Page 26 of The Forbidden Texan
“Besides my originals that I create, I have antique jewelry. I have a few beautiful lockets. Just a minute.”
She disappeared through a door that was only a few steps away, but it gave him a full view of her. She wore a short dress and his gaze swept down over long shapely legs, his pulse jumping. Her hair swung across her shoulders as she walked away. She was gorgeous and he wanted to take her out. He thought about the upcoming dinner dance honoring Jake that Doug had told him about. Would she go with him to honor a Ralston?
While he thought about how to ask Harper to go, she returned with two trays of jewelry that she placed on the counter.
“I bought these at estate sales, or from a family. None of these are new.”
He looked at the lockets, but he couldn’t ignore Harper’s exotic perfume.
“Here’s one,” he said, pointing to a black locket, banded in gold with a diamond in the center.
She picked it up. “Good choice. This is onyx and that is solid gold and the diamond is one carat.” She opened the locket.
“I think she would like that. How much is it?”
“I have the appraisal papers on it. It’s over a hundred years old. The cost is $8,900.00. I can gift wrap it if you buy it.”
“Do you like it?” he asked her, enjoying looking into her green eyes.
She smiled, a cheerful smile that made him want to hang around longer and get her to smile again. “Oh, yes. I don’t buy anything I don’t like.”
“Harper, I want to buy that locket for my mother. Harper is your name, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Harper Ralston.”
“Glad to meet you, Harper Ralston,” he said, offering his hand and shaking her warm, soft hand briefly when she held it out. “I want you to please gift wrap it and how about going next door to that new café with me for lunch? Can you get away?”
“For a short time,” she said smiling. “And you are?”
“I didn’t tell you on purpose. I’m Lucas Kincaid.”
“A Kincaid?”
“Let me explain at lunch. Do you know a man named Thane Warner?”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t. But a Ralston out to lunch with a Kincaid? That’s a first in my life.”
“I’ll try to make sure you have a good time,” he said, looking into her big green eyes while he smiled at her and she laughed, shaking her head.
“You’re too good a customer to turn down.”
“I’m just getting started,” he said, lowering his voice. “I’m really not into that old feud much.”
“Neither am I. So okay, Lucas Kincaid, you’re on for lunch with a Ralston.”
* * *
After she ate lunch on the go, Emily set out on the next item on her agenda. But first she had to get her tablet that she’d left in the bedroom she had taken for herself. Jake had the largest one that had a view of an area that could have once been a garden because of the dilapidated fences, trellises and statues. In her mind, she envisioned it after it was returned to its former glory.
But somehow that vision changed, morphing into her in Jake’s embrace. Instead of flowering vines wrapping around wrought iron trellises, she saw his strong arms wrapping around her willing body. The heat she felt wasn’t from the sun shining through the trees but from the desire he ignited in her. The—
Wait! What was she doing, allowing these erotic daydreams? Instantly she rubbed her eyes as if she could erase the sexy images. But every inch of her still tingled. What was it about Jake that made him irresistible? Whenever he touched her, desire filled her and logic and caution ceased to exist. She wanted to kiss him, to touch and hold him, to feel his marvelous body. At the same time, she didn’t want to fall in love with him because he would never return the emotion.
When she took this job, she thought she’d grow immune to his charms. She hadn’t expected to continue having this instant response to every physical contact with him. That hadn’t ever happened with any other man in her life. But it had to stop. She had a job to do on the house and it was time to get back to work. Her best hope to get over Jake was to work as much and as quickly as possible.
She looked at the furniture she had already purchased. Her room had an antique four-poster bed, a tall chest with six deep drawers, a three-mirror vanity and a cheval mirror. All the furniture was solid mahogany and over one hundred years old, beautiful pieces that had been lovingly refinished.
She knew Jake was busy working in his office at the other end of the house so she took the opportunity to wander into his room next. The focal point of his bedroom was the four-poster oversize bed that had been handcrafted in the last century and had to have sheets made to fit because it was a foot longer and a foot wider than a king-size. It was covered with a dark blue duvet. All his furniture was solid maple, antique and professionally restored. She wandered into the modernized walk-in closet, looked out the old-fashioned windows and ran her fingers along the built-in bookcases.
