he was not as in control as he would like to think he was. So much for his old nickname. Thank God his army mates couldn’t see him now!
Ava started pacing in front of the high bevelled windows again, as if she had too much energy that was searching for an outlet. Her fitted trousers pulled tight across the rounded curves of her backside.
‘You do realise if my father knew of our history together there is no way he would let you guard me?’
Wolfe brought his attention back to her face. ‘So will you tell him or will I?’ he asked silkily, irritated with himself and with her hot-headed stubbornness. She threw him a look and he swiped a hand through his hair. ‘Will you just sit down?’
‘Another order? Let me just set you straight on something, Monsieur Wolfe.’ She set her hands on her sexy hips. ‘If you think I am going to do everything you tell me to do you have another thing coming.’
Her accent had thickened with her agitation and it drove his mind right back to the bedroom.
Wolfe released a slow breath. ‘Believe it or not, I’m trying to help you.’
‘Oh, that’s right—my own personal protector.’
He crossed his arms and waited for her to run her anger out, determined not to get into any more arguments with her.
Seeming to sense his newfound resolve, she prodded at it like a child poking its fingers inside a lion’s enclosure. ‘So, do I get to order you around, as well?’
‘I work for your father.’
Her gorgeous mouth thinned. ‘Two peas in a pod. How cosy.’
‘All that energy you’re burning up is just going to tire you out unnecessarily,’ he offered amiably.
‘You should be glad I’m using it up on pacing,’ she snapped.
Wolfe’s body caught fire at her words. Down, boy. She didn’t mean that was an alternative. It would probably never be an alternative again after today. No, it definitely couldn’t be.
He watched her ponytail trail over the soft skin of her neck before he sat on the edge of the low, plump sofa that was surprisingly modern in a room that dated back centuries. ‘Take your time. I have all night.’
She crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her breasts up so they swelled just above the opening of her shirt. ‘Well, I don’t. So I’d like you to leave.’
‘I need to ask you a few questions first.’
‘You’re really pushing your luck.’
‘Maybe we should clear the air about that night at Gilles’s wedding.’
‘Us having sex, you mean?’
Her cool indifference again made him wonder just how many other men she had spent the night with, and the fact that he was at all interested only added another layer of heat to his spiralling annoyance. Was she just like his mother, willing to slake her lust whenever the urge arose and with any man handy? The thought made him sick.
‘Yes.’
Her eyebrows rose at his churlish tone and she leant back against the windowsill. ‘What’s to clear up? Have you forgotten how it’s done?’
‘Ava—’
‘Oh, don’t worry, Wolfe. I’m not about to strip off my clothes and ask for a repeat. Unless that’s what you want? Is that why you took the job?’ Her voice dropped, lowering to a sultry purr. ‘Are you going to order me to take my clothes off, Monsieur Wolfe?’
‘I don’t sleep with my clients,’ he informed her sternly, ignoring the lie his body’s response begged him to make of that statement.
She raised a mocking brow. ‘My father will be chuffed to hear that. He’s not into men, as far as I know. Although every family has their secrets.’
Her unexpected humour broke the rising tension between them and Wolfe laughed. ‘Tell me, Princess, what is it about me being your bodyguard that you hate the most if it isn’t our history?’
She threw him a droll look. ‘Do you have a spare year?’
Wolfe took a deep breath and offered up an olive branch. ‘Why don’t we start over?’
‘Pretend we’ve never met?’ she asked, somewhat dubiously.
‘If that works for you.’
She shrugged. ‘As long as you don’t order me around I can do that.’
Could she? He wasn’t sure he could. ‘Good. Take a seat.’ He spoke briskly, indicating the sofa opposite him. ‘I need to ask you some things to help my investigation.’
When she didn’t move Wolfe frowned. Was their ceasefire over so soon?
‘Ava?’
‘You can call me ma’am. And I believe you just issued another order?’
Yes, perhaps he had.
‘So did you,’ he ground out.
‘You didn’t say I couldn’t order you around.’
‘Av—Dammit, you need to cooperate or I can’t do my job.’ His mind conjured up the last time he’d teased her by telling her that he knew how to make her cooperate and he swallowed. Hard.
‘So quit.’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘I’ve given my word to your father and there’s no one else I’d trust with your safety.’
‘What do you care about my safety? We’re strangers.’
Wolfe sucked in a silent breath. Seriously, The woman would try the patience of a saint. Reminding himself to keep control, he settled back more comfortably on the sofa. The cat sleeping in the corner rose and stretched, sniffed him and then crawled onto his lap.
‘Hey, mate.’ He stroked it absently. ‘You look like you’ve seen better days.’
‘He belonged to my mother.’ Her mouth turned down slightly at the corners, indicating that she was still affected by the loss. In some way he envied the fact that she cared.
The cat nudged his hand. ‘I take back what I said,’ he told the cat. ‘You’re in top condition for a man your age.’
He looked up to find Ava watching him. When their gazes collided she flushed, and he wondered what she had been thinking.
‘I think I hate you.’
Well, that was definitive, and unfortunately the feeling wasn’t mutual. ‘I’m not your enemy, Ava,’ he said softly.
The words but someone is
