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‘Wouldn’t that be rather rude to Susan and Leo?’ she retorted critically.
‘Are they our host and hostess?’ he asked with an uninterested glance in their direction as they stood further down the hallway greeting yet more guests. ‘I don’t know them and they don’t know me; why should it bother me what they think?’
Why, indeed? In fact, from what she had heard of this man, he tended to be a law unto himself, was reputed to be an uncompromising film director, an inflexible head of his family of two younger brothers and a sister, his relationships with women, be they beautiful actresses or otherwise, always short-lived.
In fact, he wasn’t Jinx’s type at all. If she had a type. It had been so long since there had been anyone in her life in a romantic way that she had forgotten!
She gave a shrug of slender shoulders. ‘Because they were gracious enough to extend their hospitality to you on very short notice might be one way of looking at it, don’t you think?’ she rebuked.
He gave a mocking inclination of his head. ‘I stand corrected,’ he drawled, grey eyes warm as he smiled down at her.
That genuine smile, when it came, was well worth waiting for. In fact, Jinx felt slightly breathless and not a little shaky at the knees. Not a very sensible response given the circumstances!
‘Good,’ she bit out with more force than she had intended, deliberately turning away from him as she took a step back, once again widening the distance between them. ‘Now, if you will excuse me, Mr Prince—’ She broke off abruptly as he reached out a hand to lightly grasp her arm, his fingers long and strong, their warmth seeming to penetrate her silky skin.
‘You obviously know my name, but I don’t know yours,’ he said huskily as she looked up at him enquiringly.
Jinx felt shaken by the effect of his touch, a surge like electricity having coursed through her. Her breathing suddenly became shallow and uneven, and her eyes widened with surprise at her own response.
Nik Prince tilted his head to one side. ‘Let’s see…You don’t look like a Joan. Or a Cynthia. Or a—’
‘Tell me, does this chat-up line usually work?’ Jinx cut in, having finally come to her senses enough to know that this man was dangerous—with a capital D!
Nik Prince didn’t look too put out by her mockery; in fact, he was standing far too close again, those grey eyes gleaming with laughter. ‘Believe it or not, I don’t usually need a chat-up line.’
Oh, she believed it, all right. She was sure this man usually had women lining up to be with him rather than his having to pursue them. ‘Perhaps that’s as well,’ she told him dryly.
Grey eyes warmed as he smiled his appreciation of her deliberate put-down. ‘You’ll have to excuse me; it’s been a while,’ he conceded wryly.
Jinx wasn’t in the least interested in how long it had been. ‘If you wouldn’t mind releasing my arm…?’ she prompted, having made several unsuccessful attempts to do so herself.
‘But I do mind,’ he murmured throatily, his thumb moving in a rhythmic caress against her inner wrist now.
‘But so do I,’ she snapped. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me…? I must just go over and say hello to Susan’s parents.’ Thank goodness she had just spotted their familiar faces across the room.
Nik Prince moved his hand, but only to take a proprietorial hold of her elbow instead. ‘How about you introduce me? I can say hello to them too, and then I’ll finally know your name.’
She met his gaze unblinkingly. ‘My name is Juliet.’
His eyes widened momentarily, as if that wasn’t quite what he had expected to hear—as, indeed, it probably wasn’t!—and then his considerable acting skills took over and he gave an acknowledging inclination of his head. ‘Now that’s more like it.’
‘That hardly makes you my Romeo, Mr Prince.’
‘Pity,’ he drawled. ‘And it’s Nik.’
‘Nik,’ she accepted shortly.
‘Okay.’ He smiled his satisfaction with her compliance. ‘And what do you do, Juliet?’
‘Do?’ she delayed warily.
‘Careerwise. Or have I committed some sort of social gaffe and you don’t do anything?’
The amusement in his tone annoyed her intensely. ‘What I do, Mr—Nik,’ she corrected irritably as he gave her a reproving look, ‘is teach. History. At Cambridge University.’ She tried to keep that slight tone of pride out of her voice when she said the latter, knowing she had failed miserably as his firmly sculptured mouth twisted mockingly. ‘Although I’m in the middle of taking a year’s sabbatical at the moment,’ she enlarged.
‘And does that make you a Dr Something?’
‘It does. Now if you will excuse me? I know I may have arrived on my own this evening, but that really doesn’t mean that I am on my own,’ she pointed out.
‘Well, of course you aren’t—I’m here now.’
Jinx gave him an exasperated frown. ‘That isn’t what I meant and you know it!’
‘Do I?’
‘Yes,’ she easily dismissed his too-innocent expression.
‘I see.’ He glanced around the room. ‘And which one of the twenty or so men here tonight is going to come over and claim you?’
Jinx felt the colour warm her cheeks. No one was going to ‘come over and claim her’, because at twenty-eight she was single, had never been married, and probably never would be.
She straightened her shoulders, at the same time shrugging off his hand under her elbow. ‘I really don’t think that is any of your concern, Mr Prince,’ she told him quietly, stepping completely away from him now as she turned and walked across the room.
But she was totally aware, with every step that she took, that Nik Prince was watching the sensuous sway of her hips!
Nik stood and watched the redhead’s departure with narrowed, enigmatic eyes.
Damn. He hadn’t made too good a job of that, now had he? He really must be rusty when it came to the art of seduction. Because Juliet ‘Jinx’ Nixon certainly hadn’t been seduced!
He’d had to wait days for the man he had hired to watch the post office box to confirm that a girl came to collect the mail at twelve-thirty every day. Nik had then taken over himself, only to realize, on closer inspection, when she had arrived, that she wasn’t a girl at all, just a very petite woman. The denims, tee shirt and baseball cap she’d worn had served to disguise her age. Deliberately so? He had thought so.
In fact he’d been totally convinced of it when she’d gone outside to the adjacent car park, unlocked a Volkswagen Golf, and thrown her mail in the back of the car before removing the baseball cap and shaking out the long length of her fiery red hair. Then she’d thrown the cap in the back with her letters before taking out a tailored jacket and pulling it on over the tee shirt.
The transformation from a teenager like almost every other teenager Nik had been able to see walking down the street, to a beautifully elegant older woman, had taken only a little adjustment of the clothing and an application of a deep peach lipgloss.
Nik had followed her as she’d taken a shoulder bag from the back of the car and set off down the street, standing well back when she’d gone into a busy Italian bistro and met a beautiful blonde woman for lunch. Susan Fellows, he had learnt afterwards after quizzing one of the busy waitresses. When, incidentally, his seductive tone had been more than successful!
A couple of conversations with his sister Stazy later—a young lady residing in London herself with her husband and baby son, and more intimately acquainted with the London social scene than he was—and he’d known exactly who Susan Fellows was. Even more interesting than that, he had quickly discovered that her luncheon companion was a very good friend of Susan’s called Jinx Nixon.
It hadn’t taken too many more enquiries to learn that Jinx’s father was Jackson Ivor Nixon, also a university professor who taught history, and an authority on the Jacobite uprisings, author of several prestigious books on the subject. Nik had put two and two together and realized that Jackson Ivor Nixon also had to be J. I. Watson, the author of No Ordinary Boy…
Nik had also figured out why he preferred to remain anonymous; Jackson I. Nixon was an extremely well-respected author of several historical tomes. No Ordinary Boy, while being a runaway success, was actually a book written for children, but which had been taken up and read by adults and children alike, about a young boy of twelve confined to a wheelchair who suddenly became a superhero. Not exactly Jackson I. Nixon material!
And following Jinx, having her checked out, wasn’t the most scrupulously honest thing he had ever done, Nik allowed ruefully, but a necessary evil as far as he was concerned. As had been the seduction scene when Jinx had arrived at her friend’s party a few minutes ago.
Not that it had been too much of a hardship; Juliet ‘Jinx’ Nixon was an extremely beautiful woman.
She hadn’t seemed too impressed with him, though! Nik winced inwardly. Never mind, it was early days yet. He wasn’t known for his patience when it came to directing temperamental actors and actresses, but when it came to something he wanted, then he could be extremely patient, indeed. And he wanted the movie rights to J. I. Watson’s book. Jinx Nixon’s father’s book…
‘Exactly what are you up to, big brother of mine?’ Stazy linked her arm through his as she looked up at him knowingly. ‘And don’t say nothing,’ she warned mischievously. ‘I know you far too well for that. And I saw you make a beeline for that beautiful redhead the moment she came in the door.’
He never had been able to put too much over on Stazy. At twenty-two she was seventeen years his junior, and had been the single constant weakness in his life from the moment she was born. Her marriage to Jordan Hunter just over a year ago, and the birth of her son Sam three months ago, had given her a confidence that brooked no refusal.
‘In fact,’ Stazy continued thoughtfully, a beautiful redhead herself, although at five feet nine inches tall she would completely dwarf the petite Jinx Nixon, ‘now that I think about it, it was almost as if you were waiting for her to arrive. Nik, what—?’
‘Don’t worry about it, honey,’ he advised with a pat on the hand she rested on his arm.
‘But I do worry about it, Nik,’ she persisted.
He gave a resigned sigh. When Stazy got her teeth into something, she was apt not to let go. Since her successful marriage to Jordan she had been more than a little obvious in her marriage-making plans for her three older brothers. And as all three of the Prince brothers were in England at the moment in preparation for baby Sam’s christening tomorrow, she was taking full advantage of this opportunity to play matchmaker…!
‘I shouldn’t,’ he murmured softly, his gaze warning her off the subject.
‘No?’ She arched auburn brows.
‘No,’ he confirmed firmly.
The last thing he wanted was for Stazy to take an interest in Jinx Nixon; he already had his work cut out trying to maneouvre a meeting with the other woman’s father, without contending with Stazy’s machinations, too!
‘Okay,’ his sister capitulated. ‘In that case, come over and say hello to some of the other guests.’
Nik eyed her warily for several seconds, not in the least fooled by her easy acquiescence. But other than pursuing the subject himself, something he had no intention of doing, there was nothing else he could say or do to put his mind at rest.
However, he did keep a close eye on Jinx Nixon’s movements over the next hour or so. He noted with satisfaction, despite what she had said earlier, that she didn’t spend more than a few minutes in any other man’s com-pany—while at the same time totally avoiding his!
‘Can I drive you home?’
Jinx turned and frowned at Nik when he spoke to her. He’d stood and watched her as she’d slowly edged her way over to the door, seeming on the verge of making her excuses to leave. ‘I beg your pardon?’
Nik moved to stand in front of her, effectively blocking out the rest of the room, leaving the two of them cocooned in a bubble of intimacy. ‘I asked if I could drive you home,’ he repeated mildly—of course, that was on the assumption that Jordan wouldn’t mind getting a cab home for himself and Stazy and letting Nik borrow his car for a couple of hours!
Jinx shook her head, her hair gleaming copper-red in the candlelight that illuminated the room. ‘I have my own car. Thank you,’ she added belatedly.
He nodded. ‘Which you aren’t going to drive.’
‘I’m not?’ Her eyes had widened, deep blue eyes that could appear almost purple in some lights.
In this light, Nik noticed appreciatively. Also her skin was that pale peach of most redheads, smooth and clear, a tiny pulse beating at the base of her throat. A throat he ached to kiss, he suddenly realized.
‘No,’ he confirmed huskily. ‘You’ve drunk two glasses of wine, which means you’re already over the limit—’
‘You’ve been counting?’ she interrupted incredulously, angry colour heightening in her cheeks.
‘Don’t worry about it.’ He shrugged. ‘I have that sort of mind. For instance, the man standing beside the fireplace has so far drunk a whole bottle of champagne to himself and is now about to start on another. The brunette at his side is obviously the driver for the evening, has only had three glasses of orange juice, and is obviously very pi—annoyed about it,’ he corrected wryly. ‘The man near the window—’
‘Okay, I get the picture,’ Jinx snapped. ‘But even so…’
‘Even so…?’ Nik prompted softly.
She looked resentful. ‘I’m not sure I like the idea of having someone watching me that closely.’
‘The only way you can stop that is to not be quite so watchable—which, with your face and body, just isn’t going to happen,’ Nik teased her.
She gave him a perplexed frown, obviously not quite sure how to take that last remark, whether to be flattered or insulted by it. In the end, it seemed, she decided to ignore it. ‘Nevertheless, I won’t be requiring your offer of a lift home,’ she dismissed with obvious relief.
Not very flattering to his ego, Nik acknowledged. In fact, Jinx Nixon’s attitude towards him hadn’t exactly been warm all evening. His only consolation was that she hadn’t been warm towards any other man, either!
Apart from perhaps Leo Fellows, their host, Nik corrected himself with an inward frown. The two of them had seemed to be enjoying a flirtatious conversation half an hour or so ago. Could it possibly be that the reason Jinx had arrived here alone this evening was because she was involved in an affair with her best friend’s husband? It wouldn’t be the first time—in fact it was all too common.
Nik found the thought more than slightly unpleasant when made in connection with the beautiful Jinx Nixon—and no matter what she might have told him her name was, he knew that her closest friends called her Jinx.
And that was his plan, wasn’t it? To get close to Jinx, wheedle an introduction to her father, and present him with the contract for movie rights to No Ordinary Boy.
What could be simpler?
Well, Jinx Nixon being a little less beautiful and a whole lot less sexy would have been a help!
He had expected to engage in a little light seduction—it was a dirty job, but someone had to do it!—but finding Jinx Nixon so attractive, his senses roused just inhaling her perfume, and other parts of him roused every time he so much as looked at her, had definitely not been part of that plan…
CHAPTER TWO
‘WHY not?’
Jinx smiled confidently in the face of Nik Prince’s obvious displeasure at having her turn down his offer of a lift home. ‘Susan’s parents live only half a mile away from me and have already offered to drive me home later.’ Although, she had to admit, she had been on the point of forgoing that offer and simply leaving!
She found this man altogether too disturbing, which was why she hadn’t looked his way at all since they’d parted earlier, even though she had been conscious of his every move.
In fact, she had never been this aware of a man in her life before. Of course that awareness was on more than one level. On the surface she was aware of the letters received from Stephens Publishing, on this man’s behalf, requesting a meeting with the author of No Ordinary Boy, in order to discuss acquiring the film rights. But underneath all that she was aware of a physical attraction to Nik Prince that she was trying desperately to ignore.
Obviously, his height and sheer size would dominate any company he was in. The forcefulness of his personality likewise. But it wasn’t either of those things that made her skin tingle and heightened her senses just being in the same room with him. No, the attraction she felt towards this man was something she simply couldn’t explain, something she had never experienced before.
Or ever wanted to experience again!
‘And when you aren’t teaching at Cambridge University, home is where?’
Jinx’s gaze was guarded as she looked up at Nik. ‘London.’
He sighed. ‘Which part of London?’
‘South west,’ she offered unhelpfully, glancing away from the shrewdness in those silver-grey eyes.
As far as she was concerned it was too coincidental, after those letters sent from James Stephens on his behalf, that Nik Prince was here at this party at all. Neither Susan nor Leo had met him before this evening, and he certainly didn’t look the type to need his sister to elicit a late invitation, as this one appeared to be, to fill his evening.
No, Jinx had stopped believing in coincidences a long time ago. And Nik Prince being here this evening certainly wasn’t one, either. She just wasn’t sure how much he knew. But he obviously knew enough—from where, or whom, she wasn’t sure—to have arranged to meet her in this roundabout fashion.
But had he been any more prepared than her for the physical awareness that practically sizzled between them?
Somehow she doubted it!
