Ellie watched Nate Naverly with narrowed eyes. She hadn’t paid much attention until he had turned his megawatt smile on Rose.
He was sitting too close to Rose, whispering into her ear. As Ellie watched, Nate picked up Rose’s hand and began to trace a pattern across her palm. Ellie strained to hear what he was saying: something about predicting Rose’s future. He slowly rubbed his thumb across the wrist he was holding and Rose seemed to shiver.
Ellie frowned. That was not a good thing. Nate was a self-satisfied jerk, but dynamite with girls. Ellie had seen too many crying over him in the bathrooms to doubt it. There was no way on earth that Rose was a match for his charms if he had set his sights on her.
***
Gently steering Alex, Nate managed to get himself seated between him and Rose at dinner that evening. He directed most of his conversation to Alex, but under the table he concentrated on pressing his leg, very slightly, against Rose’s. She moved away a little. He shifted a tiny bit and again his knee was touching hers. She shot her hand out for her water glass and knocked it over.
“Alright there, Rose?” he asked innocently while refilling her glass. Again he placed his hand on her back, supposedly in a reassuring manner, but really just to test the effect his touch was having on her.
It was at that moment he really noticed Ellie Parkhurst for the first time. She was sat across the table from Rose and giving him a very speculative look.
The Flirting Games
Stella Wilkinson
Due for release in 2013
More Flirting Games
Further Flirting Games
If you would like to be informed when future books by this author are released then please sign up to the mailing list at: http://eepurl.com/wEMmD
Copyright © Stella Wilkinson 2013
Cover Art by Littera Book Designs
This book was written, produced and edited in the UK where some word usage may vary slightly from US English
All characters herein are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
For Richard
who gave me the most precious thing in the world
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
Chapter 1
Ellie Parkhurst was restless. She needed some excitement in her life. She’d only been back at Compass Court Boarding School for four weeks and it just wasn’t the same this year. She missed the company of Jack, her eldest brother.
Jack was fun. He and his friends had been daring and a bit wild. In school he had often teased her but he spoilt her rotten and everyone knew he had her back. In her third year he had caught her kissing Bryn Dawes in the West Tower Common Room and had thrown poor Bryn against the wall and held him there by his neck, demanding to know what he thought he was doing. Jack was four years older than her and had left the school the year before, and she hadn’t realized how hard it would be here at boarding school without him and his friends livening it up. It was boring!
She did have a fair amount of family here with her. Her other brother, Alex, was 16 and just two years above her. He was pretty decent, but he just wasn’t as fun as Jack. Rose and Toby Falcon were her cousins who were also at Compass Court. Rose was the same age as Alex, and Toby was 13 and in Year 3, a year younger than Ellie herself.
She and Rose were friends as well as family, but Rose was so like Alex: just plain nice! Ellie was much more like Jack in personality. She liked things a bit more happening.
She kicked her feet against the end of the bed, beating out a rhythm. What she needed was a new challenge, something to liven up the year.
She looked across at the empty beds in the dormitory room she shared with three other girls. On the far side were two neatly made beds that belonged to Jessica and Miranda Taylor-Thomas. Ellie glanced at the watch on her wrist. It was Saturday afternoon, nearly three o’clock. Both girls would be in the music room right now, she guessed. To her left was the more messy bed of the new girl, Flora Kincaid.
So far she liked Flora. She was a bit quiet, or quieter than Ellie would have expected from an American, but then again it was very hard being new. Maybe she should make more of an effort to invite her to things.
At that moment there was a tentative tap on the bedroom door. Raising her head, Ellie saw her cousin Rose peering in.
“Hiya, I’m going to down to the village to meet Alex and some of the others. Do you want to come?”
Ellie swung her legs off the bed. “Yeah, ok thanks.” Might as well, she thought. “Give me five minutes?”
“Sure.” Rose smiled and turned to leave. “I’ll be in the Common Room.”
Ellie grimaced at her reflection in the mirror. Her fringe was sticking up all over the place. Hmm, not how she wanted to be seen. At nearly 15, you didn’t let boys see you going about looking like a scarecrow.
She pulled a brush through her long dark hair and added some mascara to her lashes. She had finally been able to persuade her mother to let her buy some makeup this summer. She wasn’t really allowed to wear it in class, but she had been sneaking on mascara all term, it made her brown eyes seem brighter and gave them more impact. Of course, wearing a school uniform did no one any favors. But in Oakworth, the local village, she could dress how she liked, so she added some cherry lip-gloss too. Looking down she was happy with her outfit. Black top, with long trailing sleeves and tight black jeans with her favorite gray suede boots. She flicked her hair over her shoulder, leaned forward to kiss the mirror and decided she was ready.
***
Nathaniel Naverly smiled at himself in the mirror. He ran his hands through his blond hair and flexed his chest. His reflection pleased him. Five years of school sports had filled out his upper body: his shoulders were wide, his stomach tight and his arm muscles looked toned. He’d spent a lot of the summer swimming, as well as playing plenty of football and cricket.
Back at Compass Court for his sixth year and he reckoned he was ready to pull anyone he wanted. He knew girls liked him; they thought he was cool and good-looking and he’d spent the last few years learning how to impress them.
Impress them, sleep with them and then dump them.
And now, he wanted Rose Falcon. He’d been planning it since the start of term. It was not motivated by desire; it was the chase.
This year Rose had returned from the summer holidays all grown up. All his friends had noticed too. Rose was suddenly extremely pretty and shapely, yet still very much the shy virgin.
In fact, she was exactly his type. He thrived on the challenge of getting difficult girls into bed. Unfortunately, once he had succeeded they weren’t a challenge any longer and he lost interest.
It would be depressing except that he didn’t much care for the company of girls anyway. He was a guy’s guy. He had a group of male friends who thought he was great and that was all he needed. It was almost amusing that half the girls in the school seemed to hate him, yet they never said no. Well maybe they did at first, but not for long.
He and Rose had so far had very little to do with each other for their first few years at Compass Court. She was in a different Schoolhouse. She was in West Tower, he was in North Tower. They had one or two classes together, but had different friends. Apart from the fact she got exceptionally high grades, he didn’t see anything particularly interesting about Rose. She was
quiet, probably fairly boring, barely noticeable to a popular boy like himself.
He had honed his skills a lot in the last year. His usual game plan was to do his homework on each conquest like he was studying for an exam. He gathered information about her. It made it so much easier if the girl thought they had lots in common.
To get close to Rose he had befriended Alex Parkhurst. Alex wasn’t just Rose’s cousin; they were clearly close friends too, so he needed Alex to like him.
Surprisingly, Nate had discovered he actually liked Alex. They were even becoming friends. He had thought Alex was as boring as Rose appeared to be. Alex was quiet and diligent. But as Nate made efforts to get to know Alex he had discovered he was very funny with a really clever dry sense of humor.
It was good to be back at school. Back in his familiar room at Compass Court. He took one more look at himself, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans, and flexed his muscles at the mirror again. Yes, he was ready. He dragged a t-shirt over his head and fished his trainers out from under his bed, found his socks still stuffed inside, and pulled them both on.
He and Alex were going into Oakworth Village. They were meeting up with Rose in the Fox and Hounds pub. He grinned thinking the name of the pub was apt. He stuffed his wallet in his back pocket and headed out to meet Alex in the school courtyard.
Chapter 2
Ellie watched Nate Naverly with narrowed eyes. He had come in with Alex and joined their table. He had made everyone laugh and seemed to settle easily with the group who were mostly from West Tower House. She hadn’t paid much attention until he had turned his megawatt smile on Rose.
He was sitting too close to Rose, whispering into her ear. As Ellie watched, Nate picked up Rose’s hand and began to trace a pattern across her palm. Ellie strained to hear what he was saying: something about predicting Rose’s future. He slowly rubbed his thumb across the wrist he was holding and Rose seemed to shiver.
Ellie could plainly see that Rose didn’t know what to do. Rose had never had such a good-looking guy single her out like that. She was blushing and nervous. Quite suddenly, Nate dropped her hand and turned away to talk to Alex, leaving Rose looking shell-shocked and a bit bereft.
Ellie frowned. That was not a good thing. Nate was a self-satisfied jerk, but dynamite with girls. Ellie had seen too many crying over him in the bathrooms to doubt it. There was no way on earth that Rose was a match for his charms if he had set his sights on her.
Eyeing Nate suspiciously, Ellie wondered what he was playing at. Did he genuinely want Rose? Even if he did it was reason for concern. Rose was far too nice for him. Ellie was extremely fond of her cousin and didn’t want to see her get hurt. She had a very bad feeling that this was a game to Nate and not a genuine desire to be with Rose.
Ellie looked at Alex to see if he had noticed anything. Of course, he hadn’t. He was as naïve as Rose. She wished again that Jack was still at Compass Court; he would have stamped on any pretensions Nate might have.
Mentally squaring her shoulders, Ellie decided she would have to keep an eye on the situation herself.
***
Nate felt smug. Stage One was a success. He wanted Rose to be aware of him and now she was. He had flattered her and he had touched her so she noticed him. He had been fully aware that the hairs on the back of her arm had gone up when he’d intimately stroked the inside of her wrist. Not too much to draw attention, just enough to confuse her. He concentrated on Alex and tried not to look too pleased with himself. A few more moments like that and he would have her where he wanted her.
His second opportunity was at the bar. Rose was helping carry out drinks. He put one hand on the small of her back, leaned in close behind her and curved his arm around her to reach for his drink. She jumped and came right up against him. He smiled at her and didn’t step back. She blushed yet again. It was quite endearing really. This was going to be easy.
At dinner that evening, Alex suggested that Nate join them on the West Tower table. There were assigned house tables, but students were free to sit anywhere. The Headmistress was a fan of house integration and tried to get them to all mix as much as possible.
Nate accepted the invitation, much to the obvious confusion of his friends watching from the North Tower table as he walked in and went over to the West Tower table instead with Alex.
He caught the eye of his best friend, Gabriel, who was staring at him with a look of disapproval. He gave a subtle wink and Gabe acknowledged it and nodded. They had been friends a long time and he didn’t need to do more than wink. He hadn’t told Gabe what he was doing, but his friend would know he was up to something. He watched as Gabe returned to his food reassured.
Gently steering Alex, Nate managed to get himself seated between Alex and Rose. At dinner he directed most of his conversation to Alex, but under the table he concentrated on pressing his leg, very slightly, against Rose’s. She moved away a little. He shifted a tiny bit and again his knee was touching hers. She shot her hand out for her water glass and knocked it over. He wanted to laugh, but instead he reached for a pile of paper napkins and helped her mop it up.
“Alright there, Rose?” he asked innocently while refilling her glass.
She looked like a deer in headlights. Again he placed his hand on her back, supposedly in a reassuring manner, but really just to assert that it was his touch that was making her jumpy.
It was at that moment he really noticed Ellie Parkhurst for the first time. She was sat across the table from Rose and giving him a very speculative look.
He quickly withdrew his hand and turned back to Alex, but his thoughts were on the look in Ellie’s face. He had the feeling that she might be on to him. The suspicious gleam in her eyes, coupled with the disdainful curve of her lip, suggested that she was questioning his motives and drawing conclusions he didn’t want her to.
He shrugged to himself. So what. She was two years below him, only a fourth year, beneath his notice. He didn’t doubt his own power to conquer Rose, and Ellie wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Did Rose listen to Ellie? As far as he was aware they weren’t especially close. They were cousins, but he was confident that it was Alex he needed to get on side. Rose listened to Alex. Ellie Parkhurst didn’t figure in his plan.
***
Ellie had seen enough. Nate was definitely not to be trusted. He was clearly playing one of his games with Rose. If he genuinely liked Rose he would have been more attentive and if he didn’t then he wouldn’t have been so touchy-feely with her. She had briefly caught his eye at dinner and he had looked shifty; just for a split second, but she had seen it. The question now was what to do about it.
Ellie reasoned that she had a pretty good grasp on what motivated boys. She had two older brothers and she had learned plenty at the knee of Jack, one of the best players she had ever seen. Nate was over-confident; he needed taking down a peg or two. Yes, he was older than her and, yes, he was a pretty cold customer, but could she somehow take him on?
She pushed away the doubt. Rose was so sweet, Nate would eat her for breakfast. She had to act. Would talking to Rose help? No, probably not. Rose would deny everything until it was too late. Ellie telling her that Nate wasn’t really interested might even hurt Rose. But Rose was going to get hurt no matter what unless somebody stopped this right now!
Maybe the key here was to take his focus off Rose. Ellie was objective enough to know that Nate had never even noticed her before. Plus she was two years below him, he was every girl’s dream and pretty full of himself. Girls threw themselves at him in obvious ways and they tried less obvious ways. He seemed to prefer doing his own chasing. So how could she get in under the radar? What was going to distract him?
Ellie lay awake in bed that night thinking about it. She wasn’t hugely vain, but boys did seem to like her. The fact he knew so little about her could perhaps work to her advantage by intriguing him. Should she go in with all guns blazing or in a more mysterious manner? Could she manage to entice him without appearing
too interested?
She smiled in the darkness – Yes, she would try playing him at his own game.
Chapter 3
Flora Kincaid was horribly homesick. After California, England seemed so colorless. She was used to the vibrancy of the vineyard her mother owned. The bright sun and the blue sky. The deep orange sunsets and the sounds of home. It was too quiet in England. It was the end of September and she longed for the rich smells of autumn and the burgundy red of the ripe grapes.
England seemed endlessly green. Green grass. Green trees. Even the river running past the school was a shade of green.
She looked with disgust at the dark green stripe on her school tie that signaled she was in West Tower Schoolhouse. She preferred brighter colors. Colors that complemented her hair and skin tone.
Her hair was a honey blonde and she wore it neatly plaited down her back. When you lived on a farm you learned to keep long hair tied back and so she had been plaiting it for years. She had regular features, slightly freckled skin and large brown eyes. She knew she wasn’t exactly beautiful, but she hoped she might be considered pretty.
At 14, there was no way her mother would allow her to wear make-up, but as she had clear skin she hoped she was passable without it. Some mascara might be nice to make her eyelashes darker. Perhaps when she got to know Ellie a bit better she might be able to borrow some mascara from her.
She was really glad she was sharing a room with Ellie. Ellie seemed to know everyone and hanging around with her had made being the new girl a lot less lonely. It was so hard starting at a new school when everyone else in her year seemed to have been there since the first year and had now had over three years to bond and form cliques.
She supposed she could have gone to stay with her dad, but she hated his girlfriend. The woman who had once been his secretary and lived in their home. No way. She was glad her mom had gotten the vineyard; Dad had been shocked at that. But he’d put all of it in her mom’s name for tax reasons and didn’t have time to change it back again before he was caught having an affair with Sandra.
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