At the first light of dawn she was awake. Peeping warily into the living-room, she saw that Nicholas was still sleeping. For long moments she watched him. The thick dark hair lay in a careless swathe across his forehead, and the mobile lips were pressed lightly together. A tanned shoulder was visible above the edge of the rug, and the top of a broad chest. It had not occurred to Kelly to wonder whether he wore pyjamas...
There was something appealing about the sleeping figure. For the first time Kelly was seeing him at a time when he was off guard and vulnerable. She was swept with a crazy urge to touch her lips against his forehead, to let her fingers feel the hardness of his shoulder.
It was with a determined wrench that she jerked her eyes from the couch and went back into the bedroom.
If he was surprised to find her already at work when he came up to the hotel he did not say so. His good-morning was crisp, matter-of-fact, with no hint of the sensuousness of the previous night. But for an odd glint in his eyes there was nothing to indicate that he even remembered what had passed between them.
There was no teasing this morning, no seductiveness. Instead he told her that the engineering convention was coming to an end, and that the men had decided on a special dinner, a kind of banquet to finalise their proceedings. Kelly would be in charge of the dinner.
She let his words wash over her, the crispness of his tone overshadowed by the impact which his physical nearness had on her always. But at his last statement she jerked up.
'Me?' It was more an exclamation than a question.
'You,' levelly.
'Oh, no, Nicholas, I can't do it!'
'You will.' A quiet statement.
She looked at him wordlessly for a long moment. Then she asked, 'Why, Nicholas?'
'It's something Mary would have organised if she had been here.'
'Nicholas, I...' She hesitated, struggling for the words that would convey her uncertainty, her feelings of inadequacy. 'This banquet will be important, a yardstick by which to measure the hotel. What if I make a mess of it?'
The eyes that studied her face were considering, assessing. Kelly had the strange feeling that Nicholas was seeing in her something entirely new, something he had not seen, or cared to see, before. Which was clearly absurd.
Then he said, 'You won't make a mess, Kelly.'
'But...'
A rare streak of warmth lit the grey eyes. As if he had not heard the beginning of her protest he went on, 'You're more competent than you think.'
She was suddenly breathless. 'You mean that, don't you?'
'Of course.' This time the warmth extended to a smile. 'You'll cope, Kelly.'
Just a few words. Coming from anyone else they were words which would have elicited no response in Kelly. But the words came from the lips of the rugged-featured man who was like nobody else she had ever known, a man who from the moment he had set eyes on her had made no secret of his dislike and contempt. The words were praise indeed.
As Nicholas left her to go on with her duties Kelly found that she was filled with a ridiculous happiness. Nicholas had shown confidence in her. He knew only too well the importance of this banquet to Great Peaks Lodge. If he was confident it could be only because he thought the feeling well founded.
It came as no surprise that this unexpected token of esteem should fill her with such elation, for she had reached a point where her own feelings could no longer be pushed from the conscious reaches of her mind. Nicholas would never love her—strange how hard it was to use the word in connection with him—he might never even learn to like her, but his confidence was a sign of a dawning respect, a sign that he was seeing her as a person with worth and value apart from her position as her father's daughter. Though she could not deny to herself that what she yearned for from Nicholas Van Mijden was something other than respect, the fact that he no longer looked at her as nothing more than a parasite with a reasonably desirable body gave a definite lift to her spirits.
She would cope, she vowed. Though she had never done anything quite like it before, she had been hostess at enough of her father's parties to know what was required. For the Andersons' sake she would organise the banquet as well as she knew how, so that the engineers would use the hotel as a venue again. As far as Nicholas was concerned, she would prove to him once and for all that he had misjudged her.
All that day and the next Kelly threw herself into preparing for the function. The actual cooking and setting of the tables would be done by the staff. But there was a wealth of planning to do—the menu, the placing of the tables, the flower arrangements, even some special decor. When Nicholas had first broached the subject, it had thrown her briefly into confusion. But as her planning began to take shape and form, Kelly found that she was not only gaining satisfaction from the project, she was actually enjoying herself.
Andrew sought her out more than once, and seemed disquieted that she had no time for him. Once, when the engineers had a free afternoon, he asked her to go for a walk with him. At her refusal an odd expression crossed his face—not quite resentment, Kelly decided, unconsciously seeking to put a name to it, yet something very like it. For some reason she was sorry she had chosen just that moment to look at him. Then the expression vanished, and in a friendly tone he reminded her that he would be staying on at the hotel after the convention had ended. She promised that they would have their walk then.
Now and then Nicholas appeared in the room where Kelly sat with her lists. He was interested in her plans and listened without interrupting when she explained some new idea. She did not know that her eyes were lit with radiance when she talked, or that her lips curved in a smile which transformed prettiness into beauty. She knew only that Nicholas, for the first time in their acquaintance, treated her as a person whose words were worthy of attention. Occasionally he questioned or commented, and when he did so the sardonic look was absent from his eyes, and the mockery was gone from his tone.
As always, she was affected by his presence. It seemed there was nothing she could do to quell the leaping of her senses whenever he came near her. While they talked she was conscious of the desire to reach out and touch him, to feel his arms about her body. But just as the mockery was gone from his manner, so his behaviour seemed to have become wholly platonic. It was almost as if the moments in the scent-filled garden had never been.
'Do you think Mary will be back before the banquet?' she asked once.
Something came and went in the grey eyes which regarded her with a disturbing intentness. 'I shouldn't think so.'
'No?' She could not keep the eagerness from her tone.
'You'd be sorry if she did?' There was an expression now in his face which Kelly could not define. The closest she could get was approval, and it could not be that. Nevertheless she felt a sudden leaping of the senses.
'Yes.' She smiled up at him, her teeth small and white against the tan which coloured her cheeks after the many days in the sun. 'At this stage I'd like to see it through all the way on my own.'
A long-fingered hand went to her hair, pushing a loose strand gently from her forehead. It was no more than a gesture, she knew. The hair had escaped its neat style and Nicholas was concerned about her appearance before the hotel guests. Nonetheless it was a gesture which had the feel of a caress. It was also the first time he had touched her since the night in the garden, when her back had been pressed hard against the rough bark of the oak- tree and Nicholas had intimated that she knew nothing of her feelings. The memory of that evening was still vivid in Kelly's mind. As if he was holding her now, she could feel the tautness of the hard body against hers, could smell the maleness that was so intoxicating, could hear Nicholas taunt her with the true reason why she had not told Mary they were sharing a cottage. 'What would happen if I tried to persuade you to sleep with me?' he had asked. More and more she thought she knew the answer to that question. As a tremor shot through her body she lowered her eyes quickly beneath long lashes.
'You'll see it through.' Nicholas'
s voice was low and amused. Kelly had the disturbing feeling that he knew exactly what she had been thinking.
'Try and stop me!'
And they smiled at each other, a real smile for the very first time since they had known each other, before going their separate ways.
The banquet was a success. Everything went according to plan. The meal was different from the one the chefs would have prepared had they been left to themselves, but once Kelly had explained what she wanted they were more than willing to follow her instructions. The bowls and tubs of flowers placed unobtrusively yet strategically around the big room added an exotic touch, and the decor, much of which Kelly had designed herself, elicited more than a few compliments. Best of all, when the function was over the president of the society approached Kelly and Nicholas who happened to be standing together, and told them that he would ensure that the following year's convention would again be at Great Peaks Lodge.
'That's good news,' Nicholas said. His words were addressed to the engineer, but his eyes were on Kelly, and the expression that she saw there sent a warm flush cascading through her cheeks.
There was no chance to talk further to Nicholas, for just then Andrew came from behind and put his hand on her arm. In a way she was glad. Any words she could have exchanged with Nicholas at that point could have only been an anticlimax.
It was late when Kelly went at last to the cottage. Nicholas was nowhere to be seen. In a sense she was disappointed, for it seemed she would not see him again that night. Yet in another sense she was re-lieved. The day had been so perfect that she wanted nothing to spoil it. Too often in the past Nicholas had been sarcastic or mocking, finding a vulnerability where she had not known it existed. After the banquet there had been a look in his eyes which she had never seen there before. When she lay in bed and relived the events of the day she meant to cherish that look, to hug it to her, as it were. It was the final touch to a day she would never forget.
'Sleepyhead!' There was a gentle quality in the tone which made it seem, through the blur of sleep, unfamiliar. And then, as her mind came to full waking consciousness, Kelly's eyes snapped open.
'Nicholas!' It was very light in the room—clearly she had slept later than usual—but Nicholas did not seem to mind. There was a look of amusement in his face, mixed with a quality which in any other man she might have taken for tenderness.
'I overslept,' she said softly.
'You certainly did!'
'I'm sorry about that. You should have woken me.'
Now the mockery would come, the stinging remark which could wound as well as excite. Strangely the unfamiliar expression in his eyes deepened instead. 'You earned your sleep, Kelly.'
And now it was all rushing back—the memory of the banquet, the wonderful moment when the chairman of the convention had said the hotel would be used again next year. Nicholas's approval of the way she had handled the affair, an approval which had been implied if it had not been put into words.
She had not heard him enter the cottage. She had lain in her bed, going over every minute of the evening, and had wondered when he would come. She had thought she would never sleep, but clearly she had. Nicholas must have gone to bed very late. What had he been doing? Had he sat talking to the engineers, or had he been attending to some facet of the hotel's running? A late-night rendezvous perhaps with Serena de Jager? Yesterday just the thought would have been enough to give Kelly pain. But today, with the sun streaming in through the windows, and with Nicholas standing over her with that disturbing look in his eyes, it did not seem to matter.
'Let me get dressed,' she said, glancing towards the door in a hint that he should leave the room. 'I'm way behind with my tasks.'
'No tasks today.' At her astonishment he chuckled, the sound low and sensuous and very seductive. 'You've earned more than your sleep, Kelly. You've earned a day off—we both have.'
She stared at him, and wondered if he knew that her spirits had plummeted. A day off? A day to explore the gardens or take a walk along one of the easier mountain trails. A day alOne. Andrew would be busy with last-minute activities, and Nicholas would spend the precious leisure time with Serena The idea of an off-day was unappealing.
'That's nice,' she said brightly. 'I'll walk down to the river. I might even lie by the pool all day and just bake in the sun.'
That would provoke the mockery, she thought. But once more his reaction surprised her. 'You know you'd be bored to tears.' At her incredulous gasp his teeth flashed in a brief smile, strong and white and wicked against the tan of his skin. 'You'll spend the day with me, Kelly. At my plantation.'
It was a blue and golden day. The mountain peaks were free of mist. The air rang with the sound of bird-song, and through the open window of Nicholas's car came the aromatic scent of the veld flowers. Small brown-skinned children danced at the roadside, waving and smiling as the car slowed to pass them, and once a wild foal turned a startled head before vanishing in the long grass of the underbrush.
The mountain road was narrow and winding, but Nicholas took the hairpin bends with an ease which did not surprise Kelly. Nothing this man could do would surprise her, and excitement mounted within her at the thought of seeing his home. When he had told her that they would spend the day together she had been filled with a happiness which she had tried hard to conceal. For it would not do to let Nicholas know quite how much the idea of being alone with him, away from duties and obligations, meant tp her. He would mock her, would remind her of Gary, and make a sarcastic reference to the fact that her fiance did not know what she did when she was away from him.
Her fiancé ... Her shoulders stiffened and a frown creased her forehead. 'We must think about things,' she had told him. Gary must be wondering about her decision. She owed him an answer. She knew already what the answer would be, but she would put it to him gently. What she would not tell him was the thoroughness with which Nicholas had succeeded in surplanting him in her thoughts and in her dreams. That was something which Kelly herself, on leaving Great Peaks Lodge, would have to do her utmost to forget. For if she did not, the years ahead would hold only unhappiness.
With an effort she tried to force her concentration back to the loveliness of the passing countryside. If she was going to spend the day brooding she would spoil things not only for Nicholas but also for herself. Kelly wanted very badly to enjoy this day. It would be part of a memory—there was no way she could hide the knowledge from herself—a memory of a time which had been very important to her, a time which would always linger in the secret reaches of her mind as one of the most memorable she had known.
For a while the road ran beside a narrow stream. There were no bends ahead, and no traffic. Some instinct told Kelly that Nicholas was watching her. She turned from the window and met his gaze. Grey eyes were lit by a warmth which made him look more human than she had seen him, his lips were curved in a slight smile, making her wonder at the cause of his amusement. A fawn sports shirt clung to the contours of a muscled chest, revealing broad shoulders, and from the open collar his throat rose strong and tanned. There was never a time when Kelly was unaffected by the sheer impact of the man, an impact that was basic and primeval and thoroughly devastating in its intensity. Colour washed her cheeks as an answering chord struck deep within her, shattering her with the raw desire to reach out and touch him. She longed to move across the seat where her shoulder and hip and thigh could rest against his. With difficulty she swallowed, and saw the smile deepen.
'Enjoy today, Kelly.' The words, so quietly spoken, were nevertheless in the nature of a command.
'I will,' she said a litde breathlessly as she turned back to the window, unable to sustain the gaze which registered soft flushed cheeks and radiant wide eyes and the little pulse which beat frenziedly in the hollow of a slender neck.
They came at length to Pinevale. All around were the forests. Acres upon acres of healthy-looking trees. Kelly had imagined that the forest reserves were all state property. In the main she was righ
t, Nicholas told her, but here and there a private plantation existed, and Pinevale was one of them.
She listened attentively as he told her about the lands, about the trees and the sawmills and the innovations he had made. Now and then she asked a question, and her questions must have been intelligent, for he answered seriously and with due consideration. Not for nothing was Kelly Robert Stan- wick's daughter. She quickly grasped the magnitude of responsibility and foresight involved in an operation of this size, and had only respect for the man who had the energy and the dedication to control it.
But even greater than her interest was her joy in hearing him talk. While she had hated the mockery and the arrogance to which she had been subjected until so recently, she had suspected that Nicholas must also possess other qualities. She had glimpsed his gentleness with Mary, and the quiet friendliness in his dealings with people he liked, though she had doubted she would ever see these qualities applied to herself.
As they drove between the forested slopes of Pinevale, she was seeing a new Nicholas. The power and authority were still there, coupled with the intoxicating maleness. But as if he had dropped a mask which he no longer needed, he now allowed Kelly to see his love for the land, his dedication to the plantation he had built up, the intensity of his feeling for the place which was his home.
This was how she must remember him, Kelly thought, as she listened to Nicholas talk. Today would give her an insight into the man who had made more impact on her than anyone she had ever met. It would also give substance to the memory of the man she loved.
For she loved Nicholas. Useless to deny the fact to herself. Until yesterday she had tried to push the knowledge from her mind, for it was a love without any future. Nicholas Van Mijden was the one man who would never return her feelings. He did not like her, had never liked her. And his marriage to Serena could be only a matter of time.
There was so much to see at Pinevale, so much to marvel at. Kelly had realised very soon that whatever Nicholas did he would do well, but she had not expected quite the degree of lushness and expanse which now met her eyes. It had puzzled her at the beginning that he treated her so differently from all the other men she had known. Now she was puzzled no longer. It was not in Nicholas Van Mijden to fawn upon someone else. This would hold true no matter what his position might be in the world. He was master of himself and proud of it, a state of mind that was not governed by riches or status or the lack of them both. It just so happened that Nicholas was in fact a man of great wealth. Kelly had only to look around her to know that.
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