Of course, to achieve such an end, she would have to present a slightly more conservative image, as Melanie had suggested. Any thought of wearing that ridiculously provocative corselette would have to be abandoned. She might even have to wear a normal bra.
‘Auntie,’ she said slowly, ‘you wouldn’t mind if I looked through your wardrobe, would you? I might borrow something for dinner tonight. Mr Armstrong is dining with us.’
‘I think you’ll find it a bit depleted, dear. I gave everything that didn’t fit me to Gemma.’
Jade couldn’t believe it. What kind of girl was this Gemma person that everyone was so taken with her? No doubt her own father thought she was just the ants’ pants, not like his own cheap, vulgar tramp of a daughter. God, she hoped Nathan hurried up and corrupted that girl. And she hoped everyone found out about it, including her father.
Grumbling under her breath, she decided there was nothing else to do but go downstairs and throw herself on Melanie’s mercy. The woman had to have something in her wardrobe besides those hideous black dresses she always wore.
Before she left, she wandered over to look at her aunt’s painting.
‘Hey,’ she said, surprise in her voice. ‘That’s rather good. You must be improving, Auntie.’
‘Either that, or your taste is,’ Ava countered with uncharacteristic wit. She and her niece exchanged startled glances.
‘Goodness, Auntie,’ Jade laughed. ‘That was quick.’
‘Yes, it was, wasn’t it?’
Jade gave her a considering look. ‘You seem happier, do you know that?’
‘You could be right. The whole house has been happier since Gemma came to live here.’
‘God, not that girl again! I’ll have to meet this paragon of perfection soon or I’ll explode with envy and irritation!’
Now Ava laughed. ‘She’ll have you eating out of her hand in no time, just as she has everyone else.’
‘I wouldn’t bet on that if I were you, Auntie.’ And, thinking darkly jealous thoughts, Jade marched from the room.
* * *
Gemma propped herself up on one elbow and looked down at the naked man sleeping beside her. He was so beautiful.
Her eyes caressed his perfect profile, his gorgeous golden hair, tousled at the moment, and that glorious mouth, full-lipped and sensual but not at all feminine. There wasn’t a feminine bone in Nathan Whitmore’s beautiful bronzed body.
Hard to believe he was thirty-five.
Hard to believe that less than an hour ago she had been a fear-filled, quivering virgin.
Hard to believe he wanted to marry her, a silly little country girl not yet twenty. She couldn’t believe her luck.
‘You’re making me self-conscious, staring at me like that,’ he murmured, his left eye flicking half open.
‘Oh! I...I thought you’d fallen asleep.’
‘Just resting,’ he whispered, and reached for her.
Gemma gave herself up momentarily to the excitement of his kisses, but as soon as he lifted his mouth to take a breath, she wriggled out of his arms and away from further temptation.
‘We have to stop, Nathan,’ she said breathlessly. ‘Kirsty might come back from the beach at any moment. She’s been gone over an hour. It’s nearly three.’
It was only by chance that Gemma wasn’t down at the beach with Kirsty. But she hadn’t liked the sea; hadn’t liked it at all.
‘Kirsty never leaves the beach till the sun goes down,’ Nathan reassured her. ‘Still, it’s possible, I suppose, and I wouldn’t want her to catch us together like this.’ He trickled a hand over Gemma’s breasts, smiling softly as an involuntary tremor rippled through her. ‘My own lovely little Gemma,’ he said, and bent to flick a moist fingertip over the nearest erect nipple. ‘Do you realise we’ll have all night together now that Kirsty’s going to that movie marathon?’
Gemma tried to dampen down her excitement at such a prospect to focus on Nathan’s daughter. ‘I’m not sure Lenore would be happy with Kirsty going to an all-night movie session, Nathan. She’s only fourteen, after all. Not only that, she’s supposed to be grounded for another week.’
At the mention of his ex-wife, Nathan scowled and rolled away, planting angry feet on the floor beside the bed. ‘I’ll make the decisions for my daughter while she’s under my roof. Lenore can go jump.’
Gemma was taken aback by Nathan’s burst of temper, so unlike his usual cool self. Her mind flashed to that kiss she’d witnessed between him and his ex-wife less than two weeks before, on the very first night she’d come to Belleview. It had been one of the main reasons she’d fought her attraction for Nathan, thinking he was still in love with Lenore. The passion of the last hour had deflected her mind away from any earlier doubts, but now the possibility that the man she loved still harboured strong feelings for the woman he’d been married to for twelve years raised its ugly head again.
‘She’s Kirsty’s mother,’ Gemma argued unhappily. ‘I think her feelings have to be considered.’
Nathan started pulling on his clothes, his actions jerky. ‘As if that selfish bitch has got any real feelings,’ he muttered.
Gemma stared at him. When Nathan saw her shocked expression he leant back over the bed to cup her chin and kiss her lightly on the mouth. ‘Not like you, my darling girl. You have more feeling in your little finger than Lenore has in her whole body.’
Then why were you kissing her less than two weeks ago as if you wanted to devour her? she was dying to ask. Instead, she said tremulously, ‘You do love me, don’t you, Nathan?’
‘Love you? I adore you.’ His mouth returned to hers, demanding and hungry. He groaned and pushed her back on the pillows.
‘Nathan, we can’t!’ she gasped.
‘There’s no such thing as can’t, Gemma,’ he growled. ‘Only won’t.’ He buried his face between her breasts, then slowly slid downwards.
‘You...you shouldn’t,’ she managed in a weak whisper, both embarrassed and fascinated by what he was now doing. For a while the embarrassment won, her face flaming, her hands fluttering helplessly by her sides. But then sheer physical pleasure triumphed over any shock or shame. Her fingers started grasping the sheets on either side of her, and her mind spun out into a void of endless delight.
CHAPTER THREE
JADE surveyed her reflection in the mirror with mischievous satisfaction. Melanie had come through with a navy linen suit that would have looked ghastly if Jade had worn the white silk blouse with the tie at the throat that went with it. Instead, she’d filled the deep V neckline with a lacy pink camisole rescued from the depths of Auntie Ava’s wardrobe. The dear old thing had also produced a pair of dainty pink sandals with outrageously high heels, a relic from her partying days.
Digging deep in her own drawers, Jade had come up with some pink multi-disc earrings which she’d adored as a teenager but which hadn’t seen the light of day since. Oddly enough, they looked very effective with her new short blonde hair.
The combination of the sedate and the saucy produced a highly tantalising whole, which hinted—as Melanie and Ava