Minding Amy (19 page)

So much for keeping her mother out of it. Her mum was whisking the eggs very slowly indeed, her attention riveted.

Meanwhile, her dad gained an imploring expression. "Trix, I mean Amy, that's simply not correct."

"Well, if it's not correct, please go ahead and enlighten me about it." She folded her arms over her chest, her mouth pursed, awaiting what was sure to be a stack of excuses.

"It was a potentially dangerous case. You don't know what's happened to Quentin Edwards. I wouldn't send any novice into that sort of set up alone." He sent a darting glance at his wife. "You wouldn't have wanted her to be alone in what might be a murder or kidnap case, would you, Cynthia?"

"Good grief, no." Her mother starting whisking the eggs more vigorously, shaking her head. Her dad gave a brief smile. He'd won over half the audience.

"I knew you wouldn't want a colleague with you. You agreed to the terms, to have a bodyguard."

"But Sebastian is not a bodyguard."

"Ah, but I asked for a bodyguard." He gave a smug smile.

How could he be so sure of himself?

"Mr. Armitage told me he was the only man available, but he was willing to take the job on. Apparently he likes to get back to grass roots on the odd occasion."

Amy stared at him, her mouth open. "But you knew what he was. Why didn't you tell me?"

"It didn't matter, he was hired for security, and the way I saw it…if he helped you out with your investigations along the way, all well and good." He stood there, pleased as Punch with himself, completely oblivious as to why that was completely unacceptable.

"So, what you're saying, in your defense, is that you wouldn't have minded if I'd got the helping hand of a PI?"

He shrugged. "Why not?"

"Because this was supposed to be about me—me and my ability to undertake the job."

"Yes it was, and I gave you the case. I wouldn't have given it to anyone, you know. The normal course of events for a junior would be to go on shadow duty with a more experienced journalist for an agreed period of time." Still he smiled at her, benevolently.

Amy was fuming. Every statement that came out of his mouth made the whole thing worse. He'd duped her, and he thought having Sebastian along might help, which undermined her. Not only that, but it also now appeared he'd done exactly what she had asked him not to—he'd shown favoritism toward his daughter instead of treating her as he would any other hopeful junior. He'd let her sidestep the normal procedures on try-out.

She chastised herself for not having realized earlier. Why hadn't she found out what the normal route for an investigative journalist would be, why had she relied on him to guide her? He'd taken her proposal and forced her to work with it under his terms, his exclusive terms. What would the other journalists think? What did Fiona, who she had to report to, think? Amy cringed, no wonder Fiona had been disapproving. Could it get any worse? Then there was Sebastian, and he must think her a silly idiot. Everyone at work would be thinking what a spoilt and dizzy bimbo she was. In fact, she realized, she was a dizzy bimbo. She really was and she balked at it.

She was about to launch into a tirade of outraged objection, when the doorbell went.

"I'd better get that," her mother announced, putting down the mixing bowl and brushing back a loose strand of hair. "I'm expecting the washing machine repair man." She brushed past Amy, looking at her with a small frown that indicated she wasn't sure who to believe was the injured party.

"Dad, how could you, how could you not have told me all this before now?"

"It didn't interfere with your work did it?"

"Maybe not, but it has now." Voices in the hallway distracted her.

"Well it is unfortunate you found out." He frowned. "By the way, how did you find out?"

"Amy." Her mother emerged back into the kitchen, smiling. "You have a visitor."

A visitor
? She turned to look at the door just as Sebastian walked in. She stared at him, disbelief swamping her. He looked as gorgeous as ever, his eyes bright and immediately focused on her as he walked into the room. Deep inside, she gave a frustrated sigh. She really liked the guy, they'd been having fun, and yet all the time they had been together…her indignation surged up at the thought of him keeping the real nature of his job secret from her.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Amy, where are your manners?" her mother exclaimed, shocked at her remark. "Come in, Mr. Armitage. Can I get you a coffee, there's a pot on."

"Call me Sebastian, please."

Her mother simpered at him, obviously taken in by his good looks and his charm. That made it even worse.

"And I'll say yes please to the coffee. Thank you." He nodded across at her dad in greeting. "Mr. Norton."

Mr. Charm himself
. Amy felt her lips tighten.

He turned his attention back to her. "I got your message." He looked concerned, and rightly so. She had uncovered his little subterfuge.

"You should have taken it seriously and stayed away," she retorted.

"Please, let me explain." His eyes were dark with concern. He was trying to show his seriousness while he looked deep into her eyes.

She tried to ignore the warm tick that had started in the pit of her belly, the seemingly inevitable response to his presence. He was dressed smartly, for his damned office meeting she supposed, but his shirtsleeves were rolled up and his tie was askew. His hair was messy too. It was a hot day and he looked as if he had hightailed it over, which she guessed he must have done to be so close on her heels. "How in hell's name did you know where to find me?"

"When I got the message I called your office and spoke to Janine. I explained why I needed to see you, urgently. She heard me out and kindly gave me your parent's address." He looked back at her dad. "I hope you didn't mind me calling by, Sir."

"Certainly not, hopefully we can clear this matter up and we'll all be able to get back to our regular schedule of events for the day."

Amy gawped. It felt as if the ground was slipping from under her feet. They were bonding. The three of them were practically ganging up against her.

"Do you take milk and sugar, Sebastian?" her mother interrupted. She was giving him the kind of smile that indicated she approved of him, big time.

"Just milk, thank you." He gave her a charming smile.

"Sweet enough already, huh?"

Amy cringed.
Dear god, my mother is only flirting with Sebastian
.

"Perhaps we can tempt you to stay and have lunch with us?"

"Mum, no." Amy shouted, horrified.

"Amy, I'm shocked!" She gave her a chastising look. "I know you're upset about this, whatever it is, work problem, but Mr. Armitage here doesn't want to witness you having a hissy fit."

Amy's cheeks flamed.

Sebastian looked at the floor. He'd shoved his hands in his pockets and he was biting his lip, obviously trying not to laugh.

Oh yeah, very funny I'm sure
, Amy thought to herself, fuming.

"Let's take this into the sitting room," her father suggested, breaking the awkward moment. "We can sit down and discuss it like civilized people." He gave his wife a frown. "Cynthia," he said, with a warning note in his voice, and pointed at the coffee pot.

Amy glared at her Mother as well.

Parents, you couldn't trust them for a minute
.

Chapter Twelve

Sebastian gave the sitting room a quick once over to get his bearings then sat down into the comfortable sofa that Richard Norton had indicated. He wondered why he felt as if he'd been caught necking with the man's daughter and was about to get a good telling off. He shook off the absurd notion and tried to concentrate on Amy.

She was upset. He could see how agitated she was. Despite the minty-colored dress—which looked fantastic, he noticed, and showed off her lovely curved figure and…
concentrate, man. You're in a mess here
.

He needed a goddamn cold shower whenever he saw her. He told himself he ought to be ashamed. If he could keep his mind off sex for a little while he could have handled it a lot better. Amy certainly didn't deserve to be put in this position, and he didn't want it coming between them. He hated seeing her upset and uncomfortable around him. That had to be gone and he wouldn't rest until it was.

"I was explaining to Amy that you were the only available man for the job." Richard Norton picked up a big black cat that Sebastian had assumed was a cushion and removed it from the winged armchair that was obviously his seat of choice. He set the cat down on the floor and took up the spot himself. The cat gave a languid stretch then sat blinking, looking over at Amy. As if it suddenly realized she was there visiting, it strolled over and started rubbing itself affectionately against her legs.

Sebastian watched the cat's dense black fur flattening against her bare shins, enviously, until he realized his mind was drifting again and he ordered himself to concentrate on what Richard Norton was saying to him.

"I told her you were kind enough to take up the job yourself. However, Amy seems to be under the impression that I hired you to give her some sort of assistance with the investigation aspect of the job, which wasn't the case at all, was it?" He looked at Sebastian expectantly.

Sebastian tried to find a reasonable answer. Whilst everything Richard Norton had said was the truth, Sebastian was now suffering from an immense attack of guilt over the fact he'd spent a good proportion of his time over the last two days secretly doing his own investigations, in the hope he could push some useful information her way. He cleared his throat and turned to Amy, who was sitting at the other end of the sofa from him.

She regarded him with caution.

"Exactly, that's all there was to it. I was hired to act as your bodyguard when you were out on the road undertaking the investigation for your feature, and that's exactly how I took the case on. The fact that I have investigation experience myself didn't come into the contracting of this job at all."

She regarded him with such scrutiny Sebastian had to turn away and direct the rest of his speech to Richard, in case he looked guilty and she picked up on it. "The sort of work I've done for Richard before has been assisting with investigations, yes, but this was something entirely different."

Richard Norton smiled. "You see, darling, there's absolutely no reason for you to think badly of Mr. Armitage, or myself."

Amy harrumphed loudly and Sebastian looked back at her. She'd crossed her arms over her chest defensively. The cat was now standing on its back legs, its front paws testing the cushion beside Amy, while it eyed up her lap.

"The fact the two of you never told me the true nature of your job gives this whole thing a rather underhand tone, don't you think?" She directed her question at Sebastian.

"That really wasn't intentional, I assure you." Sebastian frowned. He had the urge to come completely clean. Now the ball was out and rolling he wanted to get the rest off his chest because he realized he shouldn't have done any investigation without informing her. Now he was in the awkward position of wondering whether to confess the whole thing—which meant taking on board the personal risks it entailed—or whether he should keep schtum about his own investigations and therefore be every bit as underhand as she was inferring he was.

"I can see why you feel the way you do, Amy, and perhaps I should have informed you about my own experience in the field, but I was doing exactly what I was hired to do and trying to be professional about it. I felt that if I'd spoken to you about my own background you may have felt awkward about it, and I wouldn't have wanted to do that."

Her mouth pursed and her cheeks were getting more flushed with each passing second. He could tell this was not going well.

"Oh, so you decided to keep me in the dark instead. You realize that in itself has totally undermined me?" The cat had found its way onto her lap and she ruffled its fur instinctively, whilst glaring at Sebastian. The cat ignored her mood and settled down for a snooze.

"Amy, the sooner you get over this the sooner you can get on with the job," her father interjected and gestured at Sebastian. "You have to admit it's big of Mr. Armitage to even bother tracking you down here to explain himself, when he is under no obligation to do so as part of his job."