Rules of Re-engagement by Loreth Anne White

Author:Loreth Anne White [White, Loreth Anne]
Format: epub
Tags: Suspense
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-03-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

11:59 Romeo, Venturion Plaza,

Wednesday, October 8.

Jack was outside, waiting, pacing the plaza, his big black coat moving like a cape behind him.

He stilled the instant he saw her.

Olivia glanced around nervously. The men she’d seen earlier were gone. People seemed to be walking with purpose, no one looking at her. Had her father called the bodyguards off already? His power was suddenly frightening. She knew he wielded influence, but she’d never been on the receiving end. It had never scared her before.

The seeds of doubt planted by Jack were taking root in her soul. As was a growing sense of loss.

She began to walk away from him, unable to face him. She was mourning inside, grieving the bond she thought she’d had with her father.

Olivia was only beginning to understand how potent an influence her father may have been in her life behind the scenes, how blind she might have been to his machinations.

She could see Jack in her peripheral vision. He was coming after her, cutting across the plaza with smooth, confident movements. Her heart quickened. She was afraid of him, too—of his intensity, of her own reawakened desire for him.

He caught up to her, grabbed her, whirled her round and kissed her as if he owned her.

He did own her. For now anyway. She was bound to him by more than the metal cuff—she was committed to this journey to the bitter end. And whether she liked it or not, he was the one calling the shots.

He gripped her by the shoulders, held her at arm’s length, his gaze piercing. “How did it go?”

He was uneasy. He’d handed her the equivalent of a loaded gun and had sent her up there trusting she wouldn’t use it. Now he was worried she had.

“What happened, Olivia?”

She didn’t want to talk about it. She didn’t want her father to be guilty of anything. She wanted to believe in Jack. But that meant accepting too many other things. Oh God, she was going to throw up. “I just want to get out of here, Jack, please.”

He removed his shades and studied her. The compassion and concern in his rough and arrogant features tugged at her, bringing tears threateningly close to the surface.

He nodded slowly. “D’accord,” he said, brushing her cheek gently with the backs of his fingers. “Where would you like to go?”

Her eyes began to burn and the world blurred. “The ocean. I’d like to go to the ocean, Jack. To the Hamptons.” Where the wind would blow cold off the sea and clear her soul. Where she could think.

He looked pensive for a moment, then he bent down and kissed her cheek, like the lover he was pretending to be. But she didn’t want to pretend.

She wanted him back.

She wanted to feel him inside, desperately, fiercely. She wanted to stand in public, right here in the middle of Manhattan, and kiss the man she’d once loved so passionately. Claim him back, erase the lost years, bridge this horrible chasm that yawned between them.

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