Elusive Lover

by Carole Mortimer

  ‘A friend’s house, the same friend that’s servicing my pick-up for me. He’ll be there all day, call him if you want me to pick you up someplace.’ He stood up.

  Erin looked up at him with wide eyes. ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘I have some business in town.’

  ‘You never did tell me what work you do,’ she frowned.

  ‘Time enough for that if you decide to take me up on my offer, and if you don’t . . . Well, then it won’t matter.’ He picked up the bill, tipping his hat to her. ‘See ya.’

  Erin watched in frustrated silence as he moved to the desk to pay for their meal, the infatuated Marie moving hastily to take his money, giggling and blushing as he talked softly to her.

  Damn him! He had just propositioned her, and now he was walking out of her life as if she meant nothing to him.

  Maybe she didn’t, except as someone to cook and clean for him—and share his bed. Two weeks of having a man like that for a lover could leave her more scarred than she was already.

  But London! It beckoned like a pair of warm arms on a cold day. She liked Canada, but for all she had been born here she felt alien, longed for the rush and bustle of England’s capital, for the sight of the familiar black taxis, a red bus, the pigeons in Trafalgar Square. No matter where she had been born, London was her home, and she longed for it with a desperation that bordered on panic.

  Enough to become Joshua Hawke’s lover? She baulked at the word mistress, the description sounded subservient. It would simply be a job, like any other, with no emotion involved, and a plane ticket back to London would be her wages.

  But for a girl who had only ever had three boy-friends in her life, and only one of them during the last year, it seemed a big step to take. Too big a step? That was what she had to decide.

  Marie gave her another curious look as she left, her suitcase in one hand, her bag slung over the other shoulder. Erin’s head went high. If she accepted Josh’s offer she would have to get used to such looks.

  And she was seriously considering it. Maybe it was time she got something back from men. Admittedly she would be giving him something in return, but if she had to lose her virginity, and it seemed she would one of these days, perhaps unwillingly, then she would rather it be with Joshua Hawke. He had shown her tenderness and passion in the few brief minutes she had spent in his arms, and surely that was better than any false declaration of love?

  She spent most of the day trudging around Calgary, but she knew in her heart she had already decided what she was going to do. And she wasn’t even shocked by her decision. She had taken so many knocks lately, a couple of them serious ones, that her emotions felt numb, a dull acceptance of her fate was in her deep blue eyes. She should be flattered, she thought hysterically, she was to share Josh’s bed after a winter of abstinence, and from the way Marie had flirted with him many other women would gladly take her place.

  The telephone was answered after three or four rings, the number recited back to her in a light male voice.

  Which didn’t help her one little bit. ‘Er—who is that?’ she asked huskily.

  ‘Dave,’ he supplied cheerfully. ‘And you have to be Erin,’ his tone was warm. Josh told me to expect your call.’

  Oh, he had, had he! ‘I—How did you know it was Erin?’ she frowned her puzzlement.

  ‘Josh—mentioned that you were English.’

  He probably hadn’t mentioned it at all, he seemed to find her English accent very amusing, and no doubt he had passed his amusement on to his friend. ‘I believe I can leave a message with you?’ she said stiltedly.

  ‘Plans have changed, Erin,’ Dave cut in in that cheerful voice. ‘He may be delayed, so he wants you to meet him here.’

  She drew in an angry breath, having the feeling that Joshua Hawke was taking over her life. And wasn’t she giving him that right, didn’t she welcome it even, tired of being alone, of having to look after herself in a world that suddenly seemed to have turned alien? She had taken so much this last year—her mother’s death, Bob’s betrayal, her father’s rejection, Mike’s brutality, that she felt relieved to give herself into Joshua Hawke’s care. And he would ultimately take her back to London, where she would never have to see him again, could forget the way she had sold herself to him.

  ‘You still there, Erin?’ Dave asked anxiously.

  ‘Yes,’ she confirmed huskily.

  ‘I thought you’d rung off for a moment,’ he answered in a relieved voice. ‘Josh wouldn’t have liked that.’

  Wouldn’t he, indeed! ‘Where exactly is “here”?’ she changed the subject.

  ‘Stupid of me,’ he laughed, giving her instructions how to get to his home.

  ‘Thank you, Mr——’

  ‘Dave,’ he insisted. ‘Any friend of Josh’s is a friend of mine. I’ll see you later, Erin.’

  She didn’t go straight to Dave’s house, having an hour or two to kill before it reached the four o’clock Josh had originally said he intended leaving. Instead she went and got a cup of coffee, lingering over it.

  What would Josh have told his friend about her? How would he have explained away the fact that she had a suitcase with her and obviously intended staying with him? Maybe he wouldn’t have made any explanations; he didn’t look the sort of man who felt he had to explain himself to anyone.

  Dave’s first words seemed to contradict this. ‘Boy, I wish I could join you and Josh—although I doubt you’d welcome an unwanted third,’ he added ruefully. ‘But I just hate being in town this time of year. With Stampede coming up the city is just filling up with tourists. Whoops— you aren’t one, are you?’

  ‘No,’ Erin laughed, liking this man immediately, liking his friendliness, his boyishly blond good looks. He was aged about thirty, and unlike Josh, he didn’t look it. He was short, with a slender build, wearing the inevitable denims and tee-shirt, the latter covered in grease where he had been working on Josh’s pick-up, the brown dusty vehicle parked outside the house. His blond hair was brushed back from his face from a centre parting, almost shoulder-length, his eyes a deep, laughing blue. ‘But I’d like to see the Stampede,’ she added shyly.

  ‘Your first summer here?’ Dave sat down in the chair opposite her, uncaring of his grease-covered clothes.

  Erin smiled at the movement. Dave had just proved beyond doubt that he wasn’t married—no husband would dare to sit on this lovely furniture in such dirty clothes! Dave’s bachelor state surprised her, for the house seemed to have been decorated with a woman in mind. Maybe he was divorced? Erin was realist enough to know that it happened all too often these days, although she hoped that when she finally took that step that she would have the courage to settle any problems she and her husband might have. It was strangely ironic to be thinking of marriage when she was calmly moving in with Joshua Hawke, knowing there was no question of a future for them.

  ‘Yes, my first summer,’ she confirmed softly, confused by her thoughts.

  Dave nodded. ‘Then you definitely have to see Stampede. Ask Josh to take you.’

  She knew she wouldn’t do any such thing! ‘Maybe,’ she said noncomittally. ‘When is it?’

  He gave a disbelieving laugh. ‘How long did you say you’ve been in Calgary?’

  ‘I didn’t,’ she smiled. ‘But I think it’s been a couple of months now.’

  ‘And you don’t know when Stampede is? Shame on you!’ _

  She laughed at his teasing manner. ‘Sorry. I haven’t had a lot of time——’

  ‘You can’t have done,’ he shook his head. ‘Two more weeks and this city will be in uproar. There’ll be a parade down the city centre——’

  ‘This city centre?’ She couldn’t imagine the busy streets of Calgary without their constant stream of traffic.

  ‘Unbelievable, isn’t it?’ Dave nodded. ‘But they do it somehow. Then the next day Stampede starts in earnest. ‘There’s the rodeo——’

  ‘With real steer-roping and bucking broncos?’ Her eyes we
re wide.

  ‘Real ones,’ Dave laughingly confirmed. ‘And in the evening there’s the chuckwagon racing.’

  ‘Those huge old wagons in races?’ Erin gasped, sure they must be too cumbersome.

  ‘Not quite.’ His mouth twisted. ‘They’ve been modified for speed. But it’s still exciting. And there’s exhibitions, livestock, a huge funfair with sideshows. You name it, they’ve got it!’

  She hadn’t been to a funfair since she was a child, and her expression was unknowingly wistful.

  ‘I’m sure Josh will take you,’ Dave said gently. ‘He usually goes once during the ten days.’

  ‘We’re going to England in two weeks.’

  ‘I know. But you’ll have time before you leave. Hey, I'm a bad host, would you like a coffee or anything? Or how about lemonade?’ he added as she was about to refuse. The real stuff,’ he added temptingly, ‘not the manufactured kind.’

  ‘Well . . . okay,’ she accepted. ‘Thank you.’

  He was back from the kitchen seconds later, a brimming glassful of pink lemonade in his hand. ‘I’d better go shower and shave. All right if I leave you for a while?’

  Of course,’ she assured him hastily, having been dreading personal questions about herself and Josh. ‘I’ll be fine.’

  He nodded. ‘I shouldn’t be long.’

  ‘Don’t rush on my account.’ She sipped her lemonade appreciatively.

  It was good to be able to relax for a few minutes, her body tensed for Josh’s arrival. She suddenly felt embarrassed about meeting him again, her presence here being an indication of her willingness to share his bed.

  She stood up restlessly, moving agitatedly about the room. A photograph on top of the stereo caught and held her attention. It was a photograph of Dave and a pretty dark-haired girl, the two of them looking lovingly into each other’s eyes.

  Erin looked up with a start as Dave, came back into the room, wearing a clean pair of denims and a checked shirt, his hair still damp from his shower. His expression darkened as he saw the photograph in her hand.

  Erin replaced it at once. ‘I—I’m sorry. I—She’s very beautiful,’ she said lamely.

  ‘Yes,’ Dave agreed abruptly, ‘she was.’

  ‘Was?’ Her eyes widened with bewilderment.

  ‘She died.’ He turned away, all boyishness erased as he looked older than his thirty years. ‘Josh is late,’ he murmured, looking at his wrist-watch, the time already after five.

  God, she was an idiot! She had obviously reopened a wound that hadn’t even healed the first time around; Dave’s eyes were darkly shadowed.

  ‘Would you rather I waited outside?’ she asked softly.

  ‘Hell, no!’ He seemed to shed his despondency with effort, his smile not quite as natural as it had been before his shower. ‘I guess I’m still a little sensitive where Sharon’s concerned. It happened just over a year ago, and I’m still not over it.’

  ‘I understand,’ Erin sympathised. ‘My mother died a year ago too, and I still miss her.’ Especially this last few weeks.

  ‘That’s rough,’ he shook his head.

  ‘Not as rough as losing your wife——’

  ‘We weren’t married,’ he cut in harshly. ‘Sharon died a month before the wedding. You thought we were married because of the house, didn’t you?’

  ‘Well . . . yes.’

  ‘We furnished and decorated it together,’ he revealed huskily. ‘I haven’t changed a thing.’

  ‘It’s all—perfect.’ And it was. Everywhere was golds and browns, the furniture elegant but comfortable.

  Dave nodded. ‘Sharon had a flair for things like that. She was very artistic.’

  ‘I didn’t mean to upset you,’ Erin sighed her regret.

  ‘You haven’t,’ he smiled. ‘It’s good to talk about her. I don’t know why it is, but everyone seems to assume that because someone you loved died they cease to have ever existed. I can’t remember the last time anyone mentioned Sharon.’

  ‘Perhaps they’re trying to spare you pain,’ she pointed out gently.

  ‘I’d rather talk about her than bottle all my memories of her up inside me.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Of course you do. Your mother—you were close to her?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then you do know how I feel. I——’ he broke off. ‘I think I heard Josh.’

  Erin instantly stiffened, the tension back. ‘You—you do?’

  ‘Yep,’ his easy-going grin was back, the shadows going from his eyes, ‘I’d know that walk anywhere.’

  She listened. ‘I can’t hear a thing,’ she shook her head.

  ‘You will,’ he said with certainty. ‘It’s Josh all right.’ There was the sound of the door opening and shutting, and a few seconds later Joshua Hawke entered the room.

  Erin’s breath caught in her throat as she looked at him. She had pushed to the back of her mind the raw masculinity of him, the sensuality that oozed out of every pore of his body, his green-eyed gaze seeming to strip the clothes from her body before he turned to look at Dave, his eyes narrowing as he took in the other man’s damp hair.

  What on earth was he thinking? Did he really think that just because she had spent an hour or so alone with Dave she had automatically been to bed with him? Two spots of angry colour heightened her cheeks.

  Josh turned back to her. ‘You got here okay, then.’

  ‘Obviously,’ she said tautly.

  ‘Like a beer, Josh?’ Dave cut through the tension, seemingly unaware of it—or else very tactful.

  ‘Thanks,’ the other man accepted tersely, not taking his eyes off Erin.

  ‘More lemonade, Erin?’ Dave smiled at her.

  ‘No, thanks, I’ve had enough.’ She deliberately infused warmth into her voice, ignoring Josh as she smiled at Dave.

  ‘I won’t be long.’ Dave left the two of them alone together, the twitching of his lips seeming to tell her that he knew exactly what was going on.

  Josh moved with long strides to sit beside her on the sofa, putting his hat on the floor beside him, his arm falling casually across her shoulders. ‘So, what did you do with your day?’ His tone was friendly now, his closeness unnerving.

  But Erin refused to be unnerved, shrugging out of the arc of his arm to sit away from him. ‘I didn’t spend any of it in Dave’s bed, if that’s what you want to know!’ she snapped, glaring at him.

  Josh smiled infuriatingly. ‘I know that,’ he drawled.

  ‘I don’t see how——’

  ‘I know, Erin,’ he repeated firmly, moving along the sofa to sit close to her again, his face only inches away from hers. ‘I’m still waiting for my hello kiss,’ he said softly.

  ‘Then you can go on waiting!’ she snapped. ‘I——’ her protest was cut off by his mouth being placed firmly over hers.

  It was a kiss he intended taking full pleasure from, parting her lips with the tip of his tongue, the kiss deepening, taking on new dimensions as her mouth parted to accept the intimacy of his.

  To a girl crying out for affection it was impossible to resist the pull of this kiss; she was unable to stop the involuntary movement of her arms going up about his throat, her hands tangled in the hair at his nape, loving its silky texture, the way her movements seemed to entice Josh on to further intimacies.

  Josh’s eyes smiled into hers as he slowly pulled her back to him. ‘Enjoy it, Erin. I am.’

  ‘But Dave——’

  ‘Enjoy!’ he murmured against her lips, his kiss slow and drugging.

  Erin looked at him dazedly when he at last raised his head, much more shaken than he appeared to be, his eyes deeply amused.

  ‘Lesson number one,’ he smiled.

  ‘How did I do?’ She saw his eyes widen, as if he was surprised by her calmness. No doubt he had expected her to lose her temper at his mockery, but she was past that. This afternoon she had decided to accept her fate, and she would keep to that decision.

  ‘B-plus,’ Josh drawl
ed, sitting back from her, his arm now resting along the sofa.

  Erin fluttered her eyelashes at him. ‘Only B-plus?’

  ‘You would have got an A-minus if you hadn’t pulled back when I——’

  ‘When you kissed me,’ she finished blushingly knowing exactly what he had been going to say. But she had never been kissed with such intimacy, and for a few moments it had surprised her.

  ‘Mm,’ he grinned. ‘And don’t flutter your eyelashes at me again,’ he told her sternly. ‘Some men might like it, but I don’t.’

  ‘Sorry!’ her sarcasm was unmistakable. ‘I thought that was the way I was supposed to act.’

  His face darkened ominously. ‘Let’s get one thing clear, Erin. You chose to meet me here, and by doing so you accepted our relationship. If you’ve changed your mind, fine, I’m not making you stay. But don’t try to act the whore to make me feel guilty——’

  ‘Oh, I didn’t—’

  ‘Yes, you did. And it won’t work. No one is forcing you to do anything. Are they?’ he insisted hardly.

  ‘No,’ Erin sighed. ‘I’m sorry—I’ll behave.’

  ‘I’m on my way in!’ Dave shouted before entering the room, two bottles of beer in his hands.

  ‘It took you long enough,’ Josh grinned as the other man almost threw the bottle at him. ‘Thanks,’ and he took a long swig from the opened bottle.

  ‘Okay, buddy,’ Dave nodded, drinking his own beer. ‘As for the time it took, I had to wait until it was safe to come in. After all, Erin is a beautiful woman.’

  ‘She certainly is,’ Josh drawled, his gaze moving appreciatively over her flushed face. ‘Almost ready to leave, honey?’

  She suffered the endearment without protest. ‘Whenever you are,’ she nodded.

  He finished his beer in one swallow, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before standing up. ‘Thanks for doing the truck, Dave. I appreciate it. I owe you one.’

  ‘Forget it,’ the other man dismissed. ‘Bring the car over some time, I’d be glad to check it over.’

  ‘I’ll bet,’ Josh grinned, putting out a hand to pull Erin to her feet. ‘I’ll think about it.’

  ‘Will I see you again before you go to England?’