Up Close and Personal

He would see it like that. Laura had never known a man as self-confident, as completely convinced of the rightness of everything he did, as Ronan Connolly. She envied that as much as it irritated her. Which was, she was forced to admit, quite a lot.

He turned to go.

“What about Beast?” she asked.

He shot a look at the dog that had moved to stand in front of Laura, like a big, furry shield. A smile curved Ronan’s mouth briefly. “He can stay with you. For now.”

Laura’s fingers curled into the dog’s long, shaggy hair. “Ronan?”

He stopped and looked back at her. The lamplight didn’t climb as high as his face, so his features, his eyes, were in shadow when she asked, “Why is it so important to you? Why do you care what my secrets are?”

A long moment of silence stretched out until all she heard was Beast’s gentle breathing and the tap of rain at the window. Just as she decided he wasn’t going to answer her at all, he spoke.

“Because I want what’s mine, Laura Page.”

“But I’m not yours.”

“You were,” he reminded her, “and if those secrets still belong to me, I’ll have them before we’re done.”

He left her then, quietly closing the door behind him.

Laura dropped onto the edge of the bed, finally giving in to the weakness in her knees. She lifted one hand to her mouth and swore she could still feel the buzz of his kiss sliding through her.

Then she sighed.

He hadn’t returned her key.

Three

Laura got a late start the next morning.

While Georgia was out dealing with business at the post office, Laura stayed home to wait for the locksmith. Once all of the locks had been changed, she felt safe enough to leave Beast at home and go into the office.

Of course, her eyes were gritty from lack of sleep and her temper was more than a little on edge. And it was all Ronan’s fault.

This wasn’t right, she told herself as she unlocked the real estate office and flipped the sign on the door to ‘open’. She was supposed to be free of Ronan. Getting on with her life. Getting him out of her system.

The phone rang and she snatched at it gratefully. “Brand New Page Realty,” she said, plastering a smile she didn’t feel onto her face.

“You’re late today,” Ronan answered.

“Had to wait for a locksmith,” she told him, with just a bit of satisfaction. “Oh, feel free to throw that key away now.”

He chuckled. “Think I’ll be keeping it in the way of a souvenir.”

“You want keepsakes now?” she asked, sitting at her desk and riffling through the stack of mail. Bill. Bill. Bill. She sighed, tossed them to the desktop and leaned back in her chair.

Through the front window, the only signs of yesterday’s storm were the puddles in the street and the soaked piles of leaves that had been torn from trees. Thanks to the rain, the sky was a brilliant blue and the cold wind that rushed in off the ocean was drying everything out quickly.

“It wasn’t so long ago that you were telling me we were through,” she reminded him.

“Times change,” he countered and as he spoke, a long, black car pulled up in front of her shop.

Laura watched the driver of the car get out and she shook her head as she met Ronan’s gaze through the window. He was holding his cell phone to his ear and grinning at her.

“You know, it’s illegal to drive in California while holding your phone.”

“Ah, but I’m a dangerous man who likes a risk.”

He really was dangerous. To her peace of mind if nothing else. But damned if she’d let him know it. She’d spent hours during a long sleepless night berating herself for giving in to that kiss. No way was she going to slip up again.

Ronan was like any other bad habit.

The only way to quit was cold turkey.

“What are you doing here?”

He walked around his car, pushed open the door and a bell overhead jangled to announce him. Only then did he shut off his phone and tuck it into a pocket of his black slacks. “Giving you another chance to show me how much you want me.”

“God, you’re an impossibly arrogant man.”

“If you think that’s insulting, you’d be wrong.” He walked farther into the room. “I do wonder though, why you’re so on edge around me. Didn’t used to be.”

“Times change,” she shot back, throwing his own words at him as she set the phone back into its cradle.

“I like a woman with a temper,” he said. “Call it a flaw.”

“The very notion that you’re willing to admit to a flaw might ordinarily be a cause for celebration—”

He smiled as if everything she said amused him, and it probably did. That smile of his, along with the accent that seemed to ripple over her skin like a caress was a formidable weapon to a man who already had too many at his disposal.

“You’ve left Beast at home then?” He glanced around the office then back to her.

“He’s fine. And he knows I’ll be back.”

“Whereas, he wept and pined for me in my absence?” he asked.

Frowning, she shuffled the bills into a neat pile all while keeping one wary eye on him. “Ronan, why are you here?”

“To tell you I’ll be gone a few days.”

In spite of everything, she felt a ping of disappointment. Stupid. She should be glad he was leaving again. “So you’re proving my point about Beast. You’re gone more than you’re home.”

“I would have taken him with me this time,” he told her.

“Beast on a plane?”

“Did I mention anything about a plane?”