Carole Mortimer - Hired For His Pleasure

Did he make her feel threatened in some way? And, if so, why? Once again he acknowledged that Stazy Bromley had to be one of the most complex and intriguing women he had ever met. On the outside beautiful, capable and self-contained. But beneath that cool exterior there was a woman of deep vulnerability who used that outer coldness to avoid any situation in which her emotions might become involved. Including physical intimacy. Especially physical intimacy!

Not that Jaxon thought for one moment that Stazy was still a virgin. But she would have chosen her lovers carefully. Coolly. Men who were and wished to remain as unemotionally involved as she was.

Had she found enjoyment in those encounters? Had she managed to maintain those barriers about her emotions even during the deepest of physical intimacy?

The cool detachment of her gaze as she looked at him now seemed to indicate those relationships hadn’t even touched those barriers, let alone succeeded in breaching them.

As Jaxon so longed to do.

Last night he had briefly seen a different Stazy—a Stazy who had become a living flame in his arms as she met and matched his passion, her fingers entangled in his hair as she wrapped her legs about his waist to meet each slow and pleasurable thrust of his erection against the moist arousal nestled between her thighs.

Jaxon’s hands clenched at his sides as he fought against taking her in his arms and kissing her until she once again became that beautiful and intoxicating woman.

‘I think I’ll go outside for a stroll before dinner.’ And hope that the fresh air would dampen down his renewed arousal!

If not, there was always the coldness of the English Channel he could throw himself into to cool off …!

‘I’VE invited an old friend of my grandfather’s to join us for dinner this evening,’ Stazy informed Jaxon when he came into the drawing room an hour later.

‘Really?’ He strolled further into the room. He was wearing a black silk shirt unbuttoned at the throat this evening, with black tailored trousers. His hair was once again damp from the shower, the square strength of his chiselled jaw freshly shaven.

Stazy was quickly coming to realise that Jaxon used that noncommittal rejoinder when he was less than pleased with what had been said to him. ‘I thought you might be getting a little bored here with just me for company,’ she came back lightly as she handed him a glass of the dry martini she now knew he preferred before dinner.

‘Did you?’ he drawled softly. She felt the warmth of colour enter her cheeks at his continued lack of enthusiasm. ‘Obviously you’re used to more sophisticated entertainments—’

‘All the more reason for me to enjoy a week of peace and quiet.’ Jaxon met her gaze steadily. ‘I was only trying to be hospitable—’ ‘No, Stazy, you weren’t,’ he cut in mildly.

She stiffened. ‘Don’t presume to tell me what my motives are, Jaxon.’

‘Fine.’ He shrugged before strolling across the room to sit down in one of the armchairs, placing his untouched drink down on a side table before resting his elbows on the arms of the chair and steepling his fingers together in front of his chest. ‘So who is this “old friend” of your grandfather’s?’

Stazy’s heart was beating so loudly in her chest she thought Jaxon must be able to hear it all the way across the room. He was right, of course; she hadn’t invited Thomas Sullivan to dinner because she had thought Jaxon might be bored with her company—she had invited the other man in the hope he would act as a buffer against this increasing attraction she felt for Jaxon!

For the same reason she was wearing the same plain black shift dress she had worn six weeks ago, when she and Jaxon had first met, with a light peach gloss on her lips and her hair secured in a neat chignon.

She moistened dry lips. ‘He and my grandfather were at university together.’

Jaxon raised dark brows. ‘That is an old friend. And your grandfather’s … outside employees are okay with his coming here this evening?’

‘I didn’t bother to ask them,’ she dismissed.

‘Then perhaps you should have done.’

Stazy frowned. ‘We aren’t prisoners here, Jaxon.’

He gave a slight smile. ‘Have you tried leaving?’

‘Of course not—’ Her eyes widened as she broke off abruptly. ‘Are you saying that you tried to leave earlier and were prevented from doing so …?’

Jaxon wasn’t sure whether Stazy was put out because he might have tried to leave, or because he had been stopped from doing so. Either way, the result was the same: it appeared that for the moment neither of them were going anywhere.

‘I had half an hour or so to spare before dinner and thought I would go for a ride—enjoy looking at some of the scenery in the area. I was stopped at the main gate and told very firmly that no one was allowed in or out of Bromley House this evening. Which probably means your grandfather’s old friend isn’t going to get in either,’ he added derisively.

‘But that’s utterly ridiculous!’ She looked totally bewildered as she placed her glass down on a side table before turning towards the door. ‘I’ll go and speak to one of them now.’

‘You do that.’ Jaxon nodded. ‘And while you’re at it maybe you can ask them what that flurry of activity was half an hour or so ago.’

Stazy stopped in her tracks and turned slowly back to face him. ‘What flurry of activity?’

He shrugged. ‘Extra chatter on the radios, and then about half a dozen more guards arrived fifteen minutes or so later—several of them with more dogs.’

Her cheeks were now the colour of fine pale porcelain. ‘I wasn’t aware of any of that …’

‘No?’ Jaxon stood up abruptly, frowning as Stazy instinctively took a step backwards. ‘I think you have a much bigger problem here to worry about than me, Stazy,’ he said harshly.

She looked even more bewildered. ‘I’ll telephone my grandfather and ask him what’s going on—’

‘I already tried that.’ A nerve pulsed in Jaxon’s clenched jaw. ‘I even explained to the woman who answered my call that I was staying here with you at Bromley House at Sir Geoffrey’s invitation. It made absolutely no difference. I was still politely but firmly told that Sir Geoffrey wasn’t able to come to the telephone at the moment, but that she would pass the message along.’

Stazy gave a slow shake of her head. ‘That doesn’t sound like my grandfather …’

‘I thought so too.’ Jaxon nodded tersely. ‘So I tried calling him on the mobile number he gave me. It was picked up by an answering service. Needless to say I didn’t bother to leave another message—Ah, Little.’ He turned to the butler as the other man quietly entered the drawing room. ‘Dr Bromley and I were just speculating as to the possible reason for the extra guards in the grounds …’

To his credit, the older man’s expression remained outwardly unchanged by the question. But years of acting, of studying the nuances of expression on people’s faces, of knowing that even the slightest twitch of an eyebrow could have meaning, had resulted in Jaxon being much more attuned than most to people’s emotions.

Even so, if he hadn’t actually been looking straight at the older man he might have missed the slight hardening of his brown eyes before that emotion was neatly concealed by the lowering of hooded lids. Leaving Jaxon to speculate whether that small slip might mean that Little was more than just a butler.

‘It seems that several teenagers were apprehended earlier today, trying to climb over the walls of the estate with the idea of throwing a party down on the beach,’ Little dismissed smoothly.