Part 6 (1/2)
”Let it go,” he said, his whole look a challenge. ”See you tomorrow.”
”All right.” He was obviously in a hurry to leave. She got out, and he deposited her bag on the front porch, barely staying long enough to exchange greetings with Jean before he got back into his car and drove off.
”Did you have fun?” Jean asked with a smile after she'd hugged her daughter warmly.
”It was work, Mama,” Ivy reminded her, ”not a vacation. But, yes, I did have a good time.”
Jean didn't ask any more questions, and Ivy didn't volunteer any more information. She didn't really want to talk about it.
Ryder had one of the women from the secretarial pool work with Ivy the next day to help her catch up, and he managed time himself to show her the more important aspects of her work. He was at least a little more approachable, for which she thanked her stars.
”I know it seems like a lot,” he said when she had a good idea of what her duties would involve. ”But you'll have help for a while, and you'll adapt.”
”Of course I will,” she agreed. She was wearing a simple business suit with a pink blouse, and her hair was in a neat French twist. She looked elegant and professional, all at once.
”I like the way you look in pink,” he murmured absently, letting his pale eyes wander over her exquisite complexion, the faint pink of her soft mouth. ”Very, very pretty.”
She colored, enhancing her complexion, and smiled up at him. He towered over her, big and strong and deliciously masculine. Her eyes went to his wide, chiseled mouth and she wanted to reach up and put hers against it. The fierce, unexpected need made her pulses race.
”Thank you,” she said breathlessly.
He couldn't drag his eyes away. She made him helpless. At the same time, she made him ten feet tall and bear-strong. He sighed angrily at his own vulnerability.
”Did I do something wrong?” she faltered. That scowl made her uneasy, and the other people in the office were beginning to murmur a little at the tableau.
”What do you mean?” he asked absently.
”You're glaring at me.”
”Am I?” He shrugged and averted his gaze. ”Well, if you've got the hang of it, I've got a board meeting.”
”I think I can cope,” she said. Her dark eyes ate him for an instant before she quickly lowered them. ”Thanks for the tour.”
”My pleasure.” He started past her and abruptly stopped, looking down straight into her eyes. He was wearing a dark vested suit, without a hat, and he looked every inch the businessman. The fabric was expensive enough to fit properly, and it molded the powerful lines of his body. Ivy almost groaned aloud at the sheer masculine perfection of him.
”I'd take you to lunch,” he said softly, ”but we'd raise eyebrows.”
”Yes.” She smiled shyly. ”Thanks for the offer, anyway.”
”You have to come over Sat.u.r.day.”
”Why?” she asked, stunned by the sudden change of subject.
”Salmon croquettes,” he said simply.
”You mean, like in that Walt Disney movie? You got Kim Sun started and now you can't stop him?” she asked with a gleeful laugh.
”That's right. You have to teach him how to make something else before I sprout gill slits and scales.”
”All right.”
”No argument?” he murmured.
She shook her head. ”Kim Sun is a very apt pupil. I like him.”
”He likes you, too.” He made a sound deep in his throat and smiled faintly. ”See you later.”
He walked away and she watched him go. He had to be the world's most puzzling man. He looked, she thought, so alone. Even in a crowd, even in the office, he was remote. She wondered if she was ever going to get close enough to really know him.
One of the other a.s.sistants called to her and she went to answer a question about the Arizona project, mentally consigning her worries about Ryder to the back of her mind.
After all, she was here to work, not daydream about the boss.
Chapter 5.
It was a good thing that Ivy enjoyed traveling, because the very next week, Ryder had to fly down to Jacksonville. He took Ivy with him, checking them into a luxurious hotel right on the St. Johns River, in a suite this time. The bellboy came right out to the rental car Ryder had hired at the airport, got the luggage, and carried it up to the room for them. Ivy wasn't used to such grand treatment, but Ryder seemed to take it for granted. It was one of the many differences between her lifestyle and his.
They ate in a restaurant just down the street from the hotel, a fabulous place that looked as if the whole thing had been carved out of a gigantic tree. It featured some of the best seafood Ivy had ever tasted, and the service was wonderful. Afterward, Ryder walked with her beside the river on the way back to the hotel, silent and brooding, as he'd been ever since their arrival. They were both in casual clothes-dark slacks and a pale yellow pullover sweater for him, a simple oyster-white dress with a colorful burgundy patterned scarf for her. She wondered how many other women he'd been here with, because he seemed to know his way around very well. But she didn't dare ask him such a personal question.
A couple with three small children came toward them, and as they watched, a well-dressed little boy made a sudden dash toward the river. The mother screamed, but Ryder was quicker than the overweight father. He caught up with the boy and lifted him in big, secure arms, laughing as he carried him back to his horrified parents.
”He's quick,” he told the couple, who were closer to Ivy's age than his.
”Quicker than you know!” the mother laughed with pure relief. ”Thank you very much! We'd never have reached him in time.”
”I guess I'll have to lose a few pounds,” the father said as he added his grat.i.tude to his wife's. He took the squirming child from Ryder. The little boy had blond hair and blue eyes and a purely mischievous smile. He squirmed trying to get down again.
”Fish,” he told his father. ”Mama says the river has fish. I want to see.”
”You almost got a firsthand look, tiger,” Ryder murmured, smiling gently at the child. ”Better stick to aquariums for now.”
”I'll see that he does,” the boy's father promised. He greeted Ivy as she joined them, his eyes all too appreciative on her slender figure. He noticed Ryder's sudden rigidity and the set of his head in the nick of time and turned his attention back to the threatening taller man. ”Are you and your wife here on vacation?” he asked with a nervous cough.
”A working vacation,” Ryder replied tersely before Ivy could contradict the man. He slid an arm around her thin shoulders and drew her closer. ”We'd better get to it. Good night.”
”Good night,” they echoed.
Ryder watched them walk away, and under the streetlight, Ivy saw something like anger on his lean, dark face.
”What is it?” she asked. ”You look irritated.”
”You didn't notice that he was undressing you with his eyes?” he asked, his tone mocking and faintly savage. His own eyes slid down her body with a look she couldn't make out in the spa.r.s.e light from widely placed street lamps.
”Ryder, he had three children...” she protested.
”He was a man, wasn't he?” he demanded. He took a slow breath. This was getting out of hand. He couldn't afford to show that kind of jealousy, it might frighten her off.