Кэрол Мортимер – Hired For His Pleasure: The Talk of Hollywood / Keeping Her Up All Night / Buttoned-Up Secretary, British Boss (страница 17)

Stazy’s heart was beating so loudly in her chest she thought Jaxon must be able to hear it all the way across the room. He was right, of course; she hadn’t invited Thomas Sullivan to dinner because she had thought Jaxon might be bored with her company—she had invited the other man in the hope he would act as a buffer against this increasing attraction she felt for Jaxon!

For the same reason she was wearing the same plain black shift dress she had worn six weeks ago, when she and Jaxon had first met, with a light peach gloss on her lips and her hair secured in a neat chignon.

She moistened dry lips. ‘He and my grandfather were at university together.’

Jaxon raised dark brows. ‘That is an old friend. And your grandfather’s … outside employees are okay with his coming here this evening?’

‘I didn’t bother to ask them,’ she dismissed.

‘Then perhaps you should have done.’

Stazy frowned. ‘We aren’t prisoners here, Jaxon.’

He gave a slight smile. ‘Have you tried leaving?’

‘Of course not—’ Her eyes widened as she broke off abruptly. ‘Are you saying that you tried to leave earlier and were prevented from doing so …?’

Jaxon wasn’t sure whether Stazy was put out because he might have tried to leave, or because he had been stopped from doing so. Either way, the result was the same: it appeared that for the moment neither of them were going anywhere.

‘I had half an hour or so to spare before dinner and thought I would go for a ride—enjoy looking at some of the scenery in the area. I was stopped at the main gate and told very firmly that no one was allowed in or out of Bromley House this evening. Which probably means your grandfather’s old friend isn’t going to get in either,’ he added derisively.

‘But that’s utterly ridiculous!’ She looked totally bewildered as she placed her glass down on a side table before turning towards the door. ‘I’ll go and speak to one of them now.’

‘You do that.’ Jaxon nodded. ‘And while you’re at it maybe you can ask them what that flurry of activity was half an hour or so ago.’

Stazy stopped in her tracks and turned slowly back to face him. ‘What flurry of activity?’

He shrugged. ‘Extra chatter on the radios, and then about half a dozen more guards arrived fifteen minutes or so later—several of them with more dogs.’

Her cheeks were now the colour of fine pale porcelain. ‘I wasn’t aware of any of that …’

‘No?’ Jaxon stood up abruptly, frowning as Stazy instinctively took a step backwards. ‘I think you have a much bigger problem here to worry about than me, Stazy,’ he said harshly.

She looked even more bewildered. ‘I’ll telephone my grandfather and ask him what’s going on—’

‘I already tried that.’ A nerve pulsed in Jaxon’s clenched jaw. ‘I even explained to the woman who answered my call that I was staying here with you at Bromley House at Sir Geoffrey’s invitation. It made absolutely no difference. I was still politely but firmly told that Sir Geoffrey wasn’t able to come to the telephone at the moment, but that she would pass the message along.’

Stazy gave a slow shake of her head. ‘That doesn’t sound like my grandfather …’

‘I thought so too.’ Jaxon nodded tersely. ‘So I tried calling him on the mobile number he gave me. It was picked up by an answering service. Needless to say I didn’t bother to leave another message—Ah, Little.’ He turned to the butler as the other man quietly entered the drawing room. ‘Dr Bromley and I were just speculating as to the possible reason for the extra guards in the grounds …’

To his credit, the older man’s expression remained outwardly unchanged by the question. But years of acting, of studying the nuances of expression on people’s faces, of knowing that even the slightest twitch of an eyebrow could have meaning, had resulted in Jaxon being much more attuned than most to people’s emotions.

Even so, if he hadn’t actually been looking straight at the older man he might have missed the slight hardening of his brown eyes before that emotion was neatly concealed by the lowering of hooded lids. Leaving Jaxon to speculate whether that small slip might mean that Little was more than just a butler.

‘It seems that several teenagers were apprehended earlier today, trying to climb over the walls of the estate with the idea of throwing a party down on the beach,’ Little dismissed smoothly.

‘Really?’ Jaxon drawled dryly.

‘Yes,’ the older man confirmed abruptly, before turning to Stazy. ‘Dinner is ready to be served, Miss Stazy. Mr Sullivan telephoned a few minutes ago to extend his apologies. Due to a slight indisposition he is unable to join the two of you for dinner this evening after all.’

‘What a surprise!’ Jaxon looked across at Stazy knowingly.

To say she was surprised by all of this was putting it mildly. In fact she had been more than willing to dismiss Jaxon’s earlier claims as nonsense until Little came into the room and confirmed at least half of them. That made Stazy question whether or not Jaxon might not be right about the other half too …?

‘Little, do you have any idea why my grandfather might be unavailable this evening?’

The butler raised iron-grey brows. ‘I had no idea that Sir Geoffrey was unavailable …’

She had known Little for more years than she cared to acknowledge, and had always found him to be quietly efficient and totally devoted to the comfort of both her grandmother and grandfather. Never, during all of those years, had Stazy ever doubted Little’s word.

She doubted it now.

There was something about Little’s tone—an evasiveness that caused a flutter of sickening unease in the depths of Stazy’s stomach. ‘Could you please ask Mrs Harris to delay dinner for fifteen minutes or so?’ she requested briskly. ‘I have several things I need to do before we go through to the dining room.’

This time she was sure that she wasn’t imagining it when Little’s mouth tightened fractionally in disapproval. ‘Very well, Miss Stazy.’ He gave her a formal bow before leaving.

But not, Stazy noted frowningly, before he had sent a slightly censorious glance in Jaxon’s direction!

‘Not a happy man,’ Jaxon murmured ruefully as he stood up.

‘No,’ Stazy agreed softly.

She was obviously more than a little puzzled by this strange turn of events—to the point that Jaxon now felt slightly guilty for having voiced his concerns and causing Stazy’s present confusion. Maybe he should have just kept quiet about the arrival of the extra guards and his not being allowed to leave the grounds of Bromley House earlier? And the fact that Geoffrey had been unable to come to the telephone when he’d called. Whatever that obscure statement might mean.

Jaxon certainly regretted the worry he could now see clouding Stazy’s troubled green eyes, and the slight pallor that had appeared in the delicacy of her cheeks. ‘I’m sure there’s no real need for concern, Stazy—’

‘You’re sure of no such thing, Jaxon, so please stop treating me as if I were a child,’ she dismissed. ‘Something is seriously wrong here, and I intend to find out exactly what it is!’

After only two days of being in close proximity to Stazy he knew better than to argue with her. Or offer her comfort. He was only too well aware that she was a woman who liked to give the outward appearance of being in control of her emotions, at least.

‘And how do you intend to do that …?’ he prompted softly.

‘By telephoning my grandfather myself, of course.’ She moved to where her handbag lay on the floor beside one of the armchairs, taking her mobile from its depths before pressing the button for one of the speed dials. ‘I’ve never been unable to talk to my grandfather—Is that you, Glynis …?’ She frowned as the call was obviously answered not by Geoffrey, as she had hoped, but probably the same woman Jaxon had spoken to earlier. ‘Yes. Yes, it is. Where—? Oh. I see. Well, do you have any idea when he will be out of the meeting?’ She shot Jaxon a frowning glance.

Jaxon gave her privacy for the call by strolling across the room to stand in front of one of the bay windows that looked over the long driveway. The same window, he realised, where Stazy had been standing six weeks ago, and again two days ago, as she had waited for him to arrive.

He had certainly been aware of the existence of Geoffrey and Anastasia Bromley’s granddaughter before coming here, but he had in no way been prepared for Stazy’s physical resemblance to her grandmother. Since his return to Bromley House he had become aware that that resemblance was more than skin deep; Stazy had the same confidence and self-determination that his earlier research had shown Anastasia to have possessed in spades.

It appeared that the only way in which the two women differed was emotionally.

Not even that self-confidence and strong outer shell were able to hide Stazy’s inner emotional vulnerability. A vulnerability that for some reason brought forth every protective instinct in Jaxon’s body.

That was pretty laughable when Stazy had made it clear on more than one memorable occasion that he was the last person she wanted to get close to her—emotionally or otherwise!

He turned back into the room now, as he heard her ending the call.