And there were plenty who did.
And he, Jed Walker, was going to make damn sure none of them left with her.
***
The snow was falling heavily, turning the city sidewalks into a sparkling winter scene straight out of a Disney movie fantasy. Colored lights gleamed around stores, lighted decorations seduced passers-by to stop and look into store windows. Anna was entranced. She loved her adopted home in Leeds, Yorkshire, in the UK, but the weather here in the States was so much more exciting, more temperamental, more dramatic – more epic.
How strange to think that she’d actually missed snow and snowstorms, the wild days when there was little to do but stay home and curl up with a good book while the white stuff piled up outside the windows.
Or to go outside, wrapped up warm, and throw snowballs, build snow forts, create fantasy snowmen…and snow angels, oh yes! If there hadn’t been so many people around, she’d have lain down in the thick, white snow, right here on the city sidewalk, and spread her arms wide to create a snow angel, right there and then.
She found herself staring in a store window, at a tableau in which a young couple - she with a baby on her lap, he balancing a toddler on his shoulders - smiled while an older couple, representing grandparents, stood looking proudly on.
They were only store mannequins, but they looked so happy that it brought tears to her eyes. The simple scene depicted an ideal family, and the happiness and joy it represented. How she wished she could be part of it. The coming of snow signaled that Christmas wasn’t far off, which seemed like a Joy to the World kind of experience to everyone else. But to her, Christmas had become a time of mourning, an angry time when she railed against the Fates that had left her an orphan.
* * *
Felicity was furious. She’d watched Jed talking to that common little imposter – a bestselling author of an academic work? Give me a break, she thought angrily. But anger was combined with fear – she’d seen the look in Jed’s eyes as he watched Anna moving around the room, being sociable.
She didn’t remember him ever looking at her that way.
Her heart rate accelerated when she saw Anna try to sneak out without anyone noticing – she didn’t even have the courtesy to thank her hostess. Couldn’t Jed see that this woman just wasn’t in their class? But the writer was gone, and Jed was still here.
She’d waited a long time for him – maybe now was the time to turn up the heat. Before that little – what did they call her in the Press? – sexpert? Felicity gave a genteel little shudder. That little sexpert got her claws into him.
Pasting a bright smile on her full. red painted lips, she sashayed over to where Jed stood, idly staring out of a window to the city street below. She came up behind him and put her fingers over his eyes. “Guess who?” she whispered throatily.
“Oh, let me see – Emily Blunt? Kirsten Dunst? Oh, it’s you, Felicity.” The words were accompanied by a big grin, but she was sure there was a streak of disappointment running through them. Grimly, she soldiered on.
“I’ve been thinking, Jed – why don’t we leave all this…” she gestured airily with her hand. “All this behind us and take off for a few days, just the two of us? We could go up to the lodge, maybe do some skiing, light a big fire and enjoy…”
But Jed’s gaze was riveted on happenings in the street below. “I’m sorry, Felicity – excuse me, won’t you?” And he strode away across the room, heading for the exit without even a kiss goodbye.
Felicity peered out of the window through the thickening snow. In other circumstances, she’d have been happy to see her rival sprawled out gracelessly on the icy sidewalk.
But not when Jed was hurrying towards her, concern written all over his face.
The White Knight rescuing the damsel in distress.
Felicity let loose a string of very unladylike words under her breath. She was incandescent with fury.
* * *
It was stupid of her, really – how could she have forgotten the slippery residue left when sidewalks had been cleared? Below zero temperatures made the sidewalks slick, and Italian leather boots built for a kinder climate were no match. She had barely taken a dozen steps from the hotel entrance when she suddenly took a face dive right onto the sidewalk.
Not only was it incredibly embarrassing, but the pain that shot through her left foot and ankle made her cry out. She struggled to get up, but the smooth soles of the boots wouldn’t co-operate, and when she tried to get her left foot under her, the pain ripped her breath away.
Then strong hands were under her arms, gently pulling her to her feet. She looked up into Jed’s eyes – and was instantly mortified.
What a klutzy, unsophisticated fool he must think her! She was willing to bet that the beautiful, civilized Felicity never fell on her ass on a public street.
“Thank you – I’m okay now. Just slipped on the ice,” she panted, tearing her eyes away from his. Despite the discomfort in her ankle, just being near this guy made her heart hammer in her breast. Was it extreme attraction, fury at the way he’d treated her at the interview – or a simple allergy? Was there a pill she could take to turn her world back to normal?
“It’s a bad night – I’ll see you back to your hotel.”
Yes, she wanted that, to have his arm around her shoulders and to walk through the magical snowy night together.
No, she didn’t want to have anything more to do with him. Who’d willingly sign up for a broken heart?
Maybe it was the pain in her foot and the humiliation of having fallen, or just the simple weirdness of a winter storm, but all kinds of oddball thoughts were chasing themselves around in her mind. Pulling herself together, Anna shrugged off his helping hand and took a couple of steps forward, moving past him toward her hotel and away from Jed.
Pain screamed through her injured ankle, which promptly gave way on her and there she was again, face diving to the sidewalk…
* * *
She had to be the most infuriating woman he’d ever met – he should just hop into his trusty Jeep and head off home to…to his empty condo. Living alone had never bothered him before – why should having Anna leave his arms render him a member of the Lonely Hearts Club?
She’d fallen right in front of a store window displaying a mannequin couple in a quaint Christmas family scene – the wife looking on while the husband held a smiling toddler up to the tree. The scene caught his eye and he noticed Anna looking, too. “This is what I was admiring when I slipped,” she told him. “Such a lovely family scene. I wonder if it ever happens in real life?”
He gave her a sharp look. “Of course it does – didn’t you ever celebrate Christmas with your family? The tree and the trimmings and all?”
She turned as if to walk away, but not before he saw the sudden sadness in her eyes. “I was orphaned when I was eight. I lived with a foster family after that. The Adams were very strict and not given to warm family scenes.”
Anna took a step forward, away from him and towards her hotel. He wanted to drag her back into his arms, but he also wanted to let her go. Anna Findlay was a conundrum, a complication he didn’t need in his life. And yet, like a conundrum, she intrigued him. He took a step towards her, and then he saw pain flash across her face as her body stiffened, and she began to fall. Without even thinking, his arms swept out and he caught her, pulling her close against him. The soft feminine scent of her perfume tickled his nose – something light and citrus, an uncomplicated, easy scent. Unlike the woman herself.
“What happened? Are you hurt? Dizzy from the fall?”
She looked up as if surprised at the anxiety in his voice. He steadied her gently as she put her foot down again, and the little gasp of pain that escaped her lips tore at his heartstrings.
“I think I’ve sprained my ankle – it’s nothing, I’m sure. If you’d just help me get a cab…”
There was no way in the world he was going to put her in a cab and shuck off his responsibility. Bending slightly, he
swept her up into his arms, cradling her like a precious child. “You’re going to the hospital. We’ll get that ankle checked out and be sure there are no broken bones.”
“I don’t need….”
“Would you like me to put you over my shoulder and carry you there?” The steel in his voice made her back down.
“I have to tell you that I’m used to making my own decisions,” she declared.
“So you can sue me later,” he growled.
* * *
Still watching from her window, Felicity saw Jed’s obvious concern for Anna, the gentle way he lifted her, the no-nonsense way he took charge and bundled her into his car. She was tired of waiting for the handsome millionaire to finally settle down, see that their future was bright together, and pop the question. She was darned if she was going to sit back and wait for him to go through another dalliance, especially with Anna Findlay, aka Little Miss Nobody.
Her anxiety was turning into anger, which in its turn was morphing into desire – for revenge.
Slipping her cell phone from her tastefully minute evening bag, she made a call to one of her staff. “Barney, I need you to go and take a couple of pix for me.” There was a squawk of protest from the man on the other end of the line, who couldn’t see but could imagine the icy smile that flitted across Felicity’s face as she said: “What? I know it’s late, but you do like your job, don’t you? I mean, you do want to continue to work for Freyer Media, don’t you?”
Rapidly, she fired off a list of instructions. The icy smile slid back into place as she closed the phone and returned it to her purse. This would put a fine spoke in that little tramp’s wheel. Jed might not be happy, but it would be for his own good in the long run. And what was the point of owning a slew of magazines if one never used them for one’s own benefit? It wasn’t like she was trying to influence votes with slanted coverage, or anything like that, she assured herself.
CHAPTER ELEVENThe nursing staff at the hospital immediately recognized Jed and made a fuss over him while they tut-tutted over Anna’s rapidly swelling, red and bruised looking ankle. He, in turn, was charming, patient, and able to chat easily with everyone. She was pleased to see a different Jed – she knew Jed the Escort, and Jed the Nasty Interviewer, but this gentle, polite and caring Jed was entirely new.
Soon, the ankle was x-rayed and pronounced not fractured, then bundled up with support bandages. Anna was given a few pain killers and told to rest up. “Keep off that foot for a couple of days, and it’ll heal faster. Take good care of our patient, Mr. Walker – it was so nice to meet you in person,” the young ER doctor said, shaking Jed’s hand and smiling at Anna.
With the pain dulled by pills, Anna relaxed in Jed’s company. She felt warm and cared for – not a feeling she’d often experienced. Or allowed herself to feel. Hadn’t she always stuck to her independence, shutting out anyone who tried to get close, because she knew that anyone she loved could be snatched away at a moment’s notice. Just like her parents.
One of the reasons Louis said things didn’t work out between you was that you wouldn’t let him get close, she remembered. He even took the hamster because he said she wasn’t capable of loving the small creature. Well, when people get close to you, they can hurt you.
* * *
She dozed in the warmth of Jed’s Jeep. A mixture of exhaustion, pain pills, and the sheer luxury of being looked after, made her relaxed and drowsy. She woke up slowly when they stopped outside her hotel, and she watched as Jed signaled to his friend, Donnie the Doorman, who came over and took the car keys. “You get Ms. Findlay up to her room; I’ll look after the vehicle,” she heard Donnie say. It’s good to have friends in low places, she told herself, remembering how this whole thing had come about because she’d first seen Jed talking to Donnie and mistaken him for her escort.
Which brought back memories of the No Sex Clause, and the mind-blowing experience with Jed in the Knotting Grove motel. In her drugged state, the memory took on a special warmth, and she was sure Jed shot her a strange look as he opened the passenger door and lifted her out.
“Your face is very flushed; do you think you’re running a fever?” he asked, concern in his voice as he laid a cool hand on her forehead.
Yeah, sure – a fever for you. Oops! She didn’t say that out loud, did she? Of course not.
So why was Jed looking at her with that cat-that-got-the-cream expression?
Her analgesic befuddled brain didn’t get a chance to consider this further. She gasped as Jed reached into the vehicle, slid one hand behind her back and the other under her bottom, then swept her up into his arms.
“Jed.” the word came as a strangled croak.
“Hush, love – you’re not to walk on that ankle, so I’ll carry you.” And he did, completely ignoring her sputtering protests. With easy strides, he marched with her in his arms into the hotel lobby, where some sort of celebrity was holding court to fans and Press photographers. Anna blinked as flashes went off, and she buried her face in Jed’s broad chest.
In her room, Jed laid her down on the bed, pulled the covers up over her and then lay down behind her, spoon fashion, his arms around her.
“Jed, remember when I thought you were the escort I’d hired?”
“I do, but I will never understand why a woman as beautiful as you would need to hire a date.”
Beautiful? She’d never thought of herself as that. Smart, yes. Competent, yes. Moderately attractive, yes. Beautiful? No. The slow fire that Jed had lit in that motel room began to blaze back to life again. Ignoring the aching in her ankle, Anna wriggled round to face him.
“Was your family really…did you have Christmas like that storefront?” She knew she sounded like a little girl, but her curiosity overwhelmed her.
“Something like that, yes. My mom always made cookies and Dad made mulled wine and beer, and all sorts of people came and went during Christmas Eve. And each of us in turn, as we grew up, was lifted up to put the star on top of the tree.” It surprised him how much the memory of those childhood days warmed him.
“Your folks sound wonderful,” Anna sighed.
“Well, Mia wasn’t actually my mom – my real mom died when I was four. But Dad remarried and Mia soon made it clear that she loved me and my younger brother and sister. She was definitely a mom to us, and even now, when we’re all grown, we still think of her as mom.”
“You didn’t resent her because she was taking the place of your real mom.”
“I have a few memories of my real mom, all a bit sketchy because I was so young, but I’ll always treasure them. Mia had been a friend of Mom’s and she would tell us stories about her and show us photographs, so that we’d never forget.”
“She sounds a lovely person.” Anna’s thoughts turned to the Adams. They’d tried to be parents to her; they just weren’t her mom and dad…she shook her head to clear those thoughts, and wriggled up so that her back was against Jed’s warmth.
“That No Sex Clause only referred to the escort – Mrs. Rogers from the agency told me they were very strict about that. Their escorts were all…” she swallowed hard. “What I’m trying to say is that that rule doesn’t apply to you, to us..”
In the dusk of the room, she could feel rather than see his smile.
“I wouldn’t care if it did,” he murmured against her hair.
“You wouldn’t?” She felt warm all over.
“No, my sweet. Some rules are made to be broken. But not tonight, not while you’re hurt. You need to rest.” He added. “I’ll stay until you fall asleep,” he promised.
She wasn’t sure whether she was disappointed, or delighted at his consideration.
* * *
He kept that promise. Jed lay with his arms cradling Anna until she was sound asleep. Then he tucked the covers around her and quietly left her room, wondering if she would ever know just how much willpower it had taken not to make love to her when every fiber of his being was demanding it.
It had helped that h
e knew their time would come, and when it did, he wanted Anna to be able to enjoy it every bit as much as he knew he would…all night long. And to hell with the No Sex Clause.
He arrived at his office late, tired but strangely calm and elated at the same time. Anyone would think he was in love….He’d left Anna sleeping and returned home to his own bed, where he’d slept soundly for the few hours of night left, with the remembered imprint of Anna’s warm soft body still burning against his.
Usually he strode into the office early, nodding and speaking to the employees who’d arrived before him as he marched through his domain. Jed Walker, King of All He Surveyed.
But today there was something odd in the air – odder than the usual day at the studio with all the artistic and creative types he’d gathered around him. He’d gone into the Walker Media offices smiling, but his good mood began to evaporate as conversations were suddenly silenced at his approach and his usually friendly staff avoided his gaze, becoming absorbed in computer screen and data files.
Even his own admin secretary, Kathryn - always in the office before him and usually cheerful as a lark - was scurrying out of her office, the ante-room to his, as he arrived. He couldn’t help the feeling that someone had called her and warned her of his arrival and she was bolting.
“Kathryn – come on, I know something’s going on! Spill – what’s happened?” he blocked her escape route through the door, casually inserting his lean body against the doorframe before she could disappear.
“This place has the strong odor of bad news all over it. Tell me what happened?” A cold feeling gripped him; was there a court case? Had one of his headstrong, egotistical presenters made a major gaffe? Had ratings for some reason plummeted? A major network breakdown which had left advertisers and viewers, TV-less and complaining in droves?
“Er, Jed…” It wasn’t at all like his usually blunt-to-a- fault secretary to be tongue tied like this. He looked at her sharply and she bit her lip, her curly red hair seeming to stand on end as if she’d had a nasty encounter with an electrical circuit.
The No Sex Clause Page 8
