His green gaze fixed on her. ‘What I do to my body is my affair,’ he told her softly.
‘Not while I’m here,’ Cathryn replied promptly. That’s one of the reasons your brother wanted me to stay—to stop you from doing anything stupid.’
Nicholas got heavily to his feet and then stood facing her. Although Cathryn certainly didn’t like the look on his face, she stood her ground without flinching.
‘I don’t need my brother’s secretary to tell me what I can or can’t do,’ he said, his tone suddenly quite deadly. ‘Am I getting through to you?’
She felt her throat go dry, but still didn’t back away.
‘Any idiot knows that you shouldn’t mix pills and drink,’ she insisted stubbornly. ‘For all I know, you might be planning on taking a couple of sleeping pills on top of that lot, and that really would be dangerous.’
‘What an interfering little bitch you are!’ he said unpleasantly. ‘What makes you think you’ve got the right to come charging in like this, telling me how to run my life?’
‘Your brother—’ began Cathryn.
‘Ah, yes, my brother,’ interrupted Nicholas. ‘By all means, let’s bring my brother into this. After all, you wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for him, would you, Miss Harrison?’
‘I certainly wouldn’t,’ she said with some fervour.
His eyes took on an expression that sent small shivers right through her nervous system.
‘And why exactly are you so anxious to please my brother?’ he enquired with open malice.
‘I work for him,’ Cathryn answered, and knew that her voice betrayed the deep unease that he was beginning to arouse in her.
‘Of course,’ he agreed smoothly. ‘But don’t you think this particular job rather goes outside the usual terms of employment?’
‘I suppose so. But I agreed to do it as a special favour.’ Even as she said it, Cathryn knew she had chosen the wrong words. It hadn’t come out at all the way she had intended. From the look on Nicholas’s face, though, it was obviously what he had been expecting to hear.
‘A special favour,’ he repeated, his mouth setting into a line of harsh amusement. ‘What a tactful way of putting it.’ Before Cathryn could indignantly demand what he meant by that, he went on, ‘Why don’t you tell me a little about your social life, Miss Harrison? Do you have a boyfriend? Or someone you live with?’
The sudden change of tack threw her momentarily off balance. ‘I don’t see that it’s anything to do with you,’ she spluttered. ‘But the answer’s no to both questions.’
She realised at once that she shouldn’t have answered at all. She wouldn’t have done if he hadn’t so thoroughly managed to unsettle her.
‘I rather thought that’s what you’d say.’ The grim amusement spread from his mouth to his eyes. ‘You don’t strike me as the sort of girl who would go out with just anyone. You would want to wait until exactly the right person came along.’
Cathryn somehow recovered a little of her composure. ‘I’ve had enough of this,’ she said coldly. ‘I’m going back to my room.’
Nicholas took a couple of steps forward, moving with unexpected speed considering his injured leg.
‘Before you go, I’d like to try a little experiment,’ he said silkily.
Before Cathryn had a chance to ask him what he was talking about, he slid one arm smoothly around her waist and pulled her towards him. The sudden physical contact was so unexpected that she froze instead of struggling free. And that was her first mistake, because by the time she had recovered it was too late to break away from him.
Her second mistake was not turning her head away quickly enough as his warm lips descended on hers. Although she frantically tried to free her mouth, he simply moved with her, his lips pursuing hers with ruthless intent.
Despite his months in hospital, he was still a lot stronger than she was. And through the stifling closeness of him Cathryn became aware that his attack on her was quite deliberately sensual. Any other woman might have found herself beginning to succumb to the undeniably expert pressure of his mouth and the clever movements of his hands. She managed to keep her responses frozen, though.
‘I’m not getting through to you?’ Nicholas murmured under his breath. ‘Somehow, I expected that. But I suppose if s worth one more try...’
This time, he eased back a little, and his assault on her became more subtle.
His tongue eased its way between her tight lips, despite all her efforts to stop him, and languidly licked the inner warmth of her mouth. The breath caught in Cathryn’s throat because the intrusion wasn’t as unpleasant as she had expected it to be.
As if aware of her surprise, he immediately followed up his very small advantage, searching for other points of vulnerability. His fingers caressed the swell of her breast with a familiarity which aroused fresh indignation in her, and he didn’t seem to care that the pressure of his body was quite blatantly betraying his own rapid arousal.
With an enormous effort, Cathryn finally managed to wrench her head free. ‘Stop it!’ she yelled. ‘Stop it at once!’
To her astonishment, he immediately let go of her.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ she demanded furiously.
‘Just proving a point,’ Nicholas replied calmly.
‘What sort of point did you think you could prove by behaving like that?’ Cathryn was still snarling at him, and Nicholas raised one dark eyebrow.
‘You’d better get control of yourself, or you’ll ruin your reputation for never losing your temper,’ he warned.
‘Perhaps I’ve never lost my temper because I’ve never been in this sort of situation before!’ Her eyes blazed at him stormily. ‘Did you really think you could seduce me?’
‘I was fairly certain that I couldn’t,’ replied Nicholas, his own voice remaining infuriatingly calm.
‘Then why go through that ridiculous charade?’
‘I suppose I just wanted to confirm that I was right.’
‘About what?’ she challenged him.
‘Your rather unbelievable lack of interest in sex. Of course you don’t want to go to bed with me—or with anyone else,’ Nicholas stated with cold precision. ‘You’re saving yourself for my brother, aren’t you, Miss Harrison?’
CHAPTER THREE
Cathryn didn’t even bother to deny his incredible accusation. Instead, she stalked out of the kitchen, marched directly to her own bedroom, slammed the door very noisily behind her, and then sat on the bed practically gibbering with pure rage.
How dared he say such a thing? Sir Charles was a very attractive man, and highly eligible on all counts, but she had never once thought of him in that way. Her heart refused to flutter when he walked into the room, no sparks jumped between them whenever he came near, and she was sure they never would. They worked together, she felt comfortable with him, and that was it.
She eventually crawled back into bed, but she couldn’t sleep. She was still seething inside, and she felt a totally uncharacteristic desire to do Nicholas Ellis some actual physical harm.
Around dawn, she gave up trying to sleep and decided to make herself a drink. She padded back to the kitchen, and then paused at the door for a moment. What if Nicholas was still there?
What if he was? she told herself angrily. He was the one who ought to be feeling utterly ashamed of himself—although she very much doubted whether he ever experienced such an emotion.
She shoved open the door, and then let out an involuntary sigh of relief when she found the kitchen was empty. She heated up some water and made herself some coffee. When she sat at the table to drink it, though, she found herself staring at the bottle of whisky which Nicholas had been drinking from the night before.
The level seemed to have dropped considerably, and Cathryn scowled at it. She hoped he woke up with an absolutely appalling hangover. Or, better still, was quite comatose. That would mean she wouldn’t have to listen to his malicious tongue for a while!
>
Just as she finished her coffee, the door opened and Nicholas wandered in. He was leaning heavily on his stick, but apart from that seemed to be in annoyingly good health. His eyes were clear and his hand perfectly steady as he poured himself some coffee.
‘I thought you’d be taking it black,’ Cathryn remarked pointedly as he added some milk.
‘It takes more than a couple of large whiskies to give me a hangover,’ he answered in an unperturbed voice. Then he looked at her with some interest. ‘I’m surprised you’re still talking to me,’ he added. ‘After last night, I rather expected you to flounce out of the flat at the first possible opportunity.’
‘Which goes to show how little you know about me,’ Cathryn replied with a coolness that was definitely only on the surface. ‘Just because you like to play rather childish games, it doesn’t follow that I like to do the same.’
Nicholas’s expression became thoughtful. ‘That chill’s back in your voice again,’ he remarked. ‘If you’re as cold inside as you can be on the outside, it’s not surprising that you don’t like sex. It needs some warmth and giving to be good. You don’t seem to have much of a talent for either of those things.’
Cathryn instantly bristled. ‘Just because I didn’t enjoy being jumped on last night—’ she began fiercely.
‘I didn’t jump on you,’ Nicholas interrupted calmly. ‘If I had, you’d have known it,’ he finished meaningfully.
‘Whatever you like to call it, it was completely unnecessary and unpleasant,’ she snapped back at him. ‘And it certainly wasn’t enough to make me turn tail and run, if that was your intention. You said that your brother has a sense of duty. Well, so do I. I gave my word to Sir Charles that I’d stay here for the entire two weeks, and that’s precisely what I intend to do. I’d prefer it if there weren’t any more incidents like last night, but if there are I’m sure I can cope with them. After all, I realise that I have to make allowances for you,’ she added, not caring in the least that she was now being deliberately insulting. ‘Sir Charles did warn me that your accident had left you mentally unstable.’
For the briefest of moments, a gleam of pure fire shone in Nicholas’s green eyes. Then the flare disappeared completely, to be replaced by a rather ominous calm.
‘Since you’ve introduced the subject of my brother, perhaps there are one or two things I ought to warn you about concerning him,’ he drawled. ‘For a start, he might think you’re the perfect secretary, but that’s all you’re ever going to be, as far as he’s concerned.’
Cathryn’s own eyes became frosty. ‘That’s all I want to be.’
Nicholas raised one eyebrow in flagrant disbelief.
‘Really?’ Then he gave a thoroughly unpleasant smile. ‘You must think I’m very naive, Miss Harrison.’
‘I’ve no idea what you are,’ she retaliated instantly. ‘And I really don’t care in the least. I simply want to get through the next couple of weeks with as few problems as possible, and then get on with my normal life.’
‘And what exactly does your day usually consist of?’ Nicholas enquired in a caustic tone. ‘Parading yourself in front of my brother in various fetching outfits? Trying very hard to be completely indispensable? Hoping that this will be the day when he finally notices what a lot you’ve got going for you?’ His gaze slid over her with deliberate slowness. ‘And you do have a great deal going for you, Miss Harrison,’ he said in a voice that had become slightly husky. ‘Thick chestnut hair—it probably looks sensational when you wear it loose. Great tawny eyes,’ he went on, continuing his inventory, much to her furious embarrassment, ‘a face that’s all the more interesting for being not quite beautiful, and a very nice body. And it’s all very subtle, which makes it even more attractive. You’re not a knock-’em-dead-at-first-sight sort of girl. You’re the kind of girl who could slowly grow on a man—but you’re not going to grow on my brother,’ he warned. ‘There’s only ever been one woman in Charles’s life, and that was his wife. He might have been damned lonely and miserable since she died, but he won’t ever want to replace her.’
Cathryn was so disgusted by his accusation that she was chasing after his brother that she didn’t even bother to reply. She wasn’t going to get into any more degrading arguments on this subject. Let him think what he liked! It didn’t matter in the least to her. Two more weeks, and she wouldn’t even have to see him again.
She began to get herself some breakfast. As she moved around the kitchen, Nicholas sat and watched her. For a while, she tried to ignore it. Then it finally began to get on her nerves.
‘Are you going to sit and watch me all morning?’ she snapped.
He shrugged easily. ‘Why not? I’ve nothing more interesting to do.’
‘You could get on with your book,’ she retorted. Anything to get him out of here! There was something about that green gaze that set her teeth on edge. ‘Didn’t you say your publisher had set a deadline?’
‘Yes, he has. But I don’t know if I’m going to meet it.’
‘Why not? You’ve plenty of free time on your hands. There’s really no excuse for not getting on with it.’
‘Except the mental blocks inside my head. I’d prefer to forget these last few months, rather than relive the whole thing on paper.’
For just an instant, Cathryn felt an entirely unexpected pang of sympathy for him. Then she remembered how very unsympathetic he had been towards her, and her attitude swiftly hardened again.
‘If you hadn’t gambled away your inheritance, you wouldn’t be short of money and need to write the book,’ she reminded him.
Nicholas quickly raised his head and seemed about to make a very sharp reply. Then he visibly stopped himself, and instead gave a curt nod. ‘I dare say you’re right.’
Cathryn hadn’t expected him to accept her blunt statement without some kind of retaliation. She gave a faint frown. There was something here that wasn’t quite right. For a few moments, she wondered what it was. Then she decided that she really wasn’t interested and she carried on getting her breakfast.
When she finally glanced in his direction again, she found he had gone. Cathryn blinked. She had never known anyone who could move so silently! Despite the fact that he still had to use a stick, he seemed to be able to move around without making a single sound. It was rather unnerving, because it meant that she could never be sure when he was creeping up on her.
She ate breakfast, and then headed towards the bathroom. A brisk shower helped her to put her disturbed night behind her—although she certainly wasn’t going to forget those outrageous suggestions Nicholas had made about her and Sir Charles! She dressed fairly casually, in a skirt and light jumper instead of the rather severe suits that she wore to the office, and brushed out the thick chestnut mass of her hair.
Since she planned to spend the morning working, she wandered along to the drawing-room and sorted through the files she had brought from the office yesterday. She had to admit that, for some reason, she didn’t feel in the mood for work. Since it had to be done, though, she sat down and forced herself to get on with it.
Mid-morning, she pushed the files to one side and set off for the kitchen, to make some coffee. As she passed Nicholas’s door she could hear the muffled sound of typing. Cathryn gave a slightly grim smile. It looked as if he, too, was forcing himself to get down to work. Natural courtesy made her stop for a moment and raise her hand to tap on his door. She intended to ask if he wanted some coffee. Then she drew back her hand at the last moment, and her brows drew together in a determined line. No, she wasn’t going to wait on him. That wasn’t what she was here for, and anyway, he certainly wouldn’t appreciate it. Let him get his own meals and drinks!
Cathryn wasn’t usually so hard-hearted, but then, she had never come up against anyone quite like Nicholas Ellis before. And she would be more than pleased if she never did again!
She worked on through the day, only stopping for a light lunch. By the end of the afternoon, pleased with the amount of
work she had accomplished, she stretched her rather stiff limbs. If she carried on at this pace, she would be finished by the end of tomorrow.
The sound of the doorbell ringing made her turn her head. As far as she knew, no visitors were expected at the flat.
She waited for Nicholas to answer the door. When the bell kept ringing, she sighed in irritation. All right, so the man had a limp and couldn’t be expected to dash about like a sprinter. He seemed to get around perfectly well when he wanted to, though!
The doorbell rang again, even more insistently, and Cathryn hauled herself to her feet.
‘Take your finger off the bell! I’m coming,’ she grumbled under her breath.
She hurried across the hall and opened the front door. Then she blinked in surprise as she found herself looking at a tall, willowy blonde.
The blonde seemed equally surprised to see her. ‘Er—have I got the right address?’ she said in a rather breathless little voice. ‘I’m looking for Nicholas. Nicholas Ellis,’ she finished helpfully.
‘You’ve got the right address,’ Cathryn confirmed. ‘Is he expecting you?’
The blonde gave her a dazzling smile. ‘Not really. I thought I’d surprise him.’
Cathryn rather cynically thought to herself that this was the sort of surprise every man secretly dreamed of!
‘I suppose you’d better come in,’ she said, and held the door open as the girl glided in, somehow managing to walk very gracefully even though she was wearing impossibly high heels. Expensive perfume saturated the air as she drifted past Cathryn, and the soft leather skirt she was wearing must have cost a minor fortune.
This was definitely a very up-market blonde! Cathryn decided with a marked lift of her eyebrows. Not the sort that she would have expected Nicholas to go for—just too obvious—but men constantly surprised her with their choice of women.
‘I’ll tell Nicholas that you’re here,’ Cathryn said. She opened the door to the drawing-room. ‘You’d better wait in there.’
While the blonde slunk sexily through the door and draped herself over the sofa, Cathryn went along to Nicholas’s room and knocked briskly on the door.
A Kiss by Candlelight Page 4