Full Bloom

Portland for my clients." Emily stifled a gasp as Jacob deliberately slid his hand under the blanket and found her inner thigh. He began drawing slow circles.
    "Emily?" Her mother's voice was crisp and demanding.
    "Yes, Mom?"
    "I asked you when you planned to arrive on the day of the party. I think it would be best if you got here in the early afternoon at the latest. You can supervise the flowers and give me a hand with the final details. There will be nearly two hundred people here, you know."
    "Uh, I was thinking of driving down later in the afternoon," Emily hedged. She tightened her legs together to avoid Jacob's distracting touch. His fingers became more insistent.
    "No, I think you had better arrange to be here around one," Catherine said decisively. As usual, having given the orders, she had no doubt but that they would be carried out. It was a typical Ravenscroft characteristic. "Are you bringing anyone with you to the party?"
    Startled by the question, Emily paused. "Well, I hadn't thought much about it." She hadn't thought about it at all since she had been forced to dismiss Damon Morrell from her life. Jacob's hand continued to make erotic little circles on her thigh. He lowered his head and dropped a lingering kiss into the valley between her breasts. Emily sucked in her breath and glared at him. He ignored her.
    But her mother did not. "Emily?" This time Catherine Ravenscroft's voice was quite sharp. "Is someone there with you?"
    Emily looked at Jacob, who was ignoring her in favor of sinking his strong teeth quite gently into her upper leg. He seemed to like the taste of her.
    "Emily, I asked you a question. Is someone there with you?"
    Emily began to grow annoyed with her mother's tactless line of inquiry. Her family recognized very few boundaries to Emily's privacy. Maybe it was time they learned a lesson. "Why do you ask?"
    "Because you sound distracted." Catherine's voice tightened with sudden tension. "Emily, is there a man with you?"
    "You can hardly expect me to discuss that sort of thing on the phone, Mom."
    But Catherine had already leaped to her own conclusions. "It's not Damon Morrell, is it?" she demanded ominously. "Surely you've got more sense than to continue your involvement with him after what we told you about him."
    "Not to worry, Mom," Emily said brightly. "I don't plan to marry Damon. That was the chief concern, wasn't it? That I would marry him?"
    "My God, Emily," her mother gasped. "You can't mean to say you're having an affair with him? After learning what kind of man he really is?"
    "Don't worry, I won't say I'm having an affair with Damon," Emily agreed in a soothing voice that only alarmed her mother all the more. Emily smiled grimly to herself. "I'll keep my mouth shut if you do."
    Jacob's head came up abruptly, all the teasing passion gone from his eyes as he realized exactly who and what was being discussed. His hand tightened on Emily's ankle as he straightened and scowled down at her.
    "Emily! You can't possibly have him there with you!" Catherine was stunned at the implications. "Have you no common sense at all?"
    "Mother, I've decided I don't like discussing my private life with my family. They tend to interfere. I'm sure you'll understand if I prefer not to continue this conversation. Say hello to Dad and Drake for me. I'll see you at Dad's birthday party." Emily hung up the phone in the middle of her mother's shocked silence. She smiled brilliantly at Jacob, pleased with herself for having protected him and for having struck a blow for her own independence at the same time.
    But Jacob paid no attention to her high-voltage smile. He turned away from her, tossed back the covers and climbed out of bed. He stood glaring down at her, oblivious of his own nudity. His whole bearing was one of masculine aggression.
    Emily's smile faded into wariness as she looked up at him. "Jacob? What's wrong?"
    "What the hell was that all about?" he said through gritted teeth.
    "You must have heard. That was my mother."
    "Don't play dumb. I'm aware it was your mother. I meant what was all that drivel about making her think Morrell was in your bed this morning?"
    "Oh, that." Emily smiled with some satisfaction. "I get so tired of my family interfering in my life, Jacob. Once in a while I can't resist the urge to retaliate. Mother was demanding to know if I had actually had the nerve to go to bed with Damon after the family had gone out of its way to forbid any connection with him. I