The Prince Brothers: Satisfaction Guaranteed!
How he would have liked that! Not only would he have managed to find J. I. Watson where everyone else had failed, but he would also believe he had managed to get her into his bed!
Jinx closed her eyes, swaying slightly as she thought of her arousal earlier, her need for the feel of Nik’s body against hers, inside hers, loving her, possessing her, until she could think of nothing else.
Had it been only the loneliness of the last eighteen months, that necessary feeling of distance between herself and other people, that had caused her intense reaction to Nik? Or had it been something else?
Please let it not be anything else!
Falling in love with a man like Nik Prince, besides being a totally insane thing for her to do, would also be complete anathema to the anonymity of J. I. Watson.
If she needed further proof, the crowd of people gathered around Zak Prince and the stunning blonde at his side as Jinx stepped from the lift into the reception area, the reporter of earlier included, was more than enough to convince her of that!
Jinx strode straight through the reception area, outside to where a row of taxis stood waiting, nodding her thanks to the doorman as he opened the back door of the first one for her to get inside. Only starting to breathe easily again once that door had been closed behind her.
‘Where to, love?’ the driver prompted cheerfully.
‘Fold Street, please,’ Jinx told him. ‘Stephens Publishing on Fold Street,’ she repeated firmly before sitting back to stare sightlessly out of the window.
Well, that went well, Nik told himself disgustedly as the door closed decisively behind Jinx, having had no choice but to stand impotently by and watch as she walked out of his life.
Or thought she did.
There was no way, absolutely no way he was letting Jinx just walk away from him like that. Because she was J. I. Watson. Because he still wanted the movie rights to No Ordinary Boy.
At least, that was what he told himself. But another part of him knew that it was because he wanted Jinx Nixon, wanted her in his bed, with no interruptions, for as long as it took to sate both himself and her. Maybe then he would be able to get her out of his head, out of the dreams he had been having about her this last week, naked and willing as he made love to her in every imaginative way he could think of.
He had never allowed a woman to get between him and his work. And Jinx Nixon was going to be no exception.
‘What the hell happened to you?’ Zak demanded a few minutes later as Nik opened the door to let him into his suite. ‘I kept the press busy for as long as I possibly could—much to Damson Grey’s delight. Yes, that is who spent the night with me.’ Zak grinned at Nik’s disgusted snort. ‘And, believe me, her body more than lives up to her name!’ His grin widened as he threw himself down into one of the armchairs to look up at Nik.
He was one of the scruffiest men Nik had ever seen, both on and off the screen. It never ceased to amaze Nik how his brother drew women to him like a magnet. Of course, it could have something to do with Zak’s golden good looks: overlong blond hair, laughing blue eyes set in a face so handsome he was almost beautiful, his body long and loose-limbed in the faded denims and baggy black tee shirt.
‘So where is she?’ Zak prompted as he looked conspiratorially around the suite. ‘Still hiding in the bedroom?’
To Nik’s self-disgust, he found himself tensing resentfully at this offhand remark directed at Jinx. ‘She was never in the bedroom,’ he bit out reprovingly.
‘She wasn’t?’ Zak’s eyes widened speculatively. ‘So where is she now?’ he asked before Nik could give him another cutting reply.
‘I have no idea,’ Nik answered him honestly. ‘She walked out of here about five minutes ago. In fact, you may have seen her on her way out.’ He frowned as the thought occurred to him.
Zak gave the idea some thought, his brow clearing suddenly. ‘Tiny little thing? Long red hair, very deep blue eyes? A very kissable—’
‘That’s enough!’ Nik growled.
Zak’s eyes widened. ‘Yep, I guess that was the one,’ he teased. ‘And you never made it as far as the bedroom? Maybe that’s why you’re in such a foul mood, big brother. Self-denial isn’t good for a man of your advanced years!’
Zak could say that again! Not the part about his advanced years, of course, but this constant frustration certainly wasn’t doing anything for his mood.
Although Nik’s discomfort was nothing compared to his concern now for Jinx and what she would do next. Because he didn’t doubt that she intended doing something.
‘Will you excuse me, Zak?’ he murmured distractedly. ‘I have to go out for a while.’ He picked up his brown leather jacket and pulled it on over his shirt, checking in his trouser pockets for his wallet.
‘Going after the beautiful—what is her name?’ Zak queried.
‘Her name is Juliet. And stay away from her, little brother. Well away.’ He scowled darkly.
Zak’s grin was wider than ever. ‘Wow, this is a first! Can I use your phone? I have to ring Rik at Stazy’s and tell him—’
‘Use your own phone,’ Nik snapped. ‘And tell Rik what, exactly?’
‘That our BB has been bowled over by a five-foot nothing of a woman with the body of Venus, of course.’ Zak stood up, heading for the bar, taking out a cola and drinking it straight from the bottle.
‘Help yourself!’ Nik drawled, giving an impatient shake of his head. ‘And I would hold off telling Rik anything, if I were you,’ he added as he headed for the door. ‘Things aren’t always what they seem, Zak.’
His brother frowned meditatively. ‘Now you’ve really got me curious…!’
That wasn’t quite the idea; the last thing Nik needed right now was Zak and Rik on his case. He was confused enough about Jinx as it was!
‘Feel like telling me where you’re going?’ Zak quirked mocking brows.
‘Nope.’
Zak shrugged. ‘Maybe I’ll catch up with you later.’
‘Maybe,’ he echoed, frowning heavily as he left the hotel suite.
Where would Jinx have gone after she left him? Home? Or somewhere else? Bearing in mind how angry she had been when she’d left, he had a feeling it wasn’t the former. If he were in Jinx’s shoes, he’d go—
‘Fold Street,’ he told the taxi driver as he got in the back of the black vehicle. ‘Stephens Publishing,’ he added tersely.
The journey seemed interminable, the taxi meeting every conceivable hold-up possible, from someone falling off their bicycle to a set of failed traffic lights. All of which only served to increase Nik’s impatience to boiling point.
Jinx had been in a furious mood when she’d left—because of him, admittedly, but he had a definite feeling that anger might spill over onto whomever she spoke to next. If his guess was correct, and Jinx had gone to Stephens Publishing, then, after months of never even meeting his author, James wasn’t going to know what hit him!
Maybe they would be lucky and James would be out of the office!
No such luck, Nik groaned inwardly after the receptionist had called James Stephens’s secretary and okayed him to go up.
Maybe he was wrong, after all, Nik reasoned on the way up in the lift; the secretary would hardly have allowed him up if there were a full-scale battle going on in James’s office.
In which case, he had better do some quick thinking as to what he was doing here!
‘You can go right in,’ James’s secretary looked up to tell him smilingly as he strode into the office.
Great; besides feeling rather foolish for having rushed over here in order to save Jinx from herself by telling James Stephens exactly what she thought of him and his publishing company, Nik was also no nearer to knowing what to tell the other man about his own reason for being here!
‘Come in, Nik,’ James welcomed him brightly, having stood up to come round his desk and shake Nik by the hand, effectively blocking Nik’s view of the rest of the office so he couldn’t see whether or not Jinx was actually here.
James smiled at him warmly. ‘How fortunate that you should arrive just now.’ He beamed. ‘You’re not going to believe this, but I can actually introduce you to our author J. I. Watson at last!’ He finally stepped to one side, leaving Nik with a clear view of Jinx as she sat in the chair facing the other man’s desk.
She was sitting sideways in the chair at the moment, that clear violet-blue gaze coldly mocking as she looked up at him challengingly.
Affording Nik little pleasure in knowing he had been right in his surmise as to where she had gone after leaving him…!
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘MR PRINCE.’ Jinx nodded to him coolly, exerting every ounce of willpower she possessed to remain calmly seated, when every instinct she had screamed for her to stand up defensively as Nik looked down at her with narrowed grey eyes.
The fact that he was here at all was enough to set her nerve endings jangling—even though she’d had prior warning of his imminent arrival when James Stephens’s secretary had called through a couple of minutes ago.
But the question was, why was Nik here?
Had he followed her here? Or had he come for reasons of his own?
More to the point, was he going to acknowledge that the two of them already knew each other?
She had arrived here earlier with the sole purpose of telling James Stephens exactly what she thought of his publishing company before demanding her second manuscript back, but the publisher had been so pleased and excited to meet her at last, so obviously genuine in his pleasure, like a little boy who had been given an early Christmas present, that she simply hadn’t had the heart to say all those unpleasant things to this genially friendly man.
‘Miss Nixon,’ Nik greeted her abruptly.
‘Can you believe that J. I. Watson has been a woman all this time?’ James murmured incredulously as he moved to sit back behind his desk.
‘Miss Nixon and I have already met, actually,’ Nik admitted.
‘You have?’ James Stephens looked disappointed as he glanced first at Nik and then back to Jinx.
‘Only briefly.’ Jinx was the one to expand on that statement. ‘But long enough for me to inform Mr Prince that I have no intention of giving him the film rights to No Ordinary Boy,’ she added tightly.
‘Ah,’ James breathed softly, grimacing his disappointment.
Jinx’s eyes widened. ‘I take it that you are in favour of Mr Prince making the film?’
The publisher looked uncomfortable now, obviously debating which of them he should offend—because he had to be aware that whichever way he answered he was going to offend one of them!
He seemed to choose his words carefully. ‘If the film were to be made, then I have to say I couldn’t think of a finer director than Nik here!’
Jinx had to smile inwardly at the man’s tact. ‘But the film isn’t going to be made,’ she said firmly, ‘so whether or not Mr Prince is a fine director or not is totally irrelevant.’ She raised mocking brows as Nik’s mouth tightened grimly at the ambiguity of her remark.
Deliberately so. She knew he was a brilliant director; the whole world knew he was a brilliant director; she just had no intention of adding to his fan club by admitting as much!
‘Yes,’ James Stephens accepted slowly. ‘I—’ He broke off as the internal telephone rang on his desk. ‘Excuse me.’ He smiled apologetically before taking the call.
Probably relieved to get a few moments’ respite from the building tension he could sense around him, Jinx guessed ruefully. She—
‘What are you doing here?’ Nik murmured in a forceful undertone.
Her eyes widened. ‘I have a perfect right to visit my publisher if I so wish,’ she told him coldly.
‘But you never have before.’
‘And I probably never will again!’ Jinx stood up restlessly, moving across the room to stare out of the window, sensing Nik’s presence inches behind her as he followed her. ‘What are you doing here?’ she demanded insultingly.
‘Believe it or not, saving you from yourself,’ he came back dryly.
She turned to look at him with wide eyes. ‘I beg your pardon?’
Nik grimaced. ‘You were in a reckless mood when you left the hotel earlier—’
‘I wonder why that was!’ she snapped.
‘Jinx—’ He had reached out to touch her, but held his hand up defensively as she flinched away from him. ‘Juliet,’ he bit out tautly. ‘I didn’t want you to do something…impulsive, where James was concerned, when it’s me you’re really mad at!’
He was right, of course, she had come here intending to tell James Stephens that one of his many employees couldn’t be trusted, before demanding the second manuscript back.
Because she was mad at Nik.
And herself…
But she would think about that later, when she was alone, not here and now, when Nik was much too close for comfort.
‘I’m not mad at you, Nik. I don’t know you well enough to be mad at you,’ she said insultingly.
His face darkened. ‘That isn’t true, and you know it—’
‘Sorry about that,’ James Stephens apologized as he concluded his call. ‘Coincidentally, that was your editor, Miss Nixon. I’ve told her that you and Mr Prince are here, and asked her to join us.’
Jinx hadn’t come here with the idea of her visit turning into a social event! In fact, she regretted coming here at all now…
But once again James Stephens looked so pleased with himself and the way things were turning out that Jinx didn’t have the heart to disappoint him.
‘I’m afraid I can only stay a few more minutes; I have a previous engagement for lunch.’ She smiled to take the sting out of her words.
‘I was hoping you might let me take you out to lunch.’ James frowned. ‘Having met you at last, I really don’t want to lose you again so quickly,’ he added charmingly.
Jinx avoided looking at Nik as he gave a sceptical snort. ‘Another time, perhaps.’ She was deliberately vague, having no intention of there ever being ‘another time’.
She should never have come here, never have blown her anonymity in this way. It was Nik Prince’s fault that she had done so. He—
‘Ah, Jane.’ James Stephens stood up as a tall blonde woman entered his office after the briefest of knocks. ‘I want you to meet our author, J. I. Watson,’ he announced triumphantly as he moved forward to lightly grasp Jinx’s arm.
As if afraid she might try to escape, or at the very least evaporate in front of his eyes, if he didn’t hold onto her!
The beautiful blonde Jinx could now identify as her editor, Jane Morrow, moved forward to shake Jinx by the hand, although her smile was bland as she turned to look at Nik.
But it was Nik’s response to the other woman’s presence in the room that caught and held Jinx’s attention; she was able to feel his tension as he looked at the other woman guardedly. A tension he did his best to hide as he seemed to sense Jinx’s interest, giving her a tight smile before turning to gaze out of the window at the London skyline.
A view Jinx was almost certain he didn’t even see!
She gave her editor a closer look, noting the smooth beauty of the other woman’s face, her slender curves in the black business suit she wore, her fingers bare of rings, her legs long and shapely. Attractive enough for Nik Prince to have used his practised charm upon?
The other woman’s smile warmed as she turned back to Jinx, blue eyes glowing with enthusiasm. ‘It’s such a pleasure to meet you at last!’ she gushed.
No, Jinx decided, the arrogant Nik Prince wouldn’t find this gushing, clinging woman in the least attractive. So what had been the reason for his tension when the other woman had come into the room? Surely Jane Morrow, her own editor, couldn’t be the one to have leaked information concerning her identity? That just didn’t make sense. But, then, what did make sense about any of this situation she now found herself in?
‘Thank you,’ she accepted lightly. ‘I was actually just telling James that I have to go now.’ That she should never have come here in the first place!
‘Surely not?’ Jane Morrow frowned her disappointment. ‘We have so much to talk about, so many questions I would like to ask you. The second manuscript is wonderful, by the way,’ she added delightedly. ‘So many second books aren’t, you know, that…’
Jinx tuned out the other woman’s praise, instead turning to look curiously at Nik as she once again sensed the tension in his rigidly straight back.
‘It’s so kind of you to say so—’ Jinx nodded to Jane Morrow as the other woman paused to draw breath ‘—but I really do have to get going.’
‘But you will come back?’ Jane Morrow asked.
She swallowed hard as both Jane Morrow and James Stephens looked at her expectantly. They were both nice people, Jinx accepted that, not at all the hard-bitten monsters of the publishing world that she had imagined, and certainly neither of them could be the ‘mole’ she had told James about before Nik’s untimely arrival. But, nice as they were, Jinx knew she had no intention of repeating today’s visit…
She moistened dry lips as she formed a polite refusal in her mind. ‘I don’t really think—’
‘I think Miss Nixon is slightly overwhelmed,’ Nik was the one to cut in firmly as he turned away from that sightless contemplation out the window. ‘Maybe it might be better to let her contact you, James, when she feels up to another visit?’
If it weren’t for the fact that he made her sound like a simple-minded idiot scared of her own shadow, Jinx might have felt grateful for Nik’s intervention. As it was, he made her feel like a nervous spinster thrown into total confusion by having so much attention paid to her!
‘I think, Mr Prince,’ she bit out tartly, ‘that I am more than capable of deciding that for myself, thank you very much!’
He raised dark brows impatiently before giving a dismissive shrug. ‘Fine,’ he grated, once again turning away.
She turned back to James Stephens. ‘I—I’ll call you, shall I?’
The publisher didn’t look at all happy with this idea, but one look at the determination on her face seemed to tell him that it was the best he was going to get.
‘Fine,’ he said regretfully. ‘And I will look into that other matter we discussed,’ he added.
‘Good,’ Jinx replied.
‘What other matter?’ Nik queried.
Jinx shot him a resentful glare. ‘Nothing that concerns you, I can assure you, Mr Prince.’
James Stephens once again took her hand in his. ‘In the meantime, please feel free to drop in again any time,’ he encouraged warmly. ‘Let me take you out to lunch next time. Jane, too, of course.’
‘Lovely,’ Jinx answered noncommittally. ‘It was nice to meet you, Miss Morrow,’ she added in parting to the other woman, deliberately not so much as glancing in Nik’s direction as she hurried out of the office.
As if the hounds of hell were at her heels!
And she didn’t relax again until she was seated in the back of yet another taxi taking her home, resting her head back against the seat, her eyes closed, almost able to hear the rapid pounding of her heart.
Never again!
Never again would she allow her emotions to rule her head in that way. She knew what she had to do, knew the dangers attached to revealing the identity of J. I. Watson. And today she had almost blown that.
Because of Nik Prince.
Because he had made her angry.
Because, against all the odds, she knew she was falling in love with him…!
‘Well, well, well,’ Jane Morrow drawled as she and Nik left James Stephens’s office together. ‘Who would have thought that J. I. Watson would turn out to be a woman?’
‘Yes,’ he returned neutrally, anxious to be gone. If he hurried he might still be able to catch up with Jinx before she left. He knew without a doubt that it would be his only chance of finding her again! Whatever had driven her to come here at all—and he had a distinct feeling it was anger towards him!—he knew, even if James Stephens didn’t, that she would never come here again.
Jane quirked teasing brows at him. ‘Makes your life a lot easier, though, doesn’t it?’
‘Sorry?’ Nik deliberately kept his expression bland, having no idea yet where this conversation was going. Having little interest, either, if he was honest.
‘Oh, come on, Nik.’ Jane laughed huskily as she touched him lightly on the chest. ‘You know how good you are at charming women.’
His mouth tightened, even while he inwardly acknowledged that he probably deserved that remark from this woman. He had set out to charm her, although, to be fair, Jane had given every indication that she wanted to be charmed!
‘Possibly. If you’ll excuse me, Jane? I’m afraid I have to meet someone.’ He knew he probably sounded rude, but he was very conscious of the precious seconds ticking away on the clock.
‘Of course.’ She slowly removed her hand from his chest, blue eyes hard now. ‘You know where I am if you feel like company.’
She knew where he was too, but the likelihood of either of them actually contacting the other was extremely remote.
Although that wasn’t to say Nik wasn’t completely conscious of her glacial gaze on him all the time he walked down the carpeted corridor to the lift, that feeling confirmed as he turned once inside the lift and saw her still standing exactly where he had left her. She raised a mocking hand in parting, and Nik was relieved when the lift doors closed and shut out her image. After the way they had parted last time, he had been a little surprised by her initial friendliness, although it hadn’t taken too long for her to revert back to derisive anger at his obvious lack of interest.
Not very gallant of him, he accepted, but, for some reason he couldn’t completely explain, Jane Morrow’s hand on his chest just now had given him a distinct feeling of distaste.
It couldn’t be because he was falling for Jinx, could it? a little voice mocked inside his head. A little voice that sounded decidedly like Zak’s voice teasing him!
And the answer was…no, he wasn’t falling for Jinx. She seemed extremely vulnerable to him, very much alone, which probably brought out the same protective instinct in him that he felt towards his sister Stazy, but he certainly wasn’t falling for her.
Protesting too much, BB?
Zak’s voice again, damn it. And he had told both Zak and Rik repeatedly not to call him Big Brother.
But then, if he wasn’t falling for Jinx, exactly what was he doing chasing all over London after her in cabs?
Securing the movie rights to a book, that was what!
Lame, Nik, extremely lame. He might as well admit it, to himself if to no one else: the movie had become secondary in his pursuit of Jinx. She was what he wanted right now, every satiny inch of her naked beneath him, her legs wrapped about his hips as they took each other to the heights and back.
He was so lost in thoughts of that image as he came out of the building onto the pavement that he almost missed Jinx’s cab pulling away from the kerb. Mentally cursing himself for his daydreaming, he rushed forward to hail another cab, climbing inside to tell the driver to follow the cab ahead.
The sideways glance he received from the cabbie in the overhead driving mirror, even as he turned the vehicle out into the flow of traffic, was enough to make Nik feel like a character in a second-rate movie. And he had never made a second-rate movie in his life, let alone starred in one.
‘The lady left her purse behind,’ he leant forward to mutter.
He received another sideways glance for his trouble. ‘Course she did, mate!’ the cabbie said skeptically.
Nik decided to ignore the driver and instead concentrate on the cab ahead. He could just see Jinx’s head above the back seat, that fiery red hair unmistakable. She wasn’t going to like the fact that he was following her, so he would have to make sure—
‘I ’ate to say this, guv’ner,’ the cabbie cut in on his thoughts a few minutes later, ‘but I ’ave a feeling that someone’s following you too. The taxi be’ind is sticking pretty close, if ya know what I mean?’