by Kim Lawrence
‘You’ve got to admit that it’s pretty far-fetched. Why would your agent keep you in the dark?’
Jon was developing a nasty habit of doing just that lately, she reflected grimly. If he suspected she wasn’t going to follow his advice he left it to the last minute to discuss things with her—when, of course, it was more difficult for her to say no. She was going to have some very hard words with Jonathan.
‘Well, I’ll just have to feign shock when you tell me what you two have been hatching, won’t I?’ Her voice was bitingly sarcastic.
Alex inclined his head and went so far as to allow a faint smile to play fleetingly across his lips. ‘He pointed out, quite correctly, that legally I was responsible for your accident. He also told me how much money you were going to lose because you were unable to fulfil your commitments.’
Hope’s mind was racing. This was the third and final year of the lucrative swimwear contract. She knew there was a penalty clause if she was unable to complete her contract. All the same, Jonathan had had no right!
‘Don’t worry,’ she said grimly, ‘I don’t want your money!’ Wait until she saw Jon again. How dare he place her in this position? And how dared Alex assume that she was party to it?
‘That’s hardly a practical stand to take, Hope. I was quite prepared to make restitution—I still am. It was just the new figure which they’ve now come up with I object to.’
‘How much?’ she asked abruptly. The sum he mentioned made her grow pale with anger. Her anger, which had been firmly aimed at her absent agent suddenly shifted direction. ‘You thought I was party to that sort of…of extortion!’
‘It’s legal when lawyers do it, Hope.’
‘I don’t care if it’s legal or not,’ she fumed, ‘I don’t want your money.’
‘I wouldn’t be too hasty if I were you…’ he drawled. Her antagonism was more convincing than anything she’d said.
‘You’re not,’ she snapped, ‘and neither is Jonathan. And I don’t need either of you to tell me what I need or want. That’s what you were talking about in the hospital,’ she said suddenly, her eyes flying wide open. ‘I thought…’
‘What did you think?’
She threw him a startled glance, which swiftly grew belligerent. ‘None of your damned business.’ It was worse, really. At least before she’d thought he was telling her he wasn’t attracted to her. She supposed this was the only logical next step as far as he was concerned… I’m perfectly happy to break up a happy home so why stop there? An avaricious money-grubber who is determined to make a profit at all costs was an easy progression.
‘I don’t know why you’re getting so emotional about this.’
‘Emotional?’ she repeated in a low, dangerous tone. ‘Emotional!’ Her voice soared effortlessly up the scale. ‘Don’t you dare patronise me, Alex Matheson!’
‘I’m in the middle of some sensitive negotiations at the moment, and I don’t want any bad publicity, Hope,’ he said frankly. ‘I’d like this business concluded swiftly. I’m quite happy to pay for any distress and inconvenience you might have suffered. It’s not as if we’re friends—this is business.’
She stared at him, her bosom heaving with emotion. That puts me firmly in my place, doesn’t it? How, she wondered, could anyone be so insensitive? ‘Might? There’s no might about it. You haven’t got enough money to compensate me for the distress you’ve caused.’ For the moment she didn’t care what interpretation he put on her words. ‘You haven’t got enough money to compensate me for being in the same room as you.’
Her temper dissipated abruptly, leaving misery in its place. He didn’t want any bad publicity for his precious company. There was no genuine concern for her—he didn’t care. But then why should he? she reminded herself. She heaved herself to her feet and he slowly followed suit.
‘Tell your mother I couldn’t stop for tea.’
‘She’ll be devastated,’ she responded childishly.
Mother wasn’t coming back. Hope had realised that some time ago. No doubt she thought she was being tactful. Pity it wasn’t Dad who was home; he would have watched over her like a mother hen.
‘I suggest you don’t make any decisions while you’re in this mood. You might regret them later. This isn’t pennies we’re talking here.’
She gritted her teeth. ‘Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to drag you through the courts.’
‘That’s what I like to see—a consistent attitude.’ The amusement in his voice was insultingly indulgent.
‘I’d like to punch you, too, but I’m not going to.’
‘This display of maturity is stunning.’
She tossed her head and her lips compressed in an obstinate line. She wasn’t going to let that sly, sarcastic drawl rile her. She could be the soul of restraint when she wanted to be.
‘Incidentally, the men—the ones you were just consigning to redundancy—send their best wishes. You had them quite worried.’
He really liked to turn the screws—the rat!
It was only a wobble, and she’d have been perfectly able to steady herself if Alex hadn’t chosen to wade in and get all macho and physical.
The arm that snaked around her waist lifted both legs—the injured and sound one—clear off the ground. She wasn’t a small girl, and the fact he could do this with no apparent effort was impressive.
Breathless, she found herself clamped against his chest. The man was solid as oak and just as hard. Hope wasn’t the sort of girl who’d ever been impressed by well-developed biceps, but Alex hit her at a level she’d never experienced before. The urge to cling and melt against him was staggering.
‘My ribs were only cracked, and I’d like to keep it that way,’ she croaked. She had to do something before she made a total fool of herself.
It was rare that Alex forgot his strength and didn’t adjust his actions accordingly. His apology was brusque and barely audible. She missed the unusual sight of his heightened colour because his face was averted from her as he placed her carefully back on her feet. She grasped a chair-back and he bent down to pick up her fallen crutches.
He got to eye level with her thigh, and no farther. He didn’t need to reach out and touch, he didn’t want to, but he did. Just looking at the smooth curve of her calf made his belly muscles tighten viciously. The long, lovely line of her thigh made the blood in his temples pound. Fantasies were one thing—this was altogether more dangerous. The fascination defied logic; it was a visceral gut response.
Hope gasped. His fingers could easily span the curve of her uninjured calf. She stopped breathing as hand over hand, fingers splayed to cover a wide area, he worked his way higher. The sensuality of the slow progress instantly sent a flood of intense heat through her body. Her flesh tingled where the fine denier fabric of her stocking chafed her skin. A voice, unheeded, told her she ought to stop the marauding fingers which instigated the sinful friction, but she didn’t.
Alex was almost as shocked by his action as she was. A wave of self-contempt swept over him. Damn it, man, talk your way out of this one without looking like a drooling idiot! There was no way he could write this off as accidental.
The muscles of his own thighs tensed and bunched as he began to rise, and his fingertips inadvertently moved above the lacy band at the top of the hold-up stocking she wore on her uninjured leg. Her skin was warm and silkily smooth. Shockingly he could sense through his fingertips the ripple that quivered through the inner muscles of her thigh at his touch. His eyes darkened and he rose to his feet abruptly. The short kick-pleated skirt she wore proved no obstacle to his big hands. They curved firmly over the smooth contours of her rounded behind.
Her head had fallen back and Alex could see the muscles in her extended neck, taut and tense. The tension in her body transmitted itself in tiny intermittent tremors. She was breathing deep and heavily. Her intense sensitivity filled him with a gloating delight. When he transferred one hand to the back of her head and forced her face up to him she
looked directly back at him.
For a long, silent moment they looked at one another. Hope could smell the heat of his arousal. Being securely locked hip to hip against the pulsing betrayal of his desire was more darkly exciting than anything she’d ever known. The skin was pulled tightly over the sharp planes of his face and a faint sheen of sweat made it shine. She blinked away the momentary image of a predatory hawk dropping upon its prey.
Whatever else she was going to do she had to kiss him. She did. She took his face between her hands and pressed her lips carefully to his. What began as exploratory swiftly became something quite different. His tongue was no longer passive as it suggestively probed the moist warmness of her mouth. His lips ground fiercely against hers with a hunger which awakened an answering fervour within her.
Half lifting her, he moved until her back was pressing into the wall. His hips ground rhythmically against her lower body, driving her half insane with desire.
He drew away, breathing hard. Fist clenched, he rubbed his knuckles delicately over her parted lips. Hope kissed what he offered, a languorous rapture still filling her eyes.
Alex audibly gasped before unclenching his fingers and capturing the curve of her jaw in his hand. ‘You are altogether unbelievable,’ he said throatily. ‘Under the circumstances I can’t blame him.’
Confusion crept into her eyes as she turned her cheek into the palm of his hand.
‘Any man would be likely to forget he was married when you turn up the heat. In your position the temptation to use your God-given gifts must be irresistible.’
Lloyd—he was talking about Lloyd. The realisation seared through her body. Her hand came up to his shoulders and she pushed, even though she knew her efforts would have no impact on him.
‘Let me go!’ she breathed, through clenched teeth. Her wild movement sent a watercolour that was hung just above her head crashing to the floor. Shards of wood and gold leaf from the frame scattered over the carpet. Amazingly, the glass stayed intact.
The noise seemed to recall Alex to his surroundings. The quiet, chintzy normality of the room seemed a million miles away from… He lifted his hands abruptly from her, looked with a stunned expression at the palms and then back at Hope’s flushed face. His hands fell to his sides.
‘You’re right. This isn’t the time or place,’ he said abruptly.
Hope felt sick. He still thought she was a slut—just a desirable slut! ‘There isn’t a right time or place. Not for you.’ Chin up, she prepared to withstand whatever he chose to throw at her.
‘I’m not a fool, Hope, I know when a woman wants me.’ With a dismissive, half-impatient gesture, Alex thrust his fingers through his hair.
‘I have to look beyond basic desire.’ She gave a shrug. ‘I have to look ahead. Lloyd could give my career in films a kick-start. What can you give me? You have to look at this from my point of view.’ At least he looked shocked; that was something. Why look shocked? she wanted to ask. If I was the woman you think I am, isn’t that what I’d be thinking?
‘Are you asking me to believe that you’re no better than a high-class hooker?’
‘I’m not asking you to believe that, Alex, that’s what you do believe,’ she pointed out gravely. ‘I don’t want anything to do with you while that’s the case.’
‘You want me to believe that half the world’s press got it wrong? That’s a lot of doubt to give anyone the benefit of. Why not just be honest? There’s nobody here but us. I can appreciate you want to shield your parents from the truth, and I’m sure they find your fairy tales comforting, but spare me.’
‘I wasn’t about to defend myself to you.’
‘That’s convenient, because I’m not a gullible parent who wants to believe the lines I’m being fed. Listen, Hope, I admit that initially I thought you were something you’re not. I’m not saying you misled me intentionally…’
‘That’s big of you.’
‘It was pretty naive of me, considering the sort of circles you’ve been moving in since your teens. I don’t expect a girl survives without developing a hard skin. It’s nothing to do with me who you’ve slept with or why.’
What a nice, open-minded, tolerant creature he was, she thought, watching him from under the sweep of her lashes. Where was all this leading to? she wondered grimly.
‘You must be finding it pretty constricting, being stuck here?’
‘I must?’
‘I don’t have any illusions for you to shatter.’
‘I’ll sleep better knowing that.’
‘With me, I hope,’ he said smoothly, ignoring the sarcasm in her tone. ‘It’s what we both want and you’ve not a lot else to do.’
Old-fashioned courting. There was nothing quite like it. ‘I can quite honestly say,’ she said, her voice trembling with suppressed emotion, ‘that I’ve never had a proposition quite like that before.’
‘I like to be original.’ He didn’t appear to be waiting with bated breath for her reply. He looked quietly confident and insultingly casual about the entire thing.
‘Pacifism,’ she said unsteadily, ‘is suddenly looking much less appealing.’ Tears of sheer fury were stinging the back of her eyelids.
‘Dear God, woman, is it that important for you to preserve your wholesome nice-girl role?’
‘I am a nice girl, but if you don’t leave immediately I’ll forget the fact and tell you exactly what I think of you.’
His square jaw tightened, but he smiled with unique unpleasantness. ‘Have it your way. But you might regret this noble stance when you’re lying alone in your virginal white sheets.’
‘I hope thinking of my virginal sheets gives you a good night’s sleep!’ She flung the words at his broad back.
Hope had no way of knowing that this dart had accurately found its target—Alex’s back was not very revealing.
CHAPTER FOUR
‘WELL, what’s this brilliant idea of yours, then?’ Hope asked her sister, who invaded rather than visited these days. It was bewildering, she reflected, just how much paraphernalia two small babies required.
‘Here, hold your godson,’ Anna said, extracting one of her sons from the Moses basket. ‘Support his head.’
Easy for you to say, Hope thought as she obediently received the soft bundle on her lap. ‘I’m not very good with babies,’ she replied uncertainly. The tiny creature in her arms stared back placidly at her with the unnerving intensity of a new-born. ‘Hello, shrimp,’ she said softly. A tiny fist closed around her probing finger and she gasped. ‘He’s so strong.’
Anna gave a small complacent smile. ‘He’s superior to other babies in every way,’ she agreed. ‘So is Henry.’ She surreptitiously glanced at the sleeping infant in the vacated crib. ‘Speaking of whom, do you mind keeping your voice down? He’s not nearly so quiet as Joe when he’s awake.’
‘You were talking about your brilliant idea…’ Hope cast the sleeping figure a suspicious look. Faced with a crying baby, she suspected she might well panic. Glancing at the contented face of her sister, she wondered where Anna had learnt what to do. Did it really come naturally? Perhaps there’s some essential mothering factor missing in me, she pondered.
‘I’ve worked out a way to make Mum and Dad go on their cruise.’
‘That’s marvellous!’ Despite the cheerful face their mother had been putting on, Hope knew how much both her parents had been looking forward to the trip.
‘We’ll work out a rota.’
‘Rota?’
‘A “make sure poor helpless Hope isn’t in trouble” rota. A “make sure she’s fed and washed” rota.’
Hope looked doubtful. ‘That doesn’t sound very practical to me. You’ve got your hands full…and it’s not as if you’re right on the doorstep.’
‘I know, I know,’ said Anna impatiently. ‘I’ve decided to delegate.’
Hope frowned. She suspected she wasn’t going to like the sound of this. ‘How, exactly?’
‘Well, I can pop over every ot
her afternoon and spend an hour with you before I pick up Sam and Nathan from nursery school, and on alternate days you can get a taxi up to our place, so there’s no possibility of you being lonely. Adam will come in every morning to check you didn’t die in the night, and the Wilsons will be around the farm all day—so if you scream loud enough they’ll be bound to hear…’
‘I’m not helpless.’ Hope had to smile at Anna’s enthusiasm.
‘I know that, but it’s Mum we have to convince. As I was saying, you can promise to carry the mobile with you everywhere, and Alex will pop in every night.’
‘What?’
‘Hush, you’ll wake Henry,’ Anna said reproachfully. She glanced quickly at her son to satisfy herself he was still asleep. ‘Cherub,’ she said fondly, before turning her attention back to her sister. ‘Alex has kindly agreed to look in every night. I’d get Adam to do it, but to be honest I need him myself just now.’
‘You’re mad if you think Alex Matheson will play nursemaid.’
This had to be a nightmare! She had to do some quick talking. If Anna got her way—her mind refused to explore this humiliating avenue.
She couldn’t tell Anna the truth. Anna didn’t know the meaning of subtlety, and she was quite capable of marching up to Alex and demanding he explain himself. It was hard enough coping with things as it was—what with her moods dramatically veering from brave optimism to maudlin self-pity. If he knew! Hope shuddered at the thought.
‘Hardly nursemaid. Anyway,’ Anna said with a triumphant smile, ‘he was delighted. Well, he didn’t say no anyhow. He’s got lovely manners.’
‘He’s managed to hide them from me.’
‘Don’t tell me you’ve had a lovers’ tiff?’ Anna said in an exasperated tone. ‘That explains it.’
‘Explains it?’ Hope said sharply. ‘What do you mean, lovers? Has Adam been talking?’
‘Adam? You mean he knows? Isn’t that just like him,’ Anna said, reflecting with a frown on her husband’s shortcomings. ‘He didn’t say a word. Wait till I see him! No, I merely put two and two together. I know you were with Alex at the wedding, because at least three people told me, and you were at his factory when you had your accident. So, unless you’ve developed an interest in the manufacture of cars… I put two and two together—because you didn’t choose to confide in me.’