I turned at the stairs and looked toward him. “You’d better not go anywhere.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“So, let me get this straight.”
By this time, I had both hands covering my face. It was the third time I’d had to repeat what had happened, and this time it was for James Brooks—the owner of the gallery and the only man in recent memory that intimidated me. I hated that I had disappointed him.
“You’re working late, again. At some point, you realize that there is a stranger in the building. Instead of tripping the alarm, calling the police, and locking your door—you call the police and then set out to apprehend him on your own.”
“I acted without thinking.” But admitting that I did something stupid wasn’t exactly my strong suit, and I knew that I didn’t sound nearly as contrite as he would have liked.
“You certainly did.”
I dropped my hands and met his gaze. “It was a mistake.”
He glared, but I could tell he was far more disappointed and worried than angry. “It certainly was.”
“Mr. Brooks…”
“Don’t ‘Mr. Brooks’ me, Jane. You could’ve gotten yourself killed.”
“But I didn’t.”
“That’s really beside the point.” He stood from the chair he’d been sitting in like a king and glared pointedly at me. “This place is important to me and it was important to my mother. She dedicated her life to it, and I do in turn to honor her memory. Having said that, I’ll say this. Nothing in this place is more valuable to me than the lives of the people who work for me. If this were to ever happen again I would expect you to hide and wait for help. Do you understand?”
“Perfectly.”
“Good.” He sighed. “Now, Mercy is going to come in here and pamper you like women do. I’m going to get a drink because you’ve scared ten years off my life.”
“I’m not weak.”
“No. You aren’t.” He leaned against the side of my desk, reached out, and tilted my face up until our gazes met. “You’re also quite priceless to me, Ms. Tilwell. Remember that.”
I sat back in my chair and watched him walk out of my office into the bull pen. He’d knocked the wind out of my sails. “Damn it.”
“What a dirty mouth you have.”
I looked up and offered my friend and boss, Mercy Rothell, a smile. “Hey.”
“So, GI Jane, I’d lecture you if I didn’t know James had already done it.” She glanced out into the bull pen where he was talking with Mathias Montgomery. “You also gave him quite a scare.”
“It was a stupid thing to do.” I held up my hands in a sign of defeat and then relaxed back in my chair.
“Granted.” She sat down in the chair that James had abandoned. “So, just how long did the two of you tumble around on the floor?”
I flushed and then bit down on my lip. “Mercy.”
“What? So you weren’t sprawled underneath him for several minutes?”
“You make it sound tawdry.”
“I was just hoping.”
“I thought he was a criminal.”
“A pretty fine criminal, I’d say.” She grinned. “The good thing is that James is so rattled that he’s agreed to upgrade the security in the building and get us a new security firm contract.”
“I wasn’t sprawled.”
“Sure sounded like you were.” Mercy laughed when I glared at her.
I glanced out toward the men. “He is pretty.”
“I’ve come to think all the Montgomery men are.”
“Why didn’t you tell me he was here?” Well, that sounded childish. I hated being whiny; it totally conflicted with my internal image of myself.
“I didn’t know. If he’d told us he was coming to do it tonight, we might have altered how we do things. An honest assessment of the business was important to determine our security needs.”
An honest assessment. “In retrospect, he’s not a very good burglar. He made enough noise to wake the dead.”
She laughed. “That can hardly be a detraction.”
“When you and Shame talked about him, neither of you mentioned how arrogant he is.”
Mercy grinned. “I sort of like arrogant men. He spent four years in the army and six in the FBI before he went into the private security sector, so maybe there is an aura about him. As if he knows how capable he is.” She stood. “Now, I’m going to go home and crawl into my bed. I’ll see you on Monday.”
At least I had the weekend to recover. I glanced out toward the bull pen just in time to see James wave good-bye. “Hey, I’ll walk out with you.”
Mercy laughed. “Actually, I think your burglar isn’t quite finished with you.”
I watched, exasperated, as she greeted her future brother-in-law with affection and swished away. They’d left me alone with him. It was obvious that I needed to choose friends and employers more carefully in the future.
Careful not to look in his direction, I picked up my purse and headed toward my office door. He was standing just outside of it and let me get just about a foot past him before he took my arm and brought me around to face him.
“Mr. Montgomery, I assure you that I’ve been manhandled about all I can handle this evening.” I looked pointedly at his hand and then met his gaze. “I think it might be best if you gave me some space.”
He released my arm. “I owe you an apology. I’m not normally so rough with women.”
“I was trying to hit you in the head.” I ran my fingers through my hair and then met his gaze. “Is my hair really too short?”
“Shamus seems to think so.” He touched my chin gently and tilted my head. “But it suits your face.”
I took a step back; his touch was pleasant and far too distracting for my peace of mind. “I should be going.”
“Let me walk you to your car.”
“I can take care of myself.” I lifted my chin and met his gaze with all the determination I could muster. Just because he’d tossed me around like I weighed five pounds and made it abundantly clear that I was no match for him didn’t mean that I was going to admit to any kind of weakness.
“I know.”
I glared at him briefly. “Are you being condescending?”
