Bold Angel by Kat Martin

Author:Kat Martin [Martin, Kat]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
ISBN: 9780312532581
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2010-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

The evening went better than Jessie expected. With Jake beside her, few words were needed to make her position clear. The men greeted her with deference, and maybe a bit of suspicion, but in time they’d get over that.

Jessie yawned and glanced at the clock. It was just past closing time. Only one or two diehard customers remained, and Rupert and Paddy were firmly assisting them to the door. Tomorrow she’d resume her conversation with Jake about the Consolidated Jackson gold shipment. She had no doubt she’d win that argument, too.

“Tired?” Jake asked, coming to stand beside her.

“Actually, I’m a little keyed up. I learned a lot tonight. Thank you, Jake, for making it easy.”

“You made it easy, Jess. If I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it could be done. There wasn’t a man in the room who didn’t treat you like a lady.” He glanced pointedly at her black and gold dress, elegant yet revealing. “I guess being a lady either comes naturally to a woman or it doesn’t.”

Jessie smiled, feeling a spark of pleasure at his words. As he looked down at her, his features had softened. His lips looked warm and inviting, his eyes a darker blue. When he smiled, she knew what he was thinking, and her stomach felt a rush of warmth.

A woman’s light laughter interrupted them. “Where ‘ave you been, you naughty boy?”

Jake’s jaw tightened as a beautiful, dark-haired woman swept up beside him in a swirl of expensive silk organdy. “I have missed you, chéri” she said. “Surely you aren’t still mad at Monique for one tiny misunderstanding.” She raised a delicate hand to his cheek, but Jake backed away.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?” Jessie asked, although she was fairly certain who the beautiful woman was. Everyone on the Barbary Coast had heard of Monique Dubois, but this was the first time Jessie had seen her. She studied the woman thoroughly. With her beautiful blue-green eyes, dark hair, and smooth olive skin, Monique Dubois was lovely—too lovely—with a figure men conjured up in their dreams. And the way she looked at Jake—Jessie felt an ache begin to build around her heart.

“Monique,” Jake said brusquely, “this is my partner.”

“I’m Jessica Taggart,” Jessie put in, since Jake seemed unwilling to make a proper introduction. “I presume you’re Mademoiselle Dubois.”

“Oui, I am Monique.”

Jake grabbed Monique’s arm and tugged her toward the door. “I’m a little busy tonight, Monique. Maybe some other—”

“Jessica,” Monique repeated thoughtfully, as if Jake hadn’t spoken. “Now, chéri, I believe I understand.” She ran a finger along Jake’s cheek and her dark-fringed eyes flashed with anger. “Bonsoir, chéri.” Throwing a falsely brilliant smile over her shoulder, Monique tossed back her thick black hair and headed out the door.

“Could ya gimme a hand, boss?” Rupert called out, indicating one of the customers Paddy was about to toss out.

Jake glanced quickly at Jessie, then he nodded at Rupert and walked away.

While he was gone, Jessie said good night to Lovey and headed upstairs to her room.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.