‘You already have.’ Hayley bit her lip in an effort to hide its trembling. ‘A million times over.’
‘Not nearly enough for all the aggravation I’ve suffered since she pushed her way into my life.’ His hands gripped her shoulders. ‘You probably won’t appreciate the joke, my sweet Miss Pushy, but I’ve just got to kiss you again.’
Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her, his mouth hard and hungry, punishing her soft lips with a pain almost too joyous to bear.
When at last he lifted his head he looked down into her eyes, full of confusion and doubt, and groaned, burying his face in her neck and the thick scented tresses of her hair.
‘Hayley. My God, how I’ve missed you.’
Their eyes met again, his full of a despairing tenderness, hers bright with new tears.
‘Then why did you go away from me?’
‘I didn’t. Not for a moment. You were always there.’
Before she could absorb this strange reply he was kissing her again, his mouth warm and persuasive, leading her on and up, until she was soaring, her heart hammering a joyous beat against her ribs.
But some hint of sanity returned as his hands began to move against her. Flushed and breathless, she pushed him away.
‘Marcus,’ she hissed, ‘this is not a bedroom. We’re on a train, and this isn’t an empty first-class compartment. There are people here.’
He pulled back and glanced around at the curious faces turned in their direction, but which looked hastily away on meeting his amused regard.
‘Come on,’ he said, pulling her to her feet. ‘We’re getting off at the next stop.’
‘But Marcus,’ she protested, ‘I’ll be late for the office. Mr Heaton—’
He pressed his mouth briefly against hers. ‘Can find himself another secretary,’ he said firmly. ‘You belong to me.’
‘But—’
‘No buts.’
* * *
Marcus had hired a taxi, which had sped back to the city and deposited them outside his imposing flat. Paying the man off quickly, he ushered her inside and up the wide, immaculate staircase to his front door.
Even in her high state of excitement she couldn’t help being impressed by the décor of his flat: the polished perfection of the wood, the deep, tasteful furnishings and rich, thick carpet, which combined to convey luxury with comfort on a scale she had never imagined, not like something out of a magazine, but an expression of his own personal taste that was exquisite.
‘It’s lovely,’ she said faintly as they stood in the doorway to his living-room. ‘Absolutely beautiful.’
‘I agree,’ he said, but he was looking at her face. ‘Go and sit down and I’ll bring you a cup of something. Tea or coffee?’
‘Tea,’ she said. But she wished that he’d stay with her instead of rushing off to the kitchen. There were so many questions racing through her mind.
As though he read her thoughts, he said, ‘Questions and answers later.’
By the time he was back in the room and she was sipping her tea she’d become shy. In this setting he was, once again, very masculine and intimidating. This was his world and one she could only have imagined, but never coming near the reality.
Sensing her trepidation, he smiled.
‘OK, where shall we begin?’
He was sitting some way from her in the corner curve of the settee. Hayley, stranded at the other end, felt suddenly lost. How could she reach him from here? How could she pour out her heart, laying it bare to him, when she still wasn’t sure?
Gulping down the last of her tea, she waited. And when the silence and the waiting became unbearable she rushed in.
‘How did you know where to find me?’ There was a catch in her voice that revealed the depth of her pain.
‘Anthea told me, when I rang this morning. You’d just left for the station.’
‘I should have known I couldn’t trust Anthea where you’re concerned. She still thinks you’re wonderful, in spite of everything.’
‘But I’ve stopped being wonderful for you. Is that it?’
‘Yes, that’s it. I’ve learned some lessons about loyalty at last. It rarely works both ways. In your case, Felicity obviously came first. I couldn’t stay on to find out where I fitted in.’
He shook his head. ‘You should have waited, Hayley. I was coming back. But there were things to be done, and I didn’t want you involved any more than was necessary. It could only have hurt you.’
‘Do you think you rushing off to Felicity didn’t hurt? So soon after everything we’d shared together? Did you even care?’ Her jaw set stubbornly. ‘No. Of course not! Your first thought was for Felicity. You went chasing off to her.’
‘I went to Felicity, yes. For two reasons. One, to tell her, as kindly as possible, that it really was all over between us. I felt I had to do it face to face. I owed her that. We’d had a lot of good times.’
Hayley flinched. She didn’t want to hear this—what she’d sensed all along—that he really did have feelings for the actress. ‘And secondly?’ she prompted.
‘And secondly,’ he repeated evenly, ‘I wanted to draw the news hounds away from you, distract their attention to something they’d find more sensational, in the hope they’d leave you alone.’
‘I see!’ Her tone was ironic. ‘You weren’t worried about yourself?’
He shrugged. ‘I’ve been through this sort of thing before. It leaves no mark on me. But you...’ He grimaced. ‘They’d have torn you to bits.’
She stared at him, wishing she could believe him. She longed for him...ached for him. But there was still so much standing between them.
‘Did...did you make love to Felicity while you were there?’ The whisper was barely audible.
‘No. I haven’t since the day I met you and sensed you’d brought something special into my life.’
‘Then why did you propose marriage to her?’
His face hardened with genuine anger. ‘That was paper talk, but you couldn’t have known.’
‘But you kissed her!’ she insisted, close to tears. ‘I saw the photograph.’
He nodded. ‘Felicity and I are still friends. I was kissing a friend, not a lover.’
She made a disparaging sound. ‘Do you mean there’s a difference?’
He was suddenly angry. ‘You tell me.’
With a sudden movement that caught her unawares he pulled her to him, his mouth devouring hers, his hard body trembling faintly, a fact that had her quaking in response. A heat began deep inside, rising quickly to overcome her.
With a groan of need she wrapped her arms about him, holding him as she had yearned to hold him for so long.
When at last he drew away from her, she was speechless.
He looked intently down at her, as though to confirm something to his satisfaction, and then hugged her to him, so that her face was buried in the hollow of his shoulder.
In a voice soft with laughter, he said, ‘That’s not how I kissed Felicity. Get the message?’
With her voice muffled against him, she said, ‘Talking of messages, I have a confession to make. I forgot to give you a message from Felicity. The following day, after you’d taken me to dinner, she asked me to tell you she was sorry she hadn’t been able to make it for dinner the night before, but she was free that evening.’
He pushed her away and tilted up her chin, looking with disturbing intensity into her eyes.
‘And you believed her, of course? That you’d been second choice.’
She shrugged. ‘It seemed likely.’
‘Then how little you know me.’ He smiled grimly. ‘I asked you because I wanted you to have dinner with me. I didn’t ask Felicity. That was probably her way of getting back at you over the photograph of you and me out dining together.’
Hayley sighed, feeling a tight little knot in her heart dissolve. So it had been a lie after all.
‘She was pretty horrible to me that day.’
‘So you decided to get
even by omitting to pass on her message to me?’
‘Not consciously. But perhaps...’ She bit her lip and drew her gaze from his. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘No hassle. I couldn’t have made it anyway. We were booked to stay over that night, and I wasn’t going to pass that up.’ He gave her a sly grin. ‘As a matter of fact, I knew about the message. I rang Felicity before we left to explain my absence on her last night in England. She told me she’d rung, though she didn’t tell me the rest of it, and I half promised I’d combine some business with a visit to see her over there.’
‘Which, of course, you did,’ she said flatly.
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I did. And so now we can get down to another problem. You and me.’
She looked up at him tentatively. ‘What about you and me?’
He shook his head. ‘Well, for one thing, your letter of resignation has left me without a secretary at a very awkward time.’ He pursed his lips thoughtfully. ‘Although I suppose Audrey might manage what’s left, now all the leg work’s done.’
Hayley was flooded with disappointment. How quickly he could move from the personal to the impersonal.
‘She’d never be able to translate my shorthand,’ she said indignantly. ‘What’s stopping you from tearing up my resignation?’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t think I want to do that.’
Hayley looked outraged. ‘Do you mean you’d rather have Audrey?’
‘In my office? Yes. She’s far less disruptive to the working routine. With you around all day, I’ve found it hard to think of anything other than how much I wanted you.’
‘It wasn’t obvious,’ she said coolly. ‘And I notice you said “wanted” not loved.’
‘Loved... Wanted... Where you’re concerned, it means the same to me. I can’t love you without wanting you, nor want you without loving you. I’ve told you that countless times.’
‘Never once,’ she denied hotly, and then understood. With his arms and his lips, and his whole being, he’d said it. In her fear and uncertainty she had never heard. ‘If only I’d known. I just couldn’t believe...’
He smiled, a curving movement of his lips that had her pulses racing. He was so gorgeous...so desirable...
‘Looks as if we both had the same trouble. I couldn’t believe you loved me the way I loved you...the way your body told me you did.’ He shook his head. ‘Which is partly why I couldn’t bring myself to commit myself to my feelings.’
‘Partly?’ Hayley felt breathless. There had been another barrier. She’d felt it.
‘I have things to do, Hayley,’ he said with a crease of worry between his brows. ‘Things that will take up a lot of my time—’
She put her fingers against his lips. ‘I knew about that before you did. You have an ambition to fulfil, for your grandfather as much as for yourself. I understand. But wouldn’t it be easier to achieve if you had someone you love and who loves you to work for as well?’
He held her hand against his lips, kissing the palm and then each fingertip in turn, making her insides do all kinds of strange, delicious things.
‘Perhaps. If it was the right woman. I just never thought I’d find one that understanding. Which is why I always chose women with their own careers to follow...women who wouldn’t really need me...except to fill the obvious gaps...’
‘Women like Felicity?’ she said softly.
‘Like Felicity, yes,’ he said a little defensively. ‘But, unlike some of the others, she had a heart too. Which is why...if you hadn’t come pushing into my life...I might have...’ He shook his head slowly from side to side. ‘Oh, Hayley, my sweet! You deserve so much and there is only so much time. What’s left might not be enough.’
She shushed him. ‘More than enough. So long as it’s all that’s left.’ She shot him a coy glance. ‘Besides, I may not have that much spare time myself. The large family I’m planning will probably take up a fair amount.’
He frowned. ‘Sounds like a vicious circle. The more children we produce, the harder I’ll have to work to keep them.’
‘Sounds like a good bargain to me. Especially when you consider the fun we’ll have producing those children.’ Her eyes danced and then brimmed suddenly. ‘Oh, Marcus! You’ll never know how much I’ve wanted you. So much. So much.’ A wayward tear slid down her cheek.
He brushed it away. ‘We’ve wasted so much time.’ His voice was suddenly light, and his eyes were smiling. ‘We’re going to have a heck of a job making it up. What do you say we get started?’
‘Yes, please.’ She snuggled deeper into his arms.
‘Not here,’ he said, sounding suddenly urgent. ‘What I have in mind could be quite exhausting. I think the bedroom...’
He was bending to sweep her up in his arms when she remembered.
She said wistfully, ‘I’m going to miss the office. Couldn’t I carry on until—?’
He dumped her unceremoniously on the bed and began to undress.
‘One thing at a time. Right now, I’m interviewing for a wife. And I warn you I exact the highest standards. In every department.’
Hayley choked with indignation. ‘What a terrible proposal. If that’s what it is.’
‘It could be. Do you want the job?’
Outraged, she said, ‘Yes, I do, but—’
‘Then you’ve got it. We’ll get married.’
She dissolved into giggles. ‘But don’t you want to see my curriculum vitae first?’
The laughter caught in her throat as she realised he was stark naked, towering above her.
‘Of course.’ He sat down on the bed and began undoing the buttons of her blouse, a smoky look in his blue eyes. ‘We’ll go through it together, bit by bit. Starting now.’
He was brushing the soft material from her shoulders, unhooking her bra to reveal the hard swell of her breasts. His hands reached out gently to touch her.
‘A1 so far,’ he said, but the teasing note was gone. This was suddenly no game.
He tugged at the zip of her skirt, and Hayley gasped at the intensity of his expression as, the last of her clothes removed, she lay naked before him. ‘God, Hayley, it’s new every time.’
Opening her arms to him, she said softly, ‘Marcus, please. I’ve waited so long.’
He was beside her, his hard, muscular body crushed against hers.
‘Oh, darling!’ she murmured huskily as he looked deep into her eyes. ‘I love you.’
‘My little love.’ His mouth covered hers in a long, arousing kiss, his hands against her soft skin, burning paths of fire that threatened to consume her.
But she held back, waiting, until she could bear it no longer.
‘Say it, Marcus, please.’
‘I love you,’ he murmured softly, and kissed her again.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-8521-7
When Strangers Meet
Copyright © 1994 by Shirley Kemp
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When Strangers Meet Page 17