"And how many is that?" she said scornfully, feeling as if he had slapped her in the face.

"None of your d.a.m.ned business."

"Does that mean none or dozens?"

"It means mind your own f.u.c.king business!" Jonas stood abruptly. "I'll be waiting outside in the hallway when you're ready to go."

Lily's hands shook slightly as she watched him leave. Jonas wasn't just the strong, silent type, he was d.a.m.ned unfriendly. To the point of rudeness.

Because she had overstepped a line and asked about his personal life?

Lily had tried to get Asher to open up about Jonas when he called this morning, but her brother either hadn't known much about the other man or else he wasn't talking. More likely the latter. Either way, it looked as if Gabriel was the only one who had answers about the enigma that was Jonas, and she wasn't about to give her eldest brother the satisfaction of her showing a personal interest in Jonas.

Even if it was frustrating as h.e.l.l knowing so little about a man who posed far more questions than he answered.

The world of acting was a gregarious one, the people in it usually flamboyant and only too eager to talk about themselves, even if that gregariousness was sometimes an act to hide their insecurities.

Jonas was the total opposite. He didn't have an insecure bone in that magnificent body, for one thing. And he was silent. So silent. And watchful. Unemotional.

He wasn't unemotional last night, when he lifted me up by cupping my bottom with those large hands and pressing my p.u.s.s.y against the hardness of his c.o.c.k.

Well...no. But he obviously regretted having done that.

And I should be more worried about the graffiti sprayed over my dressing room, and the person who did it than thinking about the size of Jonas's hands or his c.o.c.k!

Could it be someone she knew, someone who actually worked at the theater? She knew Maurice continued to hold a grudge against her, and yes, he was obnoxious and critical every chance he got, but she couldn't believe even he would do something as sick as this, to try to get rid of her.

No, it had to be someone outside the theater.

"Any coffee with friends, or straight home?" Jonas asked as she came out of her dressing room.

"No time for coffee now. Thanks." She nodded as he held the door out onto the street open for her so they could walk the short distance to where he had parked the SUV, the cold and damp air causing her to huddle down inside her coat, gloveless hands deep in the pockets, her hair loose this evening to keep her ears warm. "I do need to go food shopping on the way home, though."

Oh yippee. Jonas hated doing his own small amount of food shopping, and he always knew exactly what he wanted-strong coffee, milk, bread-and went straight to it, paid his money, and then left. He'd seen the women in the supermarkets, getting in his way as they tried to decide on the merits of this avocado or that one. It was a piece of fruit, for G.o.d's sake, not b.l.o.o.d.y rocket science, and if they decided not to buy, after all, then someone else would come along later and buy the fruit they'd manhandled. If he ran a food store, he would have a sign up saying, "you touch it, you buy it."

"Fine," he grated.

Lily eyed him mockingly once they were in the warmth of the SUV and he had driven the vehicle out into the flow of traffic. "I have to eat, Jonas."

Jonas's fingers tightly gripped the wheel as his thoughts instantly went to the voluptuous curves beneath the red coat Lily was wearing. Big b.r.e.a.s.t.s, slender waist curving out to fuller hips. Yes, she would need to eat to maintain that mouthwatering figure.

"Unless you want to take me out for an early supper?"

Jonas glanced away from the traffic long enough to recognize the challenging glint in Lily's eyes.

"As an apology for being so rude to me earlier?" she wheedled.

He turned his attention back to the road, knowing he had been a bit harsh with Lily earlier. Enough to take her out to supper? No. This was a job, d.a.m.n it- "Or I could take you out for an early supper?"

"Persistence should be your middle name!"

"It's actually Elizabeth."

Jonas already knew that. He'd done his research after leaving her last night, knew far more about Lily today than he had yesterday. Schools attended, exam results, drama school, boyfriends. The more he knew about Lily, the better chance he had of finding her stalker.

"I'm not hungry," he replied.

"I am."

"That's why we're on our way to the supermarket."

Lily breathed an inward sigh. It really was like trying to draw blood out of a stone trying to get Jonas to say more than a few words. She wouldn't have believed it, but he was even more distant than her brothers. They might be moody and uncommunicative most of the time, but they always had a lot to say in regard to her, even if she didn't like most of it.

It became clear within seconds of entering the building that supermarkets were another thing Jonas didn't like.

Although the dark scowl on his face as he accompanied her around the store did have its uses. Other shoppers simply moved out of their way, and the middle-aged woman on the till even packed Lily's food into a bag for her, eyeing Jonas cautiously all the time she did so. No doubt as a way of getting the glowering six-and-a-half footer out of the shop all the sooner.

He also carried the two bags of shopping back to the car for her.

"I could get used to this." She grinned as he slid into the driver's seat beside her after stowing the shopping in the back.

"You really shouldn't."

"I bought enough ingredients to make dinner for you too."

"I told you-"

"You aren't hungry." She nodded, looking down at her hands. "Please don't make me eat alone, Jonas," she said softly.

Jonas shot Lily a frowning glance. Were those tears he could see balanced on the tips of those thick dark lashes?

Of course it is, you stupid f.u.c.ker!

Lily might like to give the impression of toughness, but she had still gone through the trauma of seeing her dressing room covered in graffiti filth earlier. Then gone on stage and put on a spectacular performance. This, not wanting to be or eat alone, was obviously a reaction to all that.

He eased some of the tension from his shoulders. "What are we eating?"

She gave him a hopeful glance. "Spaghetti Bolognese."

"Sounds good." Jonas cooked for himself, but it was usually a steak or some other meat, with salad or a baked potato, easy stuff that could be quickly prepared.

"Those that eat help cook and clear away."

He grimaced. "Sounds like one of Gabriel's dictates."

"Probably because it is." She breathed out shakily. "Do we have to tell him about the graffiti?"

"Yes."

Her eyes widened. "No negotiation or listening to argument, just yes?"

"Yes."

"And I thought Gabriel was difficult!"

Jonas gave an unconcerned shrug. "Maybe you'll appreciate him more when this is all over."

"Is it going to be over?" Anxiety darkened her eyes.

"Oh, I'll get the b.a.s.t.a.r.d that's doing this, Lily," he a.s.sured her. "And when I do, I'll make him eat every one of his filthy words."

"Promise?"

"Absolutely."

Asking Jonas to eat with her, and the reality of having his large presence in her tiny kitchen as they prepared the meal together were two distinctly different things, Lily discovered a short time later. Even with the help of the gla.s.ses of red wine she had poured them.

Jonas had removed the long black leather duster in the warmth of her apartment, and Lily could now appreciate how wide and muscular his shoulders and chest were in the tight navy-blue T-shirt. Faded denims rested low down on his hips, but as Lily discovered when he turned around to put something away in the fridge, his a.s.s was perfectly outlined in the snug-fitting material.

Or do I mean his perfect a.s.s is outlined by that snug-fitting material?

Either way, Lily found Jonas totally overwhelming in the confines of her small kitchen, and it was virtually impossible for the two of them not to brush against each other as they first unpacked the shopping and then moved about the room preparing the ingredients for their meal.

It was a little like being in a cage with a large, untamed beast.

A little?

Make that a lot!

Lily had never felt this s.e.xually aware of a man before. She hadn't had such a strong reaction even to A-list actor Laurence Seaton-single, blond, ruggedly handsome, and also American-whom she had met and worked with in Barbados the previous year, when she'd been given a small part in one of his movies.

Jonas gave out a natural heat from that tall and powerful body, with that heady male musk still detectable beneath the lemon and spice of his aftershave. If he had shaved; the perpetual dark stubble on the square strength of his jaw said he didn't bother with that very often. The blue-black stubble suited him somehow, added to that edge of danger Jonas wore like a second skin.

"What do you want me to do with this?"

Lily looked at Jonas blankly for a second or two, until she realized he was holding up the packet of spaghetti they had bought. "Haven't you ever cooked spaghetti before?"

"I cook, but mainly with a microwave or barbeque. Does Gabriel cook?" He placed the packet down on the work surface as she eyed him mockingly. "Or any of your other brothers, for that matter?"

He had a point. Gabriel had moved all the family to London after their parents died, using the money left to them to buy the house and hire a housekeeper to cook and clean. It made life easier but also meant none of her brothers cooked. Lily had only taught herself to do so these past couple of years, since she had lived in her own apartment. She had no idea of Jonas's living arrangements-or anything else about him-but she doubted he would welcome a live-in housekeeper invading his s.p.a.ce.

But maybe a live-in girlfriend?

Or a wife?

Just because Jonas seemed like such a loner didn't mean he didn't have one or even both of those things. He had certainly shut down that moment of intimacy quickly enough between the two of them last night.

"What?" That scowl was back on Jonas's brow as he caught her staring at him.

She moistened her lips as she thought how best to phrase her next question. "I was wondering... Am I keeping you from being with someone right now?"

He folded his arms across his chest to lean back against the kitchen unit. "Define someone?"

"Mother, sister, wife, girlfriend?"

"None of the above."

Lily breathed an inward sigh of relief. She wasn't comfortable l.u.s.ting after someone who was already taken.

l.u.s.ting after?

Well...yes. No point in denying something that was so obvious. To her, at least. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about Jonas since they met last night. She only hoped that l.u.s.t wasn't as apparent to him. That would be too embarra.s.sing.

Her eyes widened as she realized what he had said. "Your not-Apache mother is dead?"

"She was dead to most of her upright English family long before she breathed her last breath," he said harshly.

"Your mother was English?"

"Yes."

"How on earth did your parents ever meet?" Lily prompted without thinking, and then realized her mistake as Jonas's eyes narrowed in warning. "Sorry, that was incredibly rude of me."

He sighed. "You aren't going to stop asking questions until you know, are you?"

"I'm interested in people. Most actors are. Writers too, I believe."

"And are you, personally, interested in people in general? Or just me?" His eyes were dark and stormy.

Had it suddenly got very hot in here, or was she the only one that felt it? And had the room shrunk too, so that she and Jonas seemed much closer than was comfortable?

Lily had a feeling that the answer to both those questions lay in Jonas's sudden tension, and knowing she was the complete focus of those dark blue eyes. "Only you," she acknowledged gruffly.

His mouth thinned. "My parents met at Harvard, where they were both taking a law degree. When they graduated, they married, and went back to the reservation in Arizona to fight for Native American rights. I was born there. Heard enough?"

Not nearly enough. The more Jonas revealed about himself, the more Lily wanted to know.

And the more resentful Jonas became.

"Thank you for telling me." She reached out a tentative hand, intending to touch the heat of his chest through his T-shirt.

"Don't."

Her hand stopped only centimeters away, fingers trembling slightly in her need to touch him. "I was only-"

"Don't." His arms dropped to his sides, but he didn't push her away from him.

The air was so thick with the tension between them, it was like trying to breathe through soup, and impossible for Lily to resist the pull to move closer. To step completely into Jonas's s.p.a.ce, one of her legs between his parted ones. The difference in their heights meant her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were pressed against his hot and muscular abdomen, with the muscled hardness of Jonas's thighs against her hip as she leaned into him.