Blackjack and Moonlight: A Contemporary Romance by Magdalen Braden Read Free Book Online Page A

question, of course. Jack wasn’t sure which of them was supposed to be swayed by the judge’s plea. All he could do was wait for Elise to speak.
    His moonlight girl looked—well, beautiful of course, but also calm and extremely controlled. Determined. Steely, even. Her expression didn’t bode well for him.
    Oh, shit. She was going to say no. He was going to lose this round, and he didn’t have a plan for the next skirmish. He held his breath.
    “Okay.” Elise pointed at him. “My place. Tomorrow. Seven.” She turned to grin at Judge King. “Those papers, Judge? For the Roundtable?”
    The judge’s mouth was open just a bit. Jack couldn’t remember ever seeing Anita King look nonplussed. “Of course,” she said hastily. She handed the folder over to Elise. “Thank you for helping out such a good cause.”
    Yup, that was what he’d been reduced to—a charity case.
    “I’m happy to do what I can, Judge.” Elise’s parting smile was sunny. So why didn’t Jack feel more relieved?
     

     
    When the doorbell rang, Elise was satisfied. Her house was cleaner than it had been in a long time. She’d changed the sheets, put out fresh towels, and squeezed in time for a proper bath. With perfumed bath salts, even. She was wearing her cherry-red silk shorty robe and precious little else.
    She was ready for sex. Good old-fashioned, rumple-the-sheets, make-the-earth-move sex. She smelled good. She looked good. And she felt both in control and curiously empowered by her decision to sleep with Blackjack McIntyre. She reached for the doorknob just as the bell rang again.
    “Hi.” She smiled at him. “Come on in.”
    He looked very formal. Impeccable gray flannel overcoat, open over a dashing suit. He might be infuriating, but the man could dress. Elise salivated, thinking about taking all that clothing off him, one piece at a time.
    “These are for you.” He handed her a bag with a florist’s logo. Inside was a shallow box holding an arrangement of roses and lilies in a crystal bowl.
    “Ooh, these are stunning.” She waved at the hall coat closet as she walked toward the kitchen. “You can hang your coat there.”
    Elise glanced back. He was still wearing the coat, and he was frowning, presumably annoyed that things weren’t going as planned. She wanted to laugh at how predictable he was.
    She unpacked the bouquet, admired the bowl, and put the flowers in pride of place on her dining room table. Maybe later she would put them in the bedroom.
    “I made a reservation for seven-thirty,” Jack said carefully. He was standing in the doorway of the living room, ready to head right out. He held his wrist like he wanted to refer to his watch but was too polite.
    Elise grinned at him and pointed. “The phone’s over there. You can cancel the reservation.”
    His frown tightened. “You’re not feeling well?”
    “On the contrary, I feel great.” She walked over to him, placing her hands on his coat lapels. “Are you sure you won’t take off this coat?”
    “No. I mean, yes. I’m sure.” He stepped back a few inches. He looked stern and unwavering—a bit like he had when he’d been prosecuting Philly’s mob boss Dino “T-Rex” Reggiano. No sense of humor, clearly. Either that, or he was about to find her in contempt of court.
    “Jack,” she soothed. “I can feed you if you’re hungry. Gusto’s delivers. It’s pretty good pizza.”
    The offer seemed to startle him, which warmed her cynical heart no end. She watched as he considered his options.
    “I would prefer to take you out to dinner. If you’ll uh, put on some clothes,” he said, studiously not noticing her breasts, which felt very perky under the thin silk of her robe. “I’ll have Gino put back our reservation at La Famiglia.”
    “I don’t need to be wined and dined. I’m happy to skip straight to dessert. And by ‘dessert,’ of course, I mean sex.”
    Elise drew her hand down the gray flannel sleeve closest to her. She let her