as ethereal as she’d always been. He’d have thought almost two years in Europe, working, touring and visiting her German relatives would have fattened her up a bit, but she still had that waiflike look to her—the touch of faerie. Dark hair like a waving river down her back, fathomless caramel-brown eyes and restless hands; her features so delicate she seemed lost inside her gentle prettiness.
Until she opened her mouth, that is. Then the notion that she was a delicate woman in need of male protection was blasted apart. She could give an armoured tank lessons on keeping up protective shells. She scared the living daylights out of any man who ventured near her without their defensive weapons raised and ready.
Don’t patronise me had been her favourite phrase, among a hundred lines designed to keep the barbed-wire fence around her space from being breached.
“Have I got gravy on my nose, Haskell?”
Jim snapped out of his reverie with Danni’s withering tone. “No, just the usual ice around your heart,” he said without thinking—and he could have cut out his tongue, when he saw her reaction. Not that she paled, or flinched; nothing so obvious for the iron maiden. Her eyelids flickered, that was all; but in that moment, a flash of vulnerability shone in her eyes.
Hurt.
Then he remembered, knew why he couldn’t stop watching her tonight—and why she was so aware of his attention, instead of ignoring him as she always had before.
Two years ago, at their graduation celebration. Even in the midst of his family’s joy at his gaining the cap and scroll—the first alumni in his poor country family—he’d missed his best friend like crazy, and wandered around the hall as if he’d somehow be able to find Laila. Knowing it was stupid, he’d been unable to stop, feeling more and more lost and alone. He’d missed having someone to talk to, to laugh with. He could have taken a date—one of several, he’d always been popular—but none of them were Laila, and that day had been too important to waste on what he privately termed a “fluffy girl.”
Then he’d seen Danni in the middle of a conversation with one of the many veterinary surgeons who’d come looking for new talent. The man, at least twenty years older than Danni, had been sending out signals impossible to ignore…and Danni’s wistful, pretty face had grown more derisive by the moment.
He didn’t doubt her ability to handle the jerk; but by the look on her face, he’d known whatever she’d been about to say would have destroyed her career chances for years to come.
And the dirty slimebag was touching her.
Why, he still had no idea, but before he knew it, he’d strolled up as if she’d been the one he’d been looking for all night, wrapped his arm around her waist and claimed her as his woman with a cheerful grin. He’d kissed her with the casualness of long-term intimacy—a kiss that seemed to reroute his brain circuits for a few seconds—and then he’d pulled himself together, and extolled her talents as a veterinary surgeon. Within seconds, he’d got the man back onto the strictly professional path.
He’d expected no thanks for his intervention—maybe perhaps more of a verbal assault about how “sisters are doing it for themselves” from miniature Sherman tank Danni Morrison—but instead of either, she’d given him an amazed, sweet, wondering look…the look of a woman who had finally seen him as a man.
An attractive man, a man whose touch had made her feel something.
He’d never dreamed of getting that kind of look from Danni, had never wanted it from her, either. At least, he hadn’t realised how amazing it was to be a man wanted by a woman like Danni until that moment. Seeing her battle-weary face soften into radiance so strong it was terrifying…and it was because of him.
Why had he kissed her a second time? He still had no good answer—except that the first kiss had been so good. And to his disbelief, it had been even more amazing. Scary, addictive stuff….
And then, she’d asked him out. And taken his hand in hers, looking up at him as if he was something wonderful….
The kind of look Laila had given him the first time he’d rescued her. A warning shout had reverberated in his head, Get out of here! You’ll only get hurt again.
And he’d made a hurried excuse and walked away. What else could he have done?
He came back to the present, and saw the change. Danni’s chin was up, her eyes glittering defence, her mouth opening to give him the broad side of her smart tongue.
He’d be willing to bet she had another few hundred attacking lines by now, and in a few different languages…and he’d deserve it.
“I’m sorry, Danni, that was a rude and unnecessary thing to say,” he said with quiet sincerity. She deserved the apology—both for now, and for two years ago. He’d walked off on the strength of the look in her eyes, when it had probably been simple gratitude. Danni wasn’t used to anyone doing anything for her…or maybe she wasn’t used to being kissed. He’d never seen her with a guy in all the years they’d been in the same group.
Her half-open mouth stopped there. He should have been glad he’d routed the attack for once, but all he could think was how pretty her mouth was like that—how kissable. She was so lovely when she didn’t use her mouth to destroy the opposition. If he could just keep her mouth busy with other things, such as soft and pliant beneath his…
He swore beneath his breath. She’d been through more than enough pain with her parents’ crazy Hundred Years’ War. He’d be damned if he’d add to it, no matter how lovely she was, or how lost. How tempting.
Hardening his will, he turned his head, forcing his gaze elsewhere.
And saw Laila’s little, knowing grin before it vanished. He narrowed his eyes at her in warning not to go there, but all she did was wink and whisper to Jake. Jake’s sudden grin and discreet thumbs-up told Jim his best friend had relayed the news to her husband.
Laila knew him too well. The vision had been planted now, the seed taken flower. He wanted Danni, and only distance—and another willing woman or three—would supplant it. And that was only if he was very lucky; it only worked with the women who didn’t matter.
And Danni mattered from the time Laila had told him why she had so many barricades around herself. He might not wander into her line of fire, but he’d never hurt her, either.
Fantastic. Another woman he wanted so much it hurt, and he couldn’t do a thing about it. If he followed his normal pattern, he’d be hopelessly lusting after Danni for years—just as he had with Laila, and before that with Maddy Carlson throughout high school. What was it about him that made him so attractive to every woman except the ones he truly liked?
Except that this time, Danni wants you, too. You saw it two years ago, you saw it again tonight. You can have her, and get her out of your system—but there’s something vulnerable about her. Don’t hurt her.
With a savage curse, Jim jerked to his feet and stalked out of the restaurant.
Two amused grins followed him—and one confused frown. Danni didn’t know what to make of it. She turned to Laila. “What’s going on with Jim? He’s normally so easygoing, but tonight he’s like a hissing cat on hot bricks.” His face—he had always been gorgeous, in his cheerful, uncomplicated way—had been filled with quiet storms, soulful and yet hot, drawing her gaze to him over and over. And the way he’d kept staring at her—what was
