Running From Fate (47 page)

Despite Amy’s assurance
the other night
that it was Kim
, Mira felt a part of herself a
greeing with his assessment.  T
he thought that there could be some violent psychopath after her was
terrifying
.
She leaned into James and wrapped her arms over his, gain
ing some comfort from the solid
warmth of his body.

“I live in a house with a state-of-the-art se
curity system,” James continued.
“
And
my butler could take on an armored tank.
I promise that
I’ll keep you
safe
. 
Say
that
you’ll at least think about it.
I promise to be on my best behavior.”

“Why don’t I just get a dog or get my own
security
system?”
She shivered slightly as he rubbed his cheek against her hair.

“
I think that’s a very good idea.
”
He
unwound his ar
ms and stepped back.
  “I’ll get in touch with
my security company
right away.  Fine,” he said when she glared at him.  “I’ll give you the number and you can call.
But
,” he reminded her.
“I
t will
still
be at least a week until you can move back in.
Devon says that the profiler is still going over the place and clean
-
up hasn’t e
ven started
yet
.”

“All right
,” she conceded.
“
I’ll think ab
out it.”  Damn it, she thought as she headed back to her workspace,
s
he should have just avoided him.  H
e was way too persuasive.

**********************************************
************

Mira
did think about it.
While she ate lunch with Amy at a downtown café, while she made a few miniscule adjustments on a drawing, and while she consulted with her co-workers before beginning a new project, she thought about it.
By the end of the workday she had made
her decision.  S
he was going to stay with James.
They were bound to clash and she knew that there would be some problems, but his logic made sense.

It wasn’t that she didn’t feel capable of looking after herself but, if there was someone after her, she couldn’t put Amy in danger.
Technically, she didn’t relish the idea of putting James in danger either, but she figured that he could handle it better.
Plus, it was probably his psycho ex-girlfriend causing the problem so he should help with it.
Now
, she thought as she walked to her car,
all she had to do was tell him.
The question was how.

If she came straight out and told him that he was right he was bound to gloat.
Then she might end up punching him
. 
The best thing to do, she
finally
decided, was to brazen it out
.
She would show up at his door with her suitcases
and act like it had been her idea all along.

S
he made a quick stop
at
Amy’s to grab her things and swung by her own house to pick up some more clothes
— from the pile that weren’t damaged —
and other essentials.

When she pulled into his driveway half an hour later, it was obvious that
the c
onfrontation would have to wait.  H
is car was
nowhere
to be seen.
With any luck the butler would at least be in and she would be able to talk her way past him.
Darkness was starting to creep across the sky and she
didn’t
relish the thought of standing out here in the deepening shadows
waiting for James to get home
.

The door opened at Mira’s second knock and she tried to come up with an explanation as she bent down and picked up her suitcases.
To her surprise, however, she was asked no questions and instead was ushered right in.
In fact, the battered, stoic face that she remembered from her first visit actually showed the faintest hint of a smile and there was a definite twinkle in the butler’s slate
gray
eyes
.

“We have been expecting you,” Winston said in
his
crisp voice with
its faint
British flavor.
He took her suitcases and guided her toward the elegant staircase.

Still slightly ill-at-
ease in the man’s intimidating presence, Mira followed
along
meekly,
but her curious nature finally
asserted itself.
“Who’s we?”
s
he asked suspiciously.
“
I don’t see James anywhere and I’m sure that I
didn’t tell him I was coming.  H
ow could you expect me?”

Winston stopped in the middle of the staircase, almost knocking her over, and turned around
. 
“
The master can be very persuasive, but
I apologize if I presumed too much miss,” he said as he looked down on her.
Far from appearing sorry, though, he looked a little menacing and haughty
and, somehow
, disappointed.
Mira had to fight against the urge to apologize, for what she wasn’t sure.

“I’m sorry,”
she
suddenly heard herself saying.
It
was strange, she thought, but for some reason
this bear of a man reminded her of
S
ister
Beatrice
.
That woman had only
to look at her and she had felt
hell, or at least purgatory, nipping at her heels
.

Winston nodded regally, as if he had expected nothing less, turned, and continued the conversation as it there had been no
interruption
.

“Despite his many faults,” he said.
“James has always been a good judge of people.
I assumed that, since he had brought you over here, you were a reasonably intelligent woman and
would accept his logic
. 
I promise
that you will be safe here.
Now,” he continued as he stopped in front of a door
at the end of the
hallway.
“I have put you
in
what
was
lady of the house’s
room when this
place
was built many years ago.
James is at the other end of the hall.”
He turned to Mira and raised an eyebrow.
“I assumed that you would want separate rooms.
If that wasn’t too presumptuous of me.”

Since that was exactly what Mira wanted this point, she decided to ignore his some
what tart tone and, instead, tried
to see him as an ally.
“It’s
perfect thank you.”

“I’ll leave you to get settled then.”
His forbidding face softened somewhat as he opened the door and
sat
her cases inside.
“James has assured me tha
t he wi
ll be home for dinner.  I
t will be served promptly at 7:00.
Don’t be late.” 
With that final warning, he backed out of the room and shut the door, leaving Mira alone and wondering what she had gotten herself into.

When Mira came downstairs for dinner she found James leaning indolently against the sidebar in the dining room, sipping what appeared to be a glass of whiskey.
As she walked into the room he sat
down the glass
and came forward to greet her.
After a tantalizing, but brief kiss on the back of her hand, he pulled out a chair for her and
walked around the table to take
his own.

She braced herself, expecting at least
some
gloating from him.
After all, she appeared to be giving in completely.
What person wouldn’t rub it in, at least a little bit?
Apparently, James
was in the minority and
didn’t feel the need to do that
as
he said nothing about her appearance in his home.
In fact, besides a noticeable gleam of satisfaction in his eyes, he did everything that he could to keep the conversation light, steering away from any touchy personal issues between them and sticking to work and amusing stories from his past.

By the time
he
had finished a funny tale about an ill-fated college prank and dessert was done, Mira was feeling relaxed and comfortable and beginning to think that she had
been wrong about his intentions.  T
he sexual tension, at least on his part, seemed to have completely disappeared.
He was, she thought with some ire, treating her exactly like a younger sister.
When he reached for her hand and started pulling her toward the stairs, she was almost afraid that he was going to tuck her in and read her a story.
Then she got a good look
at his eyes
. 
They were far from calm and
unfeeling
.  T
hey
burned with a
n
inner light that almost scorched her.

“Where are we going?”
she asked suspiciously.
It was gratifying to learn that he was not unaffected
by her presence
, but she
certainly
wasn’t ready to jump back into bed with him.
 
Not
that he wouldn’t be able to talk her into it,
but she wouldn’t be telling him that.
 
“It’s only 9 o’clock
,” she
added
a little desperately.
“A
nd I’m not tired in the least.”