The Billionaire Bodyguard(27)

Did she care about his rage?

No, she did not.

'We  could set a meeting up in a restaurant,' she said pleadingly. 'A  busy  restaurant, where there's no chance of him so much as touching  you-he  hates public displays of affection anyway. You can tell him over  the  first course, then walk out and leave him to pay the bill-it will  be so  short and businesslike that he won't have time to guess it isn't  me.'

'Tell him what, exactly?'

'That  you don't want to see him again. You don't even have to explain   yourself, Erin-he certainly didn't offer me any explanation about why he   left without so much as a goodbye. And it's only if he rings,' she   added. 'Which he may not even do. I'm out of his office now, so probably   out of his life. This may be the way he's using to break it off  without  having to go through the discomfort of telling me.'

There was silence for a moment, and when Erin spoke her face was very serious.

'Why can't you just do that yourself-tell him?'

Admission  time-time to tell the truth, even though it damned her.  'Because I  don't think I can resist him,' she confessed in a hollow  whisper. 'Maybe  I won't even want to resist him. But I have to-I need  to. If he makes  love to me and persuades me to stay it's only putting  off the inevitable  and increasing the likelihood of more pain. Erin,  please. Please.'

There was another pause.

'My hair is different from yours.'

Keri  smiled, and the look she gave her sister was tender. 'I think  you've  done all your mourning now, don't you, kiddo?' she said softly.  'And I  know that my hairdresser would be over the moon if you let him  style  your hair. A present from me to you-as a kind of thank-you for  doing  something I'm too cowardly to do myself. Think how great you felt  when I  persuaded you to get your toes done!'

Anticipation gleamed from  her eyes and Erin's mouth twitched into an  answering smile. 'A baggy  jumper, you say? It'll have to be a pretty  downmarket restaurant!'



Jay  put his helmet down and looked around his office, surveying the  bright  prints, the warm and vibrant walls, and some tall, fleshy plant  which  made the room seem somehow alive. He frowned. He didn't remember  there  being a plant there.

He walked over to the window and stared out  at where the sunlight was  dancing over the water. His business in New  York had been necessary,  but not urgent, but he had needed to get away. A  change of scene, a  change of people-he had never known it not to work  before, but this  time it hadn't.

So what had gone wrong?

New York had been buzzing, and it was a city he knew well-yet the refuge he had sought had seemed somehow empty.

He  had been haunted by Keri, picturing her wide, dark eyes last thing  at  night, and every morning he had woken aching, unable to dispel the   feeling that maybe this time he had cut and run too soon, that he had   let go of something which was precious, only he had failed to see it at   the time.                       
       
           



       

'Where is she?' he demanded.

Andy handed him a coffee. 'Who?' he questioned innocently.

'Who? Keri, of course,' Jay growled.

'The job's finished, boss. She's gone.'

'Gone?' he echoed blankly.

So  they had got the place back to themselves at last. By rights, he  should  be pleased. He could work in peace now, and not be distracted by  a foxy  woman in paint-splattered overalls. He frowned. 'What did she  say?'

'Not a lot. She's billed you for the work owing-you'll find it on your desk.'

Jay walked into his office, found the envelope sitting on his desk and slit it open.

But inside was a bill-just that, nothing more. No little note saying, Hope you like it. No kisses. Nothing.

What the hell did you expect?

He  picked up the phone and rang her, and it rang for such a long time  that  he was waiting for it to go through to the machine when she  answered at  last.

'Hello?'

'Keri?'

Her heart pounded. Keep calm, she told herself. 'Jay?'

'Yes.' He smiled. 'Missed me?'

She  quashed the desire to say Why did you leave without telling me? She   wasn't going to show her hurt, or show she cared. She had no right to   say that, in any case-he had never promised her anything. 'I've been   busy,' she prevaricated. 'Doing some magazine work.'

'Oh? Anything interesting?'

'Advertising stockings, actually,' she said matter-of-factly.

Stockings? He very nearly dropped the phone. 'So when am I going to see you?'

He  had gone away without telling her, and now he was back and clearly   feeling rampant. This could obviously be a sexual relationship made in   heaven-but was that enough? No, it was not.

Her nerve nearly  failed her, but she told herself that it was better  this way. Better to  suffer the ache of missing him now instead of  rekindling the embers of  something which was dying.

When something came to an end there  had to be some kind of closure-she  just didn't trust herself to go  through with it on her own.

She looked down at her diary; he wasn't to know that the pages were blank. 'How about lunch? Tomorrow?'

'Lunch?' he echoed, surprised.

'You  don't have a problem with lunch, do you?' Of course he did. He  probably  wanted to carry her straight off to bed, and if he was only  just back  then he would be needed in the office.

Jay shook his head. He  wanted to see her now. Or tonight. And he knew  he had no right to ask.  He could hear the slight coolness in her voice  and knew that he deserved  it.

'I can do lunch,' he agreed. 'Where?'

She closed her eyes as she gave him the name of the restaurant. God forgive me, she thought, but I have to do it this way.





CHAPTER FOURTEEN




THERE was a slight murmur in the restaurant, and Jay's eyes moved in her direction as she walked in.

His  weren't the only ones, but that shouldn't have surprised him. She   really was very, very beautiful, but it was rare for him to observe her   from afar like this. He watched her weave her way through the busy  room.  And his eyes narrowed.

She walked over towards his table, her fingers gripping onto her clutch-bag. 'Hi.'

'Hi,' he said softly.

She  sat down. Her hands were trembling, he noticed, and he scanned her   eyes, but it was difficult to read anything in them-she'd gone  overboard  on the make-up and that damned fringe was flopping about all  over the  place.

She cleared her throat. 'Before we go any further, there's something I need to say to you, Jay.'

He  had been watchful before, but now an extra sense of perception crept  in  and his thumb moved thoughtfully to rub at the faint rasp of shadow  at  his jaw. 'You don't want to order a drink first?'

'No.' She shook  her head, the dark hair spilling like ebony satin all  over her  shoulders. 'I haven't come here for a drink. Not even for  lunch-not  really.'

'How very intriguing. What have you come for, then?'

He could see the nervous flutter of her lashes.

'It's not easy to say … '

'Oh, do try,' he coaxed, an odd kind of note in his voice. 'I'm fascinated.'

'I … I  just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed what we had. But I've  been  doing a lot of thinking-and, well, I think it's best if we don't  see one  another again.' She gave a brittle smile. 'That's it, really.'  And  pushed her chair back. 'I shouldn't think you'll be too  broken-hearted.'                       
       
           



       

He waited until she was standing, and then he smiled.

'Will you do me a favour before you go?' he asked quietly.

She looked startled. 'What is it?'

His voice became edged with a certain hardness. 'Just tell Keri I'll be in touch.'




Keri  had thought of leaving the Ansaphone on. Of vacating her apartment  for a  week or two. Even of ringing her agency up and asking if they  had any  lengthy shoots in exotic locations.

But what would be the point?  If Jay wanted to see her, then see her he  would-she didn't doubt that  for a moment. And, though her courage had  failed her before, surely she  could grasp it with two hands now? He  knew what she wanted-or, rather,  what she needed to do, and he was man  enough to accept that.

When  the doorbell rang, loudly and angrily, she didn't need to check in  the  peephole to see who it was. She just opened the door to him,  thinking  how tight his features looked. He was dressed in his habitual  black, but  today he looked as menacing as she had ever seen him.

'You'd better come in.'

He  was silent as he stepped inside, silent as he closed the door behind   him. His eyes were hot and angry, and when he spoke his voice was as   tight as a coiled spring.