“It has to be a woman. I know how you weave your magic with women.”
Parker’s hands slipped between their bodies and cupped Aurora’s breasts. “Jealous?”
Her reply was cut off as Parker’s thumbs brushed across her nipples. She lowered her head to kiss him and found herself turned until she was lying beneath him. The pressure of his mouth was intoxicating, and gradually she forgot everything but the urgency of her needs. Parker had already left for the folly when she realized he had not answered any of her questions.
Cody openedthe library door and poked in his head. “I’m leaving now. Expect me when you see me.”
Clara and Brandon had been playing like puppies on the floor. Now Clara scrambled off her father’s chest and ran to Cody, raising her arms beseechingly. “Take me with you! Take me!”
Brandon glanced at Shannon, who was trying to press back her chuckle, and sent his eyes heavenward. “Come back here, Clara,” he said, his sternness not entirely feigned. “You can’t go with Cody.”
“Want to!” she said belligerently. She cast her wide blue eyes charmingly at her uncle. “I can, can’t I?”
“No, flirt,” he answered. “You can’t go with me. You don’t even know where I’m going.”
“Do so! You’re going to town.”
“So I am, but I’m still going alone.” Clara squeezed through the door and wrapped her arms around one of Cody’s legs. Cody looked from Brandon to Shannon for assistance. “Someone. Please take this barnacle off my person.”
Shannon started to get up, but Brandon waved to her to stay seated. “I’ll get her.” He was on his feet and across the room in a few strides. He opened the door wider, put his hands on Clara’s waist, and detached her. “Go on, Cody, before you think better of it. Give Annie my best.”
Cody chuckled. “I’ll give her better.” He tipped his hat to Brandon and hurried down the hall before Clara escaped her father’s grip.
Brandon nudged the door shut with the tip of his shoe. He held his squirming daughter in front of him and leveled her with a hard stare. “Do you want to stay here with Mishannon and me or do you want to go to your room?”
“Want to go with Unca Cody.”
Behind him he heard Shannon choke off her laugh. “That is not a choice. Here or your room.”
“Here.” Clara looked worriedly over her father’s shoulder when he asked Shannon if she could stay.
“I suppose she might,” Shannon answered, pretending to think it over. “If she’s done pouting.”
“Are you done, Clara?”
She nodded quickly, eager to be on the floor again. Brandon set her down and gave her behind a gentle tap as she raced for her ally. Picking up her sampler, she sat primly at Shannon’s side and mimicked the work Shannon was doing on her own needlepoint.
Shannon gave Clara a sidelong glance and pursed her lips to keep from laughing. She noticed that Brandon was having an equally hard time keeping his amusement in check. “Who is Annie?” she asked while Brandon was sifting through his box for a cheroot.
Brandon lit the square cut end of his thin cigar and sat down, blowing a wreath of smoke into the air. “Annie?” he asked guilelessly.
“Don’t play the innocent,” she cautioned. “You told Cody to give Annie your best. Who is Annie?”
“Annie Jones. She is an…er…a mutual acquaintance whom I have not seen in quite some time, but whom Cody sees rather frequently.”
Shannon frowned, puzzled because Brandon never stumbled over his words. “Yes, but whoisshe?”
“She…she does a good turn occasionally for the regulars at Redheart’s.”
“Agoodturn?”
“Yes, you know, on…uh…her back.”
Clara looked up from her sampler. “She has round heels,” she said wisely and calmly went back to her work.
Brandon choked as he was inhaling, and Shannon pricked her finger. “Where did you hear that expression, Clara?” Brandon asked, trying to sound unalarmed by Clara’s turn of phrase for a woman of easy virtue.
Clara shrugged. “I heard Martha say it to Oplas.”
