the hell was she? The ever-moving crowd kept blocking his view, but even so his sixth sense told him she wasn’t there.
An icy chill slid down his spine.
Glancing to the left, he caught the eye of one of his team acting as a waiter. Jonesy subtly signalled towards the patio doors leading to the gardens. His mouth tightened. He’d told her not to leave the room. No doubt the perfect Prince of Triole had taken her outside, and that wasn’t going to happen on his watch.
Furious with himself for yet another lapse in concentration, Wolfe wove a determined line through the throng of guests until he was outside. Giving his eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light, he strained his hearing for the sound of her voice. Then he saw the flash of her strapless gown through the trees and the matching red stripe down the side of the Prince’s trousers. His and hers. Perfection in the making, he thought acidly.
Lorenzo had caught her hands in his, the expression on his face one of earnest concentration. Was he about to propose? Wolfe didn’t wait to find out.
‘Nice night for a stroll, ma’am.’
Ava stiffened at the sound of Wolfe’s voice behind her and tugged her hands out of Lorenzo’s. She knew Wolfe was reprimanding her for going against his orders, but she didn’t care.
Since he’d walked out of her hotel room she’d been more determined than ever to find Lorenzo attractive. She didn’t want Wolfe to be the only man who could make her melt with mindless passion, because she knew he was determined to stay unattached for ever and she needed the opposite. She wanted the opposite! And wanting something more with him was just asking for heartache. Especially when the look on his face as he’d stormed out of her hotel room had left her in no doubt as to how appalled he was by the attraction that still simmered between them.
He moved now, blocking her way, his legs set wide apart, his hands clasped behind his back. He was so intensely male he took her breath away and, try as she had all night, she couldn’t forget the way it felt to be pressed up against all that hard muscle.
Previously she would have said she wasn’t a woman who could get turned on by a powerful man. But of course previously she hadn’t met Wolfe. Hadn’t felt this explosion of chemistry that made her tingle and burn. Hadn’t felt such a strong need to be with someone not just sexually but…always.
She let out a silent, shaky breath she hoped he wouldn’t notice and stared him down.
‘Prince Lorenzo and I would like some privacy, Wolfe.’
‘I need to talk to you.’
Ava shook her head. Talking was a bad idea. Forgetting about what had happened in her hotel room was what was required. ‘Not now.’
Wolfe cut his eyes to Lorenzo and she knew he was on the verge of ordering him to leave. Only Wolfe would consider doing that with a man who was second in line to the throne.
‘Wolfe, please.’ She hated the way she sounded as if she was begging but she was. She couldn’t do this any more. First thing tomorrow morning she was going to contact her father and tell him to organise another bodyguard. Wolfe could still head up the case if he liked, but she knew there was absolutely no way she could feel anything more than friendship for any man she met while Wolfe was by her side. Even when he wasn’t with her she thought of him, ached for him. She was starting to fear that no one would measure up to him. Ever.
His jaw clenched, as it always did when he was annoyed with her, and if possible his expression grew even more remote.
God, he was impossible! That kiss back in her hotel room…Her lips parted…
Don’t think about it, she ordered herself.
Not easy when he blocked her path, giving her no choice but to either wait for him to step aside or turn around with her tail tucked between her legs and retreat back inside as he wanted her to do.
Ava knew which option she wasn’t going to take.
Stepping closer to him was a mistake, though, as her senses became immediately overloaded with the faint trace of musk and man—a combination that instantly flooded her body with heat and need.
She shivered and Lorenzo placed his hand on her shoulder. Straight away her undisciplined mind compared its size and texture to Wolfe’s. It felt cool, where Wolfe’s always felt so warm it bordered on hot, and it didn’t make her want to wind herself around him until she didn’t know where she ended and he began.
‘Are you cold, piccolina?’
For a minute Ava thought Wolfe might do Lorenzo damage, and she quickly smiled her reassurance at Lorenzo before throwing Wolfe a baleful stare. ‘We can talk later. Right now I need you to move out of my way.’
In more ways than one, her mind quipped unhelpfully.
Ava waited, remembering the time he had threatened to toss her onto his horse. Back then she hadn’t believed he’d really do it. Now she knew better. Wolfe always got the job done, no matter what.
He glanced at his watch and then stepped aside, but it didn’t feel as if she had won a major victory.
In a fit of frustration she tightened her hold on Lorenzo’s arm in an attempt to disconnect her senses from Wolfe.
Oh, who was she kidding? She’d done it to send a message to Wolfe that his rejection of her hadn’t affected her in the slightest. That she didn’t need him. But silently she accepted that if Lucy hadn’t interrupted them they’d have made love again. And she couldn’t dislodge the sensation that it just felt so right to be in Wolfe’s arms.
‘Ava?’
‘I’m sorry, Lorenzo. I was…you were telling me about how we could integrate the telecommunications networks between Anders and Triole?’
Ava let him fill her head with possibilities and murmured appropriately, but her heart wasn’t in it and, feeling Wolfe’s steely silence behind her, she experienced an overwhelming need to escape both men and take stock. And she would have done exactly that if Wolfe hadn’t cleared his throat and stepped forwards again.
‘Ma’am.’ His voice was dark and official. ‘We need to have that talk now.’
Ava glanced from Wolfe to the burly man in an expensive suit and with a grim expression standing beside him. Did he have news about her situation?
Excusing herself from Lorenzo, Ava waited for Wolfe to speak.
‘Ma’am, this is Dan Rogers. He’s a security specialist who has worked for me for a number of years. He’ll be taking over your security detail from now on.’
It took a minute for Wolfe’s words to sink in, and when they did Ava’s stomach bottomed out. ‘You’re quitting?’ She couldn’t believe it. He’d told her he would never quit, and she realised with a start that she’d come to rely on that.
‘Not quitting. I’m rearranging the team to better utilise our skill-set.’
Ava heard what he said but she didn’t believe it. This wasn’t about skill-sets. This was about that kiss in her hotel room.
With
