CHASING TROUBLE

There was silence on the other end for a while before Frank finally spoke, “Oh well, I guess he finally decided to visit. I’ve been asking him for weeks now. Is he with you right now, please put him on the phone,”

“He’s not here sir,” Caroline replied, “I left him downstairs so I could call you. Would you hold on so I can head downstairs?”

_______

Caroline certainly looked more comfortable when she returned a few minutes later, Nicholas thought. She was wearing a serviceable blue and white striped robe tied neatly at the waist over those cotton pajamas. Obviously Caroline Anderson was an altogether no-nonsense sort of woman. Not his father’s type, he would have thought…

He watched her hand the phone she was holding to him. “Your father wants to talk to you,” she told him.

Without saying a word, he took the phone from her and put it to his ear, “Hi dad,” he said without taking his eyes off Caroline, “Really good to know that you’re using the house as a business center too. Is any house safe from you at this point?”

There was a pause, and Caroline tried not to eavesdrop on their conversation, but it was hard because he was standing right there and she knew that they were talking about her, although she couldn’t really hear what Frank was saying.

“Relax…. I never said that I was complaining,” Nicholas added with a grin as he continued to watch her.

Caroline rolled her eyes and looked away. It seemed to amuse him even further because his grin widened.

“I’ll be home soon, dad. I just needed some time to cool off,” Nicholas concluded, then he hung up and handed the phone back to her, “Real nice telling on me to my father,” he said,

Caroline glared at him, “What did you expect me to do? Not tell him that you were here? He’s my boss!”Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

Nicholas said nothing. He placed two fresh mugs of tea down forcefully onto the breakfast bar, before sitting on the stool opposite Caroline to regard her with narrowed, assessing eyes. She straightened, obviously extremely uncomfortable.

“My father must really trust you if he lets you handle business on your own,” He gave a humorless smile. “How long have you been working for him?”

Caroline picked up the mug of tea and took a reviving sip, some of the color returning to her cheeks. “I’ve been working for your father for almost three years now.” she replied, then added before he could reply, “It may have been more convenient if you had called your father or Mrs Cooper to let her know of your imminent arrival. There have been several burglaries in the area recently as she informed me, and if we had been expecting you I wouldn’t have attacked you!” she added, slightly accusingly.

Caroline Anderson was now embarrassed by her earlier behavior, Nicholas guessed easily. Not that she had any reason to be. His decision to come home had not been planned, but his father would not stop pestering him about it lately, so he decided to get it over with. Consequently, Nicholas hadn’t thought to let anyone know of his arrival. Mrs Cooper would have recognised him instantly, of course, despite the fact that he hadn’t so much as been back to the house once for the last seven years, but there was no reason why Caroline Anderson should have done so.

All the same, that embarrassed color in her cheeks was rather attractive, making her eyes appear a deeper, more sparkling blue. Embarrassment, no doubt, at having made such a monumental error as to accuse the son of the house of being a burglar! Well, she didn’t have to worry about that. Nicholas hadn’t considered himself as the son of the house for years. The years he had spent in the army had kept him busy and since his mother died he never really cared much about his father’s riches or the company he was to take over some day.

He gave a dismissive shrug. “Forget it. It isn’t important.”

Maybe not to him, Caroline accepted. But if she had known of Nicholas imminent arrival it might have saved her from embarrassing herself in that ridiculous way. And there was no way she could forget she had attacked him with a book, of all things. The brass ornament dropping on his foot had probably left a bruise too, despite the heavy black boots he was wearing.

Caroline looked across at him with new, assessing eyes. All harshly sculptured extremely handsome angles… Nicholas Connelly really did resemble those darkly dangerous and sexy heroes who so often appeared in the vampire and demon books Caroline read for relaxation after a long day of work. No excuse, she admitted, but she enjoyed reading those types of books because of their complete escapism. She certainly hadn’t appreciated having this man taunt her about them!

“So, what is your relationship with my father?” Those dark eyes were hard as onyx as Nicholas looked across at her in an uncomfortably assessing manner.

Caroline frowned. “I believe I already told you. I’m his assistant, and I’m here to catalog your father’s library and meet up with a client tomorrow,”

“You said that, yeah…” he drawled. “I meant that my father is a workaholic and knowing him, he’d prefer to meet up with clients himself…. Unless maybe you have a more… Personal relationship with him,”

“Exactly what are you implying, Mr Connelly?” Caroline demanded indignantly, as she saw speculation in those mocking eyes.

He shrugged. “That my dad is a single man and maybe you’re more than just his assistant,”

Caroline gasped. “Are you implying that I’m sleeping with my boss?”

“You tell me,” Nicholas taunted; this woman really was very beautiful when she lost her temper! Her eyes glittered deeply blue, and there was heated color in her cheeks. The fullness of her lips was set determinedly, her pointed chin was raised challengingly, and the spiky style of that red hair gave the overall impression of an indignant hedgehog! “My father hardly comes here unless he has business to attend to, and the library has always been the way it is. I don’t recall him ever considering having it cataloged before,” Nicholas goaded deliberately.

A nerve pulsed in her stubbornly set jaw. “And how would you know what your father may or may not have considered doing when the only contact you have had with him, for the last five years at least, has been through the phone,”