Author's Note: I've always wondered just how Phryne got Jack up to her room in "Dead Man's Chest". Perhaps it went something like this?
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The Perfect Tie - Chapter Two
How had she missed it? Phryne was still mentally kicking herself for not catching on sooner. Jack has been setting her up! Subtly using her own wiles against her, and it had taken her all these months to catch on.
The look in Jack's eyes is what finally got her attention, a pleased with himself look that included the slightest smile to his lips. She's been assuming that he was immune to her charms, a safe sort of "favorite uncle" type that she could exercise her skills on safely. How wrong she'd been about that!
Phryne finally took a much overdue long look at herself, and at Jack, and acknowledged that she had totally missed what had been developing beneath both of their public persona. Wrapped up in the excitement of solving crimes and enjoying for the first time in her life communicating with someone who's mind worked at the same speed as her own, Phryne had overlooked the obvious. The intense attraction to that mind by her own!
Once this revelation was made, Phryne was finding it difficult to get it out of her mind. It was always there, simmering below her active thoughts, oddly enough putting a small happy smile on her face whenever she allowed it to bubble to the surface. Her realization of his subtle actions with his ties, and her previously subconscious reactions to them, instigated a deeper appreciation of the Inspector, one that went beyond the investigative work they both loved to a more personal level.
Curled up on the settee in her guest room at the McNaster home in Queenscliff, Phryne tried to tamp down the anticipation distracting her thoughts from her developing cases. She really shouldn't be happy about the dead man they found on the beach that day, or the missing Johnson couple, or the missing coin collection, or whatever else was disrupting this household lately, but the possibility of murder had Jack on his way to her and she just couldn't find fault with that.
It has been a few weeks since they'd worked on a case together. Aunt P browbeating her into driving them to Queenscliff for a holiday Phryne had initially resisted. Mrs. McNaster was a long time friend of Aunt P's and when Prudence told Phryne about the worrying dreams she's been having about Hilly, Phryne agreed to go on the visit with her aunt. With Jane and Dot along it had been a merry drive to the resort.
Phryne brushed aside the lace curtain at her window to look for the inspectors arrival, and then dropped it abruptly. Annoyed with herself for acting like a teenager waiting for her first beau, she went looking for Mr. B instead. She knew he would be the one to smuggle champagne into her room without setting this "temperance" household on its ear!
A few minutes later she was on the porch watching the colors of a beautiful sunset fade as twilight approached. She didn't need to look to confirm that the car that drove up and parked at the front curb was Jack. She knew it was him.
When Jack didn't immediately get out of his car she did turn towards the street. He was sitting at the wheel, one hand resting on it, his long fingers tapping in an odd rhythm. Finally stepping out, he used his reflection in the car window to place his hat and straighten his tie, she watched him pause and smile as he gave it a last adjustment. Phryne also smiled, pleased that she finally caught on to Jack's game, looking forward to playing it herself.
Hands in his pockets, and with a soft whistle escaping his lips Jack quickly approached the front steps. Slowing, and then stopping just short of the top step, his low voiced "Good evening Miss Fisher" drew her out of the shadows.
"You're fifteen minutes ahead of schedule, Inspector, aren't you ashamed of breaking the speed limit to get here?"
"Not at all Miss Fisher, I left earlier than expected."
"Ah, well that explains your early arrival, but not your hasty departure. You must've left immediately after we spoke." Phryne continued to move towards Jack as he stood still on the steps, one foot resting on the porch, his hand braced on its knee.
"If I'd known you would respond so quickly to my request I would have asked you to follow me well before this."
She was now closely in front of Jack, the scent of her perfume no longer the light tease he sensed from the walk. Now the full affect was right in front of him along with the beauty of Miss Fisher herself.
"Hello Jack" she softly spoke, eyes meeting his in the dim light, hoping she wasn't imagining the welcoming expression in his gaze.
His low "Phryne" sent ripples through her, leaving her feeling as if he had touched her in welcome. It wasn't often he used her name, and Jack using it now was not lost on her.
Desire was there, evident to her now that she was looking for it, what caught her breath was the quiet joy apparent as his gaze steadily remained locked with hers. Phryne took a half step closer to Jack, invading his space as he stood at the top step, stillness itself as she stepped to the edge of the porch. The silk of her white dress brushed against the inside of his knee, his only reaction expressed in his eyes. She felt the beading grip briefly against his pant leg, almost disguising the tug of Jack's fingers releasing the snag.
"New?" Jack murmured. Unable to draw her eyes away from his fingers rubbing the material between his fingers, her tiny nod confirmed what his eyes had already told him. Tilting his head he took in the shimmer of the dress against the bared beauty of her skin in the fading evening light. The appreciation in his eyes not needing to be expressed in words. "Perfect" was all he said, although she wasn't sure if he meant the dress since his look was quite definitely caressing her face.
Phryne caught her breath, skin tingling as if touched by his fingers, his look now trailing across her collarbone. She lifted her hand to deftly brush his tie, following the shape of the knot at his collar. "New?" She whispered her query, also knowing the answer.
Jack swallowed before answering, barely able to mumble a low "Yes" as her knuckles contacted the skin of his throat. Frozen in place by her nearness, burning at each singeing touch of her dress and feathering scorch of her fingers, Jack thought to himself that every cent spent on the new tie was worth every scent and sense of Phryne nearly in his arms.
"Jack" she uttered softly with a mischievous grin "Can I entice you into my parlor? I have something I'd very much like to share with you." The breathy emphasis on the last word seemingly strangling his throat wrapped in its silky new tie. Thoughts of parlors, spiders, and captive flies flew through his thoughts, making him wonder if following her was such a good idea.
"And that would be?" he managed to ask.
Phryne quickly stepped back and spun away from him, her movement setting off sparks in the dim light from her swirling beaded skirt, tossing over her shoulder her answer of "You'll just have to come and see!"
At the door she stopped, leaning back against it with her hand turning the knob behind her back. Her blue eyes burned a path down to his throat and then back up to meet his as she gaily spoke...
"By the way, Jack, that really is a perfect tie!"