Harry took a sip of coffee. “Well, the original idea was to get proof that your marriage isn’t real.”
Did her grandmother know? She couldn’t or she wouldn’t have sent Harry.
“Then according to your dear, sweet grandmamma, the two of you couldn’t keep your hands of each other, and now she’s not so sure. But Valerie is nothing if not tenacious, so here I am.”
“Don’t you have anything better to do?”
“Like a job you mean? Not at the moment. And my father very kindly bought me a car—a sort of bribe.”
“With Lexi’s money.”
“I hadn’t actually thought of it like that. But probably. Slightly ironic isn’t it?”
It was doing her head in. “Why tell me? Why not just do your spying thing and keep quiet?”
He pursed his lips, thought for a moment, and she saw the first flash of real emotion in his eyes. “Because I don’t like them.”
“Oh.” Whatever she’d been expecting it wasn’t that.
“He’s my father, but we don’t get to pick our families, and he’s a bastard.”
“But you still accepted the car?” Josh pointed out.
He shrugged. “Well, I am my father’s son. Whether I like it or not. He married Valerie for her money and then found she didn’t have all that much of her own. It was all yours. They thought you could be manipulated. It must have pissed them off something rotten when you proved them wrong.”
“Did you know they had plans to marry us off?”
“I wouldn’t have minded. You were cute.”
Josh growled again, and Harry chuckled. “He’s a little protective isn’t he?”
She cast a glance at Josh. He was eyeing Harry like he’d be happy to rip his head from his shoulders. It was official: he was a great actor. What would it feel like to have someone want to protect you for real? Most of her life she’d felt alone. And from the age of eighteen, she’d been alone, looking after herself and anyone else who came her way.
She felt a little wistful at the thought. But only a little. She’d fought hard for her independence.
Josh caught her staring and their gazes locked. Something warm uncoiled inside her. His lips curled in a slight smile, and then he swiped his tongue over his lower lip, and her breath hitched. She swayed toward him, as the memory of his tongue on her body did weird things to her insides, stoking the warmth until it ignited inside her.
Harry cleared his throat. “Did the temperature just go up in here?”
Lexi sat back. She did feel a little warm.
“So am I staying or going?” Harry asked.
He’d all but admitted he was going to report back on them. But if she told him no, then that might raise their suspicions. She’d have to come up with that out of town job for Josh a little quicker.
“You can stay. We’ve got nothing to hide.”
Harry nodded then turned to Josh. “You okay with that?”
“No, but this is Lexi’s place. If she says it’s okay, you can stay.”
“Good. All settled then. I’ll go pick up my stuff from the hotel and be right back. Hey”—he grinned—“this is going to be fun.”
…
“Why do I somehow doubt that?” Josh murmured. He got to his feet, crossed to the window, and watched as Harry climbed into his car and disappeared down the drive. He turned back to where Lexi still sat at the table.
He’d caught her wistful expression when Harry had made the asinine protective comment.
Just like he’d thought—Lexi wanted someone to look after her. She might not know it or acknowledge it, but she did. And it wasn’t going to be him. All the same, he didn’t like this. And he hated the thought of Harry staying in the house with her.
“You should have told him to piss off.”
“Maybe.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“It would have made them suspicious. Besides…”
“Besides what?”
She shrugged and looked a little self-conscious. “I think he’s hurting. It can’t have been easy growing up with creepy Daniel for a father.”
“Jesus. You want to help him.” He sat back down and ran a hand through his hair, irritation coursing through him. “You can’t fucking help everyone.”
She turned her chair so she was facing him. “Why not?”
Her question stopped him short, and he searched for an answer. “Not everyone deserves helping. Besides, he’s a slimy bastard, and I don’t like him.”
She grinned. “Maybe. Anyway, you won’t have to spend time with him. I think I see a phone call coming up. A really important job you can’t get out of.” She reached across and patted his arm. “Don’t worry. I can handle Harry alone.”
“No.”
The word was out before he thought better of it, and he wasn’t sure where it came from. Except he didn’t want her handling Harry. Not alone or any other way.
“No?”
“They’ll definitely think it’s suspicious if I leave now. No way will they believe such a convenient job.” He was making this up as he went along, his mouth running away with him. And that wasn’t right. He was a planner; he didn’t do spur of the moment.