She didn’t, which meant he had to hide his reactions as best he could.
Why had he never noticed that sweet, demure Jessie was a master of torment? She must have had poor Erik in a daze from the day they’d met. Or perhaps his brother had been made of sterner stuff than he’d ever realized.
“Watch yourself, darlin’,” he murmured in an aside he hoped couldn’t be overheard. “You’re just begging for trouble.”
Jessie turned her deceptively innocent gaze on him. “Who’s going to give it to me, Lucas?”
Good question. For him to tangle with her in the way he longed to, the way she was taunting him to, he was the one who would be in real trouble. Up to his neck in it, as a matter of fact, and drowning fast.
14
If it weren’t for the half dozen servants scattered around, Luke and Jessie would have had the house to themselves the following evening, once his parents had gone off to the McAllisters’ party. For some reason, Jessie found being alone with Luke at White Pines oddly intimate and very disconcerting. Acknowledging her feelings for Luke at his ranch had been one thing. Admitting them here, where she and Erik had spent their entire married life, was something else entirely.
Frankly, she was still surprised that Luke had conspired to be alone with her. When she’d left his ranch, she had been all but certain she would never see him again unless she arranged it. Now, not only had he followed her to White Pines, he seemed unwilling to let her out of his sight. She couldn’t believe it was because he’d had a change of heart about their relationship. He was still jumpy as a june bug around her. To be truthful, she wasn’t much better.
Sitting across from Luke in the huge, formal dining room, with the table set with fancy china, sterling silver and fine crystal, Jessie felt as if the atmosphere were suddenly charged with electricity. In his kitchen she had been comfortable, even sure of herself. Here she felt as if she were on a first, very nerve-racking date. She wondered if he felt the same uncertainty, the same shivery anticipation.
If he did, it wasn’t apparent, she decided with some regret. He’d worn slacks and a white dress shirt, left open at the throat just enough to reveal a sexy whorl of crisp, dark hair and tanned skin. With his hair neatly combed, his cheeks freshly shaved, he looked as confident as Jordan, as sexy as Cody and as at ease as Erik. The combination was enough to make her palms sweat.
Luke lifted his glass of wine and took a slow sip, his gaze never leaving her face. The intensity of that look was deliberate. There was no mistake about it. Jessie could feel her cheeks flush. Her pulse skittered wildly.
“Everything okay?” he inquired in a lazy drawl that sent fire dancing through her veins.
“Of course,” she responded in a choked voice. “Why?”
“You look a little...feverish.”
Oh, sweet heaven, she thought desperately, wishing she could pat her cheeks with a napkin dipped in the crystal goblet of ice water. The man was deliberately turning the tables on her. She swallowed hard and searched her soul for the confidence to play his game and win. “No,” she said eventually, her voice shaking. “I’m fine.”
He nodded politely, but there was a knowing gleam in his eyes. “If you say so.”
“I do,” she said adamantly.
“Okay.”
Fortunately, Maritza came in with the main course just then—beef Wellington. “It is your favorite, Señor Luke, sí?”
Luke grinned at her, his attention diverted at last. Jessie used the reprieve to draw in a deep breath and surreptitiously fan herself with her napkin.
“Absolutely,” he told the housekeeper. “And not even Consuela does beef Wellington better than you do.”
“I will not tell her you said so,” Maritza said, her cheeks rosy with pleasure at the compliment.
“Thank you,” Luke said, his expression absolutely serious. “She’d put me on a diet of canned soup for a month, if she found out.”
When the housekeeper had retreated to the kitchen, Jessie said, “You’re very kind to her.”
He seemed surprised by the comment. “Why wouldn’t I be? She’s terrific. The whole family is. Did you know that Rosa who owns the café we went to is another cousin? I believe Lara is Rosa’s daughter or maybe she’s a second cousin. I’ve lost track of all the connections.”
“And you’re nice to all of them.” Seeing his skepticism, Jessie tried to analyze what she’d seen in their rapport. “I can’t explain exactly,” she finally admitted. “It’s not that you’re just polite, that you say what’s expected. You genuinely appreciate what they do. I’m sure that’s why Consuela chose to go with you when you left White Pines. I suspect you make her feel like part of the family, while your mother treated her like hired help.”
Luke shrugged off the compliment. “Consuela is family to me,” he said with surprising feeling. “She’s the one who really raised me, raised all of us, for that matter. Mother’s single goal in life was to make Daddy’s life easier, to give him whatever he wanted. She gave him four sons, then did everything she could to see that we stayed out of his way. If I’m ever fortunate enough to have children, I made a promise to myself that they will never feel the way we felt as kids, as if we were a nuisance to be tolerated.”
Jessie was appalled by the assessment, by the trace of bitterness in his voice. Obviously his resentments ran deeper than she’d ever realized.
“Your father certainly never treated any of you that way as far as I could tell,” she argued. “He’s obviously very proud of all of you.”
Luke’s expression was doubtful. “You can say that after the way he manipulated Erik, the way he’s always tried to control the rest of
