Penny Jordan - Christmas Eve Wedding

Not that it mattered, she assured herself. After all, she knew all the really important things about him…Like the fact that he slept on his right-hand side and that he was such a light sleeper that if she so much as brushed the lightest of kisses against his skin he was immediately awake—even if on one occasion he had fooled her into thinking he wasn’t, and she had betrayed herself, giving in to her female longing to relish the secret intimacy and pleasure of touching and exploring him whilst he slept.

Hastily Jaz dragged her thoughts onto more mundane things. She knew that Caid had been to college in Boston, where his family also had a store, and that his work as a financial consultant required a certain amount of travel.

‘Fortunately I can work from any base, so long as I have a computer,’ he had told her, adding jokingly, ‘And my own plane.’

Did ‘anywhere’ mean that he was thinking of basing himself in her hometown, Cheltenham?

Or did he have somewhere else in mind? Jaz had been thrilled when his mother had sought her out privately to tell her how much she admired her work.

‘It could well be that there are opportunities for you to branch out rather more after the takeover,’ she had told Jaz, excitingly. ‘Would you be interested? It could mean a change of scenery for you.’

‘I’d be very interested,’ Jaz had replied dizzily.

‘Good,’ Caid’s mother had approved.

Had Caid perhaps hinted to his mother that Jaz might possibly work in one of their American stores?

He had told Jaz very comprehensively how well suited he thought they were, and she certainly felt the same way. She had deliberately refrained from saying too much to him about her job once she had realised who he was, not wanting him to think that she was trying to make a good impression on him out of some ulterior career-driven motive, but she had mentioned to him that she had known where her life lay from being a young girl.

The speed of their relationship and her own love for her parents had kept her from saying anything to him about the problems she had experienced as a child—as yet—but she knew that with his family background he would completely understand and sympathise with how she felt.

From the house’s stately drawing room a corridor led to its other rooms, and from her end of the hallway Jaz could see the door that opened into Caid’s bedroom was ajar. Instinctively, Jaz knew that Caid had reached the house ahead of her and was waiting for her. It was all she could do to stop herself from breaking into an undignified run and rushing into the bedroom to throw herself into his arms.

When she pushed open the bedroom door she saw that she had been right.

Caid was lying on the bed, a thin sheet pulled up to his waist, the rest of his body exposed as he lay back in the bed, his arms raised and his hands folded behind his head.

Hungrily Jaz’s gaze feasted on him. There was, after all, no need for her to try and hide her feelings from him. After all, Caid understood her desire, her arousal…her love.

‘Miss me?’ he whispered as she hurried unsteadily towards the bed.

‘Mmm…’ Jaz admitted. ‘But the warehouse was wonderful. I thought our buyers at home were good, but your mother is in a class of her own.’

‘Tell me about it!’ Caid agreed cynically, but the grimness in his voice was lost on Jaz, who was reliving the awe and excitement she had felt when she had toured the New Orleans store.

‘I know that she personally approves everything that your buyers source.’ Jaz shook her head. ‘How on earth does she do it? She must be totally dedicated.’

‘Totally,’ Caid agreed tersely.

Frowning a little as she caught the sharpness of his voice, Jaz looked at him. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked him.

‘Nothing,’ Caid responded firmly, smiling at her as he added softly, ‘Apart from the fact that you’ve got far too many clothes on and we’re wasting too much time talking.’

‘You said you wanted to talk,’ Jaz reminded him. ‘To talk and make plans,’ she emphasised.

‘Mmm…and so I do,’ Caid agreed. ‘But right now you’re distracting the hell out of me and making me want you so damn much that the way I need to communicate with you has suddenly become much more personal and one on one. You haven’t said hi to me yet,’ he told her softly.

‘Hi…’ Jaz began, but Caid immediately shook his head.

‘No. Not like that. Like this.’ Swiftly he reached for her, his mouth starting to caress hers.

‘Oh, that kind of hi.’ Jaz managed to find the breath to tease him.

‘That kind of hi,’ Caid agreed, releasing her mouth to look into her eyes.

Jaz could feel the heat spreading through her body. She started to quiver, and then to tremble openly. She could see from the look in Caid’s eyes how much he was enjoying her helpless response to him.

Well, he would pay for that enjoyment later, when she tormented him the way he was tormenting her right now.

‘I’ve never met anyone who shows her feelings so clearly and so openly,’ Caid told her quietly. ‘I love that honesty about you, Jaz. I don’t have any time for people who cheat or lie.’

For a second he looked so formidable, so forbidding, that Jaz felt unsettled. To her he was the man she loved, but she could see that there was another side to him—a fiercely stubborn and unforgiving side, she suspected.

‘I love the way you show me your feelings,’ she heard Caid saying. ‘The way you show me how much you want and love me. Show me that now, Jaz.’

Jaz didn’t need a second invitation.

The heightened sound of Caid’s breathing accompanied the speedy removal of her clothes, until her progress was interrupted by Caid’s refusal to allow her to complete the task unaided, his hands hungrily tender against her body as they exchanged mutually passionate kisses and whispered words of love.

The heat of a New Orleans afternoon was surely made for lovers, Jaz reflected languorously a couple of hours later as she lay in Caid’s arms, enjoying the blissful aftermath of their lovemaking. After all, where better to escape the heat than in the shadowy air-conditioned coolness they were enjoying?

‘Time to get dressed,’ Caid murmured as he leaned over to kiss her.

‘Dressed? I thought we were going to talk,’ Jaz reminded him.

A sexy smile crooked his mouth.

‘We are!’ he confirmed. ‘Which is why we need to get dressed. If we stay here like this, talking isn’t going to be what I feel like doing,’ he added, in case Jaz had missed his point. ‘I can’t wait for us to be married, Jaz, or to take you home with me to Colorado—to the ranch. We can begin our lives together properly there. With your background, you’ll love it, I’ll get you your own horse, so that we can ride out together, and then, when the kids come along—’

‘Your ranch?’ Jaz stopped him in a shocked voice. ‘What ranch? What are you talking about, Caid? You’re a businessman—a financial consultant. The stores…’

‘I am a financial consultant,’ Caid agreed, starting to frown as he heard the note of shocked anxiety in Jaz’s voice. ‘But that’s what I do to make enough money to finance the ranch until it can finance itself. And as for the stores…to be involved in the stores or anything connected with them is the last way I would ever want to live my life. To me they epitomise everything I most dislike and despise.’ His mouth twisted bitterly. ‘I could say that I have a hate-hate relationship with them. Personally, I can see nothing worthwhile in scouring the world for potential possessions for people who already have more than they need. That’s not what life should be about.’

Jaz couldn’t help herself—his angry words had resurrected too many painful memories for her.