An Heiress On His Doorstep by Teresa Southwick

Author:Teresa Southwick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2004-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

“J.P., the stock market crashed. Patterson, Inc. has lost everything. And I’m running away to Tahiti with my twenty-year-old boy toy.”

“That’s nice, Mother.”

J.P. read the same paragraph in the newspaper for the fifth time and still couldn’t remember what it said. He couldn’t concentrate. Lack of sleep was partly responsible. And he hadn’t slept much because he couldn’t forget how beautiful Jane had looked in the moonlight. Or how sweet her mouth had tasted. Or that her curvy little body had felt like sin pressed against his own.

“Jonathan Prince Patterson, you’re not listening to me.”

He looked across the kitchen table. Audrey didn’t use all three of his names very often. When she did, he knew it was time to crank up all of his brain cells and focus on what she was saying instead of thinking about the fascinating things moonlight did to Jane’s eyes. “What makes you think I wasn’t listening, Mother?”

“It was the boy-toy remark.”

“What boy toy?”

“I don’t have one.” She sighed. “But an old woman can always hope.”

“Over my dead body.”

“You’re doing a pretty good imitation of that right now. You didn’t hear a word I said. What’s wrong with you?”

Besides kissing Jane Doe and having the frustrated sexual response to prove it? “Not a darn thing.”

Audrey took a sip of coffee, then set her china cup on the matching saucer in front of her without ever taking her gaze from his. “Ever since you were a little boy and you first started talking, I could always tell when you were lying.”

“How?” he asked, trying to blank out any expression that would tip her off to his inner turmoil.

“It’s nothing overt like your eyes cross or twitch. Or a pronounced stutter. Just a general thing. A mom thing. Does this mood of yours have anything to do with Jane?” She pointed at him. “And if you lie to me again, I’ll know it.”

He closed the newspaper, knowing between his determined mother and his lack of concentration, he couldn’t read it anyway. “All right. Yes. My mood has something to do with Jane.”

“I knew it.” She folded her hands and leaned forward. “What’s the scoop? Do you have feelings for her?”

“You could say that.”

“Don’t be clever, J.P. I’m talking about romantic feelings. Do you like her?”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far.”

“But you’re not unaffected by her.” It wasn’t a question.

“That’s safe to say.”

“I knew it. I saw you kiss her last night.” She met his gaze and hers was completely unapologetic. “I peeked out the parlor window.”

The muscle in his jaw twitched as he clenched his teeth. When he could respond in a normal tone he said, “You were spying on me? For crying out loud, Mother.”

“So sue me. But it was quite obvious from my vantage point that there were sparks between you and Jane when you kissed.”

“In all honesty I can say she started it.”

And that’s what puzzled him the most. She was a good kisser, once he’d taken charge of the situation. But her initial attempt was clumsy and unpracticed.

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