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Charm oozed from him. Wicked, wild, amusement gleamed in his gaze and in his too handsome face, as he leaned against a door frame, watching her.
“Excuse me while I walk instead of run,” she stated with completely false sweetness, her hand clutched around the handle of her briefcase in a death grip.
That was what she got for trying to figure out men, or these particular men. Warnings and dark rumblings, and a complete inability to give her a single straight answer.
Chase’s brow lifted, though he didn’t lose his smile. If she remembered Chase correctly, it took a lot to make him lose his smile.
“When have I ever wanted to see you run, pretty thing?” He straightened from the frame and dropped his arms from his chest, watching her with that ever-present amusement. “You look pretty as hell when you’re pissed off at Cam, but I’d rather see a smile on your face. ”
“Bite me,” she muttered.
White teeth flashed in a wolf’s smile. “I thought I did that the other night. ”
The contrast between Cam and Chase would end up making her crazy. It was like dealing with the opposites of a coin. Night and day. Cam was dark, forbidding, the dominance that was so much a part of him flashing in his eyes and in his expression. Jaci had a feeling that when it came to Chase, a woman would be left reeling, when finally shown that dark, inner core that he kept hidden.
“It’s a good thing I’m a reasonable, patient woman,” she told him as she headed up the stairs. “Otherwise, I might have to kill both of you. ”
She heard his chuckle behind her before he moved away, and though his presence was gone, she could still feel the effect of him. Or was it the effect Cam had left her with?
Damn those two. She didn’t need this in her life right now. Two men to deal with instead of one? Most women were lucky and just didn’t know it. They only had to deal with one man at a time; but no, Jaci Wright just couldn’t do it the easy way, could she? She had to go out and get herself tangled up with a man who thought he should be able to share everything, things about her that he should want to keep for himself.
Moving along the hallway, she turned the corner to the residential wing of the house and moved toward Courtney and Ian’s suite. As she neared the door, it opened and a stranger stepped from inside.
Smiling, tall, seriously handsome, and as dark as sin. She’d seen his picture a thousand times in the gossip magazines, and had had the pleasure of meeting his sister the year before in London.
Khalid el Hamid Mustafa. The bastard son of a Middle Eastern prince.
As he turned from the door he came to a stop, his gaze going over her slowly, dark black eyes rich with wicked, carnal lights slid over her body before coming to a stop at her eyes.
“Ah, such beauty and fire. ” He smiled. A devastating curve to his lips, she was certain. Unfortunately, it left her cold and had little effect on the mesmerizing magic Cam had left pulsing inside her body.
Thick black hair was pulled back to the nape of his neck and tied there. It appeared long enough to fall well below his shoulders. He was dressed in dark gray slacks and a white silk shirt unbuttoned at the throat. His eyes gleamed with wicked, sinful charm, and with delights that a woman could only imagine.
Jaci paused several feet from him, her lips twitching as she saw the faint resemblance between him and the young woman she had grown so fond of last year.
“Mr. Mustafa,” she greeted him, restraining her grin.
He blinked back at her in surprise. “Have we met? Funny, I would have thought I would remember meeting such exquisite beauty. ”
“I met your sister, Paige,” she informed him. “She warned me to steer a wide path around you. ”
His expression flickered with fondness and amusement. “Brave women rarely take such warnings to heart,” he told her, the faint foreign flavor of his voice as sexy as his eyes. And it pissed her off, because she should have been swooning at his feet, just as Paige had warned her not to do. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single swoon inside her, because he couldn’t compare to Cam.
“Bravery doesn’t necessarily entail sampling forbidden fruits, either,” she warned him, amused by him, rather than offended or outraged.
“Paige enjoys warning all the beautiful women against me. ” He grinned again, his sensual lips curving back to flash strong, white teeth. “But I promise you, I am not in the least forbidden. You may sample me all you choose. ”
There was an irrepressible delight in his eyes, the look of a man who enjoyed the chase just as much as he enjoyed the capture.
“I think I’ll pass. ” She declined his very charming offer with a wide smile. “As lovely as the offer sounds, I’m really pretty busy these days, and I’d hate to be unable to give you all the attention I’m certain you deserve. ”
He laughed at that, then tilted his head and watched her for a long, assessing moment.
“You must be the lovely interior designer, Ms. Wright, that Courtney has been telling me so much about. She said you had a beautiful, fearsome wit. I see she was correct. ”
“I don’t know how fearsome it is, but it’s wit anyway. ” She extended her hand. “It’s been interesting to meet you. Though I’ll have to be certain to tell Paige you no longer ravish women at first sight. ”
His hand enfolded hers before he pulled her to him. Off balance, she landed against his chest to find herself the recipient of a quick, laughing kiss to the corner of her lips, before she was carefully set away from him.
