Susanne James - Hired For His Pleasure - The Talk of Hollywood / Keeping Her Up All Night / Buttoned-Up Secretary, British Boss

Jaxon sat back in his chair. ‘And before that …?’

Her gaze instantly became guarded. ‘What exactly is it you want to know, Jaxon?’

He shrugged. ‘All my own research so far gives the impression their long marriage was a happy one.’

‘ “So far”?’

Discussing Stazy’s grandparents with her had all the enjoyment of walking over hot coals: one wrong step and he was likely to get seriously burned! ‘You know, we’re going to get along much better if you don’t keep reading criticism into every statement I make.’ He sighed.

It wasn’t in Stazy’s immediate or long term plans to ‘get along’ with Jaxon. In fact, after her uncharacteristic behaviour last night, she just wanted this whole thing to be over and done with. ‘Sorry,’ she bit out abruptly.

‘So?’

‘So, yes, their marriage was a long and happy one,’ she confirmed evenly. ‘Not joined at the hip,’ she added with a frown. ‘They were both much too independent in nature for that. But emotionally close. Always.’

‘That’s good.’ Jaxon nodded, making notes in the pad he had brought downstairs with him.

Stazy regarded him curiously. ‘You mentioned your own parents when you were here last … are they happily married?’

‘Oh, yes.’ An affectionate smile curved Jaxon’s lips as he looked up. ‘My brother, too. One big happy family, in fact, and all still living in Cambridgeshire. I’m the only one in the family to have left the area and avoided the matrimonial noose,’ he added dryly.

Stazy doubted that he was in any hurry to marry, considering the amount of women reputedly queuing up to share the bed of Jaxon Wilder. Something she had been guilty of herself the previous evening …!

‘I don’t suppose your lifestyle is in any way … conducive to a permanent relationship,’ she dismissed coolly.

Jaxon studied her through narrowed lids. ‘Any more than your own is. An archaeologist who travels around the world on digs every chance she gets …’ he added with a shrug as she looked at him enquiringly.

She smiled tightly. ‘That’s one of the benefits of being unattached, yes.’

‘And what do you consider the other advantages to be?’ he prompted curiously.

She gave a lightly dismissive laugh. ‘The same as yours, I expect. Mostly the freedom to do exactly as I wish when I wish.’

‘And the drawbacks …?’

A frown creased the creaminess of her brow. ‘I wasn’t aware there were any …’

‘No …?’

‘No.’

He raised dark brows. ‘How about no one to come home to at the end of the day? To talk to and be with? To share a meal with? To go to bed with?’ He smiled ruefully. ‘I suppose it can all be summed up in one word—loneliness.’

Was she ever lonely? Stazy wondered. Probably. No—definitely. And for the reasons Jaxon had just stated. At the end of a long day of teaching she always returned home to her empty apartment, prepared and ate her meal alone, more often than not spending the evening alone, before sleeping alone.

That was exactly how she preferred it! Not just preferred it, but had deliberately arranged her life so it would be that way. Apart from her grandfather, she didn’t want or need anyone in her life on a permanent basis. Didn’t want or need the heartache of one day losing them—to death or otherwise.

She eyed Jaxon teasingly. ‘I find it difficult to believe that you ever need be lonely, Jaxon!’

He gave a tight smile. ‘Never heard the saying “feeling alone in a crowd”?’

‘And that describes you?’

‘Sometimes, yes.’

‘I somehow can’t see that …’ she dismissed.

‘Being an actor isn’t all attending glitzy parties and awards ceremonies, you know.’

‘Let’s not forget you get to escort beautiful actresses to both!’ she teased.

‘No, let’s not forget that,’ he conceded dryly.

‘And you get to go to all those wonderful places on location too—all expenses paid!’

Jaxon smiled wryly. ‘Oh, yes. I remember what a wonderful time I had being in snake and crocodile infested waters for days at a time during the making of Contract with Death!’

Her eyes widened. ‘I’d assumed you had a double for those parts of the film …’

And from the little Stazy had said during that first meeting six weeks ago Jaxon had assumed she was far too much the academic to have ever bothered to see a single one of his films! ‘I don’t use doubles any more than I do hair extensions.’

‘You must be a nightmare for film studios to insure.’

‘No doubt.’

‘What about the flying in Blue Skies …?’

He shrugged. ‘I went to a village in Bedfordshire where they have a museum of old working planes and learnt to fly a Spitfire.’

A grudging respect entered those green eyes. ‘That was … dedicated. What about riding the elephant in Dark Horizon?’

He grinned. ‘Piece of cake!’

‘Riding a horse bareback in Unbridled?’

He gave her a knowing look. ‘A blessed relief after the elephant!’

‘Captaining a boat in To the Depths ?’

So Stazy obviously hadn’t seen just one of his films, but several. Although Jaxon was sure that Stazy had absolutely no idea just how much she was revealing by this conversation. ‘I used to spend my summers in Great Yarmouth, helping out on my uncle’s fishing boat, when I was at university.’

Her eyes widened. ‘You attended university?’

Jaxon was enjoying himself. ‘Surprised to learn I’m not just a pretty face, after all?’

If Stazy was being honest? Yes, she was surprised. ‘What subject did you take?’

He quirked a teasing brow. ‘Are you sure you really want me to answer that?’

She felt a sinking sensation in her chest. ‘Archaeology?’

‘History and archaeology.’

She winced. ‘You have a degree in history and archaeology?’

He gave a grin. ‘First-class Masters.’

‘With what aim in mind …?’

He shrugged. ‘I seriously thought about teaching before I was bitten by the acting bug.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me that before?’ Before she’d made a fool of herself and treated him as if he were just another empty-headed movie star. That, in retrospect, had not only been insulting but presumptuous.

Jaxon shrugged wide shoulders. ‘You didn’t ask. Besides which,’ he continued lightly, ‘you were having far too much fun looking down your nose at a frivolous Hollywood actor for me to want to spoil it for you.’

Because it had been easier to think of Jaxon that way than to acknowledge him as not only being a handsome movie star but also an intelligent and sensitive man. Which he obviously was.

A dangerous combination, in fact!

Stazy straightened briskly. ‘Shall we get on?’

In other words: conversation over, Jaxon acknowledged ruefully. But, whether she realised it or not, he had learnt a little more about Stazy this morning; it was a little like extracting teeth, but very slowly he was learning the intricacies that made up the personality of the beautiful and yet somehow vulnerable Stazy Bromley.

And finding himself intrigued and challenged by all of them.

‘Time for lunch, I believe …’

Stazy had been so lost in reading one of her grandmother’s diaries that she had momentarily forgotten that Jaxon sat across the table from her, let alone noticed the passing of time. Surprisingly, it had been a strangely companionable morning, that earlier awkwardness having dissipated as they both became lost in their individual tasks.

She gave a shake of her head now. ‘I rarely bother to eat lunch.’

‘Meaning that I shouldn’t either?’ Jaxon teased.