as she reached out to brush Adam’s sandy-blond hair away from his forehead. “But I will be here to check on you every evening until you’re back on your feet.”
When Adam slumped against the pillow, Maggie’s breath caught and she valiantly battled to keep from bursting into sobs. Julia hoisted her to her feet, then steered her onto the terrace.
“I’ll make sure you get home safely,” Lone Wolf volunteered as he came up behind them. “Adam is getting what he needs to fully recover. Plenty of rest. Julia will see that he follows doctor’s orders.”
While he shepherded Maggie across the balcony toward the staircase, Julia trailed behind them. A host of insecurities rose inside her when her supposed husband wrapped a protective arm around Maggie’s shoulders to guide her down the dark steps. She reminded herself that he had also shown her the same kindness and support while she was distraught.
Just because she had developed an infatuation for Lone Wolf did not imply that he had the slightest romantic interest in her. And just because they had agreed to pretend to be married didn’t mean she was more to him than just another paying client.
This was a business arrangement, she told herself as she reversed direction to enter her bedroom. It wasn’t his fault that he’d preyed heavily on her mind since the moment she found herself flat on her back, staring up into that rugged, bronzed face.
Julia flounced on her bed and muttered at the confusing jumble of emotions that had hounded her all evening. She shouldn’t trust any of these feelings that bombarded her. Adam’s attack had put her into a mental confusion and kept her there.
When Lone Wolf had suggested this marriage, she realized it would work to her advantage as well. Everyone in her social circle knew she would inherit a trust fund when she married. That was why she had been inundated with so many proposals. She had given up on finding a man who wanted her simply for who she was on the inside. If spreading the word that she had married Vince Lone Wolf resolved that problem alone, Julia was all in favor of it.
Maggie had dealt with the same influx of proposals and refused to accept any because she had given her heart away years earlier. But at twenty-one Julia hadn’t encountered a man who turned her head or piqued her interest. Hadn’t found a man she could trust to be honest in his intentions toward her.
Then she had run headlong into Lone Wolf and known instantly there was something intriguing about him that called out to something inside her. She was physically attracted to him and impressed by him. He made her feel safe, secure and protected in the midst of a storm of turbulence.
Julia rolled to her side and fluffed her pillow. She had never expected to meet a man who didn’t have hidden motives, but it was a welcomed change. She had even been so presumptuous to think that Lone Wolf liked her for herself. He had praised her intelligence, her gumption and her spirit.
Then Maggie showed up and all of Julia’s insecurities and inadequacies came rushing to the surface, making her outspokenness and unconventional manner glaringly apparent.
Lone Wolf could see for himself that Julia wasn’t as appealing as Maggie. Any man could.
Muttering, Julia flopped onto her back and pulled the pillow over her head. Lord, she was such an imbecile for getting sidetracked by these rare feelings that Vince Lone Wolf inspired in her. And it hadn’t helped when he had bolted up earlier without a stitch of clothes to pounce on the supposed intruder. Dark though the room had been, Julia had gotten a revealing peek at his masculine body. The shadowed vision dancing in her head refused to go away.
“Stop thinking about that!” Julia muttered under her breath. She had only two objectives, she reminded herself sensibly. One, she had to make certain Adam recovered. Two, she needed to ferret out the sniper to determine if he had any connection to Sol Griffin.
This unexpected attachment to Lone Wolf was the result of distress, roiling emotion and feminine curiosity, she convinced herself. She was simply reaching out to find someone reliable and trustworthy while her world was in upheaval.
She wasn’t wasting precious time wondering if Lone Wolf found her lacking and unappealing. She was simply going to shut her eyes and go to sleep so she could be alert and energetic enough to care for Adam.
Her brother needed her. He was all the family she had left and she wouldn’t fail him. And that was that.
Lone Wolf slipped silently into Julia’s bedroom suite and stopped short when he realized she was asleep in the bed she had assigned to him. Now what was this supposed to imply? he wondered. He stared at her shapely form and the glorious mass of curly blond hair that splayed across the pillow. His fingertips itched to stroke those silky tendrils and he longed for another whiff of her enticing feminine scent.
Was this an unspoken invitation?
Because if it was, she wouldn’t have to ask him twice.
Even while his body hardened with anticipation, guilt slammed into him like a freight train. As much as he wanted to slide into bed beside this bewitching, feisty female, the fact that he hadn’t been completely honest with her about his motives for a pretend marriage stopped him cold.
This was a woman who valued honesty and trust, he reminded himself. She would be outraged with him if she learned the truth that he had conveniently omitted.
Despite all that, here she was in his assigned bed. There was no denying that he wanted her. What man wouldn’t? Julia was full of fire and spirit and she had an irrepressible passion for life that utterly beguiled him. She was every man’s secret dream. Even a man who, according to Harvey Fowler, wasn’t fit to breathe the same air that she did.
Unfortunately Harvey spoke the truth. Lone Wolf lived in a world where violence was a weekly occurrence. He was used to it, but Julia wasn’t. It was plain to see that she had become rattled by her brother’s brush with death.
To him it was business as usual.
Which meant they had nothing in common. Plus, she wasn’t his type. Hell, he didn’t have a type. What he had was the occasional sexual encounter to scratch an itch. It didn’t get more complicated than that and it was going to stay that way.
Yet…temptation was right under his nose and tantalizing thoughts of Julia Preston were dancing in his head. Scowling, Lone Wolf braced his hands on the side of the bed and stared at the tormenting vision of beauty, wishing he knew for sure what Julia was doing in his designated bed.
Was it by accident or on purpose?
“Woman, if you are trying to drive me crazy…it’s working.”
Silently he gathered his hardware and pulled the quilt from the foot of the bed. In one minute he had fashioned a pallet on the floor—directly between Julia and the terrace door. If anyone tried to get to her or Adam they would have to go through him.
And after all, wasn’t that his only reason for existence? To resolve other people’s problems? Half-breeds had difficulty acquiring respectable jobs. As a bounty hunter and bodyguard, he was a dispensable commodity that protected decent folks from criminal elements of society. He was the last defense between good and evil.
If Julia hadn’t needed him to solve her problems she probably wouldn’t have given him a second glance. Yet, for a few hours he had felt he belonged somewhere, helping put a family back together after tragedy struck.
This was something different than tracking ruthless murderers and thieves through the wilderness—while trying to avoid getting himself shot in the process.
Lone Wolf rolled onto his side and stared at the bed that had felt so incredibly comfortable earlier. There was a lot to be said for luxury. Even more to be said for snuggling up to the soft feminine body that was just beyond his reach.
Another blast of lust hammered him. He wondered if the self-restraint he had spent thirty-two years perfecting was going to hold up around Julia. Then he asked himself why a woman like her would possibly want a man like him.
She wouldn’t, he assured himself realistically.