Page 21

He put the ice pack on his empty plate, and released a frustrated sigh.

He’d broken his nose before and knew it was dinged, not fractured, so he doubted he’d have a black eye in the morning.

But, and pity he couldn’t check, he knew he’d have blue-tinged balls.

His tailbone was aching from being the first point of contact with the floor, but at least Eden had, mostly, landed on him, and not the other way around.

If he hadn’t turned as soon as he felt the door opening, thank God for his quick reflexes, his bulk would’ve flattened her.

Mick took her seat, dished up some lasagna and tucked in.

Jed looked at the half-empty tray of food and hoped there would be some for him to eat later.

But knowing his brother, and the rest of the savages, there probably wouldn’t be.

Eden had yet to serve herself, but she’d slammed down a whisky and was now making her way through a huge glass of red wine.

As if feeling his eyes on hers, she lifted her head, and in those colours of the sea, he saw remorse and a metric ton of embarrassment.

These were his people, and he was used to feeling an arse around them– they made it their mission to keep his feet on the ground– but they were strangers to Eden.

And anyone with a brain could work out exactly how they came to be on the floor.

‘I don’t understand why you both fell,’ Alistair said, looking up from his second, possibly third, helping.

Okay, occasionally things needed to be explained to people with super big brains and no emotional intelligence. But hopefully, nobody would. He didn’t want to cause Eden more embarrassment.

Justin patted his big arm and shook his head. ‘Don’t worry about it, baby. It was just an accident.’

How had his oaf of a brother landed such a nice guy? Honestly, if he blew that way, he’d be half in love with Justin himself.

Mick looked up from shovelling food into her mouth. Her helpings were at least as big as his.

‘Yeah, Jed, how did you and Eden come to be on the floor?’ she asked, her tongue firmly in her cheek.

Jed picked up an ice cube and flung it at her.

Because he had excellent aim, it landed wedged in her cleavage.

‘You bastard,’ she muttered, digging her fingers into her bra to pull out the rapidly melting ice cube.

She flung it at his head, and it bounced off his cheek. Her aim was getting better.

‘The only way that could’ve happened is if you and she?—’

‘Al—’ Jed wearily interrupted Alistair.

‘—if you and Eden were leaning against the door together…’

Jed watched, fascinated, as Al added two and two and reached four. His eyes widened and his skin lightened with the faintest hint of pink. His big, broody brother was a bit of a prude. ‘Oh…’ he muttered.

Justin clasped his hand and squeezed. ‘There you go, big guy,’ he said, grinning.

Eden, now beetroot red, started to stand.

Before Jed could follow her to her feet, Mick was out of her seat.

Her gentle hand on Eden’s shoulder pushed her pretty butt, the one he’d squeezed, back into the chair.

‘Eden, drink your wine, eat some food. Jed might be an arse, but he’s an arse who can cook.

Eat something. You’ll feel better for it, I promise. ’

When Mick used her I’m-a-doctor voice, people tended to listen and Eden was no exception.

Justin, being quick on the uptake, reached for her empty plate, dished up some lasagna and added the last piece of garlic bread.

He slid it in front of her, and Eden grabbed a fork.

She tentatively lifted a small bite to her lips, ate and then went in for a bigger forkful.

Yeah, Jed was sure of a couple of things: he was a good polo player, a better craftsman, and he could cook a damn fine lasagna.

And that he was desperate to take Eden to bed and to finish what they’d started. Unfortunately, he didn’t think his balls could handle it tonight. Fuck.

‘It’s good,’ Eden said, sounding surprised.

‘I know.’

‘Arse,’ Mick muttered, just loud enough for him to hear. She leaned sideways to flick his ear. Ignoring his protest, she topped up Eden’s glass, then her own, and leaned back in her chair. ‘Right, now that the excitement is over, can we have a normal meal?’ she asked.

‘I’ve been hanging around you guys for five years now, and I’ve yet to find normal,’ Kit stated, lifting his beer bottle in a mock toast.

Justin placed his hand on Al’s and shook his head when he reached for his phone. ‘No, baby, you still need to be sociable.’

Al sighed, frowned and tipped his head back to look at the ceiling. Jed, from experience, knew they had about fifteen minutes before he excused himself and went back to his home office and lost himself in the markets and his spreadsheets.

Trying to ignore his aching nose, and balls, Jed sipped at his whisky.

He pulled the lasagna dish toward him and, deciding there was no point in dirtying another plate, ate directly from the serving dish.

And Eden was right, it was good. He looked at Mick.

‘How are the plans coming along for the charity polo match?’ he asked.

Mick tapped her finger against the bowl of her wine glass and wrinkled her nose. ‘We still need a main sponsor,’ she told him. ‘And we need to find a charity to be the recipient of any money we raise.’

Eden’s fork stopped halfway to her mouth. ‘I’m sorry… what?’

She looked genuinely confused. Jed started to explain, but Mick beat him to it.

In between bites, she explained how a casual discussion they’d had about hosting a polo match to raise funds for charity a few months ago had led to an organising committee being set up by the village ‘do-gooders’ and Mick– she shot a dirty look at Jed when she got to this point– being elected its chairperson.

‘You’re raising money for charity, but you don’t have a cause in mind?’ Eden asked, obviously confused. ‘That doesn’t make sense.’

‘If we don’t find a charity we can all agree on, we’ll just donate the money to the Bancroft Foundation and ask them to distribute it,’ Jed explained. ‘The Bancroft Foundation is?—’

Eden’s face tightened. ‘I know who they are and what they do.’

‘Troyden has said that he’ll sponsor the day if we need him too,’ Mick said. ‘I have to say, it’s pretty handy having a billionaire hanging around.’

Al lifted his attention off the phone he’d snuck out of his pocket. ‘Not going to happen. We’ve spent the budget for charity contributions this quarter and I’m not releasing any more money.’

Mick pouted. ‘Oh, don’t be annoying, Al. It’s for a good cause.’

Al’s expression turned stubborn. ‘Do you have any idea how many people ask Troyden for money, how many people expect him to bail them out when they hit a sponsorship snag? It’s a full-time job for Justin to handle the emails, and then Troyden is besieged by personal calls as well.

That couple, your mum’s old friend, Jed?—’

Al was terrible at names. ‘Tara and Vincent Bancroft, Al,’ he supplied, weary. He wanted to go to bed. Preferably with Eden. Who now looked ghost-pale instead of fire-red. He’d never met anyone who could change colour as fast.

‘Yeah, them . They’re always asking for last-minute sponsorship.’

Yeah, his godmother and Vincent could be pushy, but you had to be when you ran one of the most successful foundations in the country. But they made a difference in many people’s lives, so he thought their persistence was an asset, not a fault.

Because he couldn’t keep his eyes off Eden’s gorgeous face, he saw an indecipherable emotion jump into her eyes. Tipping his head to the side, he watching as she pushed her food around on her plate. She hadn’t eaten more than a couple of forkfuls.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked, his voice gruff.

‘Fine,’ she snapped, as prickly as a cactus. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’

Because my bloody sister invited you to dinner at my house instead of hers, because we didn’t say a word before we started devouring each other? Because we ended up on the bloody floor looking like randy teenagers? ‘You hit your knee pretty hard,’ he said, trying his best to sound bland.

She lowered her hand to rub her knee. ‘It’s okay.’

But she wasn’t. And he knew that not all of her unease was due to their runaway wildfire attraction. What was her story? He wanted to know.

‘Alistair, stop being a frugal prat,’ Mick snapped at Al, pulling Jed’s attention off Eden. ‘I’m Troyden’s daughter, and this is a worthy cause!’

‘You don’t have a cause yet, Mick, and they are all worthy causes,’ Alistair replied, sounding bored. ‘AndTroyden wouldn’t stay a billionaire if we didn’t stick to a budget .’

Jed thought he was overegging it, but Al was pedantic about Troyden’s finances. He also understood, because Troyden could be too generous and tended to fling his credit card around like it was confetti, Al needed to keep a close eye on Troyden’s money.

‘You are so annoying,’ Mick told Alistair, tossing her head.

Al, because he was Al, ignored her. He never wasted energy on drama.

Jed rubbed his forehead, desperate to take his rather battered body into a hot shower and then into bed.

He wanted Eden in it as well, but there was more chance of him being beamed up by aliens.

Their kiss took her by surprise, but he knew that she was now weighing all the pros and cons, and the chances of seeing her naked tonight were slipping away.

As he reached for the whisky bottle for another hit, thinking he might as well get slammed, his phone beeped with a message from an unknown number.

This is Henry. Our last conversation was unproductive and I would like to revisit.

Jed tipped his head back and looked at the ceiling. Henry bugging him was the last thing he needed. And their conversation had been unproductive because Henry wanted something he couldn’t give him, a place in his life.