The Prince Brothers: Satisfaction Guaranteed!
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—?’
‘Don’t worry about it, honey,’ he advised with a pat on the hand she rested on his arm.
‘But I do worry about it, Nik,’ she persisted.
He gave a resigned sigh. When Stazy got her teeth into something, she was apt not to let go. Since her successful marriage to Jordan she had been more than a little obvious in her marriage-making plans for her three older brothers. And as all three of the Prince brothers were in England at the moment in preparation for baby Sam’s christening tomorrow, she was taking full advantage of this opportunity to play matchmaker…!
‘I shouldn’t,’ he murmured softly, his gaze warning her off the subject.
‘No?’ She arched auburn brows.
‘No,’ he confirmed firmly.
The last thing he wanted was for Stazy to take an interest in Jinx Nixon; he already had his work cut out trying to maneouvre a meeting with the other woman’s father, without contending with Stazy’s machinations, too!
‘Okay,’ his sister capitulated. ‘In that case, come over and say hello to some of the other guests.’
Nik eyed her warily for several seconds, not in the least fooled by her easy acquiescence. But other than pursuing the subject himself, something he had no intention of doing, there was nothing else he could say or do to put his mind at rest.
However, he did keep a close eye on Jinx Nixon’s movements over the next hour or so. He noted with satisfaction, despite what she had said earlier, that she didn’t spend more than a few minutes in any other man’s com-pany—while at the same time totally avoiding his!
‘Can I drive you home?’
Jinx turned and frowned at Nik when he spoke to her. He’d stood and watched her as she’d slowly edged her way over to the door, seeming on the verge of making her excuses to leave. ‘I beg your pardon?’
Nik moved to stand in front of her, effectively blocking out the rest of the room, leaving the two of them cocooned in a bubble of intimacy. ‘I asked if I could drive you home,’ he repeated mildly—of course, that was on the assumption that Jordan wouldn’t mind getting a cab home for himself and Stazy and letting Nik borrow his car for a couple of hours!
Jinx shook her head, her hair gleaming copper-red in the candlelight that illuminated the room. ‘I have my own car. Thank you,’ she added belatedly.
He nodded. ‘Which you aren’t going to drive.’
‘I’m not?’ Her eyes had widened, deep blue eyes that could appear almost purple in some lights.
In this light, Nik noticed appreciatively. Also her skin was that pale peach of most redheads, smooth and clear, a tiny pulse beating at the base of her throat. A throat he ached to kiss, he suddenly realized.
‘No,’ he confirmed huskily. ‘You’ve drunk two glasses of wine, which means you’re already over the limit—’
‘You’ve been counting?’ she interrupted incredulously, angry colour heightening in her cheeks.
‘Don’t worry about it.’ He shrugged. ‘I have that sort of mind. For instance, the man standing beside the fireplace has so far drunk a whole bottle of champagne to himself and is now about to start on another. The brunette at his side is obviously the driver for the evening, has only had three glasses of orange juice, and is obviously very pi—annoyed about it,’ he corrected wryly. ‘The man near the window—’
‘Okay, I get the picture,’ Jinx snapped. ‘But even so…’
‘Even so…?’ Nik prompted softly.
She looked resentful. ‘I’m not sure I like the idea of having someone watching me that closely.’
‘The only way you can stop that is to not be quite so watchable—which, with your face and body, just isn’t going to happen,’ Nik teased her.
She gave him a perplexed frown, obviously not quite sure how to take that last remark, whether to be flattered or insulted by it. In the end, it seemed, she decided to ignore it. ‘Nevertheless, I won’t be requiring your offer of a lift home,’ she dismissed with obvious relief.
Not very flattering to his ego, Nik acknowledged. In fact, Jinx Nixon’s attitude towards him hadn’t exactly been warm all evening. His only consolation was that she hadn’t been warm towards any other man, either!
Apart from perhaps Leo Fellows, their host, Nik corrected himself with an inward frown. The two of them had seemed to be enjoying a flirtatious conversation half an hour or so ago. Could it possibly be that the reason Jinx had arrived here alone this evening was because she was involved in an affair with her best friend’s husband? It wouldn’t be the first time—in fact it was all too common.
Nik found the thought more than slightly unpleasant when made in connection with the beautiful Jinx Nixon—and no matter what she might have told him her name was, he knew that her closest friends called her Jinx.
And that was his plan, wasn’t it? To get close to Jinx, wheedle an introduction to her father, and present him with the contract for movie rights to No Ordinary Boy.
What could be simpler?
Well, Jinx Nixon being a little less beautiful and a whole lot less sexy would have been a help!
He had expected to engage in a little light seduction—it was a dirty job, but someone had to do it!—but finding Jinx Nixon so attractive, his senses roused just inhaling her perfume, and other parts of him roused every time he so much as looked at her, had definitely not been part of that plan…
CHAPTER TWO
‘WHY not?’
Jinx smiled confidently in the face of Nik Prince’s obvious displeasure at having her turn down his offer of a lift home. ‘Susan’s parents live only half a mile away from me and have already offered to drive me home later.’ Although, she had to admit, she had been on the point of forgoing that offer and simply leaving!
She found this man altogether too disturbing, which was why she hadn’t looked his way at all since they’d parted earlier, even though she had been conscious of his every move.
In fact, she had never been this aware of a man in her life before. Of course that awareness was on more than one level. On the surface she was aware of the letters received from Stephens Publishing, on this man’s behalf, requesting a meeting with the author of No Ordinary Boy, in order to discuss acquiring the film rights. But underneath all that she was aware of a physical attraction to Nik Prince that she was trying desperately to ignore.
Obviously, his height and sheer size would dominate any company he was in. The forcefulness of his personality likewise. But it wasn’t either of those things that made her skin tingle and heightened her senses just being in the same room with him. No, the attraction she felt towards this man was something she simply couldn’t explain, something she had never experienced before.
Or ever wanted to experience again!
‘And when you aren’t teaching at Cambridge University, home is where?’
Jinx’s gaze was guarded as she looked up at Nik. ‘London.’
He sighed. ‘Which part of London?’
‘South west,’ she offered unhelpfully, glancing away from the shrewdness in those silver-grey eyes.
As far as she was concerned it was too coincidental, after those letters sent from James Stephens on his behalf, that Nik Prince was here at this party at all. Neither Susan nor Leo had met him before this evening, and he certainly didn’t look the type to need his sister to elicit a late invitation, as this one appeared to be, to fill his evening.
No, Jinx had stopped believing in coincidences a long time ago. And Nik Prince being here this evening certainly wasn’t one, either. She just wasn’t sure how much he knew. But he obviously knew enough—from where, or whom, she wasn’t sure—to have arranged to meet her in this roundabout fashion.
But had he been any more prepared than her for the physical awareness that practically sizzled between them?
Somehow she doubted it!
He gave a rueful smile now. ‘In other words, you have no intention of telling me where you live?’
‘None at all,’ she confirmed lightly. That was the very last thing she intended doing!
‘Then I had better make the most of my time with you this evening, hadn’t I,’ he accepted dryly.
Jinx eyed him warily. ‘Meaning?’
He gave a shrug of those powerfully broad shoulders. ‘There’s music in the other room. How about you dance with me as a start?’
A start to what? And did she really want to be that close to him, to feel the heat of his body only inches away from her own, to have him touching her, his hands touching hers, the warmth of his breath against her temple…?
‘Scared?’ he murmured knowingly.
Jinx straightened immediately, knowing he was goading her in order to achieve his goal, but at the same time unwilling to back down from a man so obviously used to having his own way. ‘Not in the least, Mr Prince,’ she assured him. ‘The truth of the matter is, I can’t remember when I last danced; I may have forgotten how.’
‘Dancing is like lovemaking,’ he told her huskily. ‘Once you’ve tried it, you never forget how!’
So, in spite of her efforts, he was obviously determined to keep this conversation on an intimate level. ‘Then I shouldn’t have any trouble, should I?’ she retorted, turning in the direction of the dining-room where a quartet was softly playing music for the guests to dance to, leaving him to come to his own conclusions concerning her last remark.
She had been right to be apprehensive about allowing this man too close, she acknowledged several minutes later. Nik Prince had ignored all the rules of social etiquette when dancing with a relative stranger, instead pulling her right against him, his arms about her waist, hands linked at the base of her spine, their bodies touching from chest to thigh as they moved slowly to the music.
As far as Jinx was concerned, they might have been the only two people dancing. She was totally aware of Nik as her hands rested on his shoulders, her efforts to maintain a distance between them completely thwarted when Nik reached up and gently laid her head against his shoulder before resting his own head against the silky softness of her hair.
‘You smell like flowers,’ he murmured close to her ear, his breath as warm as she had known it would be.
‘Lily of the Valley soap,’ she dismissed pragmatically.
He chuckled softly. ‘Are you always this romantic?’
‘Are you?’ she came back.
‘I don’t believe it’s been one of my character traits to date, no,’ he allowed ruefully. ‘But that could change,’ he added throatily.
This really hadn’t been a good idea, Jinx acknowledged with an inward groan. Nik’s legs felt hard against her softer ones, the stirring of his thighs unmistakable in such close proximity, the uneven rise and fall of his chest against hers more evidence of his increasing arousal, an arousal that caused a pounding in her own chest and a warmth between her thighs.
‘I want you,’ Nik groaned, his words accompanied by a gentle nibble against her ear lobe.
Jinx quivered with pleasure, shivers of hot and cold tumbling down her spine. But at the same time she wondered how she could put a stop to this. Because she had to stop it. Now. Before it spiralled out of control.
‘There’s a woman standing across the room who keeps staring at us,’ she told him, hoping to distract him. ‘Friend of yours?’
‘My sister, Stazy,’ Nik answered her without even raising his head, his tongue now tasting the sensitive flesh beneath her ear lobe.
‘How can you be sure?’ Jinx pursued determinedly, her voice slightly higher than usual as she fought the instinct of her body to curve itself against his, that marauding tongue now seeking the delicate curves of her ear.
Nik chuckled softly, the reverberations only increasing the pleasure of his caresses. ‘Stazy has become something of a matchmaker since her own happy marriage a year ago; she’s obviously assessing you to see if you’re suitable wife material for her eldest—and, may I say, favourite?—brother.’
Jinx pulled back abruptly, staring up at him in disbelief. And then wished she hadn’t. He really was the most ruggedly attractive man, and those grey eyes were pure silver now, shining with an intensity of emotion that was unmistakable. Desire. Arousal. For her.
Her own pupils had probably dilated until the black practically obliterated the blue. Revealing desire. Arousal. For him.
She drew in a deep breath. ‘In that case, I think it’s best that we end this now, don’t you?’ She stepped back, feeling the momentary tightening of his arms about her before he reluctantly released her, the expression in his eyes one of regret now.
‘Why don’t we just follow my earlier suggestion and leave here to continue this some place more private?’ he asked.
‘Like my home?’ Jinx challenged.
‘Sounds good.’ He nodded.
‘The home I have no intention of taking you to?’ she derided. ‘You misunderstood me a few moments ago when I said it’s time we end this now, Nik—I meant the charade.’
It was as if a shutter had come down, his eyes no longer silver but a narrowed grey, his expression deliberately—or so it seemed to Jinx—unreadable. ‘Charade?’ he echoed blandly.
Her mouth twisted humourlessly. ‘Look, I know who you are, and you know who I am. I’m not sure how you know—’ yet! ‘—but I do know it’s totally ridiculous for us to continue with this charade.’
Those grey eyes narrowed even more, several emotions flickering in their depths, but too briefly for her to analyze.
‘Besides,’ she added coldly, ‘I really see no point in your continuing this seduction act any further.’
‘Act?’ He sounded outraged. ‘Do you really think I can just manufacture my attraction to you?’
‘I think, Mr Prince, that you are capable of manufacturing anything you feel the inclination to,’ she told him candidly, at the same time aware that her attraction to him had been anything but manufactured! ‘Now, if you will excuse me, I think my lift is preparing to leave.’ She had just spotted Dick and Janet saying their goodnights to the other guests. ‘But for the record, Mr Prince,’ she paused to add huskily, ‘as predicted, having now met you “in person”, the answer is still an emphatic no! There will be no movie.’
His mouth thinned. ‘Isn’t that for your father to say, and not you?’
Jinx continued to look at him for several long seconds before giving a slow shake of her head. ‘In the circumstances, no, I don’t think so,’ she answered cautiously.
‘What do you mean?’ he challenged.
She met his gaze steadily. ‘My father isn’t a well man, Mr Prince.’
‘But all I want is his signature on a piece of paper.’
She gave a humourless smile. ‘A signature that would no doubt give you exclusive film rights to No Ordinary Boy!’
‘Yes,’ he bit out, at least sensible enough not to try to deny that was his true interest in pursuing her this evening.
‘That isn’t going to happen, Mr Prince—’
‘Will you call me Nik, damn it?’ he cut in harshly. ‘In the circumstances anything else certainly is ridiculous!’
Jinx didn’t need to ask what circumstances he was referring to; their physical response to each other during that dance certainly made a nonsense of any future formality between them.
‘Mr Prince. Nik. It’s all the same to me.’ She gave a dismissive shrug. ‘In either case, the answer is still no.’
‘As I told James Stephens earlier in the week, I never take no for an answer,’ he warned her grimly.
She drew in a sharp breath, unable to hide her surprise at the mention of the publisher. But then how else could Nik have discovered that J. I. Watson’s real name was J. I. Nixon?
‘James Stephens was the one who told you J. I. Watson’s real name?’ ‘James is far too much of a professional to ever do a thing like that,’ Nik reproved.
That was something, at least. If Nik Prince’s answer had been anything but the one he had just given her then she would have made sure that the second J. I. Watson manuscript, which was even now being prepared for editing, never made it onto James Stephens’s desk.
But it was still pretty obvious that someone at Stephens Publishing had to have revealed that confidential information to Nik Prince. The question was, who…?
‘Tell me, Mr Prince…’ she gave him a considering look ‘…what is it that you find so difficult to understand about the word no?’
‘As far as I can recall, it’s not a word that’s ever been in my big brother’s vocabulary,’ a female voice chimed in lightly.
Jinx turned to look at Nik Prince’s sister, Stazy Hunter, as she moved to stand next to her brother. The younger woman was extremely beautiful, her red hair almost as bright as Jinx’s own. In fact, Stazy Hunter looked a far nicer person altogether than her eldest brother!
‘Not at all,’ Nik came back smoothly. ‘I’m just a positive person rather than a negative one.’
Well, he could be as positive as he wanted as far as Jinx was concerned, because the answer to his request was no, and it would remain no.
‘If you’ll both excuse me…’ She gave Stazy Hunter a vague smile, shot Nik Prince a look of warning, before moving determinedly away from them, inwardly shaken by how close he had got to her.
Too close.
In more ways than one!
Nik frowned frustratedly as he watched Jinx join a mid-dle-aged couple across the room, his gaze narrowing as he considered his two choices of action. One, he could let Jinx just walk out of his life, also taking her knowledge of J. I. Watson with her. Or two, he could make sure that he left with her!
‘Do me a favour, will you, Staze?’ He turned urgently to his sister.
She looked slightly surprised. ‘Of course. If I can. What—’
‘Persuade your charming husband that it’s time for the two of you to leave.’
Stazy looked nonplussed. ‘But it’s still early, Nik; what on earth will I tell Susan and Leo—?’
‘I don’t care what you tell them,’ he cut in forcefully, starting to panic slightly as he could see Jinx and the older couple were coming to the end of their goodbyes. ‘Your house is on fire. You need to take your husband home and seduce him—’