The Scent of His Woman

by Maggie Pritchard

  Lexie just nodded, unable to think of any objections at this point, and turned her face to the window, watching the countryside whip past as they sped on to heavens knows where. His remark about ringing Florence and Netia had somehow shown her the situation in all its stark reality and the resulting lump in her throat made objections impossible for the moment. So she sat letting her mind go blank, refusing to let the myriad frightening thoughts take over, at least for now.

  She had no idea how long they’d been traveling when Geth pulled into the car park of what looked like a small country hotel. Realising that she had not even noticed that he had left the motor-way, she turned to him and he read the silent question in her eyes.

  ‘Just in case they are watching the motor-way services, anyway the food is better here. The least I can do is feed you properly.’

  As they left the car he took her arm, guiding her gently, Lexie didn’t object, at this moment it felt comforting to let him take charge. A bustling little woman, the owner maybe Lexie thought, welcomed them and seated them in a quiet corner beside a window overlooking a sloping lawn leading to a small stream. The flower beds around the lawn were well tended, and all in all the air of the place was of understated if somewhat old fashioned elegance. The restaurant was spacious, with oak tables and comfortable chairs cleverly spaced to afford a modicum of privacy to its diners and at the far end she noticed a small bar and some low tables and easy chairs where presumably one could enjoy a drink before or after the meal. When the waiter arrived with the menu however, Lexie found she could not even begin to think of food, all the thoughts she had kept at bay during the drive came flooding back and panic rose unbidden, all she could think of was the need to be away from this. She started to her feet.

  ‘Sorry I find I’m not in the least hungry, will you just get me a mineral water please, I just need to freshen up...’

  Then she just bolted, heading for the ladies washroom which she could see from a discreet sign was somewhere to the left of the little bar. Geth watched with concern as she moved quickly away from him, back stiff with tension.

  The washroom was as elegant as the rest of the place, and after a few minutes Lexie began to feel the calming greens and creams of the decor combined with a splash of cooling water to her face, begin to restore her sanity. So taking her time she returned to the restaurant, there was nothing else she could do for the moment but go back and listen to whatever madcap plan Geth might come up with. Though for the life of her she could see no way to resolve this other than to move away from her home. It was alright for him to be full of wisdom and experience where the tenacity of the press reporters was concerned, but what about afterwards? She would still have to live in a little village, with people who believed she’d sold them out, that was not going to go away anytime soon. By the time she returned to the table she found Geth had ordered coffee and the waiter was also serving lunch, which included a plate of what looked like sole for each of them served with baby new potatoes and steamed vegetables. There was also a boat of frothy, fragrant sauce. A chiller held two bottles of mineral water, still and sparkling, which combined with the rather incongruous champagne flutes, gave the table an unwarranted celebratory air, making Lexie frown.

  ‘Come on now,’ he chided, ‘it’s not that bad, drink your coffee and eat a little, I hope you like lemon sole, it’s particularly good here, then we will talk and you’ll see that all is not as black as it seems to you right now.’

  Lexie shot him a withering look across the top of her coffee cup, but saying nothing she began to eat, aware he was watching her intently, trying to gauge her mood no doubt. Well good luck, she thought because right this minute I don’t even know myself how I feel.

  Geth let the waiter clear the table and pour them a second coffee before returning to the subject of what to do next. A plan was coming together in his head, a plan that would serve his purpose and keep her with him and in his bed, for the next few days, maybe even weeks. He’d never been this out of control where a woman was concerned and it was unsettling him, the only cure was to have his fill of her, then he’d be able to move on. All he knew at this moment was, that he had an overwhelming urge to pull her into his arms and never let her go. How to sell his idea to her without getting too heavy was going to be the tricky bit, but if she wouldn’t play ball he’d use the fact that he was now her landlord as leverage, “all’s fair in love and war”, wasn’t that the saying?

  ‘Now’ he began, ‘as I see it we have a choice, we can just get you out of the limelight for a week or two until the press move on to other stories, or we can deal with them right now, diffuse the situation and get you back to normal life quickly. My thoughts are that the second option would be the best, what about you?’

  Lexie thought for a moment before answering.

  ‘Well, you tell me what each of those options actually involves and then I’ll tell you what I think.

  ‘Well if we find a little hotel somewhere we can hole up quite pleasantly, stay out of sight for a week, maybe two then when the fuss has died down we can get back to normal, how does that sound?’

  She was scathing, ‘well, to begin with two weeks in your company does not appeal that much, I can assure you. Then there is the matter of a definition of back to normal. For you, that will be simple enough, but for me, it will mean going back to live in a village full of people who believe I sold them out. Not only that, but you and your development will still be there as a daily reminder. Whet do you expect me to do, pack up and move? Not an attractive proposal at all. You’d better come up with a better one than that’.

  Geth smiled and let her mull that obviously unattractive scenario over a bit before continuing.

  ‘Well we could defuse the whole thing quite easily, just by getting engaged.’

  He stopped for a moment content with enjoying the look of incredulity that lit her face, making it even more delightful as her lovely eyes darkened to something close to midnight in disbelief. Lexie had heard enough, the man was deranged, getting up from her seat she turned away from him

  ‘This conversation is over,’ she spat out, unable to keep her voice completely steady a she began to move away from him.

  ‘Sit down Alexandria.’

  Something in his voice stopped her flight, something hard edged and unmistakably threatening. Slowly she turned and held her breath as she waited for him to speak.

  ‘Come back here and sit down, I really don’t think you want to walk away from me, not given what you stand to lose.

  A chill spread down her spine as she turned back to face him.

  ‘What do you mean, what could I possibly have to lose?’

  His face was impassive and cold eyes met hers.

  ‘I’m sure you don’t need reminding that GLM now owns half the village, including your shop, your home. Now sit back down and hear me out.’

  Slowly she complied, holding his gaze with wide eyes as she slid back into her seat, the chill spreading rapidly from her spine through the rest of her as she waited for him to continue.

  ‘That’s better, now don’t say anything, just listen. Today we will announce our engagement, the press will immediately forget everything else for a short time. It always happens, all we will read about is rings and true love and celebrity weddings for a day or two then they’ll move on. They never stick with a story like that for longer, good news doesn’t sell newspapers. In the meantime for a while we enjoy exploring what I’m sure will turn out out be a mutually beneficial relationship. Well, what do you think?’

  ‘I think you’re mad, that’s what I think. That’s the maddest thing I’ve ever listened to and worst of all it still means spending time with you, I hate to remind you but I really don’t relish your company right now.’

  His smile was hard, not reaching his eyes, she noticed, ‘well, agree to my plan and I’ll devote the next few weeks to changing your mind,’

  He spoke with a confidence that put her teeth on edge and gave her voice a shrill n
ote.

  ‘No, absolutely not! I don’t understand. Why are you forcing me into this? What do you stand to gain?

  ‘Let’s just say I need a fiancée for a week or two and you’ll fit the bill nicely. All you have to do is act the part and get me off a baited hook. In the meantime we can finish what we started the other night.’

  That was when Lexie understood, he was angry that she had called the shots and walked out on him. It must have been quite a novel experience for him, she guessed, but to go to these lengths to win, that was unnerving to say the least and quite how she was to fight this she was at a loss to figure out, he held all the cards and he knew it.

  Her home, the shop, how could she survive without them. She’d put years of her life into building her little business up, but worse than that there was Florence to think of now too. Florence, who had invested all her hard earned savings in the business when, as the recession bit, it was in danger of floundering. Florence who had found the time and commitment to take over some of the running of the shop so that Lexie could devote more time to the allotment and so introduce the new products that the business needed to survive.

  Swallowing hard to quell the rising panic that threatened to overwhelm her, she tried to marshal some semblance of a rational argument against this madness.

  ‘Who do you think will believe it for a start? My sisters won’t credit it for a minute, and you have a family too what about them?’

  A wry smile played around the corners of his mouth.

  ‘Well actually my family will be quite delighted that their bad boy has decided to settle down and I have a sneaky feeling you sisters won’t be unhappy to find you leaving what they believe to be your wild ways behind either.

  You think you have it all sewn up don’t you?

  Even she could hear the note of defeat creeping into her voice.

  ‘Pretty much, yes, and if you would stop fighting against me you would see that this way we both get what we want. I get a fiancée that saves me from my mother’s determination to match me with her best friend’s daughter and the added bonus of your delightful company for a while. You get the press hounds of your back, a few weeks of my undivided attention and at the end your business and home safe and sound. Then, when I decide the time is right, all we need to do is quietly drift apart and by then I will have had time to make sure the villagers know you were not to blame for the leak. You will even get some sympathy when, after a decent interval, your engagement comes to an end, I’m a playboy you know, it will most certainly be seen as my fault.

  ‘How do I know you will keep your word afterwards. You’ll still own my shop, you could use it again to threaten me.

  ‘You’ll just have to trust me on this one, I’ll get my legal team to organise a long term lease at a reduced rent for you, that way you won’t need to find the capital to buy it, but can stay as long as you like. Not a bad salary for a couple of weeks work.’

  Lexie was almost at a loss for words, the dreadful thing was as a plan it seemed to make sense, so though every nerve in her body was screaming no, her brain was asking her to come up with a better idea before discarding this one out of hand, and of course she couldn't.

  ‘Very well... I’ll agree with this madness except for one thing. I won’t sleep with you and I want your word that you won’t expect me to. It’s just unthinkable, you must see that.’

  Geth stood up and reaching across the small table grasped her shoulders pulling her to her feet.

  ‘OK, I promise, but I do reserve the right to devote myself to making you change your mind about that. So we have a deal, don’t we.’

  Lexie nodded mutely, wondering bemusedly what she’d let herself in for as Geth lowered his head and claimed her mouth with his in a searing act of possession.

  ‘Sealed with a kiss.’

  He murmured against her swollen mouth, before gently pushing her back onto her seat where she sat waiting mutely for his next move.

  ‘Now,’ he continued briskly.

  ‘I am booked on a flight to Montreal for a business meeting tonight, it will take two days, three at most. Montreal is almost as perfect a city for lovers as Paris, lively, modern and rather European. Then we will go to the farm to see my folks for a few days, it’s my parents ruby wedding anniversary, so there will be a party and so on.’

  Lexie’s numbed brain kicked back in.

  ‘But you are forgetting the basics, I don’t have anything with me, no clothes, passport, money, nothing.’

  ‘I can fix that with a couple of phone calls, and as long as you still have a key under that pot of lemon scented stuff, it won’t be a problem, where do you keep your passport?’

  That was the point at which she let him win, instead of arguing further, she just gave in and answered.

  ‘In the top drawer of my dressing table.

  ‘But I don’t like the idea of anyone going through my things so how on earth do you propose to get my case packed.’

  ‘I don’t intend to, the thought of Alun rifling through your smalls doesn’t bear thinking about, we will get everything else you need in London before we fly. That will give us a chance to pick out a ring and make an announcement to the press at the same time.’

  She turned eyes huge with disbelief at him.

  ‘You can’t buy me clothes and stuff? At least you can sell a ring afterwards, what will you do with, with, well personal things?

  He laughed out loud at that.

  ‘Goodness woman, what are a few bits of designer gear, you chose things you like and call them a bonus for good behaviour, as for the ring, well you can have that too, I already owe you for lost business don’t forget, call it a down payment.’

  With that last remark he pulled out his mobile and was soon giving his site manager the unexpected instruction to locate the passport and get it to the airport by the evening. The next call he made was, she assumed to his family, the conversation was all in rapid Welsh but she did make out the word Mam more than once.

  ‘Well my mother thinks it’s high time I settled down and assures you she can hardly wait to meet you.’

  Then handing her the phone he continued.

  ‘Now your turn, once you have told your sisters, we are committed.’

  Lexie stared in silence at the mobile phone in his hand for a full ten seconds before drawing a deep breath up into her lungs and extending her hand to take it from him. Then, dialing Florence she prepared to tell the biggest lie she had ever told, to one of the two most important people in her life. ‘

  Hi Florence, it’s me, yes I know, but don’t worry about that now. No don’t speak to the press, we are dealing with it, we, that right Gethyn and me.’

  Geth assumed from the way she suddenly removed the phone from her ear that the sister was yelling now, so without a word he took the phone from her hand and interrupted the flow of sisterly concern coming through the earpiece.

  ‘Hi, Florence is it? I think I had better explain. Look I know it’s not ideal, we meant to speak to our families first, but well you know how resourceful these press people can be, they saw us together and added everything up wrongly to make the kind of rubbish that sells paper. What Alexandria wanted to do was to let you know we are getting engaged. Yes she is with me, quite safe and I assure you we are very happy. We are on our way to the airport actually, Montreal, only for a few days until the heat is off, so we will see you when we get back.’

  With that he handed the phone back with a smile to Lexie, who accepted it and found that for the second time he had charmed her elder sister in seconds, no wonder he was so successful, he was charm personified when the fancy took him, she thought. Then, after ending the call so that a by now reassured and excited Florence could call Netia and tell her the news.

  ‘Well what now.’

  ‘Now we make our way to my London apartment, we should be there in about an hour, which will give us plenty of time to buy a ring. Then I have to go in to the office for an hour or two and while I’m there I c
an get my PR guys to create the news leak, but during that time you can shop for whatever you need. That should still leave us enough time for a dinner date somewhere predictable, Le Gavroche maybe, so the press can scoop the first photos of us, the happy pair for tomorrow’s rags. We might even be in such a happy mood that we allow them to photograph your sparkler. What do you think?’

  Not waiting for her to answer, he made yet another call from the mobile, presumably to someone in his office, as he issued rapid instructions for her flight reservations before moving on to other business. Once he was done, the bill for the meal was paid and they resumed the journey before Lexie’s swirling brain could get anywhere near back to normality.

  Chapter 5

  They reached his apartment within a couple of hours and Lexie was not surprised when it turned out to be the penthouse at the top of a very plush building, in what was obviously a very affluent part of the city. She tried to look unaffected, but could not help looking around in undisguised amazement. Goodness, she knew he was well off, but this was beyond anything she’d dreamt of. She wandered around the spacious lounge as Geth busied himself collecting papers laptop and suchlike from an office down the hallway. The room reminded her in some ways of the Cardiff apartment she’d paid so little attention to. Very much male orientated, clean minimalist lines, light colours, accents of steel and wood, but there was nothing cold about the place. Rather it spoke of an uncluttered, comfortable, home for a man who spent little time in one place. One wall was taken up with a state of the art entertainment system and there were some pieces of understated art on the walls. She was willing to bet these were originals, this didn’t look like the kind of place where you would find cheap prints on the wall. But what really made this place into the dream property it was, was the huge window wall, which offered a panoramic view of the city and access onto a spacious balcony that ran the whole length of the window. Lexie was still standing, hands braced against the thick glass staring out at the view, when Geth walked back into the room. He stood for a moment, just taking in her stance and the incredulous look on her face, she was so lovely, standing there, dressed in her usual style, a dark purple gathered skirt topped by a loose cream cotton and lace blouse decorated with ribbons and beads. Neither garment did anything to show off what he knew to be a stunning figure, the flat pumps on her feet not adding to her height. She was still lovelier, he realised, than any other woman who had ever stood there admiring that view and some of the countries most celebrated beauties could be counted in that list. How to keep her? That was the problem, to date he had done nothing but alienate her, he needed to make her want to be with him, surely the legendary Geth Mathias charm was up to the challenge, it had to be he found himself thinking, still not able to rationalise why that should be.