`WILL! I’VE BEEN TALKING TO you for the past five minutes and you haven’t heard a single word I’ve said.’
He shook his head, tried to clear the thoughts of Jo from his mind, and focused in on his sister.
Seeing her angry look, he grinned. `Sorry Jules. I was thinking of something else. What did you say?’
She frowned at him. `I asked if you had seen Hayley. It’s not like her to be late.’
`Oh. Um, yeah. Sorry, I forgot to tell you. She rang earlier, said she had to pick up something from her mother’s place, would be about twenty minutes late.’
Julia threw her hands up in the air, raised her eyes to the ceiling. `And why exactly didn’t you tell me this earlier? I’ve got a million things to organize before this dinner tonight,’ she paused, `tell me you haven’t forgotten about the dinner.’
He laughed. `No. We’re coming. I’m going to pick Jo up from work at four, we’ll head home and get changed and be at your place around seven. Don’t worry about it.’
`Hmmm. What’s up with you anyway? You’ve been weird all morning.’
`Weird?’
`Yeah, all happy and cheerful.’
He laughed again. `That’s generally considered to be a good thing.’
She stared at him, suddenly smiled and he felt his own grin fade at the look she gave him.
`What?’ he asked.
`Aha! I knew it!’
`Knew what?’
`Aw, my little brother’s in love,’ she said, ruffling his hair as he pulled away, frowning.
`Am not.’
`Are so. It’s so sweet,’ she said, bending down and pinching his cheek while he glared at her, grabbed her wrist and pushed her hand away. She laughed, blew him a kiss and headed out the office while he frowned.
Jo stood in front of the wardrobe, biting her lip as she tried to decide what to wear. She flicked through the hangers, sighed as she realized she didn’t have much of a selection to choose from. There hadn’t been much for her to move from the spare room to Will’s cupboard but he’d insisted she stay in his room from now on and she had to admit she hadn’t wanted to argue.
`Wear the black one,’ he said now from behind her, coming over to wrap his arms around her.
She leaned against him, smiled, pulled away as she looked up, saw the spark in his eyes.
`Oh no, we’re already running late,’ she said, taking a step back.
He laughed, reached into the cupboard next to her and pushed back the hangars, removed a black tuxedo.
She grimaced. `Is it that formal? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?’
He looked surprised. `I did. I said it was a fancy ass dinner.’
She groaned, sat down on the bed and stared at the cupboard.
`Just wear the black one,’ he said, taking it out and handing it to her.
She looked down at it, trying to decide if it was formal enough. She’d bought it for evenings out at restaurants, the occasional theatre session, not society dinners. But she didn’t have much choice and really, if she wore her hair up she could probably pull it off.
The dress itself was simple, a chiffon halter neck with a gathered waist and a flare skirt that reached to mid-calf. With high heels and the right jewelry, it could work.
Smiling suddenly, happy to be dressing up, she stood, went to the bathroom mirror and held the dress against her, trying to see what it would look like. Annoyed at only being able to see up to her waist, she grimaced, stepped out of her gown and pulled the dress on.
Then she twisted her hair up into a roll, secured it with some hair pins and started on her make-up, outlining her eyes with a kohl pencil, brushing some dark grey shadow onto the corner of her eyelids. She finished the outfit off with a pair of gold stud earrings and a matching bracelet.
After a final spritz of her favorite perfume, Anais Anais, and a last application of light pink lipstick, she stepped back and smiled at her reflection.
She looked good, even if she did say so herself.
Heading back to the bedroom for her shoes, she saw Will bending over a drawer, wearing a pair of black suit pants and a white collared shirt, which was still unbuttoned. She swallowed, couldn’t hide the rush of attraction as he stood up, a black tie in his hand, and turned to face her.
The white of the shirt accentuated his dark tan, the bright blue of his eyes and the black of his hair, which just touched the tip of the collar, curling slightly at the edge.
He had a swimmer’s body, lean, muscled, and the cut of the suit and shirt only emphasized his physique. She swallowed, looked up to meet his gaze, saw him running his eyes over her.
`Wow,’ he said, and she felt herself redden, shrugged, happy to see the look of pure appreciation in his eyes.
`You look pretty good yourself,’ she replied and he grinned, stepped towards her.
She held up a finger in warning. `No. I’m not redoing my lipstick. All I need now is my shoes and then I’m ready.’
He sighed. `Okay then’ he said, sliding the tie around his neck. She went over to knot it for him, couldn’t help but return his smile as he watched her.
`There, done,’ she said, stepping back.
He grabbed her hand, held it to his mouth and she smiled, unable to look away as he pressed his lips to her fingers, turned her hand palm up and kissed the inside of her wrist, his eyes still fixed on hers.
Then he smiled, stepped back and picked up the jacket, shrugging it on.
`Ready?’ he asked and she nodded, noticing how very tall and sophisticated he suddenly looked. Urbane, suave. A far cry from wild and feral.
`I’ll just get my shoes,’ she said, slipping on the heels and following him down the hall.
The dinner was held at a huge manor house somewhere in the hills above Fowey. Jo didn’t really see where they were going as she spent the drive talking to Julia, surprised to find out that Audrey and Samuel were guests of honor due to a large donation they’d given for the establishment of a hospice for children with cancer.
Her opinion of Audrey changed somewhat as Julia told her about the numerous charities Audrey was involved with, the fundraising initiatives. She looked over at Will, wondered why he hadn’t told her any of this. But she didn’t make any comment on the topic and soon they pulled into a large, circular drive.
She followed Will and Julia into a high-ceilinged ballroom, threading her way through small groups of people in evening dress and numerous waiters and waitresses with silver trays of nibbles and champagne. They found Samuel and Audrey at a circular table over by the wall.
`Hello, take a seat,’ said Audrey, indicating a couple of chairs across from her and Jo sat down between Will and Samuel, smiling a greeting as she was introduced to two elderly women to Will’s right. Apparently they were friends of Audrey’s and seemed rather surprised to see Will at the dinner.
`You don’t come to these things often, do you?’ Jo asked him as he pulled out his chair and sat down next to her.
He shrugged. `Not really.’
`Why did you come tonight then?’
`Because you wanted to,’ he replied with a smile.
Something about the way he looked at her tugged at her heart and she smiled back, suddenly overwhelmed with a rush of emotion.
It was then that she knew she was falling for him.
No. Had already fallen for him. Hard.
Maybe he could see what she was thinking because he leaned in closer, pressed his lips to her forehead and laced his fingers through hers.
`It’s going to be pretty boring though. Speeches, lots of polite conversation, huge dinner. It could drag on forever,’ he said, sitting back in his chair but keeping her hand in his.
`Don’t go telling Jo things like that before it’s even started,’ said Audrey and Jo turned, reddened as she realized Audrey had been watching them.
`Don’t worry Jo. You don’t have to sit through all the speeches, only the introductory ones. After that there’ll be dinner, which is always divine, I think it’s coq au vin tonight, plus there’ll be dancing and you can wonder around the gardens. We don’t expect you to sit here all night.’
`Of course not,’ added Samuel and Jo smiled.
Surprisingly, Jo found she did enjoy herself. The speeches didn’t drag on too long and as Audrey had said, the food was absolutely heavenly.
Conversation at the table centered on the hospice and what Audrey and Phyllis, the elderly woman next to Will, hoped to achieve by setting it up.
Jo found she didn’t have to make an effort at conversation, merely added a comment here and there where required but mostly sat back and watched Will interact with his family, the odd friend of his parents who came over to say hello. He was talking with one such woman, an old neighbor, about her new house up in Devon, when Samuel turned to her and asked her if she was enjoying herself.
`Yes, thanks,’ she said, taking a sip of champagne, her head spinning with the resulting buzz.
A live jazz band had started playing in the corner of the room and Samuel proved to be an avid fan, filling her in on the roots of the movement.
`It started in New Orleans didn’t it?’ she asked and he nodded, launching into what was obviously a favorite topic.
`And if you don’t stop him now you’ll learn all about Johnny Dodds and Sidney Bechet and probably more than you ever wanted to know about Jelly Roll Morton,’ Will said from beside her, barely suppressing a grin.
Samuel laughed. `Yes, Will. Very subtle, boy.’
He turned to Jo. `That’s his way of saying he’d like you to himself for a bit so if you don’t mind I’m going to see if my wife would like to dance.’
He stood up, held out a hand to Audrey and whisked her off to the dance floor.
Jo smiled. So that was where Will got the charm.
`Are you also into jazz then?’ she asked, turning to Will and he laughed, shook his head.
`Nope. I’ve just heard that speech about a hundred times. How about a walk in the gardens? Dancing isn’t really my thing.’
She nodded, for some reason not surprised he preferred the quiet of the gardens to the now packed dance floor. Outside the air was warm and slightly humid. As they walked, the bright lights and party noise faded into the distance, replaced by the dim light of the moon and the chirping of crickets. A fresh honeysuckle fragrance scented the air and Jo bent down to smell one of the delicate white flowers, inhaling deeply.
That was when Will looked up and saw the couple at the other end of the garden. The woman had her back to them and he only caught a glimpse of her profile as she turned a corner, disappearing behind a hedge. Something about her seemed familiar and Will glanced over at her companion, thinking he’d be able to jolt his memory. But a sudden chill ran down his spine as he saw the way the stranger was fixated on Jo, the intensity of his gaze obvious even from a distance.
Something made Will step forward, effectively blocking Jo from view, and the stranger looked up at him then, met his gaze. Will raised an eyebrow and studied his face, chiseled, arrogant, the lips thin and cruel.
The man grinned sardonically, raised two fingers in an army salute at his temple, pointed them at Will then turned and followed the woman, disappearing behind the hedge.
Uneasy, Will reached out and grabbed Jo’s hand, started back up towards the house, his mind racing.
`Um, where are we going?’ Jo asked, rushing to keep up with him as he strode away.
`Back inside.’
`Why?’
`What does Jack look like?’
She stopped dead, pulled her hand away, her face white.
`Why?’
He paused, scanned the garden before looking back down at her. `I think he was here. Is he tall, blonde? Thinnish face? Damn cocky expression?’
She paled further and clenched her jaw. `Yes. Where did you see him?’
`At the end of the garden, he was watching you. Question is, how did he know you were here? Who have you told we were coming?’
She shrugged her shoulder helplessly, frowned. `Nobody. I don’t understand.’
He sighed, frowned. `Okay well he knew I was on to him. He’ll be long gone by now. Bastard.’
She looked pale and frightened and he shook his head. `Here,’ he said, shrugging out of his jacket and draping it over her shoulders. `Let’s just go back in, I’ll ask my parents if they can drop Julia off and we can go home. Don’t worry, you’re safe with me.’
She looked up at him, smiled faintly, but he could see the terror in her eyes and it tugged at his heart.