‘Here I am,’ Leo announced happily, moving past Susan to easily sweep the diminutive Jinx up into his arms and kiss her firmly on her lips. ‘It’s still not too late for us to run away together, you know,’ he told her sotto voce, blue eyes twinkling merrily as he received a playful punch on the arm from his grinning wife.
‘Sounds like a good party.’ Jinx nodded in the direction of Susan and Leo’s drawing-room where the sound of chatter and laughter, the chinking of glasses, could easily be heard.
‘We have a surprise guest,’ her friend told her excitedly as she linked her arm with Jinx’s to walk down the plushly carpeted hallway in the direction of the noisy enjoyment. ‘You know we had Stazy Hunter design our drawing-room last year?’ she prompted as Jinx did her best to look interested; as Susan knew only too well this sort of scene really wasn’t her idea of fun.
As the decoration of the now-beautiful gold and terracotta room had been Susan’s main topic of conversation six months ago, of course Jinx was aware that the famous Stazy Hunter had been the designer.
Susan nodded, not really requiring an answer. ‘Well, we’ve stayed friends, so of course I invited Stazy, and her husband Jordan, to join us this evening, and then an hour ago Stazy telephoned to ask if she could possibly bring her brother with her as he had arrived unexpectedly, and of course I said yes, and you’ll never guess who Stazy’s brother turned out to be—’
‘She’ll pause for breath in a minute,’ Leo reassured Jinx dryly as he fell into step beside them, draping his arm affectionately across his wife’s shoulders. ‘But you know Jinx isn’t interested in that sort of thing, Susan. Now if this chap were a university professor or an archaeologist, something like that, then she might be more interested, but as he’s only a—’
‘Leo is only being so negative because the man’s gorgeous,’ Susan huffed. ‘Absolutely gorgeous,’ she repeated enthusiastically. ‘Six foot three of pure sexual magnetism—’
‘And what am I?’ Leo interrupted.
‘Oh, you’re gorgeous too, darling,’ Susan assured him distractedly.
‘Just not as gorgeous—or sexually magnetic!—as our esteemed guest,’ he acknowledged ruefully.
‘Well…I’m married to you.’ Susan pouted. ‘It isn’t the same.’
‘No, I can see that it isn’t.’ Leo grimaced. ‘Are you sure you wouldn’t like to run away with me, Jinx?’
Jinx gave the expected dismissive laugh. ‘You know as well as I do that you love Susan to distraction!’
Leo shook his head. ‘That could change if she’s going to go around enthusing about famous film directors!’
Jinx’s eyes widened in alarm. ‘Stazy Hunter’s brother is a film director?’
‘Yes, he’s—sorry.’ Susan gave a rueful smile as the doorbell rang again. ‘Catch up with you later.’ She squeezed Jinx’s arms before grabbing her husband’s hand and dragging him off to answer the door with her.
Jinx turned to enter the drawing-room—and instantly found herself face to face with what she was pretty sure was Susan’s ‘six foot three of pure sexual magnetism’!
Well…not exactly face to face—she was only five feet one inch in her stockinged feet, the two-inch heels on her shoes still making her a foot shorter than the man who returned her gaze with compelling silver-grey eyes, his mouth hard and unsmiling.
A man she easily recognized as Nik Prince. One-time actor, now an extremely successful film director, the eldest of the three brothers who owned PrinceMovies, one of America’s most prestigious film companies.
A shutter came down over her eyes of violet-blue, that curious shade between blue and purple, her pointed chin rising challengingly as Nik Prince looked down at her with an assessment that was totally male. And for that brief moment, a mere matter of seconds, it was as if the two of them were the only people in the room, the noisy chatter, the laughter, the background music all fading away as steely silver-grey clashed with violet-blue.
Jinx became very conscious of the flowing red hair down her back, the perfect fit of her knee-length black dress above long, silky legs. But most of all the man’s size, the sheer animal magnetism emanating from him despite the civilized attire of black evening suit and snowy white shirt, made her aware of each nerve and pulse in her own body, every part of her seeming to tingle with awareness, her breasts rising pert and aroused beneath the silky material of her dress.
As if drawn by a magnet, that intent grey gaze dropped down to the level of her breasts, lingering, as tangible as any caress, as if the man had reached out and physically touched her there.
But it was the amusement that glimmered in those hard grey eyes, the knowing smile that curved the perfect symmetry of that cynical mouth, as if completely aware of the effect he was having on her—and why shouldn’t he be? This man was almost forty years old, obviously experienced, his affairs over the years with his leading ladies legendary! That was what enabled Jinx to break the force of his gaze, her own mouth curving derisively now.
‘Well?’ she challenged him.
Dark brows rose. ‘Well, what?’ The voice was low and husky, the American drawl giving it a sexy quality that made a nonsense of the actual words he said—his tone said ‘let’s go to bed’, so sensual was its inflexion.
Jinx’s direct gaze didn’t falter for a second. ‘Do you like what you see?’
He smiled fully now, showing even white teeth, lines etched beside his eyes and mouth. ‘Wouldn’t any man?’ he taunted her.
‘I wasn’t asking “any man”,’ Jinx snapped. ‘I was asking you.’
Nik Prince took a step towards her, bringing him dangerously close, so close she could feel the heat from his body, smell the tangy aroma of his aftershave. ‘Yes, I like what I see,’ he murmured huskily. ‘But, then, you already knew that,’ he added. ‘How would you feel about the two of us making our excuses and getting out of here?’
Jinx blinked, the only sign she gave—she hoped!—that she was stunned by his suggestion. It would be surprising coming from any man on such short acquaintance, but Nik Prince was no ordinary man!
She usually made a point of avoiding parties like this one, had only made the effort to come this evening because she was so fond of Susan and Leo. But if Nik Prince thought she was the sort of party girl who allowed herself to be picked up by men like him, then he was in for a disappointment.
‘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.