Kitabı oku: «Prince's Passion»

CHAPTER ONE

‘THANKS for inviting me, Susan.’ Jinx smiled brightly at the other woman as she opened the door to her, the sound of a party audible in the background.

The two women had been at school together, and Susan was now married to a partner of an accountancy firm, their two small children safely asleep upstairs. Or, if they weren’t, the live-in nanny would make sure they didn’t interrupt the party being given to celebrate their parents’ fifth wedding anniversary.

Susan gave a disbelieving snort. ‘Don’t give me that, Jinx; you and I both know you would much rather be at home with a good book, that I had to practically twist your arm at lunch earlier this week to get you to agree to come tonight! But thanks, anyway; it simply wouldn’t have been the same without the presence of our one and only bridesmaid.’ She moved to kiss Jinx warmly on the cheek before standing back and looking at her frowningly. Jinx was small and slender, the black dress she wore perfect with her long, flowing, fiery red hair. ‘Tell me, how is it that you seem to get younger every year and I just get more matronly?’

‘Flatterer,’ Jinx scoffed, handing her friend the peach-coloured roses she had brought with her as a present; the same colour roses that had adorned Susan’s bouquet at her wedding five years ago.

‘Oh, Jinx, they’re beautiful!’ Susan beamed. ‘But tell me, how’s Jack?’

Jinx’s smile didn’t falter, although her eyes shadowed a little. ‘About the same.’ She shrugged. ‘But where’s your handsome husband?’ she prompted mischievously, deciding the subject of her father was something better not discussed at her friend’s celebration party.

‘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.

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—?’