Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
“I think you made the right decision,” Fergus told Thea as he let the two of them into his house in Paris’s 7 th arrondissement.
She snorted as she followed him along the hallway and up the stairs. “Did I really have a choice?”
He placed her single bag on the floor inside an elegantly furnished bedroom decorated in pale cream and green. There was a view of the Eiffel Tower from the windows.
He turned to face her. “When it comes to me, I promise you will always have a choice,” he assured huskily.
A blush brightened the hollows of her cheeks. “Did I have a choice when you made a call to your doctor earlier and arranged for him to arrive here shortly so that he could examine me to make sure I don’t have a concussion?”
Fergus smiled inwardly, knowing she hadn’t voiced the question she really wanted to ask. Yes, his comments earlier had been outrageous, but that didn’t make it any less true that he had wanted Thea since that first day when he had found himself unable to look away from her or the curvaceous perfection of her bottom as she followed him around Paris.
He shrugged. “I gave you the choice of him coming to your hotel suite or here. You chose here.”
“Because I didn’t want to stay at the hotel another moment longer than I had to. I couldn’t remain in that room where…where my stalker had been.”
Fergus’s humor faded. When Thea returned to the hotel earlier she had initially believed the door to her suite had been left slightly ajar because the maid was in there cleaning, Fergus believed Thea’s stalker had probably entered her hotel suite when the maid was cleaning the rooms.
But he couldn’t be a hundred percent sure that was how the stalker had got inside Thea’s suite, which was why he was pleased Thea had agreed to accompany him to his home. Arranging for his doctor to come and examine her wasn’t an option he intended to give her.
Fergus stepped forward to lightly clasp the tops of Thea’s arms. “You’re here with me now, and I won’t allow anything or anyone to hurt you while you’re under my protection.” His brow lowered. “Least of all some coward who stalks a woman and then breaks into her hotel suite before knocking her unconscious.” He hadn’t mentioned it to Thea, but he was also concerned about what else the stalker might have planned to do in her hotel suite if she hadn’t returned and interrupted him.
He’d seen some really sick shit during the last twenty years of co-owning and running a security company.
Setting up security for a business could be complicated enough, but personal security could, and often was, even more so. Because it could become very personal.
As he believed it now had with Thea.
The person stalking her had now broken into her personal space not once but twice. Once in her apartment in London, and then again in her hotel room here in Paris.
Which meant the bastard had definitely followed her here.
In Fergus’s experience, these things could spiral out of control very quickly.
Not if he had any say in it!
He’d told Thea how he felt earlier because he didn’t want there to ever be the slightest suspicion in her mind that his attraction to her had anything to do with revenge for her mother’s past behavior. He wanted Thea in spite of who her mother was.
Yes, it was fucked-up that he wanted the daughter of the woman who had tried to blackmail him ten years ago. But he had watched his twin and cousin both fall for women who, on paper, were just as unsuitable for them. Maybe not as much as Thea was for him, but there was no denying he had known there was no walking away from her from the moment he looked into her eyes and became lost in those familiar golden depths.
He narrowed his eyes. “What were you thinking about earlier after I told you I’m attracted to you?”
Her gaze veered away. Which could, Fergus reasoned, be because she was embarrassed by his earlier bluntness. Or it could be for another reason entirely.
“Thea?”
“I—” She broke off at the sound of the doorbell ringing downstairs. “That’s probably the doctor,” she prompted when Fergus didn’t move.
“He can wait until you’ve answered my question.”
A derisive smile curved her lips. “I think since we last met, you’ve become far too used to issuing orders and having people obey them.”
He smiled. “I hate to disillusion you, but my years in the military mean I’ve always issued orders and expected people to obey them.”
She shook her head. “My mother didn’t know you at all, did she?”
His jaw tightened. “Not in the slightest. Now answer the damned question.”
“You might not have any manners, but I do.” She pulled out of his grasp as the doorbell rang a second time. “The doctor has been kept waiting long enough.”
“And he will be paid generously for his time.”
“Money isn’t the be-all and end-all of everything,” she snapped, turning to leave the bedroom.
Fergus followed her down the hallway to the stairs, intending to continue their conversation. Instead, he immediately became distracted by the sway of her hips and the way her jeans hugged the delectable curve of the bottom he wanted to lay hands on and pleasure until she screamed for mercy.
Fucking hell.
This desire for her was getting totally out of hand.
Out of control.
His control.
* * *
Thea had no idea what Fergus was thinking behind those hooded eyes as he stood in the doorway of the elegant sitting room. He had briefly excused himself to make a phone call while the doctor was examining her.
Now he watched her intently, his brooding expression telling her that whatever his thoughts were, they were very intense.
Making her wonder how it would feel to have all that intensity of emotion focused on her.
As it had been earlier, when he told her he thought she was beautiful and he wanted to bite her arse!
Thea was still trying to process that comment. No one had ever spoken to her in such a forthright way before. It was as thrilling as it was unexpected, coming from a man she believed might despise her.
Fergus seemed just as disconcerted by the attraction he admitted to feeling for her.
It felt even more surreal being here in his home with him.
It was a huge house, the architecture probably dating back to the seventeenth century. It looked as if it possibly had a dozen bedrooms and just as many bathrooms, with half a dozen reception rooms downstairs. It was a huge house for one man to live in alone.
Thea had seen an enclosed solarium as they walked through the cavernous entrance hall earlier, no doubt to be used on the days when the weather was too inclement for going outside. The copious amount of plants gave the glass space the appearance and feeling of being in the garden.
There was a huge walled garden to the back of the house, along with a glass passageway to an enclosed swimming pool.
The only way into those grounds and the house was through those high-security gates at the front of the property.
The inside of the house was as elegant and beautifully furnished as it had looked from the outside. There were marble statues placed about the large marble entrance hall. The ornate furniture, in the visible rooms, looked as if it also dated back to the seventeenth century. There had even been a four-poster bed in the guest bedroom Fergus had assigned to her for the duration of her stay.
Thea had expected there to be an army of servants and a housekeeper or cook to run such a large establishment. But Fergus had told her on the way over here that he didn’t have a staff. He had a cleaning service come in twice a week, his groceries were delivered, and he enjoyed doing his own cooking.
This room, the green salon, as Fergus had called it, was decorated in different shades of green, the furniture all white, with gold leaf edging the dado rail, the panels around the paintings on the walls, and the painted ceiling above. The pale green wallpaper looked as if it were embossed with gold.
The whole property resembled some of the country houses, open to the public, that Thea had occasionally visited in England.
The doctor was a middle-aged man who spoke only enough English to reassure her the cut didn’t need stitches, nor did she have a concussion. He did give her some painkillers to take if she needed them.
“All the arrangements for our return to England have been made,” Fergus told her when he returned to the salon after seeing the doctor out. “Declan Quinn will be on board the jet when it arrives tomorrow, along with the rest of his team.”
Thea frowned. “Who is Declan Quinn?”
“Good question.” Fergus grimaced. “He turned up a couple of years ago asking for a job, and since that time, he’s proven himself to be the best damn bodyguard we employ in the UK. Linus checked Declan’s background before we employed him, of course, but once he had cleared that security check, and at Declan’s request, that information remains between the two of them. All any of the rest of us really need to know is that he can be totally trusted and he’s excellent at his job.”
Thea stood up, feeling at too much of a disadvantage sitting on the sofa while Fergus loomed across the room. “I don’t need a team of bodyguards, let alone one headed by the best bodyguard Wynter Security employs in the UK.”
“You came to me for help,” Fergus reminded. “This is my way of helping.”
“I can’t afford a team of bodyguards—” She didn’t get to finish that sentence as Fergus crossed the room in two strides to stand in front of her. She stared up at him as his large hands cradled either side of her face.
“You won’t be paying,” he assured her.
“But—”
“No.” His gaze roamed over her features. “God, you are so beautiful. Too beautiful for me to resist doing this a moment longer,” he murmured achingly before he lowered his head, and his lips captured hers.
At twenty-four, Thea had been kissed before, many times, but being kissed by Fergus was unlike any of those previous experiences.
Her mind went completely blank. All she could do was feel and be aware of everything that was Fergus. The hardness of his body pressed against hers. The softness of his lips exploring her own in one long kiss after another. The warmth of their intermingling breath. The gentle caress of his fingers against her throat. The press of his thumbs beneath her chin as he held her face up to his as he increased the heat and passion of those kisses.
It was only kisses, but kisses so passionately intense, it was the most intense sexual experience of Thea’s life.
Bar none.
Her hands moved to clasp his wrists as she rose up on her tiptoes to return that passion, her lips parting as Fergus swept his tongue across them.
He licked inside, exploring, igniting nerve endings Thea hadn’t even known she had. Creating a pleasure that coursed through her whole body.
Her breasts felt heavy with arousal, the nipples tingling and swollen.
Between her thighs was hot and wet, and growing hotter and wetter by the second.
She gasped, swaying slightly on her feet, when Fergus suddenly ended the kiss to look down at her with green eyes that were now almost completely black.
He rested his forehead against hers. “I apologize. It was thoughtless of me to do that so soon after you were attacked and knocked unconscious.”
Thea’s fingers tightened about his wrists. “Does that mean you’ll kiss me again once you consider I’m fully recovered?”
His lips curved into a smile of self-derision. “I don’t think I’ll be able to stop myself.”
“With my agreement,” she said, lightly mocking his earlier comment.
He chuckled. “With your agreement.”
“You already have it,” she said softly.
He drew in a deep breath before releasing her and stepping back. “The doctor said you need to eat with the painkillers, so I’m going to cook us both a light lunch. After which, I suggest you go and lie down and sleep for a while before we decide what we’re going to do about dinner. Sound good?”
“Very.” Much as Thea would have liked the two of them to continue kissing, the idea of lying down and sleeping for a while sounded tempting too. She wasn’t about to tell Fergus, but she had a terrible headache, and a couple of pain pills plus some food, followed by a lie down and sleep, sounded like heaven.
Fergus prepared and they both ate scrambled eggs and smoked salmon before he handed her a couple of the painkillers and a glass of water. He then accompanied her back up the stairs to the bedroom he had shown her earlier. Just as well, because Thea doubted she could have found it again on her own.
“The doors open out onto the balcony, but it’s a little cool still.” Fergus stepped toward the top of the bed and removed all the throw pillows before placing them on the chair near the window. “If you give me your pillowcase, I’ll wash and dry it while you’re resting.”
Tears stung Thea's eyes at his thoughtfulness in recognizing she might have an aversion to cuddling up to something that had been in her stalker’s possession. She couldn’t remember anyone else ever being this thoughtful about her feelings.
“There’s no reason to cry.” Fergus gently wiped away a single tear after it had escaped her lashes and fallen down her cheek. “From now on, I’m going to be the person protecting you.”
“I thought that was Declan.”
Fergus smiled slightly. “He might be head of the team, but I’m one of the owners of the company. Which means he answers to me,” he grated. “I don’t intend to leave your side again until this situation has been settled.”
A statement that immediately caused Thea to begin crying in earnest. She had been on her own for most of her life, it seemed, with only herself to rely on. Certainly for the past ten years, her mother never having forgiven her for threatening to expose her machinations toward Fergus.
“Hey, it’s okay.” Fergus enfolded her into the warmth of his arms to hold her against his chest. “I’m here now.”
Thea only wished that were true. But she knew it wasn’t, not in the way she wanted after those sensual kisses they had shared earlier.
But her whole life had been one of concessions and accommodation, usually in the other person’s favor. Accepting what Fergus had to give, for however long he wanted to give it, would just be one more compromise she’d make in a long line of them.
Although Thea had a feeling that eventually having to walk away from him was going to be the hardest thing she had ever done.