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He spoiled them like they were his own children and the smallest compliment to his food had smiles wreathing his rough face and pleasure filling his brown eyes.
“Cook, the tiramisu made me want to weep tears of joy,” she sighed as he stepped into the dining room, his craggy, often stoic expression suddenly beaming in enjoyment.
“The next time you play with SUVs in the street, no more tiramisu for a month.” He wagged his finger at her as her father turned her head, chuckling. “Your father has ten new gray hairs, he claims.”
She turned her gaze on her father, eyes narrowed before giving Cook a gentle, innocent look. “Cook, you know how Daddy tells tales on me,” she reminded him with mock sadness. “He’s just jealous because you make the tiramisu special for me. You know how vindictive he can get.” She wrinkled her nose in her father’s direction.
Cook sighed heavily, the laughter in his eyes nearly causing her to spoil the act with an uncontrolled giggle. “Poor Miss Alyssa. He’s always told such horrible tales too.” Cook nodded. “I’m certain you don’t climb on file cabinets or chairs, and certainly you would never attempt to rescue snarling dogs or pull terrified cats from trees, either.”
Oh well. She couldn’t lie about all of it.
“I’m certain he exaggerated each of those tales.” She couldn’t stop the grin. “I swear.”
Shaking his finger at her, he laughed at her antics before returning to the kitchen.
Within moments steaming coffee and after-dinner mints arrived, signaling the conclusion of another of his tasty meals.
Once she’d enjoyed an after-dinner coffee and listened to her father and Jeb discuss stocks and politics for a half hour she was bored out of her mind and searching desperately for a reason to excuse herself from the table.
“Alyssa, dear, you look so very tired,” Landra came to her rescue, causing her to blink and look up at the older woman with an apologetic smile. “It’s been a stressful few days for you, hasn’t it, dear?”
That was putting things a bit mildly, Alyssa thought with silent amusement.
“I think it’s time I head back to my suite,” Alyssa admitted, rising from her chair as Jeb moved quickly to help her.
“Jeb, be a dear and see Alyssa to her room,” Landra told him firmly. “After two days of enforced rest by Nurse Shaw, her legs must be feeling a bit weak. We wouldn’t want her to fall before making it to her room.”
Alyssa stared at Landra warily.
“Of course, Mother,” Jeb agreed softly, his gaze meeting Alyssa’s with a little conspirator’s wink.
What the hell was Landra up to?
Was she trying to get her son killed by playing matchmaker? Shane and Sebastian wouldn’t stand for it and she should know that. Cousin or no cousin, they would never tolerate another man interfering with their seduction of her. Which was really kind of funny. Shane and Sebastian had no problem sharing her with each other, but Alyssa knew for a fact they’d never willingly let another man touch her.
“It’s all good,” Jeb murmured as he offered his elbow to her politely and said loud enough for Landra to hear, “Come along, little sister, let’s get you safely to your bed.”
Yeah, he was related to Shane and Sebastian, there was no doubt. But she took the proffered elbow with a little roll of her eyes.
“You like to live dangerously,” she murmured as they left the dining room and headed up the hallway leading to the outer suites.
“Mother likes to shake things up a bit,” he agreed with a low chuckle, though his hand remained where it was just beneath her upper arm. “I like to allow her the illusion that she’s managing to do so. It keeps her from any real trouble.”
He was handsome. His resemblance to Shane was slight; despite Jeb’s dark hair, his looks were actually closer to Sebastian’s. If Jeb had had lighter hair, she would have figured out they were related before her father began his relationship with Landra.
“It’s rarely a good idea where Shane and Sebastian are concerned, to shake anything up,” she pointed out. “She should know that. Putting her son in the line of fire could become a problem.”
She would really hate to see him hurt.
“They’ve never been known for their jealousy,” he assured her.
“Really?” She glanced up at him in amusement. “Just how well do you know your cousins, Jeb?”
“Well enough to know not to piss them off,” he assured her. “We never spent a lot of time around each other, but when we did, it was an interesting visit. I’ve seen them in a lot of moods, but I’ve never seen them possessive of a woman.”
Briefly she related the incident of them arriving as she talked to Gregory and the resulting confrontation. By the time she and Jeb reached the turn in the hall that led to her suite, he was actually laughing.
“I wouldn’t have minded seeing that.” He chuckled at the end of the tale. “Shane can be incredibly cutting when he wants to be. But, as I said, ‘jealous’ wasn’t one of the descriptions I’ve heard applied to him before now.”
