Jake! Her nemesis! He couldn’t have made it plainer. He would use her when and where he wanted to, and she had to jump to his order. She tried to tell herself she was glad that at least Jake was allowing her to have her own bedroom, but, as she wriggled into her skirt and blouse, and walked across the room to the door, deep in the secret part of her heart, that hurt most of all...
She walked along the corridor, and pushed open the partially opened door of what she presumed was the next room and looked in. Her eyes fell on her battered suitcases standing just inside the door; she heaved a sigh of relief and walked in, closing the door behind her.
Lexi found herself standing in a small, arched alcove. She stepped forward and for the first time in ages her generous mouth curved in the beginnings of a smile as she looked around. The room was a delight; a symphony in gold, cream and the palest lavender.
The walls either side of her were a bank of mirrored wardrobes, which accounted for the small arched entrance-hall. On the wall to the left was a four-poster bed draped in yards of cream eyelet lace lined with lavender silk; a matching cover lay over the bed. Opposite her, two long windows were hung with complementary curtains, caught back at the sides by models of Eros in gold to reveal the terrace and breathtaking view beyond. Between the windows was a huge mirror in an amethyst frame, and in front of that, a deliciously feminine chaise-longue and matching button-backed chair, plus a circular glass and gold occasional table. On the right-hand side wall was a long kneehole dressing-table, draped in the same fabric, with a three-way mirror on top, and next to that was another door.
It was the most totally feminine room Lexi had ever seen, and it all looked new. A variety of pictures dotted the walls, from old-fashioned landscapes to a Gainsborough lady in a velvet frame, and they were all fixed with satin bows and suspended on ribbons. A couple of Aubusson rugs were placed at strategic points on the marble tiled floor.
She crossed the room, her handbag catching her attention; she hadn’t realised she had left it in the car. It rested, along with a small leather box, on the dressing-table. Maria had been thorough. It was Lexi’s jewel-box, not that she had much jewellery, but flicking it open she drew out her wristwatch and slipped it on; she had forgotten it in her haste to get away from Jake that morning. Not that it had done her any good, she sighed wearily. Her hand hovered over the box and slowly, reluctantly, she moved aside a few pieces of jewellery to reveal a plain gold ring. She hadn’t looked at it in years, but she had never quite got around to throwing it away.
Lexi picked up the gold band and held it in the palm of her hand, such a simple piece of jewellery that had once meant the world to her. In her mind’s eye she saw herself as a young girl walking into the register office on the arm of Meg’s husband Tom. She had been nervous, but it had been a trembly, exciting kind of nerves. Her wedding-dress had been a delicate white broderie anglaise affair. Jake had insisted she must wear white, the same way after only a couple of dates he had discovered she was a virgin and insisted she marry him. At the time she had thought it was because he loved her and had too much respect for her to indulge in an affair.
With hindsight, she realised grimly, it had simply been a very smart move on his part to acquire Forest Manor and turn it into a hotel. True, he had paid her father’s debts and made her a sleeping partner in his business, in fact he had insisted on it. She smiled drily; for all she knew she might be a very wealthy woman in her own right by now. She had had no contact with the London merchant bank where Jake had opened her account since the day he had taken her there to sign the necessary documents.
‘You kept it. That does surprise me.’
Lexi jumped as if she had been stung, and whirling round her startled eyes clashed with cold blue. ‘Do you have to creep up on people like that?’ she burst out; she had not heard him approach, and she blushed scarlet, embarrassed and angry with herself.
‘I did not creep, as you put it.’ His cool eyes looked mockingly down at her. ‘But you were so lost in thought that you didn’t hear me. Pleasant memories, were they?’ he probed, his hand reaching out and curving around her closed palm, forcing her fingers to open.
Lexi was incapable of responding with his unexpected presence only a few inches in front of her. The touch of his hand had set her heart racing and the image of what had happened earlier in his bedroom leapt to the forefront of her mind.
‘Too simple for your taste. I imagined you had consigned it to the rubbish bin years ago.’
‘Wh-what..?’ Wide-eyed, she stared at him, her thoughts in chaos. His lips parted over even white teeth in a grin of genuine amusement at her obvious confusion.
‘Never mind. It’ll do until I get you a diamond one.’ And with casual arrogance he took the gold band and slipped it on her ring finger, and she let him, too surprised to do anything else.
‘Still a perfect fit. Just like you and I, Lexi.’
She stared at him, the colour flooding her face at his words. ‘So you say,’ she tried to jeer, but it was right, he had proved it very thoroughly not half an hour ago. She glanced down at their joined hands, anything to avoid Jake’s too knowing expression, but the gold ring glittering on her finger only served to remind her of the hopelessness of her position, and swiftly she pulled her hand free.
Jake lifted her chin with one long finger. ‘Don’t look so shocked,’ he chuckled. ‘We are married.’ And, trailing his finger up to her lips, he added softly but with deadly intent, ‘And this time you will not escape. Which brings me to why I’m here.’
‘I thought you had work to do,’ Lexi said, finally finding the control to string a sentence together.
‘True, but first your passport.’
‘My passport...’
‘Yes, it wasn’t at the hotel and I want it.’
She glanced sideways at where her bag lay on the dressing-table, and Jake, intercepting her glance, swiftly picked up the bag and opened it.
Seeing Jake rummaging around in her bag was the incentive Lexi needed to find her pride and her temper. ‘Put that down, damn you,’ she demanded and, stepping forward, reached up to grab it. ‘You have no right to go through my personal belongings.’ She jumped up, trying to catch Jake’s hand holding her bag, but only succeeded in losing her balance and falling hard against his broad chest. A long arm snaked around her waist pinning her to his side while the bag dropped to the floor, but she saw her precious passport firmly clenched in his fist, way out of her reach.
‘Now, now, Lexi, don’t get excited.’ She heard his chuckle and saw red.
‘Give me that.’ She kicked out at his shin and futilely tried to reach his outstretched arm.
She almost fell over as Jake abruptly released her, his dark eyes turned from her open passport to her furious face.
‘So that’s how you did it. I should have guessed,’ he said harshly, all amusement gone. ‘Miss Alexandra Laughton.’ He read her name as if it was a dirty word. ‘You never did get this changed.’
She stared up at him, her violet eyes simmering with anger. But his embittered gaze made her bite back her angry demand. He looked ready to do violence and she didn’t understand why, but a fine-honed sense of self-protection had her stepping backwards until she could go no further, the wall at her back.
Jake followed her, his large body tense like a coiled spring, his rugged features taut with barely controlled anger. His strong hands shot out and rested heavily on her slender shoulders. He pushed his dark face to within inches of her own.
‘My God, you had it planned all along,’ he hissed, his breath grazing her face. His dark eyes studied her, taking in the smooth forehead, the delicately arched eyebrows, the soft curve of her cheek.
Lexi’s tongue snaked out over her dry lips in a nervous gesture, her heart thudding in her breast; a violent tension hung in the air between them, and she didn’t know how it had happened.
‘Such a beautiful, innocent face disguising a viciously devious mind.’ Jake shook his dark head, his hands f
alling from her shoulders.
‘That’s rich...’ Lexi stopped as her wary gaze clashed with Jake’s, and what she saw in the black depths froze the blood in her veins.
‘You have a good right to look afraid, Lexi, but right at this moment I don’t think I could bear to touch you, or if I did I would strangle you.’ And spinning around he stormed out of the room.
Long after he left Lexi was still leaning against the wall; she did not trust her legs to carry her one step. She had never seen Jake so furious or such hatred in another human being’s face in her life. Slowly recovering her self-control, she pushed herself away from the wall and crossed the short space to the chaise-longue and collapsed upon it.
What did Jake mean, she had planned? Instead of ranting simply because she had never got around to changing her passport, he should have been thanking her. Five years ago it had enabled Lexi to walk away, leaving Jake and his mistress with her old home and a clear field... The man was obviously unbalanced...
As for a devious plan, that was laughable. Lexi had rarely planned anything in her life. It was one of her failings, she freely admitted. She tended to be a creature of impulse; she had married Jake on little more than an impulse. She had left England in the same impulsive manner, when, if she had stayed and fought, she could have been a free woman now. Instead of which, she was caught in a nightmare of a marriage where both parties hated each other’s guts.
Jake had accused her of being devious. What a joke—if any one was devious it was Jake. He had married her for the manor; true, he had paid her father’s debt, but she was sure it could not have been anything like the amount of money Jake intended making with the hotel. He had got her pregnant by mistake; he had not wanted a child. A tear slid down her cheek. Five years ago this very day Lexi had lain in the hospital bed having miscarried their child, and Jake had turned up hours after the event with a few lame excuses about business for neglecting Lexi. Now he turned up again, this time demanding a child, and with Lorraine, his mistress, in tow to take care of Lexi’s job, while presumably Lexi obliged her husband. The black irony of the situation was too much to bear.
Collapsing on the chaise-longue, she gave way to her shattered emotions, tears of self-pity gushing down her cheeks.
CHAPTER SEVEN
LEXI rolled over and fell with a thump on the floor. Her eyes flew open and for a second she wondered where she was. Struggling out of what felt like a strait jacket but was in reality a light cotton sheet, she sat up cross-legged on the floor and gazed around her as the events of the morning filled her mind. She sighed, rubbing her elbow where it had caught the carved-wood frame of the front of the chaise-longue; it was an elegant piece of furniture but not the best place to fall asleep, she thought ruefully, her eyes widening as she realised someone must have come in her room and put the sheet over her. Not that it was necessary; she felt hot and sweaty and longed for a bath. She glanced at her wristwatch and jumped to her feet in shock. It was almost four. Jake had said lunch at one...
With a toss of her head she stalked across to the door set in the wall by the dressing-table. She had missed lunch, but what the hell! Jake could hardly kill her for it, and she badly needed to find the bathroom. Opening the door, her lips parted in a smile of pleasure, as she looked around the exquisitely appointed bathroom. Her smile vanished when she caught sight of herself in the length of one mirrored wall. God, what a mess! Her hair was sticking out like a bush, her eyes were red-rimmed and her clothes were wrinkled beyond belief.
Five minutes later, stripped naked, she stood in the huge double shower; her muscles ached in places she had forgotten she possessed and dark smudges marred her smooth flesh, telling their own story, but under the relaxing influence of the warm soothing spray she slowly felt the ache and tension drain out of her. She washed her hair with a sweet-scented jasmine shampoo, one she had chosen from a good selection displayed on the vanity-unit alongside the circular bath. She had toyed with the idea of having a bath but after seeing the size of it decided it would probably take half an hour to fill, and, much as she told herself she didn’t care about missing lunch, she could not ignore the pangs of hunger rumbling in her stomach for much longer.
Stepping out of the shower, blinking the water from her eyes, she stretched out a hand to where she thought the towel might be and was relieved to find it. With her head bent she dried the water from her eyes then swept the towel up around her hair in a turban. Throwing her head back, she straightened and froze with her hands at the knot in the towel.
Jake was standing in front of her, his blue eyes dancing with amusement as he took in her shocked expression, and quite a lot more besides.
‘Very nice.’ His gaze slid slowly down her naked body, lingering on her full breasts, and before she realised what he was doing he leant forward, his mouth catching the tip of her breast.
She lashed out at his dark head, stepping back, trying to ignore the flash of tingling awareness lancing through her body. ‘Get out,’ she cried and, swinging round, she grabbed a large white bath sheet from a nearby towel-rail and wrapped it hastily around her heated body.
‘I couldn’t resist catching the drop of water from your breast, Lexi, there’s no need to throw a fit,’ he drawled with mocking amusement.
Lexi did not share his amusement; she was flustered and furious, and the last thing she needed was his intimidating presence looming over her in the bathroom. She glared at him; it was positively wicked how attractive Jake looked, she thought bitterly. Some time in the past few hours he had changed into a pair of brief white shorts, and sleeveless white T-shirt. His long, muscular limbs, bronzed by the sun, were enough to make her heart flutter. ‘I expect privacy in the bathroom. Surely that isn’t too much to ask?’ she demanded furiously.
‘You’re obviously feeling better. You have your temper back.’
‘I wasn’t ill, I fell asleep.’ She tried to explain her absence from lunch before he could ask.
‘I know; I called in earlier and you looked so peaceful that I put a cover over you and left. See how kind I can be when you please me,’ Jake prompted with a knowing reminiscent curve to his hard mouth.
So it had been Jake! Somehow it did not fit her image of the ruthless man who had burst back into her life so suddenly. ‘Thank you...’ she muttered reluctantly. ‘But if you don’t mind I’d like to get dressed.’
‘Don’t let me stop you.’ And in an exaggerated gesture he flung open the bathroom door. ‘After you.’
It was hard to look dignified wrapped in a bath sheet with a towel round one’s hair, but Lexi gave it her best shot and marched past him with her head held high, while silently mumbling, ‘Arrogant swine’ under her breath.
‘I thought you might be hungry, so I had Maria prepare a tray, a few sandwiches and a pot of coffee.’
Lexi didn’t want to acknowledge his thoughtfulness. ‘You needn’t have bothered; I’m not hungry,’ she denied and, walking across the room, she sat down on the button-backed chair, casually eyeing the food set before her on the occasional table. ‘You’re enough to make any woman lose her appetite,’ she added for good measure, but just at that moment her tummy gave a very loud rumble.
Jake tossed back his dark head and burst out laughing, and Lexi’s lips began to twitch and, before she could help it, a chuckle escaped her. She looked up at Jake standing a few feet away and, as blue eyes caught violet in shared humour, the laughter stopped. Lexi could not break the contact, and for a long moment something precious seemed to simmer in the air between them.
Jake looked away first. ‘Eat, Lexi, and meet me downstairs in half an hour,’ he commanded gruffly and, turning on his heel, walked out.
Twenty minutes later, the food long gone, Lexi’s lips pursed thoughtfully as she surveyed her reflection. She looked slightly better, she thought; her eyes were no longer red-rimmed but the dark circles beneath betrayed the stress of the last twenty-four hours. She had chosen a soft cotton sleeveless shirtwaister in mint-green from he
r limited but classic wardrobe, surprised to find everything she possessed had been neatly put away, probably by Maria, including her shoes, neatly lined up in the rack at the bottom of the wardrobe. She had picked a pair of comfortable espadrilles in matching green; a trip to the chest of drawers alongside the dressing-table and she had found her underwear. Now, as she brushed her hair back into a neat ponytail, fastening it with a plain green slide, she knew she could not put off much longer going downstairs, and Jake...
She need not have worried... Lexi carried the tray that had held her snack down the grand staircase and, presuming the kitchen was at the back of the house, made her way through the hall to the door at the rear. Opening it, she walked into a huge light and airy room. A large antique pine dresser on one wall, stacked with blue delft china, caught her eye; in the centre of the room was a solid square pine table surrounded with ladder-backed chairs, and beyond the table a dividing bench to the kitchen proper. Maria, hearing Lexi enter, dashed across to meet her and take the tray from her.
‘Signora, please you should not have bothered. It is my job to collect the tray, cook everything... What will Signor Taylor say?’
Lexi smiled at the older woman’s worried frown. ‘Don’t worry, Maria; I am quite capable of looking after myself.’
‘But it is my job,’ Maria said firmly, and she placed the tray on the bench.
Lexi caught the housekeeper’s disapproving look and sighed inwardly. Not a very good start, she thought hopelessly, missing lunch and upsetting the housekeeper. ‘Sorry,’ she apologised. ‘But if you tell me where I can find Mr Taylor, I’ll get out of your way.’
‘Signor Taylor left fifteen minutes ago. He will be back for dinner at eight. Do you wish to eat in the dining-room or outside, signora?’
So much for his instruction to meet him in thirty minutes; obviously something more important had caught his attention—probably Lorraine. Lexi sighed and glanced out of the window, the fierce heat of the sun did not seem to have diminished since the morning. ‘Outside, thank you, Maria.’ Anyway, it would be less intimate to eat outside, she told herself and, turning, left the room.
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