How much of their conversation had he overheard? More to the point, what was he doing in her bedroom at all? The black robe he wore over his nakedness showed he’d probably already been to bed before coming in here.
‘I’m so sorry if I’ve disturbed you, Mr Drummond.’ The housekeeper looked completely flustered now, an embarrassed flush to her cheeks.
‘Not at all, Mrs James,’ he drawled dryly, moving to put one of his arms about Gemini’s waist. ‘Although with a baby in the house I think it’s time we all got to bed—don’t you…?’ he added pointedly.
Gemini was very aware of the heat of that arm about her, of the curve of Nick’s hand on her waist. As far as she could remember he had never touched her so intimately before, and the fact that he did so now filled her with aching longing.
‘Of course,’ the housekeeper agreed rapidly, looking much relieved to see the two of them so at ease together. ‘I wish you both goodnight.’
Nick was the one to move and close the door once the other woman had gone, his expression grim as he turned back to Gemini. ‘What the hell was all that about?’ he rasped impatiently, moving restlessly about the room.
Gemini found it disturbing to see him in the femininity of her bedroom, although he didn’t look out of place in his black robe amongst the gold and cream decor. Just disturbing…
But she mustn’t let the unaccustomed intimacy of this situation throw her; she knew she always needed to be one hundred per cent aware when dealing with Nick. ‘I thought that communicating door was locked.’ She frowned across to where the door stood slightly ajar.
Nick gave a slight inclination of his head. ‘Like any sensible husband, I have the key,’ he drawled mockingly.
She had wondered where it was! Well, now she knew. And Nick wasn’t averse to using it when he felt the need.
‘So it would appear,’ she returned coolly, moving away from him. ‘To what do I owe the honour of this—visit?’ She deliberately hesitated over the last word. Because his presence here was an intrusion—and she intended he should know what it was.
Nick looked unperturbed by her coolness. ‘I heard voices.’ He shrugged. ‘I decided to investigate.’
Gemini looked at him assessingly for several seconds, her smile, when it came, completely lacking in humour. ‘Did you think I had sneaked down after everyone else was in bed and brought a man up to my bedroom?’ she scorned hardily. She was furious to think that might be what he had imagined, what had compelled him to unlock that communicating door and come into her bedroom unannounced.
Prior to Danny there had been several men in her life, but none of them had been serious, and even Danny hadn’t made her feel the way Nick did—the way she was feeling right now! She just wanted to forget the anger between them, to lose herself in the warmth of his arms, to revel in the pleasure they could give each other…
He shrugged again. ‘It wouldn’t have done you much good if you had!’ he bit out harshly, eyes narrowed dangerously.
Gemini stood her ground, tilting her head back in challenge. ‘Oh?’
Nick took a step towards her. ‘I don’t share, Gemini,’ he grated roughly, his next step forward bringing him to within inches of touching her.
He was so close to her now that Gemini could feel the heat emanating from his body, see the faint shadow of his stubble on the squareness of his chin, smell the masculine tang of his aftershave. In fact, she was aware of everything about him!
She had to put some distance between them, if not physically, then emotionally! ‘You did once before,’ she reminded him pointedly, instantly regretting the defiance as Nick’s expression darkened coldly.
‘All the more reason why I never will again!’ he bit out, reaching out to pull her roughly into his arms.
Not like this, she cried inwardly, even as Nick’s mouth came crushingly down on her own. But her body thought otherwise, her lips opening beneath his, her body melting into his hardness as he curved her ruthlessly against him.
She felt like a woman who had been on the point of drowning and had been thrown a life-raft, her hands clinging about his waist, her lips moving provocatively against his, deepening the caress as his tongue tasted, and then plunged into the warm moisture of her mouth.
He felt so good, his body firm beneath her touch, all hard muscle, the throbbing heat of his thighs telling her of his own arousal even as his lips left hers to burn a trail of fire down the column of her throat and into the hollows below.
Gemini gasped as Nick gently moved aside the restriction of her top, that questing mouth seeking, and finding, the pertness of her breast, his tongue moving silkily over her nipple in rhythmic pleasure.
Her back arched in surrender as she offered herself up to that pleasure. One of Nick’s hands was caressing her other breast, and her knees felt suddenly weak as burning heat coursed through her whole body. She offered no resistance as Nick swung her up in his arms and carried her towards the bed.
She wanted this, wanted Nick. She’d wanted him for so long now she couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t been completely aware of him. Nick was everything she’d ever wanted in a man. Everything…! He was—
Dropping her!
She landed on the bed from a height of about three feet, bouncing back up only to fall back down again before settling in the middle of the gold-coloured duvet, looking up at Nick with disbelieving eyes.
His expression was grim as he returned that look. The darkness of his hair was tousled from her caressing fingers, but otherwise he looked unmoved by the explosion of passion they had just shared.
Shared…?
Gemini winced at the look of cold deliberation on Nick’s face, knowing as she did so that she’d been the one to be aroused seconds ago, that Nick had known exactly what he was doing.
But why?
The answer to that was all too obvious: Nick didn’t share, and never, ever again with his brother. And now, after Danny’s telephone call this evening, Nick believed Gemini to be once more involved with Danny…!
She drew in a deep, controlling breath, rolling over onto her side, forcing her expression to become bland as she leant on her elbow looking up at Nick. ‘You’re so right to be sensible, Nick,’ she drawled mockingly. ‘Our going to bed together at this late date in our marriage will only complicate things when it comes to the divorce!’
There, she had said the hated word, the word she had dreaded hearing from Nick all evening! And it hurt just as badly that she was the one who had finally said it!
Nick looked so angry Gemini had to force herself not to flinch from that cold fury, to maintain that nonchalant pose on the bed as she continued to look up at him dismissively.
‘Divorce?’ he finally echoed in that dangerously soft voice Gemini was quickly learning to be wary of. ‘Oh, no, Gemini.’ He shook his head, moving to kneel on the bed beside her. ‘There isn’t going to be any convenient divorce so that you can then marry my little brother!’ he grated, pulling her up so that their faces were only inches apart.
Gemini hardly breathed as she looked at him, green eyes locked with blue in a battle of wills, a battle that seemed to go on for ever. Gemini wanted to turn away, but she didn’t dare; she knew that to do so would bring an inequality between Nick and herself that would be the end of whatever relationship they did have.
Whatever that relationship was…
Gemini wasn’t sure any more!
She swallowed hard. ‘I don’t want to marry Danny, Nick—’
He gave a harsh laugh. ‘That’s probably as well, because I doubt my little brother is the marrying kind.’
‘It isn’t that,’ she gasped. ‘I—’
‘If you have any sense, Gemini,’ he continued grimly, ‘you’ll hold out for the wedding ring from him this time. But in the meantime you still have to get past the problem of your marriage to me. And I can tell you now—there will be no divorce between us, Gemini,’ he repeated harshly, thrusting her away from him before standing up. ‘I�
�ve never given you grounds to divorce me, and I refuse ever to agree to divorce you,’ he told her coldly. ‘Maybe you’d better tell Danny that when he rings back!’ Nick bit out contemptuously, turning to stride over to the connecting door between their two bedrooms. ‘In the meantime—’ he turned briefly, his green eyes icy ‘—there will be no more locked doors between us!’ The slamming of the door behind him, unaccompanied by the turning of the key in the lock, told her exactly what he meant by that last remark.
Gemini couldn’t have moved even if she’d needed to; she was totally stunned by this latest exchange between Nick and herself.
And the most important thing to come out of the conversation was that Nick didn’t want to divorce her! Admittedly, it was because he believed she would go straight to his brother Danny’s arms if he did, but at the moment his reasoning wasn’t important, only the fact that he would never divorce her.
And if Nick were to be believed then he hadn’t been involved with anyone else since their marriage, had never given her grounds to divorce him, either. It seemed incredible—wonderful!—to her, but if Nick claimed it to be the truth, then she believed him. Maybe because she wanted to believe him. But, whatever the reason, her marriage had been given a reprieve, and at the moment that was the most important thing to her.
She looked across at the connecting door. If he meant what she thought he did where that unlocked door was concerned, then he was going to find he didn’t have a fight on his hands. She was more than willing to be his wife. Completely.
The only uncertainty she had about it was when would it happen…?
CHAPTER FIVE
BREAKFAST the next morning, despite the presence of the gurgling Jessica, was a very quiet affair. Nick ate in stony silence, and Gemini was unwilling to break that silence.
Because she didn’t know what to say! Everything, it seemed, had been said the previous evening. Now it was a question of waiting to see what happened next.
But it certainly wasn’t the time for Mrs James to quietly enter the room and tell her that Danny was on the telephone again!
Gemini looked uncertainly at Nick, not at all encouraged by his grim expression as he met her gaze over the rim of the coffee cup he held. But at least the coffee stayed in the cup and wasn’t thrown over her, she decided ruefully.
He straightened, carefully replacing the cup on its saucer. ‘Tell him Mrs Drummond will take his call in a moment,’ he instructed the housekeeper tersely, waiting until she’d left the room before turning back to Gemini. ‘Remember what I said last night, Gemini,’ he bit out tautly. ‘I suggest you also remember what happened fifteen months ago,’ he added scornfully.
She was hardly likely ever to forget that past humiliation. But, as Nick had said the previous evening, Danny’s affair with Jemima was also the reason she was now married to Nick, and in retrospect she knew that was the best thing that could ever have happened to her!
‘I haven’t forgotten, Nick,’ she assured him dryly.
He nodded abruptly. ‘Take the call in the sitting-room; I have no wish to overhear even your end of the conversation!’ he added disgustedly.
Gemini stood up slowly, glancing uncertainly at the baby where she lay contentedly in her bouncy chair beside the table. Maybe she was getting used to it, Gemini decided, or she just hadn’t felt too much in need of sleep, but getting up to feed the baby in the early hours of this morning hadn’t seemed quite as bad as it had the night before.
She knew she was also becoming attached to the tiny, defenceless baby, that it was impossible not to love such an endearing child. In fact, in spite of the inconvenience she’d initially found in Jessica’s arrival, she knew the house was going to seem very quiet and empty without her sunny presence.
‘Leave her with me,’ Nick barked dismissively as he saw her hesitation as she looked down at the baby. ‘At this moment, Jessica is the least complicated female I know!’ he added self-derisively.
With a rueful grimace, Gemini went into the adjoining sitting-room to pick up the receiver. ‘Hello, Danny,’ she greeted him dryly, making herself comfortable on the sofa.
‘Gemini!’ He sounded pleased to hear her voice at least—the reason for that becoming obvious a few seconds later! ‘Where’s the Big Bad Wolf?’ he prompted conspiratorially, using the name he had always used when talking to her of his older brother.
It wasn’t an intimacy Gemini felt in the least inclined to encourage! ‘If you’re referring to Nick, he’s still having his breakfast,’ she returned coolly.
‘Of course I’m referring to Nick,’ Danny came back unrepentantly. ‘How is he?’
Gemini frowned. Not because of the question, but because she didn’t know how to answer it. If Danny had asked her two days ago how Nick was then she would have answered that he was fine, but after the weekend—she just didn’t know!
‘Nick is very well,’ she answered evasively; his health appeared to be good, but she couldn’t really vouch for his emotional state. And this call wasn’t helping! ‘Danny—’
‘And you, are you well too?’ Danny continued quickly.
‘Very,’ she assured him wryly, aware that he was using delaying tactics for what he really wanted to say. ‘Why have you telephoned me, Danny?’ she prompted bluntly.
He gave a softly appreciative laugh. ‘I think you’ve been living with my big brother too long, Gemini; you’re starting to sound like him!’
‘It could be worse,’ she came back pointedly; she might not like all that Nick had to say, especially at the moment, but at least she knew he didn’t lie to her!
‘You still hate me,’ Danny realised heavily.
‘Hate is far too strong a word for what I feel towards you, Danny,’ she assured him. ‘Hate, like love, is an emotion that has to be fed, nurtured, or it dies—and I don’t think of you often enough to feel either emotion towards you!’ In fact, she realised, until the last couple of days she hadn’t given Danny a thought for months!
Because she had fallen in love with Nick! But Danny, selfish, thoughtless Danny, wouldn’t understand, or believe her, if she told him she had fallen in love with her own husband!
‘Does that mean you’ve forgiven me, at least?’ Danny prompted softly.
‘Forgiveness is something that has to be earned,’ she told him non-committally. And in this case there was no forgiveness necessary; Danny, with Jemima as his accomplice, had probably done her the biggest favour of her life by having an affair!
Danny gave a deep sigh. ‘You always were a tough lady, Gemini.’
‘What do you want, Danny?’ she prompted impatiently.
‘If you really want to know the truth—’
‘That would be a nice change—coming from you!’
‘I deserved that,’ Danny accepted heavily. ‘I—You—’
‘This hesitation isn’t like you, Danny,’ Gemini taunted. ‘This must be serious.’
‘It is,’ he acknowledged. ‘The thing is, Gemini, I’m trying to contact Jemima,’ he told her bluntly.
Jemima…
She should have guessed, should have known Danny didn’t really want to talk to her; there really was nothing left for them to say to each other.
But the last she’d heard of Jemima and Danny they hadn’t had anything to say to each other, either; their relationship had only lasted a few weeks after Gemini and Nick had married each other! Not that she had any intention of asking Danny why he wanted to locate Jemima again; she simply wasn’t interested in anything either of them did any more.
But how ironic this all was! Nick was sitting in the dining-room at this moment, probably imagining all sorts of things, and all the time Danny was simply trying to contact Jemima. How Nick would laugh if she were to tell him that!
‘Why telephone me?’ she prompted Danny coolly. ‘Jemima and I haven’t spoken for—sometime,’ she dismissed.
‘Fifteen months, to be exact—’
‘Oh, let’s be exact, shall we, Danny?’ Gemini cut in impa
tiently, needing no reminder of exactly how long it was since she had discovered Danny’s affair with Jemima.
‘Gemini—’ he began apologetically.
‘I can’t help you with locating Jemima, Danny,’ she continued. ‘For the simple reason I have no idea where she is.’ If she did, she would have contacted her sister herself by now! ‘Have you tried telephoning her?’
‘Of course I’ve—! Sorry,’ Danny muttered awkwardly after his angry outburst. ‘I have telephoned her, and she’s not at the apartment. I didn’t know where else to try…’
‘I’m the last resort, hmmm?’ Gemini acknowledged dryly. ‘Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, Danny, but I haven’t heard from Jemima, either.’ Jemima instructing her nanny to deliver her young daughter here did not constitute having heard from her in Gemini’s book!
‘Damn,’ Danny grumbled under his breath. ‘I’m at a complete loss who to try next.’
‘Have you tried the newspaper she works for—?’
‘Jemima works freelance now,’ Danny cut in dismissively. ‘Damn it, she could be anywhere!’
‘She’s a big girl, Danny.’ Gemini shrugged, inwardly surprised that he knew so much about her sister’s movements. The last Gemini had heard, the two of them had gone their separate ways. ‘But if you do manage to find her, have her give me a call, will you?’ she added briskly. ‘There’s something I need to talk to her about.’
‘Sure,’ Danny agreed distractedly. ‘I’m really sorry to have bothered you, Gemini.’
‘It was no bother,’ she assured him dryly.
‘Say hello to Nick for me, will you?’ he added hopefully.
‘Why don’t you say hello to him yourself?’ she came back impatiently.
‘You know why,’ he muttered. ‘Obviously you don’t bear a grudge, but Nick certainly does!’
Because Danny had taken the woman Nick had loved and had intended to marry! But Nick was married to her now, for better or for worse, and it was time all of this stopped—past time, as far as she was concerned.
‘You’ll never know whether or not that’s still true if you don’t speak to him,’ she pointed out practically.
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