Captivation

Captivation Part 5

Part 5

Douglas clapped a hand against his best friend's back and grinned, "Heard some poor sod had been short-listed for the marriage stakes." They were at the bar. Jared was in the process of waiting for a couple of drinks he'd ordered.

Jared turned and glared at his friend. "When I find that bloody woman, she'd better have bodyguards." He scanned the local crowd. He'd been feeling sorry for her, after the debacle of them being overheard. He'd wasted time wondering whether he'd been too harsh and too blunt. But that was before he'd been tracked down and harangued.

Douglas smiled, "Heard you turned her down." He couldn't help but tease. It wasn't often he got to see his friend this disgruntled. Jared looked ready to lynch the woman in question.

"She seemed calm, very cool." And Jared was coming to understand that he had seriously underestimated her. "I should have guessed she'd get her father's henchmen to swing into action because I didn't fall in with her plans. Bloody woman. Why the hell she's targeted me I don't know. Anyone with an ounce of common sense can see we move in different circles. If I mentioned the word sex, she'd probably faint!" He scanned the room once again, "I should have known I hadn't thawed the ice, that she was planning the next stage as we spoke." He glared in the distance for good measure and hoped that his glare found her. "She's so bloody prissy, why the hell would a prude like her want to hook up with a man with my reputation?"

Jared glared at his friend because Doug had chuckled as Doug murmured, "To gain some experience." Doug weighed up the reality of that statement. Perfectly possible, given Jared's history. But then, after what he'd heard in the cloakroom, nowhere near the truth of the matter. He wished he'd gotten a look at her face, for that would have convinced him, if he needed convincing about her sincerity. But from what he heard, she was not interested in Jared.

"And then she sets her Bulldogs on me because I don't come out to fucking play her bloody game on her fucking terms!" Jared was furious. He had been close to feeling sorry for the woman, given he had all but caused her to be the subject of gossip. But now he was far from sorry for her. She, it would appear, knew exactly how to get even.

Douglas shook his head and laughed openly which just had Jared growling quietly. Douglas stopped laughing. "If we are talking about the same woman, you're wrong." He told his friend, before ordering a lager from the waiter who had just presented Jared with his drink. "I heard her telling them to back off." He announced as if that was rather extraordinary.

"Yeah, right." Growled Jared.

"Seriously. She read the riot act to two old guys."

"When?" Jared didn't believe a word. She might have appeared to be surprised when he'd cornered her, but from where he was standing, she seemed to be good at engineering things. He had seriously underestimated her. But he learnt from his mistakes, and when he found her, she had better be prepared to hear some home truths.

"A few minutes back. I'm late."

"Yeah, so what's new?"

Douglas ignored that particular rhetorical question. "I was in the cloakroom when she brought in two guys and told them to stop their hatchet job." Douglas explained, somewhat casually. He was tempted to check out this woman.

Jared scowled. "Are you sure we are talking about the same thing here?" Jared looked over at his friend. He doubted very much that Caitlin would be stopping anything. In reality he figured she was just getting even for the unintended hatchet job he'd done on her character this evening.

"Yeah, unless there's another poor sod." Doug thanked the waiter for his lager and Jared handed the waiter some notes to cover their drinks. Doug raised his glass to his friend, and said, "She was defending you. Told them to stop." He frowned as he remembered her words. Not only had she told them to stop, she was not terribly happy with their tack. Doug, now that he had time to think about it, found that oddly endearing. It wasn't often that men of his, and Jared's ilk had women defending their honour. And yet that was exactly what she had been doing.