This is an adaptation of Judith McNaught's novel, Double
Standards.
Secrets and Love
Chapter 3
Jax pulled into the driveway
in front of
Brenda heard the doorbell ring
at exactly six-thirty. Jax was very
punctual, she thought, a definite plus for him. She finished fastening her earring and ran down the steps to
answer the door. Pulling it open, she
gave him her most dazzling smile.
"Jax, hi! You're right on
time!"
He was having a hard time
breathing since the door opened to reveal the stunning beauty in front of
him. Dressed in a long, white
sleeveless dress, Brenda was a vision to behold. Her dark brown hair flowed freely down her back in a cascade of
waves. Her dress showed off her golden
skin to perfection. He struggled to
find the words to respond to her, "Hello, Brenda. You look…" he breathed again. "Fantastic," he finished
softly. He grinned and leaned down to
give her a light kiss on her cheek as he followed her motion to step inside.
She closed the door behind
him, having as much difficulty breathing at the sight of him as he was. His light-colored suit was cut beautifully
around his body. The burgundy of his
tie picked up the slightest bit of bold coloring that was needed to finish his
outfit off. "So do you," she
said in return. She led him up the
first flight of steps in the foyer and into the living room. Offering him a drink, she walked over to the
bar to pour it.
Jax sat casually on one end of
the couch and watched as she poured them both drinks. She walked back over to him and handed him his as she sat on the
other end of the couch. If he was
reading her right, she was as nervous as he was. He couldn’t quite find the words for casual conversation with
her. After a few minutes of awkward
silence, he said, "Well, we should be going."
"And where is it that we
are going?" she asked as she put her wrap around her shoulders and
followed him down the steps.
"I don't know if I should
tell you," he teased.
"Why wouldn't you?"
"Because I want to know
if you enjoy being surprised. Do
you?"
Brenda nodded, laughing. "I do, I'm just not very good at
it. It's the whole waiting thing that
gets me."
"I see. More the type for instant
gratification?" he asked as he opened the door to his Mercedes for her.
She slid into the sleek, gray
luxury car with a fleeting thought as to how he could afford a car like this on
his salary. "Only when it comes to
some things," she responded to his comment. "For others, I prefer them very long and very drawn
out." She had dropped her voice
lower and smiled very innocently at him as he closed the door and walked around
the car.
Before he got into the
driver's seat, Jax took several breaths of the cool night air. He was afraid the drive alone might end up
being too much for him to handle with her.
Fifteen minutes later, Brenda
asked again where they were going for dinner.
This time, Jax responded with more of an answer. "To a friend's. They're having a small gathering and asked
me to attend with a guest. I decided on
you." He flashed her a grin.
"How flattering,"
she replied. Inside, though, she
wondered if that meant he'd had other women to consider asking before he asked
her. For some reason, it disappointed
her to think so.
Another half an hour passed
and Brenda was beginning to wonder if they were going to
"Not much further, I
promise," Jax said as he concentrated on the increasingly winding road in
front of them.
As promised, ten minutes
later, he slowed to pull into a secluded, private driveway leading into a grove
of trees. The trees and the setting sun
over the lake behind the house made it difficult to see the grounds or the
house they were approaching. They drove
for what seemed an eternity on the driveway before the trees gave way to a
breathtaking mansion on a bluff overlooking the beautiful lake. The house was lit in nearly every room. Cars lined the drive.
Brenda turned her head as she
heard a sharp intake of breath from Jax.
"What's wrong?"
He glanced at her
apologetically. "I'm sorry. Katherine had told me this would be a small
dinner party for a few friends. I had no
idea it would be this big. I'll
understand if it's too much."
"No, no," she
insisted. "It looks like
fun." It didn't, but she didn't
want to hurt his feelings or destroy her chances of spending the evening with
him.
He deftly parked the car
between two other luxury cars and then opened the door for her. Placing his hand at the small of her back to
propel her forward, they walked toward the massive house. Before Jax could even ring the doorbell or
knock, a butler had already opened the door to greet them. "Good evening," he said politely,
taking Brenda's wrap and Jax's keys.
Almost immediately, someone
called Jax's name. As they turned,
Brenda saw a petite woman with short blonde hair hurrying toward them. "Jax!
I'm so glad to see you. I didn't
think you were coming tonight."
She eyes Brenda carefully and gave her a quick smile.
"I told you I'd be here,
Katherine," Jax replied. He
wrapped his arm a little tighter around Brenda's waist and introduced the two
women. "Brenda Barrett, this is
Katherine Bell. She's our hostess this
evening, but I don't see our host."
He looked around in the room closest to them and shook his head as he
looked back at Katherine.
"No, I suppose not,"
she smiled. "You know Stefan,
though, who knows where he could be right now.
He's probably out on the deck if he's not in here." Someone called her name and she excused
herself to greet them.
"Stefan is Katherine's
fiancé," Jax explained to Brenda once their hostess scurried off into the
crowd. "Stefan is a businessman
and a Cassidine. Katherine runs a
cosmetics company."
"When are they getting
married?" Brenda asked. She had
heard of the Cassidine’s, as well as Katherine Bell. Brenda remembered seeing a magazine feature on the CEO of the
leading cosmetics company in the country.
How was it possible that Jax knew these people?
"Who knows? They've been engaged for over three years
now with no date set yet." He led
her over to the bar and poured a glass of wine for her and a glass of Scotch
for him.
They stood by the bar as Jax
pointed out a few people in the room that he thought she should know. He told her who she should talk to and who
she should definitely stay away from.
As he was pointing to a dark haired man in the opposite corner, another
female voice carried his name through the crowd. A tall, willowy blonde was making their way toward them. "Jax!" she exclaimed again when
she stood before them. She leaned in
and kissed him directly on the lips before she even gave Brenda a glance.
Jax recoiled slightly from
her, masking his distaste for the woman.
"Ashley, how are you?" he asked coolly.
"Better now that you're
here, darling," she said with a smile.
"I thought you were bringing--"
"Brenda Barrett,"
Jax cut her off. "This is Ashley
Brent. She's an acquaintance of
mine."
"Oh come now, Jax, is
that all I am to you?" Ashley pouted slightly, but she smiled right away.
Brenda wanted to know the
answer to that question, too. She
turned her head to Jax to wait for his answer.
As she did so, she noticed the steely look in his blue eyes and she
interpreted that to mean that he wanted as far away from this woman as
possible. "Jax, honey, you said
there was someone on the deck you wanted me to meet, didn't you?" she said
quickly.
"I did say that, didn't
I?" he covered beautifully.
"Why don't we do that now?"
He put his arm around her and led her towards the doors to the deck that
overlooked the lake. When they stood on
the sparsely populated deck, he turned amused eyes to Brenda. "You're good, you know that?"
"At what?" she
smiled.
"You know exactly what
I'm talking about. You were very good
just now. I may have to hire you to do
that all night long, you know."
"I think I may just be
available," she teased. "By
the way, what was the answer to Ashley's question?"
"I don't know, that would
require me to know what her question was.
I wasn't listening to her."
He grinned down at her.
"She asked if she was
just an acquaintance of yours. I'd kind
of like to know that, too."
"Why, jealous?" he
teased, his blue eyes sparkling again.
She tried to look
indignant. "No, just
curious." But she wasn't just
curious. She was jealous, even though
she knew she had no right to be.
"Yes, she is just an
acquaintance of mine. We dated for
awhile a few years ago and it seems she doesn't seem willing to let it
go."
"But you are?"
"No, I was. It's been over for a very long time,
Brenda," he assured her.
"Good, now you can do
what you came out here to do."
"Which was?" He had a good idea of what he wanted to do
with her out there, but he suspected it wasn't what she was referring to.
She smiled slyly, thinking she
knew exactly what he was thinking because she was, too. "Introduce me to people, Jax. That's what we came out here to do."
"Ah, right, of
course." In the next second he
whisked her away to meet everyone else at the party.
"Don't listen to a word
he says, my dear," a smooth voice came from behind Jax and Brenda an hour
later.
They turned to see who had
spoken. A tall man with brown hair and
a close beard stood behind them. He
wore a smile and a teasing glint in his eyes.
"And why is that?" Brenda asked coyly. As she spoke, her arm went behind Jax's
waist and rested there around him.
"Because he will tell you
anything you want to hear just to get what he wants."
"What is it that you
think he wants?"
"I suspect it is you that
he wants this time," the man said.
Jax grinned and reached a hand
out to the man to shake his.
"Stefan, how are you?" he asked.
"I am quite well,
Jax. And you?"
"I'd be better if you
weren't trying to scare my date away from me."
"Could I do that?"
Stefan asked innocently. "And just
who is the fetching young lady?"
"This is Brenda
Barrett. Brenda, this is the man I was
telling you about before, Stefan Cassidine." The way he said it could have meant that he'd been telling Brenda
all the things Stefan wouldn't want anyone to know.
"Ah yes, I have heard a
lot about you, Mr. Cassidine," she responded, continuing Jax’s tone into
hers.
"Stefan, please. And don't believe a word of it. He lies." His tone was light. A
simple head gesture told Jax that Stefan wanted to speak to him alone for a
moment.
"Brenda, would you please
get me another drink? I seem to have
lost mine somewhere out here."
She nodded. "Sure," she said as she pulled out
of his arms for the first time that evening.
As they watched her go, Stefan
turned his attention back to Jax.
"What happened? I thought
you were bringing Courtney, Jax."
"I was," he
responded nonchalantly. Stefan
recognized his unwillingness to discuss it further and let it go. Their conversation turned to business in the
next minute.
Brenda was making her way back
toward the bar when she heard two women talking next to her. Their backs were to her and they could have
had no idea she was behind them.
"Did you see that woman
with Jax tonight?" The breathy
voice was distinctly Ashley Brent's and Brenda recognized it immediately.
"Yes, but I don't believe
I've seen her before," the other woman said.
"I'm sure you
haven't. She's got the looks of a
hayseed that just fell off the turnip truck, if you know what I mean."
"That's so unlike Jax to
bring a woman like that."
"Don't I know it? I'm telling you, the woman couldn't even
step out of his sight without asking for him to go with her. She's not his type at all."
"I wonder how well she
knows him?"
"Who cares? But I see Stefan out there talking to Jax
and it looks like they're talking about something serious. I'll bet it's the building Stefan wants to
build downtown next year."
"And did you hear? Yvonne said Donovan and she flew back this
morning from
Ashley shook her head in mock
disbelief. "I wonder if the
hayseed is good at making herself scarce while Jax talks business." The two women laughed as the walked away to
join another group of people.
Brenda didn't like what she'd
heard. It wasn't only because they had
insulted her, that didn't bother her in the slightest. It was that she knew Jax didn't want to be
talking about business tonight. She
didn't want him to have to listen to who knew how many men ask him to do things
for them for the rest of the night. She
made her way quickly to the bar to get him his drink and then wound her way
through the crowd back to him. Another
man had joined Jax and Stefan and they all had serious expressions on their
faces as she approached. She had to
admit, of the three of them, Jax looked the most distracted and the most bored.
"Jax, there you
are!" she said as she got within hearing range of them. "Here's your drink. But you know, I think you promised to show
me the rest of the grounds. Something
about liking everything I see," she raised her eyebrows suggestively and
smiled.
"Will you excuse me,
gentlemen?" Jax asked as he stepped away and put his arm around Brenda's
waist again. "I believe I have
something to attend to." The other
men smiled knowingly as he walked away with her into the quiet darkness just
off the deck area. "You are a life
saver," Jax breathed into the night air.
"Yes, well, I just didn't
think you wanted to talk about business for the rest of the night."
"You are absolutely
right," he grinned. "I have
much better things to do with my time."
She was glad the darkness was
there to hide the blush that was rapidly spreading over her cheeks. "Jax?" she asked.
"Hmm?" He was holding her closely with his fingers
linked at the back of her waist. He
looked down to meet her eyes.
"Did you know all those
men would be flying in to see you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's just that I
heard Ashley talking to some other women about the fact that at least two men
flew thousands of miles to talk to you about business."
"So what's your
question?"
She hesitated before asking
him. "Well," she drew out a
second longer, "I just want to know if you're that good of an
architect--"
"Engineer," he
interrupted.
"What?"
"Engineer," he
repeated. "I have degrees in
engineering and finance. I'm not an
architect."
"Oh, okay. Engineer, then," she smiled up at
him. "Then, my question is are you
that good of an engineer that men really fly thousands of miles just to ask you
to work for them?"
"What makes you think I'd
be working for them?" he asked lightly.
"Well, I mean--"
"Jax? Is that you?" a man's voice cut through
the darkness, interrupting her completely.
Brenda felt his muscles tense
and he drew her closer before he answered.
"No, Jax left awhile ago."
His jaw was clenched as he spoke.
"Oh, right. I'll catch him another time then," the
man said with a hint of laughter in his voice.
As the footsteps disappeared
back into the brush, Jax relaxed again.
"Now, where were we?" he asked. Looking down at Brenda once more, he smiled slyly. "Right here, I think," he said as
his lips descended on hers.
The kiss was passionate from
the start. His tongue swept between her
teeth with no resistance from her whatsoever.
As caught up as he was in it, she pressed her body close to his. As the seconds passed, it became more and
more apparent just exactly what this kiss was doing to them both.
Just as he was about to change
the angle of their heads to allow even more contact, Brenda broke the kiss,
breathing hard. She leaned into him and
rested her head against his chest as they fought to control their
heartbeats. She could feel his pounding
beneath her ear and she was sure hers was beating a matching rhythm.
"Brenda," Jax
breathed softly. "Come with
me."
"Where?" she asked
just as softly.
"I have a house just a
couple of miles from here, on the other side of the lake. Come with me."
The suggestion of what he
wanted to do once they got to that house was quite apparent in his voice. She hesitated before she said, "Jax, I
don't think I should."
"Why not?"
"Because…" she
paused for a second to think.
"Because we haven't even eaten yet." As if on cue, there was a chime to signal that dinner was
starting.
Jax groaned deeply while she
turned from his embrace, took his hand, and led him back towards the house to
the dining room. He spent the next two
hours calming himself every time she smiled and stopping himself from tearing
her away from the table, racing upstairs to the closest bedroom, and seeing for
himself just exactly what she looked like without the gorgeous white dress she
was wearing. As dinner ended, finally,
Jax noticed Brenda hide a yawn behind her hand when she thought no one was
looking. He realized then that he was
definitely not going to find out anything for himself that night.
Shortly thereafter, they said
goodnight and retrieved her wrap and his keys from the butler. Almost as soon as they got in the car,
Brenda leaned her head back on the headrest and promptly fell asleep. Jax could only shake his head and laugh to
himself. Forty-five minutes later, when
he made the turn into her allotment, she awoke and glanced at him sheepishly.
"I'm sorry," she
apologized, laughing softly.
"For what?"
"Being such bad
company."
"You could never be bad
company, Brenda." He could watch
her sleep for hours if he had the chance, he thought. He stopped the car in front of her door and went around to open
the car door for her. He walked her to
the lit doorway to say goodnight.
"Well, I guess I will see
you around," Brenda said.
"Definitely," he
responded, smiling. "How's
tomorrow?"
She laughed at his
eagerness. "Are you free for
lunch?"
A cloud passed over his face
for a second as he answered, "No, I'm not. But how about dinner?"
"Dinner is fine,
too," she replied.
"And I promise not to
force you to go to a boring party with me again," he teased.
"Oh, you didn't force
me." But she didn't deny the
'boring' comment. After a second of
silence, she said, "Well, goodnight, then, Jax."
"Goodnight,
Brenda." He leaned down to give
her another kiss, intending for it to be short and sweet. In seconds, though, the kiss was almost as
passionate as their previous one.
After much too short a time,
Brenda pulled back suddenly. "You
know, if you keep doing that, it won’t be tomorrow morning that I see you
next."
"Right," Jax laughed
softly. "Until tomorrow,
then." He turned on his heel and
walked back to his car. He paused for a
second to make sure she got inside her house and then got into his car and left
before he did something they'd both regret.
He went home to take a very long, very cold shower.