“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m being serious. Sorry you can’t tell the difference.”
There was a pause and then her mother asked, “Why do you always want to have your way?”
“Because it’s my way to have. I’m twenty-five for heaven’s sake. You and Dad need to let me live my own life.”
“We will but not there, and Hugh’s been asking about you.”
“That’s nice. Is there anything else you wanted, Mom?”
“For you to stop being difficult.”
“If wanting to live my life the way I want is being difficult then get prepared for more difficult days ahead. Goodbye, Mom.”
Out of respect Bella didn’t hang up the phone until she heard her mother’s click. And when she did she clicked off and shook her head. Her parents were so sure they had her where they wanted her.
And that possibility bothered her more than anything.
* * *
Jason glanced around the room. All of his male cousins had Bella to the side conversing away with her. No doubt they were as fascinated by her intellect as well as her beauty. And things had been that way since she’d arrived. More than once he’d sent Zane dirty looks that basically told his cousin to back off. Why he’d done such a thing he wasn’t sure. He and Bella weren’t an item or anything of the sort.
In fact, to his way of thinking, she was acting rather coolly toward him. Although she was polite enough, no one would have thought he had devoured her mouth the way he had three days ago in his office. And maybe that was the reason she was acting this way. No one was supposed to know. It was their secret. Right?
Wrong.
He knew his family well, a lot better than she did. Their acting like cordial acquaintances only made them suspect. His brother Riley had already voiced his suspicions. “Trouble in paradise with the Southern Bella?”
He’d frowned and had been tempted to tell Riley there was no trouble in paradise because he and Bella didn’t have that kind of relationship. They had kissed only once for heaven’s sake. Twice, if you were to take into consideration that he’d kissed her a second time that day before leaving his office.
So, okay, they had kissed twice. No big deal. He drew in a deep breath wondering if it wasn’t a big deal, why was he making it one? Why had he come early and anticipated her arrival like a kid waiting for Christmas to get here?
Everyone who knew him, especially his family, was well aware that he dated when it suited him and his reputation with women was nothing like Derringer’s had been or Zane’s was. It didn’t come close. The thought of meeting someone and getting married and having a family was something at the bottom of his list, but at least he didn’t mind claiming it was on his list. That was something some of his other single brothers and cousins refused to do.
“You’re rather quiet tonight, Jason.”
He glanced over and saw his cousin Bailey had come to stand beside him and knew why she was there. She wanted to not just pick his brain but to dissect his mind. “I’m no quieter than usual, Bail.”
She tilted her head and looked up at him. “Hmm, I think you are. Does Bella have anything to do with it?”
He took a sip of his wine. “And what makes you think that?”
She shrugged. “Because you keep glancing over there at her when you think no one is looking.”
“That’s not true.”
She smiled. “Yes, it is. You probably don’t realize you’re doing it.”
He frowned. Was that true? Had he been that obvious whenever he’d glanced over at Bella? Of course someone like Bailey—who made it her business to keep up with everything and everyone, or tried to—would notice such a thing.
“I thought we were just having dinner,” he decided to say. “I didn’t know it was an all-out dinner party.”
Bailey grinned. “I remember the first time Ramsey brought Chloe to introduce her to the family. He’d thought the same thing.”
Nodding, he remembered that time. “Only difference in that is that Ramsey brought Chloe. I didn’t bring Bella nor did I invite her.”
“Are you saying you wished she wasn’t here?”
He hated when Bailey tried putting words into his mouth. And speaking of mouth...he glanced across the room to Bella and watched hers move and couldn’t help remembering all he’d done to that mouth when he’d kissed her.
“Jason?”
He then recalled what Bailey had asked him and figured until he gave her an answer she wasn’t going anywhere. “No, that’s not what I’m saying and you darn well know it. I don’t have a problem with Bella being here. I think it’s important for her to get to know her neighbors.”
But did his brothers and cousins have to stay in her face, hang on to her every word and check her out so thoroughly? He knew everyone who hadn’t officially met her had been taken with her the moment Dillon had opened the door for her. She had walked in with a gracefulness and pristine elegance that made every male in the house appreciate not only her beauty but her poise, refinement and charming personality.
Her outfit, an electric-blue wrap dress with a flattering scoop neckline and a hem line that hit just above her knees greatly emphasized her small waist, firm breasts and shapely legs, and looked stylishly perfect on her. He would admit that his heart had slammed hard in his chest the moment she’d entered the room.
“Well, dinner is about to be served. You better hope you get a seat close to her. It won’t take much for the others to boot you out of the way.” She then walked off.
He glanced back over to where Bella was standing and thought that no one would boot him out of the way when it came to Bella. They better not even try.
* * *
Bella smiled at something Zane had said while trying not to glance across the room at Jason. He had spoken to her when she’d first arrived but since then had pretty much kept his distance, preferring to let his brothers and cousins keep her company.
You would never know they had been two people who’d almost demolished the mouths right off their faces a few days ago. But then maybe that was the point. Maybe he didn’t want anyone to know. Come to think of it, she’d never asked if he even had a girlfriend. For all she knew he might have one. Just because he’d dropped by for tea didn’t mean anything other than he was neighborly. And she had to remember that he had never gotten out of the way with her.
Until that day in his office.
What had made him want to kiss her? There had been this intense chemistry between them from the first, but neither of them had acted on it until that day. Had stepping over those boundaries taken their relationship to a place where it couldn’t recover? She truly hoped not. He was a nice person, a charmer if ever there was one. And although she’d decided that distance between them was probably for the best right now, she did want him to remain her friend.
“Pam’s getting everyone’s attention for dinner,” Dillon said as he approached the group. “Let me escort you to the dining room,” he offered and tucked Bella’s arm beneath his.
She smiled at him. The one thing she noticed was that all the Westmoreland men resembled in some way. “Thank you.”
She glanced over at Jason. Their gazes met and she felt it, the same sensations she felt whenever he was near her. That deep stirring in the pit of her stomach had her trying to catch her breath.
“You okay?” Dillon asked her.
She glanced up and saw concern in his deep