to scare her with that scowl that created interesting indentations between those intelligent, hazel eyes.
“I know we’ve met before, but it was so long ago that we should probably introduce ourselves again.” She stuck her hand out and said, “I’m Jessica Mallory. And you’re Edward Livingston. Your uncle said you might be able to help me with my problem.”
“We’re not discussing anything here,” Edward said with finality and took her arm to lead her out of the building. When they were out on the street, he started to turn to face Tony, about to tell him to catch a cab back to the office so he could have a private conversation with this woman, but she stopped him.
“There’s my ride. I was going to head over to your office, but since I’ve already interrupted your day enough, how about if I let you get back to work and you can come over to my house for dinner tonight?”
Edward stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Let’s discuss the issue on the way back to my office.”
She looked up at him warily, wondering why he was so angry with her. “Let me just go talk to Nate, okay?” she suggested.
Edward looked at the guy on the curb leaning against a motorcycle and nodded sharply.
He walked over to his car which had been waiting in the front of the station while he and Tony were inside.
Tony was watching the woman as well but also noting the way his employer scrutinized the woman in question. He understood what was happening and decided to make himself scarce. “I’ll catch a cab back to the office, unless you need me for anything else?”
Edward didn’t take his eyes off of Jessica when he shook his head. His muscles relaxed slightly when she turned back around and headed in his direction. Tim held the door for her and she ducked down into the back seat and Edward followed her in.
Jessica took the seat opposite so that her back was towards the driver and she could face Edward, wanting to see the expressions on his face as they conversed. The man was filled with confidence and authority, and the intelligence shone out of those hazel eyes. It was quite a turn-on! She even liked the way he moved, with conviction and determination. Goodness, this man was sexy!
He picked up the papers he’d brought with him, the documents his uncle had e-mailed to him earlier in the day. “So you’ve been gallivanting about Europe with my uncle instead of seriously trying to get down to the business of fulfilling your father’s provisions, am I correct?” he asked as he forced his eyes to skim through her father’s will instead of watching her elegant, temptress-like figure sway while Tim drove through the London streets. He refused to look up as she crossed those long legs. How could her legs be that long, he wondered. She wasn’t that tall. His first impression of her was that she was barely five feet, five or six inches so her legs were just an optical illusion created by the line of her jeans and those ridiculous red boots.
He wondered if she painted her toenails red as well.
Jessica was slightly taken aback at his negative portrayal of her efforts to find a husband. She bristled, but reminded herself that she’d interrupted his day and he was probably a very busy man. “I wouldn’t really describe my time as ‘gallivanting’. That seems to have a negative connotation.”
One of those dark, interesting eyebrows went up and she forced herself to sit still, to not wiggle at his implication. “Are you telling me that you applied yourself diligently and exclusively to the task of fulfilling your father’s will over the past eleven months?” he asked.
Jessica blinked, and shook her head. “Of course not,” she said softly.
His eyes snapped back up at her, waiting a moment for her to elaborate on her denial. Most people would know that they were in trouble by this point because of his tone of voice. But this woman sitting in front of him didn’t seem to be aware of the danger. That only irritated him further and he decided to ramp up the intimidation, pushing his amusement and fascination aside. It was rare that he met someone who didn’t react as expected and the fact that Jessica Mallory was not following the predictable pattern gave him pause. “Would you care to expand on that comment?”
She folded her hands in her lap. “The