Lessons and Lovers by Portia Da Costa Page A

trip.”
    Hettie looked at him sharply. Had there been just the tiniest hint of an edge in his voice? Was the man carved from granite laughing at her?
    Or maybe really was he jealous?
    Hettie’s senses leapt. She swallowed a huge gasp, fighting a wash of panicked emotion. It was too much to hope for. She was probably imagining things.
    “So am I,” she said as evenly as she could, calling what might be an imagined bluff, “I’m hoping it’ll be a very productive stay. Educational even, perhaps?” Perhaps if she challenged him again and again, as much as she could, she could break through that solid marble wall of his?
    “Very possibly.”
    But there was nothing. Not even the merest crimp of his perfectly sculpted lips or the faintest flash of green envy in his crystal blue eyes. “If there’s any way I can assist you, Milady, please let me know.”
    Hettie felt her nipples harden and was grateful for the sheet tucked up under her armpits.
    “Any way at all?” she inquired, her voice bland but her heart pounding and leaping.
    “Anything,” he said softly, the lack of an honorific telling her that in a rare daytime moment, he was speaking to the woman and not the employer.
    “I may just take you up on that.” She smiled as calmly as she could and reached for her tea. “Now I’d better get this drunk and get my act together. Time’s passing and we’ve got a fair journey ahead of us.”
    “We certainly have, Ma’am,” murmured Starr as he turned on his heel and left her to her morning routine.
    Leaving Hettie wondering just exactly what kind of journey he was referring to.
    Hettie dressed very carefully to travel. Two days ago she’d just flung on a shirt and jeans to meet Darryl and ride in a car with him, but now she felt he was at least worthy of her making an effort and she adorned herself appropriately.
    She was also aware of another, more compelling agenda. The simple desire to always look beautiful for Starr…
    Her two-piece was black figured silk, with a full and swirling skirt and a matching top that flattered her breasts to perfection.
    She tried in on first with a bra and then without. It was unsubtle of course, but she felt sensitized and sexual. She wanted to be more aware of her body than she would have been if all neatly trussed up in a bra. She had no doubt that both Darryl and Starr would enjoy the view, and that the tall blond would notice the younger man’s looks of admiration.
    Stevie had talked about making Starr jealous in an attempt to compel him to reveal his feelings. Hettie wasn’t so sure about that tactic, but now that it was floating around somewhere in her subconscious she couldn’t ignore it. She had no intention of openly flirting with Darryl, because that would be unkind to both the men. But perhaps if Starr saw her houseguest making eyes at her, it might force him to rethink his own emotional repression, and consider the possibility that if he didn’t make a move, one day someone else would.
    But then again, you might just suck it up and go on with your Mr. Cool Faultless Perfect Servant act, mightn’t you, you stubborn bastard?
    Sighing, Hettie returned her attention her appearance.
    After fluffing out her glossy hair, she painted her eyelids with a smoky shadow and stained her lips with cranberry pink. In her widow’s weeds, she knew she’d never looked better.
    The men’s reactions were thrilling. Her body stirred with both excitement and a strange fear when Starr’s blue laser gaze raked her from head to foot in a way she’d never seen before. His demeanor out of the bedroom had always been the acme of perfect respect and discretion. He’d never once appeared to ogle her, even when she’d been going out with Piers and wearing the most risqué of cocktail dresses. But now his eyes were incendiary and seemed to possess every part of her, rendering the black silk ensemble transparent and revealing every inch of her intimate flesh. Hettie felt that it was the