blame me if he snaps your head off. He alternates between being tauntingly flirtatious to cuttingly sarcastic.’

‘Let’s hope I catch him at a good moment. I’d quite like to be flirted with by him.’

It appeared they had caught him at the right moment because within seconds of being introduced to her Jake had Juliet giggling coyly at some of his remarks. Stacy felt herself bridling with unreasonable jealousy.

‘We can give you a lift back to the hotel if you don’t mind squashing in the back,’ Jake offered Juliet.

‘Don’t you have to stay here?’ Stacy asked him curtly.

His deep blue eyes flickered over her mockingly. ‘Not if it means I have to be deprived of the company of two beautiful women.’

Her mouth pursed angrily as he smiled at Juliet. ‘In that case I’ll sit in the back. I’m sure you and Juliet must still have plenty to talk about.’

‘That’s fine by me,’ he agreed easily. ‘If you’re sure you’ll be comfortable …’

‘I’ll be fine,’ she snapped waspishly.

‘Right, I’ll just go and make my excuses to Payne.’

‘We’ll wait for you by the car.’ Her manner was offhand.

‘Ooh!’ breathed Juliet excitedly as they walked side by side to Jake’s car. ‘He’s even more fascinating than he looks—if that’s possible.’

‘It’s possible.’

‘Why so grouchy? I think he’s absolutely charming. And I love that deep sexy drawl of his.’

Stacy clambered into the back of the car, uncaring of the upholstery. ‘It isn’t always deep and sexy,’ she muttered.

Juliet looked at her closely. ‘Are you jealous, by any chance?’

She blushed. ‘No, of course I’m not.’

Juliet grinned. ‘Yes, you are. Hey, come on, he was only being polite. He didn’t mean anything by it.’

‘I don’t care if he did,’ Stacy said crossly. ‘He has a perfect right to flirt with whom he pleases.’

‘But you don’t like it.’ Her friend climbed into the passenger seat. ‘Could it be that you’ve really fallen for our renowned author?’

Stacy coloured deeply. ‘No—’

‘Liar!’ Juliet contradicted softly.

‘Well … I could have done.’

‘I wouldn’t blame you if you have.’ Juliet settled more comfortably in the seat. ‘I could fall for him myself if I didn’t find Matthew quite so interesting at the moment. He actually got around to kissing me goodnight last night,’ she revealed triumphantly.

‘Well, that’s a move in the right direction.’ Stacy was glad to be on to a subject that didn’t involve quite so much soul-searching on her part. She had fallen for Jake Weston, for all the good it would do her, and she didn’t want everyone to know of her stupidity.

Juliet smiled her satisfaction. ‘That’s what I thought. Oh boy,’ she sighed, ‘here comes Mr Weston again,’ and her eyes lit up with pleasure.

Stacy turned to watch Jake walk towards them with long easy strides, his black silk shirt unbuttoned almost to his waist in the heat of the day to reveal a fine mat of dark silky hair, his muscles rippling as he moved. Stacy felt her pulse race just at the sight of him and looked hurriedly away before he should see her interest.

He grinned at them as he got into the driving seat. ‘Sorry if I ruined your work for today,’ he spoke to Juliet, accelerating the car to high speed. ‘I don’t think Paul’s in any condition to work.’

She laughed. ‘So Stacy has been telling me.’

Jake glanced fleetingly at Stacy as she sat in the back, the wind blowing through her long hair. ‘I hope you weren’t too worried by Stacy’s absence last night?’