Dark Heat: The Dark Kings Stories (26 page)

Jane looked at the floor to hide her embarrassment over her clumsiness and tenderly put some weight on her ankle. She wasn’t surprised Elena hadn’t noticed her before. No one ever noticed her unless she was being her usual klutzy self.

Whereas Elena was stunning, and literally stopped men in their tracks with her wavy blond hair and green eyes, Jane was plain. She’d prayed as a little girl that she would grow out of the nickname Plain Jane, but she’d not been so fortunate.

Her features were too stark, her eyes too large, and her lips too full. Her hair was an awful shade of auburn that couldn’t decide whether to be brown or red.

Jane cleared her throat when she realized she hadn’t answered. “Yes. Seattle, actually.”

“What brings you to London?”

She was wondering how to answer Elena when the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Jane stayed in the back corner as Elena stepped onto the top floor of PureGems and was immediately surrounded by people.

Jane watched her for a moment. She envied how easily Elena carried herself around people. It wasn’t until the doors began to close that Jane leaped forward to stop them and dropped her armful of papers in the process.

Her body prevented the doors from closing as she hastily gathered the spilled papers and straightened. She swallowed and smiled when she realized everyone was staring at her with a mixture of laughter and horror.

Jane was forever doing stupid things. Apparently, being a klutz had been programmed into her DNA. Her mother had often joked that it took skill to fall on a flat surface, which Jane did often.

All Jane knew was that it was mortifying.

She straightened her pencil skirt with her free hand and walked to her desk, praying she made it without incident. After plopping the mound of papers on her desk, she sat down with a sigh.

“Jane!”

She jumped when Richard Arnold’s voice bellowed through the speaker on her desk phone. His voice was full of distaste, and he always looked down on her Americanisms, as if his being British made him a better person.

Jane leaped to her feet and hurried to open the door to his office. She poked her head in and asked, “Yes, sir?”

“Did I hear right? Is Ms. Griffin finally back?”

“Yes, sir. I just rode up the elevator with Elena.”

“Lift. It’s a lift, Jane. How long is it going to take for you to get it right? Now, why isn’t Elena in my office?” Richard asked as he leaned back in his large leather chair and steepled his fingers.

Jane glanced out the windows lining his office wall at the stunning view of London. “People are very fond of her, sir. Elena didn’t get two steps off the elevator—”

“Lift,” he interrupted.

Jane paused. She hated when he interjected terms they used in Britain. Sometimes she used an American term just to annoy him.

“The lift, then. She got off the lift and was instantly surrounded. I’m sure she’ll be along shortly.”

Richard sat up and braced his arms on his desk, his dark eyes cold. “Go find her. Now.”

“Yes, sir.” She closed the door and looked at the stack of papers she’d dropped and needed to get to work on. It was going to be another late night.

Jane walked down the hall to Elena’s office and found her standing in the middle of the room, staring blankly at her desk.

“Are you all right?” Jane asked softly so as not to startle her.

Elena whirled around in surprise. A sad smile pulled at her lips when she saw it was Jane. “I’m fine. I was just remembering the last time I was here, Sloan was telling me we were going caving.”

“I know this must be difficult. I wish you had more time to adjust—”

Elena laughed and set down her purse. “Let me guess. Richard wants to see me?”

“I think it has to do with the necklace the earl wants made for his daughter’s eighteenth birthday.”

Elena ran her fingers through her wealth of blond hair before gathering the locks into one hand and securing them into a ponytail. “Well, we mustn’t keep Richard waiting.”

Jane followed Elena as they made their way to Richard’s office. Jane resumed her position behind her desk and began to sort through the pile of papers and manila folders.

She lost track of time, but when she finished sorting the papers, she looked up to find Elena standing beside her desk.

“Do you need me to get you anything?” Jane asked.

Elena frowned. “What? Oh, no. I’m just thinking. Jane, did anyone work in my office while I was gone?”

“I know Mr. Arnold went in there a couple of times looking for things while he handled some of your clients. Is something missing?”

“No,” Elena said, a small frown marring her forehead. “No, I don’t believe there is. How long have you worked here?”

“Since last summer. Just about a year.” Jane was beginning to suspect there was more to Elena’s questions than met the eye. She glanced at Richard’s closed door and lowered her voice before she asked, “Should I be looking for another job? I know Mr. Arnold isn’t exactly thrilled with my work.”

Elena smiled and leaned down next to Jane. “He’s British,” she replied in a whisper. “He thinks he’s perfect.”

Jane couldn’t help but return her smile. Elena always put everyone at ease, which was why she’d climbed the latter of success at PureGems so quickly. Her clients loved her. Coworkers loved her.

Everyone loved her.

“Jane!” Richard’s voice shouted again through the desk phone.

She hurriedly rose to her feet, only to be stopped by Elena’s hand on her arm.

“He treats you poorly,” Elena said, her sage green eyes holding a wealth of sadness and a measure of anger.

Jane shrugged. “Yes, but it’s a good job, and I really like my flat. In order to keep it, I need the money he’s paying me.”

“Jane!” This time his voice bellowed through the door.

Elena’s brows snapped together. “I don’t care. No one should be treated like that. Don’t let him do it to you, Jane.”

Jane wanted to acknowledge that Elena was right, but she needed every penny earned—a beggar couldn’t be choosy.

“Thank you,” she said before she rushed to see what he needed, only to find herself running errands more suited to a mailroom clerk.

Richard kept her dashing about the rest of the day. She even missed lunch. When she finally looked up from the letter she was drafting to grab a drink of water, she noticed it was after six.

Then she saw a sticky note on her computer. She was supposed to go with a company driver and pick up a client at the airport a half hour ago.

Jane grabbed her purse, nearly falling on her face as she jumped up from her chair, and ran to the elevator. Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait long for it to arrive, but every second felt like an eternity. She could just imagine how Mr. Arnold would react when he learned she’d been late to pick up his client. It could very well be the end of her employment at PureGems.

By the time she reached the bottom floor, she had all kinds of excuses lined up to present the client, as well as ways to make it up to them.

Jane pushed open the door, and her foot came out of her shoe when she took a step. She tried to turn around to get it—only to find people behind her, stomping on her shoe. Jane dodged several shoulders only to have a briefcase slam into her back as she grabbed her wayward shoe and put it back on.

A rumble of thunder greeted her on the sidewalk as she straightened. A quick look around showed her there was no car waiting. Had they left? Had Richard sent someone else and not told her?

A sick feeling began in her stomach. She parted her lips and took in several slow breaths to stop the queasiness and moved to the side of the building so she could lean against it. The day hadn’t started off well, and it was ending even worse.

“You look like you could use a drink.”

The smooth, deep voice sent goose bumps over her skin as it wrapped around her seductively. Sensuously.

Wantonly.

Her emotions were so strong, so astonishing that she closed her eyes and savored the feel of each incredible moment.

Then she opened her eyes and slowly turned her head to stare into the most amazing gray eyes. They were stormy, like the sky above her, and she could imagine they would be as cold as steel when he was angry.

His dark brown hair was a rich mahogany, tempting her to delve her fingers into the short strands. The trim cut accentuated his chiseled jaw and square chin to utter perfection. Brows, thick and as richly colored as his hair, slashed over his startling eyes. He had wide, full lips that were lifted in a mischievous, all-too-enticing grin.

“I do. More than you know. Too bad I can’t right now,” she finally said when she could form words again.

“Ah. An American,” he said, and pushed away from the building.

He didn’t say it with the usual scorn Jane was used to from Richard Arnold. Rather, this impossibly handsome specimen said it as if American accents were a common occurrence.

She swept her gaze over his tall form. He moved with fluid grace that seemed at odds with his height and the bulge of muscle his black suit couldn’t hide.

The suit and white shirt were impeccable and fit him as if they were custom made. She let her gaze linger on the breadth of his shoulders and the hint of thickly muscled chest when his jacket shifted.

He looked damned good in the suit, yet it seemed as if he were meant for more than such stiff clothing. She licked her lips as she wondered what he would look like in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

Her heart hammered in her chest as her blood heated just looking at the man. She dragged her eyes back up to his face to find him watching her.

Jane had to make her feet stay in place despite the invisible pull she felt toward this complete stranger. It wasn’t just his amazing looks and mouthwatering body that attracted her, but also the way he looked at her, the way he spoke to her.

As if he were really seeing
her
.

That in itself was a heady sensation that made her reach out toward the building with her hand. She let the brick grate against her palm in the hopes it would calm her body, which was raging out of control, tilting, spinning. Listing.

“I’m waiting for my driver,” she said to fill the silence. Then inwardly cringed.

She was always saying the wrong things around men. She should be flirting, but Jane didn’t know how to flirt. She wasn’t coy or beguiling. She hated the games people played, and just wanted to find a man she could be herself around.

Every fall, ditzy moment, and disaster she had.

His half smile grew, crinkling the corners of his unusual gray eyes. “That would be me. I’m Banan.”

“Banan,” she repeated, letting the name roll through her mind. She liked the name.

He gently guided her to where he had parked the Mercedes. “You must be Jane Holden.”

“Yes.”

He opened the car door, and she easily slid into the backseat. “I’ll get you to the airport in plenty of time.”

Jane smiled as she rested her head back against the seat. With a grin like Banan’s directed at her, for the first time in her life she didn’t feel like a Plain Jane.

And she had managed to walk to the car and get in it without incident. Maybe the day was looking up.

CHAPTER
TWO

“Where is Stan, the regular driver?”

Banan had expected that question, but he hadn’t anticipated the husky, sensual voice that passed through such inviting, luscious lips. Jane Holden was anything but typical.

And he hated to admit the lust that flared, when he’d first spotted her.

“He’s with Mr. Arnold tonight.” Banan said the lie easily. Almost too easily. Some might begin to question his integrity when lying became as effortless as breathing.

Then again, few were as old as time itself.

Banan glanced in the rearview mirror. Jane was looking out the window, her large, guileless coffee brown eyes seemingly staring at nothing. Though she might appear innocent, her relationship with Richard Arnold made her suspect. Like everyone at PureGems.

No matter how appealing she might be, he couldn’t let down his guard.

She didn’t speak, and he didn’t push her. It would have been prime opportunity to gather information. But one look at the dark circles under her eyes and the way she could barely keep them open, and Banan decided not to press her.

For the moment.

He stole another glance in the mirror. Her dark auburn hair was parted on the side, and it hung straight and sleek to her shoulders except for the hair that tapered around her face.

Banan tried not to notice the high cheekbones in her oval face. He tried not to notice the way her tongue licked at her plump lips. He tried not to notice how she ran her finger over her arched eyebrow as she looked into a mirror she pulled out of her purse.

But if he thought that was difficult, it was nothing compared to doing his damnedest to forget the glimpse of her long, lean legs as she’d gotten into the car. Or the straight skirt that fit her arse to perfection.

It was so easy to imagine those long legs wrapped around him while he …

Banan shifted in his seat, half-aroused. He had to get his mind off her. “Do you normally pick clients up at the airport?”

“No,” she said and tucked a glossy strand of auburn hair behind her ear, revealing a small jade earring dangling from her lobe. “Mr. Arnold prefers to do it himself, but he had a prior engagement. Which is really odd, now that I think of it.” She paused, her forehead wrinkled in a frown. “This is a high-profile client. He never would’ve allowed anyone but himself to pick them up.”

“It must’ve been something important indeed to take him away, then.”

She didn’t say anything, but he’d gotten her thinking. Just what Banan wanted to do. He had no idea how loyal she was to Arnold, so he had to tread carefully.

Banan said nothing more as they pulled into the airport. He stopped the car by a curb, but before he’d put the car in park, she was out the door.

He watched as she hurried into the airport looking one way then the other. His gaze raked down her frame, from her button-down shirt that fit against her curves to the snug-fitting skirt and tall heels that only elongated her legs even more.