‘How’s she shaping up?’ Rhys asked Todd, but his eyes on Alix in the driving mirror.
‘Just great. And she loves flying; I’m gonna have her take flying lessons.’
Rhys laughed. ‘To hell with the typing, if she’s as nuts as you over flying, is that it?’ He glanced back at Alix. ‘Todd only comes out to the sites so he can fly the plane.’
She leant forward and put her arms on the back of the seats. ‘You’re a flying freak, huh?’
‘Aw, he’s given my secret away,’ Todd grinned.
Alix chuckled, liking the way they joked with one another, thinking that if the two men were on such good terms, then Rhys stood a really good chance of taking over from Todd. Being Todd’s assistant meant that she had obviously learnt quite a lot about the company hierarchy. His father, old Mr Weston, was now in his seventies, but was only reluctantly and slowly handing over to Todd. To his credit, Todd was being very patient about this, gradually taking on more on the Canadian side, but unable yet to be there permanently. Which meant a great deal of commuting and astronomical fax and phone bills.
Todd didn’t seem to mind the travelling, but Alix had learnt from Brenda that it was playing hell with his personal life. His wife and two children were at present based in England and his wife wanted to stay there at least until the children had finished primary school. Todd, though, wanted them to move back to Canada, which would help persuade his father to retire completely. The old man seemed to think he ought to keep going so that Todd could be with them in England.
‘No one knows for sure,’ Brenda confided, ‘but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Todd’s wife hasn’t said something to old Mr Weston; he seemed quite willing to retire not that long ago, then changed his mind.’
‘Would she do that?’ Alix had asked, surprised.
‘I wouldn’t put it past her,’ Brenda answered with a sniff.
Alix had met Todd’s wife. She came to the office one day, shortly after Alix had got the job, and Todd had introduced them. Her name was Lynette and she was English. She was a rather short woman but with a good figure, and wore the most elegant clothes.
‘So you’re the girl that Rhys has been keeping so secret all this time,’ Mrs Weston remarked, looking her over. She smiled at Alix, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. ‘Well, I hope you’ll both be very happy. You must come to the house soon and have dinner.’
‘Thank you, we’d love to. But I’m afraid Rhys is away at the moment,’ Alix answered, rightly guessing that the invite wasn’t for her alone.
Mrs Weston nodded. ‘As soon as he comes back, then. He’s always such an asset at a party. Well, good luck in the new job. Oh, and try, if you can, to stop this husband of mine overworking.’ And she put a possessive hand on Todd’s shoulder.
Mrs Weston left soon afterwards, and Alix had the distinct impression that she had only come to look her over. Out of curiosity, Alix supposed. There could certainly be no cause for jealousy when she was engaged to Rhys. Only then did it occur to her that that was probably the reason Todd had picked her for the job in the first place.
Back in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, the three of them had dinner together, but then Todd tactfully left Rhys and Alix alone, if you could call sitting in a hotel lounge full of other people being alone. Rhys obviously didn’t because he took her hand to help her to her feet from the low couch, and said, ‘Let’s go for a drive.’
It was very hot outside after the air-conditioned coolness of the hotel. Rhys had an American convertible car and the breeze was gorgeous as they drove around the town. The city was built in a huge oasis so there were lots of palm trees sheltering the beautiful white buildings of the palace and university. Alix admired them all, but was impatient to be in Rhys’s arms. He drove through an ornate gateway in the walls of the city and then through the acres of date gardens which surrounded it until they came to the open desert. Only then, where there was no one to see, did he pull off the road and park. But even then he put the top up before he turned to kiss her.
His lips were hard, urgent, and for several long, intoxicating minutes Alix knew that he’d missed her, that there was desire in the hands that fondled her, in the mouth that crushed hers with passion. ‘Sweetheart,’ Rhys murmured against her mouth. ‘My sweet little urchin.’
‘I’m too old for you to call me that any more,’ Alix told him, her fingers in his hair. ‘I’ll soon be twenty-one.’ She drew back a little to look at the lean lines of his face in the clear moonlight. ‘Will you be able to get back for my birthday? My mother wants to have a party for me.’
‘Your mother is always having parties.’
‘I know,’ Alix laughed. ‘But so is yours. Any old excuse will do. But it would be nice; I could show you off to all my college friends who haven’t met you yet.’
‘So that’s the only reason you want me there, is it?”
‘You know it’s not,’ Alix said earnestly. Putting her hands on either side of his face, she looked deep into his eyes, then bent to kiss him lingeringly. ‘I adore you,’ she whispered, her lips gently brushing his. ‘I long to be with you, to be a part of you.’
His arms tightened around her, crushed her against him, and Rhys would have kissed her again but a truck came along the road, its headlights lighting the car. Immediately Rhys drew back, sitting sideways in his seat, screening her, but even so the truck driver sounded his horn mockingly, as if he knew.
‘Damn him,’ Rhys said feelingly.
‘Couldn’t we go back to the hotel?’
‘It might be an idea; this is hardly the country for showing you how much I’ve missed you.’
‘No, I mean…Couldn’t you show me, back in my room?’ Alix suggested tremulously.
Rhys sighed and leaned forward to kiss her. ‘Temptress! I wish we could, urchin, but I’ve got to be careful. Getting the contract for the oil refinery is too important to risk a diplomatic incident.’
Alix was disappointed but had expected as much, so she said teasingly, ‘You don’t think making love to me would be worth it?’ And she slipped her hand inside his shirt to caress his chest, twirling her fingers in his hairs, making his nipples stand on end.
He groaned against her neck, caught her hand to stop her. ‘It might at that,’ he said thickly. ‘Who taught you to do that?’
‘Wouldn’t you like to know,’ she taunted, but was immediately taken aback when his hand tightened sharply on her wrist.
‘Who?’ Rhys demanded in a tone that couldn’t be denied.
Alix drew back a little, not at all frightened and rather elated. She hadn’t known before that she had the power to make him jealous. But she didn’t use it, instead saying, ‘No one taught me; I saw it in a film. Do you like it?’
‘Of course I do, idiot. But now isn’t the time or the place. Now I’m really going to have to get back to the hotel so I can have a cold shower.’
She laughed, pleased with these new powers: to turn him on until he groaned, to make him jealous. OK, so they couldn’t make love, but finding out these things went a long way to compensate for it.
The next day she was left to sunbathe in the privacy of the hotel pool while Todd and Rhys tried to set up a meeting with the minister, but on the following day Alix found out yet a third thing about herself. They all went to the reception at the British Embassy and Alix, forewarned by Brenda, wore a long, straight skirt and a lacy top with long sleeves and a high neck in a pale peach colour that matched the tones in her engagement ring. It was a far more sophisticated outfit than Alix was used to wearing, so she got the hairdresser at the hotel to put her hair up into a pleat with a few little tendrils of hair loose around her ears and neck.
She liked the effect and so did Rhys when she joined him and Todd in the foyer. Rhys’s eyes widened and an arrested look came into them. He took her hand and leaned forward to say in her ear, ‘You’re becoming quite beautiful, urchin.’
Todd complimented her, too, and Alix glowed with happiness
. She felt great being with Rhys when he wore his white dinner jacket, he looked so good, and Todd, too, was smart in his. Each of them smilingly offered her an arm and they all three walked out to the waiting car.
They drove to the embassy, where she expected to just blend in the background, but Todd introduced her to several of the Arab guests, who seemed charmed by her, and she found instead that she became quite a centre of attention. At first she thought it was because she was introduced as Rhys’s fiancée, but several lonely young men, expatriates working in Saudi, wanted to meet her for her own sake. In fact, Rhys had to elbow his way through them to reach her, and determinedly walked her away to the other side of the room. ‘If you get any lovelier,’ he said lightly, ‘I shall have to issue you with a chastity belt.’
That made her laugh, but she slipped her arm in his and said, ‘I’ve a better idea.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Marry me straight away and take me with you wherever you go.’
Rhys gave her one of his lazy, intimate smiles, that always turned her heart over, he looked so devastating. ‘Looking at you tonight, that idea seems more attractive by the minute.’
But though he’d said it, when Rhys came home from Saudi Arabia, the contract in the bag, he made no move to set a date for their marriage. And he’d missed her twenty-first birthday, to Alix’s deep disappointment. The negotiations had reached a crucial stage and he just couldn’t leave. A great bouquet of flowers arrived from him on the day, and he phoned and sent her the most beautiful bracelet, but his absence spoiled her birthday. How could she celebrate when Rhys wasn’t there to share it with her? Or to show off to her friends; Alix had very much been looking forward to that, too.
It was a disappointment, but working for Todd had taught her how delicate negotiations to get a contract could be, so she tried to understand. And she tried to understand when Rhys was almost immediately sent off to Australia again to deal with some problem that had arisen with the project there.
Learning to understand became almost a way of life. Whenever Rhys came home she would confidently expect him to tell her to name the day for their wedding, but there always seemed to be some contract he had to try and get or problem he had to deal with, which meant him jetting off to some new country. Or else she was away somewhere with Todd, who was having problems of his own. His father had put more work in his hands, enough to warrant going to live in Canada again, but his wife had refused point-blank to leave England. While he tried to persuade her to change her mind, he commuted endlessly across the Atlantic, often taking Alix with him. They usually went by scheduled flights, and Alix began to feel that she lived either in London or Toronto airports; she certainly seemed to see more of them than anywhere else.
She wasn’t the only one that was flying; time flew by, too. All too quickly. Alix filled some of her spare hours with cookery lessons, because Rhys had suggested it. She was able to afford decent clothes now, and developed a chic, elegantly casual style of her own, filling Saturdays when she was alone by wandering round the stores in whatever country she happened to be in. She had stopped buying household stuff; the spare room at home was full of it and her mother had told her to stop or there would be nothing that anyone could buy her for wedding presents. Which they both knew was a tactful way for her to call a halt.
Christmas came and went, with Rhys managing to get home for only a few days. Days in which she had to share him with his parents and relations and had little time alone with him. When they were alone he was as devastating as ever, setting alive all the aching yearning and frustration all over again. She wanted him so much. She told him so, but he refused to be rushed into a hurried wedding and brief honeymoon.
‘We’re going to do this properly,’ he told her again. ‘You know that’s what the parents want. You don’t want to disappoint them, do you? We’ll be married as soon as I take over from Todd.’
But things didn’t work out for Todd. He had to give in to his wife, and promised her one more year in England. But it meant he had to put someone else temporarily in charge in Canada while he based himself in England again. For Alix it was a bitter disappointment, for both sets of parents, too. But Rhys, when she told him over the phone, seemed strangely philosophical about it.
‘It’s only for another year, urchin. Todd will keep his word, you’ll see. If he’s given his wife a time limit, then he’ll keep to it.’
‘But what about us? I don’t want to have to wait another whole year,’ Alix protested, almost in tears.
‘It isn’t all bad news, Alix. Todd has promised me that I’ll take over for him.’
‘He has? Oh, that—that’s good.’ She tried to be pleased, but a thought occurred to her and she said, ‘Did you already know about this, Rhys?’
‘That he was going to stay on for another year? Yes. But don’t get angry that I didn’t tell you; Todd didn’t want anyone else to know at the time.’
‘You’re very loyal to Todd,’ Alix remarked, unable to hide the bitterness in her tone.
‘It’s part of the job. You know that. You’re as much involved with the company as I am now.’
‘Yes,’ Alix agreed. But though she loved the job she loved Rhys a whole lot more, and she felt that he ought to feel the same. ‘But can’t we get married anyway? I don’t see any point in waiting.’
But she couldn’t persuade him; the most she could get out of him was a promise to discuss it when he got home, probably at Christmas again.
It seemed that she wasn’t the only one bringing pressure to bear on Rhys; his parents, too, had been urging him to settle down, with the result that when he came home there was an obstinate line to his mouth. Alix recognised it and immediately gave up any idea of urging him to set a date. She realised she would have to change tactics and her first thought, remembering how he had reacted before, was to make him jealous. But when she reviewed all the men she knew and might use in her mind, she at once saw that there wasn’t one of them that Rhys wouldn’t look at and immediately know what game she was playing. There just wasn’t one who came even close to having his magnetism, his masculine appeal. So, driven to desperation, she got him alone and tried to seduce him.
They were in London. Rhys was staying in his flat and had arranged for them to go out to dinner with Todd and his wife and another couple, all meeting up at the restaurant at seven-thirty. Alix was supposed to meet Rhys at his flat at seven, but instead, at six-fifteen, she took a taxi round to the flat and let herself in with her key. Rhys was in the shower, whistling. Nothing could be better. Summoning up all her courage, Alix swiftly took off all her clothes, crept into the bathroom, and got into the shower behind him while he was washing his hair, his eyes blinded by soap.
His body was beautiful, so lean and powerful, his shoulders wide and his arms muscled. He was still tanned, except for the one white patch that his swimming trunks had covered. Soap ran down him in white rivulets. Her body tense, shaking with nerves, Alix put her arms round him, lifted her hands and began to massage the soap over his chest.
Rhys froze in stupefied surprise, then threw the soap aside as he whirled round to face her. ‘Alix!’ He said her name in thunderstruck amazement.
‘Hello, Rhys.’ She gave him a vivid smile, her eyes eager, but a little afraid of his reaction. Stepping forward under the cascading water, she put her hands on his shoulders and reached up to kiss him.
His hands covered hers, and for a terrible moment Alix thought that he was going to push her away. He did in fact make a movement to do so, but then Rhys’s eyes travelled down from her face and his hands tightened convulsively as his gaze went on down her body.
Taking full advantage, Alix found his lips and kissed him hungrily, the water on her hair, streaming down her back. Rhys returned the kiss avidly, putting his hands on her shoulders and holding her against him. His body hardened, so quickly, so much, that it startled her. She stepped back a little, wanting to look at him but embarrassed to do so. Instead she looked into
Rhys’s eyes, a flush of colour creeping into her cheeks. His face was tense with need, dark hunger in his eyes. Stooping, he picked up the soap and began to rub it over her, his lips finding hers again as he did so, bending her back against his left arm so that he had the freedom of her body. Soon he dropped the soap again and used his hand to massage the lather over her, from her neck to her knees, but concentrating on all the curves in between.
Alix began to writhe and moan with desire, not knowing that her body could be so roused, that it was possible to feel such excitement, such hunger.
Suddenly Rhys pulled her to him again, kissed her lips, her breasts, on down her body. Alix cried out, her head thrown back, fingers digging his shoulders, unable to bear it. ‘Rhys! Rhys!’ She cried out his name in an agony of frustrated hunger.
He straightened, looked down at her for a moment as she lay back in his arms, eyes wild, her nipples hard and thrusting. Reaching out, he turned off the shower, then deliberately began to explore her, finding the sensitive areas that Alix had read about but never before known she had. Her breath came in small, gasping pants, and she moaned under his hand. Then could stand it no longer and broke free, only to throw herself against him, moving her hips against his, wanting, wanting, wanting. A shudder ran through him and Rhys gave a gasping groan. Picking her up in his arms, he carried her through into the bedroom, dropped her as she was, soaking wet, on to the bed, stood over her for a moment.
Alix looked up at him and blushed all over. She had never seen a naked man in the flesh before, didn’t know that this was how a man would look when he was aroused. She became a little frightened, but terribly excited, too. This was what her body was made for, and it was on fire with a primitive, urgent need to be taken. She reached up for him. ‘Rhys. Oh, Rhys, I love you so much. I want you so much.’
His breathing was harsh in his throat, bending over her he ran his hand down her body, felt the great quiver of mingled excitement and trepidation that ran through her. Lifting his eyes, Rhys read the nervous apprehension in hers. Suddenly he drew back, hesitated, then stood up. Going into the bathroom he put on a robe, came back and sat on the edge of the bed. Because he had clothes on, Alix immediately felt embarrassed at being naked. Pulling the quilt up around her, she looked at him uncertainly.
To Have And To Hold (Mills & Boon Vintage 90s Modern) Page 6