Carole Mortimer - Hired For His Pleasure

‘Sir Geoffrey is on the telephone,’ Little informed them loftily as he came in to the dining room an hour and a half later to remove their dessert plates. ‘I took the liberty of transferring the call to his study.’

Stazy stood up abruptly. ‘I’ll go through immediately—’

‘It was Mr Wilder that Sir Geoffrey asked to speak with.’ The butler straightened, his gaze fixed steadily on Jaxon rather than on Stazy.

‘Mr Wilder?’ she repeated dazedly. ‘You must be mistaken, Little—’

‘Not at all,’ the butler assured her mildly. ‘I believe you telephoned Sir Geoffrey earlier this evening, sir …?’

Jaxon had to admire the other man’s stoicism in the face of Stazy’s obvious disbelief of his having correctly relayed the message from Geoffrey Bromley. At the same time he recognised that Stazy’s reaction was completely merited; what possible reason could Geoffrey have for asking to speak to Jaxon rather than his own granddaughter? Whatever that reason was, Jaxon doubted it was anything good!

‘I did, yes,’ he acknowledged lightly as he placed his napkin on the table before standing up. ‘If you could just show me to Sir Geoffrey’s study …?’

‘Certainly, Mr Wilder.’

‘Jaxon!’

His shoulders tensed as he turned slowly back to face an obviously less than happy Stazy. Justifiably so, in Jaxon’s estimation. Geoffrey had to know that his granddaughter wouldn’t just accept his asking to speak with Jaxon rather than her without comment.

‘I’m coming with you,’ she informed him determinedly.

‘I believe Sir Geoffrey wishes to speak with Mr Wilder alone,’ Little interjected—bravely, in Jaxon’s estimation.

Stazy looked ready to verbally if not physically rip anyone who stood in the way of her talking with her grandfather to shreds. And at the moment Little was definitely attempting to do just that!

Her eyes flashed deeply green as she turned to the butler. ‘Sir Geoffrey can wish all he likes, Little,’ she assured him firmly. ‘But I’m definitely accompanying Mr Wilder to the study! ‘

Jaxon managed to stand back just in time as Stazy swept past him and out of the room. ‘I think that was a pretty predictable reaction, don’t you?’ he drawled ruefully to the watching butler. ‘And, on the positive side, at least I actually got to eat this time before she walked out on me!’ The food had been untouched when he had handed the picnic basket back to Little earlier.

‘There are times when it is almost possible to believe Lady Anastasia is back with us again …’ the other man murmured admiringly as he looked down the hallway at Stazy’s retreating and stiffly determined back.

Jaxon nodded. ‘Perhaps you had better bring a decanter of brandy and a couple of glasses through to Sir Geoffrey’s study in about five minutes …?’

‘Certainly, sir.’ Little nodded smoothly.

Jaxon strolled down the hallway to where he had seen Stazy enter what had to be Geoffrey Bromley’s study, sure that the next few minutes were going to be far from pleasant.

‘You heard your grandfather’s, Stazy,’ Jaxon reminded her gently. ‘He said there’s absolutely no reason for you to rush up to London just now.’

Stazy was well aware of what her grandfather had said on the telephone, once she had managed to wrest the receiver out of Jaxon’s hand and talked to her grandfather herself. Just as she was aware that she had no intention of taking any notice of her grandfather’s instruction for her to wait to hear from him again before taking any further action.

Mainly because her grandfather’s telephone call had revealed that he had rushed up to London two days ago, and security here had been increased, because he and some members of one of his previous security teams had been receiving threats. That threat had somehow escalated in the past twenty-four hours, and now her grandfather expected—instructed—that she just calmly sit here at Bromley House and await further news!

No way. Absolutely no way was Stazy going to just sit here waiting to see if someone succeeded in attacking her grandfather.

She turned to look at Little as he quietly entered the study with a silver tray containing a decanter of brandy and two glasses. ‘I suppose you already knew what was going on before we spoke to my grandfather?’

‘Stazy,’ Jaxon reproved softly from where he sat in the chair facing her grandfather’s desk.

‘I’m sorry, Little.’ Stazy sighed. ‘Did you happen to know about these threats to my grandfather?’ she asked, less challengingly but just as determinedly, as she watched the butler carefully and precisely place the decanter and glasses on the desktop.

Again Jaxon was sure that he hadn’t imagined the butler’s reaction—a slight but nevertheless revealing tic in his cheek—before the other man covered his emotion with his usual noncommittal expression as he answered Stazy. ‘I believe the increased security measures here are only a precaution, Miss Stazy.’

‘I’m not concerned about myself—’

‘That will be all, thank you, Little.’ Jaxon gave the older man a reassuring smile as he stood up to cross the room and usher the butler out into the hallway before closing the door firmly behind him. ‘Taking out your worry concerning your grandfather on one of the people who works for him isn’t going to make you feel any better, Stazy.’ He spoke mildly as he moved to the front of the desk to pour brandy into the two glasses.

‘Is it too much to expect you to understand how worried I feel?’ A nerve pulsed in her tightly clenched jaw, and her cheeks were once again pale, her eyes suspiciously over-bright.

With anger or tears, Jaxon wasn’t sure.

He straightened slowly to hand her one of the glasses of deep amber liquid. ‘No, of course it isn’t. I just don’t believe insulting Little or me is going to help the situation.’

‘Then what is?’ She threw the contents of the glass to the back of her throat before moving to refill it.

Jaxon winced. ‘Expensive brandies like this one are meant to be breathed in, sipped and then savoured—not thrown down like a pint of unimpressive warm beer!’

‘I know that.’ She picked up the second glass and took a healthy swallow of the contents of that one too, before slamming it back down on the desk to look up challengingly at Jaxon.

‘Stazy, I really wouldn’t advise you pushing this situation to a point where I have to use extreme measures in order to calm you down,’ Jaxon said softly as he saw the reckless glint in her eyes had deepened.

‘Such as what?’ she prompted warily. ‘Are you going to put me over your knee and spank me for being naughty? Or will just slapping me on the cheek suffice?’

He shrugged. ‘I’m not about to slap you anywhere—but the first suggestion has a certain merit at this moment!’ Ordinarily Jaxon wouldn’t dream of using physical force of any kind on a woman. But this situation was far from ordinary. Stazy was way out of her normally controlled zone. Almost to the point of hysteria. Rightly so, of course, when her grandfather was all the family she had left in the world.

In these unusual circumstances Jaxon didn’t at all mind being used as Stazy’s verbal punchbag, but he knew her well enough to know that she would be mortified at her treatment of the obviously devoted Little once she had calmed down enough to recognise how she had spoken to him just now—out of love and worry for her grandfather or otherwise.

The uncharacteristic tears glistening in those eyes were his undoing. ‘Oh, Stazy …!’ he groaned, even as he took her gently into his arms. ‘It’s going to be okay—you’ll see.’

‘You don’t really know that,’ she murmured against his chest as she choked back those tears.