Jake waited until she was done before handing her the re-rinsed towel again.
Ashleigh buried her face in its cool, refreshing, cleansing folds, wondering if this was some sort of omen for the rest of their future together.
‘When was the last time you ate?’ Jake asked.
Ashleigh groaned into the towel. ‘Please don’t talk about food!’
‘How many glasses of champagne did you have at your parents’ house?’
‘I don’t know…two…maybe three…’
‘Too many, if you ask me.’
‘I didn’t ask you.’
‘That reminds me,’ Jake said, helping her to her feet, his hands on her upper arms gentle but firm. ‘It has occurred to me that I haven’t actually asked you to marry me.’
Ashleigh stared at him, her stomach still deciding on its next course of action, her throat raw and her eyes and nose streaming.
‘You were right to be angry with me,’ he continued. ‘I didn’t ask you, I just told you that we were going to get married. I didn’t even give you a choice.’
She opened her mouth and just as rapidly closed it, not sure if words or something a little less socially appropriate was still intent on coming out.
‘Ashleigh…’ He cleared his throat, his eyes dark and steady on hers. ‘Will you marry me?’
Jake stepped backwards as she lunged for the toilet bowl again and flinched as she gave another almighty heave.
She was right after all, he thought wryly as he rinsed out the hand towel yet again.
Maybe he did need a little polish on his proposal.
Ashleigh crawled into the shower a few minutes later, way beyond the point of caring that Jake was standing watching her shivering naked under the warm spray. She closed her eyes and let the water run over her, trying to concentrate on staying upright instead of sinking to the floor and disappearing down the drain, which her body seemed to think was a viable option.
‘You don’t look so good,’ Jake said.
She opened one bloodshot eye. ‘Thanks…just what a naked woman wants to hear.’
He smiled and reached for a big fluffy white bath sheet, holding it to one side as his other arm brushed past her breast to turn off the shower rose.
Ashleigh stepped into the soft towel he held out and didn’t even try and take over the drying of her body herself. Instead she stood like a helpless child as he gently dried her, the softness of the towel and his soothing, caress-like touch making her throat threaten to close over with emotion.
‘Do you want me to dry your hair for you?’ he asked once he’d wrapped her sarong-wise in a fresh dry towel. ‘There’s a hairdryer on the wall next to the shaving outlet. I’ve never done a blow job before but who knows? Like someone else I know, I might prove to have a natural flair.’
She rolled her eyes at him and then wished she hadn’t. ‘I think I might just lie down for a while…my head hurts.’
He pulled back the bed covers and she climbed in, closing her eyes as soon as her head found the feather-light pillow.
Jake stood watching her for endless moments, wondering if he should have called a doctor or something. But then he remembered what a hopeless head for alcohol she’d had in the past. One drink and she was practically under the table.
His conscience gave him a sharp little prod of recollection which he wanted to push away but couldn’t. She had held him off for two dates but on the third he had been so determined to have her that he hadn’t thought much beyond getting her clothes off any way he could…
He gave a rough-edged sigh and, before he could stop himself, gently brushed the back of his hand across the velvet softness of her cheek, the feel of her skin under his work-roughened knuckles reminding him of the smooth cream of silk. She mumbled something he couldn’t quite catch and, curling up into an even smaller ball, nestled her cheek further into the pillow.
He reached for the bedside chair and sat in it heavily, his head dropping to his hands, his fingers splaying over his forehead.
It was going to be a long night.
Ashleigh woke sometime during the night, her head feeling surprisingly clear but her stomach instantly clamouring for food.
‘Did you say something?’ Jake’s voice came out of the darkness from the other side of the huge bed.
‘No…that was my stomach,’ she said, her insides giving another noisy rumble.
She felt the slight tilt of the mattress as he reached for the bedside lamp, her pupils shrinking a little when the soft light washed over her.
‘What did it say?’ he asked, his mouth curving into a small smile.
Don’t look below his neck, she warned herself.
‘It said it wants some food,’ she said, fiddling with the edge of the sheet that only just covered her breasts.
‘What sort of food?’ Jake got up from the bed and stretched. ‘Soup and toast or what about something greasy for a hangover cure?’
‘I don’t have a hangover,’ she said a little tightly.
She sensed rather than saw his smile as he reached for the phone.
‘Jake Marriott here, suite fourteen hundred,’ he said. ‘Can we have some bacon and eggs with a double side of fries?’
Ashleigh threw him a filthy look and he added, ‘No, no champagne with that order. We haven’t started on the other bottle yet.’ He hung up the phone and gave another big stretch, his biceps bulging as he raised his arms above his head, his stomach muscles rippling like rods of steel under a tightly stretched satin sheet.
‘Do you have to do that?’ she said irritably.
‘Do what?’ He rolled his shoulders and dropped his arms, his look totally guileless.
She pursed her mouth and edged the sheet a little higher. ‘You could at least put something on.’
‘You’ve seen me naked before,’ he pointed out. ‘Besides, I fell asleep in the chair a little earlier and it made me a little stiff.’
Her eyes went to his pelvis, her cheeks instantly filling with heat. She wrenched her gaze away and fiddled with the sheet to distract herself from his tempting form.
‘You know something? You never used to be such a little prude,’ he commented. ‘I hope Howard hasn’t given you a whole lot of hang-ups about sex.’
‘I don’t have any hang-ups…’ She chewed her bottom lip for a moment. ‘It’s just that…’ She paused, not sure it was exactly wise to go on.
‘Just what?’ he asked.
She raised her eyes to his. ‘It’s just it’s always been such a very physical thing…for you, I mean.’
‘And it’s not for you?’ he asked, holding her gaze.
‘Yes, yes, of course it is…but…’ She lowered her eyes and began to tug at a loose thread on the sheet, wishing she hadn’t drifted into such deep water.
‘I don’t like the sound of that “but”,’ he said after a short silence. ‘What are you trying to say? That you’re still in love with me after all this time?’
She stared at him for five heavy blood-clogging heartbeats.
‘Ashleigh?’
There was a discreet tap at the door and their eyes locked for a moment.
‘Room service,’ a young male voice called out.
Jake reached for his jeans where he’d left them hanging over a chair, stepping into them, zipping them up and running a rough hand through his hair before he moved across to open the door.
Ashleigh hitched the sheet right up to her chin and watched as Jake tipped the young man who carried in the tray of food, waiting until he’d gone again before turning back to her.
‘Come on, let’s get some food into you, then we can continue that little discussion we were having on sex,’ he said.
She propped herself up in the bed with pillows as he carried the tray over. He set it across her lap, giving her a little wink as he snitched a French fry and popped it in his mouth.
She gave him a guilt-stricken look as she suddenly recalled how the evening in his room had started. ‘You must have m
issed dinner… I’m sorry.’
He gave her another one of his wry smiles. ‘To be quite frank with you, sweetheart, I didn’t feel all that much like food after your little bathroom routine.’
She grimaced and speared a chip with her fork. ‘Don’t remind me.’ She gave a little shudder. ‘Yeeuck. I am never going to drink champagne again. Ever.’
He laughed and took another fry. ‘You never could handle alcohol. One drink and you are anybody’s.’
Her fork froze halfway to her mouth, her eyes slowly meeting his.
His smile faded. ‘You know, I didn’t actually mean that quite the way it sounded.’
‘Yes, you did.’ She pushed the food away in disgust.
‘No!’ He rescued the tilting tray and set it to one side before coming back to untie her hands from where she’d crossed them tightly over her breasts.
‘Hey.’ He gave her fists a little squeeze. ‘I didn’t mean to insult you. The truth is, I have never forgotten what it was like that first time…’ His throat moved up and down in a swallow. ‘I’ve tried to, believe me, but it just won’t go away.’
She tossed her head to one side. ‘You’ve probably had hundreds of lovers since then who have imprinted themselves indelibly on your sexual seismic register.’
‘Maybe—’ he gave a shrug of one shoulder ‘—but, as far as I recall, no four point fours.’
Her eyes came back to his, her look indignant. ‘Four point four? Is that all I rated?’
He tapped her on the end of her nose, the edges of his mouth tipping upwards sexily. ‘Thought that would get a rise out of you.’
She reached past him for the tray of food and scooped up a rasher of bacon without the help of cutlery and stuffed it in her mouth, her blue eyes flashing sparks of fire as she chewed resolutely.
‘You know something, Ashleigh,’ he said, spearing a French fry with her abandoned fork. ‘You’re really something when you’re all fired up.’
‘Stop pinching my fries.’ She slapped his hand away. ‘I want them all to myself.’
He laid the fork down and, moving the tray just out of her reach, kissed her hard upon the mouth.
Ashleigh blinked up at him when he lifted his mouth off hers.
‘What was that for?’ she asked.
He picked up a French fry and held it near her tightly clamped lips. ‘Open.’
She opened.
‘That’s good.’ He smiled as she chewed and swallowed. ‘Now we’re getting somewhere.’
Ashleigh wasn’t sure she wanted to know exactly what he meant. Besides, her stomach was still screaming out for food and he seemed perfectly happy to pass it to her, morsel by morsel. All she had to do was chew and swallow and avoid his probing gaze.
She opened her mouth on a forkful of easy-over egg and wickedly fattening bacon and closed her eyes.
Heaven.
CHAPTER TWELVE
ASHLEIGH woke the next morning to find Jake sitting fully dressed in one of the chairs near the bed, his dark gaze trained on her, his expression thoughtful.
‘Hi,’ he said, a small smile lifting the edges of his mouth.
‘Hi.’ She eased herself upright, securing the sheet around her naked breasts, wondering what was going on behind those unreadable eyes.
‘I’ve been doing some thinking while you were sleeping,’ he said after a little silence.
She gave him a wary look without responding.
He ran a hand through his hair and continued. ‘I realised during the night that from the very first day I met you in London I fast-tracked you into a physical relationship. I did it to you again recently.’ He held her gaze for a moment or two. ‘I want to prove to you that I’m serious about making our marriage work by being patient, a quality you’re not used to seeing in me.’ He drew in a breath and added, ‘In the next four weeks leading up to our wedding I promise not to kiss you, touch you or even look at you in a sexual way when we are alone.’ He paused as if waiting for her reaction to his announcement but when she remained silent he shifted his gaze and, getting to his feet, walked over to the window and looked down at the street below, his back turned towards her. ‘I want to get to know my son and start to build the sort of family structure I missed out on as a child.’
‘I see…’
He turned back to face her, his expression giving nothing away. ‘Four weeks isn’t all that long when you consider we’ll have the rest of our lives together, don’t you agree?’
Ashleigh wasn’t sure how to answer. She had spent four and a half miserable years missing him and now that he was back, four minutes without him touching her hurt like hell. How would she ever get through it?
‘If that’s what you want…’ Her eyes fell away from the intensity of his.
He eased himself away from the window sill where he’d been leaning and reached for the room service menu. ‘Let’s have breakfast and get going. I want to spend the day with Lachlan. He’s probably wondering where we both are.’
Ashleigh sat on the back step at Jake’s house and watched as Lachlan helped his father complete the tree-house they’d been building in the elm tree.
Almost four weeks had passed and Jake had stuck to his promise; not once had he touched her while they were alone.
She gave a twisted little smile.
With all the rush of wedding preparations they’d had precious little time by themselves and she couldn’t help wondering if he’d planned it that way to make it easier on himself. As for herself, she had ached for him relentlessly, her body tingling with awareness whenever his dark as night eyes rested on her.
Now, with a day to go before they were officially married, she could barely contain her nervous anticipation. Her legs felt weak and shaky whenever he smiled at her, the slightest brush of his hand against hers stirring her into a frenzy of clawing need.
‘What do you think, Ashleigh?’ Jake asked as he strode towards her with Lachlan’s small hand tucked in his. ‘Do you think it’ll do?’
She smiled at the pure joy on Lachlan’s grubby face as he gazed up at his father. Her son had blossomed in a matter of days as he’d soaked up the presence of Jake. He had clung to him during every waking hour as if frightened he might suddenly disappear. It had made Ashleigh’s heart swell to witness the sheer devotion on his little face and she knew that no matter what happened in her relationship with Jake in the future, Lachlan would always want to be in contact with his father and she would do nothing to come between them.
‘It looks wonderful,’ she said.
Jake helped her to her feet, his work-roughened palm sending a riot of sensations through her fingers to the centre of her being as his eyes meshed with hers.
‘This time tomorrow,’ he said on the tail-end of an expelled breath.
She didn’t trust herself to answer without betraying herself.
Jake’s eyes left hers to look at the house, his small sigh of approval speaking volumes. ‘It looks like a real home now, doesn’t it?’
Ashleigh followed the line of his gaze. The house had been painted inside and out, the threadbare blinds replaced with the soft drape of curtains and the floors polished, with new rugs laid out here and there for comfort and cosiness. The furniture was all modern and comfortable, all except for one small writing desk that Jake wanted to keep because it had been his mother’s. The rest of the antiques had gone along with the outdated appliances in the kitchen; it was now newly appointed and the bathrooms beautifully refurbished as well.
The front and back gardens had been tidied, Jake doing a lot of the physical labour himself with Lachlan faithfully by his side.
‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘It looks like a real home.’
‘Can I play with my cars now, Daddy?’ Lachlan asked, tugging on Jake’s hand.
‘Sure,’ Jake said, ruffling his hair. ‘Thanks for helping me. I couldn’t have done that last bit without you.’
Lachlan’s proud grin threatened to split his face in two. ‘I love you, Daddy.’ He
hugged the long legs in front of him. ‘I love you this much!’ He squeezed as hard as he could, the sound of his childish little grunt of exertion making tears spring to Ashleigh’s eyes.
She blinked them back as she watched Jake bend down to his son’s level, his voice gruff with emotion. ‘I love you, too, mate. More than I can say.’ His eyes shifted slightly to meet Ashleigh’s over the top of their son’s dark head. ‘Sometimes words are just not enough.’
Lachlan scampered off but Ashleigh hardly noticed. She’d never heard Jake say those three little words to anyone before, not to her certainly, and not even to Lachlan until now, even though Lachlan had said it to him many times over the last four weeks.
She ran her tongue over her dry lips as Jake straightened to his full height, his body so close to hers that she could feel the heat of it against her too sensitive skin.
He gave her a small rueful smile. ‘I promised myself a long time ago that I’d never say those words again.’
‘Why?’ Her voice came out soft as a whisper.
There was a small but intense silence as his eyes held hers.
‘Remember I told you about my dog?’
She nodded.
‘I really loved that dog,’ he said after another little pause. ‘But as soon as I said those words to her my father heard me and got rid of her.’
‘Oh, Jake…’ She bit her lip to stop it from trembling.
He took something out of his pocket and silently handed it to her.
She looked down at the decayed strip of red-coloured leather lying across her hand, the small silver buckle jangling against something metal attached to it. She turned the tiny name tag over to see the name Patch engraved there.
‘He didn’t send her to the country after all,’ Jake said. ‘He killed her and buried her in the garden. I found her body, or at least what was left of it, and her collar a few days ago.’
Ashleigh lifted her gaze to his, tears rolling down her cheeks as she saw the raw emotion etched on his face.
‘Jake…’
The Secret Baby Bargain Page 16