Heidi Rice - Bedded for His Pleasure - Bedded by a Bad Boy / In the Gardener's Bed / The Return of the Rebel

‘Good job.’

Emmy ran up and grabbed hold of his leg. ‘Can I come back tomorrow? Can I? Can I?’

He ruffled the little girl’s curly brown hair. ‘Sure, if you want to and your mom says it’s okay.’

‘We better be going, Emmy.’ Jessie reached for her niece’s hand, but the little girl continued to cling onto her uncle. ‘Lunch is already on the table.’

‘Okay.’Emmy let go reluctantly and put her hand in Jessie’s.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow, kid.’ Hearing the affection in Monroe’s voice, seeing the warm way he rested his hand on Emmy’s shoulder, Jessie felt a sharp surge of guilt.

She had no right to keep this man from bonding with his family.

So what if she couldn’t stop blushing every time she saw him? So what if she couldn’t seem to forget that kiss? From what she could gather, Linc and Ali and Emmy were the only family Monroe Latimer had. Not giving him Ali’s dinner invitation suddenly seemed both cowardly and selfish.

‘Ali wondered if you’d like to come over for dinner tonight,’ Jessie blurted out. She saw surprise flash in his eyes, but he said nothing. ‘We’re having a barbecue. Linc’s doing steaks…’ Her voice trailed off when Monroe remained silent.

‘Come, come, come.’ Emmy jumped up and down as she sang the words. Jessie was grateful that her niece had picked up the ball, but could see Monroe was still hesitating.

‘I don’t know.’ He sounded oddly unsure of himself.

‘We’d all love to have you there,’ Jessie said, surprised to realise she meant it.

His gaze intensified. ‘You would, huh?’

‘We would, we would, we would,’ Emmy sang again. He gave her a quick grin before he looked back at Jessie.

‘I guess it’d be my pleasure, then. I can’t say no to two pretty ladies.’

Emmy giggled and then shouted, ‘Yippee,’ punching the air with her small fist.

Jessie felt the same leap of joy, despite the ball of heat that seemed to have lodged beneath her breastbone.

‘I’ll tell Ali.’ Jessie gave Monroe a shaky smile as she pulled Emmy towards the door.

‘Bye-bye.’ Emmy waved.

‘See you tonight, kid. You, too, Red.’

Jessie glanced back. He was leaning against the kitchen counter. He looked relaxed again and amused, his thumbs hooked into his jeans and a ridiculously charming smile on his face. Jessie felt the fire blaze inside her. Unable to trust her voice, she gave him a quick nod as she hauled Emmy out the door.

No question about it, Monroe thought wryly as he watched Jessie close the apartment door. The woman was dangerous.

He strolled across the apartment to the French doors and watched as Jessie and Emmy made their way up to the house. Emmy was skipping ahead, while Jessie walked behind, looking lush and unbearably sexy in the tight little polka-dot number.

Dangerous or not, she was becoming damn near irresistible. She looked gorgeous, and he loved the way she blushed so easily. But it wasn’t just her appearance or her obvious reaction to him that made her so appealing.

He also liked her as a person. She was full of spirit and fire and feisty as hell.

Maybe they could have a little fun together after all. She was a grown woman who certainly knew her own mind and didn’t mind speaking it. She was obviously unattached and in need of a little romance or she wouldn’t have kissed him the way she had in front of the grocery store. He’d already made it clear that he was just passing through, so there was no need for her to get the wrong idea.

He leaned against the glass as Emmy and Jessie disappeared from view. Maybe he’d test the waters tonight, see how she responded to the suggestion. His lips curved as he thought about what he and Jessie could do to amuse each other over the next month or so.

‘GET a grip, woman!’ Jessie stalked over to her wardrobe.

The cerise linen dress she shoved back in was the fourth outfit she’d tried on in less than twenty minutes. Staring into the snarl of colours and fabrics, she resisted the urge to stamp her foot.

What on earth was the matter with her?

Why did she care what Monroe thought of her outfit anyway? Determined not to waste any more time on a decision that should have taken her ten seconds, she grabbed the first thing that came to hand.

You could never go wrong with the old little black dress, she thought as she slipped the slinky Lycra sheath over her head.

She examined herself in the wardrobe’s full-length mirror, caught her bottom lip between her teeth. Was the outfit maybe a little too sexy for an evening barbecue with her family? She could picture Monroe’s lazy smile. The hot look in his eyes.

Stop it, you silly cow. The LBD was fine; he probably wouldn’t even notice that the material clung a little too closely to every curve.

She never should have invited him. She’d known this was going to happen. She slammed the wardrobe door and slipped on a pair of simple red pumps. She pulled a matching silk scarf from the array in her dresser and tied it loosely round her neck. She might have guessed she would blow this completely out of proportion.

She didn’t know what it was about Monroe, but whenever she was near him she was so brutally aware of him she couldn’t seem to think about anything else but the feel of his lips on hers. His long, strong body pressed against her. It was ridiculous—they’d only shared one kiss and he’d made it quite clear that, for him at least, it had just been play-acting. But her flustered response when their fingers had touched over the water glass that afternoon went to show she could not be trusted to keep her cool around him.

She was a grown woman. She did not have crushes. She’d just never been kissed like that before and she still needed a bit more time to settle.

The way she was feeling at the moment, twenty-five years probably wouldn’t be long enough.

Jessie stepped out into the hallway and closed the door to her room. Relax and breathe, she told herself as she walked stiffly down the stairs.

Jessie was both relieved and disappointed when she walked out onto the terrace and saw that Monroe wasn’t there yet.

The night was balmy and warm and the smell of jasmine hung in the air like a rich woman’s perfume. The fairy lights Linc had rigged up over the barbecue winked in the dusk and reflected off the surface of the pool like cheeky little water nymphs.

The fluttering in her stomach calmed as she strolled round the water to the grill. As Linc lorded it over the flames with a pair of barbecue tongs, the mouth-watering scent of cooking meat surrounded him.

Looking up, he caught sight of her and smiled. ‘Hey, good-looking.’

The tightness in Jessie’s chest eased, the familiarity of family making her feel safe and secure. ‘That should be my line, shouldn’t it?’ She gave Linc a light kiss on the cheek. ‘As in what you got cookin’?’

‘About a half a cow,’ Linc joked. ‘I hope you’re hungry.’

Where once the teasing admiration in her brother-in-law’s eyes would have had Jessie blushing profusely, now she simply felt a warm, comfortable feeling settle in.

‘Stop flirting with my sister and watch what you’re doing,’ Ali called out from behind them. ‘I don’t want burnt cow again, thank you very much.’

Jessie turned to see her sister flopped in a large armchair. Emmy giggled, glancing up from the jigsaw she was piecing together by her mother’s feet.

‘Stop your belly-aching, woman,’ Linc replied, giving Jessie a conspiratorial wink.

Jessie grinned back at him, then sat down in the chair next to her sister. ‘Still feeling exhausted?’

Ali adjusted herself in her seat and huffed. ‘No, not really, I just have this devilish urge to make Linc’s life hell at the moment.’ The twinkle in her eyes was positively wicked. ‘After all, he’s the one responsible for this.’Ali laid her palms heavily on the impressive mound of her belly.