Needed: One Convenient Husband(10)

"If you want modeling work, there are better places to get it than over the bar of some pub, like your agent, for instance."

"What would you know about it?"

"The bank has modeling agencies as clients. I don't know how they run  their businesses, but I'm pretty sure it's not at-" he looked at the  sign over the bar "-Irish Jack's."

She sent him a sideways glance that was supposed to be withering, then  wished she hadn't when she caught the gleam of humor in his eyes. She  squashed the sudden, almost irresistible desire to smile with him. "My  agent still has clients lining up. I can continue my modeling career if I  want."

"In movies?"

"I don't do movies. I just said that to annoy you."

"You succeeded."

Feeling a little panicky, because she did not want to love Kyle's dry  sense of humor or the possessiveness, she slipped off the barstool.  Maybe if she were standing, she would feel more in control.  Unfortunately, Kyle also stood, towering over her, making her feel  ridiculously small and feminine.

She made a beeline for the door but couldn't suppress her automatic  pleasure at the small courtesy when Kyle held it for her. In her current  state of mind, she could not afford to be charmed by Kyle's manners.

When she stepped out into the balmy evening air, she spun and  confronted him. "Is the offer of marriage still open?" The words tumbled  out sounding a whole lot more vulnerable than she'd planned.

His gaze sharpened. "Why? What's changed?"

She swallowed at the leap he'd made, his scary insight. Because  something had changed. She'd felt it in the instant he had sat down at  the bar and fended off the bartender. She didn't know exactly what had  changed, just that she had liked it that Kyle wanted to protect her.  "I'm not sure. I'm confused."                       
       
           



       

"The offer is still open." He was silent for a moment. "If you want, I can give you a lift home."

She frowned at the sudden switch from aggressive pursuit to coolness.  The sense of hidden depth and layers abruptly made her aware of the  abyss that lay between the teenaged Kyle she had once fallen for, and  the mature, seasoned man who stood in front of her now. "Okay."

The lights of Kyle's Maserati, which occupied a parking spot further  along the road, flashed. A short walk later, he opened the passenger  side door for her. Taking a deep breath, careful not to brush against  him, she settled into the luxurious seat, stomach clenching at the  subtly masculine scent of leather. The door closed and seconds later,  Kyle slid behind the wheel and the car accelerated off the curb.

As they cruised through town, stopping at intersections filled with  tourists enjoying the restaurants and cafés, and loved-up couples  strolling, she suddenly didn't want the night to end. "I don't want to  go home. Not yet."

He turned his head, and she caught the glitter of his gaze. The tension  in the enclosed space seemed to tighten. "Where do you want to go?"

"The beach." The answer came straight out of the past and made warmth  rise to her cheeks, because she belatedly realized the link to their  long-ago tryst. It was just that the beach had been such a carefree  place for her. She'd spent long summers at Dolphin Bay swimming and  sunbathing and building late-night fires. Adoptive cousins, most like  Kyle-second and third times removed-and extended family everywhere, and  her old life with its trouble and grief left far behind.

Kyle took a turn in the direction of the marina. Traffic slowed. Ahead,  Eva glimpsed a bus and hoped it wasn't one of the ones that still had  the underwear ad. And, of course, it was.

Kyle sent her a neutral look. "That's one of the reasons Mario worried about you."

Eva studied the faintly battered line of Kyle's profile, the tough jaw  and ridiculously long, silky lashes. She shrugged. She wasn't about to  apologize for a highly successful modeling career. "Mario was  conservative."

She switched her gaze to his hands on the wheel. A scar started at the  sleeve of his shirt and ran the length of the back of his hand. "How did  you get that?"

He frowned. "Don't change the subject."

"You always want to talk about me. Maybe I want to talk about you."

The minute the words were out, she wished she hadn't said them, because they sounded flirtatious and provocative.

"It's a fishing injury from a couple of years ago. Nick was casting and his hook caught me."

"I thought it might be from the military."

Amusement flashed in his gaze. "Disappointed?"

"No! That last injury putting you in the hospital was bad enough. You  almost died." Her stomach bottomed out at the thought. It was almost  four years ago, but she could still remember how frantic she'd felt. She  hadn't questioned her reaction then, she had just thought it was a  leftover of the crush she'd had on Kyle. But how long did crushes last?

Kyle changed lanes and accelerated smoothly. "When I woke up, Gabriel  told me that if I didn't resign, he would join up. I knew he'd keep his  word, and that the family and the bank couldn't afford to lose him, so I  signed the discharge papers."

"You didn't want to leave? I don't know how you could have wanted to stay in after-"

"Nicola and Evan were killed?"

She stared ahead, the stream of oncoming traffic a colorful blur. "I'm  sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned it. I know what it's like losing  people you love. It's hard to believe they're gone."

She registered his curious gaze, as if he were waiting for her to  elaborate. But she'd said too much already. She'd found that the less  she said about her past, the better she fitted in. Ignoring the past  didn't make it go away, but it sure helped her to feel more normal.

Kyle took an off-ramp and stopped for lights. "It was an attack on the  barracks where we were based in Germany," he said quietly.  "Unfortunately, Nicola was driving past the car with the explosives when  it detonated. Evan was in his car seat. It was pure bad luck. If she  had been a few seconds earlier or later, they would have avoided the  blast."

There was a moment of silence. "If I hadn't insisted they come out to Germany for Christmas, they would still be alive."

The words, uttered flatly, nevertheless contained a rawness that  riveted Eva. She didn't know why she hadn't considered that Kyle might  blame himself for the death of his wife and child, but the flat  statement made a terrible kind of sense.                       
       
           



       

Kyle was an alpha male. Testosterone aside, that meant taking charge  and taking responsibility. To have lost the two people most intimately  connected with him, the wife and child he had vowed to care for and  protect, must be unbearable. In that instant a whole lot of things she  hadn't understood about Kyle settled into place. Foremost was the fact  that he had loved his wife and child.

A sharp ache started somewhere deep in her chest. The way she, all  those years ago, would have loved to be loved. "You still miss them."

The lights changed, Kyle accelerated through the intersection.  "Birthdays and important dates are the worst, but it's not as bad as it  used to be."

"I'm sorry." As much as she had gotten used to loss and grief, the  process of losing her family over a period of years had, at least, given  her time to adjust. She could not imagine what it must have been like  for Kyle to lose a wife and child, literally, in an instant.

He took the off-ramp for Takapuna Beach, his expression closed. "It's okay. It hurt, but it was years ago."

She stared ahead at the road as it unfolded, feeling suddenly  incredibly self-centered. She had been viewing Kyle as controlling and  intrusive-the big, bad wolf-but like all the men in his family, he was a  family man.

Abruptly, she understood him in a way that was unbearably and  intimately personal. As the oldest child in her family, she had said  goodbye to her twin and two younger siblings. She could remember holding  their hands and willing them to live. One by one they had died; there  had been nothing she could do. It wasn't the shock of a bomb blast, but  the sense of helplessness was the same.

Kyle turned down a side street then into a park, with the sea just a  few yards from a small parking lot. Now that they were alone, and at the  beach, she was out of stall time.

Panic gripped her. Given that she now knew she could not marry a  stranger, she needed to decide whether or not she could cope with a  temporary marriage to Kyle.





Six

Kyle tossed his jacket in the space behind the driver's seat and walked  around the hood of the Maserati to open the passenger side door.  Predictably, Eva already had the door open, but was still seated while  she unfastened her shoes. He drew in a breath at the elegant line of her  legs and the tantalizing glimmer of a fine chain around one slim ankle.  "If you want to walk, I don't know how long we'll have. The forecast is  for rain."