weight of the ring where it pressed into her the side of her fingers. “Marry for love.”
“But that’s what I’m talking about. Getting married.”
A warm smile had filled her mother’s face and for the briefest moment Kensington held her breath.
Like her mother was going to share something important.
“The wedding is a wonderful beginning, but that’s all it is. A beginning. The marriage will be yours for life. It will be what you make of it.”
“I certainly hope it’s not full of smelly boys like Liam and Campbell.”
Her mother had laughed at that before pulling her close in a tight hug. “I promise you. When the children are your boys, you’ll feel entirely differently.”
Her mother then pressed a kiss to her head and Kensington had reveled in the quiet moment, just the two of them. She loved her family—even the smelly boys despite her protests—but with three other siblings it was rare to get one-on-one time with either of her parents.
She’d pulled back with a start. “How will I know I’m in love?”
“That’s the great mystery that no one can explain until it happens.”
“What mystery?”
“That even if it seems impossible to imagine, one day you’ll meet the right person and you’ll just know.”
Kensington pulled herself from the memory—one she’d not had in years—as Jack smiled down at her. “What do you think?”
“It’s too much.”
And she knew her words were about far more than the ring.
* * *
Jack squeezed Kensington’s hand once more and hoped the gentle reassurance would ensure she stayed with him and in character. They had to see this through and the only way to do that was to keep up appearances. “It’s not too much.”
He turned toward the shop owner, pleased to see the calculation behind the man’s calm gaze. The guy knew a buyer when he saw one.
After a small cough the proprietor gestured to the velvet square on the table. “Perhaps we can look at some of the diamonds, and then we can return to the question of which setting is ideal.”
Kensington slipped the ring off and laid it on the velvet square. “By all means.”
The owner busied himself with the loose diamonds he’d laid out earlier, displaying them in a single row on the black velvet. Jack marveled how something so small could command such a premium. Even at six carats, the relative size of each diamond was tiny.
Yet despite their size, wars were fought over them and funded by them. Rulers had gone to battle to possess them. Thieves made their lives—or lost them—stealing them.
Gemstones were man’s folly. Beautiful baubles that often owned the possessor’s soul far more than the possessor owned them.
It made Kensington’s reaction to the ring that much more interesting. She appreciated the ring; that was evident. But where most women would be preening under the charade, he sensed a distinct discomfort at the extravagance of the piece.
The jeweler extended a loupe and Jack leaned forward to inspect one of the loose stones. He listened intently as the jeweler described various properties before handing the loupe to Kensington. Their fingers brushed, and Jack held his hand against hers a moment longer than necessary.
The woman was intoxicating.
He’d heard of her, of course. Although the House of Steele hadn’t been in business all that long, the Steele siblings had created quite a name for themselves and their family enterprise. Add on that the family name was well-known to begin with and it had been easy to find out more about the delectable Kensington Steele after their first encounter about a year ago.
She was cool, yet he wouldn’t go so far as to say icy. Rather, she had a calm, stoic demeanor that didn’t ruffle easily. That she’d shown even the slightest stammer over the ring was out of character.
And it gave him a tiny bit of hope things truly weren’t one-sided between them.
Which, Jack had to admit, was a rather large change. He’d spent the first thirty-five years of his life diligently avoiding romantic entanglements, so the fact that he was even toying with this strange attraction to the woman was more than a bit unsettling.
“What do you think, Mr. Andrews?”
Jack pulled his errant thoughts off of the soft sweep of hair that fell over Kensington’s shoulder and the graceful arch of her neck and turned to face the jeweler once more. “I think it’s time for Ms. Steele to decide.”
Her head snapped up from where she viewed one of the diamonds. “Jack. Are you sure? We just started this process.”
“When you know, you know.”
“But—”
He smiled and tapped on the counter. “Please, darling. You’ve already made me the happiest man on earth. Now select something that makes you happy.”
He didn’t miss the ever-so-slight raise of her eyebrow, or the hard glint in her crystal-blue gaze, but to her credit, she gave nothing else away.
“I like this one.” She pointed to a stone on the edge of the velvet. “It’s magnificent.”
“As are you.”
Without waiting for any further encouragement, he leaned in and captured her mouth for a kiss. The slight “oof” of surprise was the only clue that his actions caught her off guard, and he used that small moment of shock to press his advantage.
The hard wall of the glass counter pressed into his hip and Jack turned them both so they were flush against each other. His hands drifted to her waist and he pulled her flat against him, satisfied when her arms lifted to wrap around his neck.
The tilt of her head and the soft acquiescence of her lips opening under his gave him the second opportunity to press his advantage. His tongue met hers and a wave of heat and need crashed through his system so hard he had to wonder how he was still standing upright.
He might not have expected her oversize ship captain’s desk. And he might not have figured the roses would set her teeth on edge.
But he had imagined the power of her kiss.
Rich. Lush. Enticing.
Reality was so much better.
A light cough pulled them both from the moment and he lifted his head and smiled at her before shooting a broad wink to the jeweler. “I’m sure we’re not the first ones to do that, are we?”
“Not in the least, sir.”
The proprietor’s ready sense of humor went a long way toward diffusing the raw need that had gripped him with iron talons. “So what’s next?”
“It’s
