Prince's Passion. Carole Mortimer

worry about it, honey,’ he advised with a pat on the hand she rested on his arm.

      ‘But I do worry about it, Nik,’ she persisted.

      He gave a resigned sigh. When Stazy got her teeth into something, she was apt not to let go. Since her successful marriage to Jordan she had been more than a little obvious in her marriage-making plans for her three older brothers. And as all three of the Prince brothers were in England at the moment in preparation for baby Sam’s christening tomorrow, she was taking full advantage of this opportunity to play matchmaker…!

      ‘I shouldn’t,’ he murmured softly, his gaze warning her off the subject.

      ‘No?’ She arched auburn brows.

      ‘No,’ he confirmed firmly.

      The last thing he wanted was for Stazy to take an interest in Jinx Nixon; he already had his work cut out trying to maneouvre a meeting with the other woman’s father, without contending with Stazy’s machinations, too!

      ‘Okay,’ his sister capitulated. ‘In that case, come over and say hello to some of the other guests.’

      Nik eyed her warily for several seconds, not in the least fooled by her easy acquiescence. But other than pursuing the subject himself, something he had no intention of doing, there was nothing else he could say or do to put his mind at rest.

      However, he did keep a close eye on Jinx Nixon’s movements over the next hour or so. He noted with satisfaction, despite what she had said earlier, that she didn’t spend more than a few minutes in any other man’s company—while at the same time totally avoiding his!

      ‘Can I drive you home?’

      Jinx turned and frowned at Nik when he spoke to her. He’d stood and watched her as she’d slowly edged her way over to the door, seeming on the verge of making her excuses to leave. ‘I beg your pardon?’

      Nik moved to stand in front of her, effectively blocking out the rest of the room, leaving the two of them cocooned in a bubble of intimacy. ‘I asked if I could drive you home,’ he repeated mildly—of course, that was on the assumption that Jordan wouldn’t mind getting a cab home for himself and Stazy and letting Nik borrow his car for a couple of hours!

      Jinx shook her head, her hair gleaming copper-red in the candlelight that illuminated the room. ‘I have my own car. Thank you,’ she added belatedly.

      He nodded. ‘Which you aren’t going to drive.’

      ‘I’m not?’ Her eyes had widened, deep blue eyes that could appear almost purple in some lights.

      In this light, Nik noticed appreciatively. Also her skin was that pale peach of most redheads, smooth and clear, a tiny pulse beating at the base of her throat. A throat he ached to kiss, he suddenly realized.

      ‘No,’ he confirmed huskily. ‘You’ve drunk two glasses of wine, which means you’re already over the limit—’

      ‘You’ve been counting?’ she interrupted incredulously, angry colour heightening in her cheeks.

      ‘Don’t worry about it.’ He shrugged. ‘I have that sort of mind. For instance, the man standing beside the fireplace has so far drunk a whole bottle of champagne to himself and is now about to start on another. The brunette at his side is obviously the driver for the evening, has only had three glasses of orange juice, and is obviously very pi—annoyed about it,’ he corrected wryly. ‘The man near the window—’

      ‘Okay, I get the picture,’ Jinx snapped. ‘But even so…’

      ‘Even so…?’ Nik prompted softly.

      She looked resentful. ‘I’m not sure I like the idea of having someone watching me that closely.’

      ‘The only way you can stop that is to not be quite so watchable—which, with your face and body, just isn’t going to happen,’ Nik teased her.

      She gave him a perplexed frown, obviously not quite sure how to take that last remark, whether to be flattered or insulted by it. In the end, it seemed, she decided to ignore it. ‘Nevertheless, I won’t be requiring your offer of a lift home,’ she dismissed with obvious relief.

      Not very flattering to his ego, Nik acknowledged. In fact, Jinx Nixon’s attitude towards him hadn’t exactly been warm all evening. His only consolation was that she hadn’t been warm towards any other man, either!

      Apart from perhaps Leo Fellows, their host, Nik corrected himself with an inward frown. The two of them had seemed to be enjoying a flirtatious conversation half an hour or so ago. Could it possibly be that the reason Jinx had arrived here alone this evening was because she was involved in an affair with her best friend’s husband? It wouldn’t be the first time—in fact it was all too common.

      Nik found the thought more than slightly unpleasant when made in connection with the beautiful Jinx Nixon—and no matter what she might have told him her name was, he knew that her closest friends called her Jinx.

      And that was his plan, wasn’t it? To get close to Jinx, wheedle an introduction to her father, and present him with the contract for movie rights to No Ordinary Boy.

      What could be simpler?

      Well, Jinx Nixon being a little less beautiful and a whole lot less sexy would have been a help!

      He had expected to engage in a little light seduction—it was a dirty job, but someone had to do it!—but finding Jinx Nixon so attractive, his senses roused just inhaling her perfume, and other parts of him roused every time he so much as looked at her, had definitely not been part of that plan…

      CHAPTER TWO

      ‘WHY not?’

      Jinx smiled confidently in the face of Nik Prince’s obvious displeasure at having her turn down his offer of a lift home. ‘Susan’s parents live only half a mile away from me and have already offered to drive me home later.’ Although, she had to admit, she had been on the point of forgoing that offer and simply leaving!

      She found this man altogether too disturbing, which was why she hadn’t looked his way at all since they’d parted earlier, even though she had been conscious of his every move.

      In fact, she had never been this aware of a man in her life before. Of course that awareness was on more than one level. On the surface she was aware of the letters received from Stephens Publishing, on this man’s behalf, requesting a meeting with the author of No Ordinary Boy, in order to discuss acquiring the film rights. But underneath all that she was aware of a physical attraction to Nik Prince that she was trying desperately to ignore.

      Obviously, his height and sheer size would dominate any company he was in. The forcefulness of his personality likewise. But it wasn’t either of those things that made her skin tingle and heightened her senses just being in the same room with him. No, the attraction she felt towards this man was something she simply couldn’t explain, something she had never experienced before.

      Or ever wanted to experience again!

      ‘And when you aren’t teaching at Cambridge University, home is where?’

      Jinx’s gaze was guarded as she looked up at Nik. ‘London.’

      He sighed. ‘Which part of London?’

      ‘South west,’ she offered unhelpfully, glancing away from the shrewdness in those silver-grey eyes.

      As far as she was concerned it was too coincidental, after those letters sent from James Stephens on his behalf, that Nik Prince was here at this party at all. Neither Susan nor Leo had met him before this evening, and he certainly didn’t look the type to need his sister to elicit a late invitation, as this one appeared to be, to fill his evening.

      No, Jinx had stopped believing in coincidences a long time ago. And Nik Prince being here this evening certainly wasn’t one, either. She just wasn’t sure how much