A Vow of Obligation

by Lynne Graham

  ‘You’re so tight,’ he groaned with pleasure as he sank into her tender channel with controlled care.

  A startled sound somewhere between a gasp and a cry was wrenched from her as he broke through the fragile barrier of her inexperience. Her body flinched and he stilled in the act of possession, staring down at her with scorching green eyes fringed by black, recognising in that heightened instant of awareness that he was the only lover she had ever had. ‘You were telling me the truth …’

  ‘Women aren’t all liars,’ Tawny breathed, shuddering as he drove all the way home to the heart of her body.

  Immersed in the molten heat of her, Navarre was fighting for control, leaning down to crush her mouth under his again and breathe in the luscious scent of her skin. She felt so good, she smelt even better. He shifted his lean hips and thrust, wanting to take it slow and easy but struggling against his explosive level of arousal with every second that passed. Tawny arched up into him with a whimper of encouragement and he sank deeper, harder and suddenly he couldn’t hold back any more against the elemental storm of need riding him. Holding her firmly, he eased back until he had almost withdrawn and then he thrust back into her with seductive force. The pleasure was building inside Tawny again in a wild surge of sensation that scooped her up and left her defenceless. His provocative rhythm heightened every feeling to an unbearable level and then all of a sudden it was as if a blinding white light exploded inside her, heat and hunger coalescing in a fierce fiery orgasm.

  In the heady, dizzy aftermath she thought she might never move again, for her limbs felt weighted to the bed. She was incredibly grateful that she had chosen him as her lover, for he had made it extraordinary and she knew that was rare for a first experience. She hugged him tight, pressed her lips to a smooth brown shoulder, able to reason in only the most simplistic of ways, her brain on shutdown. He rolled back from her and headed for the bathroom.

  It crossed her mind that barely a week earlier he had been a billionaire businessman and hotel guest to her. Now what was he? A very desirable lover who could also be absolutely infuriating and the guy who was paying her to fake being his fiancée. As cruel reality kicked in Tawny flinched from it, alarmed that she could have forgotten the financial nature of their agreement. It was a complication, but not one that couldn’t be handled with the right attitude on both sides, she reasoned frantically, determined to stay optimistic rather than lash herself with pointless regrets. What was done was done. He was her lover now.

  Navarre reappeared from the bathroom and strolled back to the bed. She had fallen sound asleep, a tangle of rich red curls lying partially across her perfect profile, a hand tucked childishly below her cheek. That fast he wanted her again and the strength of that desire disturbed him. Desire was wonderful as long as it stayed within certain acceptable bounds. Uninhibited hunger that threatened his control was not his style at all, for it was more likely to add complications to a life he preferred to keep smooth and untrammelled, a soothing contrast to his troubled and changeable childhood years. At heart he would always be an unrepentant loner and he thought it unlikely that he would change, for everything from his birth to his challenging adolescence had conspired to make him what he was. He had seduced her, though, he knew he had, and taking her virginity had roused the strangest protective instinct inside him. Even so he was equally aware that he could not afford to forget that she was a thief whose loyalty was for sale to the highest bidder …

  Tawny wakened while it was still dark, immediately conscious of the new tenderness between her thighs and the ache of unfamiliar muscles. Instantly memory flooded back and she slid quiet as a wraith from the bed, padding across the carpet to the bathroom. Although it was almost four in the morning she ran a warm bath and settled into the soothing water to hug her knees and regroup. She had slept with Navarre Cazier and it had been amazing.

  She didn’t want to get all introspective and female about what had happened between them, for common sense told her that such powerful physical attraction as theirs generally only led to one conclusion. She especially didn’t want to think about the feelings he was beginning to awaken inside her: the stab of intense satisfaction she had felt once she had registered that he was jealous of that banker’s interest in her, the sense of achievement when he listened to her and laughed, the walking-on-air sensation when he admired her appearance, her unreserved delight in discovering that unashamed passion of his, which was so at variance with his cool, unemotional façade.

  She knew without being told that she was walking a dangerous line. She had abandoned her defences and taken the kind of risk she had never taken before. Yet wouldn’t she do it again given the chance to feel what he had made her feel? It wasn’t just physical either. It was more that astonishing sense of feeling insanely alive for the first time ever, that wondrous sense of connection to another human being. Still lost in her thoughts, Tawny patted herself dry with a fleecy towel. She decided that she wasn’t going to act the coward and bail on the experience just because it was unlikely to give her a happy ending. She was only twenty-three years old, she reminded herself doggedly, way too young to be worrying about needing a happy ending with a man. She tiptoed back to bed, eased below the cool sheets, and when a long masculine arm stretched out as though to retrieve her and tugged her close she went willingly into that embrace.

  She loved the scent of his skin, clean and male laced with an evocative hint of designer cologne. She breathed in that already familiar scent as though it were an addictive drug, her fingers fanning out across his flat stomach as she shifted position. She adored being so close to him because she was very much aware that when he was awake he was not a physically or verbally demonstrative man likely to make her feel secure with displays of affection or appreciation. Her hand smoothed possessively down a hair-roughened thigh and he released a drowsy groan of approval.

  In the darkness a cheeky smile curved her generous mouth when she discovered that even asleep he was aroused and ready for action. Wide awake now and unashamedly keen to experiment she became a little more daring and her fingertips carefully traced the steely length of his shaft. With a muffled sound of appreciation Navarre shifted position and began to carry out his own reconnaissance. She was stunned by how fast her body reacted to his sleepy caresses with her nipples stiffening into instant tingling life while heat and moisture surged between her legs. Muttering a driven French imprecation, he pinned her beneath him, his hands suddenly hard with urgency as he pushed between her slender thighs and drove hungrily into her yielding body again. Instinctively she arched up to him to ease the angle of his entrance and he ground his body deeper into hers with a guttural sound of pleasure. He moved slowly and provocatively in a strong sensual rhythm. Her lips parted as she breathed in urgent gasps, clinging to his broad shoulders as the glorious pressure began to build and build within her. She came apart in an explosive climax as his magnificent body shuddered to the same crest with her. A glorious tide of exquisite sensation cascaded through her spent body.

  In an abrupt movement, Navarre freed himself of her hands and rolled away from her to switch on the lights. Blinded by the sudden illumination, Tawny blinked in bewilderment.

  ‘Merde alors! Was this a planned seduction?’ Navarre flung at her furiously, a powerfully intimidating figure against the pale bedding as she peered at him from narrowed eyes. ‘To be followed by a meticulously planned conception?’

  Utterly bemused by that accusation, Tawny pushed herself up against the tumbled pillows with frantic hands. ‘What on earth are you talking about? Seduction, for heaven’s sake?’

  ‘We just had sex without a condom!’ Navarre fired at her in condemnation.

  ‘Oh … my … goodness,’ Tawny framed in sudden comprehension, her skin turning clammy in shock. ‘I didn’t think of that—’

  ‘Didn’t you? You woke me out of a sound sleep to make love to you. A lot of men would overlook precautions in the excitement of the moment!’

  ‘You can�
��t seriously think I deliberately tempted you into sex while you were half asleep in the hope that you would forget to use a condom?’ Tawny told him roundly, colour burnishing her cheeks.

  ‘Why wouldn’t I think that? I once caught a woman in the act of puncturing a condom in the hope of conceiving a child without my knowledge!’ Navarre ground out in contemptuous rebuttal. ‘Why should you be any different? Wealthy men are always targets for a fertile woman. When a man fathers a child by a woman he’s bound to support her and her offspring for a couple of decades!’

  ‘I feel sorry for you,’ Tawny breathed tightly, her small face stony with self-control. ‘It must be crippling to be as suspicious of other human beings as you are. Everybody is not out to con you or make money out of you, Navarre!’

  ‘I’ve already caught you thieving from me,’ Navarre reminded her icily. ‘So forgive me for not being impressed by your claim to be morally superior.’

  In the wake of that exchange, Tawny had lost every scrap of her natural colour. She had not required that final lowering reminder of how she had attempted to make off with his laptop. Lying there naked with her body still damp and aching from his lovemaking, she felt like the worst kind of whore. He had to despise her to be so suspicious of her motives that even an act of lovemaking could be regarded as a potential attempt to rip him off. It was a brutal wake-up call to the reality that, while she had moved on from the humiliation of their first meeting, his opinion of her was still that of a calculating little thief without morals. Sleeping with her had not changed his outlook and what a fool she had been to believe otherwise. Had he really caught a woman damaging contraception in the hope of falling pregnant by him? She was appalled. No wonder he was such a cynic if that was the sort of woman he was accustomed to having in his bed.

  ‘We’ll discuss this tomorrow,’ Navarre breathed curtly as he doused the lights again.

  ‘Let’s not,’ she said woodenly, turning on her side so that her back was turned to him. ‘My system’s very irregular—I’m pretty sure we won’t have anything to worry about.’

  But in spite of that breezy assurance she was still lying wide awake and worrying long after the deep even sound of his breathing had alerted her to the fact that he had gone back to sleep. Why, oh, why had she chosen to overlook the fact that he was paying her thousands of pounds to pretend to be his fiancée? Money problems always changed the nature of relationships, she thought wretchedly. The cash angle had put a wall between them. It was the single biggest difference between them, that reminder that he was rich and she was poor, never mind the truth that he had found her apparently stealing from him. Why had she believed that she could handle sex in such an unequal relationship? He had just proven how wrong that conviction could be.

  By the time that dawn was lightening the darkness behind the curtains, Tawny had had enough of lying in the bed as still as a corpse. She got up again as quietly as she could and decided that she could go out for a walk without disturbing the entire household. The only clothes of her own that she had packed were her skinny jeans and skeleton tee. She put them on, teaming them with a woollen jacket with a velvet collar and a pair of laced boots. She crept out of the room and downstairs and was soon out in the fresh air experiencing a deep abiding sense of relief and a desperate need to reclaim her freedom.

  The charade of their engagement would shortly be over, she told herself soothingly. Soon she would be back home and out searching for another job. Hopefully the turmoil of overexcited feelings that she was currently feeling would vanish along with Navarre Cazier …

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  ‘TAWNY! I saw you walking up the drive from the window. Navarre will be relieved—he’s been looking everywhere for you!’ Catrina told her brightly as Tawny mounted the front steps, muddy and windblown and embarrassed by her long absence and untidy appearance. It occurred to her that her hostess had never smiled at her with such welcoming warmth before but she was in too troubled a state of mind to be suspicious.

  ‘I went out for a walk and got a bit lost,’ Tawny muttered apologetically. ‘Have I missed breakfast?’

  ‘No. Navarre was worried that you had seen that story in the newspapers and been upset by it … it’s so embarrassing when these things happen when you’re away from home,’ Catrina commented with unconvincing sympathy.

  Tawny had frozen in the hallway. ‘What newspaper story?’

  Catrina helpfully passed her the tabloid newspaper she was already clutching in readiness. ‘I’ll have breakfast sent up to your room if you like.’

  Tawny opened the paper and there it was: Billionaire and Maid? There was a beaming picture of Julie, her self-elected best friend, who she could only assume had spilled her guts to a reporter for cash. She supposed that in the absence of any more colourful story about Navarre going with an engagement that had to be a fake must have seemed worthwhile. Almost everything she had ever told Julie that could be given the right twist was there in black and white from Tawny’s brief time in foster care as a child to the recent mysterious breakdown in family relations. Oh, yes, and what Julie described as Tawny’s frantic determination to meet and marry a rich man through her work … yes, Julie had had to find an angle to make Tawny sound more interesting and that was the angle she had chosen. Tawny was a rampant gold-digger in search of a meal ticket. According to Julie Tawny had used her employment as a chambermaid to sleep with several wealthy guests in a search for one who would offer to take her away from cleaning and spoil her to death with his money for ever. What insane rubbish! Tawny thought furiously, wondering who on earth would believe such nonsense.

  ‘Wouldn’t you prefer to have your breakfast in your room?’ Catrina Coulter prompted expectantly.

  ‘Have all the guests seen this?’ Tawny enquired.

  Catrina gave her a sympathetic glance as unconvincing as her earlier smile. ‘Probably …’

  ‘I’ll be eating downstairs,’ Tawny announced, folding the paper and tucking it casually below one arm to march into the lofty-ceilinged dining room with her bright head held high and a martial glint in her gaze. A moment too late she recalled that her hair was in a wild tangle and her jeans spattered with mud, but she had to tough out that knowledge because her fellow guests turned as one to watch her progress down the length of the long table towards the empty chair beside Navarre.

  Navarre, sleek and sexy in a striped shirt and a pair of designer chinos, stood up as she approached and spun out the chair for her. Inside, her body hummed as if an engine had been switched on. Her eyes, with an alacrity all their own, darted over him, taking in the cropped black hair, the brilliant green eyes and the dark shadow that told her he hadn’t shaved since the night before. And it was no use, in spite of the fact that she was furious with him the fact that he was drop-dead gorgeous triumphed and she blushed with awareness, her heartbeat quickening in time with her pulse as she sank down into the seat.

  ‘I’ll get you something to eat,’ Navarre offered, vaulting upright to stride across to the side table laden with lidded dishes laid out on hot plates for guests to serve themselves.

  Surprised that he was giving her that amount of attention, Tawny watched him heap a dining plate as high as if he were feeding half the table instead of just one skinny redhead and bring it back to her with positive ceremony.

  ‘You must’ve walked miles … you have to be starving,’ he pointed out when she gaped at the amount of food he had put on the plate.

  Trying not to laugh at the shocked appraisal of the blonde with a health conscious plate of fresh fruit opposite, Tawny began to butter her first slice of toast. ‘I walked miles more than I planned. I’m afraid I found myself on boggy ground and got lost and very muddy. I ended up having to walk along the road to find my way back here. I shouldn’t have gone so far without a map,’ she confided breathlessly as he poured her coffee for her.

  Tawny sugared her coffee while wondering why Navarre, who had hurt her so much just hours earlier, was now being so kind and attentive
. Had he not read the same newspaper spread? Didn’t he realise that she could only have tried to steal his laptop to grab his attention and then bonk his brains out in the hope that great sex would make him her meal ticket for life? It was obvious that the rest of the guests had read the newspaper. She was painfully conscious that everyone else at the table was watching her and Navarre closely, clearly hoping for some gossipy titbit or some sign that he was going to dump her right there and then. Thanks to her erstwhile friend she had been depicted in print as a mercenary chambermaid who had seduced innocent hotel guests in an effort to entrap a wealthy husband.

  Navarre watched Tawny eat a cooked breakfast with the enthusiasm of a woman who had not seen food for a month. He was relieved to see that a scurrilous article in a downmarket newspaper had not detracted from her appetite. Above all things Navarre admired courage and the courage she had displayed in choosing to take her breakfast as normal in front of an inquisitive audience hugely impressed him. Few women would have kept their cool in such an embarrassing situation.

  ‘I have to pack,’ she told him prosaically once she had finished her second cup of coffee.

  In the mood Tawny was in the packing did not take long. Ten minutes and it was done. Navarre walked into the room just as she lowered the case to the floor. She would have offered to do his packing as well just to keep busy but he had already taken care of the task. She folded her arms defensively.

  ‘We should talk before the helicopter arrives,’ Navarre imparted flatly. ‘We’ll be staying in another hotel for the next couple of days, after which I will let you return to your life. I’ll be tied up with business once we return to London.’

  Tawny said nothing. Another hotel, mercifully not the one where she had once been employed. It was clear that their arrangement would soon have run its course. So much for his declaration the night before that their intimacy was to be a beginning and not an end! She had fallen for a line, it seemed.