Page 55 of The Playboy Meets His Match
“It’s not too late to back out of this,” Jason said.
“Will you stop worrying about me! You couldn’t have been this edgy about yourself when you worked for the CIA.”
“That was entirely different,” he replied grimly. A muscle worked in his jaw, and she smiled, placing her hand on his thigh.
“I’ll never be out of your sight. You’re armed to the teeth. There’s nothing he’s going to do, and I’m looking forward to this because I want to tell him what I think of him. Now you stop worrying.”
He glanced at her, swiftly returning his attention to his driving, but he put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her. “All right, but if he tries anything, I’m moving in.”
“Just don’t do it if it isn’t necessary.”
“Don’t get into a car with him.”
“Jason—”
“All right. I’ll stop, but I’m worried about you.”
“I don’t expect to talk to him very long.”
“You better not.”
She smiled and leaned over to kiss Jason’s cheek. He shot another quick glance her way. “Come home with me after this. I deserve an evening with you after you’ve shredded my nerves.”
“Your nerves are all right because you’ve been these kinds of situations before. You’ll get through this.”
Merry appreciated his concern and she wanted to go home with him, but she wasn’t going to. Now every time she was with him, there was a tension between them that hadn’t been there before. Nevertheless she stood fast in her determination to put some time and space between them to see if he really was in love. She settled back against the car seat and watched him drive.
He slowed to a stop in front of an office building across the street from Wescott Oil. “Wait in the lobby. Sebastian will call me when Dorian leaves his office. Then I’ll call you. It’ll give you time to go to the corner, cross the street and get to the front doors about the same time he does.”
“Will do,” she said cheerfully, but he gazed at her as solemnly as ever. She climbed out of the car and entered the building without looking back, knowing he would circle the block and park where he could watch the proceedings.
She stood waiting, glancing at her watch. It was thirty minutes after five, only five minutes since she’d last looked at the time. The sun was angled in the west and traffic had picked up on Main as people came out of offices to go home. The minute the high-pitched ring of her cellular phone came, she answered and heard Jason’s voice.
“Sebastian said Dorian is leaving the building.”
“I’m on my way.”
“The recorder is on?”
“Yes,” she replied, switching it on, still amused and touched by his concern. She was certain he had never been this way with any operatives he had worked with. “’Bye, Jason.”
As she hurried out of the building and approached Wescott Oil, her pulse quickened. The glass doors reflected the sunlight, but most employees exited the back where the large employee parking lot was located. Only the executives could park near the front door. She kept walking toward the door, slowing because she would reach the front door before Dorian and she wanted it to look like a chance casual encounter out in front of the building.
And then Dorian strode through the door, sunlight catching glints in his brown hair. Dressed in a brown suit and tie, he was a handsome man who resembled his half brother, but there was something far kinder in Sebastian’s usual expression than in Dorian’s tight-lipped appearance.
She moved into Dorian’s path, blocking the way, with the western sun behind her so he would be facing the sun. “Dorian,” she said.
His gaze flew to hers and he stopped instantly.
Eleven
Briefly, she caught a flare of recognition in his eyes and then it was gone, but she knew she hadn’t imagined it.
“I don’t believe we know each other,” he said curtly. “Should we?”
“Dorian, I’m Merry Silver, and we know each other very well.”
“You must have mistaken me for someone else. Your reputation and actions precede you, Miss Silver, so of course, I do know you from your attacks on me. Am I safe or should I be screaming for help now?”
