Her eyes widened. “Is this your secret date from the bachelor auction?”
More forcefully, he said, “No comment.”
They kept moving, but Ashleigh got out of line to block their path. Jack was thinking hard, trying to figure out what to do.
Madelaine pushed out a long sigh and, in her accented voice, said, “Listen closely, woman. Jack Grey is mine from now on. Remove yourself from our path or suffer the consequences.”
“What?” Ashleigh said, apparently confused by either Madelaine’s accent or her words. Hard to tell which.
Madelaine removed her hand from Jack’s arm and stepped into Ashleigh’s personal space. “Jack. Is. Mine.” She punctuated each word clearly. As if to prove her point further, she reached up with one hand, cupped Jack’s chin in her forefinger and thumb and promptly kissed his mouth like she was showing her ownership of him for all the world to see.
Her kiss was firm and long enough that it wasn’t a quick kiss, but one to show complete possession. Jack thought it was completely perfect.
His lips were buzzing when their mouths parted.
Madelaine pulled away, turning her sharp gaze back to Ashleigh as Jack reeled from having Madelaine’s lips pressed to his even for a few seconds.
She used her haughty Romanian-accented voice to add, “Do not pretend you have a chance with him ever again. In fact, do not pretend youeverhad a chance with him. Now, get out of our way, this instant. Do I make myself clear?”
Ashleigh’s expression hardened, her gaze locked with Madelaine’s, as if to draw battle lines. She was clearly miffed that Madelaine could kiss Jack while Ashleigh had never been in any position to do the same.
Jack mentally rolled his eyes. Why was Ashleigh always spoiling for a fight, especially with regard to him? He had never dated her. He had never encouraged her. Not once.
Ashleigh gave Madelaine a truly epic hairy stink-eye, but after a few seconds, seemed to back off. She took a small step aside to allow them to pass. “Fine! Go! See if I care,” she said tartly and turned, cutting back to the same place in line she’d left to intercept them.
Everyone in the bank, including the security guard and Norma, had stopped to watch their little battle of personalities play out.
Now that Ashleigh had backed off, everyone pretended they hadn’t just been watching the local soap opera of the week. Whatever.
Jack put his arm around Madelaine and they headed for the door, this time without being stopped.
His lips buzzed with joy from the kiss he hadn’t been expecting, but was grateful to have received.
Without talking at all, they exited the bank and got in the car with Jack at the wheel. Before they left the parking lot of the Tractor Beam Credit Union, he handed Madelaine the safetydeposit box key without uttering a word and drove them to her rental house.
Jack didn’t look at her and she didn’t look at him all the way there. Silence was golden in this case, because Jack wasn’t certain what to say about the spontaneous kiss.
He most assuredly didn’t want to find out the kiss had been less than spectacular from her point of view, because he’d been absolutely wowed by that simple contact.
His heart might get broken, but he foolishly wasn’t going to stop her if she tried to kiss him again.
Chapter Ten
Madelaine had not planned to kiss Jack. Nope. Even though that particular fantasy had been living rent free in her head since she saw him through Seraphina’s violet-lensed spectacles at the bachelor auction.
She knew she should not kiss him or she’d suffer the consequences of wanting that to happen again and again.
The almost-kiss in Liberty, Missouri, on their way up to Suspicion had made her careful about her actions. She did not want to lead him on. They did not have a future together. But with that awful woman from the bachelor auction, the one who’d been trying to outbid Seraphina, standing right in her face at the bank…well, Madelaine had wanted to claim her territory and make a point.
Listen up, buttercup. He’s mine and likely always will be. Never yours. Got it? Good.
Madelaine had pressed her lips to Jack’s in that spontaneous moment to ensure Ashleigh understood their connection. Even though she no longer had a claim on Jack’s affection or a future with him, she didn’t want that woman to thinkshehad a chance with the man Madelaine would always love.
She was grateful he didn’t ask her what in the space potato farm she was doing kissing him in the middle of the Tractor Beam Credit Union with several patrons and employees lookingon. She was even more grateful that he simply drove the car to the house without any chatting at all.
“Did everything go according to plan?” Seraphina asked when they walked in.
“Yes. Pretty much,” Madelaine said. “That woman you beat at the bachelor auction for Jack slowed us down, but I was able to hurry our journey along.”
