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Had she lost weight?
He studied her face. Her cheeks were flushed, her mouth was tight and she had dark smudges under her eyes that told him she had been sleeping as poorly as he had. All the same, she looked magnificent, and he wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her so soundly it was all he could do to remain where he stood. ‘It’s for your own good.’
‘According to some so is whale oil, but you won’t find me firing a harpoon any time soon.’
Wolfe sighed, realising this meeting was going to be even more difficult than he had anticipated. ‘Ava, this doesn’t have to be awkward.’
She paced away from him and then turned back sharply. ‘Don’t mistake my fury for awkwardness, Wolfe. I can’t believe you’ve agreed to take this job.’ She paused and locked her eyes on his. ‘You know, if you wanted to see me again you could have just picked up the phone.’ Her navy eyes glittered challengingly.
‘My taking this job has nothing to do with whether I want to see you again. And I believe it was you who cancelled dinner,’ he reminded her stiffly.
She gave a dismissive shrug. ‘I didn’t see the point in going out with you when it was a spur-of-the-moment request made out of guilt.’
Wolfe contemplated her answer. Was that why she’d cancelled? ‘It wasn’t guilt.’
She arched a brow. ‘No? So why run off so early? I don’t even think the birds were up when you left.’
Wolfe’s mouth tightened at the insouciant boredom he heard in her voice. It was the same tone she’d used with her father before. ‘I left because I had to provide last-minute details to two of my men before they left on another job.’ And he’d wanted to surprise her by replacing her damaged phone with one of his.
Her eyes flicked to his briefly, as if she hadn’t considered that. But why would she? In hindsight, it had probably looked bad to her, waking up alone after the passionate night they had spent together. Which, he acknowledged to himself now, was another reason he’d left. He’d woken up with such a strong sense of wellbeing his instinct had been to pull back. It was so ingrained in him he hadn’t even thought to question it at the time. Hadn’t wanted to question it. Now, looking at it from her point of view, her reactions that morning made more sense.
‘I’m sorry if I hurt you,’ he murmured sincerely.
Ava’s chin came up and her eyes shot sparks at him. ‘Hurt me? You didn’t hurt me, Wolfe.’
Wolfe’s mouth tightened at her vehemence.
‘Quite the contrary. In fact you did me a favour, because I didn’t have time to have dinner with you and…’ She shrugged again. ‘It’s too late now anyway.’
Was it?
Yes, of course it was.
‘You’re right.’ For one thing he was now her bodyguard and she was his client, and for another he wanted her just a little too much for comfort. ‘That ship has definitely sailed.’ Wolfe paced the length of an antique rug, agitated by the situation he had inadvertently created for himself. ‘And your father wants you to marry!’ Which would effectively remove her from his orbit altogether.
‘Something you’ll never do!’ The heated statement was almost a question.
‘Something I’ll never do,’ he agreed. He’d spent his adult life avoiding that particular institution, and he’d never felt any need to reconsider his views.
Ava nodded sharply, as if somehow his response had been predictable, and Wolfe ground his teeth together. This situation—his total physical awareness of this woman, his total agitation at this woman—was going to make his job almost impossible. Never before had he felt as if he was at the mercy of his emotions as he did with Ava, and he hated the feeling that he was not as in control as he would like to think he was. So much for his old nickname. Thank God his army mates couldn’t see him now!
Ava started pacing in front of the high bevelled windows again, as if she had too much energy that was searching for an outlet. Her fitted trousers pulled tight across the rounded curves of her backside.
‘You do realise if my father knew of our history together there is no way he would let you guard me?’
Wolfe brought his attention back to her face. ‘So will you tell him or will I?’ he asked silkily, irritated with himself and with her hot-headed stubbornness. She threw him a look and he swiped a hand through his hair. ‘Will you just sit down?’
‘Another order? Let me just set you straight on something, Monsieur Wolfe.’ She set her hands on her sexy hips. ‘If you think I am going to do everything you tell me to do you have another thing coming.’
Her accent had thickened with her agitation and it drove his mind right back to the bedroom.
Wolfe released a slow breath. ‘Believe it or not, I’m trying to help you.’
‘Oh, that’s right—my own personal protector.’
He crossed his arms and waited for her to run her anger out, determined not to get into any more arguments with her.
Seeming to sense his newfound resolve, she prodded at it like a child poking its fingers inside a lion’s enclosure. ‘So, do I get to order you around, as well?’
‘I work for your father.’
Her gorgeous mouth thinned. ‘Two peas in a pod. How cosy.’
‘All that energy you’re burning up is just going to tire you out unnecessarily,’ he offered amiably.
‘You should be glad I’m using it up on pacing,’ she snapped.
Wolfe’s body caught fire at her words. Down, boy. She didn’t mean that was an alternative. It would probably never be an alternative again after today. No, it definitely couldn’t be.
He watched her ponytail trail over the soft skin of her neck before he sat on the edge of the low, plump sofa that was surprisingly modern in a room that dated back centuries. ‘Take your time. I have all night.’
She crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her breasts up so they swelled just above the opening of her shirt. ‘Well, I don’t. So I’d like you to leave.’
‘I need to ask you a few questions first.’
‘You’re really pushing your luck.’
‘Maybe we should clear the air about that night at Gilles’s wedding.’
‘Us having sex, you mean?’
Her cool indifference again made him wonder just how many other men she had spent the night with, and the fact that he was at all interested only added another layer of heat to his spiralling annoyance. Was she just like his mother, willing to slake her lust whenever the urge arose and with any man handy? The thought made him sick.
‘Yes.’
Her eyebrows rose at his churlish tone and she leant back against the windowsill. ‘What’s to clear up? Have you forgotten how it’s done?’
‘Ava—’
‘Oh, don’t worry, Wolfe. I’m not about to strip off my clothes and ask for a repeat. Unless that’s what you want? Is that why you took the job?’ Her voice dropped, lowering to a sultry purr. ‘Are you going to order me to take my clothes off, Monsieur Wolfe?’
‘I don’t sleep with my clients,’ he informed her sternly, ignoring the lie his body’s response begged him to make of that statement.
She raised a mocking brow. ‘My father will be chuffed to hear that. He’s not into men, as far as I know. Although every family has their secrets.’
Her unexpected humour broke the rising tension between them and Wolfe laughed. ‘Tell me, Princess, what is it about me being your bodyguard that you hate the most if it isn’t our history?’
She threw him a droll look. ‘Do you have a spare year?’
Wolfe took a deep breath and offered up an olive branch. ‘Why don’t we start over?’
‘Pretend we’ve never met?’ she asked, somewhat dubiously.
‘If that works for you.’
She shrugged. ‘As long as you don’t order me around I can do that.’
Could she? He wasn’t sure he could. ‘Good. Take a seat.’ He spoke briskly, indicating the sofa opposite him. ‘I need to ask you some things to help my investigation.’
When she didn’t move Wolfe frowned. Was their ceasefire over so soon?
‘Ava?’
‘You can call me ma’am. And I believe you just issued another order?’
Yes, perhaps he had.
‘So did you,’ he ground out.
‘You didn’t say I couldn’t order you around.’
‘Av—Dammit, you need to cooperate or I can’t do my job.’ His mind conjured up the last time he’d teased her by telling her that he knew how to make her cooperate and he swallowed. Hard.
‘So quit.’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘I’ve given my word to your father and there’s no one else I’d trust with your safety.’
‘What do you care about my safety? We’re strangers.’
Wolfe sucked in a silent breath. Seriously, The woman would try the patience of a saint. Reminding himself to keep control, he settled back more comfortably on the sofa. The cat sleeping in the corner rose and stretched, sniffed him and then crawled onto his lap.
‘Hey, mate.’ He stroked it absently. ‘You look like you’ve seen better days.’
‘He belonged to my mother.’ Her mouth turned down slightly at the corners, indicating that she was still affected by the loss. In some way he envied the fact that she cared.
The cat nudged his hand. ‘I take back what I said,’ he told the cat. ‘You’re in top condition for a man your age.’
He looked up to find Ava watching him. When their gazes collided she flushed, and he wondered what she had been thinking.
‘I think I hate you.’
Well, that was definitive, and unfortunately the feeling wasn’t mutual. ‘I’m not your enemy, Ava,’ he said softly.
The words but someone is lay unspoken between them.
Her shoulders slumped as if she had the weight of the world bearing down on her. ‘Can’t my father answer your questions?’
‘That depends on whether he knows anything about your love-life. From what I saw of the interaction between you two before I would have said you’re not that close.’
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. ‘Why do you want to know about my love-life?’
‘Everyone in your sphere will be investigated.’
‘Even you?’
‘I have an alibi for the night Frédéric was killed.’
‘Really?’ She finally sat down and crossed her legs. Slowly. ‘What is it?’
Wolfe regarded her wryly. ‘And I don’t have any motive for wanting to kill you.’
Yet.
She smiled, clearly sensing his frustration. ‘Am I getting to you?’
‘You don’t want to get to me, Princess.’
‘No, I want you to quit.’
‘Get over it.’
Suddenly her gaze turned serious. ‘Are you planning to investigate my artists?’
‘Of course.’
‘Be nice. Some of them are sensitive.’
‘Unlike you?’ It was both a statement and a question.
‘Unlike me.’
He didn’t believe her. Just the fact that she cared about her artists told him more than anything else. And then there was the look of concern that had briefly crossed her face when she’d first walked into the King’s office. She had a heart. She just guarded it well. He could relate to that. He’d put his in a box years ago, and that was exactly where he intended it to stay. It was a timely reminder to keep his head on straight around this woman. She got to him as no one else ever had, and that made her dangerous and him volatile.
‘Who was your last lover?’
She threw him a look.
‘Before that,’ Wolfe said gruffly.
Her eyes widened. ‘You want a list?’
No, he did not want a damned list. ‘Yes.’
She looked as if she was about to tell him to take a hike. ‘A lovely American took my virginity when I was eighteen because he thought it would be fun to bed a European princess. Then I met a novelist who wanted to write the great Parisian novel. We were quite serious—unbeknown to my father—but three years ago I realised that we weren’t after the same thing and we broke up.’
