“And while you can’t use mind control or mind reading to win her, the law doesn’t say anything about you not winning her on your own merits.”
“On my own merits?” Justin asked uncertainly.
“He means using your dubious natural wit and charm,” Anders said with dry amusement.
Justin’s eyes widened and then he frowned. “I’m not sure . . .”
“Of what?” Decker asked mockingly. “The law? It can’t be that you aren’t sure you can woo her. Not Justin Bricker, the Casanova of the immortals. The man who has been telling the rest of us for years that he was such a ladies’ man and we didn’t have a clue.”
“A clue about what?” Gia asked, entering the kitchen.
Justin’s head swiveled to the woman. Ignoring her comment, he asked with alarm, “You left Holly alone? What if she wakes up and—-?”
“She is awake,” Gia interrupted. “She’s changing. She’ll be down in a minute.”
“Oh.” Justin relaxed with a sigh.
“So?” Gia asked. “Who doesn’t have a clue about what?”
“We cavemen--type old fellas don’t have a clue about women,” Decker explained with amusement. “While Justin is the Casanova of the immortals.”
Gia raised her eyebrows and glanced to Justin. After brief consideration, she shook her head. “No. He’s nothing like Casanova.
“Did you know him?” Decker asked with interest.
“Of course,” she said with a shrug. “Most of his reputation is due to his charm and skill at wooing rather than his abilities as a lover. He was only passable in that area.”
“Back to the issue at hand,” Justin said, scowling at the pair of them. “I can’t read or control her, so I couldn’t use those abilities to interfere with her marriage anyway, but life mate sex would probably be considered undue influence.”
Gia shrugged. “Then woo her the old-fashioned way . . . no sex.”
Justin frowned at the suggestion, not at all sure he could do that. He’d found it hard not to touch and caress her while he’d sat at her bedside, and she’d been unconscious then. Hell, when she’d attacked him in the car . . . Well, frankly, it hadn’t been just her he’d been fighting. He’d liked the feel of her body on his enough that Justin had almost wanted her to bite him. His body had wanted to do a lot more. He’d had brief, hot visions of her doing the same thing naked, lowering herself onto his erection and riding him as she ripped into his throat with her teeth. Only the reality of their both being fully dressed had prevented his letting her have her way while he had his own . . . well . . . that and the fact that while she’d wanted to sink her teeth into him, Holly probably wouldn’t have welcomed his sinking anything into her.
So, wooing her the old-fashioned way, without sex . . . not so appealing. Frankly, Justin didn’t even know what that would entail. The realization was a lowering one. He’d wined and dined hundreds, maybe even thousands of women over the last hundred years, but every wooing had been with the strict aim of getting them into bed. Now he had to do it with no end game in mind except to win her. He couldn’t even bloody kiss her. What was he supposed to do? Bring her flowers? Read her poetry? Throw his coat over puddles for her?
“Wow,” Decker said on a laugh. “For the guy who’s supposed to know so much about women, you don’t seem to have a clue.”
“What do you expect?” Gia asked with amusement. “He’s a man. You men have never understood us women. Ever.”
Justin glanced to her sharply. “You’re a woman.”
“Thank you for noticing,” Gia said on a laugh.
“No, I mean . . . you can tell me what I should do. How can I win her?” he asked almost desperately.
Gia peered at him silently for a moment and then said, “I will think about it.”
“About what?” he asked uncertainly. “About ways for me to woo her?”
“About whether you deserve my help,” she corrected and then said heavily, “From your memories and thoughts it seems obvious to me that you think of women as little more than sheaths for your sword, and you’ve had many sheaths,” she added dryly. “No doubt you’ve wined and dined them, charmed them with your wit and smile, and then discarded them with that same charming smile when you wearied of them, caring little how they felt about it all.”
Justin opened his mouth, but then closed it again. He couldn’t deny it. He hadn’t thought about it the way she was describing it, but now realized he’d done just that.
“Oh, be fair, Gia,” Decker said quietly. “None of them were his life mate. He would hardly treat Holly that way.”