All He Wants For Christmas.... Kelly Hunter

can search again.’

      ‘No,’ said Ruby emphatically. ‘I don’t think I could stand it. I did what you asked of me, Damon, and I don’t regret it but I certainly don’t ever want to do it again. I’m a felon but I’m free. I haven’t found my father but at least no one’s found him dead. That’s good news. I’m willing to embrace the no-news-is-good-news policy today. As for you and me …’ Ruby’s whiskey-coloured eyes reflected a guardedness he’d never seen in them before. ‘I overheard something I shouldn’t have about you, Damon, and I paid the price and now we’re square. Aren’t we?’

      ‘Yes.’ They were square.

      ‘And as much as I’ve enjoyed getting to know you, the work you do scares me, Damon, and the life you lead you lead alone. I will think of you with pleasure and I will think of you with hunger but it’s time for you to leave.’

      ‘Hunger?’ he queried softly.

      ‘Don’t dwell on it,’ she told him wryly. ‘Hunger’s manageable. You’re not.’

      He knew it. ‘Mind if I get changed? My suit’s in your bathroom.’

      ‘Chameleon.’ But she said it with a smile. ‘Go. Get changed. Break my heart all over again when you come back out wearing a Savile Row suit and a gotta-be-going smile. I’m a felon. Tough. Worldly. Brave. I can handle it.’

      She was making it easy for him again. Easy for him to do what he knew he should do. Walk away.

      Just him and a hatful of regrets.

      ‘I’m heading to Australia in three days’ time,’ he said.

      ‘Enjoy.’ She didn’t know why he was telling her this and it showed. Time to enlighten her.

      ‘Come with me.’

      ‘Pardon?’

      ‘Come with me.’ Nothing but impulsiveness on his part and astonishment on hers. ‘I have a house on the beach and a few weeks free. You could stay there while you figure out what it is you want to do next. We could just … swim.’ Or sink.

      Probably the latter.

      Ruby eyed him narrowly. ‘You just want to keep an eye on me. Make sure I don’t go spilling your secrets where I shouldn’t. You’re obsessing about me knowing what it is you do.’

      ‘Only a little.’ Only a lot.

      ‘Well, stop it or you’ll go blind,’ she told him heatedly. ‘You. Can. Trust. Me. Which is more than I can say for you.’

      He took a step towards her and watched her scramble off her barstool fast and put out a hand as if to ward him off. ‘Damon,’ she began warningly. ‘We are so close to finishing this. Don’t mess with the plan.’

      ‘There’s a plan?’ Damon reached out and touched her hair, wove silken strands of it around his fingertips, and finally, as if she would break beneath his touch, set his lips to the edge of her mouth. ‘Come with me,’ he whispered. ‘Forget the plan.’

      ‘You scare me, Damon.’ But she kissed him as if she was starving for him and he kissed her and knew he was insatiable for her in return.

      ‘I’ll try not to.’

      ‘And you’ll fool me into thinking that you care.’

      ‘Maybe I do,’ he whispered and slid his hands to her buttocks and picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around him and made him groan. ‘Come with me.’

      Fifteen minutes later, as she climaxed round him for the second time, he said, ‘Ruby, please.’

      And she said, ‘Yes.’