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“Anything is more interesting than looking like a Barbie doll.” He nodded at the photo, and Jane realized that at a quick glance, her parents really did look like duplicates of Barbie and Ken—an oddly youthful-looking middle-aged pair of plastic dolls.
Jane looked up to find Luke studying her face. Okay, so he was getting sneaky, trying to win her over before seducing her and then rubbing it in her face that she was wrong.
“You can spare me the flattery.” She took the picture from him and placed it on a nearby box, then started digging through the packing paper to find something else to hang.
“I’ll be outside if you need me,” he said, ignoring her hostility, and when she heard his footsteps on the way out the door, Jane couldn’t resist turning and watching him walk.
Why had she hired the sexiest bodyguard on earth? Why had she hired one at all? Probably, the threats she’d been getting were nothing to worry about, just hotheaded guys talking trash. Surely she didn’t need Luke storming into her life and turning it upside down.
Jane had pounded two more nails into the wall before she realized that she hadn’t bothered to space them out or even select pictures to hang on them. She was losing her mind, and it was all Luke’s fault. She wasn’t going to endure another minute of it.
Forget that dumb idea about proving her relationship theories with Luke. Proof seemed pretty irrelevant when her sanity was at stake.
To ensure that she didn’t use it in a way she’d later regret, Jane put the hammer down and went out the front door after Luke. He was leaning into the back of his sport utility vehicle, and as she neared him she had a prime view of his perfect rear end and his well-muscled back. Suddenly, she couldn’t remember what she’d just been so annoyed about.
Images of Luke’s bare rear end and back filled her thoughts—how he would feel to touch, how he might react if she ran her fingertips lightly over his flesh, or if she dug her nails into his skin in the heat of an orgasm. Did he like it a little rough, or nice and gentle?
Everything else about him suggested roughness and hard edges, so Jane would have been willing to bet fingernails in the back were just his style.
He stood up and turned to face her. “What’s up?”
“Um…”
In the truck behind him, she spotted the wires and little boxes that must have comprised her new security system, and she remembered. She’d come out here to fire him. Right. Because he wanted to seduce her just to prove her wrong. Anger rose up in Jane’s chest again.
“This isn’t going to work.”
Luke looked at her as if she’d asked him to dance naked in the street. “Trust me, it’s the best security system around.”
“I mean this—as in, our arrangement. You working as my security specialist is a really bad idea.”
His forehead formed an annoyed crease down the middle. “Didn’t we already have this conversation?”
“And you talked me into ignoring common sense.”
“Common sense should tell you that when you have angry men everywhere threatening you, security should be a priority.”
“I haven’t had anyone actually try to harm me. They’ve all been empty threats.”
“Why don’t you let me determine that. Show me all the letters and e-mail you’ve gotten, let me hear the phone messages, tell me everything that’s happened since the book came out, and I’ll decide how much extra protection you need.”
Jane thought of the radio caller, the way the hairs on her neck had stood up at his words.
Okay, Luke was already here. What would it hurt to let him take a look at all the evidence and then decide how much protection she needed. Maybe he’d just install the security system and then leave for good. Maybe he’d decide all she had to do was change her phone number and vary her routine, or whatever it was personal security specialists advised people to do.
“Fine.”
She led him to her office and sat down at her desk. Across from her, Luke sank into the old red sofa that had been with her since her college days and looked around at her mess of an office. Normally, she didn’t invite people into this room, but when she did, she usually took some time beforehand to shove papers and books into boxes and closets.
Jane flipped through her file cabinet, found the unlabeled file near the back, and withdrew the letters she hadn’t turned over to the police yet, plus copies she’d made of the letters she had given to them. She handed them to Luke and watched as he leaned back on the sofa and began reading.
His expression turned from neutral to disgusted as he slowly made his way through the pile, and Jane caught herself tapping her fingers on the desk, nervous to hear him say that the letters were nothing but the work of novices, pranksters and harmless idiots.
