by Maggie Cox
‘You must be a very busy man, Dominic. Diana told me that in the past year it’s been rare for you to even be in the country for more than a week at a time. And I…I have a busy life too. Obviously not at the same high level that you do, but just the same…I don’t really have time for relationships.’
‘You don’t have time or you are anti-relationships?’ A blond eyebrow lifted speculatively towards his scalp.
Stuart.To give yourself to a man in the most intimate way and then find out that he could quite casually give himself to another woman when he was having a relationship with you—well…that was quiteunforgivable in Sophie’s book. This betrayal had stung worse than a hundred razorblades slicing into her flesh. And if she wasn’t in a hurry to risk the same thing happening again, could anyone honestly blame her?
The Dominic Van Stratens of the world were playboys. Men who changed their women as regularly as they changed their cars. It didn’t matter that he had the power to set her body aflame with just a hot, hungry look. What mattered to Sophie was honesty and integrity in a man, and above all…reliability too. Women who would trade that for a brief passionate fling were asking for trouble, in her view. And she had just walked up to trouble and invited it in!
‘It’s not that I’m ‘‘anti-relationships’’. I just told you that I have a very busy life. Shall I pour the coffee now?’
Her hand shook slightly as she poured the steaming beverage into their cups.He should be grateful, she considered, with feeling. Grateful that she wasn’t one of those women who would cling on to a tenuous association in hope of something more. He’d had hisfun . Well…they hadboth had a good time in bed, Sophie admitted silently, feeling hot. Why couldn’t he just leave it at that and stop quizzing her about relationships?
‘You are wrong if you imagine that I do not want to see you again.’
The innate authority in his voice made Sophie glance up in surprise. His expression was very serious, and for a couple of disconcerting seconds Sophie remembered a verydifferent expression…in the throes of his passion, when he had made her rejoice in her womanhood and gasp for joy as his hands touched her everywhere…
‘I have commitments for the next three days, but I have a slot free on Wednesday evening. You can come to my house for dinner.’
Did he have any idea how cold and uninviting such a command sounded?As much as her body betrayed her at just the slightest touch from him, Sophie was not going to succumb to such an emotionless dictate, like some kind of eager little puppy.
‘I’m not free on Wednesday,’ she replied coolly, raising her cup to her lips. ‘I’m working late at school, getting my classroom ready for Easter.’
Dominic felt impatience surge through his bloodstream like a cursed virus. Was she deliberately being difficult, or was she speaking the truth? For her to reply to his invitation as though she could easily take it or leave it—and in this case obviouslyleave it—made him furious. Did she have any idea how many women would love the chance to be alone with him, for just a few hours even? Clearly she didn’t. But what got to Dominic even more was the idea that even if Sophiedid know how much in demand he was by the opposite sex, it wasn’t likely to sway her decision one jot. The woman must be obsessed by her job. That was the only explanation that made any sense to him.
‘Well, what about Thursday evening?’
He had an invitation to meet a colleague for dinner at his club, but as far as Dominic was concerned right now his need to see Sophie was far greater.
There was still no warmth in his voice, and Sophie squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. She wouldn’t go running to him just because he willed it! If he thought she was one ofthose weak-willed, infatuated females who would drop everything for a man, then he was definitely barking up the wrong tree!
‘I’m going out on Thursday night with a girlfriend, to celebrate her birthday.’
It was perfectly true. But as Dominic sat glowering back at her she knew he was convinced she was lying. He swore. At least Sophiethought he was cursing, because he’d suddenly switched languages as easily as breathing.
‘So whenwill you be free again to see me?’ he demanded, emerald eyes glittering.
Sophie almost choked on her coffee. Placing the cup back on its saucer, she smoothed her hand down her jeans and sat back in her chair in astonishment. ‘To be frank with you, Dominic, I thought this must be a one-off. Well…I mean, I know it happened once before, but I realise that you’re a very busy man, and that you wouldn’t normally be seeing someone like me. Anyway…I thought…That is, I didn’t—’
‘Let me be clear about this Sophie,’ Dominic interjected firmly. ‘I don’t think I’m being conceited when I say I know when a woman receives pleasure from my touch. I also don’t think that I imagined your soft moans and sighs in my arms last night. That being the case, I believe you wouldn’t exactly be against seeing me again. Am I right?’
Sophie sensed that he was probably completely unused to anyone turning him down when he wanted something. Most people in his life probably wouldn’tdare turn him down. But, as much as Sophie disliked the idea that Dominic could have anything he wanted just by snapping his fingers, she couldn’t deny her own heartfelt need to be with him again. And that need far outweighed her personal feelings about the power and authority he was used to. After all, in bed he was just a man. A man with the same passionate needs and desires as any man who had far less materially.
‘I honestly can’t make Wednesday or Thursday. How about next Friday?’
Some of the incredible tension that had gathered in Dominic’s shoulders eased slowly out of his muscles. Relieved, he ran his hand round the back of his neck. ‘Friday I’m presenting a business award at the Guildhall in London.’
‘Oh.’
‘It’s black tie, so you will need an evening dress. Is that a problem?’
Knowing intimately the rather scant contents of her wardrobe, Sophie guessed the sudden panic in her eyes must be self-evident to Dominic. ‘I might have to borrow something from a friend,’ she confessed, embarrassed.
‘I’ll phone my friend Emily and ask her to take you shopping for a suitable dress. Give me your phone number before we part, and I’ll get her to ring you to arrange a suitable time.’
‘Dominic, I don’t have time to go shopping! Much less money to splash out on an expensive dress. I’m sorry, but it’s not the kind of item that a primary school teacher’s pay will easily stretch to.’ There…she’d said it. And now her embarrassment at such a confession to a man for whom money clearlywas no object just grew ten times worse.
He smiled. ‘Let me buy you the dress, Sophie. It would give me immense pleasure to do so.’ His hypnotic gaze lingered on her mouth as he said this, then moved slowly and deliberately down to her breasts, outlined by her close-fitting sweater.
Sophie found it impossible to breathe for a moment.
‘I told you, I don’t make a habit of accepting expensive gifts from men.’
‘I’m not just any man, Sophie. We both know that I am yourlover .’
On Monday, on her return to school, the gossip and speculation in the staff-room proved to be even worse than Sophie had feared. Barbara Budd had not wasted any time in telling anyone who’d cared to listen that Sophie had been picked up on Friday by a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce, and they all inevitably wanted to know why.
Insisting on her privacy, Sophie endured the seemingly unending curiosity until home-time, and then on her way out she bumped into Victor Edwards, the headmaster.
‘I take it I can expect your resignation any day now?’ he started, adjusting his dark-rimmed glasses on his nose as he glanced down at her from his more superior height.
Hardly able to believe her ears, Sophie almost stumbled on the last concrete step in the hallway that led to the exit. ‘I’m sorry?’
‘Well, Sophie, it’s not every day that teachers go home in Rolls Royces. We are either paying you far too much—which is extremely unlikely, as we all know—
or you are moving in the kind of illustrious circles that are sadly closed to the rest of us mere mortals.’
Sophie had a lot of respect for their strict headmaster, even if he could sometimes be what the other staff referred to as a ‘stick-in-the-mud’. She’d always found him to be very fair, and not likely to make impulsive judgements when it came to any kind of trying or difficult situation. Now, as she tried to gauge whether he was serious or not, she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw a smile break around his rather austere lips.
‘I am, of course, only joking about your resignation. You’re one of the best infant-class teachers at the school, and I would be very sorry to lose you should you ever decide to leave us—even though I know you are eager for your career to progress. I’m sure you’ve been driven round the bend today, with all the silly gossip that’s been going around. My advice is just to ignore it, Sophie. Tomorrow they’ll all find a new topic to gossip about, and that will be an end to it.’
‘Thanks for that, Victor. I must admit it’s been quite trying, to say the least.’
‘How are preparations going for Easter?’
‘Great! The children have all been making Easter bonnets today and I’ve been up to my eyes in crêpe paper and glue!’ Her big blue eyes shining, Sophie glanced back at Victor with unconstrained delight. A slight flush stained the man’s otherwise pale cheeks at her enthusiastic response, and Sophie experienced a twinge of surprise at this uncharacteristic indication of emotion.
‘You certainly have a way with the little ones,’ he commented kindly. ‘I suppose there must come a day when you’ll decide to have a brood of your own?’
‘Maybe…I don’t know.’
Suddenly more discomfited by the thought than she cared to confess, because for an outrageous, impossible moment she’d allowed herself to imagine Dominic as the father of that ‘brood’, Sophie self-consciously tucked a curl of dark hair behind her ear.
‘Not for a long time yet, though.’
‘Good.’ Victor proclaimed, nudging his glasses further up his nose and adjusting his briefcase under his arm. ‘That seems a sensible decision, if you don’t mind my saying so. Keep up the good work, and don’t ever hesitate to come and talk to me should anything at school get you down.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, then.’ Without a backward glance, Victor preceded Sophie to the twin doors of the exit and marched out of the building.
Shaking her head at this unexpectedly warm exchange, Sophie couldn’t help but smile as she made her way out of school to the bus stop a few streets away.
Wrapping a huge yellow bathsheet around her, and hurrying out of the bathroom to the ringing telephone in the living room, Sophie snatched up the receiver, her stomach muscles clenched tight in anticipation that the caller might be Dominic.
It wasn’t. But itwas someone connected with him. Emily Cathcart—the woman he’d promised would ring to arrange to take Sophie shopping for a dress for an occasion that frankly filled her with dread. It was one thing sharing a night of passion in an anonymous hotel with him. It was quite another going out in public as his escort—and to such a clearly important event.
Before she’d taken her bath Sophie had spent a good hour or more looking at every reference to Dominic Van Straten on the Internet. There were literallypages of stuff about him. He was a busy man. A much-sought-after and admired entrepreneur, and a property developerbar none . Not only was he in demand togive awards, if the information that Sophie had read was correct, he had been on thereceiving end of plenty, too.
‘Emily Cathcart, here. Am I speaking to Sophie Dalton?’
‘Yes, you are.’ Sinking down into a nearby armchair, Sophie adjusted the towel more securely around her chest and tried to ignore the disconcerting bump of her heart against her ribcage.
‘Dominic asked me to contact you, Sophie,’ the woman explained cheerfully, immediately taking charge. ‘Now, when can we meet to go shopping? I’m free tomorrow lunchtime—would that suit?’
How would Emily Cathcart receive the news that Sophie had changed her mind about the whole thing? she wondered.It wasn’t Emily’s reaction she had to worry about. Dominic was the one who would probably go ballistic. Besides, it was far too short notice to tell him that she wasn’t going to go with him now. He’d more than likely have made arrangements for dinner, and that kind of thing.
‘I can’t do tomorrow; Wednesday lunchtime would suit me better. It will give me a chance to make arrangements at school. I could probably get another member of staff to cover for me for a couple of hours.’
‘Wednesday lunchtime it is, then. I’ll come and pick you up if you tell me where you are.’
‘You don’t happen to drive a Rolls Royce, do you?’ Sophie asked light-heartedly, grimacing at the very thought. At the other end of the phone Emily guffawed loudly, and Sophie immediately found herself warming to the woman she hadn’t even met, yet.
‘Good grief, no, darling! I drive a common or garden Range Rover, if you want to know. Comes in awfully handy when you live in the country, like me. Bit intimidating, was it? Dom turning up in his Rolls Royce outside school?’
Smiling at the memory, Sophie relaxed back into the chair. ‘You could say that. If you knew the part of London where my school is, you’d know that Rolls Royces are just about as rare as hen’s teeth!’
‘Dominic told me you were a primary school teacher, and Marcus described you as a pretty little thing. My husband met you at Dominic’s the other night, when you had to leave early. Shouldn’t be too difficult to kit you out in something special for the do on Friday. Give me your address, and I’ll see you there on Wednesday at one. How’s that sound?’
‘It’s very good of you…Emily. Thank you.’
‘Not a bit of it! Dominic and I are old, old friends. I’d do anything for him, and that’s the truth, so it’s really no hardship at all, my dear.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
SHEwas late, and Dominic felt as jumpy as a man on Death Row as he glanced over the heads of the two guests who were monopolising him towards the entrance of the historical, chandelier-lit anteroom.
He’d wanted Sophie to accompany him in the Rolls, but she had insisted she would get a taxi and meet him at the Guildhall because she’d had to go to an unexpected staff meeting after school and didn’t want to risk keeping him waiting should she be late.
Impatiently Dominic glanced at his watch.Why hadn’t she told them she couldn’t make the staff meeting tonight of all nights? Didhis needs count for nothing? Biting back his irritation, because it was almost time to go in to the main dining room for dinner, he sipped uninterestedly at his glass of chilled white wine and endeavoured to focus his attention on the conversation that continued around him.
Just when he’d resigned himself to the totally unpalatable but quite likely possibility that she’d decided to stand him up at the last minute, he saw her. Emily had assured him that the dress she’d helped Sophie pick wasexquisite . Now, as Dominic’s starved gaze crossed the distance of the marble floor that separated them, he saw with satisfaction that his friend had been quite right.
Sophie was standing next to a liveried steward, her lovely face in profile, the black full-length silk halter dress clung devotedly to her slender curves, showcasing her creamy shoulders and revealing quite the most tantalising glimpse of cleavage that he could imagine. Dominic’s wasn’t the only admiring glance that was drawn Sophie’s way.
Even as he politely excused himself from the company he’d been with he sensed his blood infused with a building and eager excitement as he approached her, quietly stunned by the most intense reaction to a woman he’d experienced in a very long time. It merely illustrated to Dominic how much he’d anticipated seeing her again, and how impatient he’d grown in the interim, when he couldn’t see her. Normally having no trouble whatsoever sleeping at night, no matter what had gone on during the day, for the past five nights, since he’d dropped Sophie home on Saturday
, he had barely been able to sleep at all. Thoughts of the girl he’d spent two extremely passionate nights with had tortured him mercilessly, leaving his body aching and hungry, as though he were under the spell of some erotic love potion. He needed her in his bedtonight . There’d be no nonsense about her having to go home. He simply wouldn’t hear of it.
‘ Van Straten,’ the steward said formally, ‘I was just about to bring Dalton over to you.’
‘Thank you.’
Waiting until the man had left their side, Dominic delved deep into Sophie’s startled cornflower-blue eyes with restless need, trying to gratify all the longing of the past five days in her absence.
‘I’m sorry I’m late…staff meeting ran on a bit, and I couldn’t get away. Start of the new financial year and all…that.’ Her words petered out as she realised she was babbling, and that Dominic’s lips remained worryingly unsmiling.