Midnight Sun-25
It was a little after 10:00 at night. Jax was at the penthouse in the living room with Tea and Lois, papers scattered across the marble coffee table, as they worked out all the tiny details surrounding the fake company, Atlantis Corp., that Jax and Justus Ward had created.
"Ya know, Mr. Jacks, this whole phony company thing is inspired. You got some real hard-working brain cells under that gorgeous blonde hair of yours."
Tea gave Lois an "oh please!" look and then looked at Jax.
"I think she’s trying to tell you how brilliant you are, Jax."
"I don’t think I need an interpreter, but thanks," Lois said, gazing steadily at Tea. Then Lois turned her attention back to her boss once more. "Mr. Jacks where’s your wife? I’ve heard all about her from Addy, but I’d love to actually meet her."
"Oh. Well, she’s actually out at the moment," Jax said filling fake entries into a ledger.
"Shopping, no doubt," Tea said rolling her eyes. "Jax’s wife is quite the little fashion maven."
Lois could not get over this woman. Lucky for her Jax hadn’t caught that sarcastic eye roll.
"Actually," Jax said, not looking up from what he was doing, "she’s been at an all-day meeting with Mayor Giuliani."
Tea gazed at Jax’s bent head in disbelief. "You mean a meeting with someone from Mayor Giuliani’s *staff,*" she said.
"No, I mean Mayor Giuliani," Jax repeated, grabbing his calculator.
"Wow," Lois said, impressed. "A meeting with his honor. What about?"
"Ummm . . .a function he wants to hold at the museum later in the year," Jax responded as he totaled up huge sums of money. "Some event for the underprivileged kids. Brenda read about it in the paper and was really interested in hosting it, so she sent her ideas to his office two weeks ago, and when we got home today there was a message asking her to meet with him today to discuss it. So, off she went."
"Awesome," Lois said smiling.
"Unbelievable is more like it," Tea murmured. To think that eighteen-year-old Brenda had ideas good enough to impress the mayor of the city of Manhattan enough for him to meet with her in person about them. It boggled the mind. "So she’s at Gracie mansion right now?" Tea asked, still unable to quite grasp this.
"No, they met at the museum," Jax said. "Brenda wanted to show him exactly how and where she would organize things so that he could visualize the whole thing. Do you have the check books?"
"Right here," Tea said handing him the check books for the fictitious company owned by the equally fictitious English, mystery millionaire, Storm Magellan.
"And the letterhead? Business cards? Fax cover sheets?"
"Present and accounted for, Captain," Lois said, placing them in front of him and receiving a grin from him that made her heart flutter. Sometimes it was hard working for a man, who was basically God’s gift to women, without falling under his spell every now and again. Lois knew it was perfectly normal to feel *affected* by Jax every so often, whether it was a certain unintentional look, or inadvertent smile, or the way he laughed, so softly that
the natural seductiveness of it drove any woman with a functioning pulse mad with desire. It was just Jax being Jax, and the fact that it made the woman on the receiving end want to jump him was certainly not his fault. Working for a man who sometimes made the simple act of breathing difficult was just a fringe benefit of this demanding yet rewarding job.
The soft sound of the voice activated door unlocking announced the arrival of Brenda, who was accompanied by Mulder.
"Jax! Jax, are you here?" Brenda called out excitedly as she breezed into the penthouse, oblivious to the fact that Jax had guests.
"Living room, he answered her.
"Jax, it went *so* great!" Brenda continued her excited chatter as she locked the door "He loved my ideas, and he actually wants to make this an annual event if it goes well! Can you believe that?! I almost fell out of my chair when he told me that. He was absolutely blown away by my Lion King party idea, and guess what? On Wednesday I have a meeting down at the New Amsterdam theater *with* the producer of the show to see if he’ll do it."
Brenda tossed off her coat, rested it over the elegant railing in the entry way and, laughing, stepped down into the living room where she finally saw that Jax was not alone. Tea, she recognized of course, and she was not too thrilled to see her still here. But who was the far-too-pretty, dark-haired woman with the huge, sparkling blue eyes, sitting on the floor across from Jax?
The blue-eyed woman was staring at Brenda, seeming a little stunned.
"Bren, this is Lois. She’s my assistant," Jax said as he saw the two of them stared at each other.
Lois got up and extended her hand to Brenda with a smile.
"Hi, there, Mrs. Jacks. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’ve heard *tons* about you."
"Hello, it’s very nice to meet you," Brenda said shaking her hand. Then she looked back at Jax. "But I thought . . I thought Addy was your assistant?"
"I have three actually," Jax explained. "Addy and Lois here in New York and Gwen in Alaska." Then Jax saw Mulder emerge behind Brenda. "Oh, hey Mulder."
"Hey, Jax."
"How’d everything go?"
"The usual," Mulder responded. "A few more paparazzi than usual. I think the word might be out on the streets that the stunning young brunette you’re always seen with is more than just your latest girlfriend."
Jax nodded. "Well, I expected as much. Thanks. I guess we’ll see you tomorrow."
"No, wait," Brenda said grabbing the sleeve of Mulder’s coat. Then Brenda turned to Jax. "Are you guys going to be working all night?"
"Pretty much," Jax said with a nod.
Tea looked at Brenda carefully. She could tell that Brenda was somewhat ticked, and it made Tea smile a bit.
"Oh," Brenda said.
"Why?" Jax asked getting up. "Do you want to do something?" he asked as he walked over to her.
"No, no. I just . . I had some ideas I wanted to run by you, but I can see you’re really busy," Brenda said gazing at the scattered pile of papers and empty Chinese food cartons.
"I’m never too busy for you," Jax told her, caressing her face which made Lois smile and made Tea bristle. "What is it?"
Tea cleared her throat as she held a computer print out in her hands. "Hey, tiger, you’d better take a look at this," she said, circling something on the sheet with her pencil.
<Tiger? Did she just call him *tiger?*> Brenda stared at Tea with a ‘no, you did not!’ look, and Lois gave the lady lawyer a similar gaze.
"Problem?" Jax asked, turning in Tea’s direction.
"Potential. Take a look at this, Jax."
Jax walked over to Tea, taking the sheet from her and gazing at what she had circled. "Oh great," Jax murmured.
With a little sigh, Brenda took Mulder by the hand. "Can you come with me, please?" she said, dragging him with her into the kitchen.
Jax saw the movement and quickly turned his head to see his wife disappearing into the kitchen with her bodyguard.
"I think you should take a break and finish your conversation with Mrs. Jacks first," Lois said, nudging him.
"Jax, Brenda understands. You said so yourself," Tea was quick to remind him. "This is important, and according to you, we *have* to finish it tonight. We really can’t waste even a few minutes. It’s already after ten. Now here, what are we going to do about this?" she said pointing at what she had circled on the printout.
In the kitchen Brenda sat at the table drumming her fingernails across the top in a staccato beat, her chin propped up by one small fist as she gazed at the kitchen clock. Sitting across from her, Mulder had no idea what he was still doing there.
"Brenda?"
"Yes?"
"Did you bring me in here to watch the minutes tick by with you?"
"No. I just wanted your company. Is that a problem?"
"Are you upset about something?"
"No." the staccato beat increased.
"Hasn’t Jax ever pulled a business all nighter before? I mean, this is something you must be accustomed to," Mulder pointed out, folding his hands together on the top of the table.
"I’m accustomed to it," Brenda said. "Just . . not with . . *them.*"
"Them, meaning *women*."
Brenda shrugged.
Mulder smiled.
"Aww. Brenda, you’re jealous."
"I am not."
"That’s cute."
"It is most certainly not cute! Fox, jealousy is immature and unbecoming, and I’m far too secure in Jax’s love for me to be jealous. Besides, Tea Delgado is just a friend of his. He told me that, and I know it’s true – from *his* perspective, at least. And that Lois person is . .she just works for him so . ."
"So none of this bothers you."
"Exactly."
"Right. So then, why am I still here again?"
"I want to be mature about this, all right?"
"Ohhhh. So then you *are* jealous."
"I’m . . .slightly annoyed, yes," she confessed, chewing on her lip in consternation "I mean this *is* our first night back home, and I didn’t think we’d have to spend it like this. But I know that Jax has a big deal going down right now, and I have to respect that and help him by not getting in the way or sulking about not having his full attention like I’m used to. I want to make Jax proud of me, and I don’t want to act like some jealous,
insecure brat. So can you please stay here with me until they’re gone? I just need to distract myself."
"Brenda, you’ve gotta be kidding me," Mulder groaned.
"Oh, come on. They can’t be here *that* much longer," she said, nodding in the direction of the clock. "Do you want something to drink?"
"No, I want to go home and go to sleep."
"Fox, please? You’re supposed to be my friend. Here, I know, you can teach me how to play pool," she said, getting up and grabbing his hand.
"What?" he groaned.
"Well, Jax said he would teach me, but we haven’t gotten around to it yet. The pool table was a wedding present. It’s right through here. Come on. You do know how to play, don’t you?"
"Yes," he sighed as she dragged him out of the kitchen and down the hall to where the pool table was.
"Wow," Mulder said as he looked around the room. He’d never seen this room before. It was like being in an arcade. Pinball machines, video games, a duck shooting range, and a brand new pool table. "This is very cool. You know, I could live in this room and be very happy."
Brenda laughed. "Rack them up. That’s what you say about pool balls right? Rack them up?" she said as she placed the scattered colored balls into the triangular rack.
Mulder nodded and laughed. "Right," he said grabbing two pool cues.
+ + +
Two and a half hours later Jax was staring at the figures on the computer printout until they blurred into each other. He tossed the printout onto the marble coffee table.
"This isn’t going to work," he said, getting to his feet, his eyes immediately gazing in the direction of the kitchen.
"It’s a little time consuming, but it’s not that bad," Tea sad. "We just have to go through and delete some of assets to make the list of holdings for the dummy corporation seem more genuine."
"I’m not talking about that," Jax said. "I’m talking about the fact that I can’t concentrate on any of this right now. I think we should call it a night."
"Good idea," Lois agreed, as she began to pack up her meticulous notes and put in order the reports she had brought to the penthouse at Jax’s request.
"Well, I think it’s a bad idea," Tea dissented. "We can’t leave now, Jax. For the simple fact that we’re not *done.*"
Jax shrugged. "We’re almost done. What’s left to do we can finish up tomorrow morning. I’ll treat you guys to breakfast here, and we’ll take care of this overextended phony holdings report then."
Jax reached over for the phone and dialed up his chauffeur, Scotty, telling the driver to get ready to drop the ladies off at their respective homes.
"Jax, we can finish this tonight," Tea continued to insist. "We’ve come this far already, and what we have left to do will only take about an hour - tops."
"Tea, it’s already 12:30 in the morning."
"Do I have to remind you that it was your idea to work through the night and get this finished?"
"Well it was a bad idea," he decided, as he went to the closet to get Tea's and Lois’ coats.
"Jax, you’ve never had a bad idea in your life," Tea argued.
"Well, no offense whatsoever, Mr. Jacks, but I’m inclined to agree with you that it *was* a bad idea. But only timing wise, if ya know what I’m sayin’ here," Lois said, as she took her coat from him and put it on.
Tea gave Lois a barely tolerant glance. "What on earth are you talking about?" she asked.
"She’s talking about the fact that Brenda and I just got married a week ago, and this is our first night home since the wedding. Me spending it working into the twilight hours is not a very good thing."
"Bingo," Lois said, placing her writing pads and notes into her leather brief case and then packing up her lap top.
Tea was becoming a tad annoyed at how in sync Jax's and Lois’ thoughts on the subject appeared to be.
"Well, I think that reasoning is a little silly," Tea objected. "This deal is crucial, Jax. Your retaining ownership of the casino depends on us doing this perfectly on our end. Now Brenda may not be privy to the specifics of what we’re up to, but she *does* know how crucial it is to you. Given, that, I’m sure it doesn’t bother her that she’s got to come second, just this once. She knows how important this is to you."
"Nothing is more important to me than she is though," Jax revealed. "And the day she comes second to business is the day I need to have my head examined," he added, handing Tea her coat, since she refused to take it.
With a shake of her head, Tea gathered up her things as Jax escorted both her and Lois to the door.
"Scotty is waiting for you in the lobby. Get home safely, and I’ll see you both in the morning. Get here by 9. Oh, and thanks for all of your hard work tonight, ladies."
Jax shut the door and went to the kitchen in search of Brenda.
+ + +
Alone in the hallway as they stood by the elevator awaiting it’s arrival, Lois folded her arms and stared at Tea.
"What exactly is your problem?" Tea asked with a sigh. She so much preferred the poised and soft-spoken Addy to this aggressive, blue-eyed Brooklynite.
"I just want you to know something," Lois said to her. "No offense, Miss Delgado, but you are as transparent as my grandma’s saran wrap," Lois stated.
Tea laughed. " I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about."
"Uh huh," Lois responded skeptically. "Just so you know that *I* know."
"You know *what?*" Tea demanded.
"I *know*" Lois repeated as the elevator arrived, and they got on and rode down to the luxurious lobby in a mutually guarded silence.
+ + +
Jax didn’t find Brenda in the kitchen, but he heard the sound of music coming from the recreation room, and he headed there and stood in the doorway watching her as Mulder attempted to explain to her the fine art of billiards.
"You are *really* bad at this," Mulder observed, as the Romantics "What I Like About You" played over the stereo.
"Shhh," Brenda requested as she concentrated on knocking the white ball into the yellow ball so that it would fall into the corner pocket. She pushed on her cue stick and sent it flying across the room. Mulder ducked and Jax broke out into a big grin, as he silently observed them. "Oh, shoot!" Brenda exclaimed, as the flying pool cue just missed crashing into the screen of Jax’s favorite motorcross video game.
"As I was saying, you are *really* bad at this," Mulder repeated. "So, Mrs. Jacks, have you had enough of hiding out in here?" he asked her, glancing at his watch. "We’ve been in here over two hours now."
"I’m not hiding. We’re playing pool," Brenda said matter-of-factly.
"No, *I’m* playing pool. I have *no* idea what you’re doing. The javelin toss, maybe," he said, as she laughingly went across the room to fetch her pool cue. "Brenda, you know Jax would understand," Mulder said, leaning against the side of the pool table and watching her.
"Understand what?" she asked.
"You *know* what I’m talking about, Brenda. You just got married nine days ago. You were on your honeymoon, you were together all the time, having each other’s undivided attentions, shutting out the rest of the world. I’m sure Jax would totally understand if you were feeling a little neglected now that you guys are back home and his business is taking him away from you on some level."
Brenda shook her head. "All my life I wanted somebody like Jax. And now that I have the amazing fortune to actually *have* him I’m not going to ruin it. That Tea was really trying to push my buttons out there. You heard what she called him, didn’t you?"
"Tiger," Mulder said, mimicking Tea’s voice and making Brenda laugh, and Jax smile.
"Yes, and did you see what she was wearing? She’s *so* obvious!" Brenda said, with a roll of her lovely brown eyes.
Mulder laughed. "You don’t seriously think she’s set her sights on Jax?" he asked.
"Well, if I were her, *I* would," Brenda shrugged. "So yes, I think she has. And I think she would love to make me look really foolish and immature in front of Jax. But I’m not going to let her do that. I’m not going to let her push my buttons and make me have some kind of an unattractive tantrum that will make Jax wonder what he ever saw in me in the first place. And I’m not going to go running to Jax and sulking about how I might feel
neglected or uninvolved in the business aspect of his life. I know how important this deal Jax is working on is to him."
"Not as important as you are to him," Jax said, letting his presence in the doorway be known.
Mulder set the pool cue on the pool table and grabbed his coat from the nearby couch. "You’re in good hands now," he whispered to Brenda as he passed by her on his way to exit the room. "See you, Jax."
"See you," Jax said as Mulder saw his way out.
Brenda smiled at Jax and ran over to him, hugging him, breathing in the lingering scent of his aftershave, and delighting in being in his arms again.
"Is your business finished?" she asked him, hopefully.
"I sent them home," Jax told her. "Brenda, I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking, spending the whole night on that," he apologized.
"Jax, it’s okay. I understand."
"No, it’s not okay. And I love you for understanding, but it’s still not okay. This is our first night here as man and wife. That is significant to me." He grinned at her. "Isn’t it to you?"
"Very," she said kissing him. "But I would feel worse than awful if you blew a deal because of me, Jax."
"It’s more of a scheme actually, and it hasn’t been blown or anything else, so don’t you worry about it." He took her hands in both of his. "I hope that you know that there isn’t anything more precious to me than you are. Brenda, you are my first priority. Always."
"You’re mine too," she said softly gazing into his eyes and feeling herself drifting away in the startlingly gorgeous seas of blues and greens. On the radio the song "All My Life" floated softly, seductively through the surround-sound speakers.
For all my life
I prayed for someone like you
And I thank God
That I . . .
that I finally found you.
All my life
I prayed for someone like you
And I hope that you
feel the same way too
Yes I pray that you do love me too.
Her arms encircled his shoulders, and her fingers entangled themselves in the back of his rich, blonde hair, moving sensually as her heartbeat quickened at their proximity and at knowing that he was hers -- truly hers. And it was so much fun to have a husband who drove you mad with desire. "I love you," she whispered, and in one fluid motion she was up in his arms, her legs snaked around his waist, her lips seeking the hot, exquisite sensuality of
his. . . and finding it.
"Brenda," he said in a husky whisper, his magnificent emerald-blue eyes suddenly smoldering. "Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?"
Brenda just looked at him somewhat dazedly, her breathing erratic as a result of the passionately intoxicating kiss they had just seemed to spend an eternity sharing.
"And I don’t just mean this," he said tracing her face. "I mean you -- *you* Brenda, are beautiful. You’re the sweetest, most beautiful person I know."
She smiled, and her fingers brushed across his warm lips. "And you, Jasper," she said, her voice soft and still somewhat breathless, "are the absolute, unequivocal, undeniable, love of my life."
For all my life
I prayed for someone like you
And I thank God
That I . . .
that I finally found you.
Jax’s eyes were absolutely melting into hers. "Would you like to know a secret?" he asked, his eye-color shifting to a very passionate, dark shade of teal.
Brenda smiled. "Yes," she said.
"Do you remember the first day that I met you?"
"How could I ever forget it?" she laughed. "You made your dog lick my face and I thought I was going to die."
He grinned. "Do you remember when I came upon you soaking in the bathtub. I was looking for my pager. When I found it you were very eager to dismiss me from the bathroom, and you asked me if I had found what I was looking for. . ."
"And you said, you believed you had."
"Did you notice that I was looking at you when I said that?" he asked her.
Brenda’s soft brown eyes blinked in shock.
"I was referring to you when I said that," he confessed.
She could not believe it!
"But I was so awful to you that day! And you were so mean to me! How . . how could you have meant me? How could *I* have been what you were looking for?" she blurted out in an excited rush of disbelief.
Jax shrugged, having a moment of disbelief himself – disbelief that he had actually admitted such a thing to her. "I just knew that you were," he said. "You know me – sometimes I just know things."
Brenda was clearly dazzled by his confession. But in the next moment it was his kiss that had her captivated by it’s startling sensuality and fiery passion. Still locked in the sizzling kiss, Jax carried her into the bedroom, their passion rapidly rising in intimacy as the kisses deepened delectably.
As Jax slid off her clothing, his lips trailed a hot path from behind her ears to her throat as they fell back against the softness of the velvet blankets on the bed. Jax reached up and removed the gold barrette that held her hair back in a pony tail, freeing it so that her glossy, dark locks fell in a luxurious tumble about her neck and shoulders framing a face of such striking, flawless beauty that he could barely breathe. Her kisses, her
touch, her soft, warm, nubile young body arching against his, all conspired to fill him with a wild, indescribable sweetness. His extraordinary love for her, combined with his turbulent desire for her, sent his mind reeling and good, old fashioned lust pouring through his body in hot tidal waves. Brenda could feel the bold evidence of his desire, and it made her shiver with delight. And with his body so intensely wrapped up with her own, she could
also feel his heart slamming into his ribs as his passion became more and more unleashed, and they began to surrender to the stormy splendor they had created. Pleasure streaked through them like so much lightning, as trembling ecstasy spilled forth until they simultaneously found that coveted zone of pure rapture – of quaking, breathless fulfillment -- intense, and wild and so very beautiful.
After making passionate love, they were both filled with that sweet serenity that each felt only occurred in the presence of the other.
"You know, no woman has ever ignited me the way that you do – with just a kiss no less. And no woman has ever responded to me the way you do," Jax told her as he cradled her in his arms several moments later, the blinds wide open, nothing filling the bedroom but winter’s starlight.
"That’s because I was made for you" she murmured sleepily, snuggling closer against him, her hands curved around the muscular biceps of his right arm.
He kissed the top of her silky hair, which carried the faint scent of that expensive coconut shampoo she used. "I know," he said, and shocked himself by realizing that he was perfectly serious.
"You do?" she giggled.
"Yes," he said. " Which probably means that I’ve officially lost my mind over you now, haven’t I?"
Her sweet laughter was like a lullaby to him, as his steady, rhythmic heartbeat against her back, was like a lullaby to her. Wrapping his strong arms even more tightly around her, Jax shut his eyes and let the sweetness of falling asleep with the woman he loved in his arms take him.
+ +
Pierre and Marco checked into the Plaza Hotel at 2 a.m. Pierre was exhausted, but Marco was alert and not in the mood to crash in his room yet.
"I wish for you to tell me everything that you know about this man who’s protection Brenda has been under for these past months," Marco said to Pierre.
"Tomorrow," Pierre said with a weary wave of his hand. "I am ready to drop."
"Drop later," Marco said. "I want to know about him."
"What on earth for?" Pierre asked irritably. He was tired of everyone ordering him about. Now, from the Prince he could do nothing but take it, but from this gray-eyed boy, who in fact worked for *him*, it was intolerable, and he was not about to make it a habit.
"He could be the reason that Brenda has never tried to get in contact with the palace since she left," Marco said.
"Marco, Brenda did not contact the palace because she knew that her life was in danger from Giselle. Once she realizes Giselle is no longer a threat, I’m sure she’ll be eager to return," Pierre said, although he believed no such thing.
"Who is this Jasper Jacks, exactly?"
"A well-known, ruthless, corporate raider who strikes terror in the hearts of companies far and wide," Pierre said, taking off his tie.
"He’s an older man then? Like Earl Galway?"
"Hardly," Pierre snorted. "He’s but two years your senior."
Marco looked quite startled at this unexpected revelation. "Twenty-three?"
"Ah, you can add!" Pierre said irritably, as his exhaustion began to make him crankier by the second.
"Is he married?"
"No, he is not."
"Gay then?"
"Afraid not."
"Brenda has been with a 23-year-old, single, heterosexual male all this time? Has the Prince gone mad?!" Marco demanded, appalled to learn of this.
"If the Prince heard you say such a thing, you’d be in serious trouble, young man."
"Don’t get undressed, Pierre. We’re going to get Brenda right now."
"Young man, please stop deluding yourself into thinking you have the slightest bit of authority over me," Pierre snapped. "I work for the Prince and *you* work for me. Get that straight."
"When I marry Brenda, I too shall be a prince," Marco reminded him. "And *you* shall then work for me."
"Hrmph! Don’t count your bloody chickens," Pierre muttered.
"What was that?"
"Presumption is folly, boy," Pierre said, taking off his glasses.
"Pierre, I have no wish to argue. I apologize if I have upset you, but surely you can see that we have to get Brenda out of that penthouse this very moment," Marco said.
Pierre had had enough.
"No, I see no such thing. What I see is that it is 2 o’clock in the bloody morning, for the love of God! I should not even *be* here in this winter wonderland, freezing my bones off chasing after a young lady who will probably have no desire whatsoever to return with us! I am *tired*! I will sleep! You do whatever you’d like."
Marco nodded and left Pierre’s room. Going to his own room, Marco put on his coat and then went downstairs where the doorman hailed a cab for him.
"Where to pal?" the cab driver asked.
"The Galaxy High rise - Central Park West," Marco instructed.
The taxi dropped Marco off in front of the Galaxy and Marco saw how high the building was. And this Jasper Jacks lived on the top floor. The duplex penthouse. That floor was dark now.
How amazing to be this close to Brenda. Was she up there right now? Sleeping in her room? Dreaming of Monaco; missing it? "Missing me also, perhaps?" Marco whispered with a smile as he flashed back to the many stolen kisses he had shared with her. The memory of her soft, sensual lips filled him with an intoxicating warmth that warded off the cold New York night better than the sheepskin coat he was wearing. His thoughts then drifted back to
this man with whom Brenda was staying. This Jasper Jacks. Twenty-three-years old? And he had the finances to afford to live in *this* swank building on this exclusive block?
The two night doormen, watched Marco as he gazed at the building. Marco could see that these were not simply ordinary doormen. They were both armed. The Prince had not been kidding about how secure this building was. Marco realized there was no way he was going to get in here to do any snooping about this Jax fellow.
Not wanting to attract any more attention from the doormen, Marco nodded at them. "Beautiful building," he said. "I’m an architect, myself."
"Good for you," the younger doorman said.
Marco gave them a shadow of a smile and went on his way, walking briskly down the immaculate block as the chill night air blew and forced him to turn up his collar. Poor Brenda, how she must loathe this weather. Pierre was wrong about her not wanting to come home. Marco was sure she would jump at the chance to leave this place. He passed by an all-night newsstand and stopped.
"Excuse me," he said. "Do you have any financial magazines?" he asked.
"Sure. What do you want? We got Forbes, Money, The Financial Times . ."
"I want whatever you have," Marco said, pulling out some money. "One of each."
Marco went back to the hotel with his stack of financial magazines. He found no photos of Jasper Jacks as he had hoped he would, but he did find several articles on him. He was indeed twenty-three-years-old, he was Australian, he was one of two sons of a billionaire who owned everything from oil refineries in Alaska to vast shopping malls in Florida. There was an article speculating that Jasper Jacks had his eye on acquiring Disney World, but
spokespersons at both J&J Jacks of new York and J&J Jacks of Alaska denied it. There was a write up about some fund-raiser hosted by that movie mogul Steven Speilberg which Jasper Jacks and several other young movers and shakers would be attending tomorrow, right here in the Gold Room at the Plaza Hotel.
"He’ll be here tomorrow night," Marco said quietly, not believing his luck. "Will he take Brenda with him, I wonder? Can such luck be mine as to deliver her right into my hands with such ease and swiftness?"
Marco spent the rest of the dark hours before daylight trying to figure out a way to get into that fund-raiser.
+ + +
When Brenda awoke the next morning it was almost 10 a.m., and Jax was already up and about. She smelled the heavenly aroma of a full course breakfast ordered from the restaurant downstairs, and she smiled as the hazelnut coffee scent floated into the bedroom. Throwing on one of Jax’s sweaters over her blue satin underwear, she headed for the kitchen, walked in and saw Jax there at the table and two familiar female faces from yesterday there as
well, enjoying the breakfast and putting away some papers, which they seemed to have just finished going through. Brenda noticed a place set for her next to Jax. She vaguely recalled Jax mentioning to her that Lois and Tea would be here this morning, but she supposed she lost that information in the haze of blistering passion that have overcome them last night.
"Hi," Jax said, his eyes completely taken with her, much to Tea’s disappointment. Each time Jax gazed at his wife, it was like he was seeing her for the first time and marveling that such a woman could even exist, let alone be his.
"Hi," Brenda said. "Hello everybody."
"Hi!" Lois said perkily, thinking Brenda looked better in Jax’s sweater than Jax did. The girl was basically unbearably beautifully.
"Good morning, Brenda," Tea said sweetly. "I hope we didn’t wake you. I know Jax said you were a notoriously late riser. And I really hope you don’t mind us being here. After all, you had to put up with us so much yesterday. I know I would be fit to be tied by now if it were me."
Brenda wanted to crack one of the Ming vases over her head.
"Of course I don’t mind," she said, going to sit down next to Jax.
Tea watched her, silently fuming at how calm and cool Brenda was behaving, when Tea knew she *had* to be annoyed as hell to see them there in her home so early, after their having been there so late last night. Seeing Brenda in Jax’s clothes did nothing to enhance Tea’s mood either, especially since Tea had come to breakfast wearing a little black suit with a skirt even shorter than the red one she wore yesterday. But Brenda, wearing Jax’s
sweater was the most fetching thing in the room.
Brenda gave Jax a quick but very sexy kiss to the lips and ran one hand flirtatiously through his golden blonde hair before sliding into her seat next to him. He looked so subtly spellbound by her, that Tea just wanted to reach over and slap him out of it. Lois, on the other hand, thought they were too adorable for words. She would kill for a man to look at her the way Jax looked at Brenda. All that sensual desire and obvious adoration. All
that sweet, sweet love . . .
Jax brushed Brenda’s dark hair behind her ears and then leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Have you fully recovered from last night, little irritant of mine?"
She just laughed and hit his leg under the table and then reached over and filled her bowl of granola with bananas and strawberries and then poured milk over it.
"So Brenda, what are you wearing to the fund-raiser this evening?" Tea asked conversationally, determined to have on a sexier outfit than her young adversary and trying to fish for some information as to what she’d be up against tonight.
"Oh, Lois," Jax said. "I meant to ask you. Would you like to go? I can get you on the list, and I’d be happy to do it. You’ve earned it for all your hard work these last few days."
"Are you kidding’ me?! I’d love to go!" Lois said, obviously thrilled that she could actually be rubbing elbows with the rich and famous tonight.
"Then consider it done," Jax said giving her that smile, full of dimples that always made her heart leap to attention whether she wanted it to or not.
"Thank you *so* much, Mr. Jacks," Lois said appreciatively.
"No problem," Jax said, amused by her enthusiasm, and then he turned to Brenda and just gave her the sexiest look a man could give a woman.
Lois laughed quietly, thinking that Tea Delgado was going to bust a gut with all that jealousy that must be piling up in her belly about now.
"So Brenda," Tea tried again. "Do you know that you’ll be wearing to the fund-raiser yet?"
"I’m not sure," Brenda shrugged. "I’ll probably let Jax pick," she said smiling at him.
"You might regret that," he warned her.
"I trust you," she said.
"You might regret that too," he grinned, and they both laughed. The way Jax was looking at Brenda made Tea feel as if she should be blushing or something. Could the man not look at something *else* in the room for five measly seconds?
"I think I’m gonna wear your basic black," Lois decided. "You can never go wrong in basic black, right?"
"Well, you know what’s *really* in this season?" Brenda mentioned to her. "A lot of violets and deep blues."
"Oh, really?" Lois said.
Tea was not enjoying Brenda’s monopolizing everyone’s attentions. "Jax, guess who I ran into this morning?" Tea said to him.
"Who?" he asked taking a gulp of his cold, fresh squeezed orange juice and finally averting his eyes from his wife for longer than two seconds.
"Donatella Manzini. Apparently she’s in town for some Spectra fashion thing going on downtown."
Brenda shot Tea an annoyed glance, knowing that the mention of Jax’s ex was intended to rile something up in her.
"She looked drop dead gorgeous too. She dyed her hair," Tea looked at Brenda. "It’s more like your color now, but with these richer hues of auburn. She *really* looks just absolutely fabulous."
"Really?" Jax said, as if he truly could care less.
"Yeah," Tea said, buttering a slice of golden brown toast. "I’ve never seen a more beautiful woman." She added giving Brenda a smile.
Jax was gazing at Brenda too. "I have," he said, touching Brenda playfully against the chin. Then he heard his phone ringing somewhere in the house.
"The dreaded cell phone," Brenda said.
Jax grinned and got up. "Yeah, I have to remember where I left it," he said as he left the kitchen in search of the ringing phone.
When he was gone the kitchen was dead silent as Tea and Brenda glared at each other, and Lois watched them both.
"Ummm . . hey, you know these blueberry pancakes are delish. You guys wanna try some?" Lois offered, trying to keep the peace.
"Yes, Tea. Try some," Brenda said taking a pancake and hurling it across at Tea who’s eyes widened in shock. She ducked so that the pancake fell splat in Lois’ face.
"Are you some kind of a lunatic?" Tea asked.
"Don’t think that I don’t know that you’re after my husband," Brenda told Tea.
"You’re completely paranoid!" Tea shot back. "But I would be insecure if I were you too, Brenda. We all know that Jax has a low threshold for interest in women. However, I’m not the one you should be wary of," Tea insisted , eyeing Lois, who was still peeling the pancake of off her face.
"Hey! Now wait just one damn minute here. I am *not* after Jax," Lois insisted, glaring at Tea with vibrant blue eyes.
Brenda angrily lobbed another pancake at Tea, and it missed and again hit Lois.
Brenda winced.
"Hey!!" Lois yelled. "Now I know that you’re aimin’ for *her* but in case you haven’t been noticing, Mrs. Jacks, you keep *missing!*"
"Oh, I don’t know, maybe I’m aiming for the both of you," Brenda told her. "For all I know you *both* could be after Jax."
"How dare you lump me in the same category with Miss thing over here!" Lois said, inclining her head towards Tea with some disgust. "That is one insult that I just can’t sit back and do nothing about!" she apologized in advance, as she took some bacon strips and tossed them at Brenda.
Brenda gasped and grabbed two pancakes and hurled them at Lois, but this time they hit Tea instead. One went down her blouse, and the other plopped onto her head.
Tea gasped and grabbed a plate of toast and emptied the plate on Brenda.
Brenda tossed the pitcher of orange juice in Tea’s face.
"Oh you little. . . ! I hope Jax comes in here and sees you for who you really are! A spoiled, food-tossing, temper-tantrum-throwing child!" Tea fumed, as she grabbed two handfuls of scrambled eggs and flung them at Brenda.
"Just do yourself a favor and stay *away* from my husband!" Brenda warned her, as she grabbed the log cabin syrup bottle.
"Oh no! Sticky stuff!" Lois said in horror, ducking for cover under the table, as Brenda let the syrup fly in Tea’s direction.
An irate Tea grabbed everything she could and began to hurl it at Brenda, who was bombarded, but then Lois crawled on all fours over to the fridge and came back with a box of raw eggs which she handed to Brenda, and the two of them began to lob them at Tea, who had the audacity to reach for the boiling hot pot of coffee.
"Don’t you dare!" Brenda warned her, as she shot an egg smack in the middle of Tea’s forehead and watched it crack open, it’s contents sliding down Tea’s face and all over her blouse and black suit, little black skirt and all.
Jax walked back into the kitchen then and his eyes widened, stunned by the absolute mess he saw in there and the three women; his wife and Lois armed with a box of eggs, and Tea holding a jar of strawberry jam in one hand and a bowl of fruit salad menacingly in the other.
All three women were a mess and they all looked at him, mortified that he had found them in such a state of uncivilized behavior.
Brenda bit her lip, furious with herself for letting Tea goad her into this childish, stupid reaction. This was *exactly* what she had sworn she was going to avoid!
Jax rose a curious eyebrow and then just shook his head and then simply said. "I really don’t think I want to know," and then backed up out of the kitchen.
When he was gone Brenda and Lois could not help but burst into laughter, while a horrified and furious Tea, stormed out of the kitchen.
"Jax!" she said, finding him in the living room tuned into the CNN financial report and ready to heatedly lambaste Brenda’s behavior to him. But then she wondered if that would be wise? "I believe I need to use your bathroom," she said, foregoing any rants against his wife for the moment.
"Be my guest. You know where it is," Jax said making a gesture for her to go right ahead.
Back in the kitchen Brenda was surveying the awful mess that was now her kitchen.
"Well, this is not so bad," she decided. "This is about how it looks whenever I attempt to cook something."
Lois laughed. "You’re kidding! I hope. Hey, don’t worry about it, I’ll give you a hand cleaning up the spoils of war, here."
Brenda looked at her and extended her hand. "Thanks for the ammunition," she said holding up the empty box of eggs.
Lois laughed and shook Brenda’s hand in return. "Believe me it was my pleasure. It’s just too bad the eggs weren’t rotten. That would have been the piece de resistance."
"Yes," Brenda agreed with a dimpled smile.
"And I gotta tell you, Mrs. Jacks, you called it right. That lady lawyer is after your husband all right."
Brenda nodded. "I know. But my reaction was completely uncalled for. I can’t believe I *did* that." she groaned, brushing broken pancake pieces from her hair.
"Addy told me you were impulsive," Lois said with a grin. "I actually think it’s one of the things Mr. Jacks really loves about you. . . bein’ as he’s the impulsive sort himself, ya know."
"I know. But I have to be careful. Tea is Jax’s friend, no matter how I personally feel about her, she’s still his friend. He’s known her since he was eighteen, and he genuinely likes her, and furthermore, he doesn’t believe that she has any romantic ulterior motives where he’s concerned. I can’t just go around accusing her of things to him. He won’t like that. Besides, he’ll just tell me that it doesn’t matter what she wants, it’s what he wants
that matters, and he wants me. And you know, I truly *know* that. But she just has this way of pushing my buttons!"
"Well, you can’t let her know that, or she’s gonna take it and run with it. Her only hope of gettin’ a chance with him is to bring you down in his eyes, Mrs. Jacks, and really get you to mess up by overreacting to her antagonizing you."
"Please, call me Brenda. We were in battle together, after all, I think we should be on a first name basis now," Brenda decided.
Lois laughed and grabbed a sponge, and a mop. "You know, let me get started in here. You should go out there and see what she’s telling Jax."
Brenda nodded and scurried out into the living room, where she found Jax alone, leaning against the fireplace mantle, flipping between financial news and entertainment gossip on the TV. She bit her lip wondering if he was angry with her.
"Hi. I come in peace," she said.
He turned around and saw her give him a hesitant little wave as she stood a few steps behind him, not sure how close he wanted her right now. He put the remote down and approached her.
"Look what you have done to my favorite sweater," he said with a shake of his head.
Brenda looked so worried that he had to laugh a little as he cradled her face in his hands.
"Well . . .just as long as you didn’t do anything to my favorite person," he said, "which would be you." He kissed the tip of her nose. "Any bumps and bruises?" he asked, pulling her closer, his hands sliding beneath his sweater and slowly roaming her body as she fluctuated between laughter and arousal.
"No I’m fine," she promised him. "I’m also sorry, Jax. I sincerely apologize for my behavior in there. I know what you must have been thinking . . ."
"Brenda," he said interrupting her. "I know that you have your own ideas about Tea and what she wants and what she’s after, and all that. And while I may not agree with you, I will defend your right to stake your claim to me, anytime you want to," he said.
Brenda looked at him in wonder. "You’re serious?"
"Yes. And understand that if I feel the need to do the same thing with any man who shows an inordinate amount of interest in you, I will."
"Okay," Brenda said, grinning at him.
"Okay," he echoed, brushing his lips against hers.
"I had better get back in there and help Lois clean up the mess we made," Brenda said heading for the kitchen. "Oh, have we made the news yet?" she asked, as Jax picked up the remote control again.
"Not yet," Jax said. "Although the previews for tonight’s Hard Copy mention revealing an explosive secret about me. I kind of think they mean you."
Tea came out of the bathroom then, looking much less of a mess than before. She saw Jax with Brenda together and wondered what the gorgeous young thing had told him about what precipitated the events in the kitchen. She did notice that Jax did not seem particularly upset, however. Not at Brenda, not at her . . .
"Well. I think I need to get home and change," Tea said haltingly, waiting to see if Jax was going to blast her or blast his young wife.
"Okay," Jax said. "We’ll see you at the fund-raiser."
Tea smiled with relief. Apparently everything was fine for now. "Yes, I’ll see you there," she said as she nodded at Brenda and then left the penthouse.
+ + +
Marco stood in front of the mirror in his hotel suite fixing the bow-tie on his tuxedo. Using his connection to the royal palace, Pierre had managed to wrangle them both invitations to the Speilberg fund-raiser which started in half an hour. At last Marco would finally get to lay eyes on this Jasper Jacks fellow, walk up to him, introduce himself as Brenda’s fiancee and demand to know where she was. Or, he might get even luckier and Brenda might
show up at this fund-raiser herself. He could hardly imagine how he would feel to be so close to her again, to see her, to touch her, to know they could finally and freely be together in ways they never could in the past.
And he couldn’t *wait* to see her reaction to seeing him again. Would she toss her arms around him and cover his face with kisses as she had done in the past? Or would her response be even more passionate now that they were both older and had been parted from each other for so long?
He ran a comb through his black, wavy hair and heard the rap on his door.
"Marco, it’s time," Pierre said.
Marco slid on his tuxedo jacket, smiled briefly at his reflection, and followed Monaco’s minister of state down to the Plaza Hotel’s Gold Room. . .