Wickedly Hot

“Of course there are, and I’m sure you’ve…met…them all,” Jade said, her smile never fading. All three of them knew her hesitation had been intentional.

Mamie stiffened as Jade continued pleasantly, “By the way, you do look lovely in your dress. How funny, I think Auntie Lula Mae has a stuffed dead bird in exactly that color.”

Ryan bit the inside of his cheek to hide a laugh as his landlady’s heavily made-up face went a few shades paler. From behind Jade, he saw another woman—the one in the hoop skirts who’d been talking with Jade earlier—listening intently. At Jade’s cutting insult, the woman grabbed her middle and laughed so hard she almost dropped her drink.

Okay, so at least one other woman here liked the sultry brunette.

Before the offended inn owner could muster up a suitable retort, she was joined by a middle-aged man wearing a slightly faded black tuxedo. His horn-rimmed glasses covered a weary-looking pair of eyes.

Those eyes lit up when the man spied Jade. “Jade, you look wonderful!”

For the first time since he’d joined her, Ryan saw the young woman loosen up and smile with genuine fondness. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed the man on the cheek. “Hello, Uncle Henry.”

Ah, more relations. Another thing about the South, everybody was related to everybody.

“Your mama got off on her cruise all right? Gee, honey, I was so sorry to miss the wedding.”

Mamie Brandywine’s stiff mouth said she, for one, was not sorry to have missed the wedding.

“She’s fine. Having the time of her life, I imagine.”

“Better on the high seas than here causing trouble,” Mamie interjected. “Though I hope the other wives on board keep their husbands close at hand.”

Jade’s jaw stiffened and her face flushed red. For the first time, it appeared the obnoxious Mamie Brandywine had scored a hit.

She opened her mouth to retort. But before she could do so, Ryan interceded. “If you’ll excuse us, we were just about to dance.”

Then, not taking no for an answer, he plucked Jade’s drink out of her hands and put it on the tray of a passing waiter. Taking a strong hold of her arm, he led her away, heading toward the dance floor, feeling her fury and resistance with every step.

He should have known better than to think she’d let it go. After only a half-dozen steps, she planted her feet and refused to proceed.

So, instead of allowing the fireworks, he did the only thing he could think of.

He kissed her.

JADE HAD BEEN PREPARED for reasoning, an apology, a joke, anything a man might typically do to calm down an angry woman.

But not this. Not this amazing kiss. Not his mouth teasing the corner of hers, then moving over until their lips met completely. He wasn’t holding her close, wasn’t restraining her in any way. Yet she still felt completely touched. Held. Embraced. By nothing but his lips.

Somehow, she couldn’t even bring herself to care that she was standing in a crowd of people allowing a complete stranger to kiss her. Maybe because it felt so incredibly good, an unexpected gift of pleasure like suddenly feeling the sun on her face during what had been a cloudy day.

He didn’t try to deepen the kiss, merely playing with her mouth, letting her lips savor the pleasure of his as they shared breaths and as her anger eased away. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he pulled away and looked at her.

She couldn’t say a word, could only stare up at him in confusion, her mouth falling open but no sound coming out. He touched her chin with his index finger, pushed her mouth closed and whispered, “Dance with me.”

Then he slipped his arm around her waist and led her onto the crowded floor. Like Moses parting the Red Sea, his mere presence made people step to the sides, moving away to create room for them. He nodded his thanks, gave polite smiles and left the women groveling in his wake while the men lifted their chins in annoyance.

Good lord, no wonder Jenny had fallen for this man. He’d completely taken over this society party, as if he belonged. As if he’d been born here and could trace his ancestry back several generations—as Jade could—instead of coming from some cold northern city where people didn’t know their neighbors’ names, much less their great-grandparents’.

“I’m afraid I don’t know the latest steps to elevator music,” he whispered as their bodies moved together and began to sway. “But I don’t think rigid as a board is the right position.”

Jade couldn’t prevent a tiny laugh from escaping between her clenched teeth. She had, indeed, been rigid and inflexible, still trying to deal with his words, with that kiss. Not to mention his…presence. That was the only word to describe it.

He was so unlike any of the men she’d known or dated. His looks were one thing—good looks were easy to find, and also easy to forget if they weren’t backed up with personality. But this man had more than the looks and the personality. It was his aura, his power, his self-confidence, that she found nearly irresistible. He commanded respect. And, she suspected, he knew how to give it in return.

Almost against her will, she relaxed against him, the contact causing both instant pleasure and instant tension.

Bad idea.

His body was long, thick and hard.

All over?

She thrust the naughty thought away, lest it distract her once again from her mission. It didn’t help, particularly when she realized that if things went as planned, she’d be finding out his secrets—size and all—in a very short while. She nearly shuddered at the thought, remembering how lost she’d been because of a simple kiss.

Maybe you can’t do this after all.

Can’t, however, was among Jade’s least favorite words. It always had been. Nothing made her give something her all as much as being told she couldn’t do it.

She would do it. Would leave Mr. Smooth quaking and humiliated by the time she got through with him.

Or she’d go down trying.

Go down. The image hit the wicked half of her brain with a vengeance and her legs started to shake again.

Stop it, Jade. Get your mind out of his pants!

All the muscles in her body tensed as she strove for control.

“You’re stiff again,” he said.

“Stiff. Yes,” she murmured, still more than a little unsettled with the undeniably erotic direction her thoughts had taken. Pretty bad to have those kind of thoughts about a man she’d hated before laying eyes on him. It had obviously been way too long since she’d had sex.

“Relax. You’re all tense because of silly Mrs. Brandywine.”

“She deserves to be taken down a peg.”

“Wasn’t it enough for her to be told that her dress looked like a dead bird?” he asked, a twinkle in his eye.

Jade bit her lip, still unable to believe she’d given in and done exactly what she’d sworn to Tally she wouldn’t do. The cutting insult had just fallen off her lips, as naturally as could be. She hadn’t given it a moment’s thought.

“I guess I do have a bit of my mother in me.” Then, remembering what Mamie had said, went on to add, “Mrs. Brandywine hates my mother because Mama’s first husband was Mamie’s high school boyfriend.”

“High school. Long time to hold a grudge.”

Jade shrugged. “Long grudges aren’t unusual down here. Go bring up the Civil War to some of the old-timers.”

“No, I’m not that daring,” he said with a laugh.

The small band segued into yet another slow, dreamy melody. As they moved together, his leg slid between hers in a move too perfectly aimed to be accidental. She gasped at the contact, not expecting him to be so deliberately bold again so soon.

He tried to claim otherwise. “I’m not the best dancer.”

She sucked in a shaky breath. “You’re doing okay.” Then she repositioned herself and shot him a warning look, telling him she knew he’d done it intentionally. “But don’t try it again.”

He didn’t even apologize. Not that she’d expected him to. Instead he remained just out of reach, a breath separating them, so only the fronts of their bodies touched from shoulder to hip. The near-contact was driving her out of her mind. Her earlier curiosity returned in full force.

Long. Thick. Hard. And more…hot.

He radiated heat and energy, from the intensity in his green eyes to the strength in his hands to the breadth of his impossibly wide shoulders. The man screamed masculine, sexual, powerful and untamed.

And she was really going to try to tame him? No, not tame him, punish him?

Yet another feeling of uncustomary uncertainty flashed in her brain, which really irked her. She hadn’t been uncertain about anything related to sex for a long time. Not since deciding to lose her virginity to her college-age neighbor when she’d been in high school.

“Where are you?” he asked softly.

She shook her head and forced a smile and a trill of light laughter. “Right here. Can’t you feel me?”

He nodded, slowly, and pulled her tighter. A little too tight for propriety’s sake. Warmth built inside her. She felt a trickle of moisture on her upper lip. And elsewhere.

“Has this happened to you before?” He nearly whispered in her ear, his voice husky.

“What?”

“Something this instant?”

He didn’t have to elaborate. They both knew what he was talking about.

She answered with complete honesty. “No.” Then, because she didn’t want him getting too cocky, added, “Not this quickly, anyway. I think it usually takes at least a half hour and a glass of wine for me to determine compatibility.”

“So, should I be scared or glad that you’re drinking soda?”

“How did you know that?” she asked in surprise.

“I’ve been watching you very closely. All evening. Now, answer the question. Am I not worthy of wine yet?”

She chuckled, unable to resist his teasing expression, though she did worry about how observant he was. “I haven’t quite decided yet,” she said, needing to regroup and remind herself that the man was a pig and a creep and a despoiler of innocent young girls. Supposedly.

Jenny wouldn’t lie.

No, her sister wouldn’t outright lie. But she was something of a drama queen, which suited her desire to be an actress. Her tendency to exaggerate was well-known in the family, as well as to the Savannah police. Jade had gotten her sibling out of several scrapes, even stepping in to keep Mama in the dark when Jenny’s outrageous behavior got her into serious trouble.

But she couldn’t have lied about this. Jade had even seen a picture of them together. Though it had been poor quality, so his face was slightly blurred, she believed this was the man who’d been in the picture. He’d had his arm laid casually over Jenny’s shoulders, she looking exquisitely happy—as any woman would when being held by a man who looked like pure sex wrapped in an Armani suit.

Jenny hadn’t lied. Maybe he hadn’t meant to hurt her. Probably he hadn’t, given that even during their very brief acquaintance, she’d already realized that though he was a flirtatious, sexy playboy who turned on the charm with anyone female and breathing, he didn’t seem the type to abuse his power over women.

Unfortunately, he’d turned that charm on a young woman unable to handle it, and broken her heart. He was a grown man, thirty at least. Old enough to know better than to mess with a twenty-one-year-old kid. So whether he’d done it intentionally or not, Ryan Stoddard had to pay.

He would pay. And he would definitely know better by the time Jade finished with him.

“Now, we haven’t been properly introduced, have we?” he whispered, his breaths brushing her hair and tickling her ear. “Your name is Jade?”

She cleared her throat and replied, “Yes. Jade.” She didn’t offer her last name.

“I’m Ryan Stoddard.”

Definitely no mistake then. A stab of regret dashed through her as an unspoken wish that he might not be the rotten man she’d thought he was—that she’d made some colossal mistake and some other amazing architect had shown up at the party tonight—disappeared. She looked into his eyes, so clear and honest-looking. Any woman could get lost in them. Including a very young, impressionable woman.

She was once again forcibly reminded of the reason for tonight’s interaction. Revenge.

The crazy, sexy spell she’d been under dissipated. She finally managed to dig deep and reinforce her wavering determination by picturing Jenny in this man’s arms. That mental picture hurt. Badly. Maybe not for the right reasons, but it worked anyway. She didn’t pause to evaluate those reasons, sensing they could be based more on jealousy than family loyalty.

Family loyalty. It was all that really mattered when one grew up as she had. The name Dupré was associated with both power and loss, sadness and ancient scandal. The family had become adept at dealing with whispers and innuendo, envy and tragedy, until the Duprés had become almost a world unto themselves. That world was a safe haven where loyalty and love were valued above all. It was especially comforting to Jade that she was related to so many people here in Savannah.

One thing was sure, the Dupré women had withstood worse than playboys like Ryan Stoddard.

Back in control at last, Jade widened her lips into the smile perfected by generations of Southern women. Warm but not effusive. Friendly but not precisely welcoming. With a bit of Dupré woman thrown in—purely seductive.

“Well, welcome to Savannah, Ryan. I’ll try my best to make your stay as…memorable as possible.”

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