Guardian Angel (16 page)

She shook her head. "You don't understand," she sobbed. "I don't love Dennis anymore, if I ever did."

"Then it was the fact that his wife's pregnant." He absently stroked her bare arm and settled her more com
fortably against him.

Alex reached up, burying her damp face against his neck. "Not for the reasons you think," she sniffed. "You see, Laura is giving Dennis the child I lost."

Jared's body stiffened at her softly spoken statement. "What child, Alex?" His voice sounded constricted.

She breathed in the comforting scent of clean male skin and the spicy aroma of his soap along with the tang of the cheroots he smoked. Ironically, his presence consoled her.

"I met Dennis not long after I graduated from Annapo
lis," she began tentatively. "He's good friends with two of my brothers, a career man, and not my father's idea of husband material. He claimed Dennis was too soft and I saw him as the exact opposite of my father and promptly married him. I didn't love Dennis, not the way a woman should love a man, but I think, deep down, he didn't love me either. We were the blending of two illustrious naval families, nothing more. I still felt we could have a good marriage, but it didn't take long to realize that Dennis wasn't going to assert himself as a man."

"You once said he's a good man, too good for you," Jared quietly interjected.

Alex nodded. "Dennis didn't believe in raising his voice or arguing, while I grew up in a family who believed you had to shout to be heard. Arguing, to them, was as natural as breathing. Sometimes, in a fit of temper, I would accuse him of being less than a man," she sighed deeply. "Oddly, just when things looked their worst, I found out I was pregnant." Jared's arms around her tightened their hold. "I saw this as some kind of second chance, that we just might be able to make a go of it." The tears were now sounding in her voice and Jared's hand stroked her back to let her know he was there. "I decided to tell Dennis that evening but before I could tell him he had news of his own.

It appeared he had met someone a few months before and found something with her he hadn't had with me—love. Dennis felt that he wasn't truly hurting me because our marriage had been over for a long time. He loved Laura and wanted to marry her." She drew a deep breath.

"And the baby?" he prompted softly.

"I—er—" She stopped, her voice choked with tears. "I just couldn't tell him then. I made some idiotic excuse and left the house. Dennis was right; I didn't love him, but I also had the baby to consider. I went for a drive and decided to let Dennis have custody of the baby after it was born. A child needs two loving parents. It was then a drunk driver hit my car broadside and I lost the baby." Her voice was a mere whisper. "I told Dennis to go ahead and file for divorce and once I recovered, I resigned my commission. I was tired of my friends' pitying glances and the gossip behind my back. Poor Dennis was blamed for leaving me for another woman and I was blamed for forc
ing him into another woman's arms. There was no even ground when it came to the gossip. My father's tirade over my daring to divorce a navy man wasn't too pleasant either," she ended on a dry note.

"And then you ended up with another tyrant," Jared commented wryly.

Alex shook her head, keeping her body still burrowed close to him. "You're one only part of the time," she told him.

"I'm flattered." He shifted until he was lying against the pillows with Alex curled up next to him. "That's the most you've ever told me about yourself."

"You wouldn't have known if we hadn't run into Den
nis and Laura tonight," she confessed, unconsciously slid
ing her silky leg over his bare hair-rough ones.

Jared's lips skimmed across her temple. "I was right, Alex. You do have guts." There was admiration in his voice. "You've been able to make an entirely new life for yourself without any bitterness showing. That says a lot."

She couldn't remember ever feeling as comfortable as she did then. She idly finger-combed the crisp, curling hair on Jared's chest. She was so relaxed, she wasn't even aware that her actions were having a noticeable effect on him.

"Hey." His voice came out thick as his fingers closed over hers to halt her sensual occupation. "No fair."

A slow smile tipped the corners of her lips. "What's no fair?" she asked huskily, the tip of her tongue tasting the salt of his skin.

"You know very well what," he muttered, carefully pushing her away.

In the darkness Alex's face was only a pale shadow. "There was a time this evening when you wouldn't have minded."

Jared's hands lifted to cup her face in an almost painful hold. "Don't act the tease, Alex," he said roughly. "So far I've been able to control myself pretty well, but you won't be able to push me much further."

She turned her face so that her lips and teeth grazed his palm. "Maybe I don't want you to control yourself," she murmured in a seductive purr.

That was all he needed to hear. Groaning, he pulled her back to him and covered her mouth in a fierce kiss of desperation. His hands slid under her body and positioned her over him until their shapes complemented each other.

"God, Alex, why do you do this to me?" Jared said hoarsely against the soft skin of her throat.

"Don't talk," she breathed, moving her hips suggestive
ly against him. "Oh, please, Jared, for once in your life don't talk."

It wasn't long before Alex's nightshirt and Jared's briefs were pushed down to the end of the bed and their naked bodies entwined among the covers.

Her fingertips teased the taut muscles of his stomach and beyond, learning what pleased him and guided by his groans while his own hands sought out her areas of plea
sure.

"Alex." Jared's breath was hot against her parted lips. "Woman, you tie me up in knots." His tongue fenced intimately with hers in preparation of the ritual their bod
ies would follow. His mouth lowered to the sensitive cord on her throat, along the silky skin of her breasts, and down over the smooth plane of her stomach. The gentle rough tip of his tongue teased her navel, flicking in and out.

Alex gasped out loud as Jared's lips continued their sensuous journey. She was bursting into flames. When he moved up and over her, she received him eagerly, greedy to have all of him. Nothing mattered except the soaring flight he was taking her on. The slow climb, the plunging descent, then another, almost painful, climb to greater heights culminated in a fall into weightlessness. All she could hear was the sounds of Jared's harsh breathing and feel his body tighten, then expend his strength, and Alex's accepted and returned his gift. Afterward they were too exhausted to do more than wrap the sheet over their damp bodies and curl around each other to sleep.

Early the next morning, Alex was awakened by warm kisses planted along her neck and throat. Jared had pulled her back against his body and now tightened his hold on her.

"Um, good morning," she murmured, her voice husky with sleep.

"Thank you." There was a humble note in his voice. Something she hadn't heard before.

Alex twisted her head around to gaze at him with quiz
zical eyes. "For what?"

Jared's eyes were bright grass-green pools of color. She thought he was trying to tell her something, but the mes
sage eluded her.

"For last night," he said simply while his hands began their magical stroking again. "For trusting me enough to confide in me. Always trust me, Alex. Don't ever hide anything from me." By then his urgency had been trans
mitted to her. She turned in his embrace and, moaning softly, gave herself up to the rocketing sensations he cre
ated.

For the next week Jared was never far from Alex's side. During the day they explored the countryside either by jeep or on horseback. Their nights were spent dancing to soft music or snuggling in Jared's bed, watching the flames dance in the fireplace and talking about anything and everything. During that informative time they learned more about each other than they had the six months work
ing together. They were lovers, but most of all, they were friends.

That Sunday evening Jared pulled her into the bedroom and produced a bottle of wine for them to enjoy by the fire. He wore only a pair of jeans and was barefoot while she had put on one of his shirts in lieu of a robe after her shower. They reclined on the carpet in front of the fire
place, talking about their past dreams.

"Since I was a boy, I always had a desire to be a doctor," Jared murmured, his wicked smile reflected in his eyes.

"Are you sure you don't mean play doctor?" Her slow smile indicated she had caught the hidden meaning.

"Same thing," he agreed blandly, leaning over in her direction. The palm of his hand smoothed the collar of his shirt away from her shoulder. "I even memorized the Latin term for every part of the body." He leaned over more and gently forced her back against the carpet.

Her arms lazily circled his neck. "How fascinating," she purred. 'Tell me more."

Jared's lips traced a moist path along the lines of her throat and his words were provocative while his hands began their intimate wanderings. For every pulsing area he chose, he whispered the medical term, which made his examination all the more tantalizing.

Alex could feel a tightening within her body from Ja
red's palms grazing the tips of her breasts, then gliding down to cup the undersides before they moved downward to caress her stomach. It was only as his fingers trailed over her thigh and found sensitized spots that her gasps were impossible to hold back. She was in an agony that was more pleasure than pain. She reached out to the waist
band of his jeans, unsnapped and unzipped them, but Jared held back with a teasing smile. Alex's eyes glowed in the firelight. By using every part of her body and the magic her fingers and lips wrought, he couldn't hold back from her long. Their fierce union was blessed by the orange firelight. There was more than cries and groans of pleasure; there was a blending of their souls when Jared's thrusting rhythm took Alex further than she had ever gone before. She held on to his body, crying out, not fearing the descent because she knew he would be with her.

Later that night, after a playful shower, and now bun
dled up in bed, Jared lay back against the pillows and pulled Alex down on his chest. He lit a cheroot and drew deeply.

"We'll be leaving for L.A. at nine," he announced quiet
ly.

Her body inwardly tensed, although nothing in her de
meanor gave her away. Inside her head she was screaming a protest at returning to civilization. She didn't want to return to the designation of Alex Page, Jared Templeton's bodyguard, but if she was to survive, she would have to do just that. Step back into that tiny square that made up her life.

Jared spoke her name softly, but she squeezed her eyes shut, pretending to be asleep. In reality, it was a long time before her mind cleared enough to drift off.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Alex stared out her office window experiencing the same restless feeling she had been suffering from for the past week.

There had been no flying visits to Jared's other offices, no press conferences where she was required to attend. Instead, she remained in her office catching up on paper
work and preparing a revised budget for her department while Jared paid a visit to Rashid's home in the tiny country of Kamar. Alex had not been invited to accom
pany him. She had been called to Jared's office the day he left and was informed that he was flying to see Rashid about some finalization of the contracts.

"How long will we be there?" she had asked him, un
comfortable with the way he seemed to avoid her gaze.

"You won't be going, Alex," Jared told her gruffly.

"I see." She didn't, or, perhaps, she did all too clearly.

This time he did look at her. "I'm traveling to a Middle Eastern country where women aren't viewed in the same light they are here. There could be problems for you that even Rashid couldn't handle. He has promised me full protection during my stay."

Alex managed a faint smile. "I guess I can get caught up with my work then." She turned to leave feeling very empty.

"Alex." She halted and turned around. Jared frowned with concern, or was it annoyance, that she wasn't more upset over being left behind? "Your movements would be sharply curtailed there," he went on to explain. "It wouldn't be fair to you."

"You're right, I would have problems over there. Have a good flight, and give Rashid my regards." She walked out of the office. An hour later Jared was gone.

In the past week Alex had heard nothing from Jared, while inside she prayed for a word, anything to let her know he still remembered her. The only word she received was from Chris through Jared's secretary Sara. They were due back that day, but she'd be damned if she'd be there to give Jared a welcome home.

Alex had been surprised when Walt St. Clair came into her office the day before to apologize for his callous re
marks during their last meeting. He admitted he hadn't been willing to listen to her recommendations and, as a result, they almost suffered a great tragedy. She was gra
cious in accepting his apology, although she had a suspi
cion that Jared had been behind Walt's visit. A chauvinist like Walt wouldn't do this on his own.