Nik raised dark brows. ‘And if they don’t?’
‘They will,’ she said flatly.
He shook his head. ‘I wish I could be as sure of that as you appear to be…’
Jinx looked at him sharply. ‘What do you mean?’
He shrugged. ‘Just a hunch I have. Jinx, does it really matter why they’re hanging around out there?’ he continued impatiently as she made to protest once again. ‘The fact remains that they are there, and they have a lot more patience than you do. And your father isn’t going to remain asleep upstairs for ever,’ he added softly.
No, he would be down within the hour, and when he did come down he was unlikely to understand why it was she didn’t answer the knocking on the front door. But where on earth was she supposed to go in order to avoid those people outside? Nik just didn’t understand. There was no way she could take her father to the impersonality of a hotel, and it wasn’t fair to just invite themselves to stay with friends, either.
She drew in a ragged breath. ‘I still think that they will leave when you do,’ she told him stubbornly.
He raised an eyebrow, signaling his disagreement with that statement. ‘Shall we give it a try?’
Jinx looked at him with narrowed eyes, suspicious of his confident tone, as if he knew the reporter and photographer were waiting for her and not him.
But that couldn’t be so. The only interest a reporter could possibly have in her was if they were to know of the J. I. Watson connection, and there was no way—
What about her meeting with Nik Prince this morning in the very public lounge of a large London hotel—a man already reported to be on the trail of the author J. I. Watson so that he could acquire the movie rights? What about her visit to James Stephens’s office this morning?
She felt her heart sink as she faced the possibility that she could have been the one to lead the press to her home. It would be just too ironic if that were the case.
It was, also, primarily Nik Prince’s fault, she decided angrily. If he hadn’t been so persistent in the first place—If he hadn’t discovered the connection—If he hadn’t followed her here—
‘Don’t bother,’ she snapped, glaring her displeasure at him. ‘Where do you suggest we go, then?’ she demanded pointedly.
‘Well, I’ve already given that some thought—’
‘Why am I not surprised?’ Jinx huffed.
Grey eyes gleamed warningly. ‘There’s no need to get angry with me—’
‘Who else can I get angry with?’
Dark brows rose mockingly. ‘And that’s reason enough, is it—because I happen to be here?’
‘For the moment—yes!’ Her eyes flashed deeply violet. ‘I’m still not convinced this wasn’t all your fault. Everything was just fine before you came into my life—’
‘Everything was not just fine!’ he rapped out, eyes now a shimmering silver. ‘Your father is very ill, and likely to remain so if he doesn’t get professional help. Your own life is a mess—’
‘I beg your pardon?’ She stiffened resentfully.
‘Look at you, Jinx. You have a job as a university tutor, but you can’t do that at the moment because of taking care of your father. You’re a famous author, but for the same reason you can’t lay claim to that either.’ He gave an impatient shake of his head. ‘As for your personal life—’
‘Stay out of my personal life, Nik!’ she cut in coldly.
‘I’m already in it—’
‘Then I suggest you get out of it again!’ she practically shouted. ‘I don’t need you, Nik, or your amateur psychiatry concerning my father; I believe I am the best judge of what is and isn’t good for him! I just don’t need you in my life…full stop!’ She glared at him.
He drew in an angry breath. ‘That wasn’t the impression I got a few minutes ago—’
‘Oh, let’s bring that into it, shall we?’ she scoffed. ‘So I’m attracted to you; so what? Why is it that men feel they can differentiate between love and lust, but we women can’t? Because I assure you that we can, Nik.’ She gave a humourless laugh, angry with herself as much as him for the way she had once again given in to the desire she felt for him. ‘I can,’ she claimed, her gaze challenging now as she met his.
Nik wanted to shake her. Wanted to grasp her shoulders and shake her until her teeth rattled.
Lust. She lusted after him?
No woman had ever said anything like that to him ever before—even if it had happened to be the truth! And, coming from Jinx, he found that he didn’t like having it said to him now, either!
‘What’s the matter, Nik?’ she taunted his silence. ‘Don’t you like having the tables turned on you?’
No, he damn well didn’t! It was an unpleasant experience to be told that someone—Jinx!—lusted after him.
At the same time he could accept the irony of it. Wasn’t it how he had always conducted his own personal relationships, feeling desire without the love?
Maybe it was, but that was still no explanation for the resentment he felt at having this five-foot-one-inch of a woman say the same thing to him…
He drew in a controlling breath. ‘Not particularly,’ he acknowledged. ‘I’m also not sure it’s the way for a nicely brought up young lady to be talking,’ he mocked, knowing by the way the colour suddenly blazed in her cheeks that he had scored a direct hit with his barb.
But did he really want to score direct hits where Jinx was concerned? Wasn’t that just guaranteed to alienate her even more?
It was too late to realize that, Nik admitted ruefully as her expression became haughtily remote, violet eyes turning to icy blue. ‘Probably not,’ she accepted tersely. ‘Now I really think it’s time for you to leave, Nik.’
After which she would be at great pains to make sure the two of them never met again.
It was there in the resolve of her expression, in the coldness of her eyes, the defensive stance of her body.
But he knew where she lived now; he could always—
No, he couldn’t, he accepted heavily. That would make him as bad as the reporter and photographer lying in wait for her outside.
Which brought him back to his initial point…
‘Jinx, you really can’t stay here—’
‘I really can, Nik,’ she insisted. ‘In any case,’ she continued firmly as he would have spoken, ‘whether I decide to go or stay is really none of your business.’
He wanted to make it his business, wanted to pick Jinx up, throw her over his shoulder and carry her away from here. Be a regular caveman, in fact—which would go down with Jinx about as well as a lead balloon!
But the alternative was leaving her and her father here at the mercy of the press…
He drew in a deep breath. ‘I have a friend—well, he’s more like family, I suppose—it’s a bit complicated,’ he tried to explain, sure that now wasn’t the right time to be discussing his sometimes complicated family tree. ‘Have you ever heard of Ben Travis?’ he asked instead.
‘Should I have done?’ Jinx returned cautiously.
‘Probably not—although he is married to Marilyn Palmer.’
Jinx’s eyes