surprising her, he couldn’t deny it. And to think he could have been sitting in his car and heading for home right then, still fuming over her final decision about the paralegal offer. Yet that was exactly what he’d planned on doing not ten minutes before as he’d drummed his fingers on the wheel and watched her disappear like an apparition into the house opposite.
Then as fate would have it a call from a client had delayed his departure and thank God it had. But for that call he would not have been sitting there when that cab drew in across the road from where he was parked. He would not have watched a couple get out of the cab and remove their suitcases from the boot. He would not have seen that same couple linger on the footpath for several minutes after the cab had driven away, leaning towards one another as they engaged in an intimate conversation before finally heading into the house. And he would not have had an opportunity to decide it was absolutely necessary he get into that house to find out whether the man he’d just watched making body language love to another woman was Alex’s fiancé.
The only problem was JP didn’t have a single excuse for barging into her parents’ home unannounced. It wasn’t until he’d racked his brains, come up with no brilliant ideas at all and thrown the car into gear that he finally saw it: Alex’s wallet was lying on the floor in front of the passenger’s seat. It had obviously fallen out when she’d grabbed her bag and fled just minutes before.
JP sat back in his seat and laughed in mirthless disbelief as he killed the car engine, wondering whether the devil himself might have made that wallet fall out that night.
“I thought you’d have gone by now,” Alex hissed back irritably as the initial shock of seeing him on her parents’ doorstep subsided.
“I took a business call after you got out of the car,” he explained, loving the effect he was having upon her.
Turning to check no one had followed her down the hallway, Alex pulled the front door closed behind her and stepped out onto the front porch.
“You can’t come in,” she directed, her voice pitched at near hysteria.
“Why not?” JP drawled, unmoved by her panic.
“You know why not.”
“Is it because Simon has arrived? I saw him get out of the cab, you know. I guessed it was him with that pretty little curly haired number.”
“That pretty little curly haired number is my cousin, if you must know.”
“They make a cute couple,” he couldn’t resist adding, wanting to see Alex’s reaction so that he could gauge whether she had any inkling of what he’d thought he’d seen pass between her fiancé and cousin.
“What do you mean by that?” she asked, visibly perturbed.
“Nothing at all.”
“Anyway, you can’t come in.”
“You know that’s very bad manners,” he laughed. “And you may want to reconsider your decision not to let me in because I have your wallet.”
With that he whipped it out from behind his back to reveal it to her ever so briefly before stowing it away again.
“Give me that!”
“Not until you invite me in,” he replied with a grin. He hadn’t seen much of Alex’s feisty side and he decided he liked it—very much.
“Never!” she cried and launched herself at him, lunging around his powerful physique to grab at the wallet but he was too quick for her. He soon had his arm stretched upwards as she jumped a couple of times to snatch it. But he held it just out of her reach, laughing uproariously the whole time.
“Alex, what’s going on?”
At that moment, Alex was airborne in an effort to regain her wallet when the bone chilling tone of a woman’s voice reached JP’s ears. Alex regained her footing and throwing a silencing look at him swung around to face a dark-eyed, slightly built woman standing in the doorway. She was clearly nonplussed at the shenanigans going on in her garden.
“Mum!” Alex breathed, but then despite her mouth being
Then as fate would have it a call from a client had delayed his departure and thank God it had. But for that call he would not have been sitting there when that cab drew in across the road from where he was parked. He would not have watched a couple get out of the cab and remove their suitcases from the boot. He would not have seen that same couple linger on the footpath for several minutes after the cab had driven away, leaning towards one another as they engaged in an intimate conversation before finally heading into the house. And he would not have had an opportunity to decide it was absolutely necessary he get into that house to find out whether the man he’d just watched making body language love to another woman was Alex’s fiancé.
The only problem was JP didn’t have a single excuse for barging into her parents’ home unannounced. It wasn’t until he’d racked his brains, come up with no brilliant ideas at all and thrown the car into gear that he finally saw it: Alex’s wallet was lying on the floor in front of the passenger’s seat. It had obviously fallen out when she’d grabbed her bag and fled just minutes before.
JP sat back in his seat and laughed in mirthless disbelief as he killed the car engine, wondering whether the devil himself might have made that wallet fall out that night.
“I thought you’d have gone by now,” Alex hissed back irritably as the initial shock of seeing him on her parents’ doorstep subsided.
“I took a business call after you got out of the car,” he explained, loving the effect he was having upon her.
Turning to check no one had followed her down the hallway, Alex pulled the front door closed behind her and stepped out onto the front porch.
“You can’t come in,” she directed, her voice pitched at near hysteria.
“Why not?” JP drawled, unmoved by her panic.
“You know why not.”
“Is it because Simon has arrived? I saw him get out of the cab, you know. I guessed it was him with that pretty little curly haired number.”
“That pretty little curly haired number is my cousin, if you must know.”
“They make a cute couple,” he couldn’t resist adding, wanting to see Alex’s reaction so that he could gauge whether she had any inkling of what he’d thought he’d seen pass between her fiancé and cousin.
“What do you mean by that?” she asked, visibly perturbed.
“Nothing at all.”
“Anyway, you can’t come in.”
“You know that’s very bad manners,” he laughed. “And you may want to reconsider your decision not to let me in because I have your wallet.”
With that he whipped it out from behind his back to reveal it to her ever so briefly before stowing it away again.
“Give me that!”
“Not until you invite me in,” he replied with a grin. He hadn’t seen much of Alex’s feisty side and he decided he liked it—very much.
“Never!” she cried and launched herself at him, lunging around his powerful physique to grab at the wallet but he was too quick for her. He soon had his arm stretched upwards as she jumped a couple of times to snatch it. But he held it just out of her reach, laughing uproariously the whole time.
“Alex, what’s going on?”
At that moment, Alex was airborne in an effort to regain her wallet when the bone chilling tone of a woman’s voice reached JP’s ears. Alex regained her footing and throwing a silencing look at him swung around to face a dark-eyed, slightly built woman standing in the doorway. She was clearly nonplussed at the shenanigans going on in her garden.
“Mum!” Alex breathed, but then despite her mouth being
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