Free The Unsung Hero by Samantha James Page A

the living room and
seated her on the low-slung leather couch in front of the
fireplace. Her head still whirling, Samantha watched as he turned
away to strike a match to the kindling and cedar logs already in
place
    in the grate. Orange-tipped flames licked
upward. Once again, something prodded at her brain, just out of
reach.
    Jason sat down beside her and slipped a long
arm along the back of the couch so that his fingertips lay nearly
touching the bare skin of her upper arm. "Now," he began lightly,
"you were saying?"
    Samantha frowned as he sat down beside her.
"About tonight," he prodded gently. "All my wasted effort."
    She cleared her throat. "Yes, well—"
    "Wait! Don't start yet—-I'll be back in just
a minute!" Jason suddenly jumped up and strode into the kitchen,
coming back with two more glasses of wine. He set them on the
raised hearth, extinguished the single lamp that burned on the end
table so that the only light came from a dim lamp burning in a
corner of the dining room, then switched on the stereo and tuned in
some soft background music. Finally he pulled her down onto the
plush carpet in front of the fireplace.
    "Jason—" A protest hovered on her lips as he
pressed a glass into her hand and joined her on the floor. He'd
refilled her glass frequently during dinner and she was beginning
to feel the effects. She looked at him suspiciously. "Are you
trying to get the two of us drunk?"
    "Not to worry." He broke into an audacious
grin. "Alcohol affects a man's ability—don't you remember? You
pointed that out just yesterday."
    "It's supposed to affect his performance—not
his ability!" Sitting up straight, she inched back from him,
arranged her skirt over her knees and darted him an indignant
glance. "And I distinctly remember you telling me that you've never
had that problem!"
    He shrugged and leaned back against the
hearth. "Always a first time, always a first time." Looking wholly
innocent, he patted the spot beside him. "why don't you come and
sit by the fire? If it doesn't keep you warm, I think I can
manage."
    She glared at him. "Jason Armstrong, you just
never quit, do you? I'm beginning to think you have a serious
problem with the word 'no.'"
    "Funny, I don't remember you saying
that."
    Samantha ignored him. "And furthermore," she
continued hotly, "it's as plain as the nose on your face—"
    "Whose?" He stared pointedly at the sunburned
tip of her nose.
    She said a silent prayer and counted to
twenty. "And furthermore," she reiterated, "it's as plain as the
nose on your face that the dinner and the music are all part of a
little planned seduction scene on your part." Suddenly she stopped.
That elusive something that had been dancing around in her brain
the last few minutes was back again.
    "Wait a minute," she breathed. "Wait just a
minute. What you said before... about watching the sunset..." She
snapped her fingers and began to quote. '"We could watch that
mystical moment when the sun goes down and...'"
    "And sun-warmed day becomes moon-kissed
night," he finished, a triumphant gleam in his eye.
    Samantha jerked upright to
her knees. "You used that line in Midnight
Enchantment ! That's what Beau said to
Pauline the first time they—" Her mouth clamped shut and an angry
finger sliced through the air. It was the same, almost exactly!
Both fists landed on her slim hips. "He set her up! He knew she'd
never be able to say no once he turned on the charm! He had
everything planned, right down to the sheets on the
bed!"
    Jason lifted his glass in a silent toast.
"You see why females were known as the weaker sex in those days,"
he said mildly. "Pauline deserved what she got, to say nothing of
wanting it. She was trying to blackmail him into marriage."
    "Beau was a scoundrel, especially at first!
And Pauline only did it to save her family!"
    Jason sighed. "Oh, yes, those southern
belles. Noble if not wise." His brown eyes crinkled as he looked
at her. "But if you'll recall, they didn't end up using