by Kris Pearson
“Sorry, I meant to ask—” she heard him saying as he returned, unheard, on the thick carpet.
Kate attempted to haul the jersey over her head, but it snagged on the big spring clip holding the top of her hair back. She tugged, infuriated, but the jersey held firm, and she was blind above and far too bare beneath. She struggled, enraged and embarrassed.
“Oops, sorry,” Matthew murmured, sounding anything but. “Hold on—I can see where you’re snagged. Stop tugging like that.”
“Go away,” she spat, through gritted teeth.
“Kate, you have two pretty layers over your enticing body—pretend you’re decent,” he said.
One of his warm hands pushed up over her face and into her hair, working the clip free. She would have given a lot not to have been wearing the sexy black and red bra and camisole she’d put on to boost her confidence. ‘Two pretty layers’ he’d said. Obviously he’d checked them both out.
“Good girl,” he said, finally sliding his hand away.
Furious, she pushed out through the polo neck of the jersey and faced him, flushed and dishevelled, thrusting her arms through the sleeves and dragging some cover over her body at last. “What did you want?” she demanded.
“I just wondered if you’d rather have tea or coffee.” It looked as though he was working hard to keep his face blank and neutral.
Kate glared at him though a curtain of tangled hair. “Coffee—please.” To her own ears she sounded barely civil.
“In the living room in five minutes then.” He raised a dark eyebrow and left her to recover any bits of composure she could.
Darn, darn, darn! That was so unprofessional.
She heaved a deep sigh and collapsed onto the bed in despair. How could she hope to be taken seriously after displaying such tarty underwear? It had only been a joke. A private laugh. She and her friend Shelley had each bought a set at a lingerie party a few weeks ago. A bra so low-cut it was barely decent, with transparent lacy cups. And a gauzy black camisole with matching scarlet trim. Also far from concealing. No doubt he’d seen right through both. Kate’s confidence shrivelled even further.
She stretched his five minutes out nearer to ten while she summoned the courage to face him again. She unpacked her overnight bag, and gave her hair a vigorous brushing, leaving it loose now she was out of the wind. As she prowled back through the enormous house, a car gave a cheerful toot somewhere close. She paused, out of sight. Heard Matthew opening the front door. A woman responded to his greeting.
“Good to see you,” he said.
“How is she?” the woman asked. Kate stayed concealed.
“Distraught of course. Major dramatics. But genuinely damaged, poor dear.”
It sounded as though he was talking about a farm animal, not a wife. Could this visitor be more than a friend? He looked the sort of man who’d collect women easily. Debauched. Dissolute. Kate tried to think of other suitable words for someone with such a hard, lived-in face.
“Kate,” he yelled.
Guilt made her jump. “Just coming,” she called back, rounding the last bend between them.
“Kate Pleasance... my sister-in-law, Diana,” he offered by way of introduction. Kate had to work hard to hide her surprise. She’d been half expecting a slinky creature in designer gear, but what she found was a cheerful short-haired blonde in jeans and a bulky brown jersey. “You’re right in time for coffee, Di,” Matthew added, striding off toward the living area, plainly expecting the two women would follow.
“You live close?” Kate asked, as they strolled more slowly behind him.
“Not far. About five miles. You’re not from here?”
“Auckland. We have our green volcanoes, but no scenery like this.” She waved at hand at the nearby mountains.
Diana laughed, and led the way to a group of chairs by the window. Kate chose one with her back to the expansive view—she wanted the light on Matthew’s face. She watched him covertly as he set the tray down on a low table. The smell of freshly ground coffee beans wrapped around them.
He moved very quietly for a big man—no wonder she’d not heard him turn back to her room. She pictured him stalking prey in the wild, sliding noiselessly over rough ground. A predator. She was pleased with the word.
He sat—and her eyes immediately flew to the fabric of his dark trousers. Legs that might have been thin proved to have powerfully muscular thighs. “Are you a climber?” she blurted.
He glanced across and began to pour the coffee. “I enjoy tramping, but I don’t feel the need to scale mountain peaks.” He passed her a steaming cup. “It would be a shame not to go out and enjoy spectacular countryside like this. I’ll buy you some decent walking boots if you get to stay.”
It was probably the oddest offer she’d ever had. But it spurred Diana into sudden conversation. “Oh—you’re the helper for Lottie,” she exclaimed. “I thought you were one of Matthew’s friends.”
He gave a sardonic smile. “She’s from the big smoke,” he said. “Might find it a total bore around here.” Kate knew he was watching for her reaction.
“Oh, surely not,” Diana chuckled. “You and Lottie are enough to entertain half the country.”
“Nothing’s settled yet, Di.”
Kate sensed a warning in the words. Maybe he’d decided she wasn’t suitable?
“It was time I did something different,” she replied to Diana. “This seemed like an interesting change.”
“I can’t imagine there’s another job like it in the whole of New Zealand. You’d need to make it up as you go along, I should think.”
“If I get offered the job. And if I decide to take it.”
She caught the slight flicker of surprise on Matthew’s face as he handed Diana her coffee.
He stood. “Talk amongst yourselves, ladies,” he said. “I’m going to try the hospital again.”
He fingered his mobile, but then crossed the big room to the landline, needing to get away from her. The trickle of sexual awareness had spread through his body again—advancing until it was a positive tide of sensation.
Damn, but he only had to be close to her to react like a teenager. How delicious it would be to have a couple more days with her, here in the privacy of the house. No rushing, no pressure—just letting things take their natural course. Surely he’d be able to keep her under close surveillance for so short a time?
He rubbed a finger unthinkingly backward and forward along his bottom lip while he waited for the hospital to answer. The nerve endings in the sensitive pad of flesh set up a desperate clamour to have soft lips sucking and sliding over his skin. With a silent curse, he tore his finger away but the sensation tingled on.
Diana smiled at Kate. “I’m sure you’d find this an invigorating atmosphere.”
“Maybe too much so?” Kate inquired, flicking a glance toward Matthew as he stood by the phone.
“Ahhhh...” Diana murmured. And said no more on that subject. Kate would very much have liked to quiz her further, but it was difficult to find suitable words. In any case, Matthew concluded his call very quickly. She presumed the small hospital was easier to communicate with than the giant one at home in Auckland.
He returned to his chair and stood for a moment, staring out toward the mountains, body tense, legs braced back. Kate watched him, fascinated. His eyes glittered like mercury in the low sun.
Suddenly he turned further toward her. “Kate—can you stay for a few more days? They want to keep Lottie overnight, but we can have her back tomorrow. I’d appreciate you being here for a bit, if you can arrange it?”
She found him impossible to refuse, and nodded. “Yes—that’s okay.” She had nothing urgent to return to Auckland for, and staying and being helpful might count in her favour job-wise. At least she’d get to meet Lottie, even if no permanent offer of employment followed. And it would give her more time to size up the situation. To see how difficult it might be living close to Matthew...
“Good—let’s go shoppi
ng, then. I’ll get you some warm clothes and decent boots and things.”
“I won’t need boots,” she protested.
“Going to spend the whole time in those pretty little heels?” he suggested, running appreciative eyes down her legs. He turned to Diana. “This could be fun. Where shall we go?”
Kate shook her head as his words sank in and Matthew and Diana discussed shops. She didn’t want to be treated like a paper doll, to be dressed up as some sort of game to amuse him while Lottie was out of the house. “I’ll buy a few things for myself tomorrow,” she said firmly.
Matthew glanced at his watch. “There’s plenty of time,” he said, clattering the coffee cups back onto the tray.
“No, it truly doesn’t matter today,” she insisted.
“We’re off now,” he insisted. “There are other things that need doing tomorrow.”
Diana shrugged and gave Kate a conspiratorial smile. She seemed not to mind being dismissed so ungraciously. “Nice to meet you, Kate,” she said. “We’ll see you about eight tonight, Matthew,” she called as she departed.
Kate closed her eyes with annoyance and sighed gustily. She rose with resignation. What had she just got herself into?
CHAPTER THREE
How easily the chance had presented itself! Matthew smiled, unseen, as he led her along the main hallway again. Now he had several days to enjoy the company of the delectable Miss Pleasance. Not to mention dig around and find out what she was really here for. With Lottie so conveniently injured, he could devote most of his time to Kate. It would certainly be no hardship.
Her CV had listed a business degree and indicated she had a marketing background. Business degrees seemed to be a dime a dozen these days. And ‘marketing’ covered everything from serious strategic planning to supermarket shelf stacking as far as he could see.
He thought wryly back to bouncy Penny Carew who’d made a play for him after he’d parted from Martine. Penny’s ‘marketing’ job had proved to be running a demo stand at the deli—frying and handing out bacon samples. He wondered what Kate’s marketing job had entailed, and if it had even existed. There was every chance it was a fake. He’d get her checked out.
But there was nothing fake about her body, that was for sure. He knew he should have knocked when he turned back to her room earlier, but her door hadn’t been closed, and only seconds had passed. She’d certainly moved swiftly to get her jacket off and her jersey half on in that short time. Half on. His gut gave another pleasant kick at the thought.
Her tailored business suit and elegant shoes had not led him to expect such sexy lingerie. What a turn on. High breasts only barely confined in a disturbingly low-cut bra. The startling contrast of black and red lace against ivory skin. And her hair tumbling free in glorious confusion.
There was no way he could have kept his hands off her. And in the guise of helpfulness he’d been able to draw close, touch her, smell her soft female scent, tease her and un-nerve her for the battle of wits ahead. Even better, her hair had been left entirely loose once she’d re-appeared. It fell down her back in a riot of shining dark waves, bouncing and floating as she moved. He couldn’t wait to thread his fingers back through it and pull her into his arms.
Kate followed him through the house, and he switched on the light in the storeroom before they entered the garage. An enormous amount of wine lay in racks against one wall, and several jackets hung waiting on hangers. He rummaged amongst them, unhooked a plump, down-filled white one, and held it out to her.
“You’ll look like the abominable snowman in that, but it’ll keep you warm.” When he reached across to help her into the jacket, Kate stepped swiftly aside. So much for hoping to get close to her in the doorway...
“Not so abominable,” he amended, as she slid the zip up.
“I’ll get my bag,” she said, trying to turn away.
“Not for the clothes, you won’t,” he retorted, restraining her with a hand on her arm. “My shout entirely. I asked you to stay, so I’ll provide anything you need.”
And if that makes you feel beholden to me, so much the better.
“I’d rather buy my own clothes, thank you.”
“Nonsense, Kate. Let me have a little spend-up.”
She shrivelled at the thought. Wife out of the way in hospital... husband offering to buy goodies for the hired help? She didn’t like the feel of that at all. And they were apparently to sleep in the big house together with no-one else present. Hundreds of yards from the nearest neighbours. “No thank you, Mr. McLeod,” she said as sharply as she dared.
“Matthew,” he drawled lazily. “Mr. McLeod is my father.”
He was still standing far too close to her, running a lazy hand up and down her arm. “I’m not short of a dollar, Kate. For God’s sake let me have some fun with the money,” he urged, finally letting her go.
He shrugged his own jacket back on and turned her toward the garage. She gritted her teeth with annoyance. How dare he just take her over like this?
As they drove out, she glanced around with more attention. The huge house really was fantastically sited. It looked as though it had squatted there forever, but surely it must be only a couple of years old?
It had been very cunningly landscaped. Kate could now see the gravelled walkways and paved areas were abundantly edged with plantings of native tussock grasses and low sprawling shrubs. There was a big rock-edged pool, and a sloping outcrop of jagged stones and vegetation—no doubt also rather recently created. Maybe this was the rock garden where Lottie had slipped?
Matthew’s thoughts echoed her own. “She fell just over there,” he said, pointing. “There was a hard frost this morning. You’ll need to be careful what you wear on your feet outside.”
Kate nodded, thinking she’d need to be careful of more than that. She vowed to keep her whole body well concealed from his unsettling eyes. No more catching her in her underwear! No further chances to touch her. Disturbing little tremors shot right through her whenever he was near. And it seemed he was always near. His sense of personal space was way different from hers.
At least while they were driving his seatbelt kept him away. Even so, a charged silence stretched between them, and an acute awareness.
“Coronet Peak,” he said as they swung around the last curve of the long driveway. Kate’s gaze followed the direction of his pointing hand toward the nearest mountains. The sun had slid lower, gilding the peaks a rosy gold.
He wore no wedding ring—no other ornaments of any kind. Not a jewellery man, she thought. A man with a taste for understated classic design. No doubt his dark trousers were beautifully cut and tailored, but she’d registered his long, strong thighs rather than the garment covering them. His fine-knitted wool jersey was unremarkable in its design, but beautifully finished. His dark blue zip fronted jacket proclaimed itself expensive by the symbol on the pocket, but the style was little different from hundreds of others in Queenstown.
He was very tall, and Kate always felt that gave a man authority. Perversely she found her own height a drawback.
Big, arrogant ‘we’ll do things my way’ Matthew was a force to be reckoned with. His face was hard as a gangster’s—until he flashed one of his engaging wide smiles. What would a man with a face like that be capable of? Kate easily imagined ruthless business deals just inside the law but skating dangerously across thin ice. How had he made his money—or was it all Lottie’s? She couldn’t see him as a kept man. And his office had looked very businesslike.
Plainly, he was used to getting his own way. She was still astounded at how quickly he’d disposed of Diana, bulldozed her own objections aside, and set out to take her shopping.
They drove in near silence the rest of the way back into Queenstown. The hard blue light had softened to hazy gold. It filtered down through the bare mid-winter trees, dusting the houses and the lake with magic; gilding the tall conifers.
Kate’s mind roamed free as the lovely scenery floated by. Suddenly she remembered
something her father had said in happier days. He’d bought her mother a lacy black nightgown and negligee, and teased that he therefore had the right to dress her in them. Kate froze at the thought that Matthew might feel the same.
“What is it, Katie?”
She flinched. Was she so transparent he could read her mind? And wasn’t ‘Katie’ too familiar? “Nothing much,” she replied. “But I’m not happy about you paying for anything. I was thinking of something my father once said—about a man feeling he had the right to dress a woman up if he’d provided the clothes.”
Matthew gave a sudden surprised laugh. “I’ll show you how to lace your walking boots up properly, but you can put your own panties on.”
Kate caught her breath and stayed speechless for a second. He was being far too familiar. She was really on her guard now.
“I won’t need any panties, thank-you,” she insisted, trying to sound cool and sophisticated and in control.
“How many pairs did you bring?”
“What!?”
“One spare pair, I imagine. You thought you were only stopping overnight.”
“I’ll wash today’s out and they’ll be dry in good time,” she said in a voice that brooked no argument. She looked sideways and caught the corner of his mouth quirking with amusement. Right—if he wanted snappish behaviour she could oblige...
“Sorry, sorry,” he soothed, just before she exploded. “But it’s so nice to have someone to spar with.”
“What about Lottie?”
“God, she’s too Dutch. No sense of the ridiculous.”
“And my panties are ridiculous?” Kate asked, softening despite herself.
“I don’t know Katie—are they? Black and red to match the rest, I hope...”
Despite her best intentions, a sneaky chuckle escaped. “Is that a job interview question?” she asked, trying to keep a straight face.
His answering laugh filled the SUV, and guilty pleasure flowed right through her. Maybe he’d only been teasing?