Jordan St Claire: Dark and Dangerous by Carole Mortimer Read Free Book Online Page B

saw that Stephanie was about to leave.
    ‘Woof, woof! ‘ She wrinkled her nose at him before going ahead and leaving anyway.
    Jordan found himself smiling as he watched the sway of those curvaceous hips and taut bottom as Stephanie walked down the hallway. She really was the most—
    ‘No, I wasn’t talking to you, Crista,’ he said lightly into the receiver as the caller queried his last comment. ‘Oh, just a—an associate of my brother’s,’ he said evasively, easily able to imagine the tall, slender blonde actress as she sat in her apartment in LA.
    Of all the people Jordan had known before the accident, Crista was definitely the most persistent—calling him at least once a week to see how he was and when he would be coming back to LA. As Jordan had no intention of ever resuming their relationship, any more than he had immediate plans to return to LA, he usually kept those telephone calls short.
    Even so, Stephanie was sitting at the kitchen table impatiently waiting for him by the time Jordan had ended the call and collected his coat. ‘Hmm, something smells good.’ He sniffed appreciatively at the saucepan he could see simmering on top of the Aga.
    ‘Soup for lunch,’ she supplied economically as she stood up to pull on a heavy black jacket. ‘No, I
don’t
see that as acting the housekeeper,’ she defended irritably as Jordan raised mocking brows. ‘For your body to be healthy you need to eat healthily, that’s all.’
    He smiled. ‘So you’re saying you only made lunch because you consider feeding me a part of my treatment?’
    Those green eyes narrowed. ‘Exactly.’
    ‘If you say so.’
    ‘Jordan—’
    ‘Stephanie?’
    She wasn’t fooled for a moment by Jordan’s too-innocent expression, knowing he was just trying to irritate her again. And obviously succeeding! ‘Why do you need two mobile phones?’ she asked, as she pulled on a pair of black gloves to keep her hands warm.
    A slight frown appeared between those amber-gold eyes. ‘What?’
    She shrugged. ‘I noticed earlier that there were two mobiles on the desk in the study, and I was just curious as to why you would need two when most people manage fine with just one?’
    ‘Maybe because I’m two people?’ Jordan finally replied, deciding that Stephanie McKinley was far too observant for his comfort sometimes.
    She arched auburn brows. ‘Because you’re both Jordan Simpson and Jordan St Claire?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Why did you change your name when you became an actor? Jordan St Claire is quite a charismatic name—’
    ‘Are we going for this walk or not?’ Jordan’s mouth thinned as he stepped forward and pointedly opened the back door for her.
    ‘We are.’ Stephanie nodded as she stepped outside. ‘So you actually consider Jordan Simpson and Jordan St Claire to be two distinctly different people?’ she persisted as he locked the door behind them before joining her on the path.
    Jordan didn’t
consider
them to be anything—they
were
two distinctly different people! As different as night and day. And non-interchangeable. ‘Could we just get this walk over with, do you think?’ he barked, before striding off in the direction of Mulberry Hall.
    ‘Of course.’ Stephanie deliberately measured her strides so that they were in step with his much slower ones. ‘You never considered working in the St Claire Corporation?’ she prompted curiously.
    It was a curiosity that was probably understandable in the circumstances. Except Jordan wasn’t presentlyknown for his understanding! ‘Have you ever heard of maintaining a companionable silence when out walking?’
    Of course Stephanie had heard of it; it just wasn’t something that was ever likely to happen between herself and Jordan! An awkward silence, perhaps. An uncomfortable silence, even. A totally physically aware one, certainly. At least on her part … The scowl on Jordan’s arrogantly handsome face as he stomped along beside her didn’t give the impression that he