Flirting With Intent (15 page)

Thirty years. Before Ruby. During Ruby. And he’d never said a word.

Next problem: Harry had been monitoring a sensitive money-laundering deal when he’d disappeared. A deal the British had not wanted to see go through. General consensus had it that Harry was dead but no corpse had been forthcoming so nobody knew for sure.

Damon’s immediate problem: what to tell Ruby?

Right now he was leaning heavily towards telling her nothing.

Ruby smiled when she saw him and indicated an already open bottle of champagne on the kitchenette counter.

‘You got the job,’ he said.

‘I was offered the job.’

‘Did you
take
the job?’

‘I’m letting them know.’

‘Where’s it based?’

‘Hong Kong.’

‘Handy.’

‘Not for someone who’s looking to start afresh. My father cast a long shadow in Hong Kong, Damon, and not just because people think him a thief. I’m tired of tripping over it.’

Damon said nothing.

‘I also wouldn’t have access to the resources and community a main office would
offer,’ she continued thoughtfully. ‘Mentoring. A cohort to learn from, and with. They want me to fly solo in Hong Kong. I could do that for myself.’

‘You could access the company’s resources online,’ he said mildly. ‘Computer conferencing to take care of the mentoring and working together business.’

Ruby’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

‘Not that I’m trying to influence you. But it could be done. Leaving you with a certain autonomy when it comes to running things your way.’

‘Why, Damon West. Are you calling me a dictator?’

‘Course not,’ he said with a shake of his head as he crossed to the counter and filled the champagne flute she’d left there for him.

‘Liar.’

Damon grinned and tilted his glass her way. ‘Here’s to choices and what we make of them. Congratulations on being offered the job, whether you take it or not.’

‘Thank you,’ she said graciously and held out her glass for a refill. ‘Don’t mind me, I’m still debating the offer. I’ll be debating the offer for days and your power to distract me
will be fully tested. What did you get up to this morning in my absence?’

‘Nothing much. Bit of sightseeing,’ he said offhand.

‘Ah.’

Ruby didn’t ask for details. And Damon didn’t say.

Damon took Ruby’s preoccupation with career planning as a signal to do a little career expansion of his own. He acquired a contract to design a network security system for a corporate customer. Work that he could do from the beach house and make a start on straight away if Ruby didn’t mind.

Ruby didn’t mind. She’d decided to face the complexities of her burgeoning relationship with Damon on a day-by-day basis. No planning required. No stressing about her and Damon’s future allowed.

Besides, the reality of Damon’s work process was highly entertaining.

Damon worked in a room full of computers with half a dozen programs running at once, and he did it in ten-minute bursts while wearing board shorts and a tan.

Not exactly office-trained was Damon.

In the absence of a whole lot else to do,
Ruby set her sights on conquering kite-surfing. Her stomach muscles would thank her once they’d stopped protesting, and Damon’s work pattern meant that every fifteen minutes or so she could hand the rig over to him and take a break.

At which point her stomach muscles would thank her on the spot.

‘Lunch time,’ he said as he came down to meet her at water’s edge for the umpteenth time that morning. ‘And we have visitors.’

‘Who?’

‘Lena and Trig.’

‘Trig for trigonometry?’ she said as she unbuckled the harness, more than happy to be done with it for the day.

‘Trig for trigger-happy,’ he said, and un-clipped the kite lines and gave her a breezy grin.

‘Oh, that’s comforting,’ she murmured. ‘Friend of yours?’

‘Friend of Jared and Lena’s, mainly. We grew up next door to each other. Jared and Trig joined the service together. Lena joined up a year later. Longest year of Lena’s life,’ said Damon. ‘Mine and Poppy’s too.’

‘So has Trig heard from Jared?’

‘No, but he’s got a lead on where he might
be.’ They started up the beach, Damon loaded down with gear and Ruby’s aching muscles happy to let him carry the lot.

‘He’s come to you for help?’

‘Yeah, but not the kind of help you’re thinking. Trig wants to depart on a little fact-finding mission. Lena’s determined to go with him.’

‘That doesn’t sound like a particularly smart idea.’

‘Can I quote you on that?’

‘Only if you want me to wear Lena’s everlasting animosity.’

‘Point taken. I’ll keep you in reserve, counsellor.’ And then they were at the house pavilion and it was smiles and introductions and greetings, with Ruby acutely aware of her tangled hair and the salt on her skin.

Damon and Trig moved over towards the garden tap to rinse off the kite-surfing rig.

Ruby turned to Lena and thanked her kindly for the welcome-to-the-beach-house lotions and potions and then slid on into a polished how-do-you-do and a lovely-to-see-you.

‘You’re looking well,’ said Ruby, a substantial exaggeration given Lena’s extreme slenderness, but no woman needed reminding
that she’d looked better yesterday. ‘I, on the other hand, look like a hoyden. Give me five minutes to shower and change and I’ll be back.’

‘Take ten,’ said Lena with a smile. ‘The boys’ll talk kite-board rigs for at least that long.’

‘Leaving you to do what? Entertain yourself?’

‘Leaving me to mock them,’ said Lena. ‘It’s a pattern we’re all familiar with. Go. Wash off the salt. Put on the visitor clothes—I can see you want to. Besides, Trig’s already compared you to half the Victoria’s Secret Angels. I want to see the look on his face when you do your corporate princess thing.’

‘The corporate princess is gone,’ said Ruby. ‘I bought myself some beach clothes.’

‘Should be interesting,’ said Lena. ‘One of these days you’re going to have to give me some fashion advice. The compliments I get whenever I wear the clothes you bought for me have been amazing.’

‘I have two words for you,’ said Ruby. ‘Persian Pink.’

‘Never,’ said Lena with a gamine smile that made her truly beautiful. Oh, the things
people never saw when they looked in a mirror.

An
oomph
and a thump from somewhere over near the tap caught Ruby’s attention and she turned to find Damon in possession of the garden hose, apparently intent on cooling the trigger-happy one down. Trig, in turn, seemed equally intent on gathering up the hose line and strangling Damon with it—both of them grinning like sharks. ‘Are they always like this?’

‘Not
always.
Trig probably shouldn’t have been staring at your arse. I did warn him.’

‘About my bum?’

‘That Damon was serious about you.’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘You’re here, aren’t you? And Damon’s all happy and relaxed on the inside as well as on the surface. That’s rare.’

Ruby eyed Lena uncertainly. ‘You can tell all that just by looking at him?’

‘Can’t you?’ said Lena with the beginnings of a smile. ‘Oh, all right. Maybe I’m imagining things. Seeing what I want to see. But he’s certainly very possessive of you, and making no apology for it with Trig. That’s an excellent sign of attachment. Damon protects what’s his. Always has. Usually with a complete
disregard for his own safety that can be scary to watch.’

Possessive. Serious.
Lena’s words whizzed by, with Ruby scrambling madly to keep up.
Disregard for own safety. Scary.
Ruby backing up to ask the obvious question. ‘Possessive how? As in if I even look at another man sideways he’ll strangle me, possessive?’

‘Not quite, although I wouldn’t say he’d be entirely
happy
were you to look at Trig sideways.’

Neither, it seemed, would Lena be happy. Ruby stifled a smile. ‘Duly noted.’

‘All I was meaning,’ said Lena repressively, ‘is that if you were ever in danger, Damon would protect you with everything he had, including his life. For example, he pulled Poppy out of a rip once, when they were little. Saw her in trouble and swam like a demon to get to her, got caught in it as well and then swam like two demons to get them out. I thought they were both going to die.’

‘Brave though.’

‘Made an impression, I’ll give him that.’ Lena eyed her speculatively. ‘Damon used to avoid his I’ll-die-for-you dilemmas by not laying claim to much. Wonder what he’s going to do now?’

‘Hopefully, stay alive,’ said Ruby dryly. ‘As for your claims about Damon laying claim to me, I think I’ll just tell you I have no idea what you’re talking about and go and have me that shower now.’ Ruby took a step towards the back of the house and then turned around to assess once more the wrestling tangle of well-muscled limbs. ‘They’re not going to kill each other
now,
are they?’

‘No, Damon knows Trig was only winding him up by studying you. He’s made his point. Now they’re just saying hello.’

‘Right.’ That was hello. ‘Australian thing, is it?’

Lena just smiled.

Ruby returned to the fray some fifteen minutes later, wearing a pretty little cropped and layered silk camisole, heavy on the plums and pinks, ivory hipster trousers, bare feet, and her purple butterfly headband. She’d taken the time to blow-dry her hair and apply a touch of make-up. Visitors were visitors after all. No need to disrespect them by not making an effort.

Trig stared at her as she approached them, his grin wide and his gaze unholy. Probably her lack of shoes. Could be the butterfly.

Damon stared too, eyes narrow upon her bared midriff.

‘Looking a little possessive there, boyo,’ Trig murmured to Damon.

‘Just feeling my way,’ responded Damon evenly, and then went and spoiled all that lovely nonchalance by shooting Trig a dirty glare. ‘You’re not feeling
anything.’

Ruby’s smile widened. ‘I just couldn’t find a
thing
to wear,’ she said to Damon when she reached them. ‘You might have to take me shopping.’

‘I am
so
impressed,’ said the aptly named Trig. ‘What else does she do? Besides bait you.’

‘I could tell you but you’d weep,’ said Damon, and turned to Ruby. ‘We’re trying to convince Lena to stay here and concentrate on getting better while Trig goes looking for Jared.’

Family politics. Never, ever—on pain of death—get in the middle of it.

Particularly if you weren’t family.

‘How’s that working out for everyone?’ she said cautiously.

‘You’re a lawyer. Reason with her,’ said Damon.

Oh, yes. This was going to end well.

‘So … I’m guessing we’ve moved past delicacy, in terms of approach?’ asked Ruby.

‘Delicacy’s not something we employ around Lena,’ said Trig. ‘Lena considers it a weakness.’

Okeydokeythen. Ruby ignored Lena’s mutinous expression in favour of asking the obvious question. ‘Lena, in your honest opinion, will you slow Trig down?’

‘No,’ said Lena.

‘YES.’ This from an extremely frustrated Trig. ‘Lena, you have no idea how much I worry about you these days. Stay here with Damon and Ruby. Get well.
Get out of my goddamn head!’

‘Why would I want to be in your head?’ Lena yelled back.
‘There’s nothing in there but testosterone.’

‘I don’t know, Damon,’ said Ruby dubiously. ‘She looks fighting fit to me.’ And in a voice she knew would carry, ‘How long did you say they’d been married?’

That stopped them.

Lena scowled. Trig glowered.

Damon headed for the fridge in order to hide his smirk and returned with two beers and a bottle of white wine. ‘I’ll get glasses.’

Ruby smiled. Delicately. And watched him
go. Watched him return and pour wine for Lena and slide it across the countertop, and pour one for her too, before distributing the beer. While the silence droned on.

‘Far be it from me to want to take charge of this discussion,’ she began calmly, and suffered Damon’s extremely level gaze in silence, ‘or take sides, but, Lena, it does seem to me that the gentlemen have a point. What if you end up having to move quickly because you’re in danger? What if you have to run? Could you?’

Trig opened his mouth to say something. Ruby silenced him with a glance. ‘Lena?’

‘I can run,’ said Lena in a thin hollow voice.

‘Lena, you can barely
walk,’
countered Trig savagely. ‘Don’t you dare downplay your injuries to me. I was the one who pushed your
guts
back into your body.’

‘I can run,’ said Lena. And then went and spoiled her insistence with a fat and silent tear.

Trig fled, taking his beer and Damon with him. Out to the barbecue area where they set about unearthing a four-foot stainless-steel barbecuing wonder from its coverings.

‘Looks like they’re starting lunch,’ said Ruby.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Lena as she wiped her tears away with her fingers only to have more replace them. ‘I’m not myself. I just want—’

‘To be yourself again and find your brother. I know.’ Ruby reached across the counter, covered Lena’s hand and squeezed.

‘It’s okay.’

‘No, it’s
not
okay,’ said Lena. ‘I never cry. Especially not in front of Trig.’

‘Because … Why not?’

‘Because he’ll never let me live it down.’

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Ruby. ‘Looks like a man hell-bent on forgetting the past few minutes to me. You want to know what else I think?’

Rhetorical question.

‘I think you’re terrified you might not recover from your injuries as well as you might like, and I think those two clowns out there are terrified right along with you. I think that regardless of what you want to do, what you
need
to do is take it easy on your body and listen to the clowns for once.’

Ruby smiled and the circus continued. ‘Besides, Trig’s not going anywhere unless
you agree to stay here. I’m guessing he’s saving that little titbit up for when all other forms of persuasion fail. What would you rather have him do, Lena? Babysit you or go look for your brother?’

Trig left. Lena stayed. And the following morning Ruby began to turn her mind to her future. Her two weeks were almost up and, much as she’d delighted in them, she couldn’t stay on here indefinitely and neither would Damon.