Wrapped in Pleasure by Brenda Jackson Read Free Book Online

decision to stay, don’t you think we should stop avoiding each other and make the most of it and get along?”
    Delaney fought her body’s reaction to his closeness. It wasn’t easy. “I suppose we can try.”
    “What do we have to lose?”
    Oh, I can think of a number of things I have to lose. My virginity for one, Delaney thought to herself. Instead of responding to his question, she turned and headed for the door. “I’ll wait in the car while you change clothes.”
     
    “Did you get everything you need?” Delaney asked Jamal as they got back into her car to return to the cabin. Once they had gone inside the all-night supermarket he seemed to have disappeared.
    “Yes, I got everything I need. What about you?”
    “Yes. I even picked up a few things I hadn’t intended to get,” she said, thinking of the romance novel she had talked herself into buying. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been able to read a book for pleasure.
    They drove back to the cabin in silence. Delaney kept her eyes on the road but felt Jamal’s eyes on her all the while.
    “What kind of doctor are you?” he asked after they had ridden a few miles.
    His question got him a smile. She enjoyed talking about her profession and was proud of the fact that she was the only doctor in the Westmoreland family. “I will be a pediatrician, but first I have to complete my residency, which will take another two years.”
    “You like working with children?”
    Delaney’s response was immediate. “Not only do I enjoy working with kids, I love kids, period.”
    “So do I.”
    Delaney was surprised by his comment. “You do?” Most men, especially a single man, wouldn’t admit that fact.
    “Yes. I’m looking forward to getting married one day and having a family.”
    She nodded. “Me, too. I want a houseful.”
    Jamal chuckled and gave her a curious look. “Define a houseful.”
    The words leaped from Delaney’s mouth without thinking about it. “At least six.”
    He smiled, finding it amazing that she wanted pretty close to the same number of children that he did. “You are asking for a lot, aren’t you?”
    She grinned. That was what her brothers always told her. They were convinced it would be hard to find a man who’d want that many kids. “Not a whole lot, just a good even number to make me happy and content.”
    When the car stopped at a traffic light, Jamal glanced over at Delaney. He thought she was too beautiful for words. Even with a face scrubbed clean of makeup and a fashionable scarf around her head to keep her hair in place, she was definitely one nice feminine package, a right sassy one at that.
    His thoughts drifted to Najeen. She would remain hismistress even after he took a wife. That was understood and it would also be accepted. He knew that Western women tended to be possessive after marriage. They would never tolerate a husband having a mistress. But then, most American women fancied themselves marrying for love. In his country you married for benefits—usually heirs. His marriage would be no different. Since he didn’t believe in love he didn’t plan on marrying for it. His would be an arranged marriage. Nothing more. Nothing less.
    He could not see Delaney ever settling for that type of arrangement with any man. She would want it all: a man’s love, his devotion, and his soul if there was a way she could get it.
    Jamal cringed inwardly. The thought of any woman having that much control over a man was oddly disconcerting. The possibility that a woman would demand such a relationship would be unheard of in his country.
    “Think you can juggle a career and motherhood?” he asked moments later. He wondered how she would respond. Western women also tended to be less domesticated. They enjoyed working just as hard as a man. He smiled. The woman he married would have only one job—to give him children. She could walk around naked all day if she chose to do so. She would be naked and pregnant the