Carole Mortimer - The Prince Brothers - Satisfaction Guaranteed!

‘She wasn’t?’ Zak’s eyes widened speculatively. ‘So where is she now?’ he asked before Nik could give him another cutting reply.

‘I have no idea,’ Nik answered him honestly. ‘She walked out of here about five minutes ago. In fact, you may have seen her on her way out.’ He frowned as the thought occurred to him.

Zak gave the idea some thought, his brow clearing suddenly. ‘Tiny little thing? Long red hair, very deep blue eyes? A very kissable—’

‘That’s enough!’ Nik growled.

Zak’s eyes widened. ‘Yep, I guess that was the one,’ he teased. ‘And you never made it as far as the bedroom? Maybe that’s why you’re in such a foul mood, big brother. Self-denial isn’t good for a man of your advanced years!’

Zak could say that again! Not the part about his advanced years, of course, but this constant frustration certainly wasn’t doing anything for his mood.

Although Nik’s discomfort was nothing compared to his concern now for Jinx and what she would do next. Because he didn’t doubt that she intended doing something.

‘Will you excuse me, Zak?’ he murmured distractedly. ‘I have to go out for a while.’ He picked up his brown leather jacket and pulled it on over his shirt, checking in his trouser pockets for his wallet.

‘Going after the beautiful—what is her name?’ Zak queried.

‘Her name is Juliet. And stay away from her, little brother. Well away.’ He scowled darkly.

Zak’s grin was wider than ever. ‘Wow, this is a first! Can I use your phone? I have to ring Rik at Stazy’s and tell him—’

‘Use your own phone,’ Nik snapped. ‘And tell Rik what, exactly?’

‘That our BB has been bowled over by a five-foot nothing of a woman with the body of Venus, of course.’ Zak stood up, heading for the bar, taking out a cola and drinking it straight from the bottle.

‘Help yourself!’ Nik drawled, giving an impatient shake of his head. ‘And I would hold off telling Rik anything, if I were you,’ he added as he headed for the door. ‘Things aren’t always what they seem, Zak.’

His brother frowned meditatively. ‘Now you’ve really got me curious…!’

That wasn’t quite the idea; the last thing Nik needed right now was Zak and Rik on his case. He was confused enough about Jinx as it was!

‘Feel like telling me where you’re going?’ Zak quirked mocking brows.

‘Nope.’

Zak shrugged. ‘Maybe I’ll catch up with you later.’

‘Maybe,’ he echoed, frowning heavily as he left the hotel suite.

Where would Jinx have gone after she left him? Home? Or somewhere else? Bearing in mind how angry she had been when she’d left, he had a feeling it wasn’t the former. If he were in Jinx’s shoes, he’d go—

‘Fold Street,’ he told the taxi driver as he got in the back of the black vehicle. ‘Stephens Publishing,’ he added tersely.

The journey seemed interminable, the taxi meeting every conceivable hold-up possible, from someone falling off their bicycle to a set of failed traffic lights. All of which only served to increase Nik’s impatience to boiling point.

Jinx had been in a furious mood when she’d left—because of him, admittedly, but he had a definite feeling that anger might spill over onto whomever she spoke to next. If his guess was correct, and Jinx had gone to Stephens Publishing, then, after months of never even meeting his author, James wasn’t going to know what hit him!

Maybe they would be lucky and James would be out of the office!

No such luck, Nik groaned inwardly after the receptionist had called James Stephens’s secretary and okayed him to go up.

Maybe he was wrong, after all, Nik reasoned on the way up in the lift; the secretary would hardly have allowed him up if there were a full-scale battle going on in James’s office.

In which case, he had better do some quick thinking as to what he was doing here!

‘You can go right in,’ James’s secretary looked up to tell him smilingly as he strode into the office.

Great; besides feeling rather foolish for having rushed over here in order to save Jinx from herself by telling James Stephens exactly what she thought of him and his publishing company, Nik was also no nearer to knowing what to tell the other man about his own reason for being here!

‘Come in, Nik,’ James welcomed him brightly, having stood up to come round his desk and shake Nik by the hand, effectively blocking Nik’s view of the rest of the office so he couldn’t see whether or not Jinx was actually here.

James smiled at him warmly. ‘How fortunate that you should arrive just now.’ He beamed. ‘You’re not going to believe this, but I can actually introduce you to our author J. I. Watson at last!’ He finally stepped to one side, leaving Nik with a clear view of Jinx as she sat in the chair facing the other man’s desk.

She was sitting sideways in the chair at the moment, that clear violet-blue gaze coldly mocking as she looked up at him challengingly.

Affording Nik little pleasure in knowing he had been right in his surmise as to where she had gone after leaving him…!

‘MR PRINCE.’ Jinx nodded to him coolly, exerting every ounce of willpower she possessed to remain calmly seated, when every instinct she had screamed for her to stand up defensively as Nik looked down at her with narrowed grey eyes.

The fact that he was here at all was enough to set her nerve endings jangling—even though she’d had prior warning of his imminent arrival when James Stephens’s secretary had called through a couple of minutes ago.

But the question was, why was Nik here?

Had he followed her here? Or had he come for reasons of his own?

More to the point, was he going to acknowledge that the two of them already knew each other?

She had arrived here earlier with the sole purpose of telling James Stephens exactly what she thought of his publishing company before demanding her second manuscript back, but the publisher had been so pleased and excited to meet her at last, so obviously genuine in his pleasure, like a little boy who had been given an early Christmas present, that she simply hadn’t had the heart to say all those unpleasant things to this genially friendly man.

‘Miss Nixon,’ Nik greeted her abruptly.

‘Can you believe that J. I. Watson has been a woman all this time?’ James murmured incredulously as he moved to sit back behind his desk.

‘Miss Nixon and I have already met, actually,’ Nik admitted.

‘You have?’ James Stephens looked disappointed as he glanced first at Nik and then back to Jinx.

‘Only briefly.’ Jinx was the one to expand on that statement. ‘But long enough for me to inform Mr Prince that I have no intention of giving him the film rights to No Ordinary Boy ,’ she added tightly.

‘Ah,’ James breathed softly, grimacing his disappointment.

Jinx’s eyes widened. ‘I take it that you are in favour of Mr Prince making the film?’

The publisher looked uncomfortable now, obviously debating which of them he should offend—because he had to be aware that whichever way he answered he was going to offend one of them!

He seemed to choose his words carefully. ‘If the film were to be made, then I have to say I couldn’t think of a finer director than Nik here!’

Jinx had to smile inwardly at the man’s tact. ‘But the film isn’t going to be made,’ she said firmly, ‘so whether or not Mr Prince is a fine director or not is totally irrelevant.’ She raised mocking brows as Nik’s mouth tightened grimly at the ambiguity of her remark.

Deliberately so. She knew he was a brilliant director; the whole world knew he was a brilliant director; she just had no intention of adding to his fan club by admitting as much!