The Billionaire Bodyguard(23)

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?