Introducing Hunter Rutherford

Chapter 9

At Rutherford's party, Amanda's anticipation upon seeing Lee again lessened as she watched him approaching her.

Her heart anxiously skittered at the way his movements turned stilted and his jaw became rigid. It didn't take long for her to conclude that Lee was upset with her for some reason.

He now soon stood in front of her and Claudia, and it was Claudia who welcomed Lee.

"Lee Silverstone! What a pleasure to see-"

"- Claudia." he bluntly greeted with barely a glance at her.

His stormy eyes were totally focused on Amanda with an intensity that made her slightly cower.

"Mrs. King," he stated through gritted teeth, "Might I have a word with you?"

Why is he so upset with me? she wondered, Well, whatever the reason, he has no reason to be!

Amanda lifted her head, "Anything you have to say, Lee, you can say in front of my boss!"

"Oh noooo I can't!" he responded. Then abruptly he reached over and grabbed her by her elbow to lead her away.

Amanda's eyes widened, "Heyyyy! Whoa!..." she burst out struggling, but his grip was firm.

"Lee! Stop!" she commanded as he continued to pull her along, "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"We need to talk!" he growled.

He didn't stop until they ended up in a private area. It was situated next to a trellis, away from the party crowd. Amanda forcefully yanked her elbow away from him, looking miserable while Lee looked in all directions with watchful eyes. Then he positioned his back against the trellis so that he had a full view of the party. When he was satisfied that no one was within listening distance, he gave his full attention to her.

"Amanda, what the hell are you doing here?" he demanded to know.

And despite thinking that she was meddling with his work, his heart picked up its tempo at being with her again.

Amanda was seconds earlier they seemed to have made a connection across Hunter Rutherford's poolside area. The way he had been looking at her made her pulse race, yet his words told her he was upset. And the more she thought about it, the more she thought he had NO reason to treat her so rudely!

She narrowed her eyes, "What kind of greeting is THAT?!" she demanded to know, her eyes flashing, "Just because you're a..." she looked covertly about, "..spy, that doesn't give you free rein to manhandle me!"

Again, Lee was struck by Amanda's spunk. This was not a demure little housewife, but a vibrant, intelligent woman who had strong opinions!

But that didn't mean he wasn't annoyed by her antics!

"I wouldn't NEED to manhandle you if you wouldn't go around following me!" he argued back.

"FOLLOWING you! Me?" Amanda sounded indignant now, "For your information, Buster, Mr. Rutherford is the library's BIGGEST contributor and he invites Claudia to his pool parties annually,so this time I decided to go with her since he had recently acquired a first edition book! Satisfied?"

Immediately Lee realized his mistake.

"Okayyy," he backed down, "so maybe I was slightly wrong in my assumption."

"Slightly wrong?" Amanda repeated; she wasn't going to let him off so lightly, "Lee, you were acting downright crazy!"

He quirked a brow, "Crazy, eh?"

Amanda put her hands on her hips, "Yes!"

Somehow an infuriating Amanda was adorable. He stifled a smile.

"I am NOT crazy, Amanda! And if you continue to insist that I am... I might have to get off my unicorn to prove my point to you!"

"Your what?" her eyes were questioning, yet amused, "did you just say your unicorn!?"

He teased back, "You bet your spiral-horn-in-the-middle-of-the-head I did!"

She reacted with a sweet chuckle that endeared her to him, "Heh."

He then looked apologetic, "Look, Amanda, I'm sorry I flew off the handle like that. Will you forgive me?"

She steadily watched his face for signs of sincerity and was satisfied.

"Apology accepted."

He let out a bracing breath, "Good."

"So, Lee, why are you here?" she asked, "Are you..." she covertly looked about and then whispered, "...on a mission?"

He loved her serious expression whenever a mention of his job came up.

"I am." Lee honestly answered.

"And?" she breathlessly waited, wanting him to explain further.

He looked left, then right, "Can you keep a secret, Amanda?"

She solemnly affirmed, "I can, Lee."

"Great. So can I."

She looked embarrassed, "I'm being too nosy again, aren't I?"

"Let's just say..." he held out his opened hand, like he had been holding something, "...that I found your nose. It was in my business again!"

She laughed and he joined in.

And things seemed fine between them again.

Then as Lee looked off at a distance beyond Amanda, he saw an approaching figure.

He barely moved his lips, "Amanda, heads up. Rutherford's coming our way!"

Amanda panicked and whispered back, "What should I do? Should we even be seen together? Should I leave?"

"Too late for that now," Lee decided, as the shipping magnate took powerful strides to reach them, "Just act...oh, uh," Lee beamed at Hunter, who was now in front of them, "Mr. Rutherford! What a pleasure to see you again!"

Amanda twirled around to face her host.

Hunter Rutherford was in his late 40's and still possessed a full set of dark hair. He was quite distinguished-looking with his blue fitted suit, perfectly tailored of the finest silk with a white button down shirt underneath the jacket. A silk paisley folded pocket square completed his expensive look.

And his demeanor was of a typical millionaire businessman; brusque and to the point.

"Mr. Silverstone. Amanda." Hunter coolly responded, not even bothering with pleasantries, "Why are you two here alone in the garden, separated from the party?"

Lee improvised, "Actually, it was hard to talk over the big crowd at your party, and I had just met Mrs. King..."

"-just met me..." Amanda emphasized.

Lee continued, "Yeah, so we came here for some quiet conversation and to also view your grand garden on this side of your patio. Your garden is exquisite, by the way."

Hunter was not happy and ignored the compliment, "Fraternizing with one of my guests is not why I invited you here, Mr. Silverstone!" he lectured, "I thought you were here to evaluate my antiques!"

"You are definitely correct about that, Mr. Rutherford," Lee assured him, "and I apologize for being...frivolous in my thinking."

And when Hunter turned his attention on Amanda, she shuffled a little closer to Lee, as if he could protect her.

Hunter Rutherford's detachment to the world had always intimidated Amanda. He intensely watched her through glacial eyes.

"And, Amanda..."

She gulped, "Uh, yes, Mr. Rutherford?"

"I thought you were here to view my book collection, not to dally among my party guests!"

"Well, yes, I am here for your book collection!" she now nervously rattled on, "Especially since I heard that you had acquired a first edition copy of 'The Great Gatsby'! In fact,in addition to taking a little peek of that book, I would also LOVE to see some of the other books in your extensive collection, all which are located inside your-"

"-library!" Lee interrupted, wanted to beat her to the punch, "Just the room I'd like to start off in when valuing your fine antiques, Mr. Rutherford!"

Amanda gave Lee a look which read: I was going to ask for the library first!

Lee shot her a look back which read: You snooze you lose!

Hunter looked doubtful, "What a coincidence that you both chose to see that room first! Had you two purposely planned on ganging up on me regarding my library?"

"NO!" they both insisted, and then exchanged nervous glances.

"We...barely know each other," Lee added, trying to smooth things over.

"...being that we just met," Amanda nervously reminded Rutherford.

"I believe you've mentioned that before, so we've been down that road already," Hunter evenly stated.

"You could show both of us the library," Amanda quickly suggested, "it's the room I'm most interested in, being that your wonderful collection of books is located there!"

"-aaand I've heard some of your best antiques are located in that room, too," Lee reminded him.

Hunter looked from one to the other.

Perhaps it would be better to kill two birds with one stone.

So to speak.

"Follow me," he decided.

They walked back into the mansion and Hunter made of grand gesture of indicating the way to the library, "the library is down the hall, third door on the right."

When they had arrived, Hunter opened the door leading to his library, and Amanda was impressed with the size and scope of the place.

Two sets of built-in bookshelves ran the height and length of the wall opposite the couch. A gray marble fireplace separated the two sections of shelves. There was also an oak writing desk as well as an elaborate French designed sofa. The room spoke of expensive taste and a joy for reading.

"Oh, Mr. Rutherford, this is truly a book heaven for readers!" Amanda commented.

For the first time, Hunter seemed pleased with her, "I'm glad you think so, Amanda."

Meanwhile, Lee had removed from his pocket his pair of white inspection gloves and put them on. Then he walked over to the antique-looking clock on the fireplace mantel. He recognized it from one of his photos. The clock case was solid mahogany with a reddish color finish. It had two columns with beautiful faux green marble. The sides consisted brass lion's head handles and it sat on 4 ornate feet. It did thrill Lee to see it first hand.

Hunter walked over to him, "Like what you see, Mr. Silverstone?"

"Every bit impressive as I thought it would be," Lee professionally stated, as he gestured, "I can see the intricately carved Eastlake details in the fine wood as well as the ornate bezel and dial."

"You do have an eye, Mr. Silverstone!" Hunter seemed to be warming up, "It's an Almandine veneer mantel clock, one of my favorite pieces in my collection!"

"Yes, indeed," Lee acknowledged, "and I gather this particular clock was produced sometime in the mid-1880's, one of the originals made by Seth Thomas, before he made a name for himself."

Hunter lifted a brow, "Yes, that's right. You almost sound as if you've done research in a library!"

Amanda almost choked.

Lee didn't skip a beat, "I take great pride in my knowledge of antiques, Sir."

While the men continued on, Amanda wandered away to the bookshelves. She began skimming the titles on the top two shelves of Rutherford's library. They were his fictional and nonfictional books. Hunter came over and then showed her the first edition book while Lee was inspecting an antique pen from Rutherford's writing desk.

The door to the library opened and in walked one of Hunter's body guards, a husky man with salt and pepper white hair. He whispered something in his boss' ear and for a moment Hunter's face turned dark, as if he were trying to control his anger.

After the body guard left, Hunter somberly informed Lee and Amanda, "There's another matter I need to attend to. I'd leave one of my men with you two, but I may need him to help neutralize the situation. So if both of you will follow me back to the party..."

Lee had been expecting the interruption. He knew Francine had planned to sneak into the kitchen and she would secretly place a bag of popcorn in the microwave oven. After setting the timer overly long, the popcorn would be expected to explode, thus scaring the staff and brilliantly creating a diversion, since the popping would sound like gunfire.

Obviously Francine was successful with her diversion tactic.

Now Lee had to convince Rutherford that he needed to stay in the library.

"I'd rather not leave the library at this moment, if you don't mind, Mr. Rutherford," Lee proposed, "Now that I've seen a part of your remarkable collection of antiques, I feel as though I'm on a roll now, and I wouldn't want to lose the momentum."

Hunter frowned at the idea of leaving him in one of his rooms, unsupervised, "No, that will not do."

"-it's alright, Mr. Rutherford," Amanda piped in, "I can remain here with Mr. Silverstone, if you like. I can use the time to peruse through your extensive library...perhaps I might even be able to suggest a more efficient way for you to re-organize your books!"

A librarian re-organizing his large array of books? Hunter thought that was a brilliant idea!

And knowing Amanda King like he did, he DID trust her.

"Very well," he decided, "Carry on with your respective duties. The matter I must deal with won't take very long."

Lee gave Amanda an appreciative glance before addressing Rutherford.

"Rest assure that I'll keep a very close eye at Mrs. King, here," Lee lightly jested as Amanda smiled.

"As well as with me regarding Mr. Silverstone," Amanda acknowledged.

But Hunter was not amused, "Just be sure any items you move are put back precisely as they were!"

Or there will be consequences to pay, he seemed to imply.

Then curtly turning, he left, closing the door behind him.

The minute the door was closed, Lee instantly got busy and hastily began searching, first by picking up, observing, and then putting back all the objects on Hunter's desk.

Amanda was curious as she walked to the desk, "Lee, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?," he rhetorically asked, as he now opened the first drawer and scrounge around its contents, "I'm looking for something."

"This is for the spy mission, isn't it?" she inquired with interest.

"Of course it is!" he distractedly admitted, hurriedly slamming another drawer before opening another. She stopped to watch him scrounge around the contents of the drawers. Then he began feeling the underside of the drawer.

"Can I help you in any way?" she volunteered, carefully watching him.

Lee paused, looking irritated that she wanted to be involved.

But then he realized that the library room was larger than he had imagined, with lots of places to hide a small notepad.

How would he be able to search the nooks and crannies of an entire room in mere minutes?

Perhaps he did need Amanda's help.

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