Scotland…Wednesday, mid-afternoon

     The sunlight reflecting off the surface of the loch sent shimmers of light cascading across the large, frosted windowpanes of glass of the study at Sherring Cross. Jax sat in an overstuffed black velvet chair; knees bent, midnight blue Doc Martin’s propped up on the coffee table. His uncle sat across from him, quietly studying his face.

     “How did you feel when you heard that?” Ian asked Jax, who’d just told him what he’d learned about Brenda.

     “Like I wanted to throw up,” Jax said truthfully.

     “And did you?”

     He actually got Jax to smile, although it was the barest of smiles.

     “No,” Jax said. “I just turned around and left. I took the boat; I went out sailing for hours, thinking. But you know I do my best thinking here, so I flew out to see you the next morning.”

     “And it’s only now, three days later, that you’re gettin’ around ta tellin’ me what brought you here? Shame on you, lad,” Ian said, fondly knocking Jax against the side of the head gently with the base of his pipe. “I was beginnin’ ta think you’d just come here ta brood in silence about a takeover you lost out on or something.”

     “I’m not brooding. I’m just thinking - just figuring some things out, that’s all.”

     “You should have told me what it was all about sooner, because my mind readin’ skills aren’t what they used ta be lad. Brenda bein’ found ta be such close kin of your worst enemy must have shocked the livin’ daylights outta you.”

     “I don’t want this to matter to me, Uncle Ian. I love this girl.”

     “Aye, I know you do, lad. It’s written all over that perfect face o’ yours. Now, you can’t think I’d honestly believe that your findin’ out this bit o’ news about your bonny sprite has gone and changed your feelin’s about her?”

     “No,” Jax said. “I’m in love with her. And I want to be with her. And nothing is going to change that, I realize that. I’m just trying to work it all out now. I just need to think about the worst case scenario and figure out how I can make this work.”

     “What nonsense is this, Jax? What the devil difference does it make who the bonny lass’ grandfather is?”

     “I… hate…that… man,” Jax enunciated each word slowly.

     “Yes, this I know. And I ask again, what does that have ta do with Brenda?”

     “Well, I love her.”

     “So you said. And?”

     “And ever since I’ve known her all I’ve ever wanted was to make her happy. Brenda being unhappy is something that has always driven me crazy. It still does. Come on, Uncle Ian, don’t you see what a predicament that could potentially put me in? I love this girl and that’s not going to change. But her grandfather is the man I hate more than any person I have ever known, and that’s not going to change either. He is the man I fully intend to destroy,” Jax vowed. “I can’t let those plans be changed.”

     “And you think Brenda will change them?”

     “She might. Because I already know I would do anything for her. If she asked me to back off of him… I don’t see how I could say no to her. Yet I don’t see how I could honor her request either.”

     “I see…”

     “I don’t want her to end up hating me for going ahead and doing something she might beg me not to, but that I feel I have to. I actually contemplated for a moment that it would be better for the both of us if I just ended things now.”

     “End this vendetta against Warner and his grandsons, you mean?” Ian said, nodding.

     Jax shot up out of his seat, upset. “No, that is not what I mean. He practically killed my parents, Uncle Ian. How can you think I would just ignore that? And now he wants to take over my father’s business? Dance on his grave? You think I’m going to stand by and do nothing? And this is not a bloody vendetta, all right? This is… this is justice.”

     Ian saw how upset his nephew was and he sought to placate him.

     “You’re right, lad. You’re right. The man has it comin’, that’s for sure. But you love this girl.”

     “Yes.”

     “And you’re afraid that love is going to be turned against you now in some way, is that it? Does she know about bein’ this man’s grandchild?”

     “No.”

     “Then I have ta ask you, Jax. Why are you punishin’ her for somethin’ she had not a thing ta do with and cannot prevent?”

     “I am not punishing her. I don’t want anybody to hurt her, don’t you understand that? Including me. I’m in love with her, Uncle Ian. I want her to be happy. I don’t want her being used as a pawn by that miserable old man, who she happens to be related to. I want to protect her from him and from this whole thing. I don’t want her caught in the middle - forced into taking sides. And I damn well don’t want her taking his side.”

     “You have no guarantees that she’ll take yours,” Ian pointed out.

     “I know that,” Jax said. “And I don’t know if she’ll really even understand any of this, but I don’t want her to hate me because I have an agenda that I cannot alter; not even for her. And I don’t want it to come down to the worst case scenario of her asking me to abandon that agenda, because like I said, I don’t know how I’ll ever say no to her. Yet I don’t know how I can give her what she wants either. Because I have to do this, Uncle Ian. I can’t let Brenda talk me out of it if she becomes so inclined. So what do I do? Do I let her go? Do I give her up to bring him down? Or do I let it go? Do I give it up to keep her? Or… is there a way for me to keep her and destroy him at the same time?” he murmured thoughtfully. “Those are my choices, as I see it - and two of them are wholly unacceptable to me.”

     Ian gazed at his nephew. The lad’s hatred for the man was powerfully strong. Ian was banking on his love for the girl being far stronger, though.

     “Do not tell me you’re actually contemplating givin’ her up?” Ian balked.

     “No. That was one of the choices that was wholly unacceptable to me,” Jax explained.

     “Good,” Ian said with a short nod of approval at Jax’s absolute decisiveness. “Because you know damn well you couldn’t do it,” Ian said frankly.

     “No, I couldn’t do it,” Jax said, not even bothering to deny it.

     “Then why’d you even think about doin’ it?” Ian asked crankily. Why, the stubborn lad had actually thought of sacrificing his chance at love, his very own happiness - and all for his single-minded quest to bring Will Warner to his knees

     “I initially considered it for all of three seconds, Uncle Ian, but that’s all. Which is why I came here. I need the solitude. I need the peace. I have to figure out how to handle this new development - how to make whiskey sours out of lemons, as Jerry always says.”

     “So your bottom line is that you’re not lettin’ her go, but you’re not givin’ up your plans for Warner’s eternal damnation either, is that about right, lad?”

     “That is exactly right, Uncle.”

     Ian nodded. “Well, I don’t see how you can do it. You’re talkin’ about destroyin’ the family of the woman you love, now. Yes, it’s a cruel twist o’ fate that made your Brenda part o’ that man you so detest. But fate or not, it is what it is, Jax. They are her kin. And you love the lass, so that has ta mean somethin’ ta you.”

     “Brenda means everything to me, but they mean nothing to me. They never will. Not even my love for her would make me want to embrace those people and sing ‘Kumbaya’ with them, while holding hands around a campfire, exchanging takeover stories and letting bygones be bygones. That is not ever going to happen.”

     Ian just nodded but didn’t say a word.

     “I could make sure she never finds out she’s related to the man, you know. Then she won’t care what I do to him or his family.”

     “You wouldn’t do that, Jax. I know you, lad. You wouldn’t keep such a secret from someone you love.”

     “No, I wouldn’t,” Jax admitted. “But it’s not my secret to tell. It’s her father’s. He may have his own reasons for not wanting her to know.”

     “So confront him about it. See what he has to say. But if he ultimately does not tell her, you will have ta do it,” Ian insisted. “She will be very hurt if you had knowledge of somethin’ like this and kept it from her, Jax.”

     “I could tell her the truth about her relationship to them. Then I could tell her about what I feel he did to my parents… What he’s trying to do to my father’s company. The best case scenario is that she could end up hating that family as much as I do,” he considered, optimistically.

     Ian looked skeptical. “Or maybe not.”

     Jax ran a hand through rich, golden waves of hair, slightly irritated by his uncle’s playing devil’s advocate. “Well, even if she doesn’t, I’m not letting her go,” he reiterated. “I’ve made up my mind about that.”

     “Aye, so you told me. I believe you.”

     “And I am going to crush her grandfather into the ground as planned, because he deserves it, damn it. He deserves any specter of hell I can send him straight into.”

     “All right, take it easy now. I know your feelin’s on this subject well.”

     “I won’t let him get any reprieve, Uncle Ian. And I will not be talked out of this. Not by you, not even by Brenda…”

     Ian placed a hand on his nephew’s shoulder to relax his growing agitation. “Jax, you know your father was not a man who held onto hate. He never would want that for you. Is it worth it, son? If it…”

     “Is it worth it?” Jax’s voice was an incredulous whisper; his vivid blue eyes stark with a pain he could not express. “This is for my father, for my mother. Yes, it’s worth it,” he said emotionally. Then he immediately got ahold of his emotions and became determined and resolute - the young corporate raider feared by so many. “I won’t abandon this course,” he stated calmly. “And I won’t lose Brenda either - he is not taking her away from me. No one is. I’ll work this out. I just need to… work it out.”

     Ian gave him a half-smile to try to ease some of the tension. He was amazed and saddened at how much pain and hostility the mere mention of that Will Warner fellow could still incite in Jax. It was like he was that shell-shocked, enraged lad of ten years old all over again, who’d had to be sedated after being told the news of his parents’ death.

      “Well, you’re welcome ta stay here as long as you want, as long as you need. You know that. And I’m here whenever you want ta bounce some ideas off of me.”

     “Thank you, Uncle Ian,” Jax said, rising and grabbing his jacket to go for a walk in the crisp, cold air. He always thought better outdoors.

Scotland . . .Thursday, late evening

     Jerry arrived at his Uncle Ian’s doorstep and rang the door chime quickly, then thrust his hands into the pockets of his coats, seeking warmth from the cold, Scottish night. His uncle opened the door and ushered him into the warmth of the house.

     “Where is he?” Jerry asked, placing his bag on the floor and walking over to the fireplace to warm himself.

     “Out by the loch,” Ian replied. “He’s been out there for hours.”

     “How long has he been here with you?” Jerry asked.

     “Since early Friday afternoon.”

     “A whole week, Uncle Ian?!” Jerry erupted. “And you didn’t call me? Or Katherine?”

     “Well, you figured out where he was, didn’t you? You’re here, after all.”

     “That’s not the point, Uncle Ian…”

     “Now look here, Jerry, Jax is not a child, and I don’t know why you and Katie insist on treatin’ him like one. If he comes here for some solitude and some peace and ta gather his thoughts, I’m not goin’ ta go blabbin’ his affairs ta you and your sister as if he were a five-year-old lad needin’ lookin’ out for. It’s exactly why this is the place he always comes ta when he’s broodin’. He knows he can trust me ta leave him be and figure out his own mind. You and your sister both are too overprotective of him. It’s got ta be dammed annoying ta the lad.”

     Jerry sighed. “Well, what’s wrong? Why is he here? Did he tell you?” Jerry inquired.

     Ian shook his head. “That is not for me ta share with you. It took him three whole days before he could tell me what was troublin’ him. He’s trying ta work it out within himself, and I’m givin’ him the space ta do just that. It’s just takin’ the lad a while to sort it all out, is all. It’s mightily complicated.”

     Jerry looked frustrated. “Tell me what it is, Uncle Ian. He’s my brother, I want to help him.”

     “He’s the only one who should tell you, Jerry, and you’ll not be hearin’ it from me, so quit your blasted badgerin.’ Perhaps if you go outside and talk to him, he’ll be inclined ta share it with you?”

     Jerry nodded, patted an approaching Edgar on the head and then went out to the back of his uncle’s property and down the sloping hill to the loch. He saw Jax there lying on the grass, hands folded behind his head, gazing up at the chilly star-lit sky.

     I took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mind
     I left by body lying somewhere in the sands of time
     I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon
     I feel there’s nothing I can do…yeah

     I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon
     After all I knew it had to be something to do with you
     I really don’t mind what happens now and then
     As long as I still have you in the end

     If I go crazy will you still call me Superman
     If I’m alive and well, will you be there holding my hand
     I’ll keep you by my side with my superhuman might
     Kryptonite

     Jerry stood next to him and cleared his throat. “Thanks a lot for makin’ me trek all the way out here to find you,” he said, by way of greeting.

     Jax’s eyes shifted over, encountering Jerry’s. “You’re welcome,” was all he said.

     “Before you get the wrong idea, Uncle Ian didn’t call me. I tracked you down myself.”

     Jax nodded, having already guessed as much.

     Jerry sat down next to his brother on the grass, cursing at the coldness of the grass beneath his rear. “Beautiful night, but it’s bloody cold out here, Jax!” Jerry complained.

     “I’m not cold,” Jax responded, then rose up to a sitting position opposite his brother. “Why were you looking for me, Jerry?”

     Jerry jammed his cold hands into his pockets. “Because I have something to tell you. And because you’ve been gone for a week and nobody knew where the hell you were. You never just take off without at least telling V where you’re going, and even she didn’t know. And when you missed the board meeting yesterday, I knew something was wrong and I set out to track you down. So now I have. So are you going to tell me what you’re doing here?”

     “I just had to think about something, and this is the place I do my best thinking,” Jax explained.

     “What happened, Jax?” Jerry prodded.

     “You won’t believe it,” Jax predicted.

     “Try me.”

     “It’s okay, Jerry. I have it all worked out now.”

     “What, Jax?”

     “Brenda,” he said.

     Jerry looked confused. “Had you changed your mind about marrying her?”

     “No. But something came up… something I found out about her. It totally blindsided me. But I’ve got it all worked out and under control now.”

     Jerry was all ears now. “What was it?” he asked quietly.

     “Last Thursday I went to Brenda’s grandmother’s house to see her father. Brenda told me that she thought he might be having financial difficulties due to this divorce of his; that’s why she thought he was working all those double shifts at the hospital. Anyway, I went over there to offer him some investment advice that might help him turn a tidy profit in a short amount of time. Brenda’s grandmother let me in the house; I went towards the kitchen where she said Mr. Barrett was. I heard voices, so I didn’t want to intrude. I heard a whole lot more than I wish I did actually…”

     “What did you hear?”

     “That Veronica Barrett is not Brenda’s mother, for one thing. That she is blackmailing Brenda’s father for everything he’s got, for another. Including Brenda’s car. The man actually gave the woman Brenda’s Christmas present to give to Alexa.”

     “What’s she blackmailing him with?”

     “That’s the part that blindsided me,” Jax said. “Jerry, I heard them say that Brenda’s grandfather, her biological grandfather, is Will Warner.”

     “The hell he is!” Jerry said, appalled.

     “I swear to you that’s what they said.”

     “My god, that must have made you… sick…”

     “It was a knee-jerk reaction to hearing that man’s name in the same breath as Brenda’s. I’m okay now,” Jax said calmly.

     “Oh, Jax… I’m sorry…”

     “I don’t need sympathy, Jerry,” Jax said. “I just told you everything is okay now. I have it worked out.”

     “But I know how much you wanted her. I know it must be hell to have to let her go when you were planning a whole future with her in it…”

     “I am not letting her go.”

     “You’re not?”

     “No.”

     “Jax, what are you talking about? You have to.”

     “Why?” he demanded. “Why the hell do I have to let that man take from me another person that I love? The answer is no, Jerry.”

     Jerry let out a long sigh and raked a hand through his dark hair. “Love, you said. So you do love her, then. No more maybes? You’re certain?”

     “I’m positive,” Jax corroborated. “I do love her, Jerry. My happiness is intrinsically tied to her now - that’s just the way it is. And even with what I know now, I wouldn’t change that for anything in the world.”

     Jerry got up and began a restless pacing. “How is this going to work though, Jax? The man is her bloody grandfather, for the love of god!”

     “So what?” Jax asked irritably, because he hated to hear that truth spoken out loud. It was like nails on a chalkboard to his ears.

     “So what?! He is going to use her to manipulate the bloody hell out of you, Jax, that’s what! With this single revelation, she has become your greatest weakness in one fell swoop, and you can ill afford to have one at this stage in the game. Damn it, you know that. You’re smarter than this.”

     “I don’t choose to see her as my weakness, Jerry; she is my happiness. She’s the girl that I’m in love with.”

     “Same thing,” Jerry groaned, getting agitated at the thought of a Warner once again besting a Jacks. Brenda wouldn’t do it deliberately, of course. But she was Jax’s weakness, damn it, no matter what he said. She could tip the scales in Warner’s favor without even knowing it. “You’ve got to try to detach yourself emotionally from her so that you can clearly see the big picture ahead. Come on, Jax. The truth is, those people are her family. Her family. She is one of them, Jax; she is part of them,” Jerry stressed.

     “She is part of me,” Jax countered quietly, forcefully. “Look, you’re wasting your time and mine if you’re going to stand out here and try to talk me into giving her up. I won’t do it,” Jax said with finality, as he got to his feet and headed back up the hill towards the house.

     “Wait. Jax, wait,” Jerry called after him. “I’m sorry.” He caught up to his younger brother as Jax entered the house. “I’m sorry,” Jerry repeated. “I was just being bloody selfish. I apologize. I guess I just didn’t want to let Warner off the hook.”

     “He’s not getting off any damned hook,” Jax promised. “This changes nothing, Jerry. That despicable, old man is going down. I promise you that.”

     Jerry sat down at the kitchen table while Jax poured himself a glass of water.

     “Brenda could seriously complicate that master plan of yours to topple Warner World,” Jerry said, “We might hate that egomaniacal, old clod, but for all we know she could worship the ground he walks on,” Jerry pointed out. “Then what are you gonna do?”

     “She doesn’t even know him,” Jax said. “She has no idea she’s related to him. She has no idea Veronica Barrett isn’t even her mother.”

     “Who is her mother?” Jerry asked, just curious.

     “You know how V’s always spouting off her useless movie trivia to anyone within hearing distance?”

     “God, yes, ”Jerry groaned.

     “Well, this time it wasn’t so useless, after all,” Jax said. “V told me once that Brenda looks a lot like some American film actress who never gained any fame here but was well known in France. Her name was Grace Fillmore.”

     “Fillmore…” Jerry said. “The mother of those four cretins?”

     “The mother of Brenda, too,” Jax said. “And the daughter of Will Warner. I had some of the reels sent to me from the film company. God, Jer, Brenda looks just like her. It’s an amazing resemblance. One look at Brenda and that control freak would know the truth, no question. Anyway, that’s why he held that obscure, seemingly worthless, little film company so near and dear, Jerry. It belonged to his deceased daughter.”

     “Wow. Major coup for you,” Jerry said, even more impressed with the acquisition of this company now. “You are golden, little brother. In fact, if anyone can juggle holding on to the love of his life while knocking her son-of-a-bitch grandpa to his knees, it’s you.”

     “Well, I’ve been thinking,” Jax said, pulling out a chair and straddling it backwards. “I shouldn’t have to juggle anything. Because I have every intention of getting Brenda to love me the way that I love her, Jerry.”

     Jerry waved a dismissive hand in the air, “She already does.”

     “Maybe. Maybe not. But my point is that she will. She will love me the way that I love her, which means she’ll love me enough to do anything for me the way I would do anything for her. She’ll understand why I have to do what I have to do. She’ll understand, and so she won’t try to stop me. I’m suddenly sure of it.”

     Jerry wasn’t so sure of it. Women could get so emotional over the weirdest things. Like family. But he nodded in agreement anyway, hoping Jax was right.

     “So your wedding plan schedule continues as planned, despite this revelation?” Jerry guessed.

     Jax tapped his fingers on the back of the chair. “Not exactly. I’m moving it up. I’m moving everything up.”

     “You’re worried that Warner may discover his connection to her and her connection to you, and pull something?”

     “He’d rather literally be drawn and quartered than have her married to me,” Jax pointed out the obvious.

     “Yeah, but how could he prevent it?”

     Jax shrugged. “I don’t know. But he’d probably find a way, given enough time; I know if I were in his shoes, I would find a way. So I’m just going to make sure that if and when he finds out about Brenda it’ll be too late for him to do anything to take her away from me, because we’ll already be married.”

     “Wait… So how far up are you moving this timeline then?” Jerry queried. “I know you had originally moved it up from after her college graduation, to after her first year of college was completed.”

     “We’ll be married before this year is ended,” Jax said. “Engaged over the summer; married a couple of months later - Maybe October or November. Brenda will be six months past eighteen then, and no one can stop her or talk her out of it. It’ll be around the time of the holidays, so UCLA will be on break and that leaves time for the honeymoon and moving into our new place and everything,” Jax explained, obviously having already thought it all out.

     “I’ve got a friend in New Delhi, who’s a hypnotist, who can make sure she gives you the answer you want,” Jerry offered.

     Jax smiled. “She’ll give me the answer I want.”

     “All right, but the hypnotist offer still stands, if you change your mind. Now, I have a few things to tell you, baby brother. First and foremost, even though you blew off the shareholders meeting, I went ahead and put the matter of Uncle Milt’s termination as CEO on the table. As you predicted, the board was receptive to it, and also as you predicted, Uncle Milt had his own replacement all picked out. He submitted his name; I submitted yours. Katherine seconded the motion. So did Danielle Barrington, by the way, so I think you’ve already got one board member in your corner.”

     Jax wasn’t surprised to hear that. Danielle Barrington was the 28-year-old granddaughter of Gregory Barrington and had been voting her grandfather’s proxy for the past two board meetings. She had also had her eyes glued to Jax during those two board meetings.

     “It gets put to a vote between you and Ken Seckler at the next board meeting in six months. So you have until July to win over those seven board members you need to ensure victory. And once you’re got the CEO title, Jax, Warner World is as good as demolished rubble under our boots.”

     Jax smiled slowly, because this was very true. “Don’t worry, I’ll get the votes,” Jax said, already plotting strategy on just how to ensure that.

     “Okay. And now the other thing I have to tell you… well, actually ask you… is… Are you available this weekend for a job?”

     Jax’s eyes lit with curiosity. “What kind of job?”

     “Best man. My best man, to be exact.”

     Jax blinked. “What?”

     “Jax, I’m getting married.”

     “What?”

     “Holly and I,” Jerry said.

     “Okay, hold it. Holly Sutton? Is she not engaged to someone else? That pilot?”

     “Well…not any longer. Do you remember that I told you that I ran into Holly at the JE New Year’s Eve party?”

     “Yeah.”

     “Well, I probably neglected to mention that we spent the night together.”

     “You did neglect to mention that.”

     “Well, as it turns out that night had some incredible ramifications.”

     “Obviously. Her wedding is off.”

     “I’m going to be a father, Jax,” Jerry blurted out and suddenly looked pale.

England…Friday afternoon

     “Try this Brenda,” Father John suggested. “Aim as far away from the target as you can, and you’ll probably actually end up hitting it.”

     Brenda grinned. “Very funny.”

     “Try it,” he insisted.

     “Or you could just take up soccer instead,” Father Andrew piped up.

     “Why? When I’m so good at archery,” Brenda teased, pulling her bow back and letting her arrow fly.

     “What a lovely miss,” Father Andrew said, applauding. “I give it a 9.5 for inaccuracy.”

     “Thank you, Father Andrew,” Brenda bowed. “But it wasn’t a miss. I was actually aiming for that knapsack. Really.”

     The two priests laughed and so did Brenda. As they moved on, Brenda went to retrieve her wayward arrows. She returned to the spot she’d left and slid her jacket beneath her, sat down on it and pulled out her lap top computer. She opened it up, turned it on and began to compose an e-mail to Jax, filling him in on the latest happenings with this recording contract thing. She ended her note by saying ‘I think I know what I want to do, but I want to talk to you about it first. Since I lost my phone privileges for the next two weeks due to that Jell-O-tossing fiasco with that girl, Tanith, I told you about, could you call me here this weekend? P.S. As usual I can’t exactly stand it here, and I really, really miss you.’

     The sky has lost its color
     The sun has turned to gray
     At least that’s how it feels to me
     Whenever you’re away
     I curl up in a corner
     As I watch the minutes pass
     Each one brings me closer to
     The time when you’ll be back
     You’re comin’ back

     I can’t take the distance
     I can’t take the miles
     I can’t take the time until the next time I see you smile
     I can’t take the distance
     And I’m not ashamed
     That I can’t take a breath without saying your name

     “Hey, ugly American, what are you doing?” Tanith Webster and the flock of snobs that always followed her around were around Brenda in a semi-circle, as Brenda pressed the send button and then shut off her computer and closed it.

     “Get a life, Tanith,” Brenda said.

     “Oh, I’ve got one. And I’ve also got a date to the senior dance. Something you don’t have, do you?”

     The other girls snickered.

     “Not that anyone is surprised by that,” Tanith said. “You couldn’t pay a bloke to take you anywhere.”

     “I heard nobody even asked her,” Roslin Hammond said. “Not even the groundskeeper’s bucktoothed son.”

     “You can always beg carrot-stick-and-bones to take you,” Tanith said sweetly. “The two of you do make a lovely couple.”

     Brenda sighed. “I think he’s holding out for you, Tanith. Oh, and by the way, I really do regret to inform you that I was asked to the senior dance. But I happen to be involved with someone and not interested in anyone else, so I declined all the invitations, for your information.”

     “Oh, stuff!” Tanith scoffed. “Nobody bloody well asked you, yank, and we all know it. Your lies are just so blooming pathetic.”

     “No Tanith, you, are just so blooming pathetic,” Brenda said, mimicking her nasal voice and accent. “What I am is extremely happy, actually. Because I happen to have in my life someone so special and so… just… absolutely magnificent, that frankly nothing you or your trained seals over there could possibly say to me could possibly bother me. Furthermore, I now know that your incessant need to harass me is merely an attempt to deal with your own misguided envy and to try to mess with my self-worth to make you feel better. I hate to rain on your parade by telling you it’s not working, but… it’s not working.”

     Tanith turned red with anger. Normally Brenda either ignored their jibes or would retaliate by “accidentally” nicking them with her arrows and blaming it on her terrible aim. She always got into trouble over that, of course, which was what Tanith was trying to goad her into now, but Brenda was not biting.

     “Just look at you,” Tanith said, looking her nose down at Brenda with her best sneer of distaste. “No man would ever want you. You are short, your hair puts me in mind of a mass of weeds, and you are simply the ugliest creature any of us have ever seen,” she declared. “Why those eyes of yours are positively freaky!”

     Brenda blinked her ‘freaky’ eyes innocently. “Do you mind? You’re putting me into a coma here.”

     “Anyone who tells you you’re beautiful simply lies to you!” Tanith stated, annoyed that her insults were rolling right off Brenda’s back and not inciting the girl to her usual retaliatory measures that would get her into trouble with the headmistress.

     “There’s only one person whose opinion on that subject matters to me,” Brenda informed her. “And he happens to think I’m beautiful,” she announced softly, with a little smile that infuriated Tanith because it was so beautiful. She really did look like a bloody angel, she thought sourly as she recalled how the boys at Drew Marsten Military Academy, two blocks away, were constantly overhead gushing about how unbelievably beautiful the American girl was.

     “He must be a blind man then,” Roslin said.

     “Desperate, too,” Molly Ward added with a snicker.

     “Imaginary is more like it, gals,” eighteen-year-old Tanith said with a mean smile. “She’s obviously completely making up this whole mystery boyfriend nonsense. How sad that you need to resort to such things, yank.”

     “Tanith! Quit bothering with that little nobody,” Sheriden Flanders said, as she came running up to the group of girls who were unsuccessfully trying to goad Brenda into a temper. “You’ve got to come and see this! The most gorgeous man on earth was just spotted on campus over by Landsbury Hall! Oh, he’s simply divine! Viv and I saw him, and I told her to stay there and keep track of him while I got the rest of you, so come now! Leave the little nobody over there to chat with her only friend, the computer, and let’s go!”

     The girls immediately squealed in anticipation of seeing an attractive man. They knew he had to be extraordinary because Sheridan Flanders was the picky of the pickiest. She was as shallow as they came and was only interested in looks and sex appeal above all else when it came to the opposite sex.

     Brenda watched them as they took off running in the direction where the man had been spotted.

     “Ha, the most gorgeous man on earth, my foot,” she murmured. Jax held that title. This must be some other most gorgeous man on earth. All at once she began to pack up her archery equipment with haste. There was no other most gorgeous man on earth! She got to her feet and scrambled after the other girls, leaving her jacket behind in her haste.

     She was out of breath by the time she found them, all huddled by the enormous weeping willow tree by Dame Agnes Pond, staring at someone just on the other side, who was obviously approaching. Brenda tried to see over their heads, but being petite as she was, there were several girls whose heads she could not see over and once they realized it was her behind them, they made no move to be accommodating and move aside to let her see. Brenda was sorely tempted to shove them into the cold pond.

     The girls were babbling incoherently, as they gushed and squealed over the person who had their full attentions.

     “Hey, wait a minute. I know him!” Elsa Woodward said on a gasp. Then she turned to look at Brenda and then turned to Tanith and whispered. “I had to stay at Miss Tillery’s this holiday and Brenda was there. That is until he came and took her away. That’s him, Tanith. He’s the one who came to get her. His name is Jax. And I think Miss Tillery said he was Brenda’s sister’s fiancé,” Elsa concluded.

     “Her sister’s fiancé, you say?” Tanith whispered back. “I’ll just bet you that the yank is going to try to pass him off as this mystery boyfriend she was talking about.”

     “Let her try,” Elsa snickered. “I know who he really is, and I wasn’t the only one there at the time. Let her put her foot in her mouth, and we can all have a good laugh when we let her know we know exactly who he is!”

     Brenda gave up trying to push her way to the front to see. She placed her archery bag full of the arrows and her bow on the floor and arranged it as levelly as possible so she could stand on it.

     Although she could not see Jax, he could see her. He turned toward the nun who was escorting him around the grounds and told her he had found who he was looking for. He then maneuvered around and through the throng of girls until he was actually behind Brenda, who was too concentrated on what she was doing to notice the hush that had fallen over her schoolmates. She smoothed out her archery bag and eyed it critically to make sure she wouldn’t stand on it and topple over.

     “Excuse me, lass,” Jax said, disguising his voice in a soft, Scottish brogue. “I’m lookin’ for the most beautiful girl in the world. You didna happen to see her, did you?”

     “Well, what’s her name?” Brenda asked, turning around. She saw who it was and sprang to her feet, unable to suppress her shriek of delight. “Jax!”

     “Never mind. I found her,” he said as he scooped her into a close embrace.

     She laughed and hugged him tight. “Oh, I’m so happy to see you! What are you doing here?” she asked, thrilled.

     “Would you believe I was just in the neighborhood?”

     She shook her head, smiling beautifully at him. “Actually, no.”

     “Well, I was,” he said, still holding her, unwilling to release her; not that she was making any attempt to back out of his embrace either. She loved being held in his arms for one thing, and he was providing her with a delicious warmth from the cold, for another.

     Jax noticed that even in the shapeless, rather plain, Dame Agnes school uniform that all the school’s attendees were required to wear during classes, Brenda still looked absolutely beautiful. He also realized she was shivering in his arms.

     “Where’s your jacket?” he asked, already taking his off to place it on her.

     “I kind of got up in a hurry and left it behind, I guess,” she said, with an endearing shrug.

     “My Brenda, always in a hurry,” he said, as he slid his jacket over her, encasing her lovely body in its warmth.

     “Thank you,” she whispered. She gazed up at him, her hands on his chest, buried in the warmth of his sweater.

     She was dying to kiss him; he could tell by her positioning, her touch, the look in her beautiful brown eyes.

     “We’d give those nuns a heart attack,” he said softly, referring to the fact that their kisses were hardly sweet little pecks likely to go unnoticed by an audience.

     Brenda’s eyes sparkled at his words and at the fact that Jax was so attuned to what she wanted. She was actually amazed at her restraint, given the fact that he was standing right in front of her. She wanted to give him a most passionate hello indeed.

     “It might be worth it,” she said.

     “Oh, it would definitely be worth it,” he agreed. “But then we’d feel so guilty afterwards when we saw Sister Beatrice over there clutching her heart, gasping for breath and about to expire.” He was marveling at his own restraint because he wanted to literally ravish Brenda with kisses at this point.

     Brenda laughed. “Sister Beatrice is not a favorite of mine anyway,” she shrugged.

     Jax’s eyes widened slightly. “Brenda!” he said, a grin of devilish charm dancing enticingly on his lips.

     She laughed again. “Just kidding,” she assured him, patting his chest and admiring the sculpted hardness beneath his sweater. “I would not want to give the woman a heart attack, Jax. I promise.”

     “Believe me, if I kissed you right now the way I want to kiss you, she would have one.”

     That got another laugh out of her. “Okay, you really need to stop this. Because when you say things like that to me, you make it very difficult for me to give a hoot about Sister Beatrice’s heart.”

     Jax gave her a devastating smile. “When you look at me like that, you make it very difficult for me to even think.” He leaned closer to her. “Classes over for the week?” he asked. Her scent was heavenly.

     So was his. “Yes,” she responded, both feeling and sounding as breathless as if he had kissed her the way he’d told her he wanted to.

     He leaned even closer. “Then, want to spend the weekend in Scotland with me?”

     Her eyes lit up with delight. “Oh, I would love to do that! But the tyrants who run this school will give me the third degree and then probably deny my request to be off campus this weekend.”

     “They won’t,” he promised her. He cradled her face, his thumbs brushing against her cheeks. He bent forward and whispered into her ear “Trust me.” And he took the opportunity to brush the warmth of his lips against her ear as he lifted his head.

     He heard a pleasant, soft sound escape her lips, felt her fingers sink into his sweater, moving against his chest beneath, making him a little crazy. “I do trust you,” she said.

     “Good. Then you’d better go pack an overnight bag,” he said, turning her around in the direction of the housing facilities. If she didn’t move out of his reach soon, he was going to give into his mad desire to kiss her like crazy, he just knew it.

     She glanced back at him, their eyes locked. Then she forced the spell to be broken so she could continue on her way to the dorm. It was only then, when she had left the captivating magic of Jax’s presence that Brenda became aware of Tanith and the others; some with their mouths hanging open in blatant disbelief, others tightlipped, their eyes green with jealously.

     Brenda walked straight ahead towards her destination, watching Jax out of the corner of her eye as he went over to talk to Sister Beatrice and Headmistress Olive Bertlesberry. She noticed the girls were divided between following Jax’s every move and staring daggers at her. She just smiled gleefully to herself, too elated by Jax’s being there to care less what they thought or felt about her. She picked up her stride, impatient as ever, and finally raced the rest of the way back into her dorm to pack.

     The chilly winter wind picked up significantly, as Jax opened the door to the limo and allowed Brenda to scoot inside, with him quickly following her. Brenda was sorely tempted to roll down the window and wave an exaggerated bye-bye to Tanith and company, who were at the gates, staring at the car. But she cast them all out of her mind and turned her attention to the most gorgeous man on earth, who happened to be sitting right next to her, his thigh brushing against her leg.

     She glanced away from the window and into his eyes; found him looking right at her. Those blue eyes so intense, spectacular to behold. She gave him a smile. He returned the smile, as they stared at one another without saying a word. The air was electric between them. Then all at once Jax titled her chin up and bent swiftly towards her mouth just as she was leaning towards him - and their lips met in a passionate collision as the limo pulled away from the school.

     He covered her mouth with his own, drowning her in the wildness of his kiss. She felt such a beautiful need in him. Such a mesmerizing longing that matched her own.

     Such a belonging. I belong with you, she thought. Do you feel it too, Jax? Am I crazy? Am I too young to be feeling this way? Are we both too young? His intoxicating kisses swept away her questions, her thoughts. Brenda could not get over the pleasure coursing though her veins, the fact that he could always make her feel this way. His hand curved around her nape, his fingers stroking the sensitive skin as he held her in a position for him to deepen the kiss. His tongue was doing things to her that made her feel dizzy with desire. It was plunging and retreating and stroking and teasing and it was beyond marvelous.

     Wild pleasure jolted through his body, but he could feel it happening to her as well. His kisses were relentless, but no more so than her own. They were a match made in heaven, he thought. And when their endless kiss hello finally came to an end, Brenda felt nearly delirious, and she let out a little “mmmm” of female satisfaction, and then with a breathless laugh, collapsed dramatically onto his lap, gazing up at him and falling in love with that smile he was giving her. He was extremely grateful that her aim was such that she had not crashed into the stunning evidence of his deep desire for her, which would have been painful indeed. Damn, he really needed a long plunge in the freezing Loch at his uncle’s home. His entire body was quite overheated.

     She smiled back at him, still catching her breath, and then held up all ten fingers. “Perfect ten,” she said. “Your scores are remarkably consistent, you know,” she said, brushing her fingers against his throat.

     His smile was rakish. “Did you ever doubt they would be? I did tell you I had a particular talent for this,” he reminded her with a wink that made her whole body shiver with delight. “Of course, you are now putting me under a lot of pressure not to ruin my perfect record with you.”

     Her hand slid upwards further and curled into his hair; her eyes had never looked more beautiful than they did now with that dreamy expression on her face. “You won’t,” she said with certainty. “Do you know that your eyes turn a sort of a teal color when you’re... umm…”

     “Yes,” he said, softly. “So I’ve been told.”

     “Do mine change color?” she asked curiously.

     “The gold in your eyes absolutely sparkles,” he told her. “When you’re…”

     “Oh,” she said, cutting him off before he could say the word “aroused.” She certainly was that. And she knew he was, too. In her current position lying on his lap, it was impossible not to know that. She was absurdly flattered by his physical reaction to her, yet nervous, too. And excited. And scared. And thrilled.

     “You were absolutely right, you know,” she said, trying to divert the subject from potent sexual desires to something less exciting, less intoxicating, less titillating, and less rattling to think about. “Sister Beatrice would have gone into convulsions.”

     “At the very least,” Jax agreed, leaning down to kiss her quickly. “Would you happen to have packed anything that would be appropriate to wear to a wedding?” he asked her.

     “A wedding? Who’s getting married?” she asked.

     Jax longed to say, “We are,” and his lips quirked into a devilish smile at the thought of her reaction if he said just that. “My brother,” he told her.

     Brenda sat up, surprised. “Jerry? Jerry’s getting married? I had no idea he was even engaged to anybody.”

     “That’s probably because he wasn’t. His bride-to-be, in fact, was engaged to someone else. Anyway, Jerry is a nervous wreck about it all. I can only imagine that Holly is in much the same state.”

     “Holly would be the bride,” Brenda guessed.

     “Right,” Jax said, playing with her hair and thinking he wanted to wake up every day feeling this hair brushing against him, seeing it spilled across a pillow, spilled across his body. He halted those thoughts immediately, as they were having quite an effect on his body, which had only just returned to normal a few moments ago. “I was hoping that you and I could try to help make this a happy occasion for them. I think we have our work cut out for us to do that, but…”

     “Why do we have our work cut out?” Brenda queried. “Don’t they want to get married? Don’t they love each other?”

     “He loves her,” Jax said. “That’s the extent of my knowledge on their feelings.”

     “She must love him, too, Jax, if she wants to marry him,” Brenda said.

     “I don’t know, Brenda; there’s a reason they have to get married, uhh…”

     Brenda was shaking her head. “I’m sure it’s going to be fine. You’re right. You and I will make this a happy time for them. So where is the wedding going to be?”

      “At Sherring Cross,” Jax responded. “Just the bride, groom, you and me, Uncle Ian and the minister.”

     “Your sister won’t be there?” Brenda asked.

     Jax shrugged. “It’s very spur of the moment, like I said. She doesn’t even know about it.”

     “Wow,” Brenda murmured, laying back down on him. “So they’re basically eloping, in a way then.”

     “In a way,” Jax said, seeing how she might see it that way.

     “Kind of romantic,” Brenda said with a smile.

     “You think so?” Jax said skeptically, stroking her face and thinking nothing felt so good as touching her. Well, except maybe kissing her. He couldn’t even allow himself to think about what it would be like to passionately make love to her. It would only drive him extremely insane because he knew he couldn’t act on it…yet. “You’d prefer that to a big, lavish, gorgeous, obscenely expensive wedding, with all the accompanying crazy wedding hoopla, all your friends and family in attendance?”

     Brenda laughed and popped up for a moment to place a kiss on his lips. “Well, I’ve never really thought about it. But when you put it that way, I’d probably opt for the lavish wedding, I think. I mean it is supposed to be once in a lifetime.”

      Jax nodded, keeping that in mind.

     “I don’t think I have anything appropriate to wear to a wedding, Jax. Even an elopement. You and I should really dress up, you know. Uncle Ian, too. We could even put a bow tie on Edgar.”

     Jax quirked a blonde brow and grinned at her.

     She giggled. “Okay, forget Edgar. But my point is we have to make Jerry and Holly feel like this is a really special occasion,” Brenda decided.

     “Yes ma’am,” Jax said, winking at her. Then he picked up the limo intercom phone and instructed the driver to take them to Princes Street for an impromptu shopping spree.

     The wedding turned out to be quite lovely, due in no small part to Brenda’s enthusiasm over the event, which was bloody contagious. Before the ceremony, Brenda had taken a liking to Holly Sutton right away. Holly was a year older than Jax and petite, like Brenda, although a tad taller. She had dark curls, cut into a chic, short style. She was British and seemed to possess a similar, refreshingly forthright attitude like Jax. Only minutes before the wedding, Holly had casually asked Brenda to pass her a bottle of pre-natal vitamins that were sitting on the dresser.

     “Pre…natal? You’re…”

     “Pregnant,” Holly had supplied, patting her belly. “Jax didn’t tell you?”

     Brenda had shaken her head.

     “That’s Jax,” Holly said, “Such a gentleman. So rare a find these days. He is a prince among men, you know. Well, I’m sure you already realize that.”

     Brenda nodded. “So this is why you’re marrying Jerry?” Brenda had inquired; a little disappointed that it was not a love match.

     “Yes,” Holly had responded. “That, and the fact that I’m mad about the bloody louse,” she had added with a wink.

     Brenda had beamed at her, thrilled on Jerry’s behalf by that little disclosure. She really liked Jerry; she wanted him to be happy. She wanted Holly to love him, and Holly did. And Brenda couldn’t wait to tell Jax. It was then that Brenda’s enthusiasm for the nuptials had skyrocketed and rubbed off on everyone else, and it had been a lovely little ceremony after all.

     Afterwards Brenda had whispered to Jax that they should celebrate in a really fun way since there was no wedding reception. With a nod of agreement and a look of adoration at her for all she was trying to do to make this hasty wedding day special for his brother and Holly, Jax had run a few ideas past her. The foursome ended up going to a nightclub, although Brenda had been convinced that she would not be allowed in since her 18th birthday was still almost four months away. Jax and Jerry both assured her they could get her in anywhere, which turned out to be true as they entered the most posh nightclub in Edinburgh, which Brenda later discovered, Jax and Jerry owned. So they were afforded the snazzy VIP room upstairs, without question.

     They all had a great time, dancing and laughing until the wee hours. The couples finally parted at 2 a.m., as Jerry and Holly left for an impromptu honeymoon in Italy, a wedding gift from Jax (which had been Brenda’s brilliant idea, which Jax loved), and Jax took Brenda back home to Sherring Cross. While Jax showered and changed for bed, Brenda filled Uncle Ian in on the events of the night and how Jax was so amazing that he had even gotten a bakery to whip up a fancy, little wedding cake for the newlyweds in record time. She had then presented Uncle Ian with a large piece of that cake, which she had brought home for him, had kissed him goodnight and went upstairs to turn in. She hung around in the hallway, hoping to run into Jax so she could kiss him goodnight, but he didn’t emerge. And so, disappointed, Brenda climbed into the large bed in the same room she had used the last time she stayed at Sherring Cross. But once in the luxurious confines of the bed, she found that sleep eluded her.

     She finally climbed out of the bed and went downstairs for a late night snack and turned on the TV. Jax appeared moments later, as unable to sleep as she had been. He was amused to find her sitting Indian-style on the chair, a plate of cookies and a cold glass of milk sitting in front of her on the center table.

     Jax startled her a little by hopping over the couch, landing in a perfect sitting position opposite her.

     “Somebody can’t sleep, I see,” he teased her.

     She smiled with delight at his being awake, but flushed slightly because his pajama shirt was wide open and she’s never seen so much of him as now. “You must be referring to yourself,” she said. “Because I happen to be asleep. I am sleep walking, I’ll have you know.”

     Jax laughed and patted the couch for her to join him over there. She quickly got out of the chair she was in, picked up the cookies and milk, and carried everything over to where Jax was, setting them down.

     “What are you watching?” he asked her, taking a bite of a cookie she was offering him.

     Instead of answering that, she turned to him and said, “You were right, you know. I couldn’t sleep,” she confessed. “And do you know that I just realized why? It’s because it’s hard for me to fall asleep in the bed since I’ve always fallen asleep… well, basically right here on this couch - on you, actually,” she added with a laugh, “when I was here before.”

     Wordlessly, Jax stretched out on the couch and opened his arms to her, inviting her to continue their tradition. Brenda was momentarily too hypnotized by those amazing blue eyes to move. Then she was too arrested to move by the movement - poetry in motion - of the muscles as his body had shifted. But then she quickly scooted into his arms, lying down on top of him and sighing with absolute contentment as she lay her head against his bare chest and heard the mesmerizing sound of his heartbeat.

      “Perfect,” Brenda murmured.

      “Yes,” Jax agreed as he slowly tilted her chin up and kissed her. It was a quick, hard, no-nonsense, goodnight kiss, because Jax was very aware of the deliciously inherent danger of kissing her the way he truly wanted to while they were in this horizontal position, and given their undeniable attraction for each other. It was hard enough as it was trying to keep his hands off of her and behave himself. He swore he would rejoice like a madman once they were married and she was finally his. He adored her too much to take advantage of her own desires for him to have his way with her. His attraction to Brenda was not like his physical attraction to other women. She was glaringly special and wholly precious to him. And she was worth even the agony of waiting for a true wedding night before he ushered her into the world of sexual ecstasy with him. She could already have been ushered into that world by someone else, he admitted, but in his heart he knew she was an innocent when it came to actually experiencing the physical relations between a man and a woman. She had been kissed by two mere boys - kissed badly, at that. And that was the extent of her experience with intimacy. He was the one who had given her her first true taste of a passionate kiss, and he would be the first to introduce her to the rapture of making love, too.

     “We did good today,” she said, drawing him out of his thoughts, “with Jerry and Holly and the whole wedding. I think they really had a good time. I think they were actually happy.”

     Jax nodded in agreement. “I do think we did good,” he agreed. Her body shifted on top of his. He thought he was going to die.

     “Oh, Jax, I sent you an e-mail. It was about what I want to do about that recording contract. Can I tell you about it now?”

     “Of course you can,” he said, smiling over the sleepy sound in her voice. He was going to lose her to the allure of slumber soon.

     “I don’t want to do it,” she informed him. “The contract says I have to do at least two three-month tours a year, and I can’t be away from my family for that long.”

     Jax’s hands stroking her back and her hair felt so good, it was making her more sleepy. “Your family?” he said softly.

     There was a brief moment of silence. “And…you,” she confessed with a sigh of inevitability. “Okay, mostly you. I can’t be away from you for that long, Jax,” she insisted, unable to get rid of the picture of all those beautiful, worldly women flinging themselves shamelessly in this path. “And I don’t want to be.”

     “Oh,” he said, a spark of happiness at her sweet honesty racing through his blood stream. “I see,” he whispered, wrapping his arms more tightly around her.

     “And so what I’d like to do, with your help, is to renegotiate with them,” Brenda said, covering a yawn. “You know all about making and breaking all sorts of deals, Jax. You can help me with this, right?”

     “Sure. I’ll need to know what you want though.”

     “Okay,” her fingers curled absently in the blonde curls at the back of his hair and she tried but failed to stifle another yawn. She snuggled up in his arms and sighed because this felt so good and so right. She tilted her head up slightly, and her lips brushed his chin. “Thank you, Jax.”

     “You’re welcome, Brenda,” he said, kissing her forehead. A few moments of silence passed and he added: “Hell, you don’t have to thank me. I would do anything for you,” he said softly, before he could stop the words from spilling forth. He swore he had meant to say almost anything, because there was one thing he would not do. Not even for her. So why had he said anything? But whether she heard him or not, he would never know, as her soft, even breathing and the gentle rise and fall of her body, let him know that she was fast asleep.

     The following day Jax, Brenda and Uncle Ian all enjoyed a breakfast of Brenda and Jax’s experimental pancakes, with Uncle Ian declaring that the winner was Brenda’s pineapple double chocolate chip concoction, with honorable mention going to Jax’s blueberry-banana Reese’s Pieces creation.

     They spent the next half-hour cleaning up the mess the impromptu pancake cook-off had created, and then Jax took Brenda out to an exclusive ‘Exotic Car show’ on the pretense of just wanting to look and see what was coming out. Jax’s ulterior motive was that he wanted to watch Brenda closely and see if she went crazy over any of the cars. Once he saw the desired reaction on her face, he intended to buy the car for her and have it waiting for her when she came back to Beverly Hills this summer, to lessen the hurt and disappointment she was bound to feel upon learning what had become of her own car. Because Exotics were so costly and built in such small number, there was practically no way that Alexa could try to get a car like Brenda’s if Jax purchased it from here. In fact the silver-blue BMW would seem quite ordinary in comparison to any of the cars in this show.

     “Oh wow, Jax look at that one,” Brenda said, her eyes widening. “I’ve never seen anything like that! Have you?” Aha, the desired reaction at last. Jax noticed that while Brenda was busy staring at the car, everyone else appeared to be busy staring at her. He wondered if he would ever get used to the attention she drew. He knew that people found his own looks immensely appealing, and that he had a way of drawing attention himself due to them; but as Brenda pointed out to him, he really was oblivious to it. He was not, however, oblivious to the way men looked at her.

     “It’s an Aston Martin,” Jax told her, glancing at the sparkling silver sports car. “Extremely hard to find. Made in very limited number. Like it?”

     “It’s almost as gorgeous as you are,” she said.

     His laugh was soft. “Want it?”

     She laughed, thinking he was teasing her. “Yes, why I’ll just put that on my list, right next to my trip to Fiji,” she said, patting his chest.

     She was getting both, Jax thought. And she didn’t even know it.

     Since Jax had to get Brenda back on the Dame Agnes campus by 8 p.m., he arranged an early supper for them at a restaurant called O’Leary’s, which was owned by a friend of Jax’s named Malcolm O’Leary, who gave them one of the cozy, romantically lit, private dining rooms. He was delighted to see Jax and tongue-tied to meet Brenda. Brenda liked him right away and told Jax that he had great taste in friends.

     “You know,” she told him, as they were sharing their main courses, “I think Holly is the first person… well, besides you… who really is my friend. I really hit it off with her.”

     Jax nodded, smiling. “So I noticed.”

     Brenda took a sip of her iced tea and glanced up at him. “Did she say anything to you about me?”

     “She said you were heart-stoppingly beautiful, inside and out. And she said that I had better hold onto this one - meaning you. And I told her that I intended to,” Jax reported.

     Brenda’s smile lit up his heart. “You said that?”

     “I said that.”

     “Did you mean it?”

     “Yes.”

     “I intend to hold onto you, too, Jax,” she informed him, with such an adorably serious expression on her beautiful face. “That’s why I send you so many e-mails. I don’t want you to stop thinking about me when I’m not with you,” she explained. “If I could call you every day, I probably would. You’d probably hate that though.”

     “I would not hate that. But the fact is that I never stop thinking about you, Brenda. So you don’t have to worry about that.” He leaned across and brushed his lips against hers. “Now tell me the details of this Jell-O tossing war you had with this Tanith person that cost you your phone privileges…”

     “Why? Are you going to exact revenge upon her for me?” Brenda asked with a sneaky little laugh.

     He sent her a slow wink. “I just might.”

     She moved the candles off of the table and onto another table and leaned in close to him across the table as the music from the restaurant intercom piped into the room. “I just might kiss you,” she said.

     He leaned across, too, so that they were in very close proximity. “Now?”

     “Yes.”

     He brushed his fingertips beneath her chin. “I just might let you.”

     She laughed. “Well, I just might not kiss you after all.”

     “Well, I just might insist that you do.”

     “Well, I just might…”

     “Brenda?” he interrupted her.

     “Yes, Jax?”

     “Kiss me,” he whispered. But then he couldn’t wait the half-second before her lips reached his, and he kissed her instead. His mouth taking hers in an endless, drugging kiss that sent her senses reeling on contact. Keeping her lips sweetly captive beneath the passionate assault of his, he slowly rose from the table, Brenda following, completely under his spell. And she found herself in his arms, pressed intimately against his body. Swaying slowly to the music, their lips never parting. Her arms immediately reached up to twine around his neck as her lips parted for him and their increasing ardor made her feel as if she were floating away on a cloud of bliss. His fingers were interlocked at the small of her back forcing their bodies into a heady proximity that was overwhelmingly wonderful. His mouth opened seductively over hers and she stumbled right into heaven then, swearing her feet were not touching the ground. Her fingers slid up and slowly, sensuously, entwined in his hair as her heart soared and her hormones went positively berserk.

     They try to tell us we’re too young
     Too young to really be in love
     They say that love’s a word
     A word we’ve only heard
     And can’t being to know the meaning of

     He kissed her long and lingeringly, tasting her lips as if truly savoring each moment. Her responses to his kisses were so warm and eager that Jax, as usual, felt his heart just melting. He could never have imagined that any woman - let alone a girl on the verge of womanhood - could have so completely stolen his heart like this.

     And yet we’re not too young to know
     This love will last though years may go
     And then someday they may recall
     We were not too young at all

     The slow, incredibly erotic tempo of their kisses combined with the slow, jazzy tempo of the music was thoroughly intoxicating. Jax’s tongue sensuously parted her lips again and again; slipped between them for one arousing taste, then withdrew, only to hungrily, urgently plunge back in to taste her again. And Brenda was doing much the same to him. She was literally becoming weak in the knees; the kisses were so extraordinary. She heard herself making little sounds of wonder as she tried not to be as thrillingly, vibrantly aware as she was of his body against hers, of her body’s reaction to him. Of the overpowering need throbbing inside of her. All she knew was that Jax’s kisses were the kind of kisses women died for; the kind that a woman wouldn’t break away from even if the flames of hell itself were licking at her feet. And she never wanted this to end.

     Brenda was completely lost in this passionate wonder and she was taking Jax right along with her. He felt his control more tenuous than ever, felt his fingers unlock from behind her and his hands sliding up her back, then back down over her bottom, then up over her hips, moving slowly upwards, headed towards a coveted destination. It was nearly the literal death of him to stop. But stop he did, frankly amazed that he had the willpower to put the breaks on so intensely passionate a moment.

     The room was silent, save for the music and their labored breathing. Brenda had her head bowed against his chest and then turned her face to the side so that her face rested against his thundering heart. She was feeling an odd sensation of panic, as she became perfectly aware of how much she wanted Jax to make love to her. Make love. Have sex. Be physically intimate with each other. Ha! She didn’t know the first thing about it! And Jax had been with women - experienced women, who surely knew how to please him and thrill him and entice him and satisfy him and take him to all sorts of incredible sensual heights that made him want to come back for more. Could she do that? Inexperienced little she, who only knew the mere basics from biology class? She wanted to groan in frustration. She didn’t even have anyone she could talk about this with. Surely not her father, who, while seeming to accept her feelings for Jax, would likely do an about-face if he learned of her raging desire to make love with the man. And she couldn’t talk about this with her grandmother either. Her grandmother was still trying to convince her that all she felt for Jax was a passing infatuation. She’d never comprehend Brenda wanting that level of intimacy with someone who her grandmother expected would be out of her life shortly. Plus, discussing sex with her grandmother was not something that filled Brenda with any expectations except trepidation and some embarrassment.

     Then it came to her. Holly! She could talk about this with Holly when Holly and Jerry got back from their honeymoon in two weeks.

     Relieved, she relaxed against Jax, which put her in direct contact with his arousal and sent her thoughts scattering once more.

     “We have to get going if I’m to get you back in the time I promised Mrs. Bertlesberry,” Jax reminded her. His voice sounded funny to him. Hoarse and almost pained. Well, he was rather in pain of sorts. Once again, he thought of the relief he would find in jumping into the freezing loch at Sherring Cross.

     He got Brenda back to school with five minutes to spare. They shared a tender, passionate goodbye before she got out of the limo.

     “Jax?” she said, when he’d opened the door for her.

     “Yes?”

     “I’m not going to see you for a while, am I?”

     Jax squatted down in the limo doorway and cupped her face. “No,” he said. “I have something of extreme importance to take care of, Brenda. It involves my getting appointed as CEO of my father’s company, and it entails my having to wine-and-dine and BS some of the board members into giving me their votes. It’s going to consume a lot of my time, and I don’t think I’ll be able to see you for a while.”

     She nodded. “I understand.”

     But she seemed so sad. “I won’t forget you,” he said, thinking she might need the reassurance. Hell, he needed it, too. And so he waited for her to echo his words.

     “Ditto,” she said, wrapping her arms tightly around him.

     He kissed her cheek, trailing kisses along her face until he found her lips and gave her a long, amorous kiss. He wanted to leave her with an ‘I love you,’ but knew he couldn’t do that yet. Soon. But not now.

     He held out his hand and helped her out of the car, and they stood there gazing at one another. They had an audience at the gate now, so Brenda knew she would get no more kisses. She thought she could certainly get away with a kiss on the cheek though. And so she stood on her toes and pressed her warm, soft lips to Jax’s cheek as he slid his arms around her for a hug good-bye that was clearly an intimate embrace to the onlookers, however.

     “Jax, I just want you to know,” Brenda whispered quickly before she lost her nerve, “that no one has ever made me feel the things you make me feel. No one has ever made me feel…happy like this.”

     His heart melted into a puddle. “Brenda I, lo-”

     But she was already pulling away and waving good-bye, not having heard any of his response. Which was a good thing, he realized, sighing. It was too soon. His impatience was going to spell disaster if he didn’t watch it. She was almost there, he thought with a smile as he got back into the limo. She was almost his. He knew that she was slowly falling in love with him, as surely as he knew his own name.

     He sat in the limo, watching her pass through the throng of nosy classmates as she walked back towards her dorm. God, he missed her already, he realized with some shock and a bit of annoyance at his ever-increasing desire to have her with him always. Did he have no self-control anymore?

     I still believe in feelings
     But sometimes I feel too much
     I make believe you’re close to me
     But it’s never closer enough

     I can’t take the distance
     I can’t take the miles
     I can’t take the time until the next time I see you smile
     I can’t take the distance
     And I’m not ashamed
     That I can’t take a breath without saying your name

     A week later Jax was sitting in his office, having just gotten off the phone with Harlan Barrett after making an appointment to see him later on that evening, when V rang him on the intercom.

     “There’s someone here to see you, Mr. Jacks. His name is Peter Ashton, he says he’s related to Ned, but… hey! You can’t go in there!” Jax heard V yelling just as his door opened and a man walked inside.

     Jax took one look at him, the chestnut brown hair, the eyes eerily similar to Brenda’s, and knew who he was immediately.

     Jax swore silently, as he did a quick scan around his office to make sure no photographs of Brenda were about. Then he got up from behind his desk, blocking the man’s further entrance into his office and letting him know his stay would be a short one.

     “Okay, so which utterly useless Fillmore are you? And what the hell are you doing so much as setting foot in this building?” Jax demanded.

     Steven Fillmore smirked over Jax’s insult. “I’m Steven, Jasper. You don’t mind if I call you Jasper, do you?”

     “If you don’t mind losing a few teeth, I don’t mind if you call me Jasper,” Jax said.

     Steven decided that inciting his adversary was not a good way to kick things off right now. Especially when the adversary was six-foot-two, athletically built and already hostile. “I’m here to take back what belongs to my family,” Steven informed him. “To bargain with you, that is,” he amended.

     “That company is not for sale,” Jax said dismissively. “Now, get lost.”

     “That company has great sentimental value to my grandfather, and no monetary value to speak of. And if you want DynaTech back, I suggest you make Parisian Productions available for sale posthaste, my friend,” Steven said smoothly.

     “First of all, I am not, nor will I ever be your damned friend,” Jax said. “Secondly, I don’t want DynaTech back,” he shrugged indifferently, making the nerve in Steven Fillmore’s cheek twitch, betraying his growing anger. “Clearly, not as desperately as you want that film company back. Let me ask you something, does your grandfather always send boys to do his groveling?”

     Steven’s laugh was without humor. “That might actually have wounded me if not for the fact that if I’m a boy, that would make you - what? - an infant? Or did it slip your mind that you’re younger than I am, junior? You see, you’re the only boy in this game, Jax. A boy trying to play in a man’s world where he doesn’t belong. A boy desperately trying to walk in daddy’s corporate raider footsteps. I would suggest you aim higher, because according to my grandfather, your father was not all that impressive. I’m frankly amazed your current CEO puts up with you. It must be your last name that keeps your job in tact, because it certainly isn’t your talent for acquisition, is it? Now, let’s cut the bull and discuss an exchange. I know you want DynaTech back, so don’t try to bluff me. And…”

     Jax was perilously close to smashing Brenda’s brother’s face into a wall. “I don’t want it back. And you are perilously close to serious bodily harm. Now, get out!”

     Steven’s frustration at Jax’s lack of cooperation began to seep though. “My grandfather wants Parisian Productions back, Jax. And he will get it!”

     “Tell him I’d like to see him try. And tell him to get you a hearing aid while he’s at it, since you seem to have a problem hearing me. I told you to get out. Or stay if you’d like,” Jax suggested, “I’ve always wondered how it would feel to throw someone out of my office window… While it was closed.”

     “You don’t know who you’re taking on,” Steven warned him, eyes flashing angrily, gold chips coming alive with that anger. And it was then that Jax realized that although Steven Fillmore’s eyes were very similar to Brenda’s, they were not nearly as beautiful as hers were.

     “No, you don’t,” Jax said. “But you’re about to find out. In ways you could not being to imagine.”

     “We’ll see about that,” Steven, red-faced with anger at his failure to acquire what he’d promised his grandfather he would, turned on his heel to leave.

     Jax came out after him and stopped at V’s desk. “Hey, V, tell the head of security I want to see him in my office immediately. I don’t know how that guy made it all the way up to this floor, but I don’t ever want that…” He stopped in his tracks as he noticed Steven Fillmore perusing the glass-encased bulletin board in the hallway while waiting for the elevator. Jax suddenly remembered that V and the other secretaries had put up photos from the New Years Eve party in that bulletin board. Brenda was in one of those pictures, as he recalled. Jax darted out into the hall and positioned himself directly in front of the picture of he and Brenda. “Do you need an escort?” Jax asked icily.

     Jax noticed a strange look on Steven Fillmore’s face. Had he already gotten a brief glimpse of the picture before Jax had blocked it? Enough of a glimpse to intrigue him? To startle him at seeing such a younger likeness of his mother?

     “No escort required,” Steven said, getting into the elevator.

     Jax gazed after Brenda’s half-brother, wondering if he’d seen enough to connect the dots; knowing that he’d know soon enough if he had.