“She isn’t going,” Veronica Barrett said, as she applied her lipstick and shot a brief glare at her husband in the mirror.

     Harlan Barrett shrugged. “That’s my preference, too, Veronica. I’m not arguing with you. But the boy you’re so embarrassingly salivating over for Alexa did invite her himself.”

     “And I wonder why he did that?” Veronica murmured suspiciously, recalling Katherine Jacks’s phone call, requesting that Brenda attend the diner party as well and explaining that it was a specific request of her brother Jax. “It’s not as if he even knows her or has ever so much as laid eyes on her.”

     “He’s a well-mannered young man,” Harlan pointed out. “He knows we have two children and doesn’t want to leave anyone out. I’m sure that’s all it is. He’s just being polite.”

     Veronica shrugged. “Well, she’s not going, Harlan. Your mother can watch her, can’t she?”

     Harlan nodded, knowing his mother would be delighted. She adored Brenda as much as he did. He was placing a call to his mother to ask her if she would come over or if he could drop Brenda off at her home, when the little girl in question came racing into her parents’ bedroom, in search of her daddy. She was all dressed up in a pretty violet dress and those black suede shoes she loved.

     “Hey, Daddy, can I wear the new earrings Grandma gave to me?” she asked him.

     Harlan gazed at his utterly lovely young daughter and was immediately put off by the notion of having to deny his little girl this evening out with the family. The excitement was so clear in her striking dark brown-sprinkled-with-gold eyes and Harlan did not want to crush those sparks of happiness by forbidding her to go.

     Veronica gazed at Brenda, too, and her spine stiffened as she assessed the beautiful little urchin. Her tall, chestnut curls were bound in a fetching, immaculate French braid that hung to the center of her back and had some gorgeous silver ribbon entwined throughout the braid, no doubt the handiwork of their busybody, old neighbor, Mrs. Kennaly. Barb Kennaly was a retired stage-and-screen legend in her late sixties, who was more or less a hermit in her mansion, but always welcomed visits from Brenda.

     Staring at Brenda’s ravishing young face irked Veronica. It was obscene for the child to be years away from womanhood and already be so exquisite. Oh, yes, Brenda would be nothing but trouble. “Get undressed, Brenda. You aren’t coming with us,” her mother told her, ignoring the dark glare her husband shot her at the cold manner in which she chose to disappoint the child.

     Brenda looked crushed, then defiant. “But, Mommy, I was…” She was about to say invited by her friend Jax, but she dare not reveal her encounter with Jasper Jacks last weekend, when she was supposed to be tucked away in her bed.

     “You were what?” Veronica said, holding out her arm for her husband to fasten her diamond tennis bracelet to her wrist.

     “I was... really wanting to go,” she said.

     Veronica shrugged. “Brenda, Ms. Jacks only invited you out of politeness. They don’t really want any children there. This night is really for your sister.”

     Brenda stared at her mother. “Why? It’s not her birthday,” she pointed out.

     Veronica sighed with impatience. “No, it is Jax’s birthday. And Jax is very important to Alexa. I’m sure you’re old enough to understand all of this by now, Brenda. You’ll be staying with your grandmother tonight.”

     Brenda felt the hot tears of injustice swimming in her eyes. Harlan saw her and wanted to smash something. Anytime Brenda was unhappy, he was filled with the desire to rage at someone or something. Right now the something was his wife, but he held his tongue. He understood her resentment of Brenda, of course. For Brenda was the product of Harlan’s extramarital love affair twelve years ago - something known only to Harlan, Veronica and Brenda’s true mother. But just because he understood Veronica’s indifference to Brenda didn’t mean he had to like it one bit. Still, he did not want Brenda at this party any more than Veronica did, although his reasons were very different.

     Harlan gave his daughter a sympathetic glance, as the little girl valiantly blinked back the tears in her eyes. He knelt in front of her. “You’ll have much more fun with your grandmother, honey. You know these dinner parties are just one big bore. I wish I didn’t have to go,” he said, chucking her beneath the chin.

     The sound of the doorbell was followed by an exasperated sigh from Veronica. “We really need to hire a butler. All the other families have one,” she said, as she left the bedroom to answer the door. “Brenda, get out of those clothes,” she called back. “And, Alexa, are you ready to go, darling? We don’t want to be late.”

     Veronica heard Alexa’s shout of “almost” just as she opened up the front door. Jax stood there on the other side, dressed in a tux, car keys dangling from his fingers. Veronica sucked in her breath, for he looked absolutely splendid. Breathtaking, really. She, a grown woman, felt this way every time she saw the boy and could only imagine what he did to the hormones of the teenaged girls who always followed him everywhere he went.

     Veronica gushed out a greeting and then stepped aside to allow him inside. She was beaming that he’d actually come to pick up Alexa for the party. Veronica had assumed that Alexa would simply drive over with her and Harlan. That Jax wanted to take Alexa in his car was a wonderful sign. He was definitely very interested! And Veronica was salivating over the idea of his one day being her son-in-law. The Barrett name being tied to the Jacks name. Why, she would be able to literally claim the Jacks as her family, too - and all the power, money, respect, envy and influence that went with that.

     “Good evening, Mrs. Barrett,” Jax said politely. “You’re probably wondering what I’m doing here.”

     Veronica smiled. “Oh, nonsense. It’s always a pleasure to see you, Jax. And happy birthday, by the way.”

     “Thank you. I’m actually here because…”

     At that moment Alexa was descending the stairs, dressed to kill in a gorgeous cream, off-the-shoulder dress. At the same time Brenda was walking across the landing, headed back to her bedroom. Amazingly, the one who captured Jax’s attention was not the blonde, seventeen-year-old femme fatal descending the stairs, but the exquisitely lovely, dejected-looking eleven-year-old with a silver ribbon, that was coming loose, twined through her gorgeous, dark hair.

     “I came here,” he said, “because I wanted to make sure it was okay with you that Brenda attends the dinner party. It’s my understanding that you normally don’t allow her to attend such things, but it’s my birthday and I really wanted to make sure you knew that I really would like your entire family to be there - Brenda included, naturally. As it turns out, my cousin Nicolette arrived here from London last night, and she’s only a year older than Brenda, so I’m sure she’d love the company,” he finished.

     Jax had no idea why he was here making this ridiculous speech. He’d come here to drive Alexa over to his house, knowing she’d probably flip out with glee over the limited edition silver Jaguar his grandfather in Australia had gotten him for a present. But now all he could think about was making sure Alexa’s little sister did not suffer any disappointment, even at the hands of her own parents. It was obvious to him that they had not intended for her to come with them.

     Veronica seemed speechless by Jax’s request. “You… really… actually want Brenda to be there? Why?” she asked, looking as if the very notion was appalling, which annoyed Jax to no end.

     “Why not?” he said. “And I did mention that I have a twelve-year-old cousin staying with us right now. I think she’d like some company her own age.”

     Brenda, who had slipped into her room, now popped her head out, suddenly interested in what was going on. Her friend, Jax, was here and he was telling her family that he wanted her to be at his party. Her heart was warmed that anybody would stand up to her mother on her behalf. Even her father seldom did that. She did hope that Jax would not let it slip that he’d met her last weekend, however. Boy, would she be in trouble then.

     “Jax, you don’t have to be so kind or go out of your way like this,” Alexa said. “Really, it’s not necessary. You can’t really want an eleven-year-old running under foot at your house, for heaven’s sake. And besides, my little sister doesn’t even *want* to go.”

     Brenda nearly shouted out her protest, but Jax had gazed up in the direction of her room and saw her little outraged expression and a smile touched his lips.

     “I’m thinking she wants to go,” he said.

     Harlan Barrett chimed in then. “She does. But I really don’t like my daughter exposed to…such things,” he said.

     Brenda rolled her eyes dramatically. Jax tried very hard not to laugh.

     “Such things as what?” Jax asked, thinking that Harlan Barrett took being overprotective to the utmost extreme. “My family is all quite civilized, I assure you. Well, for the most part. My Uncle Ian … now he very well might actually be part savage… His being from Scotland and all.”

     Brenda giggled. Jax grinned up at her, glad that she, at least, seemed to appreciate his sense of humor. Because no one else seemed to at this moment.

     Her mother and sister both turned around to glare at her. “Brenda Elizabeth! Are you eavesdropping?!” Veronica demanded on a gasp.

     “Of course, she is,” Alexa said, giving her sister an irritated glance.

     “Well, it’s only polite to eavesdrop when you are the topic of the conversation, I always say,” Jax insisted. Then he turned his full attention to Veronica. “I’ll tell you what, if both of your daughters are ready to go, I’d be happy to drop them over with me,” Jax offered.

     Brenda’s eyes lit with excitement. “In that awesome car out there?!” she asked, seeing his car in the driveway through the open front door.

     “It is awesome, isn’t it?” Jax agreed, gazing in self-satisfaction at the shining silver Jaguar convertible sports model.

     Harlan was stammering. “I... n…no… I couldn’t possibly allow my little one to travel in that speed machine! Why, it’s a death trap! It’s a… ”

     “I’m a very good driver, Dr. Barrett,” Jax assured the nervous papa. “I think I was a chauffeur in another life.”

     Brenda laughed and Jax’s eyes met hers. “You seem to be the only one getting my jests,” he said, sending her a slow smile that made her feel funny. She hiccuped.

     “You and Alexa should go by yourselves, Jax. We know you young people want to be alone. Brenda will come along my husband and me,” Veronica said.

     Jax rose an eyebrow, his expression charming the socks off of Veronica. “You would deprive the little sprite of a ride in my new chariot? I promise you she will be perfectly safe with me. It is only a fifteen-minute drive, after all.”

     Veronica did not know how to say no when hit head-on with the boy’s disarming charm.

     “All right but do be careful,” she heard herself saying, while Alexa gave her mother a horrified glare. Veronica was kicking her own self as soon as the words of permission left her lips as well. What on earth had come over her? She wanted to give Alexa and Jax as much time alone as possible, and now Brenda, who’d obviously somehow managed to make Jax take pity on her, was ruining all the plans.

     Having heard the decision, a gleeful Brenda came flying down the stairs, to the consternation of her father, who grabbed hold of her and reprimanded her about running fast enough to break her neck. She stopped in front of Jax, and her smile of adoration made him forget what he had been about to say.

     After a moment he said, “You must be Brenda,” making a grand show of acting as if he’d never met her before.

     “Yes,” she said, grinning at him, grateful for his not giving her away.

     “Well, I’m Jax,” he said, shaking her hand and deliberately tickling her palm with his index finger because he wanted to hear her laugh. He was not disappointed. “And thank you for laughing at my jests. I appreciate it,” he said.

     She laughed again. “You’re welcome.”

     Harlan was rankled with the way Jax seemed so enchanted by Brenda. It was to be expected, of course, but this was precisely the reason Harlan wanted to keep Brenda away from parties and away from every possible male in the country until she was ninety-years-old or locked away in a convent. He dreaded her teenage years to come. He would surely have his hands full, pouncing on all the young men who would flock to his house in droves to try to woo her.

     As he watched the harmless, playful exchange between his daughter and the Jacks boy, he suddenly found that he was even more rankled at the way his young Brenda seemed equally enchanted by Jax. For although Harlan was accustomed to his daughter enchanting the masses, she was normally unaffected by admirers and gawkers alike. Normally. But not this time.

     “Shall we?” Jax said, offering each sister an arm. Alexa slid her arm through his, but Brenda was content to simply slide her hand into his, nearly dragging them all through the front door. Jax gazed down at her small hand in his. Her hand was soft and warm and slender. “Do you play the piano?” he asked her.

     Brenda made a face. “Not very well.”

     “Her piano teacher has proclaimed her utterly hopeless,” Alexa was happy to reveal.

     “Utterly?” Jax said, giving Brenda a teasing ‘poor you’ gaze.

     Brenda just giggled and shrugged.

     “Don’t you drive fast now, young man!” Harlan called after them. “We’re right behind you. And Alexa, you keep an eye on your sister!”

     Alexa looked so irritated that Jax gave her an understanding glance. Baby-sitting was not a favorite pastime of his either. However, keeping an eye on Brenda Barrett would not be too difficult. The difficult part was keeping his eyes off of her, actually. A prettier little girl he had never seen, nor was he ever likely to, he thought. He’d only seen her a week ago, but the exquisite beauty that little girl possessed that had so stunned him at first sight last week was bowling him over anew now. And her eyes… He still had no words to describe the loveliness of them.

     “Slow down, Brenda!” Alexa snapped, as an eager, excited Brenda continued to literally drag them to Jax’s car. “Or are you deliberately trying to rip Jax’s arm out of the socket?” she asked, tempering her sharp tone immediately and kicking herself for snapping at her sister in such a shrewish manner in front of Jax.

     “Sorry,” Brenda murmured, forcing herself to slow down.

     Jax gazed down at her. “For your information, you could not possibly pull my arm out of the socket. I don’t care how fast you’re moving.”

     Brenda laughed.

     “Did I say something funny?” Jax teased her, ignoring Alexa’s exaggerated sigh of discontent.

     “I’m pretty fast, you know,” Brenda informed him.

     “So am I.”

     “Yeah, well, I won the relay race at school,” she bragged. “I have a trophy and everything.”

     “Oh, really? Well, when you win a marathon, then you can talk to me.”

     Brenda gazed up at him suspiciously. “You won a marathon? You did not win a marathon,” she said.

     Jax laughed softly. “Are you asking me or telling me?” Then he stopped, again ignoring Alexa’s soft, disgruntled sigh of impatience, as his attention was fully on Brenda. “We can settle this right now. I’ll race you to my car, and whoever gets there first… gets to drive. How’s that?” he said, dangling the keys in front of her with a wicked smile.

     “You’re just kidding!” Brenda said, laughing at his outrageousness.

     He rose one blonde eyebrow. “Am I?” He waved the car keys in front of her pretty little face.

     “Promise?” Brenda said, her eyes aglow with laughter at the idea that he would really let her drive his brand new car. Never mind that she had no idea how to drive at all.

     “Yeah, I promise. Of course, in the extremely unlikely event that you win, I have to insist that you allow me to give you a ten-minute driving lesson first. Deal?”

     “What?!” Harlan screeched in horror, hearing Jax’s words. But his screech was drowned out by Brenda’s squeal, as she let go of Jax’s hand and raced towards the Jaguar, while Jax detached Alexa’s arm from his and ran after the runaway sprite. Brenda really was fast as the dickens, but Jax was not about to let her get to the car first, and a breathless, laughing Brenda nearly collided into him as she finally made it to the car, where he was already waiting, having literally leapt over her to beat her there.

     “You’re crazy!” Brenda giggled, breathlessly. “You jumped over me!”

     “And you’re definitely fast,” Jax said. “But obviously not fast enough, my bonny sprite,” he said, tapping her nose fondly, as he opened up the car door and got her secured into the back seat.

     “Jax, my name’s not Bonnie,” Brenda said to him. “It’s Brenda. Remember?” She was a little insulted that he’d forgotten her name already.

     “I’ll hardly be forgetting you, lass,” he said in a Scottish burr that made Brenda giggle and forget all about her hurt feelings. “Bonny… It wasn’t a name I was calling you, Brenda. It’s just a term that my Uncle Ian uses a lot. He’s Scottish, you see…”

     “Oh, the savage, you mean,” Brenda said, which made Jax let out a soft chuckle. “Were you named after for him? Your middle name, I mean?”

     “Yes, as a matter of fact, I was. And ‘bonny’ - that just means beautiful.”

     Brenda took in that information and then nodded. “Well, then you’re the bonny one,” she told him. “Very, very bonny, I think.” She stared right at him unabashedly.

     Jax met her gaze and smiled at her. Damn those eyes of hers; he could barely think straight.

     “It’s not really the same if you don’t say it with the accent,” he sighed, shaking his head as if she were a disappointment.

     She laughed. “You’re gonna have to teach me to talk like that then,” Brenda decided. “Hey, I could talk like that in school! My teachers would freak out,” she said with an anticipatory smile of glee.

     Jax grinned at her. “Hmm. I have a feelin’ yer ma and da would be wantin’ ta kill me if I did that, bratling,” he whispered to her. His use of his Uncle Ian’s accent set Brenda into laughter again, and her laughter was infectious, so that Jax was laughing, too.

     Alexa was there then, glaring at the both of them. “Was that really necessary, you guys? A race?” she said, taking great effort to control her temper so that Jax would continue to see has as the poster girl for sweet benevolence. “In case neither of you realized it, we are in evening clothes, not jogging outfits,” she said, fixing Jax’s tuxedo jacket.

     Jax stroked her face with the back of his hand and she was instantly appeased. “Sorry,” he apologized. “Your sister apparently brings out the Scottish savage in me. I can’t be held accountable for my actions.”

     Alexa gave him an alluring smile. “I’d like to bring out the Scottish savage in you myself.”

     Jax gave her a sensual smile. “I’ll definitely have to remember that”

     Brenda watched them and felt an odd feeling in her stomach, like she was going to be sick. Like her tummy was full of knots. She also felt kind of mad. About what, she had no idea. Puzzled, she turned her head to gaze at the moon as it slipped in between the trees.

     Jax opened the car door for Alexa, who got in and put on her seat belt. Her mood was much improved after Jax’s flirting. She had all but forgotten her bothersome sister in the back seat.

     Jax, on the other hand, could hardly forget his little passenger in the back seat. She was undeniably distracting. As he adjusted the rearview mirror, he gazed at her: how the breeze was gently blowing the soft tendrils of her dark, chestnut brown hair about her angelic-looking young face. Her eyes were fixated on the moon, although he noticed she was frowning.

     It was ridiculous, really, but he didn’t like to see her unhappy.

     “What’s the matter?” he asked.

     Brenda shifted her eyes away from the moon and met Jax’s gaze in the rearview mirror. Her eyes arrested his every thought. He could not think. He could only stare at her. Something like lightning speared though him and made his heart skip a beat. What the hell was that?!

     “I don’t know,” Brenda answered honestly, in response to his inquiry of what the matter was. “I think I have a stomachache.”

     “Then go back inside, Brenda. Mom and dad will drop you off at grandma’s,” Alexa said sweetly, giving her sister a look that clearly told her to scram pronto.

     But Brenda wasn’t paying her sister any attention. “It’s a funny kind of stomachache,” Brenda continued, still confused. “It feels…weird.”

     “Brenda Barrett, don’t you dare puke in Jax’s new car!” Alexa thundered, and then bit her lip at her outburst, but thankfully Jax seemed oblivious to it.

     “Does it hurt?” Jax asked, still trying to figure out what had just happened to him. He was pretty sure he was way too young for a stroke or a heart attack. Oh, it would be just his luck to drop dead on his seventeenth birthday.

     Brenda shook her head. “Nope. Can we go?” she asked excitedly.

     Jax waited a few moments to see if the bizarre sensation would attack him again. When nothing happened, he let out a sigh of relief and began the drive to his house. His eyes gazed in the mirror back at Brenda, gazing at her thoughtfully - not really knowing why his gaze seemed to constantly be drawn to her. Only knowing that it was.

     Katherine Jacks was not pleased.

     Into her home had walked a veritable little angel, with dark hair and bewitching brown eyes. Katherine had never in her life thought brown eyes could be bewitching, but the eyes of this young girl were just that. And her face, so young and innocent, held a beauty that made the room spin with a sense of unreality. She had walked into the Jacks mansion, full of guests for Jax’s party, and the room had gone silent at the child’s entrance. Every eye flew to her. Or it could have been that every eye was flying to Jax. Katherine could not be certain, since her brother and the young girl were next to one another. Alexa was directly behind them and did not appear happy.

     When Jax moved way from the dark-haired young girl, all eyes remained on the child. And it was then that Katherine realized it was the child with the silver ribbon twined in her French braid, who was commanding the riveted attention Jax normally did. And the child at last realized she was the object of a multitude of stares, too. She obviously did not like it, because she stepped back behind Jax, as if he would block all the eyes from staring at her. She then glanced around for her father, who had been right behind them but was not inside yet.

     Knowing that Brenda was completely misinterpreting the stunned gazes, Alexa pounced. She bent down and said to her sister in a very low voice so Jax would not hear her: “If you never believed me when I told you that you were quite unpleasant to look at, believe it now. They think you’re a freak, Brenda. Especially your eyes. Why do you think they’re all staring at you, as if you’re some sort of circus sideshow attraction? I know Daddy tells you it’s because you’re so pretty, but he’s only saying that try to spare your tender feelings. Now do you see why we wanted you to stay home? It was for your own good. To protect you from this kind of humiliation.”

     Alexa expected Brenda to run away in tears and seek out their father and then beg him to get her out of there. Katherine, who was watching the young girl from a distance, also expected that the discomfort of all the continuous staring was going to make the girl balk and run to whomever her parents were.

     But Brenda didn’t do that. Instead she let out a little sigh of annoyance and said, her words directed to Jax, whom she was still partially standing behind: “I wish people wouldn’t stare like that.”

     Jax gazed down at her briefly and tickled his fingers along the top of her hair. “Get used to it, sprite,” he suggested.

     “Are you used to it?” Brenda asked him “People staring at you all the time?”

     And it was then that Jax realized that she was holding onto his hand, rather fiercely at that. So despite her efforts to act unaffected by all the attention, it was obvious that it was, in fact, distressing to her.

     “I’ve grown fairly oblivious to it,” Jax told her.

     Brenda looked up at him puzzled. “Oblivious?”

     “It means I don’t even notice it anymore,” he clarified.

     Brenda nodded, but did not look convinced. “So you pretend they’re not there? You pretend they’re not looking?” she asked.

     “Sometimes. Or sometimes I just focus on somebody else. You know, I look around the room to try to find one person who could make me forget there’s anyone else in the room but them,” he offered.

     Brenda gave that some consideration and then nodded. She then proceeded to keep her eyes on Jax, while all other eyes remained on her. Jax laughed very quietly and ran a finger down the length of her quite perfect, little nose.

     “Lucky me,” he said.

     “I think my eyes are going to cross,” she confided in him.

     He grinned at her.

     “And I think my head might snap off, too. Could you bend down a little bit, so I don’t have to keep looking up while I keep my eyes on you? You’re really tall, and my neck is going to start…”

     He cut her off by sweeping her up into his arms, effectively making her eye-level with him.

     “Better?” he asked with a sardonic raise of his eyebrow.

     Brenda laughed. “You think I’m a total pain, right?” she asked him. “’Cause you can tell me, you know.”

     “I think you’re cute,” he responded, tapping her chin. In truth she was so far beyond merely cute that it really did boggle his seventeen-year-old mind.

     And then her parents were there and so was his sister.

     “Well, now,” Katherine said, scrutinizing the little dark-haired girl. “Who do we have here?”

     “This is Alexa’s sister,” Jax said. “Brenda.”

     Katherine was eternally grateful that she was able to keep in her gasp upon closer inspection of the child. Such beauty and radiance, as this little one possessed, seemed borderline spectacular. She was exceptionally lovely, and yet there was a playful, elfin-like charm about her that did not make her beauty something that seemed cool and remote, unapproachable or easily dismissed as just another pretty face. No, hers was a beauty that simply delighted the senses and stirred up happiness in the heart. Katherine momentarily found herself wishing Alexa had been the one possessed of this particular type of loveliness. There was no question that Alexa was a beauty, but hers was the cool, remote kind. The kind that men were arrogantly satisfied over obtaining, but it was heart-stopping, heart-moving beauty like young Brenda’s that men coveted with a passion that was relentless. It made Katherine glad that the girl was a mere child, or else her very presence could toss a big monkey wrench into Katherine’s carefully mapped-out plans for Jax and Alexa.

     “Where’s Nicolette?” Jax asked his sister, thinking it would help to put Brenda at ease to be able to hang around with someone her own age.

     “She’s fast asleep,” Katherine responded. “She kept sneaking into the shrimp cocktail until she made herself ill.”

     Veronica laughed. “That’s kids for you,” she said, wanting to add something to the conversation. “Brenda is constantly getting herself sick from stuffing her face with Chocolate Mint cookies.”

     Brenda wanted to disappear before her mother got into any more embarrassing stories about her. “Is it too late for me to see your lake?” she asked Jax.

     “No,” Jax said, putting her down, but keeping a hold of her hand. “We’ll be right back,” he said, and then upon seeing Harlan Barrett’s frown of uncertainty, added: “I promise, she will not drown, nor catch cold, nor be given the keys to my speedboat. But, alas, I can’t guarantee that her hair won’t be slightly tossed by the breeze off the lake. I will try my very best, though, to keep every hair in place,” Jax vowed, as he cradled his hands atop Brenda’s head to demonstrate.

     Brenda’s laughter was adorable and drew Katherine’s assessing gaze. Harlan gave Jax a gaze that was both amused and annoyed.

     “Don’t be long, Jax. It’s very bad manners for you to be absent from your own party,” Katherine said to him.

     “Well, they certainly hit it off right away,” Veronica was saying. “It’s hard to believe they’ve only just met tonight.”

     “Well, Jax has always liked children,” Katherine tossed out. “Children and puppies.”

     Alexa and Veronica laughed, but Harlan merely looked at Katherine Jacks, not amused.

     Jax walked Brenda out to the docks in back of the house and watched her as she leaned against the wooden railing and gazed out at the water.

     “So, what do you think of my lake, Brenda Elizabeth?” he asked her.

     “It’s beautiful,” she said. “And way bigger than my goldfish pond fountain,” she admitted. She then turned to Jax. “Do you swim here?”

     “Sometimes. Mostly when I get dumped in by my brother and have no choice.” Then he got a wary look in his eyes. “You’re not planning to jump in there in your dress, are you?”

     She rolled her eyes at him and smiled. “Noooo. Hey, Jax, do you think I could see one of your boats?” she asked him, gazing at the four boats docked to the pier and rocking gently on the water.

     “Sure,” he said, propelling her forward and carefully setting her on the deck of the cabin cruiser, then stepping in behind her. “No jumping overboard,” he warned her, as she immediately went to the rail to look over the side.

     “I really love the water,” she said.

     “So do I,” he responded, as he walked over and stood next to her. “I used to go night sailing with my dad all the time.”

     Brenda turned her head to look at him. “You don’t anymore?”

     “My father isn’t here anymore,” Jax explained.

     “He went away, you mean?” Brenda asked.

     “In a manner of speaking. He and my mother both died when I was ten. Plane crash,” he said quietly.

     “Oh,” she said just as quietly, sadness dimming the vibrancy of her eyes. And then she placed her small hand over his on the railing. “That’s so sad, Jax. I’m really sorry. I bet you miss them.”

     He gazed down into her eyes and nodded. “Yes.”

     His pretty blue eyes looked sad, and Brenda really wanted to make the sadness go away. He should be happy when he thought about his parents, not sad. Maybe she could get him to think about all the happy things he did with them.

     “So, what else did you do with your dad?” she asked him.

     “Oh…everything,” he said with a faint smile. “Camping, hiking, kayaking, even a dog sled race, once. But my mother made us swear we’d never do that again,” he grinned. “We lived in Alaska for a while, you know.”

     “You did?” she asked, thinking that was extremely cool.

     “Yeah, we did. On a big ranch. And my dad used to take me and my brother, Jerry, ice fishing at this great place in the woods. The three of us would be there all day sometimes,” Jax laughed, “and never catch a thing, half the time. But it didn’t matter. The best part was just being there together.”

     “Your sister didn’t go with you?”

     “No. She’s not exactly the outdoorsy type. My mom was though; she’d come with us sometimes.”

     Brenda smiled and sat down on the deck, allowing her legs to dangle over the side.

     “Whoa, be careful,” Jax said, scrambling down behind her and sliding an arm around her to anchor her to him. “I did promise your father I wouldn’t let you drown, remember? Now don’t go and make a liar out of me, sprite.”

     She laughed and then shrugged. “I don’t think anything bad can happen to me when you’re here.”

     Jax gazed down at her hair lying against his chest, the silver ribbon entwined in her braid, slowly coming loose. “Why?” he asked.

     She shrugged again. “I don’t know.” Then she leaned back fully against him, all innocence and trust. “Did your mom ever catch a fish when she went with you guys?” she asked.

     And so it was that Jax completely lost track of time, as he sat, completely relaxed, on the deck of the cabin cruiser, Brenda cradled safely in front of him, both of them gazing out at the shimmering lake, as Jax shared several stories of his childhood with her. She was rapt with attention and asked him lots of questions, and Jax was amazed that she wasn’t in the least bit bored. Not that he was any kind of expert on eleven-year-olds, but he’d naturally assumed that, like most kids, her attention span would be fleeting. But it wasn’t.

     They were both laughing over a story Jax had told her about his Uncle Ian getting his rear end stuck in a bucket of cement, when the man in question came upon them.

     “Are you hidin’ out then, lad?” Ian greeted his nephew.

     Jax’s eyes lit up at the sight of his favorite uncle. “Uncle Ian!” he said. “Kat said you weren’t going to be able to make it.”

     “And miss the party? Stuff and nonsense, lad. I’d have walked all the way from Scotland if I had ta.” Then Ian’s eyes wandered to the little beauty cradled in front of Jax. She was gazing back at Ian in fascinated delight over his accent, and his gaze upon her was equally fascinated. Lord, but it was a very angel his nephew had captured here!

     Jax smiled a little at his uncle’s reaction to seeing Brenda. “Uncle Ian, this is Brenda. Brenda, this is my uncle, the savage.”

     Brenda gasped and poked Jax in the ribs with her elbow. “Hello,” Brenda said, smiling at Ian. Her dimpled smile made his heart melt.

     “Well, glory be - aren’t you the prettiest thing that ever walked the earth!” Ian declared as he climbed aboard the boat, ruffled Jax’s blonde hair and then sat down next to Brenda. “Charmed, I am ta meet you, lass.”

     “Charmed I am ta meet you, too,” Brenda said, trying to mimic Ian’s accent, which made Jax grin, while Ian tossed back his head and laughed.

     “Oh, we’ll be needin’ ta work on that, lassie,” he said with a wink.

     “I love the way you talk,” Brenda told him with an impish grin. “Jax can talk like that, too,” she said, casting a glance of out-and-out adoration at Jax

     “Yes, I know, lass. Proof that the lad’s spent far too much time with the likes o’ me,” Ian chuckled

     “He calls me the bonny sprite,” Brenda said.

     “My bonny spite,” Jax corrected, having no idea why he felt the need to add such possessive meaning to the playful nickname.

     “Aye, and that you are, lass. That you are.” Ian’s gaze met Jax’s, over Brenda’s head. “Extraordinary,” he mouthed silently to his nephew.

     Jax nodded. “I know.” Jax mouthed back.

     “Lordy be. Heaven help us all when this little one comes of age,” Ian said out loud. Then he saw the ribbon coming loose in Brenda’s hair and turned her around so he could fix it for her. “Your pretty ribbon is tryin’ ta escape you, wee lass,” he explained as he tied it back into place.

     “Jax was telling me about the time he was helping you add on a room to your house and you fell backwards into a bucket of cement,” Brenda said, giggling anew over the image Jax had painted of that scene. “And it was stuck on your…umm…” She tried to think of the word Jax had used. “Posterior!”

     Jax tickled her sides, which made her giggles erupt into screams.

     Ian laughed, too; a booming, cheery sound that reminded Brenda of her own dad’s laughter. “Oh, lord, now that I shall never forget!” Ian laughed. “Why, that heinous bucket was stuck ta my rump like the claws of a foul-tempered crab! And Jax was no help at’all - rollin’ around on the ground, laughin’ as he was at the time, while I waddled about usin’ some very colorful language.” Ian wiped at the tears of mirth from his eyes. “Mercy me, I couldn’t stand straight for a week!” The laugher erupted anew.

     And that was how Katherine found them, all three on the boat, convulsed in laughter; her Uncle Ian, shoulders shaking with laugher, tying the ribbon in Brenda’s hair; Jax cradling Brenda against him.

     Katherine froze at the scene she came upon. She saw Jax’s gaze held captive by the laughing young girl; saw the silver-blue glitter that lit up Jax’s eyes with mesmeric beauty, and she knew. Instinctively she just knew that she had to get Alexa’s sister out of Jax’s reach.

     Veronica came up behind Katherine, having heard her daughter’s squeals of laughter. “Oh, I do hope Brenda isn’t making a nuisance out of herself,” Veronica sighed with displeasure, suspecting that Brenda was responsible for Jax being so delayed in coming into his own birthday dinner, which would, in turn, make Katherine cross.

     “Veronica, have you ever heard of the Dame Agnes School?” Katherine asked, not once taking her eyes off the scene before her.

     “Oh, certainly! It’s in England, isn’t it? Very prestigious, obscenely expensive, and impossible to get into.”

     “Would you like Brenda to attend?” Katherine asked.

     Veronica was stunned. “Well, I ... but how…?”

     “Yes or no, Veronica?” Katherine said.

     “Well, yes, of course, I would! But I don’t see how…”

     Katherine reined in her annoyance. “I’ll take care of everything,” Katherine explained.

     “Everything?” Veronica repeated silkily.

     “Yes, Veronica, everything. Including the room-and-board, since I know money is always first and foremost on your mind.”

     “Well, I… I didn’t mean…”

     Katherine finally turned to her. “Look, Veronica, the bottom line is that I need your daughter gone. I’m willing to pull strings and get her into that school, and I am also willing to finance it. Do you have a problem with any of this?”

     “Why do you need her gone?” Veronica asked curiously.

     “Let us just say that I now understand why you go to such pains to keep Brenda out of sight when trying to show off Alexa. One certainly does outshine the other, and I fear that even my brother, having only met her tonight, is already taking notice of this.”

     Veronica shrugged. “Yes, but she’s only eleven…”

     “You don’t know, Jax,” Katherine said. “He has the patience of a jungle cat and a bit of a foolish, romantic heart, like my father did. If she stirs something in him now, he will wait for her.”

     Veronica’s brows furrowed into a scowl. “Surely you’re not serious?”

     “I am quite serious. Now, I will ask again, do you have a problem with what I have proposed?”

     Veronica smiled tightly. “None at all. Her father may object, however.”

     “I don’t think so,” Katherine said. “I think your husband will be puffed up with pride that his little girl got accepted into the school. Does Brenda possess any kind of talent? Something that we could say got her into the school and would be the reason given for why your husband would not need to pay for her room-and-board?

     “Well, she does have a lovely singing voice,” Veronica reluctantly admitted.

     “Perfect,” Katherine said, her eyes back on the boat, as Jax was helping Brenda to her feet. The little girl was positively enchanted with Jax; that much was obvious and would have even been cute were it not for the warm look of utter enchantment his eyes held for her in return. Seeing this, Katherine was even more determined to send Brenda away. And quickly.