Lovell, Cooper - Tessa's Highlander (Siren Publishing Classic) (20 page)

 
Jaime.

He hadn’t thought of his friend and how he might feel about Gavan loving the woman he protected and cared for as though she was his little sister. The last thing he wanted to do was get Jaime pissed off, but how could he possibly help falling in love with Tessa? He’d just have to find a way to make him understand, explain that his intentions were completely honorable, and hope he’d eventually accept it.

* * * *

Tessa was adding wood to an already roaring fire when he entered the house.

She turned to him and smiled. “I thought we’d have some hot chocolate and relax before dinner. Good?”

He nodded, a secret smile on his lips. “
Verra
good. Got Bailey’s?”

Tessa pointed to the bar. “In the fridge behind there. I’ll take Chambord, though.”

He pulled the bottles he needed from behind the bar and carried them to the kitchen to make the drinks.

* * * *

Just like always, Jaime walked into the house he considered a second home through the garage door without knocking. Moving through the kitchen, he put the bouquet of stargazer lilies and bottles of wine on the counter. The aroma of dinner filled the air and his stomach growled. He lifted the lid off the big pot to sneak a peek at what gastronomic delight Tessa had prepared. As he did every Sunday, Jaime thanked the higher powers that Tessa loved to cook and her specialty was Italian. He loved Italian food and she was good at it. Looking at the salad that needed only to be dressed and the garlic bread waiting to be popped into the oven, it occurred to him then that it was odd that Tessa wasn’t bustling around the kitchen with last-minute preparations. Her vehicles were all in the garage and he could see all four horses in the pasture from the window.

Where could she be?
The table was set and the fire was blazing. Maybe she was upstairs. As he passed the dining table to get to the stairs, he took a second look and saw the third place setting.

“That’s odd, we never have a third on Sundays. Alex maybe?” he muttered to himself.

Scratching his head, he moved toward the fire and stood behind the couch. He looked down then and saw them.

They were sleeping soundly as though the whole world around them didn’t even exist. Gavan lay on his back, his lips and nose buried in Tessa’s hair. Tessa was between Gavan and the back of the couch, her front against him, leg bent at the hip and knee, draped over his thighs, her head on his chest. His arms were around her, holding her as though to prevent her from slipping away. The familiarity and intimacy of their position was obvious. Even an idiot could see what had been going on between them. Jaime strode around to the front of the couch.

“Hey!” he shouted.

The sleeping couple started and stared at Jaime, their mouths agape.

* * * *

Gavan’s mind raced. He and Tessa had discussed it over their hot chocolates and decided together how to best let Jaime in on their secret. He’d planned to greet Jaime at the door and step outside with him to explain about their new relationship.

The significance of Jaime’s approval wasn’t lost on him. Tessa was so very close to her brother, he couldn’t stand to be the source of strife between them. In addition, Jaime had become his best friend, and the loss of that relationship would huge.

It was definitely a situation that required perfect timing, proper explanation, and tact.

Unfortunately, he’d been caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar and no longer had the opportunity to address the situation in a calm manner. The expression on Tessa’s face matched the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that he’d completely blown the situation. The opportunity to lay the groundwork and prepare Jaime properly for the news that his sister and his best friend were involved had slipped through his fingers as he slept.

Visions of arguments and strained relationships filled his imagination and he immediately worried for Tessa. There was nothing left to do now but man up and salvage the situation as best he could.

“Hah!” Jaime said and pointed at them. “How good am I? Come on, give it up for me. I saw this, I just knew it!”

An astonished Gavan pushed Tessa up from the sofa and followed, disentangling their limbs while grasping to understand what Jaime was babbling about.

“I just knew that if I threw you two together and left you to duke it out, you’d…well, it would…well,
this
would happen.”

Gavan watched in disbelief as Jaime paced back and forth excitedly.

“I knew you were right for each other. It didn’t hit me at first, though. In fact, I had to really get to know this big lug before I saw it. But when I did it was so obvious. I knew, though, that just a regular ‘Gavan, this is Tessa. Tessa this is Gavan’ thing wouldn’t do it. I knew I had to kind of lock you in room together, stand back, and wait for the fireworks. When I got that call from T the very day you met telling me that things wouldn’t work out, I knew the games had begun big-time. I can’t believe she called the very first day! I thought it would take a couple of days for you to get under her skin.”

He stood back, arms crossed over his chest, looking amazingly pleased with himself, and nodded. “Oh, yeah. I’m very, very good. Just look at you two! You’re absolutely sickening.”

Chapter Sixteen

Gavan groaned as Stacey, Henri’s hair stylist, continued to primp at his curls.

“What’s wrong, honey?” Tessa asked from her chair where Jackie was completing her “High Priestess of Horror” look.

Gavan smiled ruefully and groaned. “I
doona
think I want tae do this now.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Too late, stud. You were all over this when
Marlena
first proposed it. No backing out now.” She turned her head to hide her smile from him.

A week ago Gavan had answered the doorbell and suppressed a groan when he saw the inexhaustible
Marlena
standing there with a bouquet of fresh flowers in her hand.

“Ah! The gorgeous groom,” she said and flung her free arm around his neck and hugged him.

Gavan gave her a quick squeeze back. “Tessa’s out with the horses. She should be back in a minute. Coffee?”

Marlena
took the mug from him and settled onto one of the stools at the counter.

Since he’d moved into Tessa’s house, she’d been inundated with work on her latest book, making
Marlena
a fairly permanent fixture around the house. He truly liked the woman, but there were times when he wanted to literally carry her out the door to her car and send her on her way. It seemed she was never prepared to leave so that he could be alone with Tessa.

“I’ve had a huge idea,” she gushed, clinking her spoon on the mug.

Gavan’s eye twitched a little, not liking the sound of the publicist having a huge idea. The last time she had a huge idea, he’d nearly exploded with jealousy and confusion. Before
Marlena
could continue, Tessa came through the back door, walked to Gavan to give him a kiss, and greeted
Marlena
as he handed her a mug of coffee, with plenty of room for the ridiculous amount of cream she liked.

“I thought we weren’t working today,” Tessa asked, worried that her absorption in wedding plans was making her absentminded.

Marlena
waved her hand. “Oh, no, we’re not. It’s just that I had an idea and I wanted to run it by you right away. If you’re up for it, we need to get it done before the wedding.”

Tessa’s eyes widened. “
Marlena
, the wedding’s less than six weeks away. I hope you’re not expecting me to do anything more than put the book to bed before then.”

Again,
Marlena
gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “Oh, no, honey, nothing like that. Another photo shoot.”

* * * *

Tessa felt Gavan tense at the mention of a photo shoot. After the last one he’d witnessed, she wasn’t surprised. Tessa put her hand on
Marlena’s
. “I don’t know,
Marlena
. Is it really necessary to do more publicity? We just did the
Appointed
shoot four months ago.”

Marlena
gave her best smile and began her pitch.

“Well, I’ve told you that the issue of
Appointed
with your spread in it was the highest selling issue they’ve ever had. What I didn’t mention, because I didn’t know myself, was that based on feedback, a large portion of the sales was to females. You did it, honey, you moved into a new demo. Women adore you! The sales on your already-released titles have spiked, and those sales have been mostly to women. Based on various website message boards and chat rooms, you’ve become something of a role model. You’re hot, successful, and men are hot for you. Put that together with the fact that these women are now as hot for your books as the men and you have a serious new fan base. They want to read what you write and hear what you say. They want to
be
you.

“So, after I talked to you yesterday, I was playing with a press release to announce your wedding when it hit me. We’ll do a shoot for
She
magazine to announce your wedding. They’re the right demo and have approximately the same circulation as
Appointed
.”

Tessa chewed her bottom lip. “Is a shoot really necessary?”

Marlena
smiled wickedly. “It is if we want to lock in the female demo so they’ll never, ever get enough of you.”

Skepticism dripping from her words, Tessa asked, “What, exactly, does that mean?”

“Just wait till you hear the whole thing, okay?”
Marlena
demanded with excitement.

Tessa nodded and
Marlena
described her concept, which involved the High Priestess costume again, in detail.

Tessa was speechless and afraid to look at Gavan, who, she was sure, had steam coming out of his ears. Then he cleared his throat.

“And, what would I have tae wear in this shoot? I
doona
want tae be dressed up in a ridiculous costume.”

Tessa spun to face him. “You would do this? I can’t believe you would consider doing a photo shoot for a magazine!”

Gavan shrugged. “
Is’na
secret how I felt about the last shoot you did and all your male fans. This’ll give me a chance tae show them that while they might be able tae have you on a page in a magazine, you belong tae me.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him.

“Now
doona
call me a caveman for feeling that way. I just like the idea.”

* * * *

Now the shoot was upon them and Gavan wasn’t so thrilled with his decision to be involved in this. Seeing Tessa in costume again brought back a mixture of emotions. The bad ones he tried to tamp down, but the others made him sweat and have to shift in his seat.

And he’d been in said seat for over an hour being primped, poked, and styled until he thought he would scream.

Henri called up the stairs. “Gavan, when you’re finished with makeup and hair, we could use you down here to get the lighting right.”

Gavan looked hopefully at Stacey and she nodded. “You’re all set,
Studly
McHunkybottom
. Your costume is downstairs. I’ll be down in a few for the finishing touches once you’re done with wardrobe.”

Tessa giggled from her chair. “I’ll see you soon, honey.”

Taking in the full view of Gavan’s tall, muscular form beating a hasty retreat out the door, Jackie and Stacey sighed. “You are one lucky woman, Tessa.”