Bad Girl Lessons by Seraphina Donavan, Wicked Muse Page A

Reed.”
    Evie signed all the forms he’d brought, in triplicate, it seemed. When he stood up to leave, he paused for just a moment. “If things don’t work out with Jackson… Just go easy on him, Evie. He’d kill me for telling you this, but he’s been hung up on you for years. Don’t break his heart.”
    Evie was still puzzling over his words long after he left. Was it possible that she would even have that power? She’d worried about the possibility that Jackson would break her heart. It had never even occurred to her that he might fear the same thing. With a weary sigh, she locked her desk drawers and then left the museum. She didn’t go to Jackson’s, but drove home to her rented apartment instead. She needed to finish unpacking, or at the very least organize the chaos. Perhaps organizing her surroundings would help her to organize her thoughts, she mused. Regardless, she needed a little time to clear her head and process everything that had happened.
    Across town, Jackson sat in the luxuriously decorated office of Dr. Phillip Harper. He did his damnedest not to fidget or otherwise giveaway how scared shitless he was. He craned his neck when the door opened behind him. A pretty nurse stuck her head in and said, “I’m sorry you’re having to wait, Mr. Cope. Dr. Harper will be with you as soon as he can. Can I get you some coffee or tea in the meantime?”
    “No, thank you. I’m just fine.” After another ten minutes had passed, he regretted telling her no. At least having a drink is his hands would give him something to do with them. Getting up, he crossed the small space to study the row of pictures hanging on the wall. Most of them were of Evie as a little girl. He smiled as he looked at them, seeing her tidy hair and even tidier clothes. Looking more closely, however, it was easy to see how unhappy she’d been. In most of the pictures, her smiles seemed forced and there was a tenseness to her body that could only have resulted from her mother’s endless criticism.
    “I always thought my sweet Evie was the prettiest girl in the world. Still do, honestly.”
    Jackson turned back to the man who had entered the room silently. He wore scrubs and those little tissue shoe covers beneath a white lab coat. “There’s no denying that Evie is beautiful. It’d be pointless to try.”
    The older man’s posture was deceptively casual as he strolled to his desk and took up a seat behind it. “She’s a good girl, too... Leastways, she was. Some folks appear to be thinking differently about her now, since she’s been running around with you.”
    “I imagine that’s quite true. But I find it’s better not to worry too much about what other’s think. Evie’s done that for way too long and all it ever got her was engaged to a shithead like Trevor.”
    Phillip made a noise that might have been a laugh, but Jackson couldn’t be sure. “Well, be that as it may,” he said, “My little girl is everything to me and that son of a bitch, Trevor, might not have broken her heart, but he definitely bruised her pride. Now, she’s running all over hell and creation with you acting like the second coming of Bathsheba. The question, Jackson Randall Cope, is whether or not you intend to do right by her?”
    “I’d marry her tomorrow if she’d have me... I would have married her a decade ago if your wife hadn’t threatened to have me shot for trespassing if I came on your property again.”
    “Well, I’m not saying I approve of Margaret’s meddling, but you were a bit of a wild card back then. You were still in the NFL then and that kind of lifestyle would have chewed her up and spit her out.”
    “Evie’s tougher than you give her credit for.”
    “Probably so. But be warned, Jackson, you hurt her and I’ll have your balls stuffed and mounted in my study. Are we understood?”
    “Perfectly, sir.”
    “And please try to refrain from getting my daughter naked in public places. I dislike having to hear about