Page 6 of The Beauty and the Boxer
Of course she could. She had done itbefore.
Meredith tried to ignore it, the creepingfeeling she had felt only once before. There was an attractionbetween her and Jack Archer and though she didn’t like it, shecould hardly deny it. Still, it didn’t matter. Meredith had longsince vowed never to fall victim to a man again, not since herill-fated romance with Clyde Peterson.
Meredith’s pace slowed as she thought of hisname. Bringing her hand to her face, her knuckles curving beneathher chin as she propped her elbow on her left forearm as it curledaround her midsection. It had been months since she let herselfthink of him and years since she had seen him, but still he hauntedher. She had tried to find him through letters. But it seemed hehad disappeared off the face of the earth. If only that were thecase.
Inhaling, she noted that her fingers smelledfaintly of soap. Spice and leather scents seemed to cling to herskin. Furring her brow, she pulled her hand back to glare at it,realizing that it had been the hand she used to shake Jack’shand.
Dropping it, she tried to wipe off the smellonto her skirts. It wouldn’t matter if she genuinely liked JackArcher or if she suddenly decided that men were honest andtrustworthy and sought to be courted. She wasn’t the type to becourted. Besides…
Clyde Peterson would never give her adivorce.
Chapter Two
Jack Archer walked back to his desk,surprised that he should feel so, well, interested in theconversation he had just had with Meredith Taylor. She was thesister of his brother’s wife and she was a quiet, mousy sort ofwoman, although they had never actually spoken to one anotherexcept for a greeting or goodbye. He always assumed that she hadthought little of him, as the rest of her social circle did.
Jack loathed the upper class. As a man whohad come up from nothing, from orphan to petty thief, toprizefighter to lumber baron to bona fide millionaire, Jackcouldn’t stand the idea that some people thought they were betterthan others simply for being born into a rich family, or worse,being blue blooded. Nothing irritated him more than people whoseentire personalities revolved around some lucky situation anancestor had found themselves in hundreds of years ago. It wasridiculous and yet, the very fabric of his country’s entire beingrevolved around it. The aristocracy was the definition of hypocrisyand anyone who actively took part in it was a liar.
Jack knew that his ideas were in contrastwith society. With that and the legendary scar on his face, he wasable to keep far away from the balls and soirées his brother Simonwas forced to go to with his new wife. Of course, he had businessto attend at those functions, unlike Jack. If the Archer brotherswere social pariahs, then he was the worse of the two.
Jack had made himself unapproachable onpurpose. Except that Miss Taylor didn’t think so.
It had been a surprise to see the disheveledlady peering into his office as he shouted at his secretary. He hadbeen in a foul mood that morning, due to a miser of a man, Mr.Crockett in Brighton. The old cotter was trying to back out of adeal that had all but been finalized. Jack was already paying morethan he usually would for a failing company, but the conditions hadbeen truly horrendous and in a moment of weakness, he had offeredto buy it from Crockett for a small fortune. Usually, Jack woulddrag a deal for months to get the seller to accept a measly amount,but he had felt particularly strong about the workers and had hopeda higher bid would shorten the time period of acquisition. NowCrockett was trying to renege on their deal and Jack had beenfurious.
He had been in the middle of his angryoutburst when the luster of Miss Taylor’s caramel-colored hairshined in the morning light from the window behind him, catchinghis eye. He had noticed her the moment she came into view as hiseyes had been well trained to catch even the slightest of movementssince his life as a pugilist. Even now as he sat behind his desk,remembering the sight of her, it was her hair that seemed tocommand most of his attention.
That was, until she spoke. He had heard herspeak before, but never directly to him. A few words to Sarah orSimon, an encouragement or two to her nephew during the handful oftimes they found themselves in each other’s presence. While Simonhad married Sarah some six months earlier, Jack had made it a pointto avoid their home as much as he could. He saw Simon enough atwork and there wasn’t very much reason to visit his home,especially since Jack hadn’t been particularly impressed with hiswife.
Sarah, the former countess de Marchand hadbeen a lady of first society and, in Jack’s opinion, had used hisbrother for years. Of course, Jack had been proven wrong when sheactually married Simon, an act that was not lost on him, but Jackcould never understand why his brother had been so willing to, inJack’s opinion, sacrifice his principles for a woman, even a prettyone.
To be sure, Sarah was of an attractive sort,even if her hair was a bit dark for Jack’s tastes. She was a touchtoo tall and rather too thin on top for him as he unwittinglycompared her to Meredith in his mind. The countess’s sister was farmore to his liking.
Her nose was straight, not too small, andher mouth, while thin, seemed to have a permanent curve at thecorners which seemed to capture his interest more than he wouldlike to admit. He had found it difficult to tear his gaze away whenshe had been standing before him.
Meredith was shorter, with more curves andseemed to be perfectly matched for his stature, but he certainlywouldn’t admit it. And she had the strangest colored eyes. Werethey green? Brown? They appeared to be both and neither at the sametime. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it and yet, there seemedto always be something contradicting about her.
She always behaved and dressed in a modest,governess sort of way and never once alluded to being anything butprim and proper, but Jack couldn’t help but feel there wassomething wild beneath her tight lace and petticoats. She neversaid or did anything outrageous and yet he couldn’t help but feelthere was a deep well of secrets about her. Her hooded eyes held asort of reserved restlessness that others didn’t seem to notice.But how could they not?
Meredith wasn’t simply a puritanical miss,or at least she seemed to try to give that impression. Even whenshe held her chin up and wore that dreadful lace collar all the wayup her neck, Jack had always felt a strong sort of vibrance comingfrom her. Yet when he requested a kiss for helping with herinvestment, she hadn’t been frazzled.
He hadn’t expected to make such a comment.But then she had appeared so uninhibited at that moment, her cheekshad been a deep pink color, her eyes shining with a sort ofcalculating hope. There was something oddly earnest about her andshe had been so beautifully windswept that he had suddenly wantedto kiss her.
A foolish idea and yet, he didn’t regretasking her.
A cottage by the sea, he mused as he leanedback in his chair. What would she wish to be alone for? Surely, shewould be lonely, but then she had never been properly alone herentire life. No woman of her standing was in fact. They were alwaysin someone’s company and while she seemed to get along well enoughwith her sister, perhaps they argued behind closed doors. Jackcould understand wanting a reprieve from people. He absentlytouched his scar. He could understand that.
Just as he was picturing Meredith lying on asmall sofa in front of a fire in a seaside cottage, dressed in somecharming robe with her warm, caramel hair draped over hershoulders, a knock sounded from the door. Jack was pulled abruptlyfrom his thoughts as he saw Simon enter.
“Portage told me about Crockett,” Simon saidas he came into the room without preamble. “I can have it sortedout by the weeks’ end. I’ll send Benjamin.”
“Don’t bother,” Jack said, shaking his head.“I’m going to see to him myself.”
“He’s just trying to get more money.”
“I know what he’s trying and he’s mistakenin thinking we can be pressed.” Jack flexed his left hand. “I’msure all Crockett needs is a reminder who he’s dealing withexactly.”
Simon didn’t look pleased.
“We’re out of that game, Jack,” he said.“We’ve been legitimate for five years now.”
