Jordan St Claire: Dark and Dangerous (16 page)

‘So you’re just going to run away? Is that it?’ Gideon asked.

Stephanie’s mouth firmed. ‘Lucan employed me as a physiotherapist for Jordan. Obviously that is no longer possible. There’s nothing more I can do here,’ she added determinedly as Gideon continued to look at her from between narrowed lids.

His mouth thinned. ‘You’ve already done more for Jordan than anyone else has been able to do since the accident.’

‘So I understand,’ she said self-consciously.

Gideon gave a rueful smile. ‘Actually, I wasn’t referring to any personal relationship the two of you might or might not have.’

‘Contrary to what you may have thought or assumed, I don’t
have
a personal relationship with your brother,’ Stephanie told him determinedly. ‘I really do have to go now—’ She broke off as Gideon reached out and lightly clasped her arm.

‘Before you went to Gloucestershire Jordan had shut himself off from everyone. Had become completely reclusive. Uncommunicative.’ He shook his head grimly as he slowly released her. ‘It had gone on for so long that we had all begun to think he was never going to come out of it. He changed after you went there, Stephanie.’ His expression softened. ‘I could see the difference in him immediately after I arrived at Mulberry Hall yesterday.’

‘I didn’t do
anything—
’

‘You didn’t need to do anything but be yourself,’ Gideon assured her. ‘Watching the two of you together,
I’ve realised that it’s the very nature of your personality which provokes him. Challenges him.’

‘I’m not sure that saying I get on Jordan’s nerves enough to provoke him into doing things is altogether flattering—’

‘You’re deliberately misunderstanding me,’ Gideon said shrewdly.

‘No, Gideon, I’m not.’ She sighed, then reached out and gave his arm an apologetic squeeze, knowing that his concern for his twin was genuine. ‘I’m pleased if you think I’ve annoyed Jordan enough that it’s challenged him out of his seclusion at last, but my decision to leave is based solely on my own needs—not his. I simply can’t stay on here any longer after—Well, I just can’t,’ she said emotionally.

‘Do you think Jordan is just going to let you walk out of his life?’

Her eyes widened. ‘Don’t you?’

He gave her a wicked smile—the exact twin of Jordan’s. ‘Knowing Jordan, I somehow doubt it.’

Stephanie locked suddenly weak knees. ‘I’m sure you’re wrong.’

At least she hoped Gideon was wrong.

There was absolutely no future for herself and Jordan that Stephanie could see. Even if she could persuade him into believing she wasn’t involved in a relationship with Richard Newman, he was still a world-famous actor while she was a mere physiotherapist. Jordan lived and worked in America; she lived and worked in England. This house, the private helicopter, the opulence of the Mulberry Hall estate—all of those things were an indication of the gulf there was between them, both socially and financially.

And, worst of all, Stephanie knew she had been
nothing more than a diversion for Jordan. A pique to his interest. Once he was back to his full health, back in LA and working again, he would forget that Stephanie McKinley even existed!

‘W
HAT
are you doing here, Jordan?’

Jordan scowled as Stephanie showed all too clearly, by the way she’d deliberately kept the door to her flat half-closed, that she had no intention of inviting him inside. ‘Surely it’s obvious why I’m here?’ he bit out impatiently as he leant heavily on his cane.

He had spent the morning at the clinic with his mother, and now his hip and leg were aching from that and from the sheer effort of getting to Stephanie’s apartment building—let alone discovering there was no lift when he got here, and so having to walk up two flights of stairs to her flat on the second floor.

‘Not to me.’ She gave a shake of her head.

Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail today, and she was dressed in a figure-hugging blue T-shirt and faded low-slung jeans. But her make-up-less face was so pale that the sprinkling of freckles across her nose showed in stark relief.

‘I suggest you invite me inside, Stephanie, before you end up with an unconscious man on your doorstep,’ Jordan warned her suddenly.

Stephanie kept the door half-closed as she looked at Jordan searchingly, noting the strain beside his eyes and mouth, and the slight pallor of his cheeks beneath
his tan. ‘How did your mother’s appointment with the specialist go this morning?’ She was concerned for the other woman, in spite of knowing that she wouldn’t be having anything further to do with any of the St Claire family members.

Jordan had made it more than obvious from his remarks yesterday that what had happened between the two of them had meant nothing more to him than a reaffirmation of physical desire.

Just as Stephanie knew it had meant everything to her.

She had long been infatuated by Jordan Simpson. In lust with him, even, as she’d gazed at him wistfully on the big and small screen. But in the past few days she had fallen completely in love with Jordan St Claire. Quite how it had happened Stephanie had no idea, when he had been either rude or inappropriately over-familiar since the moment they’d first met. She only knew that she was in love with the man she had made love with yesterday. Totally. Irrevocably.

Unfortunately, the wealthy and privileged Jordan St Claire was as unlikely to fall in love with someone like her as Jordan Simpson was …

‘Jord—’ She broke off with a nervy start as the telephone began to ring in her flat.

The disturbing hang-up calls that had been part of Stephanie’s reason for wanting to leave London had resumed first thing this morning. Four so far. Stephanie had answered the first two, only to have the line abruptly disconnected.

It wasn’t difficult to know who was making those calls, and Stephanie had called Joey and asked her to use her legal influence with the telephone company and get her a new number as soon as possible.

Too late, Stephanie realised she should have taken the receiver off the hook while she was waiting for that new number!

Jordan quirked dark brows. ‘Aren’t you going to answer that?’

Stephanie gave a tense shrug. ‘They’ll call back if it’s anything important.’

‘If you let me in and answer the call then they won’t need to call back,’ he reasoned lightly.

Stephanie frowned her irritation. ‘We have nothing to say to each other, Jordan—’

‘You may not have anything to say to me,’ he accepted grimly, ‘but I certainly have a few things I want to say to you.’ He didn’t wait for Stephanie to open the door further, but instead pushed against it with his cane and walked into the flat, leaving her to close the door behind him.

At least the telephone had stopped ringing by the time she’d followed Jordan through to her sitting room. ‘Well?’ Stephanie prompted guardedly as she watched him drop down wearily into one of the armchairs.

His hair was as wild and windblown as ever, but he had shaved at least, and was wearing a tailored black jacket over a white shirt and faded jeans.

Jordan didn’t answer her immediately, but instead looked around the sitting room. He liked the simplicity of the warm cream walls, adorned with several Turner prints of Venice. There were three colourful rugs on the polished wood floor, and the only furniture was a wide-screen television set, a low coffee table, a comfortable terracotta-coloured sofa, and two armchairs covered in numerous cushions. Despite the simplicity of the décor, Jordan found the room as warm and inviting as Stephanie was herself.

Although Jordan had to admit she didn’t look very inviting at the moment, as she glared down at him!

He answered her earlier question evenly. ‘Tests showed my mother’s tumour to be benign.’

‘That must be a relief for all of you!’ Stephanie spoke with her first genuine warmth since she had opened the knock on the door and found Jordan standing outside.

‘Yes.’ He nodded tersely, eyes narrowed. ‘Stephanie, why did you leave without saying goodbye?’

She clasped her hands tightly together so that he shouldn’t see how they were shaking. ‘I did what I thought was best.’

‘For whom?’

‘For me, actually,’ she said honestly. ‘For you too, of course. It would just have been awkward for everyone if I had stayed on at St Claire House after what happened between us yesterday.’

Jordan raised dark brows. ‘I don’t embarrass that easily.’

‘Lucky you,’ Stephanie said. ‘When I went downstairs Lucan came out of his study to tell me my car had been delivered from Gloucestershire. I explained to him then that I didn’t feel I could do anything to help you. He seemed happy with my decision to leave,’ she said firmly.

‘I’m
not happy with your decision!’ Jordan barked.

Her chin rose defensively. ‘No? Well. You’re probably just a little … irritated with me at the moment. But you’ll get over it.’

‘I’m upset, Stephanie, not irritated!’ he corrected. ‘We need to talk, and you left before we had a chance to do that.’ He sat forward tensely.

‘Because I have nothing else to say to you—’ Stephanie broke off as the telephone began to ring
again. She should definitely have taken the receiver off the hook. And she would have done so if she hadn’t been waiting for the telephone company to ring her and tell her about her new number. It might even be them ringing now. But with Jordan present Stephanie didn’t feel inclined to answer the call only to discover that it was Rosalind Newman making a nuisance of herself again.

Stephanie felt for the other woman, she really did, but that didn’t make it any easier for her to be the fixation of the other woman’s obsessive jealousy.

Jordan eyed her impatiently as she ignored the call. ‘If you won’t answer that, then I will!’ He reached out for the receiver.

‘No—’ Stephanie gave up her effort to prevent him from answering the call as Jordan placed the receiver to his ear.

‘Stephanie McKinley’s residence.’ Jordan spoke pleasantly into the receiver as he eyed Stephanie mockingly. ‘Hello?’ He frowned. ‘Hello!’ he repeated sharply, a dark frown now marring his brow. ‘What the hell—?’ He held the receiver away from his ear before slowly replacing it on the cradle and turning back to Stephanie, brows raised questioningly.

She moistened dry lips, knowing from Jordan’s expression that this fifth call had to have ended as abruptly as the previous four. ‘I—I seem to have a crank caller at the moment,’ she dismissed, her gaze not quite meeting Jordan’s probing one. ‘The telephone company has been informed, and they’re organising a new number for me.’

‘Why not the police? And how long is “at the moment”?’ Jordan asked slowly.

‘The police are far too busy for me to worry them
about some idiot making a nuisance of themselves on the telephone,’ Stephanie said hurriedly. ‘It’s been happening for a couple of weeks now. It’s just been especially annoying this morning.’ Probably because she hadn’t been there to answer the calls for the past three days!

‘A couple of weeks or so?’ Jordan repeated incredulously as he stood up. ‘Some nut has been harassing you like this for weeks, and you’ve only now decided to do anything about it? Your sister is a lawyer—why didn’t you get her to do something about them before now?’

Because Stephanie hadn’t mentioned the calls to Joey originally—had been stupid enough to hope that Rosalind would stop before either the law or the police needed to be involved!

‘She’s doing something about it now.’

‘Not soon enough, by the state of your nerves!’

Stephanie moved away restlessly. ‘They’re just hang up calls, Jordan. She—They’ll get tired of it eventually and stop.’

‘She?’ Jordan pounced shrewdly.

‘He. She.’ Stephanie frowned her exasperation with his astuteness in picking up on every word she said. ‘What does it matter what sex they are?’

‘It doesn’t,’ Jordan said. ‘Unless you
know
who’s making the calls?’

‘And why do you suppose I would know that?’

‘You tell me,’ Jordan said.

He had been absolutely furious last night, when he’d discovered that Stephanie had left St Claire House without so much as telling him. So furious that he had decided it would be better to delay coming here to see her until today, giving a chance for that anger to subside overnight. A few minutes in her company and he knew
that twelve hours’ delay had been a complete waste of his time!

‘Stephanie!’ he prompted harshly.

She clasped her hands even more tightly together as she scowled at him. ‘It’s none of your business, Jordan.’

‘I’m making it my business,’ he said.

Stephanie shook her head. ‘You don’t have the right to come here and demand to know about my private life.’

‘By taking my body into yours you’ve given me that right,’ he said outrageously.

Colour warmed her cheeks and she gasped. ‘That was completely uncalled for, Jordan!’

Jordan threw his cane down on the sofa to reach out and grasp the tops of her arms. ‘As your leaving yesterday without saying goodbye to me was completely uncalled for!’ He glowered down at her. ‘How do you think that made me feel, Stephanie?’ His voice gentled. ‘I know that you were upset last night, but that still doesn’t excuse just walking out on me like that without any explanation.’

‘The fact that I did leave should have been explanation enough,’ she said exasperatedly.

Jordan released her, to take a halting step backwards, his face pale. ‘It was your way of telling me you would prefer that our relationship not continue?’

‘We don’t
have
a relationship, Jordan,’ Stephanie said emotionally. ‘You said from the beginning that you were only playing with me—’

‘What’s your excuse?’ he rasped harshly. ‘Is it still this guy Richard?’

‘I’ve told you that it isn’t!’ she insisted vehemently.

‘Then what is it?’

‘You’re Jordan Simpson!’ she snapped.

He eyed her warily. ‘So?’

‘So I’ve had a thing about you for
years!’

‘A thing?’ Jordan repeated softly.

‘A thing,’ Stephanie repeated uncomfortably. ‘Look at my DVD collection, Jordan.’ She pointed to the cabinet next to the wide-screen television set. ‘I have bought every film you’ve ever made. But not before I dragged my sister to the cinema to see every one of them first. My idea of an enjoyable evening at home is to put on one of your movies and sit and drool over you for a couple of hours!’