Ty was having a little trouble. One of his strengths, one that Eric had helped him hone and believe in, was reading people. He was good at telling when they were diverting, avoiding or downright lying. But at the moment, he couldn’t seem to focus on those aspects of the exquisite woman before him.
He estimated she was about five-seven, and slender. Not skinny but lanky, like a spring foal who’d figured out her legs at last. Unlike in the photo, her hair was down, and it gleamed as if catching what light there was in the elevator alcove. And her eyes were the kind of deep rich brown that seemed so mysterious, and yet they held a sharp, observing intelligence only a fool would overlook. Her features were delicate—except for that luscious mouth.
The mouth he was staring at. He slammed back to reality and cursed at himself silently. Some security expert you are.
“—good friend of my father,” she was saying.
He’d entirely missed the first part of that. “Your father,” he said, trying to cover.
She nodded. “They met when he was considering running and going around the country, assessing support. My father was the one who urged him to do so. They’ve stayed good friends, even now that he’s out of office.” She smiled. “He was a good president, I think.”
Joe Colton. She was talking about Joe Colton. That was why she’d reacted to the name. He’d thought she’d heard about the lawsuit and all the problems Colton Construction was having these days. Problems he would much prefer to be digging into, despite being warned off by Jordana and her partner, Reese Carpenter. He should have known better. Why would their little—relative to her life, anyway—problems matter to the likes of her?
“He’s a pretty distant connection,” he said, his voice rather gruff as he tried to cover his discomfiture at having so completely blown this initial contact. “I don’t have anything to do with that branch, really.” It’s enough dealing with my own.
“Yet you felt defensive about it?” she asked with one elegant brow arched at him.
Okay, now she had him thoroughly embarrassed. Because he had kind of snapped at her. “No. I mean...I was referring to my family, not him. My father’s company is...in kind of a mess at the moment.”
Her brow furrowed. “I saw some reports about...Colton Construction, right?”
He grimaced. “Yes. It’s kind of the main topic around here lately.”
“I’m sorry.” She sounded like she meant it.
“No need.” He tried to get a grip. “But where were you going? You were supposed to stay in your hotel room until I got there.”
“I felt trapped in that room.”
“You’d have really felt trapped if that guy who threatened you had been on that elevator.”
Her chin came up. “But he wasn’t. And Mr. and Mrs. Roth were delightful. Besides, I was only headed to the library.”
“Without protection.”
“It’s not that far. I wanted the walk.”
“It’s not that close. Two, two and a half miles. And you were going to walk. Alone.” She shrugged. He studied her for a moment. “You’re not taking this at all seriously, are you.” It wasn’t really a question, because he knew she wasn’t, he could feel it.
“My parents are...protective.”
“You’d make quite a target under normal circumstances. Doing what you do just raises your profile. It’s understandable they feel protective.”
“Too protective.”
“From what I gathered, I doubt they believe there is such a thing.”
She gave him a look that seemed nothing more than curious. “Is that how your parents are?”
“No.”
She let out a short breath that verged on disgusted. “Why? Because you’re a big strong man?”
He couldn’t help it, the corners of his mouth twitched. “I am. But it’s more because we don’t hold a huge chunk of the world’s wealth, tempting slimeballs who want to get rich the easy way.”
“That has nothing to do with this,” she said, sounding rather offended. “This is strictly me.”
“You can attract your own threats, is that what you’re saying?”
She blinked. Looked as if she were winding up for a fierce retort. But then suddenly, unexpectedly, she smiled. Widely. And it was devastating.
“Touché, Mr. Colton. It’s been known to happen,” she said. “I seem to have a tendency to anger certain kinds of people.”
“The kind who would like you to mind your own business?”
“But what I get involved in is my own business. Mine and everyone who gives a damn.” A crusader. Dear God, Eric had stuck him with a crusader. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get to the library. I have some research to do.”
“Research?”
“Yes.” She gave him a sideways look. “I don’t rush into these things blind, Mr. Colton, nor jump on any passing bandwagon. My name bears weight, so I make sure I do my homework.”
“A responsible do-gooder, huh?”
She drew up sharply. “You say that as if you think those two terms are mutually exclusive.”
“Sometimes they are. And I know that from personal experience.”
She looked about to say something else, then stopped. “I need to be on my way,” she said, and he knew that wasn’t what she’d been going to say. He wondered what had made her change her mind.
“My car’s out front.”
“I told you, I want the walk.”
“You’ll be safer in the car.”
She smiled at him sweetly. Too sweetly. “Isn’t that your job, to keep me safe wherever I am?”
The expression, and that syrupy tone that matched it, grated on him. But he kept his voice level. “And your job is not to make that impossible by being stubborn about it.”
“Not the most diplomatic approach I’ve ever seen.”
“You want a diplomat, you’d better head back home.” And someone else can take over this job I didn’t want in the first place. “I understand your family hangs out with that bunch.”
She looked, finally, perturbed. “I see why you avoid the presidential branch,” she said coolly. “They’d likely throw you out.”
“Likely,” he agreed. “I don’t have the Machiavellian instinct needed for that crowd. The question is, is that a point for or against me?”
She studied him for a moment. He saw...something in those dark brown eyes change, as if she’d reached some sort of conclusion. “Well,” she said, her tone quite different now, lighter, “since that’s something I lack as well, I suppose I’ll have to say it’s in your favor.”
He couldn’t help it, her words made him smile. He hadn’t expected that. “I have trouble believing you couldn’t swim in that world, if you wanted to.”
Her eyes widened, and he wondered why. He hadn’t meant it as a criticism, except maybe of that world of politics, which he loathed. It was part of the reason he’d walked away from the family business; there was too much of that involved for his taste.
Then, quickly, she recovered. “I could swim with sharks, too, but I’d expect consequences.”
And this time he laughed, almost unwillingly. And apparently surprised her, since she nearly gaped at him. But he pointed out, “In one sense, that’s what you do, anyway. And right now there’s one circling, so to ignore it would be foolhardy.”
She looked strangely pleased, then thoughtful. And finally she sighed audibly. “All right. The car it is.”
So she could see reason. He felt suddenly better about this whole thing. “Good. I’m out front.”
She only nodded and started walking that way. He instinctively scanned the lobby, but there was no sign of anyone suspicious. Of anyone watching her, other than the desk clerk who was simply looking with obvious male appreciation. And he couldn’t blame the guy for that. She was as beautiful as that photograph showed, in a big city sort of way.
But for an uber-rich East Coast sort, he found it interesting that her clothing was so simple. Even her jeans weren’t some fancy designer-label type, but instead the classic brand that he himself wore.
To determine this, he realized he’d been looking at what was admittedly a nice trim but curved backside, which was not someplace he wanted to go. This was a job, she was a client—or rather her parents who owned half the world were clients—and so unattainable to an average guy like him, it was incalculable.
But, he thought as he followed, that didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate.