Australian Affairs: Taken. Miranda Lee
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what he was telling his friend. She hated to think it was one of those ‘nudge-nudge, wink-wink, say no more’ conversations where Ben and his best friend were becoming co-conspirators in her supposed seduction. She would hate that. Still, Andy had already to know that Ben hadn’t been out here in Australia for long. So how could she possibly be a proper girlfriend? She was just someone he’d met and fancied, but who would be quickly forgotten once he flew back to America.
Now that she was thinking straight, Jess also doubted Ben would really do anything about Fab Fashions. His interest in her ideas was just a ploy to keep her sweet. It also crossed Jess’s mind as she watched Ben chatting away to his friend that she wouldn’t be the first girl he’d installed in that cottage for the weekend. He was the sort of guy who would always have a willing girl on his arm. And in his bed. Jess would just be one in a long line of conquests.
She didn’t like that thought, or the other thoughts she’d been having since he’d left her at the table.
Feeling decidedly disgruntled, Jess stood up, thanked the lady who ran the café and marched back to her four-wheel drive.
AFTER BEN FINISHED his call to Andy, he went back to the table on the veranda, only to find it empty. He glanced around and saw that she was out by the SUV, standing with her arms crossed and her face not at all happy. Ben wondered what had gone wrong during the last ten minutes. And there he’d been, thinking all his plans for the weekend were on track. Andy had accepted his entire story about Jess and agreed to put them both in the cottage. He’d also said there would be no problem with her coming to the wedding tomorrow.
Her body language worsened as he walked towards her, her manicured but unvarnished fingertips digging into the sleeves of her floral jacket.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked straight away.
Her mouth tightened. ‘I don’t like lies, that’s what’s wrong! I’m not your girlfriend, Ben. Not really. Not yet, anyway. Why, you haven’t even kissed me yet!’
Jess could not believe she’d just said that. It sounded dreadful, like she was asking him to kiss her.
‘Well, that can be easily fixed,’ he returned, his eyes dropping to her mouth as he reached out and took firm possession of her shoulders.
Oh, Lord, she thought as panic set in.
He didn’t rush anything; her arms dropped to her sides long before he actually kissed her. He gathered her against him very slowly, his eyes holding hers captive as easily as he was holding her body. The descent of his head was just as slow, Jess’s heart pounding against her ribs by the time his lips made contact with hers. Even then, he didn’t kiss her properly, just brushed his mouth over hers. Once. Twice. Three times. Finally, her tingling lips gasped apart, desperate for more.
But he denied her desire. And, in doing so, deepened it. She moaned when his head lifted, her eyes glazed as they stared up at him.
‘Will that do for now to raise your status to girlfriend?’ he said, shocking her with his cool manner. She was on fire inside. Yet he seemed totally unmoved.
‘Like I said, lovely Jess,’ he went on, ‘I’m smitten with you. Seriously smitten. I’m already planning on extending my stay here in Australia to spend more time with you. And, since you don’t like lies, let me say right here and now that I doubt very much if I can fix Fab Fashions, even with your very excellent ideas.’
He was a wicked devil, she decided shakily, using honesty now to seduce her.
‘But I’m willing to give it a try,’ he added, ‘if it makes you happy.’
What to say to that? She could hardly admit that Fab Fashions wasn’t high on her personal agenda right at this moment. All she could think about was being with this man.
At the same time, she didn’t want Ben thinking he could play her for a fool.
Pulling herself together, Jess did her best to imitate his controlled demeanour.
‘It would be nice to try to turn things around,’ she said. ‘So, yes, it would make me very happy.’
‘Good. And, whilst I’m in the mood for confession,’ he went on, ‘my reason for organising for us to stay together at the cottage was something far more…intimate.’
Ben was watching her eyes closely and decided she wasn’t upset by his admission. Just the opposite, in fact. There was a glittering of dark excitement in their gorgeous depths. She was trying to act cool with him but her eyes gave her away. Besides, he’d felt her tremble in his arms just now. And that frustrated moan of hers had been very telling. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. He hadn’t dared deepen that kiss for fear of losing it himself. Jess really did have a powerful effect on him. Much more than Amber ever had.
‘Not tonight, unfortunately,’ he said with true regret, ‘Since I’ll be otherwise occupied. But I thought by tomorrow night, after the wedding, I’d be in with a chance.’
‘Did you now?’ Jess threw at him, desperate to find some composure, not to mention her pride.
His beautiful blue eyes glittered with amusement, not to mention supreme confidence. ‘Let’s just say I was hopeful.’
‘You’ll need to improve your kissing technique.’
‘Really? And there I was, thinking you’d enjoyed being teased.’
Jess shook her head in defeat. He was just too clever for her. And way too knowing. ‘You are incorrigible.’
‘And you’re irresistible.’
Jess said nothing to that, but her mind kept ticking over. Oh yes, he was a wicked devil all right, with all the right words and all the right moves. She wondered how many women he’d had in his life.
Lots, she supposed.
And she would be just one more.
Not the happiest of thoughts.
‘I think we should get going now,’ she said abruptly. It was almost ten; it had taken them longer to get to Denman than she’d estimated.
‘Good idea,’ he said.
They climbed in and belted up, both of them reaching for their sunglasses at the same time, Jess careful not to look over at him lest she give away even more of her vulnerability to this man. She hated Ben thinking he was onto a sure thing tomorrow night. Though, of course he was. No point in denying it to herself. But that didn’t mean she had to act like some gushing nincompoop who was overwhelmed by his attentions.
‘I thought we’d stop at Cassilis for lunch,’ she said matter-of-factly as she started the engine. ‘Sandy Hollow is the next town but it’s too close. After that, it’s straight to your friend’s place.’
‘Sounds like a good plan.’
‘We should easily arrive by mid-afternoon, depending on how long you want to stop for lunch.’
‘I guess that would depend on how quickly we get served.’
* * *
Very quickly, as it turned out. They settled on a pub lunch, eaten out in the very pleasant beer garden. Jess ordered just the one glass of white wine with her steak and salad, since she was driving, whilst Ben decided on a schooner of beer with his. But they ate slowly and talked a lot. And, whilst the conversation was very superficial, all the while Jess was aware of a dangerous excitement growing deep inside her. Every time she looked at Ben a sexual image jumped into her head. When he forked some food into his mouth, she found herself staring at that mouth and thinking of how it would feel kissing, not her mouth so much, but other more intimate parts of her body. His hands brought similar sexy images. They were rather elegant hands. Well-manicured with long fingers and rounded tips. Jess imagined them doing darkly delicious things