“Oh.” Her expression reflected her disappointment.
As her eyes revealed her pain of having talked of their past relationship?
If so, she immediately shut down both emotions. “Will he be here tomorrow evening?”
Her determination to see and speak with Gregori was becoming a concern to Ian. Gregori was, as Ian had claimed, mainly a legitimate businessman, and a squeaky-clean one, but he was also head of the Russian bratva in London. What the hell could a librarian have to talk to the head of the Russian mafia about?
Ian could think of only one reason. “What did your brother do this time?” Adam Bishop, Evie’s twin, had been a fuck-up three years ago, and Ian couldn’t think of any reason why that would have changed.
Color first brightened and then faded from Evie’s cheeks, leaving them pale and delicate as porcelain, the skin now taut across her high cheekbones. “Perhaps you could tell Mr. Markovic of my visit and my need to talk with him tomorrow evening?”
Evie was coming back here as soon as tomorrow evening?
Yep, her urgency confirmed Adam Bishop had to be involved in this somehow. Ian would make it his business to find out in exactly what way before Evie stepped foot in Utopia again.
He crossed the room and opened the door. “Karl, could you escort Miss Bishop out of the building?”
“I didn’t say I was leaving yet,” she snapped behind him. “But when I do, I’m perfectly capable of seeing myself out, thank you.”
Ian turned slowly. “You’re leaving when I say you’re leaving.”
“You have no right—”
“My territory, my decision.”
“You always were an arrogant bast—”
“And, Karl.” Ian ignored her to look at the other man as he stood in the open doorway. “Have Ilia drive Miss Bishop home and—”
“I can get a cab—”
“—see that he ensures she has gone inside the building and the outer door has locked behind her before he leaves.” Ian gave Karl Evie’s address as if she hadn’t tried to interrupt him. Nor did she question how he knew she still lived at the same apartment. Which was just as well, because Ian wouldn’t have answered her. He knew she wouldn’t have driven here, because having lived in London all her life, she didn’t drive. “Good night, Miss Bishop.”
Evie guessed from the finality of Ian’s tone that not only was this meeting over, but she was being driven home by a man called Ilia whether she liked it or not.
She didn’t.
Chapter 2
“What are you doing here?” Evie hissed the words at Ian as he stood on the other side of the front desk of the library. She always volunteered to work on a Saturday so that one of her colleagues could have the day off. She had nothing else to do, and she didn’t consider being at the library all day to be any hardship.
Ian gave an unconcerned grin. “Fair’s fair. You came to my place of work last night. Now I’ve come to yours.”
At least she had tried to look the part when she went to Utopia the previous evening, whereas Ian was wearing a black T-shirt that revealed the bulging muscles in his arms. It also fitted snugly to the equally as toned muscles in his chest and abdomen. Faded black jeans hung low on powerful hips. He wore heavy black boots to complete the bad-boy biker image.
Except, where Ian Knight was concerned, it wasn’t only an image.
Maybe he wasn’t a biker, but he was a bad boy to his very core.
Merely looking at him set Evie’s pulse racing and had her wondering how she could ever have attracted a man who looked like Ian in the first place. Maybe he’d seen seducing her as a challenge? Found the virginal librarian a stark contrast to the beautiful and sophisticated women he usually bedded, and the direct opposite of the air of danger that followed him around like a black cloud?
Whatever Ian’s reasons had been for pursuing her three years ago, Evie wasn’t stupid enough to fall for his seductive smile a second time. “Why?” Even to her ears, her voice sounded defensive.
“We need to talk.”
“What about?”
“You know, Evie, this habit you have of answering my question with one of your own is really starting to piss me off,” he growled.
“And that should bother me, why?”
“Because I’ve only had two hours’ sleep.”
“Was she worth it?”
He scowled as she continued to ask questions rather than answer his. “You really don’t want to piss me off today, Evie.”
She ignored his warning. “I believe I demonstrated last night that you should be wary of annoying me too. How are you today, by the way?” She gave a pointed glance toward the front of his jeans.
“Are you offering to kiss it better?”
“Certainly not.”
He shrugged. “In that case…I may never be able to reproduce, but I’ll live.”
“Perhaps it’s as well you’ll never reproduce.” The thought of several small replicas of Ian visited upon an unsuspecting world made Evie wince. “Besides, I thought my questions were pertinent to the conversation,” she added briskly.
“At last, a statement instead of a question,” he taunted. “And the reason for my lack of sleep is because the club doesn’t close until four in the morning, and then I made some inquiries about your brother, Adam.”
She frowned. “You’ve spoken to my brother?”
“No.” He sighed. “But I know more about him now than I think you’re going to want to know.”
Evie looked about them self-consciously before answering him softly. “I really can’t talk about this in here.”
“And I’m not going anywhere until we have talked about him, so I guess we’ve reached a stalemate.”
“I’ll be taking my lunch break in five minutes, if you would care to wait for me outside?” Evie was conscious of the fact that several of her work colleagues were already casting curious glances in their direction. The female ones, of course; Ian could tempt a seventy-year-old granny into thoughts of sin.
“I’d prefer to wait in here,” he drawled, all while staring at her with those intense dark eyes.
Devil’s eyes, Evie had called them after he’d disappeared from her life three years ago.
“Wouldn’t want you to leave by the back door, now would I,” he added mockingly.
“Go to hell.” Evie didn’t know whether she was more annoyed at Ian for thinking she might run out on him, or that he was right. Until he made that comment, she had fully intended waiting for him to go outside and then leaving for lunch by the staff entrance at the back of the building.
“Been there, done that,” he drawled. “Didn’t like it much.”
“Your past misdeeds finally caught up with you, did they?” she taunted.
“Something like that.” He nodded before strolling over to sit on the comfortable couch set to one side of the front desk.
There was no mistaking the predator he was, even though he gave every appearance of being relaxed as he placed the booted ankle of one foot on the knee of his other leg. After which he folded his arms in front of his muscular chest and proceeded to watch Evie through narrowed lids.
His casual appearance wasn’t as out of place as she’d thought. The library was close to one of the universities, and a lot of the students came in to study during term time. They weren’t exactly known for their designer-label clothing either.
Although Evie had a feeling, despite the casualness of his appearance, that Ian’s T-shirt and jeans cost more than she earned in a week.
Which wouldn’t be all that difficult, she admitted. Being a librarian didn’t exactly pay well, but she loved it here. She loved the order and quiet, and being surrounded by the books that had been her escape and salvation when she was growing up with a single-parent drunkard for a father.
She didn’t look at Ian again as she continued to work long after the five minutes she’d specified. Linda should have taken over from her by now, but the other woman was well known for re
turning late from her breaks. For once, Evie didn’t mind.
Her thoughts were all over the place as she wondered what Ian did or didn’t know about Adam. She had a feeling he had deliberately dangled her brother’s name in front of her like the bait it was. Well, she had no intention of rising to that bait. Whatever Ian wanted to say about Adam could wait another few minutes.
Just because she didn’t look at him directly didn’t mean Evie wasn’t completely aware of every move Ian made. The glances he gave at his expensive wristwatch. The muscles flexing in his arms and chest as he picked up one of the books on the table next to him, and then put it down again when he realized it was a popular children’s book about wizards and witches. Evie had to hide a smirk at his look of disgust.
She was also aware of the exact moment his patience gave out and he unfolded his body to stand and approach the desk again.
“God, I am so sorry I’m late back, Evie.” Linda arrived at the desk before Ian reached it, the other woman sounding slightly harassed. “I didn’t even have time for lunch. There was a sale on at Benton’s, but the queue at the desk waiting to pay was almost out of the shop, and the woman in front of me…” She trailed off to stare at Ian as he now leaned against the desk, a blush coloring her cheeks as she took in everything about him.
The complete opposite of Evie, Linda made no effort to hide the fact she was only doing this job until something better came along. She clearly considered Ian something better. Linda was beautiful, and a tall and leggy blonde, so maybe it had.
“Don’t do it again,” Evie snapped at the other woman, and then instantly regretted it when she saw the amusement in Ian’s expression. As if he knew it wasn’t Linda’s tardiness she was annoyed with but the other woman’s drooling reaction to him. Which it was. “You can show me what you bought later.” She placed a hand on the other woman’s arm in apology for her previous sharpness.
She needn’t have bothered, as Linda continued to stare at Ian as if she would happily substitute him for the lunch she’d missed. “Fine,” she answered distractedly.
“Shall we go?” Evie prompted Ian abruptly.
He gave her one of those evil grins, apparently enjoying her irritation at Linda’s response to him. “There’s no hurry. Whenever you’re ready will do.”
Two could play at that game… “Then I’ll go and collect my jacket and bag from the staff room.” She hadn’t been going to bother with her jacket as it was a warm day outside, but leaving Ian to the predatory mercies of Linda seemed like a fitting retribution for his having come here at all and disrupting her working day.
She deliberately took her time putting on the black jacket that matched her skirt. She considered releasing her hair from the neat bun at her nape, but in the end decided against it. This was the way she always dressed and looked for work. She did give in to a little vanity, though, by adding a coral-colored lip gloss. Not that the mirror reflected back anything other than what she was; a twenty-six-year-old spinster librarian wearing a shapeless black suit, a cream blouse, and flat shoes.
As she had already guessed would be the case, Linda was gushing over Ian and then hanging on his every word when he replied to whatever question she’d asked. Evie almost laughed out loud as Ian looked up and she saw the look of desperation in his eyes. Almost. Because she didn’t want to find anything about him amusing. Didn’t want to like a single thing about him. As he’d said earlier in regard to the hell she’d wished him to, she’d been there and done that, and all she had got for her trouble was a broken heart and a wariness about ever trusting another man again.
Which she hadn’t.
Oh, she went out for the occasional dinner or the theatre with Trevor Harris. He was a professor at the nearby university, and a middle-aged widower with three grown up children almost her age. He insisted on calling for her at her apartment before driving them to a restaurant or the theatre, but Evie always said good night to him outside the venue before going home alone in a cab.
Ian Knight had cured her of any romantic feelings she might otherwise have felt for another man. Not only because he had broken her heart, but also because Ian was so forcefully male, and an amazing lover, that Evie was convinced no other man could ever measure up to him.
Maybe Ian wouldn’t measure up to her memories of him either. The brain tended to pick and choose what it wanted to remember, usually the good stuff, and— No, Evie might have spent only a few minutes in his company again, last night and again this morning, but it was enough to know Ian was as lethally attractive as he’d ever been. Maybe more so. There was a sharper edge to him than there had been three years ago. As if life hadn’t been any kinder to him during that time than it had to her.
Damn it, it couldn’t be curiosity she was feeling to know more about those years since she’d last seen Ian?
If she was, it was incredibly stupid on her part.
Men like Ian used and then discarded women by the dozen. As she knew to her cost.
“Can we go now?” He grabbed hold of Evie’s arm the moment she arrived at the front desk.
“But I haven’t given you my number,” Linda protested.
“Gotta go.” Ian almost dragged Evie out of the building, only letting her go and drawing in several deep breaths once they were outside in the sunshine. “That woman has the mating instincts of a piranha,” he muttered disgustedly. “Or maybe a black widow spider.”
“And I thought she was your type,” Evie taunted. “You seemed to return her interest initially.”
Because he had wanted to see if he could get a reaction out of Evie. All he’d gotten was a taunting disinterest. “As you’re well aware, I like to be eaten during sex, not devoured whole after it,” he drawled.
The humor instantly disappeared from Evie’s expression. “Can we get to the point of why you’re here?” she prompted frostily.
Ian had two reasons, not one. Her brother Adam was the first one. The other was the fact Ian had thought of nothing else but Evie since last night. And it had been eating him alive, wondering if he really had reacted as strongly to seeing her again as he thought he had.
He had.
The moment he set eyes on her again today, looking so prim and proper with her hair scraped back and secured at her nape, and her blouse buttoned all the way up to her throat, he had instantly gotten a hard-on and started assessing the desk to see if it would be strong enough to bear the weight of both of them.
Prim.
Proper.
Nothing remarkable to look at, apart from those sapphire-blue eyes.
And yet every time Ian came anywhere near Evie, his cock stood to aching attention.
A distraction like that could get a man in his line of work killed.
“Ian?” she prompted impatiently.
“Let’s go get some lunch—”
“I’m not having lunch with you.”
“Why the hell not?”
Because Evie was sure she would choke on it if she attempted to eat anything while in Ian’s company. Being with him was disturbing enough, but add her brother, Adam, to the mix, and her stomach instantly gave a sickening lurch.
Adam and Eve.
Her parents had clearly possessed a sense of humor when their twin children were born. Before their mother succumbed to the cancer that was eating her away a bit at a time, after which their father had started to drink and never stopped.
It had been a miserable childhood, and one that had forged an even deeper bond between Adam and Evie than even being twins might have engendered. Their father had died when they were nineteen. Evie and Adam had both been at university, Evie studying English while Adam studied computer science.
As it turned out, sometime during their father’s drunken haze, he must have had a single moment of clarity and had thought to use some of their mother’s life insurance money to buy the house they lived in. Selling that house had been their only option if they both wanted to finish their courses at university. As it had ceased being a ho
me years ago, that hadn’t been too difficult a decision.
Even so, the years of them both being at university had been hard ones, and there had been very little money left by the time they both graduated. Once Evie finished her course, she was able to get a job in the library, but it wasn’t one that paid well. Adam graduated at the same time and landed a better job with a company that designed the graphics for online games.
The problems had begun after a friend invited Adam to a casino six months ago. Utopia, to be exact. The loans Evie’s brother asked her for were small to begin with, but had gradually become larger and more frequent. Which was extremely worrying, considering Adam earned about three times as much as she did.
She gave a shake of her head. “This isn’t a social visit. We aren’t friends.”
“And you only lunch with friends, is that it?” Ian taunted.
Evie knew by the glitter in his eyes that he had meant the remark as a double entendre. “I don’t lunch with anyone.”
“Why not?”
She could well imagine Ian had lost count of the amount of women he’d been to bed with since the two of them were together. “Again, that is none of your business. Nothing about me is any of your business. So state your business, and then get the hell away from me.”
His mouth twisted. “I need to talk to you before you think of going back to Utopia this evening. So we can either talk out here in the street, or you can agree to have lunch with me. Your choice.”
Which was no choice at all, and Ian knew it. This was the area where she worked, and he had already invaded that tranquility enough for one day. “There’s a coffee bar round the corner from here.”
“Does it serve food?”
Her brows rose. “Go to coffee bars often, do you?”
“Not if I can avoid it.” He confirmed what she had already guessed. “It brings me out in hives when I see people in movies ordering double this in their coffee, a sprinkling of that, a shot of something else. What’s wrong with ordinary coffee?”
Enticing Ian (Knight Security 5) Page 2