Wishes Read online

  Nellie’s eyes darted to the pantry. “I don’t think we should discuss this now. Maybe we should go into the parlor.”

  “I do not want to go to the parlor.” Terel unpinned her hat. “I am famished. I couldn’t even have luncheon because all anyone wanted to speak to me about was you and how you’d behaved with that man. I really couldn’t bear it.”

  “Terel, please, let’s go to the parlor. We can—”

  “Look at the flowers! Nellie, why didn’t you tell me I had flowers? Who are they from? Johnny? Bob? Not Lawrence, possibly?” Terel picked up the bouquet and searched for the card, then opened it. “It says,” she read, “ ‘to the most beautiful woman in the world.’ How lovely. It must be Lawrence.” She closed the card and then saw that it said “To Nellie, with love from Jace.”

  Terel had to read the card three times before she really understood. She flung the flowers to the floor. “He has been here, hasn’t he?” she cried. “He has been in this room. After all Father and I said to you, you continue with your licentious behavior. How could you, Nellie? How could you?”

  “Terel, please,” Nellie pleaded. “Couldn’t we—”

  “And brandy, too,” she said, holding up the empty glass. “This has gone too far. Wait until I tell Father. Nellie, I never knew you were stupid. Don’t you know that the people who love you know what’s best for you? Don’t you understand what he wants from a woman like you? He wants to get you drunk and—”

  Terel’s back was to the pantry, but Nellie was facing it, and to her horror Jace stepped into the kitchen, ready to do battle with Terel. Nellie shook her head violently, then sprinted across the kitchen. Terel fumbled with her handkerchief while Nellie pushed Jace back into the pantry. Her body was in the kitchen, but her outstretched arm was hidden inside the pantry.

  “—and have his way with you,” Terel finished.

  At that Jace snorted.

  “Are you laughing at me?” Terel asked in horror.

  “No, of course not. I would never laugh at you. I—” Nellie couldn’t say any more because Jace had taken her hand from his chest and begun nibbling at her fingertips.

  “You don’t know men like him, Nellie,” Terel was saying. “He is a…well, he’s a seducer of women.”

  Jace was biting the inside of her wrist, and she could feel the tip of his tongue on her skin.

  “Nellie! Are you listening to me?”

  “Yes,” she said dreamily.

  “You cannot trust men like him, and Father was right when he forbade you to see him again.”

  Jace paused in kissing Nellie’s hand for just a second when Terel said that, but he continued. Besides kissing Nellie, he wanted to hear what the lying bitch had to say.

  “Father told you about his flirting, and I myself saw him at church. He merely wants as many women as he can get. I don’t know why he chose you as one of his…his conquests, but he has. Nellie, don’t you know that we care about you and want what’s best for you?”

  Nellie could barely nod. Her sleeve had been pushed up to wash dishes, and now he was kissing the inside of her elbow.

  “All the man wants from you is entry into Grayson Freight. He wants to be Father’s partner. He would have tried to seduce me, but he knew I know too much about men to fall for his scandalous ways. I would never have let him humiliate me in public as he did you. So, knowing he couldn’t get me, he went after you, and Nellie, you believed every word he said to you. Tell me, did he tell you you were beautiful?”

  Nellie looked into the pantry at Jace. He looked up from her arm and nodded. “Yes,” Nellie whispered. “He told me I was beautiful.”

  “There, you see. That proves he’s a liar.”

  At that Jace dropped Nellie’s arm and started out of the pantry, but Nellie put her hand on his chest and gave him a pleading look while Terel turned around to get a glass out of a cabinet.

  “Terel, why don’t you go upstairs and lie down? I’ll bring your luncheon on a tray.”

  “Yes, perhaps that would be better. It has been a very trying day. You can’t imagine the gossip I’ve had to listen to about my own sister.”

  Nellie started to pull away from Jace, but he wouldn’t let her, so she stood where she was and gave Terel a weak smile. Sighing, Terel left the room.

  Immediately, Nellie turned to him. “Mr. Montgomery, you cannot—” she began, but she couldn’t say more because he pulled her into the pantry and into his arms.

  He kissed her. At first Nellie was so shocked that she just stood there, her eyes open, his strong arms around her as he pulled her close to him.

  “Nellie,” he whispered as he moved to kiss her neck, “don’t you understand that I’m not interested in your father’s company? It’s you I’m interested in.”

  She barely heard him as his lips moved down her neck. His big hands were on her body, and Nellie could feel her knees growing weak. He moved back to her mouth, kissing her gently at first; then, as Nellie relaxed against him, his kiss deepened. The tip of his tongue touched hers. At first she started to draw away from him, but he held her close.

  It was some minutes before Nellie began to truly react to his touching her. She had no idea how much longing and desire were pent up inside her. She was a loving woman who had had no outlet for her love. Her hands moved from her sides to encircle him and pull him closer, and her breath came harder and faster as he continued kissing her.

  “Nellie,” he whispered, and he began to run his teeth and lips across her neck. She moved her arms up to bury her hands in his hair. She kissed his cheeks, his neck, running the tip of her tongue along his skin and feeling the whiskers. He smelled good; he felt good; he tasted good.

  Within minutes Nellie could no longer see or think. She was all feeling, a great, huge, red mass of feeling.

  “Nellie,” Jace said, trying to pull away from her but finding it very difficult, “we have to stop.” He lifted his head to look at her. Her face was flushed pink, her eyes closed, long, thick lashes against her soft cheek, and her lips were soft and full and parted invitingly.

  “Nellie,” he said again, and this time the sound was a groan. “I can’t bear any more. We have to stop.” He kissed her once gently, then pulled away. “I think your family might be a little shocked if they found us making love on the floor of the pantry.”

  Slowly Nellie opened her eyes and looked up at him. They were intimately pressed together, his leg between hers, and she remembered how wantonly she’d just behaved. “I…I’m sorry, Mr. Montgomery,” she mumbled, releasing him. “I didn’t mean…” She didn’t know what to say.

  “Quite all right,” he said, smiling as though nothing had happened, but there was a glow of sweat on his brow.

  Nellie was quite suddenly very embarrassed, and she started backing out of the pantry, her face red.

  “Nellie.” He caught her arm and pulled her close to him, but she pushed at him and gained her freedom.

  “Mr. Montgomery, I am truly apologetic for…for my conduct,” she muttered, moving into the kitchen. It was better not to look at him. If she didn’t look at him again, perhaps she might forget how she had just behaved.

  “Please look at me,” he said, and when she wouldn’t he took her by the shoulders and put his face close to hers. “You aren’t going to believe what your sister said about me, are you? I haven’t looked at any other woman in town except you. Those two overdressed fillies in church sat by me, I didn’t sit by them. And at your father’s office I’ve never been anything but polite to the ladies.”

  She pulled away from him. “Mr. Montgomery, I have no idea what gave you the idea that your social life is my concern. You are free to pursue any and all of the pretty young women in town.” She began slicing bread and beef to make a plate of food for Terel.

  He could see that she didn’t believe him. Damn that little brat Terel, he thought. Nellie believed everything she said. “I’ve never made any advances toward your sister, nor have I—”

  “Are y