Passionate Protection by Penny Jordan

Author:Penny Jordan [Jordan, Penny]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Romance, General
ISBN: 9780263216813
Google: et63QAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0263216810
Publisher: Harlequin Mills & Boon
Published: 1983-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

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CHAPTER SIX

'Ah, there you are, I hope you will permit me to join you?'

Jessica glanced at Jorge's concerned face and smiled. She was sitting in her small courtyard, working on some of the designs, and enjoying the sunshine.

'Sebastian is working in his laboratory,' Jorge informed her, needlessly, since Sebastian himself had told her at breakfast that he could be found there should she want him. There had also been a look in his eyes that told her that there was still a reckoning to come, but that was something she was refusing to think about!

'I must apologise, for my… for my brother's behaviour,' Jorge managed at last, flushing a little. 'It is unforgivable that he should have involved you in this affair.' He bit his lip. 'He has given me the gist of what has happened between you, although why, feeling as he does, he has brought you here to the hacienda to work for him I do not know!'

He looked perplexed and unhappy, but Jessica didn't enlighten him. He might think Sebastian had told him the truth, but she knew differently.

'I was speaking to my aunt this morning and she seems to think… that is, Sebastian has given her the impression… that… that you are lovers,' he added uncomfortably, 'and yet plainly this is not so. I shall speak to him about it on your behalf. Isabel talked of you to me, I know you are not… that you do not…'

'That I'm not promiscuous?' Jessica supplied dryly, privately suspecting that Isabel had been far more unflattering in her description of her, but Jorge seized on the expression gratefully.

'Si,' he agreed, 'this is so… Sebastian cannot appreciate what my aunt thinks, for he would never expose a young woman of unblemished reputation to such an insult.'

Heavens, he sounded like something out of a Victorian novel! Jessica thought to herself. Surely he couldn't be serious? But apparently he was.

'I shall speak to him about it,' he added again. 'It is not right.'

Right or wrong, she couldn't see Sebastian being easily influenced by his younger brother, Jessica reflected when Jorge had gone.

She had been on her own for about half an hour when she glanced up, hearing footsteps coming in her direction. To her surprise she saw Pilar coming towards her, the older woman's mouth grimly compressed, two bright coins of colour burning in her otherwise completely pale face.

'You are wasting your time!' she hissed to Jessica without preamble. 'Sebastian does not really want you. He has only ever loved one woman—my sister, and…'

Jessica tried to interrupt, to assure her companion that she had no romantic interest in Sebastian. Something about the way the older woman was watching her triggered alarm bells in her mind. It struck her that there was something driven, something almost bordering on hysteria, in Pilar's manner.

'He was obsessed by her,' Pilar continued almost as though Jessica wasn't there, 'but one day he will have to marry, if only in order to have sons, and who

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