The Billionaire Bodyguard(15)

He saw the look on her face and ran a  few options over in his head. If  he went over there and took her in his  arms then one thing was certain  to happen, and he wasn't sure if that  was a good idea, for all kinds of  reasons he didn't care to analyse.  Because Jay had never been into  analysing feelings and he wasn't about  to start now.

'You want to wash up?' he suggested slowly.

Her  body was slick and redolent of the scent of love, but there was  some  alien, sentimental part of her that wanted to stay that way-a  million  miles away from the woman who showered twice a day without  fail.

'We have towels?' she asked, babbling the words out as if they mattered.                       
       
           



       

'We do,' he answered gravely.

She  wrapped a blanket around her and rose to her feet-and she of  catwalk  fame, who could flounce and strut to the insistent beat of the  music,  now found herself as gangly and as awkward as a newborn foal. If  this  was what orgasm did for you then you could keep it.

But as she  went to walk by him he reached out a hand to catch her  waist, drawing  her up close to his body, and he felt himself grow hard  in an instant.  He bent his head so that his breath was warm against her  cheek.

'I'd like to do it again too,' he whispered.

Keri  closed her eyes, revelling in the nearness of him which awoke  every  aching sense all over again. 'I never said I wanted to do  anything,' she  whispered back.

'You didn't have to.' His voice was as soft as butter at room temperature. 'It was written all over your face.'

She  heard the arrogance in that statement and tried to pull away from  him.  Was she really that transparent? Or was that the way all women  reacted  to him? 'You aren't blaming me this morning for wanting what  you wanted  so badly yourself last night?'

'Blaming you?' He frowned. 'Are  you out of your mind? Of course I'm not  blaming you.' He held her tight  and she melted against him. 'It was a  two-way thing, Keri, and it was  pretty amazing-' Which was an  outrageous understatement and he knew it.  'But it would be nothing  short of irresponsible to go back to bed now.'  He glanced over at the  heap of rumpled blankets and his eyes gleamed.  'Or at least go back to  the floor.'

She couldn't laugh, couldn't  move. One word stuck out like a  razorblade, half concealed beneath the  snow. She looked up at him.  'Irresponsible?'

'Sure.' His eyes  narrowed. 'You don't think people are going to be  worried? You said you  had an appointment last night-who was that with?'

She stared at  him blankly, as if he was speaking about another universe  entirely, and  then she remembered. Oh, Lord! 'David,' she said dully.

David.  Yeah, it figured. Jay's mouth flattened and he dropped his arms  and let  her go, wondering why he should have thought otherwise. 'Well,  don't you  think that David might be worried?' he questioned coolly.

The  fact that he hadn't asked her any questions hurt Keri more than she  had  expected. She wanted to say David is just a friend, but the  complete  disinterest on his face stopped her stone-dead. He could have  asked but  he hadn't asked-and the reason for that was as plain as the  day.

He didn't care.

Jay's  mouth thinned into an expression of distaste. So was this David a   suitable partner? he wondered. Good for the glamour stuff but a  wash-out  in bed? His eyes were very clear and hard, and so was his  voice.

'He'll  have wondered why you didn't show,' he said. 'And presumably he  might  have heard about the weather conditions and put two and two  together and  reported you missing? Didn't that occur to you, Keri?'

Nothing  had occurred to her at all, bar the touch of his flesh against  hers and  the kiss of his lips. The outside world might not have existed  for all  the thought she had given it, cocooned inside in the warm,  giving circle  of his arms.

Now she felt stupid. And uncomfortable-as if he was judging her.

Keri shrugged her bare shoulders. 'It sort of slipped my mind.'

But there was no complicit gleam of understanding in his eyes, just that same coolness which rivalled the snow outside.

'Then  I suggest we make a move to get out of here. You'd better get  washed  and dressed. I'm going out to see what the roads are like-maybe  see if I  can dig the car free.'

'You want me to help?'

'No,' he said shortly. 'I work better on my own. Fix us both something to eat and I'll be back as soon as I can.'

Just  that, and then he was gone. No long, smoochy kiss or smouldering  look  promising more passion. Keri shivered as he slammed out of the  door and a  gust of chill wind blasted its way over her skin.

She found a  sliver of soap in the bathroom and washed as best she  could, trying to  keep her mind on the task in hand and not to let it  wander in pursuit of  questions which could not be answered. At least  she must be grateful  for the slow trickle of hot water, which right at  that moment felt a  million times better than her usual power-shower.

She dressed in  yesterday's clothes and went back down to the kitchen,  where the  leftovers from last night's meal lay congealing in the  saucepan. She  shuddered and upended them into the bin, then boiled a  kettle and made  herself a cup of black tea, wondering how long Jay  would take and  whether he would be successful.                       
       
           



       

He was gone for the best part of  two hours, during which time she  washed the dishes and tidied away the  blankets in the sitting room. She  pulled a book down from the shelf and  curled up on the sofa, but she  didn't take in a single word of it.

And  then she heard the sound of a car drawing to a halt, and moments  later  Jay came in. His skin was flushed with exertion, fine sweat  sheening the  strong face, and his eyes were glittering.

Keri sprang to her  feet, her heart thundering, searching his face for   something-anything-but his features were non-committal. She knew that it   mocked common sense, but deep down she was praying that they would be   stuck here for longer.

'You … freed the car?'

He nodded. 'I  did. The sun had softened the snow-it wasn't difficult.  The roads look  okay. I think we should make a move-at least to the  nearest town.' He  paused, having decided on his strategy while he was  shovelling snow.  'You can catch a train there.'

She was already disappointed, but at these words her mouth suddenly dried. 'I don't mind travelling with you.'


'No,' he said flatly. 'I don't want to risk it happening again.'

What?  she thought, slightly hysterically. The breakdown, or the  lovemaking?  She saw the quick glance he flicked at his watch. 'You mean  you want to  leave straight away?'

'In a minute. I'm starving. We'll eat first, and then we'll get going.'

'Eat what?' she questioned steadily. 'You saw what there was.'

There  was a heartbeat of a pause. 'We can heat up what we didn't eat  last  night.' He saw the look on her face and his eyes grew flinty. 'Oh,  no.'

Oh, yes. 'I threw it away. We can't eat spaghetti bolognese for breakfast!'

'Brunch.' His eyes were cold. 'So we eat nothing. Is that right, Keri?'

She could feel his rage bouncing off him in almost tangible waves. 'You're angry,' she said flatly.

'Well,  what do you expect?' he demanded incredulously. 'I've just been  out  doing hard labour, which produces real hunger-not the automatic  mood to  eat at mealtimes which you get from hanging around an office  all day. Or  the self-imposed denial brought about from trying to  maintain an  unnaturally low body-weight! Can't you do anything  practical?'

'I can paint walls,' she said, stung into self-defence.

'Yeah, very useful under the circumstances! Just give that ceiling a quick coat, will you, while we starve to death?'

His  contempt was withering-and not, she realised, simply because she  had  thrown the food away. In a couple of sentences he had managed to  dismiss  her world, and the standards by which she lived. Well, that  should take  care of any foolish romantic dreams she might have been in  danger of  harbouring.

'I'm sorry.' She met his gaze squarely. 'There isn't  really a lot else I  can say-unless you want me to try to fish it out of  the bin for you?'

He looked at her. Since when did missing a meal  make him grouchy to the  point of unreasonable? Surely not because she'd  had a date with a man  last night? If she chose to play away then that  was up to her-he  certainly wasn't into making moral judgements.