CHAPTER SIX
She didn't know what had made such a thought enter her head, those eyes crinkling at the corners now as he smiled in greeting. Cat frowned, searching the lined face for the emotion she had just seen, finding only warm curiosity as he stood up, his brows raised as he saw his son's arm about her shoulders.
How could she have even thought this man was dying!
He was as lean and lithely built as Caleb, his trousers snug-fitting, as was the brown sweater he wore. But for a moment, just a brief moment, she had thought she had seen—no, she must have been mistaken. Lucien Steele's body looked as agile and healthy as Caleb claimed his mind still was.
'Miss Howard.' His accent was as English as his grandson's. 'It is Miss Howard, isn't it?' he added mockingly. 'Or are you a friend of my son's?' He quirked those silver brows again.
Colour darkened her cheeks before she hastily moved from within the circle of Caleb's arm. The last thing she needed was for Lucien Steele to make any more assumptions about Caleb and herself I After what Luke had already told him that would be all too easy!
'No. I mean, yes,' she amended at Caleb's sceptical expression. 'Er—that is—'
'I know what you're trying to say, Miss Howard,' Lucien Steele chuckled softly, looking past her to his son. 'Whatever Luke's other faults you have to admit he showed good taste,' he derided.
Caleb's mouth twisted mockingly. 'Unfortunately, good taste didn't come into it; Cat could have looked like a female wrestler and Luke would still have played his cruel little trick!' he rasped.
His father's eyes narrowed. 'Cruel?' he prompted softly.
'Cruel,' Caleb nodded grimly. 'Cat doesn't need any more pain in her life.'
Lucien Steele turned to her with widely curious eyes, and Cat squirmed a little under that close scrutiny. Just when she thought she couldn't stand it any more he turned back to his son. 'I'll see Miss Howard at four-thirty for tea,' he instructed curtly. 'Enjoy your day, Miss Howard,' he drawled before leaving.
Cat didn't move for several seconds, her breath seeming to be stuck in her throat. Then she gave a ragged sigh as it was released, turning to look at Caleb. 'Thank you.' She gave a weary smile. 'I have a feeling your father would have "eaten me alive" if you hadn't been here!'
Caleb grimaced. 'His bark's always been worse than his bite.' He held out a chair at the table for Cat to sit down.
She did so, shuddering slightly. 'I didn't think there could be another man as arrogantly outspoken as you,' she admitted candidly.
Caleb laughed softly. 'You've just met my tutor!'
She had already guessed that, Lucien Steeled hauteur all the more effective because it was hidden behind warm smiles Caleb didn't even try to affect. The author had completely unnerved her.
'Here,' Caleb poured her cup of coffee, adding the milk and spoonful of sugar she usually took.
Cat frowned at the act of intimacy, and yet she knew if she had been the one to pour his coffee that she would have known he took it black and unsweetened. She tried to remember how Harry took his coffee—and couldn't.
'I can serve myself, thank you,' she snapped, as Caleb would have put bacon and eggs down in front of her from the serving dishes on the side-table.
He gave her a narrow-eyed look. 'I've done it now,' he grated at her rebellious expression.
Green eyes warred with black. 'I don't like bacon or eggs,' she lied.
Irritation darkened his brow as he put the plate down at his own place. 'Then just tell me what you do like for breakfast and I'll get it for you!' he rasped.
Cat stared down at the white tablecloth in front of her. What she liked! She liked this man's arms around her, the feel of his lips against hers, the warm way he was starting to look at her. What she didn't like was liking those things!
'I'm not hungry.' This time she didn't lie; her appetite had completely deserted her. Only last night as she climbed into bed she had tried to remember the exact shade of blue of Harry's eyes, only to have them superseded by unfathomable black orbs. She was starting to forget Harry, and it was all this man's fault!
'I think I'd like to work this morning if you—'
'We're going skiing,' he told her flatly, the food in front of him remaining untouched.
'I told you, I can't ski—'
'And I told you you can learn,' he bit out.
'I don't want to,' she snapped.
Cruelly thinned lips twisted with displeasure. 'I would advise you to remember that you're a guest here,' he threatened softly.
'And if I don't behave myself you'll ask me to leave!' her eyes flashed.
'No—'
'I think yes!' She stood up. 'I don't give out bedroom favours to keep my informant sweet!' she told him with distaste.
'Be quiet, you little fool!' Caleb stood up, too, his expression fierce. 'You don't know what you're talking about!'
'I know,' she assured him heatedly.
'Damn you, Cat,' he grated harshly. 'You—' He broke off as the door was suddenly opened.
'Oops!' An embarrassed looking Norm had become the object of Caleb's glitteringly angry gaze the instant he showed himself to be the intruder. 'I was going to join you for breakfast,' he told them awkwardly, the tension between Cat and Caleb so thick it could almost be touched. 'But I can always come back later.' Once you've left, he mentally seemed to add.
'No.' Cat stopped him as he turned to leave, deeply regretting that he should have had to walk in on yet another argument between herself and Caleb. 'I'll go—'
'No, I will,' Caleb rasped coldly. 'I have some things to do before we go out.'
Cat knew that the last was a warning that the two of them were still going skiing today, and she sat down shakily as the door was slammed behind him. What was happening to her? She didn't even particularly like Caleb, and yet he was slowly pushing all the memories she had of Harry from her mind. Except one. She still remembered the way she had loved him and he had loved her. And those feelings had no resemblance to the way she and Caleb felt about each other.
She felt a little better as she raised her head to smile at Norm. 'Come and sit down,' she invited smoothly. 'Caleb and I were just having our daily dispute.' She tried to make light of the heated argument he had interrupted.
'Who won?' he derided, sitting down beside the bacon and eggs Caleb hadn't touched.
She gave a rueful smile. 'Guess!'
He laughed softly. 'What did you make of Lucien?' he asked curiously.
'Like son, like father,' she misquoted drily.
Norm nodded. 'They're alike all right,' he grinned.
'And you like both of them immensely.'
'Immensely,' he teasingly mimicked her English accent. 'And so do you.'
'Has any woman ever liked Caleb?' she ridiculed the lukewarm emotion in connection with that arrogant man.
'You could be right,' Norm acknowledged slowly. 'But you feel something for him.'
Did she? He was a torment and a tease, but yes, she felt something for him. The question was, what was it?
She watched him surreptitiously as he drove the Range Rover towards Aviemore and the Cairngorm mountains. He was still furiously angry with her for the way she had acted at breakfast. She had known that from the moment he brought Norm's ski-suit to her at her bedroom and instructed her to put it on; had been even more convinced of it as they made the drive in total silence, his mouth a thin line, his eyes harshly narrowed.
Finally she had had enough. 'If I apologise will you stop sulking?' she cajoled.
Black eyes flashed her an angry glare. 'I do not sulk!'
At that moment he was doing exactly that, reminding Cat of a disgruntled little boy who couldn't get his own way. She had difficulty holding back her smile. 'Caleb, I am sorry.'
'For what?' he bit out. 'I only poured you a cup of coffee, and put you some breakfast on a plate!'
Her humour faded as her eyes took on a haunted look. 'Maybe if I could explain—'
'I wish someone would,' h
e rasped tightly. 'One minute we were sharing a joke about the similarity between my father and me and the next you were snapping my head off for God knows what!'
She closed her eyes, knowing he had a right to be angry and confused. 'It was the coffee.' She kept her eyes closed, although she sensed his startled look. 'I suddenly realised—' She swallowed hard, knowing she owed him this explanation, even though it was painful to make. 'You take your coffee black and unsweetened?' she said with a sigh.
'Yes,' he confirmed impatiently, as if he didn't understand what they had to do with anything.
'And you know I take a little milk and one spoonful of sugar,' she said sadly. 'It made me realise I no longer remembered how Harry took his coffee. I know it must seem silly, but—'
'No.' His hand covered both of hers as they moved restlessly on her lap. 'It isn't silly,' he assured her huskily. 'And I understand now.'
She looked at him with shadowed eyes. 'You do?' she frowned.
'Yes.' He turned to give her a gentle smile. 'Thank you for explaining to me.'
He didn't say any more, and neither did she, the silence between them companionable now.
Cat's eyes began to sparkle in anticipation as the mountains that could be seen in the distance from the Steele home took on their proper proportions once they had driven through the pretty little town of Aviemore, the snow heavier the nearer they got to the mountains, the road that went up to the skiing area packed at the sides with cleared snow.
Dozens of cars were parked in the area before the ski-lodge, laughing happy people dressed similarly to Cat and Caleb getting out of their vehicles to unstrap their skis from roof-racks, boot-racks, inside cars and trucks, from any place they had managed to secure them. With their ski-boots on and their skis thrown over their shoulders they looked very professional.
'Caleb, I don't think I—'
'You'll love it,' he predicted, before climbing out of the Range Rover, his own navy blue ski-suit showing the lithe perfection of his body.
Cat climbed out more reluctantly, following him round to the back of the vehicle. 'I'll make a fool of myself,' she grimaced.
'And what's wrong with making a fool of yourself now and then?' He pulled the skis and poles easily out on to the packed snow beneath their feet.
'That's easy for you to say,' she snapped crossly. 'You've never done it!'
He looked round at her in stunned surprise, frowning slightly before he began to chuckle. 'You know, I think you're right. Except maybe once,' he sobered. 'When I mistook the motives of the honey-blonde cat curled up in my bed!'
'That wasn't your fault,' she exonerated him of all blame.
'No, it wasn't,' he acknowledged hardly. 'But I seem to have made an idiot of myself several more times over the same cat the last few weeks. So one more time isn't going to make much difference,' he said mockingly, before moving determinedly towards her.
'Caleb!'
'What?' His eyes were dark with desire as he took her in his arms.
'We're in a public car park!' As if to prove her panicked protest a car whooshed past them looking for a parking space further up.
'So?' he murmured close to her lips.
'So I don't go in for displays!'
Caleb laughed softly. 'Neither do I—usually.' His mouth claimed hers in a kiss that wouldn't be denied, running his tongue moistly along the edge of her lower lip, but not entering the warm cavern beneath.
Cat forgot where they were, no longer heard the laughing voices of the people around them as her arms shyly moved up around his neck and she returned the kiss.
Caleb was the one to finally end the fiery caress. 'I think we had better go skiing,' he said ruefully as he put her away from him.
'Don't you mean falling?' A disgruntled Cat followed in his wake, happy to let him carry both pairs of skis while she clumsily tried to keep her balance in Norm's cumbersome ski-boots.
He turned to give her a grin. 'Do you know what I like about you the most?'
Colour darkened her cheeks. 'Caleb!' She looked about them self-consciously to see if anyone had heard his remark.
He gave a throaty chuckle. 'Catherine Howard,' he reproved with amusement, 'I was referring to the fact that you have the ability to make me laugh.'
'Oh good,' she said with sarcasm, holding on to the wall of the building as they walked up the steps beside the lodge towards the ski-lifts, wondering how Caleb managed to make the task look so damned easy. Everyone else made it look easy!
Caleb stopped to wait for her, amusement still lurking in the dark eyes as she panted up the steps. 'It's a wonderful gift. Cat,' he chided. 'People enjoy just being around you.'
She refused to meet his gaze in case he should see the unexpected tears of sentiment appear in her eyes. 'In that case you're really going to enjoy the next couple of hours!' she deliberately misunderstood him.
'Would you prefer to have a professional teacher?' He took pity on her awkwardness.
She had no doubt that this man ski'd well enough to have been a professional; he seemed to do everything well. 'Why let a complete stranger have the benefit of all that amusement?' she derided.
'Cat—'
'Caleb, I really don't mind.' She let him see the laughter in her eyes. 'If you don't.'
'I'll enjoy teaching you to ski,' he assured her.
And in the next hour or so Cat learnt why he enjoyed it! 'Teaching her to ski', gave Caleb ample opportunity to touch her and caress her as he demonstrated the movements she should make with her body, and then helped her up as she fell flat on her bottom. After the embarrassment of the first few falls Cat found the whole thing hilarious, falling laughingly into Caleb's waiting arms.
They had taken the chair-lift half-way up the mountain, carrying their skis with them, for which Cat was very grateful; all the ski-lifts she had seen on television always had the skiers getting on and off with their skis firmly fixed to their boots. The view when they got off was wonderful the crisp air exhilarating, and if she didn't make too much of a success of her first day's skiing she didn't particularly care.
'That's enough for today,' Caleb decided after almost two hours. 'You're getting cold and tired.'
She hadn't thought he had noticed, and she hadn't liked to say when they were having such a good time. She should have known Caleb would know exactly how she was feeling!
'Why don't you go back up and have a nice long run down from the top?' she suggested once he had brought her down on the chair-lift. 'It can't have been much fun just teaching me. I know you enjoyed it,' she mocked as he went to protest, 'but I'm sure you could give most of the people here a lesson on how it should be done!' He moved about on his skies as if he were born to them and not as if they were a mortal enemy that kept sliding away from him as hers did.
'You're cold—'
'If you give me the keys I can let myself into the Range Rover.'
He was tempted, it was there in the wistful expression of his eyes.
'Please,' she encouraged.
'If you're sure…?'
'I wouldn't have suggested it if I weren't,' she teased.
'OK.' He got the Range Rover's keys out of his pocket. 'I won't be long,' he promised, kissing her swiftly on the mouth before getting back on the chair-lift.
Cat had no intention of returning to the Range Rover without him, moving to the shelter of the lodge to watch Caleb descend. He moved easily and gracefully, barely using the poles he carried, making the sport look easy, when Cat knew very well that it wasn't. She wasn't the only one admiring him, several other people turning to watch him. And why not? He looked as if he ought to have been a professional.
Several people congratulated him as he ski'd down the small slope to the lodge, his eyes widening as he saw Cat waiting for him.
'I just wanted to see how it should be done,' she teased lightly.
'If I'd known you were watching I would have done a couple of fancy turns.' He took off his skis to walk along beside her.
No,
he wouldn't, because he wasn't the exhibitionist type, and they both knew it. He wasn't showy or self-inflated, he was just confident in what he did.
'Lunch, I think,' he suggested on the drive back down to Aviemore.
Cat thought lunch sounded a good idea as she suddenly realized how hungry she was. .
Caleb parked the Range Rover in Aviemore station, leaving Cat to pull on her walking boots while he went to get the display ticket. Aviemore wasn't a big place, but it had several nice shops, and Cat entered a toy shop to buy one of the space toys that were such a hit with children at the moment.
'A secret hobby?' Caleb mocked once they emerged on to the street again.
'Hardly,' she returned drily. 'My nephew is fascinated by them at the moment.'
'Nephew?' he echoed sharply. 'You said you didn't have a brother.'
'I don't,' she derided.
'But a nephew '
'Means that I have a sibling,' she mocked. 'Really, Caleb, I didn't think you were a chauvinist,' she taunted. 'Vikki is like a sister to me, but—which reminds me.' Her eyes were wide. 'Could I telephone her later to let her know I'm all right? She was sure you were going to be here this weekend; I'm sure she would like to know she was right,' she grimaced.
'By all means call your friend,' he nodded.
'Vikki is like a sister to you, but ?' he prompted.
She smiled. 'I have the bona fide kind. Susan is ten years older than me, and my nephew Josh is eight.'
Caleb didn't return her smile, as she had thought he would, but frowned darkly. 'I know very little about you really, do I?' he muttered, as if the realisation deeply displeased him.
There's no reason why you should '
'There's every reason,' he grated. 'Over lunch you can tell me your life story, from the moment the doctor slapped your bottom.'
'In the first place you'll be bored,' she warned him. 'And in the second,' she grimaced, the doctor didn't need to slap my bottom; I was so indignant at being born that I promptly disgraced myself all down the front of his nice green robe. So my mother tells me,' she added ruefully.
No Longer a Dream Page 9