Running From Fate (21 page)

He sighed in relief, which quickly turned to admiration,
when
she
glided
into the lobby.
 
With her rich, chocolate skirt swaying around her shapely legs and her upswept hair highlighting
her sculpted cheekbones,
she looked delectable.
Apparently,
James reflected as he glanced at his
companion,
Jonathan thought the same thing
. 
He
couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her.
Client or not,
James
decided, the man
would require
watching.

“
Why
Jon Ashton,” Mira
exclaimed. 
She sat down her briefcase and
held out both
hands. 
“It’s been years since we’ve seen each other.
Are you the client that we came here to impress?”

Jonathan lifted both of her hands
and placed a light kiss on each of her palms
.
“Mira
Sw
—
no, wait, it’s Anders now, isn’t it?”
He slowly ran his eyes over her.
“I have to say
,”
he
murmured
,
“
that
you get more beautiful every time I see you.”

Mira felt her
heat climb up her face
.
The blatant admiration in his blue eyes was
starting to make her
uncomfortable.
She resisted fidgeting and
pulled lightly against his grasp
until
he finally released her.

“How
is
your husband doing
?” He asked silkily, glancing around the lobby. 
“Did he let you go on this trip by yourself?”

“My husband is dead,” Mira said briskly.
She reminded herself that he was a potential client and
she couldn’t slap him
.
She forced her voice to soften. 
“Kevi
n has been gone for eight years.  He died soon after our honeymoon.
”

“Ah, yes, I remember, it was the last time that I saw you.”
He touched her shoulder lightly
, almost caressingly
. 
“I’m so sorry to hear that.”

James
clenched his hand and told himself that he couldn’t
punch
the man
in
his aristocratic face.
  It was time to get things moving.  He ushered them out of the lobby.

An hour later
he
walked out of one of the hotel’s many
conference
rooms.
The meeting had gone well
and it looked as if they would get the contract,
but if he had to hear that smarmy English lord compliment Mira one more time he wouldn’t be responsible for his actions.
He would be able to deal with
the man
much better when they were an ocean apart.

“Tha
nk you for your time Mr. Kelly,” Mr. Ashton said as he clasped James’ hand and shook it heartily.  “
I was
quite
impressed by your presentation
and y
ou can be sure that I will be contacting you in the near future.
”  He turned from James to wink at Mira.
“
Perhaps
,” he continued,
“
I’ll even hop over
there myself. 
It was wonderful to see you again,”
he said, turning fully toward Mira.
“Your work was excellent, just as I knew it would be.”
He bent down and air kissed her cheek.

Mira backed up a couple of paces and s
cooted
next to James.
“Thank you Jon.
It was great to see you again too.”
She glanced at her watch.
“It’s getting quite late and we don’t want to keep you from anything.
I’m sure I’ll see you again before we leave.”

“Actually,
”
Jonathan interrupted.
“I was hoping that we could catch up this evening
, p
erhaps over dinner.”

He’s a cl
ient, Mira sternly told herself.
It
wouldn’t do to insult him.
She mentally sighed. 
It might be a good idea to have dinner with him after all.
She could always plead fatigue and leave early.

“I’m very sorry Mr. Ashton,” James said smoothly, “but that won’t be possible.
Mira and I already have plans for the evening.
She’s been begging me to take her to an authentic English pub.
It’s not exactly my type of scene but, hey,” he shrugged.
“What could I do?
Perhaps we can all have lunch together before our plane leaves?”

“I’m afraid
I won’t have the time tomorrow.” 
He looked disappointed, but resigned.
  With a final, forlorn glance at Mira, he turned and walked down the hallway.

“Could
you have made me sound like any more of an airhead?”
Mira said through gritted teeth once they were safely
alone and on their way upstairs
.
“
I know you thought you were helping
,
but I can handle myself.”

“You liked having him slobber all over you, did you?
”  His eyes narrowed slightly with the beginnings of anger.
“
Perhaps I should have let
you go out with him
.”

“I would have been able to handle him, but I suppose I should thank you,
” s
he groused.
They stopped in front of her room and Mira dug out her key
. 
“Goodnight James.”

“Wait a minute
.  W
hat about dinner?
”  He ran his hand through his hair
,
wondering what
in
the
bloody
hell he was doing.  Hadn’t he sworn that he would stay away from her?  “
I could really go for some pub fare and I think we could both use a drink.
What do you say?”
  He heard the words coming out
of his mouth as if from a great
distance, like he had no control ove
r his speech.  Despite his ambivalent
feelings, though, he waited impatiently for her answer.

Mira tapped her foot,
the motion making barely any sound in the
lushly
carpeted hallway, and contemplated her choice
s
.  She and James were alone in what was, essentially, a foreign environment and he had a girlfriend back home.  As much as she wanted to go out with him, she wasn’t one of those women.  On the other hand, it could just be dinner.  They did both have to eat and her stomach was starting to growl.  Besides, she could do with a drink.  “All right,” she decided.  “Let’s go.”

The place was called the Boarshead
Tavern
and, had Mira actually been desperate to visit an “English pub,” it was
all that she could have desired. 
The long, dark bar was suitably scarred and worn und
er dim, unflattering lighting, a
large boar’s head hung
in a place of honor behind the bar, and m
en in work boots sat shoulder to shoulder with women in tight shirts and miniscule skirt
s on leather covered barstools. 
In the corner
,
an obviously dr
unk
older
man was attempting to sing
Frank Sinatra’s “My Way
”
in a warbling tenor. 
Hanging over
the scene
was a hazy cloud of smoke
. 
The food,
Mira found
, was
actually pretty
decent and, after several drinks,
she
was beginning to enjoy the
singing.

“
You and Jonathan seemed to know each other very well
.
” 
James
poured some more vinegar over
his
chips and popped on
e
in
his
mouth.
He
sighed in pleasure at the tart flavor.
 
“When exactly did you meet him
and why didn’t you tell me you already knew each other?”

“First of all, I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know
. 
You
didn’t tell me who we were meeting with,” she
responded
archly
.  “A
nd
,
secondly, I don’t really know him that well.
We only met a few times.”
  She ignored his baleful look and dug into her mince pie.

“For not knowing him that well, you two acted awful
ly
familiar with each other.”  He
stabbed a piece of fish
so violently that his fork clang
ed against the plate.
 
The guy
’
s hands had been all over her
,
he fumed,
touching her back when pushing her chair in,
grasping
her hands,
laying his palm
on her shoulder
. 
He
hadn’t seen her protest
.
In fact, it had looked like she had been about to say yes to his dinner invitat
ion
.
If he hadn’t stepped in who
knows what could have happened.  Now
he was stuck having
dinner in this greasy, low-
class place.