Guardian Angel (7 page)

His greeting was halted by the sight of Wes rising from his perch and lazily stretching his arms over his head. Looking back at Alex, Jared's eyes immediately frosted over.

"I apologize if I interrupted something," he began in a cold voice that was also blatantly insincere.

"No." Alex was puzzled by Jared's icy demeanor. She stepped back to allow him to enter. "Mr. Templeton, this is Commander Wesley Hayden." It was a habit of hers to use the full title when she wanted the intimidating advan
tage, although it didn't work with Jared.

"Commander." Jared held out his hand, but there was no friendliness in his voice.

Alex was growing a little angry by the cool reception Wes was receiving from Jared, although she noticed that her brother seemed to be only amused by Jared's actions.

"Excuse the casual attire." Wes was totally at ease.
"I've been suffering from jet lag for the past week since I left my last duty in Italy and decided to stop off here to see Alex before reporting to my new station in San Diego."

"Oh?" Jared glanced at Alex with raised eyebrows.

She stood by, confused by this cryptic conversation and resisting the urge to give her brother a good swift kick for enjoying himself too much. She had been astonished to see Jared on the other side of the door and was curious as to why he was picking her up instead of Frank. Jared turned to her, asking brusquely if she was ready. Her answer was to point silently toward her suitcase.

"Thanks for everything, Al." Wes kissed her soundly. "Give me a call when you get back to L.A. and we'll plan a wild weekend."

"Sure," she mumbled absently, still puzzled by Jared's cold attitude toward her brother.

"Shall we go?" Jared's icy voice cut through her mus
ings.

By now Alex was angry. Just because Jared had gotten out of the wrong side of his current lady
friend's bed didn't mean he had to take it out on her. She walked over to Wes and planted a kiss on his cheek, then retrieved her tote bag, leaving her suitcase for Jared to take.

"Don't worry, I'll lock up when I leave," Wes assured her, a wide grin on his face, and him looking as if he were enjoying a private joke.

Alex's spine was rigid with exasperation when she walked down the hallway to the elevator, a grim-faced Jared striding beside her.

"Say, Al?" Wes's cheerful voice followed them.

She looked around to see her brother holding her gun by a forefinger hooked over the trigger guard.
"You forgot your piece, sweetheart." He gave a fairly accurate imitati
on of Bogart.

Alex's eyes flashed sparks to him as she returned to her
apartment door and snatched the gun out of his hand to jam it inside her purse. "I'm certainly glad to see someone is enjoying this," she hissed.

"Hmm?" He squinted his eyes in Jared's direction, then looked down at her. "I'm sure you'll find out why the blizzard soon enough."

"Not soon enough for me."

Alex took her time walking back to the waiting elevator car. The ride to the ground floor was silent and their walk outside to Jared's car was
equally quiet. There was a con
trolled violence to his actions when he tossed her suitcase into the trunk of the car.

"Are you sure you brought enough clothes?" he asked curtly once they were settled inside the Maserati.

"I'm sure your house is fully equipped with a washer and dryer," she replied coolly, taking her cue from him. "And don't worry, I'm capable of doing my own laun
dry," she added waspishly.

"Aren't we in a temper this morning." Jared's sarcasm only served to fuel her temper. "Obviously from a lack of sleep."

"Obviously," she snapped, recalling her restless night and the reason for it.

The Maserati sped down the street toward the freeway with a stone-faced Jared at the wheel.

"I trust that your loss of proper rest won't interfere with your duties."

Alex silently counted to ten, then began counting again. "You need not worry, Mr. Templeton. If some crank decides to take a pot shot at you, I'll be sure to be fast enough to shield your body," she stated flatly, staring straight ahead, not seeing his hands tighten on the steering wheel until the knuckles showed white.

"I suggest that the next time you have your lover over for the night, you try to get to bed, correction, to sleep, so
that you'll be in a better mood than you are this morning," Jared advised in a derisive tone.

"My lo—" Alex half turned in her seat, all her attention now on the man seated next to her. At first she was tempt
ed to blast him for all she was worth. The idea that Jared would assume she had men coming out of the woodwork was ludicrous. Then her sense of humor took over. No wonder Wes looked so smug! He knew exactly why Jared acted the way he did, although she couldn't understand why she hadn't guessed the reason. First a smile lifted the corners of her mouth, then a chuckle escaped, and, lastly, a laugh came from deep down.

"I'm glad you find something funny," Jared sneered.

"Oh, I do," she choked out, now laughing so hard that tears were coming out of her eyes. "I find this very funny."

"Then would you have the kindness to let me in on the joke," he demanded.

"It appears that you think Commander Wesley Hayden is more than just an old navy buddy." She was gasping for air by this time. "Your memory is slipping, Mr. Temple
ton, because otherwise you'd remember that my personnel records list Hayden as my maiden name."

Jared shot her a sharp glance, then quickly pulled over to the side of the street.

"He's your brother?" He still couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"One of four."

It was a good thing Alex wasn't expecting an apology, because none came. Instead, Jared grunted something like "I hope you enjoyed making a fool out of me."

"Oh, no," she corrected him in a gentle voice. "You did that all by yourself."

He stared at her as if strangulation would be too good for her. He put the car in gear and steered back onto the
street. Silence hung in the air for the remainder of the drive to the airport.

They arrived at the hangar a few minutes before Rashid and his party appeared. Alex's and Jared's luggage had
just been stowed away when a long black
limousine
rolled slowly toward them.

"Madame Page." Rashid greeted her by taking her hand and lifting it to his lips. "Ah, such a dangerous profession you have for so beautiful a woman."

Alex resisted the urge to laugh. If there was one word she wouldn't use to describe herself, it was beautiful. Her features were too sharply angled for that.

"Mr. Kalim," she murmured, inwardly amused by the dark glare Jared was directing their way.

"Shall we get aboard?" Jared suggested crisply.

"How did you rate the presidential treatment?" Chris muttered, dropping down into the seat next to Alex once they had boarded the jet.

"Who knows?" She shrugged, fastening her seat belt. "Just unlucky I guess."

"Hmm, his mood hasn't improved since last night then," he mused.

"Meaning?" She slanted a sideways glance at him.

"The Houston Handful showed up at the office late yesterday afternoon and somehow got past the reception
ist," Chris said softly so that their conversation wouldn't be overheard.

"Uh-oh," she murmured.

"Oh, yes, Miss Merrilee Tanner stormed into the office and threw one huge temper tantrum." He shuddered with remembrance.

Alex remembered the lady well. Called the Hous
ton Handful because of her well-
developed figure, Merrilee had Jared's attention for all of four months. His women
never lasted much longer than that. His work always came first.

"How did our fearless leader handle the lady?" Alex asked under her breath.

"
The way you handle a time bomb,"
Chris replied. "He put on the kid gloves and agreed to meet her for dinner later in the evening."

She arched her eyebro
ws in disbelief. She wouldn't have thought that Jared would put up with a tantrum from anyone. Usually an act like that would have a woman quickly escorted from the building. What brought about his change of heart? That also explained his walking out with her to the parking garage last night. He had a hot date!

"She always knew how to stroke him the right way." Chris leered.

Alex glared at him, never appreciating off-color humor.

After the jet was airborne, Chris was called to the front where Jared gave him a list of instructions. When he finished, he strolled back to the seat Chris had vacated. With one hand braced on the armrest and the other on the headrest, Jared asked Alex to follow him to the rear of the jet. She nodded and unfastened her seat belt. Now it was her turn to receive her list of instructions for this course of meetings.

Jared closed the door of the bedroom behind them a
nd leaned back while he watched
Alex with narrowed eyes.

"You've got style, Alex," he drawled, "
first
Chris and now Rashid is after you. Who's next on your list, me?"

She spun around, not expecting this attack and disliking that light in his eyes even more. "Don't worry, you're perfectly safe from my clutches," she assured him with a feline smile.

Jared grasped Alex's arm and led her over to the bed. A gentle push set her on the edge. "Perhaps I don't want
to be safe," he returned calmly, seating himself next to her. "You don't want to be either, Alex."

"Meaning?" She eyed him warily.

Jared leaned forward and nibbled a spine-tingling path along the corners of her mouth. "Very tasty," he mur
mured, pulling on her lower lip with his teeth.

For a moment Alex was tempted to melt against Jared, but quickly pulled away before her senses were seduced again. "I'm not in the mood for Post Office today, Mr. Templeton," she informed him in her most intimidating tone.

"I always preferred that over Spin the Bottle." Jared's fingers lightly caressed her throat and down to the neck
line of her blouse. "Too many chances of the bottle point
ing toward the wrong person."

"This is not a game!" Alex snapped, batting his wander
ing hands away, but he wasn't to be deterred.

His slow smile sent shivers through her. "Don't you like games, Alex?" he mused, flicking open
the top button of her blouse.

"Not since the Academy," she retorted, reaching up to close the button even as Jared unfastened the next one.

His other hand pulled her blouse out of the waistband of her skirt and slid up her bare midriff until he found her bra
.
"Where's the clasp
?" he muttered, frowning in con
centration while his fingers traced a heat-producing path along the edges of the lacy cup.

If Alex had been in the right frame of mind, she prob
ably would have laughed at the puzzled expression on Jared's face while his playful hand searched for the front clasp of the bra. "It has a back clasp with a padlock attached," she informed him sternly, wondering if he had been this persistent with his other women. It was already obvious his past experience had been with front-clasped bras, if the women wore them at all. Alex jerked away
from Jared's hands and hastily pulled her blouse down, tucking the tails into the waistband of her skirt. "I haven't been manhandled like this since high school," she snapped at him while he playfully tried to "help" her. "Will you stop this! I swear, you're acting more like an adolescent than a grown man."

Jared's grin was a little too disconcerting. He reached over and flicked a stray hair away from her mouth, only to linger and trace the moist outline. Alex watched him with stormy eyes, wondering what would come next. She was fighting an inner battle to reach out and trace the enticing shape of his mouth. If she didn't do something soon, she would be lost to this sensual onslaught.

"If you don't keep your hands to yourself, Mr. Temple
ton, I will personally break your arm," she said softly but firmly, leaving him in no doubt that she might not think twice about it.

"You're a hard woman, Alex Page." He slowly drew back his hand, not worried about her threat. "I can only hope that the mountain air will clear your mind and give you a better perspective on things." He allowed his finger
tip to trail over her cheek, then he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Alex took several deep breaths to combat the anger coursing through her body. She couldn't remember ever feeling as irate as she was at that moment. Jared hadn't called her back there to discuss business with her; he only wanted a little playtime. Well, he found out soon enough that she was the wrong one to try. She only hoped that he'd keep his hands to himself for the balance of these meetings or she'd be sorely tempted to carry out her threat. A few moments later, a now composed Alex re
turned to the front of the jet. Chris turned and threw her a friendly grin.