But his parting kiss was almost tender-unless that was hurt female pride searching for the most acceptable interpretation.
'That was incredible,' he said softly.
Mild hysteria made her think she was being marked out of ten. 'Yes, it was.'
'I'll see you tomorrow,' he said.
Somehow she managed the serene kind of grownup look she knew was expected, even though inside was a little girl who wanted to cling onto his arm and beg him not to leave her. 'You certainly will-unless you can bear to live with only one and a half walls painted.'
Yet the painting seemed somehow irrelevant. Everything did. She bolted the door after he'd gone, with a hand which was trembling, realising that she might be able to lock out his physical presence but that somehow-had she been mad enough to think he wouldn't?-Jay Linur was creeping into her heart.
She slept better than she had anticipated, and by the time she was up and dressed she had talked herself back into a positive attitude. She had no right to blame him because he hadn't met her romantic expectations and spent the night cradled in her arms. If she wanted roses by candlelight then she had picked the wrong man.
She arrived soon after Andy and perched on his desk, sipping coffee.
'Good evening?' he asked casually.
Keri's face didn't react. 'Great,' she answered, non-committally.
The two men were close-had Jay said anything on the lines of Hey, guess what I'm doing with Keri? Was that what men did? Especially men who had been close, in an all-male environment where women had their place and not necessarily a very important one. 'How about you?'
'Pretty quiet.' He shrugged. 'Guess I need to get out there and network a little more.'
'Do you miss America?'
He stirred his coffee and shook his head. 'England's been pretty good to me. I like the fact that it's small, that it's surrounded by sea-you feel kind of safe here.'
'But it's not home?' she ventured.
He smiled. 'What's home? Wherever you lay your hat? Well, I must have laid mine in a hundred different places from the age of eighteen until I was almost thirty-two! My parents are dead-my sisters are married and scattered all over. So I guess home is here.'
It wasn't just an insight into Andy's life, but into Jay's as well. He had lived that same nomadic existence, and some people never tired of the excitement of the new and undiscovered. Not just with places, but with people too.
She heard Jay's footfall outside and she tensed. How would he be with her today? Cool? Non-committal? What if … ? She felt tiny pinpricks of sweat beading her forehead … What if it was only ever intended to be a one-off? Or a second-off, she amended wryly.
He came in and put his helmet down, took the mail that Andy handed him and headed straight for his office, turning his head very slightly to call over his shoulder.
'Just come in here for a moment, would you, Keri?'
She was being summoned. Her heart racing, she rose to her feet with a certain reluctance, giving Andy what she hoped was a sunny, confident smile, and went towards the inner sanctum.
She stood framed in his doorway and Jay grew hard just thinking about last night.
'Come in,' he said quietly. 'And shut the door behind you.'
For a moment she couldn't move-she felt rooted to the spot, like a tree, and Jay had the power to fell her if he chose.
Keep it businesslike and take the lead from him, she told herself as she quietly closed the door and lifted her eyebrows politely. 'What can I do for you, Jay?'
'You can come right over here and kiss me.'
'I thought we tried that yesterday, and it didn't work.'
'That was before last night.'
'Which surely makes it even more of a bad idea?'
Jay studied her. He had half feared an over-the-top display of emotion-and hadn't a part of him wanted that? Wouldn't that have made it easier to categorise her as being like all the others?
'My, but you're grouchy this morning,' he accused softly.
'Not grouchy at all.'
'Stubborn, then.'
She smiled, feeling more powerful by the moment. 'Because I won't do exactly what you want?'
He laughed. 'I guess.' Deliberately, he ran his eyes slowly over her, from the top of her head to the tip of her toes, blatantly and arrogantly undressing her with his eyes, enjoying the rise of colour and the sudden darkening of her eyes. And enjoying just as much this silent battle of wills. 'Still don't want to kiss me?' he taunted.
'Wanting has nothing to do with it-we've already established that.' She frowned. 'Does Andy know?'
Jay stilled. 'Know what, exactly?'
She nearly said, about us, but in the nick of time she realised how needlessly possessive that would sound. So she made it as bald as possible-but still a few steps short of how she suspected a SEAL might describe it.
'Does he know we're sleeping together?' It was only after she'd said it that she realised it wasn't strictly accurate.
Jay raised his eyebrows. 'Well, I didn't get on the phone last night after I'd left you to call him, if that's what you mean. And unless you told him before I arrived, then, no.'
'So he doesn't know about the house?'
'You're kidding!' His eyes narrowed. 'How the hell can I expect to have standards about professionalism if I don't adhere to them myself?'
'You bastard,' she said, with feeling. 'I'm sorry I made you flout your higher-than-high standards!'
'Oh, Keri,' he remonstrated softly. 'That wasn't what I meant and you know it! I don't go around boasting about my conquests, if that's what you're asking.'
'I wasn't aware that I was a conquest,' she said stiffly.
Hell! 'You're twisting me up with words!' he complained.
'Shall we communicate by sign language then?'
'Or touch?' He rallied instantly, inordinately pleased when he saw a smile curve the corners of her mouth. 'How about we go to a show tonight?'
Keri blinked in surprise. 'What kind of show?'
'Do you like musicals? Because I have two tickets.'
'To what?'
Eyes glittering, he gave the name of a hit which had two Hollywood stars proving their stage credentials and was currently packing them in.
'You can't have tickets for that-they're like gold-dust!'
'Well, I have,' he responded, with cool arrogance. 'So shall I pick you up later? Say around seven? We could go for a drink first, if you like.'
And Keri smiled, something telling her that tonight it was safe to have him collect her. The frantic stuff was done-this really was a date.
'Love to,' she said, and hoped that her smile didn't look too soppy.
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE plane bumped down to the sound of spontaneous applause from the passengers and Jay gave a grim smile. It had been a bumpy ride, the aircraft buffeted by storms which had lit the skies with an eerie brilliance. Most people had been terrified, but not him-he'd been on tough flights before, and he knew that if a plane was going to crash then screaming about it wasn't going to stop it.
He'd paid a flying visit to Manchester, summoned there by one of his agents who had been staking out a house which had been sheltering an abducted child caught up in a particularly ugly divorce battle. The police had failed to find her, and in her desperation the mother had contact Linur's.
It had been a delicate and potentially explosive situation, and Jay had gone along to give his man assistance on the sort of case he had once thrived on. There had been both danger and excitement icing the dark, unforgiving night and the long, cold dawn which had followed before they had plucked the child to safety.
But Jay had been aware that his usually sharpened instincts seemed blunted. For once it had been hard to be impartial, to view the case through clear, cold eyes. Instead, he'd found himself identifying with the terror and bewilderment of the child. He'd gone through all the motions, but had felt as if he was only half there-nothing anyone else would have noticed, but he had.
Just as he had noticed Keri's fearful expression when he had told her he was flying north on business.
'What kind of business?' she had asked.
'That's none of your business, sweetheart.' He had seen the hurt and worry which had clouded her eyes but had steeled his heart to it. What did she expect? For him to give her a briefing of his case, chapter and verse? And it wasn't just the secrecy, which was vital to the operation, it was her expectation that somehow she had a right to know just because they had something going on between them. Was she planning to pack him sandwiches and tell him to be sure to ring her if he was delayed?