The party was a rousing success and Brenda had never met so many elegant people, let alone so many attentive men, in one night in her entire life. By midnight she was dizzy from all of the dancing and all of the introductions and many of the people she had met were now just a blur of faces who’s names she had found impossible to remember. One she could not forget, however, was Amber Stanton who had been glued to Jax’s side ever since her arrival over three hours ago. She was as southern a belle as ever there was with a heavy accent, pretty auburn hair done in elegant spiral curls, wide light green eyes and a dash of red freckles across her nose. Brenda hated her on the spot.

     Why even now, there was Amber fawning all over Jax and laughing her head of rock hard red curls off. Was that the kind of woman Jax was attracted to? Yuck!

     Brenda suddenly felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned around to find a familiar looking man with auburn hair who’s name eluded her. But she was sure she had danced with him.

     “Hello, Brenda. Why are you hiding here behind this statue of Aristotle?” he asked.

     Brenda gazed at him, trying to put a name to the face to no avail. “Oh, I’m just taking a breather,” she explained.

     He smiled, nodding. “That’s certainly understandable. I think every man in this room has danced with you at least twice.”

     Every man except Julie’s brother Jax, she thought as her hazel eyes casually moved back towards where Jax and the laughing Amber were situated. She soon realized that it wasn’t just Amber who was following after Jax like a puppy dog, it was a clique of them actually - elegant looking full bodied women with their hair full of curls and their arms dripping with jewels. They hovered around Jax and his friend Devon like vultures. Brenda’s eyes narrowed in annoyance.

     “If you’re really tired you should be off your feet,” the man with no name said to her as without waiting for a response, he took her arm and led her over to one of the velvet chaise lounges. “Wait here and I’ll get you some champagne,” he offered as he went across to the bar area.

     Brenda smiled. Champagne? He must think she was older than her age, she realized laughing to herself. Finally, she would taste her first champagne. No sooner had Mr. No name left her, however, than a pack of men descended upon her asking for a dance, offering her refreshment, complimenting her dress, her eyes, her hair, the golden hue of her skin, babbling like brooks so that she could not understand any one of them. She looked around to try to find where Jax and his female fan club had moved off to, but they had disappeared into the sea of dancing bodies as the orchestra played a sizzling tango. She looked for Juliet and couldn’t find her either. A man pushed his way through the crowd of admirers surrounding her.

     “Here we are. One glass of champagne for the beautiful young lady,” no-name said as he handed her the glass.

     Brenda eagerly accepted it when all at once a hand from behind and above her took the glass out of her hand.

     “Bad girl,” a sexy, familiar voice whispered into her ear. “You know you’re not technically old enough to drink that.”

     She felt her whole body tingle at his nearness and her heart began to race. Brenda stood up, turned around and saw Jax, who had his gaggle of women in tow. She crooked her finger at him, requesting he come a little closer. He leaned forward and she tip toed to whisper to him “Please don’t embarrass me in front of Mr. No name over here, and these women, by telling everybody how old I am,” she asked of him. “They think I’m older.”

     He smiled that sexy warlock smile of his and she felt her heart skip a beat.

     “Mr. No name?” he asked laughing softly. And then he saw his neighbor, Dr. Chad Stanton, watching the two of them carefully. “Oh, are you referring to Chad?” Jax asked.

     “Is that his name?” Brenda whispered.

     “Yes. Dr. Chad Stanton. He’s Amber’s brother. You’ve met her, haven’t you?”

     “Yes,” Brenda said unenthusiastically. “Are you going to embarrass me Jax?” she repeated.

     “You’re too young to drink this.”

     “That’s ridiculous. And anyway I was only going to taste it.”

     “I’m sure the good Dr. Chad would like that very much.”

     “What are you talking about?” she whispered as everyone around them regarded them with much curiosity and the women who were tailing Jax like moths on a lamp regarded Brenda with much distaste. The physical chemistry was flowing wildly between them and it was impossible not to notice it.

     “Brenda, you have no idea what drinking champagne will do to you. You’ve clearly never had any before and it could affect you in a number of ways, one of which is to make you very, shall we say, compliant.”

     “Don’t be ridiculous. And how do you know I’ve never had champagne before?”

     “Perhaps by the way you went for it like a kid breaking into the cookie jar. Would you like to continue this conversation out on the dance floor? That is, if you even know how to dance.”

     “Of course I know how to dance.”

     “Well then, let’s go,” he said sliding his hand into hers and ignoring the sparks he felt at the contact as he led her through the energetic crowd and onto the dance floor where everyone was doing a bang up tango.

     Brenda froze. Tango? She didn’t know how to do the tango! Oh her and her big mouth!

     Jax regarded her with amused eyes. “You’re looking a little pale, my young Venus,” he said as he led her to the very center of the floor.

     “Here?” she panicked. “Why are we stopping here? Let’s go to that corner over there, please.”

     “And hide your amazing dancing feet from everyone? I think not.”

     She wanted to kill him! “I . . .I . .”she stammered.

     “You what? You can’t dance?”

     “Of course I can dance!”

     “Then what’s the problem?”

     Brenda sighed. “Look, I can dance, all right? Just not to a Tango. I’ve never done that before.”

     “Well you should have thought of that before you dragged me out here,” he murmured, brushing his fingertips beneath her chin and liking the way he felt her quiver beneath his touch.

     “Before I dragged you out here?” she asked incredulously.

     He laughed softly in response.

     “Jax, I can’t tango. Can we please go sit down now?” she pleaded taking his hand in an attempt to drag him off of the dance floor.

     “I’ll show you how,” he told her. “It’s not really difficult. Even Arnold Schwarzeneggar learned how to do it in one of his movies.”

     “Well why don’t you dance with him then?”

     He grinned. “He’s not available. But you are,” he said, pulling her into his arms.

     “No, I can’t. I really can’t do this,” she shook her head mortified to think of herself trying to tango and stepping all over his feet, winding up on her backside and having his gaggle of women laughing at her. “I can’t do this. Just let me go okay?” she said.

     He let go of her hand. “That’s too bad,” he said, holding her captive with those ocean blue eyes of his. “I thought you were as impetuous as I was.”

     “I am, but . . .”

     “Well then let’s go. Take a chance, little goddess. You might actually enjoy yourself,” he told her with a sly grin.

     She swallowed. “You just want me to make a fool of myself,” she accused.

     “Maybe,” he conceded. “Or, maybe I just want a reason to feel you close against me . . .” he said with a seductive gaze teasingly meant to elicit some reaction from her.

     She thought she would drop dead on the spot and she knew she was blushing even through her tan. Why did his words affect her this way? She knew he was only teasing and yet . . .

     He took her hand in his again. “Come on, Brenda. It’s not major surgery; it’s just the tango. You’ll like it, you’ll see.”

     She looked at him, still speechless from what he had said before about wanting a reason to be close to her. Then she looked around at the others who were tangoing. God, she was going to make a fool of herself, all right. But it might be worth it to be that close to him for a little while.

     She moved into his arms. He felt and smelled like heaven to her. “If you step on my foot on purpose, I’ll probably have to kick you,” she warned him, feeling all jittery. Must she always become such a bungling jangle of hormones and nerves in this man’s presence? And why on God’s green earth was everyone staring at them?

     “Just relax,” he told her. The seductive quality of his voice made her want to melt. He held one of her hands in his while the other hand was snugly about her waist holding her body closely to his. She prayed she would not pass out but her pulse was beating so fast she had no idea what would happen to her. “Breathe” she heard him saying. “Brenda, you have to breathe, I really don’t want to be dancing with a corpse, if you don’t mind.”

     She looked up at him and then realizing she had been holding her breath, she let it out with a laugh. “Sorry,” she said, still laughing.

     He twirled her around several times and to her shock she didn’t fall once, although she did feel slightly dizzy. Whether it was from the fast paced, sensual movements of the dancing or being so close to one so devastatingly attractive, she could not tell.

     “Oh, that was nice,” she said smiling.

     “Wasn’t it though?” That smile of hers was something else, he thought as he tried not to let it get to him. Far from making a fool out of herself, she picked up on the movement of the tango with amazing ease and was dipping and twirling with the best of them in no time. Her pretty laughter escaped her lips, giving away how much fun she was having.

     John and Janet passed them in mid-twirl and John shouted out “Everybody mambo! Mambo, mambo, mam-bo!”

     Brenda’s eyes flew open as she looked at Jax and the music changed to a very upbeat Latin flavor.

     “Mambo?” she moaned. She was just getting the hang of this tango thing for goodness sake!

     Jax just flashed her a grin and took her in his arms spinning her around the floor until she was laughing and breathless, and getting her into the mambo swing within seconds.

     Juliet stood with Devon and Justin, watching Jax and Brenda in fascination.

     “She’s going to get him,” Justin predicted.

     “No way,” Devon said laughing.

     “My money’s on Brenda,” Juliet said taking out her purse.

     Niles floated by with the desert cart and stopped in front of them. “Are we taking bets on whether Miss Brenda can give Master Jax a run for his money?” he asked.

     “Yep,” Justin said. “You in Niles?”

     “Fifty dollars on the young lady,” Niles said.

     Jerry ventured by and saw what was going on. “My money is on the heartbreaker. Put me in for $200.”

     His wife looked at him in shock. “Jerry! You guys are betting on whether Jax and Brenda are going to . . . get together?”

     “No,” Justin explained. “We’re just betting on what kind of an impression Brenda will make on him.”

     “Whether or not she can rattle his chains,” Devon chimed in.

     “Whether or not she can hold his interest,” Jerry added bluntly. It was well known that no woman could hold Jax’s interest for very long at all.

     “Oh,” Joanna nodded. “Well then, shouldn’t you be betting on Brenda? It seems to me that she’s holding his interest just fine.”

     Anyone could see that Jax and Brenda were having a ball as he tried to show her certain tricky steps and they would both get so excited when she got them right.

     “Everybody conga!” Lady Jane shouted out as the music changed once again and everyone formed the conga line. Brenda was once again breathless and laughing. She had never had so much fun in her life! And to think she had almost been too chicken to try this. But Jax hadn’t let her chicken out, she thought gazing at him and feeling her heart doing ridiculous somersaults. She thought he was just amazing.

     Chad was watching Jax and Brenda from the sidelines somewhat jealously. She had certainly not been that animated and flirtatious dancing with anyone else this evening.

     “Excuse me,” he said to the group he was with as he walked over to Jax and Brenda and tapped Jax on the shoulder. “Hey Jax, mind if I cut in? You’ve been monopolizing the lovely lady for three whole dances now,” Chad said smiling his toothy smile and turning on his southern charm.

     Brenda just knew that Jax would politely decline Chad’s request. They were having too much fun, after all.

     “Sure,” Jax said, stepping aside so that Chad could move in.

     The look Brenda gave him made Jax laugh softly as he walked away.

     He did it to me again! She realized. Round 1 and now round 2 were his to claim victory.

     She watched as Jax was ambushed by Amber Stanton who’s frilly laughter made Brenda wince and want to scream. Chad felt her tense up in his arms.

     “Are you all right? Do you have a cramp?” he asked her. “You must be exhausted what with the way Jax dragged you out here when you obviously didn’t want to dance.”

     “He didn’t drag me,” Brenda said far more defensively than she had intended. It just seemed natural to her somehow to defend him, although she couldn’t imagine why she would ever want to defend that man. “I’m sorry,” she apologized, “but really, Jax didn’t force me at all. I wanted to do it and . . I had a great time,” she said wistfully as she watched Jax once again the prisoner of his admiring groupies and not even bothering to give her a backwards glance.

     “Yep, Jax is a wild one and that can be a lot of fun,” Chad conceded, “but he’s quite the womanizer you know. You can’t take him seriously.”

     “Sure, I know that,” she lied.

     When the party was over and the catering staff was cleaning up, Brenda felt a sense of the bittersweet. Her first night in New Orleans had been wonderful and exciting and yet . . .something was missing. She looked around for Juliet and saw her at the door talking to Devon.

     Brenda walked into the hallway that led to the three spiral staircases. She found Jax there sitting on the middle staircase with that cling-on Amber pawing at him as she tried to entice him to go club hopping. Didn’t she think he’d had enough partying for one night? Brenda walked towards them.

     “Excuse me,” she said as she pushed past them to make her way up the stairs.

     Amber shot her a dark glance. “Irritable little child isn’t she?” she said loud enough for Brenda to hear.

     Brenda spun around. “I’m not a child!” she snapped.

     “She’s not a child,” Jax said at the same time, which made Amber laugh and made Brenda see red.

     “Jerk,” Brenda muttered under her breath as she went up the stairs.

     Jax watched her disappear on the second landing before he decided to pursue her, which made Amber very unhappy.

     Brenda was just stalking into her bedroom when Jax caught up to her. “What did you call me?” he asked her conversationally, falling into step with her.

     His nearness rattled her as usual and that just drove her mad.

     “Just go away, please,” she said as she attempted to slam her door in his face.

     He was laughing which only made her even angrier. “Brenda,” he said, “I know what’s bothering you.”

     “Yes, you’re still here,” she said.

     “You’re upset with me because I let Chad have you,” he told her.

     He thought she was going to reach across and choke the life out of him from the way her hazel eyes glittered with beautiful anger.

     “Have me? Oh you’re such a dolt, Jax!” she said.

     “You really should take it easy with the insults, you know. You only just met me today.”

     “Yes and I think I’m regretting it already. You know, I’ve decided that you’re worse than any plague known to mankind, Jax,” she announced, frustrated by the way her heart was racing with the moon just because he was merely standing there.

     He arched an eyebrow. “I’m worse than a plague? Since when?”

     “Since right now. Will you just go away?”

     “You’re banishing me from my own house?”

     “Just from my room,” she said. “Although . . .if I asked you to leave the house, would you do it?”

     “I see your moxy has returned,” he muttered.

     “It was never gone,” she informed him attempting to slam the door in his face again.

     “Glad to hear it. I’ve got a thing for your moxy,” he said winking at her. “Later,” he turned to leave depriving her of the satisfaction of slamming the door in his face.

     “Wait, you’re leaving?” she called to him, looking unhappy about that.

     “Wasn’t that what you wanted?” he asked, not turning around, just standing by the top of the stairs waiting for her to finish whatever it was she was going to say.

     “Yes, but I have something to tell you first. Can you please come back here?”

     “I can hear just fine over here.”

     Oh, the man was impossible!

     “I prefer not to shout, thank you,” she said tapping her fingernails against the doorframe impatiently.

     He gave into her request and walked back to the door. “What is it that you’d like to say to me?” he asked with a sigh as he leaned against the doorframe. “That I’m a jerk? That I’m a dolt? That I’m the worst plague known to mankind?”

     She lowered her head, but he saw her grinning because her dimples were showing.

     “A new insult to add to your growing list perhaps?” he asked, reaching out to push back the spiral curls that were once again falling into her eyes.

     “I just wanted to tell you that I had a really good time with you tonight, despite yourself,” she said. “So thank you for challenging me to dance with you - it was a lot of fun. And I don’t suppose I meant it when I called you the plague, or a jerk. But you are a dolt.” She decided, for only a dolt would fall for the antics of that Amber woman.

     “Just a dolt? Well, I suppose I can live with that,” he said. His eyes held hers and there was a moment of potent silence as they just looked at each other. “Here, this is for you,” he said reaching behind him and handing her a glass of champagne.

     “You’re actually allowing me to drink this?” she asked looking at him suspiciously.

     “Yes. Go right ahead.”

     She took a sip of the golden liquid. “Mmm!” she said, liking it.

     Jax said nothing as he watched her finish the glass in one gulp as if it were apple cider.

     “You see,” Brenda said, “I’m perfectly fine.”

     “Are you?”

     She felt very pleasant indeed, she thought. A bit dizzy she had to admit, but it was a very nice kind of dizzy. He was gazing at her and she felt flushed as emotions she had never experienced before filtered through her. She felt more of an attraction to him than ever and had no idea just how seductively she was regarding him.

     Seeing that the effects of the champagne were kicking in, Jax unexpectedly brought his lips gently down on hers jarring her entire body into attention with a kiss that was not remotely platonic. How she remained conscious was beyond her. To add to her shock she found herself kissing him back in a manner that made her the aggressor.

     For his part, Jax hadn’t meant for the kiss to get this much out of his control. He had only intended to kiss her and show her how compliant she would be in allowing his advances thanks to the effects of the champagne, but damn it if this girl wasn’t impossible to resist and her response to his kiss was something a flesh and blood man simply could not ignore. Oh well, what was done was done. He couldn’t take it back and wasn’t sure if he wanted to anyway.

     Jax broke the kiss and looked at Brenda to see if his impulsive actions had scared her witless. But the look in her eyes indicated no signs of fear, only a rather bold desire.

     That was his cue to go, he realized. Lesson over.

     “Don’t let the bed bugs bite,” he said walking away and trying to act as if he had just shaken her hand instead of fulfilled a secret wish she had been carrying around all night. She touched her lips and they still tingled from being in extended contact with his. She shut the door and leaned against it as her heart hammered inside of her chest.

     She knew she would be awake all night replaying the kiss in her mind while he would have undoubtedly already forgotten about it. He had kissed tons of women - a whole harem full. For all she knew it was something he did all the time and therefore had no real significance at all. She should just dismiss it as outrageous flirtation, much the same as he probably would.

     But she couldn’t.