Narrowed, intense, his gaze swept over her body.
“For the time being,” he assured her. “But I’d like for you to stay within the inner grounds for a few days; the walls surrounding the house are equipped with special diffusers to ensure no cameras or other tracking equipment can penetrate it.”
She nodded nervously, watching as he moved to the windows and slid the curtains back several inches to catch the rays of the setting sun.
“The windows are also specially made to diffuse images in any optical equipment. As long as you keep them closed you’ll be safe with the curtains open.”
“I didn’t close them,” she said, wincing at the slight nervous quiver she couldn’t halt. “They were closed when I came into my room.”
He nodded before turning back. “It was probably one of the maids. They’re unaware of the windows’ properties, and we like to keep knowledge of it limited. It helps during those times when we key the electronics built into the windows to show the images we want seen. If everyone knew about it, then it would be less effective.”
Then why tell her? She wasn’t exactly a member of the family.
“How did you know the problem was reporters?” he asked her then.
“It really wasn’t that hard,” she told him, her expression pulled tight with the fear that glittered in her eyes. “There was, after all, a camera mounted on top of the vehicle they drove. I glimpsed that much as I peeked from my curtains.”
Katie twisted her hands together to keep from reaching out to touch him again as he crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at her with a frown. “What I’d like to know is how they managed to find you here?” he growled. “I’ve sent one of my men out to learn as much as possible. Though, with those bastards, it’s hard telling.”
She had to agree with him on that one, of course. But that didn’t explain the question uppermost in her mind at the moment.
“Why are you here, in my room, Devil?” she asked instead. “You didn’t seem particularly upset that you were drawn away earlier.”
“Taking a virgin on my desk wouldn’t exactly be a testament to my maturity and experience either.” The rumble of a growl was accompanied by a flash of pure lust in his black and amber eyes.
“And you’ve decided I’m a virgin, how?”
She was, but it wasn’t exactly something she advertised.
“How the hell you made it to twenty-four years of age without taking a lover I haven’t figured out yet.” The low pitch of the rumbled words rasped over her senses as he began moving slowly toward her. “Tell me, Katie, were the men in Ireland completely stupid?”
“I was completely not interested,” she corrected him, though speaking past the harsh beat of her heart wasn’t exactly easy.
“You were engaged,” he reminded her, his expression shifting, tightening as though the knowledge displeased him in some way. “How could you be ‘uninterested’ in sex and be contemplating marriage?”
How could she be?
“He wasn’t exactly interested himself,” she sighed, regretting the friend she had lost when the news of her genetics had been revealed. “And I was tired of being alone and questioned regarding the fact that I had no lover or lovers. I was beginning to feel somehow inferior to others because that desire wasn’t there.”
Until him.
Now, she couldn’t seem to get rid of the need.
“And now you’re interested. Doesn’t that confuse you a bit? Perhaps cause you to question why it’s happened so suddenly?” Stopping in front of her, he reached out, his fingers circling her wrist and drawing her hand slowly from the material of her robe.
“Should I?” Her senses were in shambles as he smoothed the edges of the robe over the swell of her br**sts, the calloused tips stroking against her skin and causing her to draw in a hard, sharp breath.
She didn’t want to question anything except why he wasn’t kissing her yet.
“You’re going to hate me later,” he told her, his head lowering, his lips brushing against hers sensually.
“Of course I will.” There was no denying that. He was too powerful, too dominant to ever understand the value of dealing with her in a straightforward manner. He was a man she could trust with her life, but not with her heart.
Unfortunately, her heart may have already made the choice.
“You know you’ll hate me?” He paused, his lips still within a breath of hers.
“I think it was destined,” she sighed. “But if you don’t kiss me, I’m going to hate you now rather than later. How’s that?”