by Kathryn Ross
Steven shrugged.
‘Well, if you really want to know—it’s my dad. There is nothing he would like better than to see me getting married. And now that my relationship has broken down with Nile he’ll be lining up other suitable candidates for me to meet at the wedding.
‘I know you’re probably thinking, well, just ignore him and enjoy the day. But it’s very hard to ignore Dad when he’s on his soapbox. I just know he’s going to try with his matchmaking schemes again. The last couple of phone calls I’ve had from him, he’s been dropping hints about single men in the area. Things like, “Did I tell you about Joe McCarthy, Chloe? He’s got a smallholding of a hundred and twenty acres and all his own teeth.”’
‘Well, as long as he wouldn’t expect you to darn his socks.’
Chloe glanced over, caught his eye and smiled.
‘Anyway,’ she sighed. ‘That’s my dad for you. He’s about as subtle as a brick through a plate-glass window. It’s crazy, because these days a lot of women choose not to get married. Considering he’s an intelligent man and a doctor, he’s very old-fashioned.’
‘He’s just worried about you…that’s a father’s job.’
‘Well, he needn’t bother,’ Chloe said crossly. ‘I’m probably better off just concentrating on my career and forgetting about men completely.’
‘Now that would be a terrible waste,’ Steven said softly.
Something about the way he said that, the way he looked at her, made her temperature soar.
Steven put his coffee down on the table. The movement seemed so decisive that she thought for a moment he was going to leave, but instead he walked over towards her. ‘I’ve had an idea,’ he said.
‘What kind of an idea?’
Steven leaned his hand on the window frame beside her head. His close proximity immediately made her acutely conscious of the effect he had on her. She noticed the way her heart rate increased, the nervous flutter in her stomach. She looked up at him and then wished she hadn’t, as she immediately remembered how close he had stood to her on Friday night and the way he had kissed her.
Her eyes moved to his lips. No one had ever made her feel the way he had that night. It had been wildly and deliciously wonderful.
‘How about if I accompany you to this wedding?’
‘You?’ She stared up at him in perplexity. ‘Why would you want to do that?’
Steven shrugged. ‘You bailed me out last weekend. I’d like to do the same for you.’
‘But this isn’t a trip down the road, Steven. It’s a weekend in Ireland with all my family.’
‘Sounds fun. I’ve never been to Ireland.’
‘I don’t know what to say…’ Chloe was totally bemused by the offer. ‘But…everyone will be expecting me to bring my boyfriend…and you are my boss…’
‘Just because I’m your boss doesn’t mean I can’t be your lover as well. Or don’t you think I could play the part in a convincing manner?’
The words seemed to trickle through her bloodstream, causing a riot of red-hot reactions… ‘I don’t know…why would you want to play the part?’
‘I’ve got a number of dinner engagements myself over the next few months…and I’ve got no partner either,’ he said easily.
‘You mean it would be like a business arrangement?’
He could tell by the tone of her voice that the idea appealed to her. Steven shrugged. ‘We don’t need to write the terms down in stone, do we? I’ve stopped trying to plan life too precisely. Like the snow last weekend—you never really know what’s around the corner.’
Chloe frowned. ‘So what are you saying exactly?’ she asked huskily.
‘I’m saying that maybe we could be good for each other. You need a partner at this wedding. I’ve got a few engagements where I need a woman by my side… There’s one dinner in particular next month. All the top management are coming to my house and I could do with a hostess.’
‘Steven, I’m sure you would have no problem finding a woman to stand in as your partner. So why me?’
‘Why not you? In fact, you are the obvious choice—you know more about the Cavendish business than any woman I know. You’re intelligent, you’re lovely, an asset to any dinner party.’
Chloe was silent for a long time as she tried to get her fuddled brain to work. ‘The only drawback is that if you come to my sister’s wedding and I start to act as your hostess at parties people are going to start thinking there is something going on between us,’ she said edgily.
‘Well, in the case of your sister’s wedding, I thought that was the whole point.’ Steven smiled. ‘As for my parties, I don’t care what people might think. As far as I’m concerned, you are acting as my hostess; it’s no big deal. Neither of us is married…we won’t be doing anything wrong.’
‘And it would just be a straightforward, sensible arrangement that would suit us both,’ she reiterated.
‘Why do you keep emphasising that?’ Steven asked tersely. ‘Because I’m not your type?’
She remembered he’d overheard her saying that in the pub. The strange thing was, she hadn’t really meant that; it was just something she had said to shut Gillian up. The truth of the matter was that she was starting to think he was very much her type. Maybe that was why she was so keen to emphasise the fact that anything between them would be strictly business…she was desperately trying to keep her feet on the ground where he was concerned. Desperately trying not to think about how much she wanted to kiss him again, fold into his arms. Because she knew he spelt danger. She knew instinctively that Steven Cavendish would have the power to hurt her if she let him…knew it because he made her lose control of her senses with such cool ease. And that was something that really frightened her.
‘Maybe I’m not your type either, Steven,’ she said, quietly now. ‘That can work two ways.’
When Steven didn’t answer her immediately she continued on, trying her best to be sensible. ‘Plus, you are my boss. Crossing the line between work and social life could compromise our whole working relationship.’
‘I’m willing to live dangerously if you are,’ Steven drawled huskily. ‘We kissed the other night and the world didn’t stop revolving.’
He watched her face flood with colour and then smiled. ‘And I think, judging by that kiss, we could play the part of lovers quite easily at the wedding party.’
‘But we both agreed that kiss was just a moment of madness.’ She felt quite breathless as he leaned closer.
He remembered the way she had kissed him on Friday night and felt a raw stirring of desire rise in him. A moment of madness it might have been, but it had been incredibly enjoyable. In fact, he hadn’t been able to get it out of his mind ever since. Even in the office he couldn’t concentrate on work for thinking about the heat of her lips, the curvaceous beauty of her body.
‘Absolutely… A total moment of madness.’ He leaned down even closer and took off her glasses. ‘And I can feel another crazy moment approaching,’ he whispered.
His lips were only inches from hers. She felt her heart thundering so hard against her chest that it felt as if it was trying to escape.
Then he kissed her. For a moment the kiss was questioning and hesitant, then as she responded it was fiercely possessive. Instinctively she slid her hands onto his shoulders as he pulled her up into his arms.
The daylight outside was fading, and maybe it was the semi-darkness of the room that emboldened Chloe, but one moment she was feeling uncertain and the next she was lost in the passion of his embrace and all she could think about was getting closer to him, having him caress her…make love to her.
He pulled away from her and looked at her, his dark eyes searching and intense.
Then, instead of either of them moving away from the situation, Steven gently led her to one side of the window and kissed her again, tasting her lips tenderly, then more forcefully as she responded with equal measures of passion.
She felt his hands moving to hold her, felt
the heat of them burning through her clothes at her waist and her back. Then his fingers raked upwards into her hair, disturbing the clip that held it fastened so that it tumbled free around her shoulders. He tipped her head back, his lips moving to kiss the side of her face, then the side of her neck, sending waves of ecstasy shuddering through her entire body.
She felt his hands resting at her waist before moving upwards, stroking her breasts through the fine material of her blouse. Her body responded instantly to his caress, setting her on fire with a reckless desire.
The jacket of her suit dropped to the floor, and Steven started to unbutton her blouse. She knew she should say something to stop this, but she didn’t want to. She wanted him, and that driving need was so forceful that it refused to listen to any small voice of reason. She stood very still as his hands pushed the material of her blouse to one side, then pulled at her bra to release the soft peaks of her breasts.
Her breath caught on a shudder of ecstasy as he touched her, his fingers gentle against her naked skin, exploring and arousing her with such ease that the thrills that shot through her were almost orgasmic.
Chloe’s eyes closed on a wave of intense pleasure as he bent his head and kissed one rosy nipple.
As she felt his hand easing up her skirt and silkily stroking up over the lacy top of her stay-up stocking she tried desperately to gather some sensible words to stop what was happening, but her brain wouldn’t function. She didn’t want him to stop.
Her skirt slithered to the floor and she stood before him in lacy stockings and a very brief pair of string panties. He took hold of her hand and led her over towards the settee. Steven sat down and pulled her onto his lap, her knees at either side of his legs.
She stared down into the darkness of his eyes. ‘We shouldn’t be doing this.’ Her voice was a husky, unsteady whisper. ‘We’ve got to work together.’
‘You’re right,’ he agreed huskily, but at the same time as he spoke he was easing her blouse down over her shoulder, kissing the naked flesh as he drew it off her to put it beside them on the settee. ‘But for something so wrong…it sure as hell feels good.’
He reached behind her and unfastened her bra, throwing it down beside them as well. His thumbs stroked very gently over the curves of her breasts, and it was such sweet torment that she ached for the pressure to intensify, her breath sucking in on a gasp of sheer enjoyment as he reached and kissed where his fingers played.
Steven watched how she enjoyed his caresses, admired the pliant suppleness of her figure and the way her hair fell over her shoulders, gleaming silkily a burnished red with the reflection from the dying sun outside.
‘This is so wrong,’ she whispered, and yet at the same time she was reaching to kiss him on the lips, her mouth hungrily possessive and her hands unfastening his tie. ‘But you’re right, it does feel good.’
He detected a vulnerable need in her voice and it sharpened his desire even more.
He moved her slightly and unfastened his trousers.
Chloe was in the process of unfastening the first few buttons of his shirt when she felt him move against her.
‘Aren’t you going to get undressed…?’ Her husky, shaky whisper made him smile.
‘No time…’ he murmured. ‘Tell me that you want me,’ he demanded gently. ‘Say it.’ His hand cupped her breast, his thumb rubbing over the sensitised peak until she moaned with ecstasy.
‘I want you…’ She couldn’t think about what she was saying, what she was doing; it was as though some kind of fever had taken hold of her and all she could think of was appeasing the fire inside.
She sucked her breath in as she felt his fingers move to push the flimsy panties to one side, then gently stroking the soft wetness of her.
‘You are a bit of an enigma, Chloe Brown,’ he told her, his voice rasping with desire. ‘Underneath all that strait-laced primness of yours there’s a tiger hiding in the shadows. I think I always suspected it, but I was never sure until now…’
‘Don’t talk,’ she murmured, her voice a pleading, shuddering whisper. ‘Just take me…’
He entered the softness of her body, his body hard and demanding. His hands curved around her hips as he thrust against her, watching how she writhed with total abandon.
For a while he was able to control the wild need inside him and concentrate on pleasuring her, taking a voracious delight in the quiet gasps of her pleasure. Then, as her desire spiralled and threatened to get out of control, he allowed himself to join her in the blissful thrill of complete satisfaction.
When it was over she leaned against him, her body hot against his clothing, her breathing ragged. They were both so out of breath that neither spoke for a moment.
He brushed the silkiness of her hair away from her face, which was buried against his chest.
She couldn’t look at him; she was shaken and more than a little scared because she had wanted him so much. Allowing a man so much power over her emotions terrified her…she could feel panic welling up in her now as she realised how vulnerable she had made herself to him… She had cast aside her natural instincts of caution and reserve and that was something she had vowed never to do with any man. So much for trying to be sensible, she thought, feeling suddenly angry with herself, and then appalled by her complete lack of control.
Desperately she sought a way to backtrack, a way to find some kind of a safety net.
‘So, what do you think?’ Steven murmured playfully in the silence. ‘We’d make quite a convincing act of being lovers, wouldn’t you say?’
Chloe didn’t know what to say. Her breathing was sharply uneven.
‘Chloe?’
She looked up at him, her eyes wide and questioning. No man had ever made her lose her sanity like that before. What the hell had happened? she wondered dazedly. One moment they had been talking quite sensibly and then…whoosh! Emotional chaos.
‘That’s quite a chemistry that sizzles between us, isn’t it?’ Steven continued with a shake of his head.
‘Yes…quite a chemistry,’ she agreed shakily, and moved away from him, hurriedly reaching for her blouse, which was lying beside them on the settee. ‘But it was just sex, of course.’
She was very grateful for the fact that the room was in total darkness now, the only light the soft glimmer of the electric street lamps from the road outside. Her fingers trembled as she fastened the buttons on her blouse. She was excruciatingly aware of how heavy the silence between them was now.
‘Of course,’ Steven muttered, feeling annoyed by the flippancy of her tone.
‘Good.’ She seemed to let her breath out in a sigh of relief. ‘Well, as long as we both agree. I wouldn’t want there to be any misunderstandings between us…that it meant more than it did. We’ve got to work together, after all. We don’t want anything complicated.’
Steven reached to switch on the lamp next to him.
‘No! Don’t turn on the light!’ Her voice was sharp with panic, which was in total contrast to the coolly dispassionate speech of a moment ago.
There was a second when he contemplated ignoring that plea and illuminating everything anyway.
‘Please, Steven, leave it.’
The quiet anguish of her voice made him drop his hand. At least she wasn’t as detached about what had happened as she was trying to pretend, he told himself.
She stepped into her skirt, but before she drew it up he could see the outline of her body against the window and he felt a new wave of desire rise in him from nowhere.
‘Are you going to go now?’ she asked quietly, zipping up her skirt.
‘Do you want me to go?’
‘Yes.’
He adjusted his clothing—not that much adjusting was necessary, she realised with another wave of mortified embarrassment.
Then he stood up and tried to reach for her, but she stepped back from him. ‘Don’t, Steven!’
‘Why not?’ he asked calmly.
‘Because…’ She was going to tell h
im that she was frightened that what had just happened between them would happen again. ‘Because you promised when I asked you in that you wouldn’t outstay your welcome, and I want you to go.’
The tremble in her voice belied the steely tone of the words.
‘Running late for your date, are you?’ His voice was dry.
‘Running very late…’
Steven smiled. ‘We’ll talk about this tomorrow, then.’
She was unprepared for the way Steven caught hold of her arm as he moved towards the door. Suddenly she was pulled close against him and he kissed her. She didn’t want to kiss him back; she put her hand up to push him away, but there was no strength in her action, and her lips melted and responded to him as if by their own volition.
The shrill ring of the telephone was what made them pull apart.
‘See you tomorrow,’ Steven said, stepping past her towards the front door.
The phone continued to ring in the darkness of the room as Steven left, but Chloe made no effort to go and answer it.
She walked back to the window as the answer machine clicked in.
‘Chloe, I thought we had a business agreement.’
She leaned her forehead against the coolness of the glass and watched Steven emerging out onto the street below.
‘You said you’d think about signing the house over to me.’ Nile’s voice filled the air now, impatient and angry. ‘Do you know how much money I stand to lose if you don’t sign these papers?’ Nile’s voice rose even more. ‘It’s bloody ludicrous, Chloe; for a businesswoman, you haven’t much sense.’
Now, that’s the truest word you have ever spoken, Chloe thought wryly as she watched Steven walking away.
Chloe squeezed her eyes closed, trying to shut out Nile’s words. This was how love ended, she thought bitterly.
And if she let Steven into her life it would be exactly the same… Wouldn’t it?
‘Can we meet and talk about this like adults? I’ll ring you at work tomorrow.’
The line went dead.
CHAPTER SEVEN