Midnight Sun-30
Midnight Sun (30)
"Where are they!" the prince thundered into the phone so loudly that Pierre fell off of his chair as he hurled the phone from his ear in shock.
Pierre quickly retrieved the phone and spoke into it just as quickly. "I don’t know, Your Majesty. I tried to determine their destination but they used a private jet, and there was no flight plan given. All I know is that it left the country mid-morning yesterday."
"That is all you know? Well that is not good enough!" the prince erupted. "I want to know where he has taken Brenda and I want to know *now*! Do you have any idea of what damage he has done by marrying her?!! The news of the marriage is everywhere! Blast it! Galway is livid, the Queen is beyond vexed with me and she is understandabley embarrassed by this, but *no one* is more embarrassed by this than I!"
"Yes Sire, I know that. I can only imagine how one would feel to see one’s purported fiancee happily wed to . . ."
"Silence! Have you any idea the kind of damage control I must do now to try and rectify this colossal blunder?! It is only the Earl’s mad desire for Brenda that causes him to believe that she must have been coerced into this marriage by Jax. I have painted that ruthless young cad as the manipulating villain in this scenario and we cannot let it get out that she willingly and happily wed the man, do you understand that? Now you FIND her! And get her back here!"
"Yes, Sire. Of course, Sire. As you wish."
"And what is this nonsense about Marco calling to see if he could fly out that Charlotte what’s-her-name to New York? What is the meaning of that?! Do you two buffoons think you’re out there on holiday?!""
"Marco, seems to think, Sire, that Brenda being reunited with a friend from Monaco could get her homesick enough to return. I told him it was complete nonsense…"
"Well it’s certainly better than anything you’ve come up with so far," the prince growled. "Obviously your tale about Jax stealing away the casino from me was completely unconvincing to my daughter. You should have let Marco tell her. I’m sure the boy would have spun a more compelling tale which would have turned her against Jax."
"Begging your pardon, Sire, but if you could only *see* Brenda with Jax you would understand that to turn her against him is a task monumental indeed. And as for Marco’s bright ideas, I really do not see what bringing Charlotte here will accomplish."
"Well Marco obviously has a plan. Let him exercise it. Now listen to me, Pierre. I have *sworn* to Galway and to the Queen of England herself that this is all a terrible mistake, a scam my daughter was entrapped it. I have assured them that I will hastily rectify this. Don’t you dare make a liar out of me. Find Brenda and get her back here. I don’t care how you accomplish it, just get it done. Do NOT let me have to come down there myself and handle this, Pierre, or that will be the end of you. Do you understand me?"
Pierre nodded wearily and then spoke into the phone. "I understand perfectly."
"Good. Now I’m going to continue to do damage control on my end. I want you to begin the proceedings to turn the casino back over to my ownership. Jax blatantly and willfully violated out agreement, and before I snatch Brenda from his clutches, I’ll take the casino to show that conniving, young upstart that, he is about to lose *everything.* Get it done, Pierre."
Pierre winced as he realized that the Prince did not yet hear the news that the Royal Casino had been raided by ELQ who had in turn been raided by Atlantis Corp. The Prince could not get back from Jax, what was no longer Jax’s. Pierre popped a Tylenol in his mouth, crossed himself, and prepared to give his ruler the latest bad tidings.
+ + +
Before heading off for the long plane trip to Alaska, Jax and Brenda stopped to buy some warmer clothes to take on this leg of their trip since they would be leaving the balmy, tropical weather behind.
The cold February winds of Alaska were a shock to Brenda who had become so acclimated to the gorgeous weather of her Caribbean island in the one-and-half days they had been there. For the life of her she could not fathom how anyone could live in Alaska all year long.
Anchorage was just as vast and snow-covered as Brenda remembered it to be. The enormous Jacks property loomed before them, impressive and massive.
"Why didn’t anyone meet us at the airport?" Brenda asked Jax as they got out of the jeep Jax had rented at the airport.
"I wanted our visit to be a surprise," he told her as he took her hand and they began up the walkway towards the house.
"Do they know about me, Jax? The truth about me, I mean?"
"If you are referring to the royal blood flowing in your veins, yes. I told them. I don’t generally keep secrets from my family if I can help it."
"Are they angry with me?"
"What for?"
"I don’t know . . . not being up front?"
"No, Bren. I explained everything to them. They know why you had to keep who you were a secret. Don’t worry about it."
Peering out of the window, Jane was shocked to see her youngest son coming up the walkway with his wife and what appeared to be an adorable little pup in his arms.
"Good heavens, John. It’s Jax and Brenda!" Jane said joyously as she flung open the door as they approached.
John corralled the dogs out of the living room knowing his daughter-in-law’s deep aversion to them and wanting to make her comfortable. And then he went to join his wife in greeting the kids. Happy hugs and kisses were exchanged as Jax and Brenda entered the house and Jax set the little puppy down.
Hearing the commotion, Vivian and Cook came into the living room and were delighted to see Jax and Brenda. More happy hugs and kisses were exchanged.
"This is such a wonderful surprise!" Vivian said, hugging Brenda for the third time. "What are you two doing here?" her eyes narrowed a bit. "Everything is all right, isn’t it?"
"Everything’s fine," Jax said. "Brenda and I just have to go out of the country for a while on a little mission, and we wanted to see everybody before we left and let you all know what’s going on."
Now John’s eyes narrowed. "Exactly what *is* going on, son?"
Jax gazed around. "Where’s Jerry?"
"Missing in action, as usual," Jane said with a sigh. "I think he’s in Barcelona."
"I thought he said Argentina?" John said.
"I could have sworn he said Madrid," Vivian mentioned.
Brenda could not help but laugh.
"Why are you looking for him?" John asked. "Does that brother of yours have anything to do with why the two of you have to get out of the country?"
Jax shook his head. "No dad. I just need to use Jerry’s villa in Bora Bora."
"How sweet of you to ask permission, luv. You know your brother never asks permission when he wants to use one of *your* homes or apartments," Jane pointed out.
Jax shrugged. "I just want to make sure it’s empty."
"Why the devil are you going to Bora Bora? You two are becoming quite the jetsetters," John said, as they were all seated and Cook brought out sandwiches and beverages.
"And while you’re answering that. Who is this little tike?" Jane asked, scooping up the wandering puppy who was knocking into everything.
"That’s Brenda’s dog," Jax told them. "Ophelia."
Everyone’s eyes widened in shock.
"*Brenda’s* dog?" Vivian said.
"Jax got him for me," Brenda explained uncomfortably. "He thinks having a puppy will help me to get over my fear of dogs."
"It will. And it’s not *having* a puppy, Brenda. It’s raising one. Being around her all the time. Seeing that what happened to you with that Dalmatian is not the norm," Jax explained to her.
Vivian gave Brenda sympathetic look. She would have to raise that dog? Heaven help them all. Especially the poor dog!
"And what about Bora Bora," John asked again. "Why are you going there?"
And so Jax relayed the story of how Brenda’s father had now sent people to start putting the pressure on Brenda to do her royal duty, and how he and Brenda in turn were going to track down her elusive cousin Eliot and make a prince out of him if it was the last thing they did.
"My goodness," Jane murmured in disbelief. "You’re going to make a prince out of a playboy? Good luck!" she looked at the two of them and smiled.
"Yes, you’re going to need all the help you can get," John added
"Well you can help right now, Dad," Jax said. "Brenda’s father has made some elaborate promises to very important members of the British royalty which is why having Brenda back in his sphere is imperative for him. Brenda is his trump card because he’s promised her to this guy, this Earl Galway person who is the nephew of Queen Elizabeth and everybody out there wants this wedding to happen. So Brenda’s father is going to do everything in his power to fulfill his promise to those people. He’s going to do anything to get her back. Anything."
"Over my dead body," Jane said.
Jax smiled at his mom. "Mine too. But the thing you guys can do is . .well see I don’t want them to know what Brenda and I are up to regarding locating Eliot. So if people start asking where we are, I need you both to just give them the run around," Jax requested of his parents. "And relay that to Jerry as well."
"Consider it done," John said. "Do you need anything else?"
"Yeah ,we need somebody to watch little Filly while we’re gone."
"Oh, Jax, you know you don’t even have to ask," Jane said stroking the active puppy. "I think she’s hungry."
"I’ll see to it, Mrs. J," Cook offered as she took the puppy and went into the kitchen.
"So where is Ivan?" Brenda asked, gazing at Vivian.
"Oh he had to go to the airport to pick up some arriving guests," Vivian sad. "I’m surprised you two didn’t see him there."
"What arriving guests?" Jax asked, looking at his parents.
"Your cousin Adrian," Jane said.
Jax’s eyes lit up with delight. "Adrian’s coming here?"
"Yes, and brace yourself, son, according to your Aunt Carmen, he’s gone and gotten himself engaged."
Jax grinned. "You’ve got to be kidding me."
"That’s the same thing Jerry said when we told him. But apparently it’s true. And the bride-to-be has not impressed your aunt and uncle in the least. I think their hope is that by bringing her here and giving her a dose of the Jacks side of Adrian’s family they’ll scare her off for good," John laughed.
"Who is Adrian?" Brenda asked, resting an elbow on Jax’s knee.
"Adrian Lassiter. He’s my cousin from Australia. He’s a complete and total player and him getting married is even a bigger stretch than *me* getting married," Jax said.
"So true, so true, " Lady Jane agreed. " You see Brenda; Jax, Jerry and Adrian were quite the rambunctious young trio when they were boys growing up in Australia. They were three peas in a pod. Inseperable. Jax was the wildest, but we chalked that up to him being the baby. Jerry and Adrian, however, were dreadful influences on Jax because *anything* they dared him to do, the crazy child just went ahead and did it. I can’t even tell you how many times my sister Carmen and I had to go off searching for the three of them in the mountains near our home, or sometimes even in the outback hoping they hadn’t gotten themselves into too much trouble and mischief. And Jax is right, Adrian taking a bride like this so out of the blue is shocking and completely out of character."
"Well he can’t have known her very long. He only broke up with Kate Winslet a month ago," Jax remembered.
"He only met this new woman a month ago too," Jane supplied. "Aboard a weekend high stakes gambling cruise on the Queen Mary over in England. I can’t imagine he could have fallen in love so quickly. Over a weekend? Absurd!"
Jax looked at Brenda. "It happens," he said.
Brenda smiled at him, and then Lady Jane took Brenda by the arm. "My dear, you’ve been a married woman for two weeks now. And considering that my son is the husband here, I must know if you’re ready to throw in the towel," Jane teased as she and Vivian led Brenda away for some privacy in another room.
Jax and his father watched them go.
"Well you’re in for it now, son. All of your secrets are about to be uncovered by your mother. So tell me about this prince of Monaco - exactly what lengths do you think the man will go to in order to get Brenda sitting on that throne?"
Before Jax could respond they were interrupted by the doorbell.
+ + +
"Somebody has got to know where they are," Marco insisted as he and Pierre headed back to the hotel after an unsuccessful day of trying to track down the whereabouts of Jax and Brenda.
"Of course somebody knows where they are," Pierre agreed. "But no one is going to tell *us.* We’ve got to find out some other way. And I think I’ve got an idea. The Jacks family has homes all over the globe. I’m going to have to get our palace contacts to see if they were spotted using any of them."
Marco groaned. "That’s going to take a few days."
"Well do you have any better ideas?"
"If we had stuck to my original idea we would all be back in Monaco right now," Marco muttered.
"Oh yes," Pierre drawled. "Your brilliant idea to kidnap the princess. I must tell you it was the stupidest thing you’ve come up with to date."
"How so? Your methods of getting Brenda to come home are laughable, Pierre. Can’t you see how under the influence of Jax she is? *He* is the problem, not Brenda."
"That is your jealousy talking."
"No, it is logic talking. I am *not* jealous of that man. But I despise his control over Brenda. Even you must realize that we will never get her to so much as listen to us when she’s with him. If we kidnapped her and got her back to Monaco, away from Jax and his influence, we would be able to reason with her. And the prince would be there to help us get through to her as well."
"And what about Jax, Marco? Just what do you think he would do to us if we kidnapped his wife? Have you any idea the power that man wields? Do you really think he would ever let us get away with such a thing? Use your brain! We know that Brenda has a very capable body guard and my bet is that Jax has got others watching her, unknown to us. We wouldn’t be able to get her one block away form the penthouse without being caught, let alone spirit her out of the country. And the wrath of Jasper Jacks and family is something I’d rather not incur, thank you very much."
Marco shrugged. "Well if you ask me we’ve already incurred his wrath just by showing up here and making our intentions to reclaim Brenda known. And I’m more concerned about the wrath of the prince than the wrath of Jasper Jacks any day."
Pierre looked at Marco with serious eyes. "Don’t delude yourself, Marco. The Jacks family is an empire unto itself. They have access to far greater resources than even the prince. If battle lines are to be drawn, you and I are definitely on the weaker side right now."
"Who’s side are you on anyway?" Marco demanded thinking that Pierre sounded more and more like a cheerleader for Team Jacks every day.
"Look, I came here to fulfill the quest given to me by my prince. I fully intend to bring Brenda home as I was instructed to. But I will have to rock this marriage to Jax in order to do that. And that will be no easy task. We must be patient and diligent and not go for desperate, sure to fail tactics like kidnapping."
"Patient? How do you expect me to be patient when the woman that is supposed to be my wife is married to another man?! My whole future lies in Brenda. She was promised to me. She’s *mine* and so is all that comes along with her."
Oh you silly, foolish boy. You still believe she will be yours? You still believe you will ever be a prince in the palace with Brenda as your princess? Stupid fool.
"We will do things my way, or you can go home," Pierre told him.
Marco gave Pierre a smirk. "Well it would seem that the prince is not too impressed with your progress thus far and is inclined to let me do things *my* way. He’s enraged enough about Brenda being married, but now he’s completely furious that he can’t get back ownership of the casino either. And I think he somehow places the blame on you."
"You’re an idiot if you think the prince holds *you* in any high regard whatsoever," Pierre muttered.
"Oh, I think he does. He did after all, give me the green light to bring Charlotte here to New York."
Pierre looked bored. "That entire Charlotte plot is going to blow up in your face. Brenda was never as close to her as you think. You’re going to make a fool out of yourself and waste the prince’s resources by flying that girl down here and feeding and housing her. And on top of that you're going to further alienate Brenda."
"You're wrong. This is a good plan, Pierre. She was Brenda’s best friend."
"Said *she*," Pierre snorted, his memories of the young snob Charlotte not fond ones. "But Brenda never said that, and from what I recall, best friends they were most certainly *not.*"
"They certainly were. I know I’m right," Marco insisted arrogantly. "I knew Brenda better than any of you and I still do. She’ll be thrilled to see Charlotte and it will be the first step in getting Brenda back over to our side."
But Pierre was already ignoring him and placing calls to get their contacts started on seeing if Jax and Brenda had shown up at any of the myriad of Jacks properties world over.
+ + +
"So married life is very much agreeing with you, then?" Jane was saying to Brenda as the two of them plus Vivian and Cook sat in the greenhouse portion of the mansion, surrounded by Lady Jane’s astounding collection of African violets and hybrid roses. In here it was hard to imagine it was so cold and snowy outside.
"I love it," Brenda said with a smile.
"And how are you taking Jax giving you a puppy?" Vivian asked.
Brenda shifted in her seat uncomfortably and tugged on the sleeves of her gold sweater. "Ummm . . . .I know he means well. And umm . . . ."
"Oh dear, you hate the poor little pooch, don’t you?" Lady Jane said.
"No," Brenda said quickly. "I could never hate anything Jax ever gave me. It’s just that . . I *know* I’m really going to disappoint him. Lady Jane, I’m never going to be able to like this dog. It’s little now, so I’m not as scared as I expected to be, but the minute that thing starts to get bigger and bound all over the place, I know that I’m going to freak out. And Jax is going to be so disappointed in my inability to get over this stupid fear of dogs."
"Brenda, first of all you fear is not stupid, it is legitimate considering your traumatic experience as a child. And second of all, my son will not be disappointed in you," Lady Jane said with certainty. "If you’re still afraid of Ophelia when she gets a bit bigger then it’s only going to propel Jax to try all the harder to get you over the fear. My son is the single most driven human being I know. He has never *not* gotten what he wanted and it’s because of the sheer force of will that he has. It’s really quite extraordinary. So don’t you worry about disappointing him. I think on the contrary, he will surprise you with his ability to get you, little doubting Thomas, past this hurdle. I know you think it can’t be done, but you don’t know Jax."
Brenda nodded. Actually she *did* know Jax. And it made Jane’s words ring very true, although Brenda still remained skeptical about the outcome of this raising the puppy business.
"And so generally, how is that son of mine treating you? Well I, hope. Not ignoring you too much in the name of business?" Jane asked.
"He’s pretty perfect," Brenda said with a little smile. "Jax is the best thing in my life, actually."
"So you’re happy?" Vivian asked. "The both of you?"
"Very," Brenda told them.
"Okay, lets get to the good stuff! Besides the pup, what did Jax get you for your birthday?" Cook asked with a curious glint in her twinkling eyes, and a chuckle.
Brenda grinned. "You will never believe it!" she said laughing. "Jax got me an island in the Caribbean. A whole island, you guys! It is soooo beautiful. *And* he got me a gorgeous little cottage to go with the island, *and* a hydrojet of my very own to play with on the crystal blue beaches of that island, *and,* best of all he gave me this," Brenda said reaching for her stylish leather shoulder pack, opening it and producing the Book of Love by anonymous.
Jane was smiling. "Oh his grandmother’s going to be delighted."
"I loved everything that Jax gave me, but this meant the most to me," Brenda said as Vivian perused the book and the photos. "Because I really know how much Jax loves me now. More than I ever really knew before. Every day he gets less and less afraid to really let me know how he feels."
"His world is centered very much around you now, Brenda," Jane said quietly. "In your hands his heart is like glass and you must never forget that. He may not tell you this, but it’s true all the same and I know this because he said those very words to me in a phone conversation we had some days ago. To lose you would devastate him, and the thought is never far from his mind."
Brenda looked at her mother in law in confusion. "But he’s never going to lose me. Jax knows how much I love him. I would never hurt him. I would never leave him. . ."
"Not even to sit on a throne of gold in a glittering palace in one of the most beautiful, picturesque little countries in the world? Would you really choose Jax over an entire kingdom? Over your own father?"
"Yes," Brenda said simply.
"Think about it carefully, Brenda," Jane advised. "Don’t just say what you feel, right this minute, or what you feel your mum-in-law wants to hear. Think about the circumstances that may arise in the future, and think about what you would actually *do* in the face of having the most difficult choice of your life."
"I would choose Jax," Brenda repeated even more firmly. "I would always choose Jax. I know that. *He* knows that."
"Even if choosing Jax could cost you the kingdom, so to speak? Not to mention your family?" Jane queried.
"Anywhere that Jax and I are together is a kingdom to me. I don’t need vast lands and thrones and crowns and palace guards and people cheering after me. I don’t need that and I don’t want that. And as for family – well Jax *is* my family. And you, and John, and Jerry, and Vivian."
"So you’re willing to let go of *your* family if need be, and Jax and all that comes with him would be enough for you?"
"More than enough. Lady Jane, I love him. I *love* him. And I love all of you. Jax is my whole world and if I had to pick the one thing I could never live without, it would be Jax. Not Monaco. Not my father. Jax. I would always choose Jax."
Lady Jane was completely convinced.
Jax and his cousin Adrian, a handsome dark haired, green eyed Aussie who was three years older than Jax, were laughing over shared memories of their growing up together and chastising each other for being out of touch for so long.
"I always did keep up with your comings and goings though," Adrian told Jax. "I gotta tell you, Jax, hearing about you getting married nearly made me fall overboard. I was on a cruise ship on the way back from Venice at the time," Adrian told him.
"Well I’m a little shocked at the news of your upcoming nuptials too," Jax told him as his gaze strayed over to the pinched-faced, petite, gray-eyed red-head named Ursula who sat so rigidly next to his cousin. Good god, if anyone was *not* Adrian’s type it was this bizarre looking blue blood who reminded him very much of Popeye’s Olive Oyle except for the red hair and watery gray eyes. Jax was sure this had to be come kind of prank. What was Adrian doing with this woman?
"Well, ya know," Adrian said with a shrug. "Everybody walks the plank eventually." And he looked as if he might be sick.
Walks the plank? This was not a man in love.
"So . . ." Jax said, his eyes back on his cousin. "How did you two ahh . . . lovebirds meet anyway?"
Adrian gave Jax a ‘help me’ look and Jax cleared his throat. "Hey Dad, why don’t you take Ursula into the greenroom so she can meet Mom and Brenda," Jax suggested.
"Yeah, Uncle John. Why don’t ya?" Adrian added, eager to be rid of his fiancee so that he could talk freely to his cousin.
"I would really rather stay here with you, Adrian," Ursula said in her clipped British accent as she linked her thin arm through Adrian’s and Jax definitely saw his cousin flinch as if in repulsion. What the hell was going on here?
"But my wife would love to meet you," Jax said. "We’re all soon going to be family after all," he reminded her.
"Yes dear, do come along," John said, physically detaching her from the appreciative Adrian. "No need to be shy now."
Ursula seemed about to protest again, but John made haste to get her out of the room.
Adrian sat back in the chair and sighed with relief. "Thank god," he murmured, brushing his arm where she had held him as if she had fleas. "I hope Uncle John can keep her in there for the rest of my life!"
Jax sat down next to Adrian. "All right, *what* is going on? Obviously you’re anything but in love with that unsmiling bean pole."
Adrian laughed. "In love? Good god, Jax, I'd rather hang myself than marry her! I can’t stand her!"
Jax shook his head. "Then why in the hell did you propose to her? Were you drunk?"
"No, just damn unlucky. I lost at cards to this pompous British aristocrat on board the Queen Mary last month. If I’d have won I’d have gotten his castle, if I lost I had to marry his spinster sister. As you can see . . . I lost!"
"Oh for god’s sake, Adrian, you had this bet in front of *witnesses?*"
"Jax, I never thought I would actually lose. You know I *never* lose. And I swear that guy cheated to make sure I would lose. They set me up, Jax. They set me up because she wanted me from the minute she saw me in the dining room – or so she says. She told me her brother said he’d win me for her - can ya believe that? Like I’m some bloody prize bull at the bloomin’ rodeo!"
"That definitely sounds like a set-up," Jax murmured in agreement. "Who is this brother of hers?"
"He’s a British Earl, some relation to the British royalty so he walks around like he’s some kinda lord of the dance. The Earl of such and such, I don’t even remember, not that I even give a damn."
Jax shot Adrian a quick glance. "Wait a minute. . .not the Earl of *Edinborough?*"
Adrian shot up out of the seat. "Yeah! That’s him. That lousy, obnoxious, pompous, cheatin’ jerk. Braggin’ about some fiancee of his that wasn’t even on the bloody ship with him. We all thought he was just making her up and blowing his own horn. I mean, he made her sound like a dream, ya know? And no dream in her right mind would ever want *him.* So are you sayin’ that you know this guy, Jax? For the love of god, cousin, please don’t tell me he’s a *friend* of yours."
"A friend? Not on your life. Let’s just say," Jax said, "that I already have plenty of reasons not to like the guy already, and him messing with you like this just adds to the list."
Adrian smiled. "Man, am I glad to hear that. You know I came here hoping the moose around here combined with our family’s crazy antics would scare that red-haired scarecrow out of her wits and make her so repulsed to be a part of my family that she’d break the engagement, but in case that didn’t work, I was really counting on you and Jerry to help me out of this mess somehow. It looks like I can count on you, huh?"
"Definitely," Jax said. Then he smiled. "Brenda and I need to be out of the country, but I’ll put it off for a few days and we’ll stay here. By the time we’re done, the Earl’s sister will be begging you to break the engagement," Jax promised.
Adrian grinned. "Music to my ears, Jax," he said as they exchanged a high five.
At this point the ladies and John came into the living room. Jax could tell from Lady Jane’s face that she was as mystified in her nephew's choice of a bride as everyone else had been.
Ursula made haste to get back to Adrian and link her bony arm through his possessively once more.
Brenda was giving Jax a look that said ‘I have to tell you something!’ And Jax was sure that Brenda must have recognized Ursula as the sister of the man her father wanted her to marry.
Upon seeing Brenda, Adrian’s mouth fell open and his emerald green eyes gazed at her in disbelief.
Ursula stiffened as she got a load of her fiancee’s reaction to his cousin’s wife.
"Brenda, this is my cousin Adrian. Adrian, this is my wife, Brenda," Jax said.
Brenda smiled at Adrian and he almost seemed to physically fall back as those tiny dimples flashed at him.
"Hi. It’s so nice to meet you," Brenda said extending a gorgeous suntanned arm to him.
Adrian just nodded and shook her hand. God, she was beautiful. She was so beautiful! He thought he was in love.
Ursula stiffened even more.
"Sweetie, since my cousin showed up I thought we could maybe just hang out here in Alaska for a couple of days and keep him company," Jax said. "That okay with you?"
"That's fine," Brenda said easily. "Can I talk to you for a second though?"
"Sure," Jax said as he allowed Brenda to pull him off to the side.
"Jax, I know that woman!" she said gazing over at Ursula.
Jax nodded. "I figured you might. Adrian tells me she’s the sister of the Earl your father wants you to marry."
"Yes, she is," Brenda confirmed. "And she’s as unpleasant as I remember her to be when I was 10 or 11 or whenever I met her. She doesn’t seem to know who I am at all though. How did Adrian ever get hooked up with *her?*"
"It would appear that your father’s slimy friend, the Earl, conned my cousin into taking his spinster sister off of his hands. Tell me something, Bren, did the Earl’s sister live with him?"
Brenda nodded. "Yes. Because she’s never been married, she’s always been living with the Earl in his castle in Edinborough from what I remember. Supposedly as long as she remains single she’ll be his house-guest. Some kind of aristocratic etiquette."
Jax gazed past Brenda to the Earl’s sister. "It’s no wonder he underhandedly foisted her on Adrian, then. I’m sure with the prospect of marrying you he wanted to have the castle all to himself just for the two of you."
Brenda shuddered. "Jax, please don’t talk about he and I as if we were ever really engaged. We weren’t. I mean, I suppose we were in my father’s mind, but we never *really* were. You’re the only man that I’ve ever been engaged to."
"And I’m the only man you’re ever going to be married to," Jax told her.
"Yes you are," she agreed enthusiastically, giving him a kiss. "Which is why we have to find Eliot, right? So we can secretly groom him to take over the throne after my father, and take me completely out of the picture as a candidate."
"That is the plan."
"But you have another plan first, don’t you?"
"Hmm?"
"The reason you want us to stay here a couple of days?" Brenda reminded him. "What’s up with that?"
"Oh, right. Yes, we have to help Adrian get out of this mess. There’s no way in hell I’m going to let him have to go through with this set up of a wedding to that scary creature."
"How can you stop it?"
"By making life with the Jacks’ as unappealing as possible to the Earl’s sister," he said winking at her.
Brenda smiled. "Ahhh. Good plan. Just let me know what you need me to do and I’ll do it."
"Okay," Jax said.
They were interrupted by Jane. "Come join us, you two. We’ve decided to have an impromptu belated birthday party for Brenda. Cook is off baking a cake and Brenda, luv, since this is in your honor, the choice of menu is on you," Jane said with a smile.
Brenda looked at Jax and then smiled as she said loudly. "How about mooseburgers?" she suggested, to which Lady Jane looked perplexed and Ursula looked absolutely horrified.
"Mooseburgers, dear? Are you sure?" Jane asked.
"Well sure, why not? It’s what we always have around here," Brenda said leaning in to hug Jane and whispering to her ‘I really would prefer regular old hamburgers. But we should say they’re mooseburgers because we’re tying to save Adrian from Ursula. We have to make her hate us.’
Lady Jane caught on immediately and acted accordingly.
"Oh yes, the ever-popular Jacks tradition of birthday mooseburgers it is! John? Boys? Shall we go out and bag a moose? They’re much better freshly slaughtered."
Ursula looked as if she might retch. "I do not find this at all amusing!" she said, praying this was some crude Jacks family joke.
"It wasn’t meant to be amusing," Adrian told her. "We always have moose on birthdays. Do you have a problem with the traditions of my family?"
Good god yes! They were barbarians! But she held her tongue, not about to lose this most awesome catch of a man. "No, not at all. I suppose it shall simply take some getting used to," Ursula decided.
Brenda bit her lip and Adrian gave Jax a look that said, ‘this is going to be harder than we thought.’
+ + +
Jax and Brenda were in Jax’s bedroom. Brenda was dressed for bed and was putting out a candle by the bedside table while Jax pulled off his shirt and got ready for bed.
"She’s hanging pretty tough, isn’t she?" Brenda said as she climbed into the bed and slid beneath the warm, velvet blankets.
"She’s teetering on the edge," Jax assured her as he sat down on the bed. "Did you see her reaction to our dinner conversation about the endearing qualities of maggots and the mating rituals of the whales?"
Brenda busted out laughing. "Yes. Well she hardly touched her food at all. She looked absolutely disgusted with the whole lot of us as we sat there eating our *mooseburgers*"
Jax grinned.
"*But*" Brenda continued, " I don’t think she’s ready to go screaming from a life with Adrian just yet. She knows what a catch he is for her, Jax."
"She’ll be running for her life in a couple of days," Jax promised. "Did you see her face when Dad was telling her how me, Adrian and Jerry have contests to see who makes the wildest love to a woman? And Dad told this insane story about Jerry doing it hanging from the chandeliers with his last girlfriend. Little miss prim and proper Ursula looked ready to barf."
Brenda was giggling. "Yeah she was so red! And did you see how her eyes were crossed? I don’t know *how* your dad kept a straight face when telling that story. I wanted to die!"
Jax suddenly got a wicked glint in his beautiful eyes. "You know, they’re in the room right next to us," Jax pointed out.
"Who?"
"Adrian and Ursula. We could scare her silly with our own wild lovemaking ritual in here," he said grinning.
Brenda laughed. "You mean the ritual where you," she got out of the bed, "ravish me against the wall?" she said pounding her hands against the wall.
In the room next to them, a startled Ursula sat up in the bed, while Adrian, who was watching TV, and determined not to set foot in that bed with her, gazed curiously in the direction of the noise.
"Oh Brenda, you wild litle vixen you!" Jax said loudly, pounding on the walls as well. "No, no, no, don't do the handstand thing now, sweetie. Stand still!"
Brenda doubled over, laughing.
In the next room, Ursula was drawing the blankets up to her chin listening in stunned trepidation to what she assumed was the primitive, competitive, wild lovemaking thing the dreadful "Uncle John" had spoken of so crassly over the dinner table during the vile meal of moose meat and burnt rice.
"Oh Jax, not on the dresser again!" Brenda moaned as she and Jax pushed all of the items on the dresser onto the floor with a loud crash, trying not to laugh too loud as Ursula’s mouth hung open in horror at what Adrian’s cousin and his wife appeared to be up to in there.
"Remember we broke the mirror last time," Brenda said barely able to control her laughter.
Next door Ursula’s eyes popped open wider. They broke the dresser mirror making love? How on earth . . .? Oh the imagery made her positively queasy! Adrian sat back with a slick smile, enjoying her enormous discomfort.
"Well we can go do it on the roof, like we did before," Jax suggested. "No mirrors up there."
Brenda threw her head into the pillow and began to laugh.
Ursula felt ill. Sex on the roof in the middle of winter? What manner of animals were these Jacks people?!
"But we might fall off and land in the room next door again. Remember what happened last time?" Brenda said, laughing so hard, her eyes were tearing.
Ursula gasped out loud in dread at the idea of a couple in the act of lovemaking coming flying through the window of the room. Her building agitation was far more enjoyable to Adrian than the movie on TV.
"Well I guess we could just use that thing," Jax said.
"That thing? Oh, you mean the bed?" Brenda said. "Yes, I guess we could use it. We’ve never tried just doing it on the bed before."
They had never made love in a bed? Where then did they normally *do it*? Oh for the love of god these people needed to be committed!! Ursula thought as her heart beat in revulsion.
Brenda jumped up on the bed and began jumping up and down on it and Jax joined her.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Brenda said very loudly.
Jax was laughing so hard he couldn’t respond.
Still jumping up and down on the bed, Brenda grabbed one of the pillows and tossed it at the bedside table knocking over a lamp.
"Oh yeah!" Jax said, knocking over the other lamp.
"Oooooooh!" Brenda said.
A completely horrified Ursula was listening to the ruckus in fascinated horror. What kind of love were these people making that caused the bed to creak so insanely and things to crash all over the room? They were maniacs!
"Oh Jax! Jax!!" Brenda yelled clobbering him with a pillow.
"Brenda, Brenda!" Jax responded knocking her over the head with a pillow in retaliation.
And as they had a pillow fight while jumping up and down on the bed and calling out each other’s names as if in ecstasy, a shell shocked Ursula assumed that a wild climax was taking place in the room next door. And Adrian’s unaffected response to the mayhem taking place next door unnerved her a great deal. Was this actually all right with him? Would he expect her to . . . oh no! No way! Never!
"Brenda, Brenda, ba---by!" Jax said, knocking her in her knees with the pillow and nearly causing her to go down, but she didn’t fall and gave him an ‘a-ha, you’re gonna get it now’ smile.
"Yes, yes, yes! Jaaaaaaax!" she said as she chased him around the bed clobbering him with the pillow. They were having so much fun and jumping around so much that the bed finally broke with a loud crash and they both fell down on it, laughing hysterically.
Ursula was appalled beyond reason. Those barbarians had actually broken the bed? Broken it?!
At last there was silence next door.
Ursula looked over at Adrian in horror, her eyes pleading with him to be as horrified by this sexual deviancy as she had been.
He just shrugged and said. "Guess when we get married I’m going to have to top that now."
Her face blanched and she uttered a silent scream and raced to the bathroom feeling nauseous. Adrian watched her go with a pleased smile on his face.
In Jax’s room he and Brenda had finally got the laughter out of their system as they lay there on the broken bed, staring up at the ceiling and exchanging a high five.
"Ummm . . . we wrecked your room, Jax," Brenda pointed out needlessly.
"We did a good job too," he said proudly.
She started to laugh again and she hit his chest. "For all the damage we did in here it *better* have worked," she said rolling over so that she was on top of him.
"Oh I’m sure she’s a quivering, uptight mass by now running out to go buy a chastity belt, and Adrian’s no doubt on the floor dying of laughter."
"That *was* fun," Brenda said laughing.
"It’s the most fun I’ve ever had *not* making love to you," Jax said.
She smiled and brought her lips down on his. "Pretending was fun but, I would really love the real thing."
Jax encircled his arms around her wait. "But the bed is broken."
"But the dresser is empty," Brenda said.
Jax laughed and so did she. "Bren, you’ve *got* to be kidding me."
"I am kidding you." She kissed him again. A slow sensuous kiss that reached all the way to his soul. "Actually there is this perfect spot right over there by the fireplace," she said softly, nodding in the direction of the fireplace which was providing the only light in the room right now. A soft, rather seductive orange glow. "Come on," Brenda said, grabbing some blankets and pillows, stepping over the dresser top items and fallen lamps until she got to the spot by the fireplace. She laid two of the blankets on the floor, put the pillows down, slipped out of her night clothes and slid underneath the remaining blanket waiting for him.
Jax walked over to her and knelt down just gazing at her for a few moments.
His fingers traced a line along her face as he gazed at her perfect countenance in the glow of the orange flames, and she felt goosebumps of pleasure cover her arms.
"Do you know," Jax said softly, "that you give me as much peace as you do ecstasy? Physically, when you and I are together, we burn brighter than any comet in the sky ever could. But afterwards, I always feel such peace with you. Peace like I have never before felt in my life."
"I feel it too," she whispered to him.
He glanced away from her and over into the fireplace for a moment. "Sometimes I’m very scared of the way I love you," he told her. It was a barely whispered confession.
Brenda took his face gently in her hands so that he was looking at her once again. "Why?" she asked.
"Sometimes I feel . . ." he began, "as if my heart is glass in your hands," he said telling her what he had told his mother over the phone last week. "No woman has ever been able to get this close to me, Brenda. Close enough to be able to hurt me. And yet you . . you’re closer to me than anyone in the world. And you have the power, not only to hurt me, but to shatter me into a million pieces. I tend to find that a very scary thing to comprehend."
"But I would never do that. And you know that. And you have the same power over me, Jax, don’t you know that?"
"Yes, I know that. But doesn’t it scare *you,* Brenda? To know that I am both your greatest love and your greatest fear at the same time?"
"I’m not afraid of loving you, Jax. I trust you. I know you love me and would never hurt me so there is no fear."
"That’s right, I do love you. And I would never hurt you -- but doesn’t it scare you that all you have holding that promise secure is your trust in me? Blind trust?"
Brenda sat up, the blanket still wrapped around her body. She leaned in so that their heads were touching. "Jax I’m not afraid. But I know you are. I can tell that’s what this conversation is really all about. You’re afraid that all you have to guarantee that I won’t drop your heart and break it, is your trust in me. But I want you to know, Jax, that you *can* trust me because I will never betray that trust. I am yours from now until the end of time. And your heart is the most precious thing I have ever been given, and it will never fall from my hands and shatter. Not ever," she said kissing him. " Not ever, Jax."
A wave of love rushed through him. "I love you, Brenda." he whispered. "More than my own life. I don’t want to be afraid to feel this way."
"And I love you too. I do. So much and your heart is safe with me, Jax. Forever. *Please* believe me. Just relax and feel it and believe me. I would never lie to you."
He gazed at her as if enraptured. Forever. Her favorite word. Normally so meaningless to him, but Brenda gave it meaning. She gave everything in his life meaning, actually.
"I believe you," he said, his hands tangling in her dark hair as he pulled her into an urgent kiss. "I believe you," he murmured again, as he kissed her with an exquisitely exciting, fervent passion.
"Oh, I love you so much," Brenda said as their passion escalated, spurred on wildly by the depth of love they both felt for the other, and the trust they both felt.
The look Jax gave her at that moment made her knees go weak and she was glad she was not standing up. She loved him so much. She wanted him so much. Her kisses were like a sensual dream and Jax was getting lost in them as the kisses deepened and became increasingly sensuous.
"You’re unraveling me, Brenda," Jax told her as his beautiful eyes were lit with the brilliant blaze of love’s desire.
"Good," she whispered with a smile that intoxicated him, as she pulled him down to her so that they were both lying on the soft blankets in front of the fireplace, passion increasing like a river of fire as their kisses heated up even more.
The heavy currents of Jax’s desire poured over Brenda and made her tremble as his hands caressed her with such a tantalizing touch that she was finding it difficult to breathe. Jax felt the sensuous shivering deep within her as he continued to seduce her towards their shared rapture.
Suddenly Brenda arched and shivered, transfixed by wild ecstasy. The soft cry she gave was Jax’s name as she clung to him with all her might for he was both the storm within her and the shelter surrounding her.
Later, as Brenda lay beneath the warm blankets snuggled up in Jax’s even warmer embrace, hard muscular arms and soft warm skin, feeling an all too familiar bliss, she turned to him and kissed his chin. "So what are we doing tomorrow to make Ursula run for the hills?" she asked eagerly, tugging playfully at blonde tendrils of his hair.
"I thought we would take her up to the Yukon on a polar bear hunt," Jax said. "Maybe we can leave her stranded in an igloo for a little while. We’ll put some fake skeletal remains in the igloo first. What do you think?"
He looked at Brenda and winked at her and their combined soft laughter melted into the Alaska night.
+ + +
In an expensive sanitarium in Monaco, Giselle Grimaldi watched the news, her medication lying beneath her tongue ready to be spit out when she went into the bathroom in a little while. As she watched the news reporting about her sister’s secret marriage to a man most women would kill for (Giselle would surely have killed for him), her hands clenched and unclenched in a frenetic fit-like motion.
"The last laugh is going to be mine, Brenda," she said in a haggard, guttural tone of ferocity as a diabolical plan began to develop in her severely twisted mind.
Troi