Part 9 (1/2)

”This is England. Chances are it will all have disappeared by morning,” he a.s.sured her evenly. ”I thought you might enjoy looking at it while I serve up dinner.”

”It's beautiful.” She nodded distractedly.

”I called the hospital and Gabriel while you were in the shower,” Jonas told her as he walked back to the kitchen area. ”There's no change to Evan's condition. Gabriel asked me to let him know when we had arrived safely at our destination.”

”Thank you.”

Jonas served up the steaks and baked potatoes onto two warmed plates. ”He's only a bossy b.a.s.t.a.r.d because he cares so much.”

A smile curved Lily's lips as she turned to look at him. ”What's your excuse?”

Jonas shrugged. ”Guess it just comes naturally. Come and eat dinner before it gets cold.”

A blush warmed Lily's cheeks as she realized how her questioning him must have sounded as if she was asking for some sort of declaration of feelings for her on his part. Which was pretty ridiculous, considering the two of them had known each other only a short time. A traumatic time, admittedly, but still only a matter of hours in actual time.

Even if that sharp sting of tears at the thought of Jonas lying dead or injured somewhere indicated she already had feelings for him...

Her mind veered away from investigating those feelings too deeply. There was too much going on in her life at present to think clearly about anything other than staying one step ahead of her stalker.

”This looks delicious.” She joined Jonas at the breakfast bar and found she actually felt hungry as she looked at the steak and potatoes he had cooked for them.

”Red wine? Or would you prefer hot tea?”

”Red wine, please.” Maybe a couple of gla.s.ses of wine would help her to sleep tonight. She had a feeling the eerie silence here was going to keep her awake.

If the knowledge Jonas was sleeping in the bedroom just down the hallway hadn't ensured that would be the case...

Jonas's prediction about the snow had been wrong, Lily discovered when she woke the following morning and looked out the bedroom window to see at least six inches of the beautiful pristine white snow blanketing the ground.

It looked even more magical today. Like a scene from a Christmas card, the glistening snow covered the branches of the surrounding fir trees and lay heavy on the shed she could see across what she was sure was normally a swath of gra.s.s.

But this was England, and even though the snow seemed to have stopped falling for the moment, England wasn't equipped to deal with anything more than a couple of inches snowfall. Even the main roads would be blocked until the snowplows were able to get to them, trains at a standstill, buses too. No one would be traveling very far in this weather.

Including my stalker, so get over it.

Every cloud-or snowfall-had its silver lining.

A glance at her wrist.w.a.tch showed Lily it was a little after eight o'clock in the morning, the time she normally woke.

Except there was nothing normal about waking up in Jonas's log mansion miles from any other civilization. The two of them had retired to their separate bedrooms last night shortly after they finished eating. It had taken a while for Lily to fall asleep, but once she had, she'd slept reasonably well. Perhaps courtesy of those three gla.s.ses of wine she had drunk with her meal last night? Whatever the reason, she felt refreshed this morning and ready to face whatever was thrown at her today.

Although she would happily settle for that being only s...o...b..a.l.l.s...

She grinned at the thought of Jonas's engaging in anything as juvenile as throwing s...o...b..a.l.l.s.

Jonas...

Much as she hadn't wanted to think about her feelings for him last night, the thoughts had intruded anyway and were the reason it had taken her some time to fall asleep.

Jonas was very like her brothers in temperament: decisive, arrogant. The difference being that Jonas actually listened to her before he decided whether or not he was going to trample roughshod over any opinion she might care to voice.

Whatever the reason, she felt able to be herself around him, to say what she thought, and know that he would at least take that opinion on board before making any decision. He might still go with his original decision, but he would at least hear what she had to say first.

Talking of which...

The house seemed unnaturally quiet this morning. Even more so than last night, if that were possible. No doubt that silence was added to by that blanket of snow outside. Normally, Lily woke up to the sound of the London traffic below her bedroom window and the noise of the other residents in her apartment building as they prepared to leave for work.

Here, in the middle of nowhere, there was no sound. Only silence and stillness.

Much like the man who lived here.

Which brought her back full circle to Jonas.

All her thoughts now led back to Jonas.

Because she was already halfway in love with him?

Jonas was strength and power, but in that silent and still way that had nothing to do with his physical size. There was watchful confidence in those piercing blue eyes. A predatory stealth to his physical presence. Both those things exuded a ”don't mess with me” message.

Lily felt safe with him.

In regard to other people, at least.

Jonas had become temptation to her. Emotionally as well as physically.

But once this was over, he would return to his world and she would return to hers.

And most probably they would never meet again.

Which meant Lily had to guard her heart from falling for him too deeply. Or risk it being broken when he walked away, without so much as a backward glance. As she knew he would. Jonas was in his midthirties, had never married, had no permanent girlfriend-perhaps never had?-and the physical attraction between the two of them was for here and now. It had no future.

Which didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the here and now. And Jonas.

Except once again Jonas was nowhere to be found in the house when Lily emerged fully dressed from her bedroom and went in search of him. There was fresh coffee made in the kitchen and a loaf of bread left on one of the work tops, no doubt for toast if she wanted breakfast.

Instead, Lily bundled up against the cold in her winter coat and her ankle boots and went outside to look for him. The air was brisk and freezing cold, and she'd been right about the six inches of snow on the ground. There was only an inch or so to spare from the top of her boots when she placed her foot down in it.

Except the snow was completely pristine, no other footprints apart from her own to show that Jonas was out here. So where the h.e.l.l was he?

Lily stood in the snow and looked back toward the house. Which was when she saw that, although the main structure was all on one level, there was attic s.p.a.ce above, with a huge picture window on one side of the house. The six-inch layer of snow prevented her from seeing if there were any windows in the roof, but that didn't mean there weren't any. Could Jonas be up in the attic s.p.a.ce for some reason?

There was only one way to find out.

Chapter 8.

”There's more snow forecast for later today.”