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She said, “Yes, Cupid?” and smiled at the joke.
“Tomorrow at nine,” he said.
“At nine,” she answered, then she heard his footsteps on the forest path.
With a sigh of regret for the sweet, dark encounter being over, Jecca turned toward the house.
On the way back to his house, Tristan couldn’t stop smiling. Tonight he had liked her as much as he had the first time. It had been great talking and flirting with her in the dark, teasing her. He’d liked that she hadn’t been coy, hadn’t giggled or been flustered. Since so many of the women in his life had seen him as an unmarried doctor and therefore marriage material, he’d tested Jecca. He told her right off that what he wanted was a wife and kids. Tris knew from experience that most women would have said that’s what she wanted too—even if she didn’t.
But not Jecca! She’d told him right away that she wasn’t staying in Edilean. Didn’t want to get married, and that she wanted a career in art more than she wanted any man.
He couldn’t help admiring her honesty as well as feeling, well, a bit challenged by it.
Tonight, he’d felt something stir inside him that he’d never felt before. He had liked Jecca. Old-fashioned liked her. Forget that the way she’d run her hands over his face had made him want to toss her to the ground and make love to her. He had very much enjoyed laughing with her and talking about a Greek fable in a sexy way.
Once he was inside, he str
etched out on his bed and began go C an"0em" widting over the whole evening in his mind, starting with the way she’d been calm and cool when he’d fallen on her. Most women would have been hysterical, but right away, Jecca had figured out who he was. And she even remembered that his father was acting as the town physician.
He still couldn’t believe he’d told her about Gemma. He’d told no one how he’d felt about the young woman who came to Edilean so recently. One time, in anger, he’d nearly told Colin, the man she married, the truth about what he felt for Gemma. But other than that, he’d never come close to telling anyone that he’d been near to falling in love. Gemma had fit in his house; she was easy to talk to. He’d found himself revealing things to her that he’d told no one else.
In the last weeks since she’d married his friend, Tristan had wondered what would have happened if he’d done as his sister advised and made an effort. Showed up at her house with a bottle of wine maybe? Or asked her out to dinner?
But he’d done none of those things.
He’d left the old photo of Jecca in his bedside table drawer, and he got it out to look at it. Each time he looked at it, she seemed to get prettier. Her nose sort of turned up on the end. And her eyes looked like they were two seconds away from laughing. But her mouth wasn’t cute. It was beautiful. Her lips looked like something off a lipstick ad, utterly perfect and oh so kissable.
“Come on, Aldredge,” he said aloud. He put the photo on his bedside table and rolled off the bed. It was late and he was hungry, and he was facing the onerous task of trying to get undressed and dressed with just one arm. He thought, If Jecca were here, she’d help me, then he groaned at the idea.
His refrigerator was well stocked, thanks to his housekeeper. She cooked things for him at her house and brought them to him. Four years ago, when he’d hired her, she’d looked at him with starry eyes, but now she was engaged to be married and was more likely to ask him to look at her sore throat.
He filled a plate with cold roast beef and cold salads, opened a bottle of wine, and sat down on a stool at the counter.
Jecca had made it clear that she wasn’t interested in a life in Edilean, that she was leaving to go back to New York at the end of the summer.
He knew that by all rights he should respect her wishes. What he should do was look around for a woman he could spend his life with. He was already thirty-four. Before he knew it, he’d be forty and that was old to start a family.
But maybe if he did what his sister suggested and made a little effort he could persuade Jecca to stay a while longer in Edilean. On the other hand, maybe once they got to know each other better they would find out they were destined only for friendship.
Maybe the blazing hot lust he’d felt tonight would just go away all by itself.
Laughing at that absurdity, Tristan got his laptop and logged on. “Wonder what books there are on Cupid and Psyche?” he said. “And where can I get one?”
He might fail, but this time he was going to try his best to win the fair maiden.
Four
Jecca awoke smiling—but then, that seemed to be her normal state whenever she was in Edilean. She had a feeling that her life was going to start today—which was, of course, absurd. A person’s life didn’t begin at twenty-six years old.
Maybe her life wasn’t actually to begin, but she had a sense that something was about to happen.
She put her hands behind her head and rested on the stack of down pillows. It was indeed a beautiful room. The bed had one of those pillow-top mattresses that was so extremely comfortable. It was a bed to wallow in, to snuggle down and dream in. Or to make love in.
That thought made her smile broader as she remembered last night. Laughing in the darkness with a man she couldn’t see. Hearing his voice, feeling his breath on her cheek. She didn’t think she’d ever experienced anything so romantic. Too bad moonlight couldn’t arrive in the morning so she could keep the mood, she thought, then laughed at the idea. Daylight brought reality. And work.
Today Kim was to pick her up to take her into Edilean. What would happen if she saw Dr. Tristan Aldredge? Would they shake hands at the introduction? Be polite?
The worst thing, she thought, would be if he apologized for things he’d said last night. She hoped he’d not regret telling her that he’d almost fallen in love with some woman who was now married to another man.
