Full Bloom

bangs, were slightly tilted at the outer corners, reminding Jacob of a cat. Her face was fine boned and delicate, like the rest of her. She had an exotic, almost feline grace that she seemed totally unaware of. He rather liked the glasses. Two years ago she had worn contact lenses.
    Jacob had found himself fascinated by her tonight as he had watched her from the shadows. Two years had passed since he had last seen her, but he had known the instant she walked into the study that nothing had changed. The old hunger had not died. He still wanted her.
    In fact, he acknowledged, as he drove down out of the hills toward the interstate, he wanted her a lot more now than he had two years ago. Tonight he had seen the new womanly strength in her as well as the captivating femininity, and the combination was dynamite. No wonder Morrell was licking his lips and waiting to pounce. All this and a chunk of Ravenscroft International, too. Morrell must have thought he'd landed in clover the day he came across Emily Ravenscroft.
    "The tape wasn't faked, Emily," Jacob said into the silence. "That was Morrell talking about his plans to cripple Ravenscroft through you. And that woman he was speaking to was his mistress. A woman named Marcia. I can prove it, if you really have any doubts."
    "How did you get the tape?" Emily asked in disgust. "Did you hide under their bed?"
    Jacob's mouth hardened. "No. That little scene was not taped in a bedroom. You heard the voice of the waiter and the clatter of dishes. Morrell and the woman met in a restaurant. A place they've been using almost every week for the past year. People tend to be predictable in their daily habits, even nasty people like Morrell."
    "That aspect of human nature must greatly simplify your life. You don't have to spend a large amount of time snooping around bedroom windows and garbage cans. You just figure out your victims' habits and take advantage of established routines. Nice work."
    He heard the grim anger in her voice and sighed. It wasn't going to be easy. His fingers opened and closed around the steering wheel as he guided the small station wagon onto the interstate and headed toward Seattle. "I know you have a low opinion of my job skills, Emily, but I give you my word I don't make my living snooping around bedroom windows and garbage cans. I never have."
    "The little
favor
you did for my family was an exception?"
    "You're not going to believe this, but I did it for your sake, not theirs."
Most of all, I did it for my sake
, Jacob added silently. There was no way in hell he could let her marry Morrell now.
    "How noble of you." Her eyes raked him as she glanced briefly in his direction. "I assume you were motivated by the same sort of gallantry this time as you were last time? What a lucky woman I am to have a knight hovering in the background who can be relied on to dash in and humiliate me whenever the rest of the Ravenscrofts decide I've made a mistake in my love life."
    "Nobody wanted to humiliate you. But you had made a mistake. A big one. Your family was desperate to put a stop to your association with Damon Morrell, and they said you'd ignored all their warnings."
    "Just as they were desperate to put a stop to my relationship with Brad Carlton two years ago. At least last time I didn't have to listen to any embarrassing tapes." Emily clenched her hands in her lap. "That was the worst part, you know. Listening to that tape tonight and knowing everyone else in the room had already heard it. I could feel all of you watching me. I knew what you were thinking. Poor, foolish little Emily has been duped again by a man." She paused for a moment and then added quietly, "I don't think I shall ever forgive any of you for the way you did it this time."
    Jacob felt his stomach tighten with tension. "Maybe it wasn't well-handled. None of us, your family or myself, are subtle people. We thought a quick, clean approach would be best. You wouldn't have believed me or your parents if there hadn't been proof. That's why I made the tape. I couldn't think of any other way to convince you that Morrell was a lying bastard."
    "You mean you didn't think you could simply buy him off the way Dad had you buy off Brad two years ago?"
    Jacob swore softly. "Brad Carlton was an ambitious, greedy young man. He thought he could get a head start in life by marrying into your family, but the truth was, he wasn't all that eager to get married. He was more than happy to have the money without taking