Jess only then remembered his bad shoulder. ‘There’s some in the glove box,’ she said. ‘And a bottle of water in your door, if you want to take the tablets straight away.’
‘Thanks.’
‘How bad is your shoulder?’ she asked, happy to have something safe to talk about.
‘It’s a bit stiff and sore this morning, but honestly it’s fine. I could have driven, but the doctor at the hospital said no. Not because of the shoulder—I had a mild concussion as well.’
‘Best you didn’t drive, then.’
‘I’m glad I couldn’t—I wouldn’t have met you.’
Jess could not stop her heart swelling with pleasure. Yet she knew what he was about. She’d seen how her brothers had acted with girls whose pants they wanted to get into. She’d watched them lay the compliments on thick and fast. And she’d watched those silly girls lap them up, then give her brothers what they wanted in no time at all.
Maybe that was why she’d acted differently with boys who came onto her. Or she had, till this handsome devil had come along.
He’d thrown a spanner in her works all right. Jess could not believe she was thinking of having a one-night stand with him. Or that just the thought of it made her heart race faster than a Formula One car on the starting blocks.
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘WHAT A LOVELY little town this is,’ Ben said.
They had stopped and were sitting at a table on the veranda of an old farmhouse which had been converted into a café, sipping their just-delivered coffee and looking out onto a quite lovely garden full of flowering shrubs. Ben knew nothing about gardening and plants but he knew what he liked. It was the same way with art. He never bought art on the so-called reputation of the artist. He only bought what he liked.
He glanced over the table at Jess and thought how much he liked her too. Maybe that was why his desire for her was so strong. During the last half-hour of the drive, he’d been thinking how he could be alone with her this weekend in a place suitable for seduction. And he’d finally come up with a plan which would work, provided she went along with the idea.
‘So, Jess,’ he said. ‘I think it’s about time you started telling me what’s wrong with Fab Fashions. I didn’t want to talk business during the drive; I just wanted to drink in the wonderful scenery. But now that we’ve stopped…’
She put down her cup, then looked up at him with those big brown eyes of hers, the kind of eyes a man could drown in. He almost wished she’d put her sunglasses back on. But she’d left them hooked over the sun visor in the four-wheel drive. Lord, but they were expressive eyes. He could only hope that his own didn’t give away his innermost thoughts, since he’d removed his sunglasses a couple of minutes earlier and popped them back into his shirt pocket.
‘You honestly want to hear my ideas?’ she said, sounding somewhat sceptical.
Not really, he conceded privately. They were a waste of time. But it was part of his plan.
‘But of course,’ he said.
Her face lit up and, yes, so did her eyes. Guilt threatened, but he pushed it firmly aside. Guilt, Ben conceded, was no match for lust.
‘Okay. Well, for starters there’s its name. “Fab Fashions” implies it caters for the young where in fact most of the stock in Fab Fashions is targeted towards the more mature woman. Either change the name or change the stock. I would suggest change the name; there are enough clothes around for teenagers.
‘Then you should change your buyers. Get people in who aren’t just buying to price. Someone who knows what’s in fashion and what is comfortable to wear. The more mature lady wants comfort as well as style. Also, it might be a good idea to stock more of the most common sizes instead of just buying across the board. Most women over forty are not size eight! And of course you should have an online store too. To fall behind the times is stupid.’
Ben was surprised and impressed. All her suggestions made sense. They might even work. ‘You really know your stuff, don’t you?’
‘I told you…fashion is a genuine passion with me. On top of that, I hate to think of all those people losing their jobs. If every owner shut their stores during a down-turn in the economy, the country would go to the wall. Surely it’s not always about profit, is it, Ben? I mean…everyone has to take the bad times with the good, especially big companies like yours.’
‘It’s not always quite as simple as that, Jess.’
She bristled. ‘I knew you’d say that.’