He stopped, and her body craved the warmth of his touch. "And your mother wouldn't approve."
Her mother didn't matter. Alice stepped out of his strong personal space, and turned to gaze into his blue eyes. She played with her necklace and ignored how her heart and body acted like she had no cares near him. "I'm famished. What's for dinner?"
His dimples appeared as if he was amused that she changed the topic. "I'm having food brought in."
She rolled her eyes and pretended shock as she covered her lips. "The refrigerator isn't well stocked? Will a country's children starve because the House of Morgan isn't satisfied?"
"You were nicer at the church."
Score one for him. Alice swallowed as she realized how deep her mother's words scarred her. Plus her Cinderella fantasy was just that. She couldn't stay near the hottest man she ever met without being affected. He was a crush, and she didn't do carefree and meaningless anything. She hugged her waist. "I was free then."
"You'll be free again as soon as we catch the shooter."
She looked out over the dark bay. "I have to go home tomorrow."
"It might not be possible."
Turning toward him with a pleading expression, she blinked against his hypnotic blue gaze. "If I can't go by myself, then you have to take me."
"Why?"
One moment with John and her mother in the same room would kill any amorous thoughts he might have toward her. Perhaps then she could be friends with him, but Alice wouldn't be another random woman in his bed. "Because I don't want to alienate my family the way yours is."
He slipped out of his black suit jacket. "My world has spun on its heels."
His world and her world had collided and Alice lost her own sense of balance. He came closer to her. She stepped backwards and placed her hands behind her back. "Did you join the FBI to punish your father?"
He unbuttoned the bottom of his shirt near his wrists. "You ask too many questions. But yeah, I wanted to arrest Mitch."
She smiled and waited to see his dimples in return. When she saw those cute indentations, she nodded. "Tell my mom about your job if you have to take me home tomorrow."
She should stay with him indefinitely and not tell her mother anything. He loosened his black tie. "Alice, we're not really together—why am I explaining anything to your mother?"
Her mother was her friend, and by next week Alice would be free of parental interference like most twenty-somethings. Besides, her mother only became prickly when the Morgan name was mentioned. She was usually cool as a cucumber. "Because if you intend to keep me here we have to tell her why, and if she knows that you are an FBI agent, that will ease her mind. I don't want her worried someone might shoot me because of you."
He undid the top button of his shirt. "Then I'll tell her we're getting married."
The House of Morgan and her family would never blend. Her face heated. Her mother might pass out cold. "Don't you dare. My mom has old-fashioned ideas on forever."
His eyebrow quirked and his dimples grew wider. "Why not?"
She tried to untangle her legs to prove she wasn't stuck permanently in one spot. This made her sway. "Marriage isn't something you should joke about."
He crossed his arms and stared at her. "Do you have a boyfriend?"
She shrugged and mimicked his body language. "What if I did?"
"Then I'd have to prove he's the wrong choice."
Her jaw dropped. John Morgan could have any girl he'd ever desire and last night he'd turned her down. She'd not repeat that scene. Her eyebrows quirked. "And you're the right one?"
He rubbed his temples like he was confused. "Don't spin this conversation."
"You're bringing up marriage and my love life." Her arms flew outward, away from her as she anchored her feet into the ground. "And I'm not. You frustrate me."
"I'd rather kiss you."
She slipped out of her high heels as she gripped the edge of the table. "I can't. Not until I can center myself without swaying like the wind can push me around. You confuse me."
He let out his own breath. "That makes two of us."
She needed space and a bucket of ice to cool her heated body down. "John, where is my bedroom? I should go."
He gestured toward a long hall. "I don't know. I never lived here. Pick whatever you want."
She turned and started down the massive mansion hall that might rival the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. Again, this house was a showpiece and not a home. The coldness returned. She rubbed her arms and let her body cool. "Which one is yours so I don't take that one?"
He shrugged. "I've never slept here, so I don't have one."
She refused to turn around and stare at him. Instead, she took one step forward and glanced at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were rosy. He saw how she reacted.
She carried her heels by two fingers, her soles cool against the marble floor. She turned her head to the side and called out, "I need twenty minutes to close my eyes and lose my headache."
"Dinner will be here when you're hungry, Alice."
She opened the second door and slipped into a bedroom. She closed the door behind her and rested her head on the wood. She'd never survive staying here for more than one night. Her crush on John Morgan needed to fizzle out as fast as it sparked back. She hadn't thought about him since he left for college years ago, and now she was out of control.
The offer of that kiss had her lips tingling with desire. She wouldn't kiss him again, but her body ached to do so much more.
Chapter Twelve
An hour later, a Morgan security guard dropped off supplies. The man's identification checked out, but John still went through each bag of food and clothing, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
He put together a suitcase full of clothes and left it in front of Alice's bedroom door. John knocked and listened, hearing the splash of water from a shower in the background.
The shower didn't turn off, so Alice must not have heard his knock. He walked down the hall.
Today had been surreal. John put his clothes in the room he'd chosen across the hall, then went to the kitchen and put the two-month supply of groceries away.
They didn't have to go anywhere for a while, though she'd insist on going to her parents. He had to convince her to stay. How? The thought of going into her room to seduce her set his body on fire.
He wouldn't follow that thought, so he popped open a beer and took a sip. The brew did little to appease his mood so he picked up his phone, wondering if Vicki had one. He'd been so busy he hadn't asked. He swallowed and then called the Castle.
On the second ring, his brother answered, "Where did you disappear?"
No amount of beer would lessen the pain of this conversation. John drank, but the ale had a bitterness to it. "I went to the house dad gave me."
"With Alice?"
His grip on the bottle tightened. There had been no reason for Peter to cancel Alice's contract at the funeral. "Don't mention her name."