Wrapped In Pleasure - Brenda Jackson [62]
“Are you ready to leave, Delaney?”
Jamal’s question broke into her thoughts, and she lovingly gazed across the table at him. Earlier that day, after getting nearly everything straightened out with her brothers, he had left to change clothes and had returned two hours later to take her to dinner.
Tonight he was dressed like a Westerner and looked absolutely stunning in a dark gray suit, white shirt and navy-blue tie. She smiled, thinking he was certainly a very handsome man. His dark eyes held her seductively in their gaze and had been doing so all night. “Yes,” she said softly. “But it’s early yet. You aren’t planning to take me straight home, are you?”
He stood and walked around the table to pull her chair back for her. “No. I thought you might be interested in seeing the town house I’ve purchased to live in while I’m here.”
Delaney raised a brow. “You’ve purchased a town house? But you just arrived today.”
He nodded. “Asalum is most efficient when it comes to handling business matters. He took care of all the details and made the necessary arrangements from the jet while we were flying over here.”
Delaney shook her head. She doubted she would ever get used to such extravagance. “Must be nice.”
He chuckled. “It is nice, as you will soon see.” He took her hand in his as they walked out of the restaurant. “And there is another reason I want to take you to my town house.”
Delaney had a good idea just what that other reason was but wanted him to tell her, anyway. “And what reason is that, Your Highness?”
Jamal leaned down and whispered in her ear. Even with the darkness of her skin, she actually blushed, then smiled up at him. “Um, I think something like that can be arranged, Prince.”
Back at Delaney’s apartment the Westmoreland brothers and Tara were involved in a game of bid whist. Tara excused herself from the next game and went into the kitchen to check on the cookies that she had baking in the oven.
They had ordered pizza earlier, and with Stone’s complaint of not having anything sweet to eat, she had taken a tube of frozen cookie dough from Delaney’s freezer and had baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies.
Tara smiled, inwardly admitting that now that she was getting to know them better, she liked Delaney’s brothers. Although she thought their overprotectiveness was a bit much, it was definitely a show of the love they had for their sister.
She was taking the tray of baked cookies from the oven when Delaney’s doorbell sounded. She hoped it wasn’t one of the neighbors complaining that too much noise was coming from the apartment. Storm had a tendency to groan rather loudly whenever he lost, which was frequently. She smiled, thinking he was definitely a sore loser.
Back in the living room, Chase got up from the table to open the door. He snatched it open, wondering who would have the nerve to interrupt their card game.
He winced when he saw the person standing there. Damn, all hell is about to break loose, he thought frowning. “Thorn! What are you doing here? We weren’t expecting you until the morning.”
Thorn Westmoreland shook his head and looked questioningly beyond Chase to the table where his other brothers sat playing cards. At least they had been playing cards. Stone had stopped and sat unmoving, like a “stone” right in the middle of dealing out the cards, and both Dare and Storm looked at him as if he was a Martian.
He frowned, wondering what the hell had everyone spooked. Entering the apartment, he walked into the center of the room. “What the hell is everyone staring at? Do I have mud on my face or something?”
Dare, regaining his wits, returned to shuffling the cards. “We’re just surprised to see you tonight.”
“Yeah,” Stone chimed in. “We weren’t expecting you until the morning.”
Thorn threw his overnight bag on the sofa. “Yes, that’s what I heard, twice already. First from Chase and now you guys. So you’re all surprised I showed