Karen Robards by Morning Song

Author:Morning Song [Song, Morning]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

XXVI

“Mr. Edwards!”

Mitch jumped away from her as if he’d been shot, spinning to face Stuart with such a guilty look on his face that Jessie felt like kicking him. She, on the other hand, felt not the least bit of guilt, and she hoped the haughty tilt of her chin showed it.

“I think it’s time you left.” Stuart was still talking to Mitch. Except for a single condemning glance when Mitch first let her go, Stuart had not so much as looked at Jessie. He stood less than six feet away, his fists planted on his hips, his booted feet spaced slightly apart. Against the background of the low, spreading fruit trees he looked tall, solid, and formidable.

“Sir, I—I know this looks bad, but I can explain. I—I was asking Jessie to marry me.”

Stuart’s eyes narrowed. “Were you, now?”

Jessie decided that the time had come to put in her two cents. “Yes, he was.”

Still he spared her no more than a glance. His attention was all for Mitch, who was so nervous he was perspiring despite the evening’s chill.

“And what did Jessie reply?”

“She—she didn’t. Yet. You—she—she hasn’t said.”

In the face of Stuart’s icy disapproval, Mitch’s pretensions to manhood collapsed with amazing speed. He looked like a schoolboy caught by the headmaster with his hand in the jam pot.

“Really? Jessie?”

Stuart did look at her, finally. Those narrowed eyes were unreadable in the shadowy gloom of the orchard. It was too dark even to see the expression on his face. Not that it would have been much use if she could have seen it, Jessie mused. When it pleased him to do so, he could keep his face as expressionless as stone.

“I have no intention of giving Mitch an answer in front of you,” she said coldly. Mitch, clearly uncomfortable, glanced from her to Stuart and back. Paying him no heed for the moment, Stuart looked her up and down, thoroughly. Jessie knew full well that his gaze was meant to disconcert her. If he had succeeded, she refused to admit it even to herself.

“Are you saying that you need time to think over Mr. Todd’s very flattering proposal?”

If there was a satirical edge to Stuart’s words, Jessie chose to ignore it.

“Yes,” she said defiantly, “that’s just what I’m saying.”

“An,” he said, nodding as if he understood perfectly. Jessie flashed him a look that should have killed him. If he even noticed it, it was impossible to tell. Not even his eyelashes flickered. He met her eyes with that icy, impenetrable look she’d come to know and hate, and said nothing.

“You’ll think about it?” Mitch asked, swinging around to face her and thus diverting her attention from the object of her desire. Her lips pursed. He sounded so eager! Compared to Stuart’s powerful masculinity, he looked young in the way boys are young, tall but ungainly, a trifle awkward, with his limbs not yet fully under control.

“I’ll think about it,” Jessie agreed, more warmly than she would have had Stuart not been listening.

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