The Heiress & the Bodyguard

by Ryanne Corey

  In a very small voice, “Oh.”

  “It’s the truth,” he said softly, relieved to be honest with her for once. He knew this was an opportune time to back off and head for another cold shower. At least, his head knew it. His body was telling him something else altogether. Without consciously making the decision, he allowed his finger to wander along the edge of her lower lip, fascinated by the full, satin-softness. He watched her gold-tipped lashes close and felt her softly exhaled breath against his fingertip. He knew he shouldn’t be doing this. This was bad, very bad. He was getting paid to prevent everyone in the world from coming anywhere near Julie Roper. Obviously he wasn’t doing a very good job of it. Someone should fire him. Immediately.

  While his conscience squirmed, he continued to stare at her, head cocked to one side in a portrait of riveted curiosity. “Do you like that?”

  “When you touch me?” Her beautiful pansy-brown eyes slowly opened wide, pupils dilated and free of any caution or fear. She didn’t know enough to be afraid. “Yes. You’re so gentle…it’s almost like a kiss.”

  “My kisses,” he said, fighting a tightness in his throat, “aren’t always gentle.”

  “I wouldn’t know.” The words came out as a whisper. There was a sudden electrical charge in the space between their bodies, the air vibrating with the dangerous volatility of bottled nitroglycerin. Her eyes held his with unblinking intensity as she pressed her lips together, bravely pressing the lightest butterfly kiss on the tip of his finger. Just once, just once in her life she wanted to cross that damnable line of acceptable behavior. She had no idea what she was capable of feeling, but she knew Billy had all the answers to the questions she might have.

  “Be good,” Billy ordered, while at the same time his heavy-lidded, blue-glitter eyes drifted to her lips. “You know damn well you shouldn’t…”

  “I know. I shouldn’t do this, shouldn’t do that….” She stepped closer, her hips a whisper away from his. Her heart was pounding hard enough to jump out of her chest, but she managed something that she hoped was a smile. “I’m so tired of being told what to do. Didn’t you ever want to do something just because you shouldn’t? Because you were afraid this was your only chance, and you would regret it if you let the moment go?”

  Billy closed his eyes tight. It didn’t help; her image was burned on his retinas. “No. Absolutely not.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “You’re playing with fire.”

  “No, I’m not. I’m just…dancing around it a little.”

  He sighed heavily, opening his eyes and drinking her in. A new, more intense flame flickered around his heart. She was beautiful enough to break a man’s heart. And he was very afraid his was cracking around the edges. Gently, he said, “Take off that damned hat.”

  She did as she was told, her breath caught in her throat.

  One side of Billy’s mouth tipped up in a smile. “Uh-oh. Suddenly you’re doing as you’re told. I should run for my life…but I won’t.” He dipped his head, rubbing the tip of his nose against hers. “I can’t.”

  “Me, neither,” Julie whispered inelegantly.

  He buried his hands in her silky-cool curls, slanting his head sideways to catch her lips beneath his. It felt as though something had snapped in him, freeing the reckless, wild spirit he had been all his life. His mouth swooped over hers hungrily, abandoning gentleness in a desperate quest for some sort of physical satiation. She tasted like honey and roses and morning dew…and every other wonderful thing in life. He felt her gasp against his lips, then press her whole body against his with urgent wonder. Her hands were frantic, touching his shoulders and his chest and tangling in his hair, trying to find a way to hold him closer. His tongue lightly touched hers, and her body rippled with a hard shiver. Scary-shaky feelings quickly turned to scary-demanding feelings. Billy realized there was an experience in life he’d missed. He’d never kissed Julie Roper.

  He lifted his head with a soft groan, resting his forehead against hers while he tried to get a grip on himself. His hands rested on either side of her face, his thumbs gently brushing the hot skin beneath her enormous brown eyes. A man could drown in those eyes, he thought. “I told you,” he said, his voice thick and deep. “I’m not always gentle.”

  “I liked it.” Julie hadn’t the knack or desire for games. Besides, her heaving chest and trembling body gave her away. Once again she wrestled with that painful, persistent urging…more. “Did you…what was that like for you?”

  “What was it like?” No one had ever asked him that before. Billy laughed softly, then tipped his head back on his neck and blew out a frustrated breath. “I can’t…I felt…oh, hell. I’m not sure how to answer that without you slapping me.”

  “I wouldn’t slap you,” she told him with endearing earnestness. “You don’t need to worry about that.”

  “Honey, if you knew what was good for you, you would slap me.” Very deliberately he put both hands on her shoulders and pushed her a firm twelve inches away from him. “Get thee hence, Satan. This has got to stop.” He started walking backward as he talked. “That was like going halfway to heaven, a place I never thought I’d visit. No, stay right there or I won’t be responsible. That was like tasting ambrosia after starving for thirty-three years. That was a mistake, and I’m not sorry. Now I’m going to do the cold-water thing again. Excuse me.”

  The bathroom door slammed shut. Five seconds later it opened again. “Please don’t go anywhere,” Billy said. The expression on his face was a boyish, heart-lifting combination of tenderness, confusion and heat. “Just…stay there. I mean, here. Not here, in the bathroom, but here…close to where I am. I’m making a fool of myself, aren’t I?”

  Julie found herself a good solid wall for balance. It was all she could do to keep her knees from buckling. Her eyes were shining like dark stars, her lips still wet and slightly swollen from his kiss. She shook her head. “No. You’re just…babbling a little. Billy?”

  “What?”

  “I meant what I said. I liked it, too.”

  So much was in his face: desire, longing, guilt, uncertainty. He stared at her without saying a word, stared at her until he was hot, bothered and hungry from head to toe. It was torture, he told himself, and he certainly deserved it. “So…you’ll be here?”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Julie promised, hand over her heart. It was only after he’d shut the door that she smiled and said, “Not on your sweet life.”

  Gator Getaway looked much better in the daylight than it had in the dark. There were several campers parked behind the trees in the campground across the two-lane road. Beyond an incline behind the motel was a concrete pond ringed with black mud, a few straggly weeds and wire fences. The fences sported interesting hand-painted signs: Man-eaters! Critter Gumbo! Gatormania! Jumperoo Chicken Tossing!

  “I wish I had a camera,” Julie said in amazement, looking at the fat, mud-colored lumps in the pond that more than likely were alligators. “Harris would never believe this. What do you think Jumperoo Chicken Tossing is?”

  Billy looked sideways at her, grinning. “More than likely chickens are involved in the tossing part and hungry gators do the jumperoo part. But that’s just a guess.”

  Julie shivered. “Are you serious? That’s horrible. We can miss the chicken tossing, don’t you think?”

  “Absolutely. Someone has to stick up for the chickens.”

  They visited the booths and displays set up in three crooked rows, each and every one patterned with a swamp-creature motif. Julie had to investigate them all, fascinated by the variety of diversions. There was the Raccoon Break-a-Plate, Velcro Gator Wall, Snapping Turtle Ring Toss, Gator Spittoon Booth, Bungee Gator and Slingshot Frog Launch. It was like visiting a small county fair held deep in the bayou.

  “I can’t believe we’re in Florida,” Julie kept saying, sounding like wide-eyed Dorothy in The Land of Oz. “I didn’t know places like this existed. Harris needs to see this. When I think of everyt
hing I’ve been missing stuck in stuffy old Palm Beach—”

  “I doubt Harris would share your enthusiasm,” Billy told her, visualizing Harris Roper’s pristine white shirts and gleaming Italian shoes. It was the first time since kissing Julie he’d forced himself to think of the man and of the inevitable ending to this fairy tale. His smile lost some of its gloss. “From what you’ve told me about the man, he’s too…tidy.” He looked pointedly at the smear of mud on Julie’s shirt, a proud memento of her attempt at craw-fish roping. “Some people don’t like to mix recreation with dirt. It ruins their fun.”

  “You know, I can’t think of a time when I’ve seen Harris actually having fun. If he’s not at work, he’s worried about what might be going on at work. He even works on his laptop while being driven to the office. You’ll meet him when we go back. I guarantee his ear will be stuck to a phone or his fingers glued to a keyboard.”

  Billy wasn’t looking forward to “meeting” Harris. It would open up a whole new can of worms. Harris would be furious, Billy would be fired and Julie would be completely disillusioned and hurt when she realized how she had been deceived by both of them. Not a pretty picture, but Billy resolved to cross that shaky bridge when he came to it. In the little time he had left with Julie, he wanted to avoid thinking about the inevitable. Just a few more minutes, he told himself. Then, I’ll call Harris and put an end to…everything.

  Abruptly he said, “How do you feel about riding the Swamp Creature Carousel with a guy who has a weak stomach? Are you game?”

  Julie laughed, looking at the slow-moving merry-go-round. “I was hoping you’d ask. Listen to how it creaks, like it’s not going to make it around one more time. I’m game. I really don’t think it moves fast enough to make anyone sick.”

  When the carousel halted to let two toddlers scurry off, Julie headed straight for a grinning alligator sporting a saddle. Billy followed slowly, eyeing the tiny plastic rowboat in front of the alligator and the pink baby hippo behind. He chose to retain some portion of his dignity and stand next to Julie, his chest brushing her shoulder, one hand on the white-painted pole that skewered her alligator through the middle.

  “I’m scared,” he explained.

  “You’re a chicken. You can’t just stand here, you’ve got to ride something! What about the raccoon over there?”

  “I’m allergic.” He grinned as the ride started. “Too late now, anyway. It would be terribly dangerous if I let go of this pole.”

  “You big baby.”

  He jumped a little as the ride started. “I wasn’t kidding when I told you I had a weak stomach. Going around in circles is not my favorite thing.”

  “I’ll talk you through it,” Julie soothed, her eyes sparkling up at him. “Just keep your mind on something else, Officer. Focus.”

  Focus, Billy thought. What an excellent idea, particularly when his subject was a very beautiful blonde, looking adorably sweet in her Gator Getaway outfit. Strands of sun-colored hair were dancing on her cheeks and shoulders with the curling breeze. Her smile was wide and completely unselfconscious, the smile of someone who was enjoying herself with complete abandon. Such a simple thing, a creaky little carousel. But to a privileged heiress from Palm Beach, it might have been a ride on the Concorde.

  Julie had turned her attention to the only other passenger along for the ride, a towheaded little boy who was “driving” a miniature air boat. He was making noises as he drove, squeals, giggles and an occasional vrooooom.

  “I love watching little children,” she told Billy, raising her voice to be heard above the music-box tune the carousel played as it turned. “They’re wonderful—not the least bit self-conscious. They let their imagination go wild, and they couldn’t care less what anyone thinks of them.” She looked up at him, her eyes dreamy and soft. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all followed our impulses without a second thought?”

  “That depends,” Billy said, “on whether you’re a good guy or a bad guy.”

  She gave him a reproving look. “Stop being a policeman for five minutes. I’m talking about good guys, naturally. What if we were all like that little boy, enjoying every second and oblivious to the world and everyone in it? Don’t you think that would be—” she threw back her head and laughed as her ball cap went spinning off in the breeze “—wonderful?”

  “So you think we should all follow our impulses and not worry about how we might look?”

  “Yes.” She gave a dramatic sigh. “In a perfect world, anyway.”

  Billy’s conscience started wriggling again. He knew what he was about to do, knew he shouldn’t…and nothing was going to stop him.

  “While we can,” he said, “let’s pretend it’s a perfect world.”

  He leaned down, his lips catching Julie’s soft mouth, parted with surprise. His kiss was fierce; like a condemned man eating his last meal. He tasted her with something akin to despair, dragging her with him into the erotic land far beyond her experience. He urged her lips to moist openness, feeling the unmistakable response that kicked his heartbeat into double time. Billy felt suddenly drunk, something that he had experienced before. He was also oddly afraid, something he had never experienced before. He was dizzy, he was angry at himself and he was hungry for more. The wanting never seemed to stop. He tried to imagine what it would be like when she was gone from his life. He couldn’t, yet he knew it was coming. The surface of his skin felt as if he was standing too close to an open fire. Heads slanted, tongues danced, the world kept spinning and spinning….

  When it was over, Julie could only gasp and stare at him, knowing for the first time in her life what it felt like to live her dreams. Billy was a man who had lost his innocence but not his charm. He knew all about the harsh realities of the world, yet somehow he had retained warmth and strength and gentle humor. Julie was being seduced by him inch by inch, she knew it as surely as she knew she was sitting on an alligator. He didn’t seem to be doing it intentionally; he seemed to be doing it despite his better judgment. And he looked as surprised as she was.

  “The ride’s over,” the teenage operator called. His freckled face was split in a jaw-cracking grin. “Has been for a while. Why don’t you two get a room?”

  The ride is over, Billy thought. What a perceptive kid.

  “Oh, my sainted aunt.” Face flaming, Julie scrambled off her scaly steed. “This must be one of the perils of giving in to impulses.”

  “One of them,” Billy muttered. The other had something to do with snug-fitting jeans, but he wasn’t about to go in that direction. They climbed off the carousel, Billy glaring at the smirking teenager as they walked through the gate. His mood was going downhill fast. “For two cents, I’d arrest you, kid.”

  Julie swallowed a nervous giggle and took his hand, pulling him along firmly beside her. “You can’t arrest people for gawking. You’re supposed to arrest the people being gawked at.”

  “Then I would have to arrest myself,” he replied, “and that would be really stupid. Where are we going, bossy woman?”

  “To that picnic table under the tree.” Julie took a deep breath, mustering her courage. “I have a proposition for you. It just came to me, like a vision.”

  “Oh, my sainted aunt,” Billy parroted, not altogether in jest. Sweat broke out on his chest and between his shoulder blades. “Don’t you dare. The way I’m feeling, I might just say yes.”

  “Not that kind of proposition. What kind of girl do you think I am?” She smiled over her shoulder, dragging him along with endearing awkwardness. “I absolutely adore being able to say that. I’ve always wanted to.”

  “Well, here’s your answer. Soft. Rounded. Emotional. Beautiful. Wild at heart. Inexperienced but highly gifted. Gorgeous, silky lips—” Belatedly Billy realized this was not a healthy topic of conversation between a bodyguard and his charge. “Somebody hit me with a crowbar,” he muttered. “Can we just have a few minutes of quiet time? Just until I unscramble my abused brain?”

  “You may,”
Julie said kindly, planting him on the wooden bench. “I have something to say. There. Slide in, and I’ll sit across from you. Don’t look so terrified. This is a business proposition…more or less.”

  Billy watched her with great suspicion. She was too animated, too bright-eyed and enthusiastic. He knew she had enjoyed the kiss as much as he had, but this went beyond a few mind-blowing minutes on a kiddie carousel. “If your brother were here,” he ventured warily, “would he like this little proposition of yours?”

  “If my brother were here,” Julie pointed out reasonably, “he would have hyperventilated and passed out cold when you kissed me. Hence, he wouldn’t know anything about this little proposition. Stop worrying about my brother, Billy.”

  “You don’t understand. I can’t stop worrying about your brother. Harris—”

  “Harris,” Julie interrupted, “is not here and I am. Why are you so obsessed with him? He has nothing to do with anything.”

  Except that he’s footing the bill, Billy thought. And I knew him long before I knew you. “You’re wrong.”

  “All right,” Julie conceded, “that wasn’t nice. Of course I’m concerned about Harris. That’s why I’m going to call him immediately and tell him I’m not going home.”

  Five

  Billy stared at her, his jaw slack. There were times, he thought, when he missed the comforting predictability of street punks. They’d been a piece of cake to anticipate compared to Julie Roper. “Would you run that by me again?”

  Julie anchored herself with a sustaining breath, feeling as if she was standing very close to the edge of a precipice. The question of whether or not she could fly would never be answered until she stepped off the edge. “I realize this is an unexpected change of plans, but just listen. Since I’m temporarily cut loose anyway, there’s no reason at all why I shouldn’t give myself a few days of vacation. My birthday is coming up and…I find I need some time to reflect…there are some decisions I’ve been putting off, and…well, you’re not interested in that. The long and the short of it is that I’m not quite ready to go home yet.”