‘But you wish it wasn’t me you had to be grateful to?’ he said bluntly, his hands shooting out to grab her as a wave of fatigue hit her so hard she swayed on her feet. ‘Steady. You need a hot drink.’
He opened the door into a big kitchen, and let the dogs through to make for their beds alongside a dark blue Aga. Georgia revived enough to take note of creamy yellow cupboards and a central island with interesting cooking hobs as Chance led her across a gleaming floor to one of the chairs surrounding an oak table.
‘Sit there to get your breath back. What would you like?’
‘Tea would be wonderful,’ she said huskily.
Chance raked his fingers through a mane of dense dark hair as he turned away to fill a kettle. ‘Incidentally,’ he said casually, ‘if Toby intends visiting you over Christmas at the cottage you’d better ring him to warn him about the conditions.’
Her mouth tightened. ‘No chance of that. I haven’t seen him since just after his birthday.’ Though it wasn’t for want of trying on Toby Warner’s part. He’d kept after her so relentlessly he was beginning to frighten her.
Chance turned, but his face, harder and more controlled than his brother’s, gave no clue to his reaction. ‘So who is spending the day with you?’ he demanded.
‘No one. I had a yen for peace and quiet on my own this year.’ She smiled sardonically. ‘Not one of my better ideas. I should have kept to the original plan and stayed in Pennington with my friend’s family.’
‘Why aren’t you in Portugal with your own family?’
‘Not enough time off.’ Georgia frowned. ‘How do you know about that?’
Chance poured boiling water into a teapot. ‘I met your parents when they stayed here. Ridge Cottage is part of this estate. You obviously didn’t know that or you wouldn’t have set foot in the place.’ He looked her in the eye as he set a tea-tray in front of her. ‘Right, let’s get this out of the way. I’ll apologise again for the infamous kiss just one more time, plus the fuss Toby made afterwards, but I’m damned if I’m going to keep on apologising.’
Her eyes flashed coldly. ‘I’m not asking you to.’
‘Good. Would you like something to eat with that?’
‘No thank you.’ She picked up the teapot. ‘Are you having tea?’
He nodded. ‘But I’ll have a shot of Scotch in mine for a nightcap. How about you?’
The mere mention of the word nightcap brought the realities of her situation home to Georgia in a rush. While they’d been hurrying away from the cottage her sole thought had been escape. But now, about to spend the night in this big, beautiful house, alone with its dangerously attractive owner, she thought it might have been wiser to take her chances at the cottage.
‘No whisky for me, thanks.’ She smiled politely. ‘Great kitchen. When did you move into the house?’
‘A few years ago. Toby never mentioned it?’
‘Oh, yes, he mentioned it often enough.’ She eyed him steadily. ‘Your brother resents your success.’
‘I know—though to be accurate he’s my half-brother. The resemblance comes from our paternal genes. His mother married my father when I was ten,’ he added without inflection.
‘Was that difficult for you?’
He nodded. ‘Toby’s arrival soon afterwards was the final straw. I was glad to go away to school.’
Georgia felt a pang of sympathy. ‘Were you unhappy there, too?’
‘No. I was big for my age, and good at sport, so I settled in fairly quickly.’ He shrugged. ‘It was better than trying to play happy families at home.’
‘Toby mentioned a teacher who had a big influence on you.’
‘He told you quite a lot about me!’
Her eyes flashed. ‘After he’d surprised us in flagrante, he never stopped.’
Chance smiled crookedly. ‘Hardly flagrante, ravishing though that sounds. When a beautiful woman kisses a man, the result is pretty inevitable, Georgie.’
‘You know perfectly well that I mistook you for Toby,’ she retorted hotly. ‘I wasn’t wearing my contacts, and a casual birthday peck on the cheek went horribly wrong.’
‘Not for me. It felt like my birthday.’ He shot her a look from thickly fringed eyes a darker shade of blue than his brother’s. ‘I reacted as any man with a pulse would have done and kissed your mouth.’
Georgia coloured hotly at the thought of those brief heated moments before Toby had burst in on them, hysterical with rage. ‘The conservatory was dimly lit, and I thought Toby was just lurking there to surprise me—’ She halted.
‘Go on,’ he prompted.
‘He was an acquaintance more than a boyfriend, and he’d never kissed me at all—let alone like that.’ Her eyes kindled. ‘Only it wasn’t him, it was you.’
‘Guilty as charged. At what point did you realise it wasn’t Toby?’
‘I knew almost at once,’ she admitted reluctantly.
‘Yet you didn’t push me away?’ Chance gave her a look that set her teeth on edge.
‘I soon wished I had!’
He smiled. ‘Other than the ensuing row, and any distress it caused you, I look back on the episode with enormous pleasure—up to the point where Toby barged in and spoiled everything.’
‘You needn’t have hit him so hard!’
‘I should have stood there and let him use me as a punch bag?’
‘No. But breaking one of his teeth was a bit over the top.’
‘Total accident.’ He shrugged. ‘You heard me offer to pay for the dental work.’
Georgia nodded glumly. ‘It went down about as well as my attempt to explain my mistake. Toby was complaining too loudly about the nosebleed you gave him to listen to either of us.’
‘He planted one on me, too,’ Chance reminded her. ‘I wanted to offer you support of any kind you would accept, but I did the decent thing and went off to have a drink with my father so you could kiss Toby better.’
She shot him a dark look. ‘I hadn’t the least desire to kiss him better. He actually had the gall to accuse me of dumping him to hit on the brother with money.’
‘Something he took pleasure in repeating to me whenever possible,’ Chance said without expression.
‘Did he?’ said Georgia indifferently. ‘He said it just once to me, but that was enough. I made my apologies to your stepmother and went home.’
‘To my intense disappointment. When I came back with my father you’d gone, and Toby was still ranting.’
Georgia smiled coolly. ‘I gather women have preferred you and your money to him before.’
‘Only in Toby’s imagination—which is why I keep well away from family gatherings. That night I turned up solely because my father asked me to.’ He smiled sardonically. ‘Elaine was so furious that I’d hurt her baby boy she ordered me out of her house for good.’
Georgia winced. ‘You should have explained that it was my fault!’
He shook his head. ‘The fault was mine, Georgie. Besides, my father reminded the lovely Elaine that actually it was his house and he wanted me to stay. At which point I gave him a grateful hug, handed over Toby’s birthday card—with enclosed cheque—and gave Dad a break by taking myself off.’ He met her eyes. ‘And caught up with you in the lane, trying to start your car.’
She looked away. ‘I was lucky you were able to get it going for me.’
‘Even though I demanded a reward?’
Georgia swallowed at the memory of the second kiss, that had left her breathless and shaken as she drove away. ‘Did Toby return the cheque, torn into dramatic pieces?’ she asked, determinedly casual.
‘Did he hell!’ Chance exclaimed. ‘He cashed it right away in case I cancelled it.’
She eyed him curiously. ‘Would you have done that?’
‘Certainly not! Toby’s opinion of me, unfortunately, tends to be coloured by his mother’s.’
‘Have you seen your father since?’
He nodded. ‘He visits me here pretty often. Dad and I have long
since smoothed over the rough patches in our relationship. The worst of them was after I dropped out of college to develop my computer games.’ His mouth twisted. ‘He found that hard to understand.’
‘Toby took much pleasure in telling me about that. He talked about you so much I almost felt I knew you. But he never mentioned the striking resemblance.’ She considered him objectively. ‘Though actually it’s far less striking than I thought.’
‘You mean I’m not as pretty as Toby?’
No one, thought Georgia, could ever think of a man like Chance Warner as pretty. ‘No, you’re not,’ she assured him.
‘Thank the Lord for that,’ he said piously. ‘Right. I’m a bit peckish after our hike. Let’s have a sandwich. What would you like? Due to Christmas I’m stocked up with most things.’
‘Whatever’s easiest.’ She got up. ‘I can do it.’
‘Not tonight.’ He pushed her back gently. ‘Just sit there.’
Georgia looked on as Chance sliced bread and ham with speed and dexterity. He was obviously very much at home in his vast, beautiful kitchen. The spotlights above the central island highlighted his bone structure with a clarity that made it extraordinary, now she had time for a closer look, that she’d ever mistaken him for his younger brother. His features were harder and more defined, with knife-edge cheekbones, a slight notch at the bridge of his nose, and a strength to the set of his mouth and jaw that Toby would never achieve. And the grace and muscularity of his tall body made it obvious he was used to physical activity of some kind. But most disturbing of all, when he looked up and found her watching him, the chemistry was still there between them, in full working order right here in his kitchen.
‘You’re very quiet,’ he observed.
She looked away. ‘I was just wondering why you’re here. Toby told me you always go skiing at Christmas.’
‘I was going to St Moritz this year with a party of friends, as usual, but I went down with the damned flu and had to cancel.’
‘Are you spending Christmas Day with your family tomorrow instead?’
‘No. Dad had lunch with me here yesterday instead.’ The striking blue eyes hardened. ‘I’m still cast out of Eden as far as my stepmother is concerned. Besides, I much prefer a peaceful day at home with Luther and Ruby.’
‘Unaware that you’d be put to all this trouble.’
He shrugged. ‘A few sandwiches are no trouble, Georgie, and there are empty bedrooms upstairs.’
‘Surely you don’t run a house of this size on your own?’
He shook his head. ‘My excellent Mrs Dawson worked for the previous owner and, thank God, agreed to stay on with me. She cooked a fantastic meal for Dad and me yesterday: turkey with all the trimmings. Then her husband Ted drove her off to stay with their daughter and grandchildren until after New Year.’ He sat down facing Georgia, and pushed the sandwich platter towards her. ‘Odd thing about tonight—I don’t usually walk the dogs that late, I just let them out in the garden, but Luther objected so strongly to coming back in I locked Ruby inside and took Luther on reconnaissance to see what was spooking him. And spotted lights down in Ridge Cottage, which should have been dark. The river had broken its banks and appeared to be rising fast, so we splashed up to the cottage to bang on the door.’
‘And scared the living daylights out of me!’
He smiled. ‘Sorry, Georgie. I didn’t know it was a lone girl in there.’
She eyed him curiously. ‘What would you have done if it had been a couple of heavyweight squatters?’
‘Rung the police, and in the meantime hopefully sent the intruders packing with Luther’s help. He’s pretty effective as a bodyguard.’
‘Tell me about it! That bark of his is blood-curdling.’ Georgia smiled as the dog raised his head. ‘But you’re very handsome,’ she assured him. ‘What is he, exactly?’
‘A Schnauzer.’
‘But I thought they were smallish dogs!’
‘Some are, but Luther is the full-size variety and, in spite of the blood-curdling bark, a gentle soul, though fiercely protective. It would take a brave man to lay hands on me in his company.’
‘One look at him would be enough! I love dogs, but he certainly frightened me. I suppose it’s because he’s so big and solid—and black.’ She laughed as Ruby got up to trot over, wagging her tail hopefully.
Chance waved her away. ‘Now, then, no begging—back to your bed.’
‘Poor Ruby!’ Georgia took another sandwich, chuckling as the little dog obeyed her master reluctantly, one paw at a time. ‘This is delicious ham.’
‘Mrs Dawson roasted that, too. Before she left on holiday she made sure the refrigerator was crammed with food.’ Chance touched a hand to hers. ‘It won’t be the conventional Christmas dinner, Georgie, but we won’t starve.’
She tensed as the fleeting touch sent trickles of fire skittering down her spine, and smiled brightly to cover it. ‘This is so embarrassing. You obviously wanted peace and quiet over Christmas as much as I did, and now you’re stuck with me.’
His eyes locked on hers. ‘And you’re stuck with me. So we’ll just have to make the best of it. Have another sandwich.’
She shook her head. ‘No, thanks, but I’d love more tea.’
‘Georgie, you may have anything in my power to provide.’ A statement which raised her body heat another notch.
‘Why do you call me that?’ she asked, getting a grip. ‘Toby doesn’t.’
‘That’s how your father refers to you.’
‘Actually, Paul’s my stepfather.’
‘Then it’s obviously a good relationship.’
‘It is. I would try to be fond of anyone who makes my mother so happy, but with Paul I don’t have to.’ She shivered as a gust of wind blew great splotches of sleet against the windows. ‘Do you ever get flooded here?’
‘Ridgeway is pretty high up—right above the snow line. So if I get flooded the surrounding countryside is in deep trouble!’ Chance smiled as a sudden yawn engulfed her. ‘You’re exhausted, Georgie. I’ll show you where to sleep.’ He picked up her bag and went ahead of her to open the door into a long hallway. ‘Dining room first right,’ he informed her, ‘my study on the left, cloakroom next, then the drawing room farther on beyond the staircase—but you can see those tomorrow.’
Georgia trailed wearily up the stairs after her host to a square galleried landing. He opened one of the doors leading off it, switched on lights, and ushered her into a pastel-painted room with satinwood furniture.
‘The room had been newly decorated like this when I bought the place,’ Chance informed her. ‘It seemed so much in keeping with the house that I bought the furniture from the owner. Your bathroom is through the door in the corner. Sleep well.’ He trailed a finger down her cheek.
She stiffened and backed away. ‘Thank you for all your help,’ she said frostily. ‘Goodnight.’
The warmth in his eyes extinguished abruptly. ‘A gesture of friendship only, Georgia,’ he drawled. ‘The rescue service came free.’ He gave her a mocking bow and walked out, closing the door very deliberately behind him.
CHAPTER TWO
GEORGIA could have kicked herself. Chance had probably meant nothing by such a casual caress. Nevertheless the fallout from their brief, heated encounter on Toby’s birthday was still right there between them, like the proverbial elephant in the room. She heaved in a deep, unsteady breath. No man had ever affected her in this way before. And since the man in question was Chance Warner, with all the baggage that came with him as Toby’s brother, she would keep a tight rein on her inconvenient hormones. She bit her lip in frustration. Christmas Day would be awkward now, after her stupid shrinking violet act.
After the marathon hike from the cottage a long soak in hot water was a temptation too hard to resist. Georgia used some of her own bath oil, and lay back in the aromatic steam, resolved to be the perfect guest tomorrow. But soon her eyes grew so heavy that rather than nod off and risk a mouthful of bathwater sh
e got on with washing her hair, and went out into the bedroom to find her hairdryer.
When she finally climbed into the inviting bed Georgia fell asleep almost at once, and woke to bright daylight and the unfamiliar ringtone of her new phone. Guilty when she saw it was her mother calling, to wish her Happy Christmas, Georgia thanked her for the presents she hadn’t opened yet, and assured her anxious parent that she was fine. Then, after a chat about the Coopers’ plans for the day, she sent Paul her love and disconnected, brushing a stray tear away as she crossed the room to open the curtains.
Her eyebrows shot up. No wonder the light was so bright. The gardens lay under a blanket of snow. She dressed quickly in tailored wool trousers and a newish sweater, the best she could come up with for the occasion, and sent a Christmas text to Amy. Then she paused for a moment outside her room, not sure what was expected of the perfect guest. With a glance at the closed doors on the gallery she went down to the kitchen—to receive a joyous vocal welcome from the little white terrier.
‘Hi there, Ruby, Merry Christmas,’ said Georgia, patting her. ‘Do you think anyone would mind if I made some tea?’
Since Ruby obviously thought this would be fine, Georgia made for the kettle and found a note propped against it.
Georgie, I’ve taken Luther for a tramp in the snow.
Back soon. Help yourself.
Relieved to see she was ‘Georgie’ again, and that the table was laid for two, she filled the kettle, found a mug, and took her tea over to the window with a wagging Ruby following at her heels.
Ridgeway’s gardens appeared to be on several different levels, and beautiful in a slightly untamed way she liked a lot. Georgia bent to fondle Ruby’s head as she looked round the kitchen, which was an inviting place in the morning light—very different from her narrow galley at the flat. Her job took her away a lot, sometimes for months at a time, but with Amy’s fervent blessing she did all the cooking when she was home. She sighed enviously. She could be really creative in a kitchen like this.
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