Falling For Jack Read online

  She waited nervously for his return and when he strolled through the door a short time later, she clutched at the back of a chair as her eyes drank him in. He was naked except for the towel draped around his lean hips. His tall, magnificently proportioned body glistened with moisture and his dark hair gleamed in a shaft of sunlight from the window.

  But it was his face that captured her attention, her eyes riveted on his clean-shaven chiseled jaw and firm chin with a small cleft adding character to his handsome face.

  “You look so different,” she breathed.

  “I’m normally clean-shaven. Seeing we’re returning to civilization tomorrow, I thought I better shave off my beard.”

  “But, you’re a fisherman.”

  He grinned. “Not all fishermen have beards,” he remarked, and moved past her to his bedroom. She caught the scent of soap and shampoo and took a shaky, controlling breath. Suddenly, even standing there half-naked, he had acquired a polished veneer and her vulnerability to him intensified.

  ~ * ~

  “You never finished telling me from whom you were escaping.”

  They were seated on the patio after dinner in two old rocking chairs watching the sun sink low in the sky. Earlier, with much hilarity, Jack had made a grand performance of preparing his wine sauce to go with the fish, which she had declared the best she’d ever tasted. She had stacked the dishes while he had made the coffee. He sat opposite her now gently rocking in his chair and it seemed, determined to have a heart-to-heart discussion.

  She watched a stray coffee grain swirl around in her cup as she measured her reply and how much she would say. She would explain just a little, she decided.

  “It was a friend.”

  “Male?”

  “Yes. I left because I wanted some time alone.”

  “Why? Are you in a relationship? Is he annoying you?” The questions came thick and fast and although Jack’s tone was casual, she sensed he was more than just a little inquisitive.

  “No. He was a friend only.” She smiled as she thought of her burly detective and what he would make of this conversation. “As I explained, I had attended the race meeting, which was the last…last thing I’d planned to do before returning home to my parents in Europe.” She hesitated as she almost blurted out that she had been on an official engagement to present the cup to the winning racehorse owner. She was surprised Jack didn’t know about her visit. The small town of Port Margaret had buzzed with the news that a real princess was the special guest at their annual race day.

  “While I was in Port Margaret, I booked the rental home on Seagull Island so I could get a few days to myself. I’ve just finished my studies at university and wanted some time out.”

  Jack frowned, his eyes narrowing as he watched the sun disappear behind the horizon. Something didn’t make sense. It sounded odd that this lovely girl should want to be alone. Real Greta Garbo stuff. “What did you study,” he asked.

  “Fine arts.”

  “Hmm. Handy subject.”

  She laughed. “Don’t be cynical, Jack. It will be very useful.”

  “Yeah, if you’re going to work in a museum.”

  “I also majored in political science,” she added.

  “In that case I guess you could get a job in a museum run by the government.”

  She laughed again and he watched the pure line of her profile as she leaned her head back against the chair. He wanted to touch her. He wanted to smooth his fingers over her white skin and place his lips to the tiny hollow at the base of her throat. He wanted to lift her against him, her body on his.

  “Why did you have so much luggage?” Inane question, he thought but he had to take control of his lustful imagination.

  “I will return directly to Europe from Port Margaret after changing planes in Adelaide. I’ve shared an apartment with my two best friends while we were studying. Now we’ve gone our separate ways.”

  A fleeting sadness reflected in her eyes and Jack wondered if one of her friends had been the man she’d been running from. A shaft of jealousy gave him a hefty punch in the stomach.

  She leaned forward and lifted a foot to examine the sole. One of the cuts hadn’t healed and looked red and sore.

  “Problem?”

  “It throbs a little. It will be okay.”

  Jack stood. “Stay there. I’ll get the first aid tin.” He returned with the tin, plus a bowl of water and towel. “Rest your foot on my thigh,” he demanded and she obediently lifted her leg to rest on his. He cleaned the wound and placed a Band-aid across the small cut.

  “Your skin is very tender from walking around without shoes. You should have taken more care.” He examined the fine bones of her foot. “I’ll massage them for you.”

  He squeezed a sweet smelling cream from the first aid tin into his hands and rubbed her foot with long strokes.

  “So, you’ve heard about me. What about your life story?”

  “Nothing much to tell,” he replied, concentrating on his task. “I was born along the coast in a small village. My father and my grandfather before him were fishermen. It’s my life.”

  “You appear to be well educated.”

  He raised an eyebrow at this remark but one look at her embarrassed expression, he decided to ignore it. “I went to school, if that’s what you mean,” he replied and motioned for her to balance her other foot on his leg.

  “Was your wife local?”

  “No.”

  “I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”

  He shrugged. “We were very young. She was a city girl and it was always going to be tough. Fortunately, we didn’t have any kids.”

  He slowed the massage of her foot as he thought fleetingly of his wife and what might have been? Between them they had made such a mess of their marriage. They had tried hard to make a go of it but it was doomed from the start. Too young, too selfish.

  Lara tried to pull her foot away but he tightened his hand around her ankle, caressing the delicate bone.

  “Of course, there are other ways of making love,” he remarked, his tone casual.

  Her eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

  “We could touch and hold each other, like I’m holding you now. It doesn’t require the actual act of sex to make love.” The electricity crackling between them. Christ, I want her.

  “I’m not experienced at lovemaking,” she whispered. “I know that may sound strange in this day and age but it’s the way it is and here I am, a real live virgin. I bet you never expected that.” She shrugged and gave a nervous laugh.

  Jack was silent as he contemplated her statement. He already knew she was shy and strangely vulnerable, much different than the proud, arrogant young woman he had first encountered. But inexperienced? Give me a break. A beautiful woman like her who would attract male attention at every turn? He was surprised and yeah, he had to admit delighted.

  “I can teach you. Trust in me.” He tensed waiting for her reply. Lara touched his face, smoothing his cheekbone and jaw with gentle fingers. He turned his head and pressed a kiss into the palm of her hand. Still he waited.

  “I would like you to teach me, Jack,” she said at last and he heard the tremor in her voice. She was offering herself to him and at that moment, he would readily have given his life for her.

  “Let’s go inside.”

  She lay on the bed in the room she had been using. He was intensely aware she had placed her trust in him, a stranger. He wasn’t about to let her down.

  The daylight had faded and Jack switched on the bedside light creating a soft glow over their features. Sitting next to her, he leaned down and kissed her. Her lips were warm and sweet on his as he lingered, savoring her taste. He pulled her top over her head revealing her lacy bra and placed tiny kisses along her slender neck to the curve of her breast.

  “Jack, I’m nervous,” she said as he undid her bra and released her breasts to his view.

  “Don’t be.” He traced a fingertip across her lips. “Concentrate on
how I make you feel.”

  With his tongue he caressed her pink nipples and then slid one hand across her taut stomach to the swell of her hip, touching and soothing. He explored her hardening nipples and suckled first one and then the other breast, causing her body to arch. She moaned and moved her body beneath him.

  Slowly he removed her slacks and panties. Her body glistened like ivory in the soft light. “You are beautiful,” he breathed, unable to take his gaze from her.

  “Please, take off your shirt.” She fumbled with the buttons.

  He obliged and pulled her against his chest, skin-on-skin, as he continued to awaken the flames within her, kissing his way across her ribs and flat stomach. He moved to her feet and legs, caressing every part of her until she whimpered with cries of pleasure. She reached for the belt of his shorts and he helped push them aside. In awe, she touched his erect shaft, her hands trembling as she explored him.

  “Will you make love to me?” she pleaded.

  He shook his head. “Not that way, sweetheart. But, like this.” He touched the very core of her womanhood with gentle fingers, massaging the sensitive nub until she gasped. Then he placed his mouth where his fingers had readied her, tasting the love that flowed from her. With his tongue and lips he continued to stroke her sex, his heart pounding as she trembled and cried out as she climaxed violently beneath him. He held her tightly as the tremors continued to shake her and then she was still.

  She pressed a kiss against his chest. “I’ve never done that before,” she murmured.

  “And believe or not, you’re still a virgin.”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s as well we made love as we did,” he said, kissing her mouth.

  “Don’t you think it weird? I’m twenty-four years old, Jack. Nearly all my friends are in sexual relationships.”

  “No. I don’t think it weird. But, you would have regretted losing your virginity to me, a stranger who you will never see again. It’s a good job I didn’t have any condoms here because I swear, I would have taken you.”

  She blushed at his directness. “What about you? You gave me pleasure but…”

  “I’m fine,” he broke in, lying through his teeth. Christ! She had no idea how much he’d wanted her. “I can’t ask for anything more than having you come apart in my arms as you did.”

  “Will you sleep with me tonight? Will you hold me and touch me?”

  He laughed and kissed the tip of her nose. “I must be an absolute glutton for punishment but yes, okay.” He cupped her breasts with his hands as he spoke. “I might need to take a few cold showers,” he added as his mouth closed over one pert nipple.

  Lara woke at sometime in the night. She wasn’t sure what time it was but she remembered she hadn’t written in her journal. She lay in the darkness for a few minutes relishing the feel of Jack’s arms around her. Carefully wriggling free, she searched for and found her journal in her case and took it into the living room so she didn’t wake him.

  She switched on a lamp and settled in the armchair by the empty fireplace and wrote.

  Dear Diary,

  So much has happened I don’t know where to begin. I disliked—no, hated Jack—but now I love him. Yes, love him. He’s so kind and tender and tonight he made love to me. Not once, but many times. He aroused a passion in me I never knew I had and he gave to me, only me, not caring about his own pleasure.

  Whatever happens in the future, I shall never, never stop loving him. I know I am just another woman he met and he will soon forget, but to me he is the man with whom I would want to spend the rest of my life, if I could.

  I have to find away to come back to him, somehow.

  She hesitated in her writing as she heard the floor creak. Hastily hiding the diary beneath the armchair cushion, she looked up with an air of innocence as Jack walked out of the bedroom. He had put on his shorts but even so, her eyes were on stalks as she stared in admiration at his physique.

  “What are you doing out here? Come back to bed,” he said, holding his arms out to her.

  She went to him, adoring his welcoming kisses. “Oh Jack, I never want this night to end,” she murmured into his neck as he lifted her in his arms.

  ~ * ~

  Jack woke early to the sound of a helicopter. Puzzled, he climbed from the bed leaving Lara still sleeping soundly.

  Peering out of the window, he was even more astonished to hear the sound of high-powered motor boats. He pulled on his shorts and tee shirt and was about to go outside to investigate when the cottage door burst open and he faced what appeared to be a small army of SWAT police officers carrying guns all aimed at him.

  “What the hell is going on?” He had hardly got the words out when a man in a suit pushed his way through the officers.

  “Place your hands behind you,” he shouted, and as Jack obeyed, he roughly snapped handcuffs on him.

  Jack turned to face the man. “There’s been a misunderstanding…”

  “There’s no mistake. Jack Lucas, you are under arrest for the kidnapping of Her Highness, Princess Lara of Challoner.

  Four

  Lara woke with a start, her head resounding with the sound of men shouting from the lounge. Scrambling from the bed, she pulled on her underclothes, followed by slacks and top. What was going on? Who was yelling?

  She would never forget the sight that met her eyes as she raced into the other room. The place was full of police officers brandishing guns while Jack stood in the middle of them arguing with a man in a suit. As she flew to Jack’s side, she could see that his hands were shackled behind his back in handcuffs.

  “Who are these men? What has happened?” She pressed closer to him, her arms around his waist. Jack stiffened and step away.

  “You might well ask what’s happened,” he snapped, his blue eyes as cold as ice as he looked down at her. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me who you were?”

  Before she could reply, the man in the suit spoke to her. “Your Highness, I’m Agent Brian Hawkins from the Australian Federal Police. This man has been placed under arrest for your kidnapping and holding you hostage.”

  “What?” She covered her mouth with her hands.

  “I have instructions to take you both to the mainland where Mr. Lucas will be formally charged,” the agent continued.

  “But there has been a most dreadful mistake,” she gasped, staring at Jack who merely shrugged.

  The agent turned his attention more fully to her. “For clarification purposes, you are Princess Lara of Challoner?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “You are not an Australian citizen?”

  “No. But, please, Agent Hawkins, Jack... Mr. Lucas didn’t kidnap me. He’s a friend of mine,” she said in righteous indignation.

  “Let them have their fun, Lara. We can sort this out on the mainland.” Amusement now colored Jack’s voice.

  She rounded on him. “This isn’t funny,” she lashed out. “They could put you in prison.” She quivered at the prospect and turned again to the police officer.

  “Mr. Hawkins, I ask you please to unfasten Mr. Lucas’s handcuffs and allow us to pack our things. We aren’t likely to run anywhere.” Her tone was firm and controlled but her insides were quaking with fear. Didn’t Jack realize the potential trouble they were in? Or didn’t he care? Somehow, the police had been told that she had disappeared and her parents notified and they had pressed the panic button. She briefly wondered the whereabouts of her detective, Mark.

  Hawkins stared at Lara’s anxious face. “Okay. I guess it will be all right,” he said grudgingly as he unlocked Jack’s handcuffs. “Please, both of you pack up your belongings as quickly as possible.”

  Jack caught her arm as she was about to move to the bedroom and spoke to the agent, his manner polite. “It will be preferable if the princess and I travel on separate boats, Agent Hawkins.”

  The policeman nodded a gleam of respect in his eyes.

  “Jack, why?” Lara couldn’t contain herself. “I want
to go with you.”

  He ushered her into the bedroom and turned her to face him. She was aware Hawkins was standing at the door watching them.

  Gripping her shoulders, Jack pulled her close, his voice low. “Listen to me. Sending these policemen here must mean you and I are big news. Because of who you are, there will be a lot of media hype. Until I can sort this mess out when we get to Port Margaret, it is wiser if we leave here separately. The less attention on you, the better.”

  She gazed into his handsome face, her eyes intent on his, then studied his mouth that only a short time ago had woken a passion within her she hadn’t known existed. Now, he was going to be accused of something he hadn’t done and be punished because of it. Because of her and who she was.

  “I’ll contact my parents as soon as I can and explain it’s all a mistake,” she said, seeing the sense in what Jack said.

  He grinned and took her breath away with his beauty. “You can come and visit me in prison, Your Highness. That should cause a stir.”

  Tears welled in her eyes and she blinked them away. “Don’t joke about this, Jack. My parents are very strict and will be extremely angry if this blows up in the media.”

  “When it blows up.” He bent his head, his mouth against her ear as he whispered, “You and I know what really happened but no one else need know, and if that means going to prison to protect your reputation, then so be it.”

  Before she could reply, Hawkins interrupted, “Mr. Lucas, I must ask you and the princess to hurry. We need to leave the island as soon as possible.”

  Jack shrugged and pushed the few clothes he’d brought into his bag. She quickly placed the rest of her things into her case, having already packed most of her belongings the previous night.

  “Here, take this.” He thrust a bundle of money into her hand. She looked at it bewilderment. “It’s the five hundred dollars you gave me to take you to Seagull Island. Doesn’t look as if I’ll need it where I’m going.”