by Kim Lawrence
It had been quite a juggling act, co-ordinating the plumbers, electricians, plasterers and carpenters that were needed to complete the repairs before her parents got back from their cruise. She’d despaired of pulling it off, but just when she’d been tearing out her hair Adam had somehow worked some magic. She suspected the magic had consisted largely of bribery, with a bit of mutual back-scratching thrown in, but by that point she hadn’t cared.
The front door was ajar so she went straight in. ‘Hello, anyone there?’ she called out. There was no reply, so she went up the stairs towards the sound of industry. The plaster from the upper hall ceiling had been pulled down and she could see a pair of boots between the ceiling joists. She stepped over the flex of an electric fire that took the chill of the air. Great, the electrics were back on line. ‘That’s what I like to see—hard work.’
The figure lowered himself down between the gap in the joists with an impressive display of agility and strength.
‘We aim to please.’
Hope felt the colour race to her cheeks. She looked around, more in hope than expectation—no, he was alone. ‘Is that the royal we? What are you doing here, Alex?’
‘There was a hitch with the joiners.’
‘That doesn’t answer my question.’
‘I’m being neighbourly. What’s wrong? Don’t you think I’m up to the task?’
‘I’m sure you’ve got better things to do.’
‘Actually, I’m glad of the opportunity to get my hands dirty. I don’t find anything demeaning in manual labour.’ He held out his big square hands palm-up, and Hope felt the shivery, forbidden sensations stir in her belly.
‘I wasn’t suggesting there is.’ She tore her eyes away from the sight, only their upward journey did nothing to improve her equilibrium. The green cord shirt he wore had at some point in his labours come unfastened a few inches above his waist. Up to this point she’d managed to avoid looking at the expanse of hair-sprinkled flesh. The strongly delineated muscles of his torso gleamed with a light coating of moisture. The blood was pounding in her ears by the time she reached eye level.
‘I sometimes rebel against the schedules, sales targets and interminable meetings,’ he continued. ‘I play hooky and go and help out on the shop floor. One thing my father insisted on was that I started at the bottom—sweeping floors being the bottom. I learnt every stage of production. I might not be as fast as the men these days, but I can still build one of our cars with my own hands, from start to finish, if push comes to shove. There’s nothing to beat the achievement of seeing the results of your labours taking shape under your eyes.’ His pride in this capability shone in his face.
‘Don’t your men feel uncomfortable with you working with them?’
‘I’ve never been much for the “us and them” management style. It’s counterproductive and inefficient. Besides, they don’t react to my sweaty body the way you do. If they did I might feel uneasy.’
Hope gave a startled gasp as a wave of mortification swept over her. ‘Men look—why shouldn’t women?’ I can’t believe I was that obvious! ‘You’ve got a good body. There’s nothing personal.’ She was proud of how cool she sounded.
‘Such a liberated lady,’ he breathed admiringly. ‘And no cast to cramp your style any more.’ He looked down at her legs, clad in a fine-denier black. His eyes followed the curve of her calves and the elegant slimness of her thighs until they disappeared beneath the hemline of her leather skirt.
‘I’ll be able to wear jeans again. It was relief getting rid of it. Almost as much of a relief as it will be to get rid of you,’ she sniped. Being caught ogling like a sex-starved teenager was a major blow to her pride. He had more raw masculinity in his little finger than most men had in their entire bodies.
‘You’re not satisfied with my work?’ He picked up a cloth from the nearby ladder and slowly wiped his hands. The sinews in his forearms corded.
‘I’m sure it’s exemplary, but it’s not…not appropriate for you to be working here,’ she said primly.
‘Do you mind expanding that a little? I’m a bit slow on the uptake.’
If only he were, life would be a lot simpler. ‘If you must know I’m sick of being beholden to you!’ she flared thoughtlessly.
‘Afraid of the reckoning?’ he taunted.
The glitter in his eyes made her wonder just what sort of reckoning he had in mind. Speculation made her stomach tighten with excitement. ‘I’m not afraid of you or anything you could do,’ she boasted emptily. ‘Just leave.’ She made a rather grand gesture with her arm.
‘I told Adam I’d help.’
‘This isn’t Adam’s house,’ she fumed. Short of hiring a crane, there wasn’t any way of moving him.
‘Neither is it yours,’ he pointed out with irritating logic. ‘As I said, I’m being neighbourly. Your parents are my neighbours. I’ve turned over a new leaf.’
‘Why?’
He sighed. ‘Suspicion in one so young. You’re the one who complained I didn’t pop round for tea and sympathy.’
‘I thought you advocated suspicion.’
‘You think everything I do has some dark design, don’t you?’ he said harshly. ‘Maybe I’m just doing it out of love.’
Hearing him joke about it hurt. Pride made her keep her expression noncommittal. ‘Perversity, more like—just to irritate me.’
‘You think I’d go to that much bother on your account? Besides, if you hadn’t turned up unexpectedly today you’d have been none the wiser.’
‘I’d have got your bill.’
He grimaced. Her response appeared to irritate him intensely. ‘Does everything boil down to that for you—money?’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ she asked with dangerous calm. She enjoyed the fruits of her labour, but not even her worst enemy had ever accused her of avarice. ‘You expect to be rewarded for what you do. Why should I be any different?’
‘It comes down to what you do, I suppose,’ he drawled, regarding her with a superior sneer that made her teeth grate. ‘You take off your clothes to titillate men for money…’
Hope’s nostrils flared and her chin went up. ‘I have never taken off my clothes!’ she cried. She’d refused several small fortunes to do just that on numerous occasions. ‘I get paid to wear clothes, not take them off.’
How dared he make it sound tacky and sordid? She’d be the first to admit she’d been lucky, but she’d worked damned hard, and to hear him casually denigrate what she’d achieved made her furious.
‘Don’t you find it demeaning to pose provocatively with the sole intention of inflaming men?’ He considered her flushed face through narrowed eyes.
‘With the sole intention of selling something—usually clothes, and almost always to women!’ she contradicted hotly. ‘And I don’t find anything I’ve ever done demeaning, with the exception of sleeping with you! I find it hard work.’ She gave a wild laugh. ‘But then the same could apply to sleeping with you too.’
The venom fell sweetly from her tongue, but looking at the taut, set lines of his face made the hot words shrivel. That one step too far, she silently cursed. I can’t stop myself taking it.
‘Your memory of the occasion seems to be more vivid than mine.’
‘That’s a lie,’ she gasped. She might be unsure of a lot of things at that moment, but she knew she was on solid ground with this.
His lips curved into a wintry, sardonic smile. ‘A lie for a lie,’ he murmured huskily. ‘You started it.’
‘I’ll take it back if you will,’ she offered. A breathless sort of excitement was swirling through her veins. ‘It wasn’t hard work sleeping with you.’
Satisfaction, hot and hazardous, blazed in his eyes as she made the husky confession.
‘I haven’t forgotten a single detail of making love to you.’ The air almost visibly crackled with static electricity.
Hope cleared her throat noisily. ‘Right…humph. It’s good to have the record straight.’
<
br /> ‘Isn’t it? Perhaps we should repeat the experience—if you’ve got a space in your calendar.’
A nice way to pass the time—that was all it was to him. She knew that already, but it hurt to have her fears so thoroughly confirmed.
‘Nice idea, but I’m off to London soon—now, actually. There’s nothing to hold me here now.’ She bent her knee and flexed her foot to illustrate the healthy state of her injured limb. Just in case he thought anything else had held her here.
‘What’s in London?’ The question was casually curious.
Whilst she hadn’t wanted him to give her a hard time, the fact that he’d accepted her departure without a flicker of concern added insult to injury. ‘Work—friends. I’m reading for a part in the West End.’
‘Hope Lacey conquers the world.’
She didn’t want to conquer the world. She wanted to conquer one man. She wanted one man to beg her to stay. She wanted him to declare he couldn’t live without her, but that was fantasy time and she knew it. She meant nothing to Alex. Sure, he desired her—but that wasn’t enough.
‘That’s a little premature…maybe next year.’
‘This is goodbye, then.’
Don’t cry, you idiot, she told herself fiercely. Don’t cry! She blinked back the hot sting of unshed tears. ‘Bye.’
A hand curled around her forearm as she turned. She spun around.
‘Haven’t you forgotten something?’
‘What…?’
‘My bill.’
‘Anna has my address,’ she began, turning to go once more. She couldn’t bear a long, lingering farewell. If she didn’t get out of here this instant she’d do something crazy, like say, I love you!
‘I don’t think we need a middle man.’ He jerked her closer.
She gasped as she read the starkly explicit expression in his eyes. ‘You’re not actually suggesting I sleep with you as payment for services rendered? Out of gratitude! I didn’t read any quote that was that ambitious.’ She tried to sound amused, but the quiver in her voice spoilt the effect. The unspoken suggestion was outrageous, but outrage wasn’t the emotion that was uppermost in her mind as she glared back at him, desperate to hide the fact she had found his suggestion incredibly arousing.
‘I’m not suggesting you do anything out of gratitude,’ he grated, pulling her securely into his arms. ‘Need is the incentive, here—mutual need. I’ve tried to ignore it, rationalise it, but I can’t think straight.’ His eyes blazed down at her. ‘Do you think I’d actually let you walk out? Just like that! On to pastures new.’
‘Actually, Alex, there isn’t much you can do to stop me.’ The lust and contempt she saw in his eyes made her feel sick. In the midst of her confusion she wasn’t able to distinguish the plain fact that he was the target of his own contempt. She stopped trying to twist out of his arms; her struggles only made his steely grip tighten.
‘Does it make you feel safe, keeping this distance from your lovers—and I’m not talking miles here? Is it a classic case of safety in numbers?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ The intensity of the raw emotions emanating from him made her head spin.
‘Have you ever paused to think you might find enough with one man?’
It was the very last thing she’d expected to hear him say. ‘You?’
His expression grew grimmer as he misinterpreted her incredulity. ‘I don’t like sharing the woman in my bed with other men.’
No tender concern; he was just protecting what he saw as his territory. Her fledgling hopes withered and died. ‘I’m not your property, Alex Matheson. One night, that’s all we had, or will ever have,’ she hissed. ‘Anyway, you’ve got some nerve. What about Rebecca?’
‘Rebecca’s a friend; she’s got nothing to do with this.’
‘Well, Lloyd is my friend.’
‘Do you categorise all your ex-lovers as friends, Hope? You must have a lot of “friends.”’
‘Lloyd is not my ex-lover. He’s—’
‘Well, for his sake he’d better get transferred to that list in a hurry,’ he cut in savagely. ‘You don’t need him while you’ve got me.’
‘The question is, do I want you? I’m sure lots of girls go a bundle on all this machismo, but personally I find this overdose of virility a mite pathetic.’ She could see his face through a fog of anger, only it wasn’t just anger that clouded her senses; there was a strong element of anticipation and excitement.
‘Is that a fact?’
‘It is.’
‘Then why are you trembling?’
‘I…I’m cold,’ she whispered huskily.
‘If you run out on me, who will keep you warm?’
‘I’ll buy a hot water bottle,’ she suggested weakly. ‘God, Alex, this is stupid. Let me go. I know you’re not going to force me.’
‘You credit me with that much decency? I’m amazed,’ he drawled sarcastically. She couldn’t take her eyes from the nerve that beat beside his mouth. His mouth—oh, hell! she moaned silently.
‘We’re not suited. You don’t even like me.’
A impatient twist of his head brushed aside her objections. ‘We are suited in bed. We don’t even need a bed,’ he corrected huskily. ‘Don’t try cold turkey, Hope, it’s hell.’
‘What option do we have, Alex?’
He placed his hands on either side of her face and drew her lips towards him. Like a man deprived too long of water, he drank in her sweetness.
‘God, I’ve thought about that every second of every day,’ he breathed, lifting his head. ‘Have you?’
‘Oh, yes!’ With a small, broken cry she wound her arms about his neck and covered his mouth with her soft, eager lips. ‘This is mad.’ Mad but marvellous. His coiled strength, the musky male scent of his warm body, the strength of his arousal as she ground her hips against his—how could she deprive herself of these mind-blowing pleasures?
A soft, greedy growl reverberated in his throat as he began to pull at her clothes with impatient hands. She squirmed and wriggled to aid him.
‘You’re so beautiful, it hurts.’ A kiss tinged with the desperation that pervaded them both interspersed his words. His harsh, uneven breathing drowned out her own shallow gasps. ‘Do you know what it does to me to look at you?’
‘I want…’ She almost sobbed the words as her fingers worked diligently at the buckle on his jeans. The strength vanished from her legs at the same moment her skirt slithered to the floor. ‘I can’t do it!’ she wailed in frustration as they sank to their knees. Her desire wasn’t gentle or controlled; it was clumsy and eagerly rough. It flowed like a molten river through her veins.
Her arms slid beneath his open shirt. His damp skin was satiny hard and her fingers didn’t meet across his magnificent back. She pressed her face to him and placed open-mouthed kisses against his heaving chest. Her teeth tugged against the taut, resistant flesh stretched over his ribcage.
She didn’t notice when he reached to drag his coat across the floor to cushion her impact against it. It was a relief to find herself flat on her back. She caught the flapping ends of his shirt-front and tugged him downwards. Together they rolled onto their sides.
Alex pushed aside the lace covering one breast. His eyes were half closed as they ran over the warm, quivering flesh. ‘Is it the cold doing that?’ he asked, watching the pink nipples swell and quiver. ‘Or me?’
‘You know.’ Her fingers curled into the taut contours of his buttocks as his mouth honed in on the tingling area. She looped her thigh over his hips and felt him pulse against the cradle of her pelvis. She yelped as the buckle of his belt pinched her skin.
‘What is it?’ The skin was drawn tight across his strong bones; his mouth looked fuller and his eyes—oh, God—his eyes made her bones melt.
‘Just the belt.’
He ran his fingers down her thigh and moved her knee a little lower. ‘Just for a minute,’ he promised. One-handed, he slipped the catch.
‘No, let
me,’ she said, covering his hand with her own as he reached for the zipper. She raised herself on her knees to straddle his body, and, tongue caught between her teeth, set about completing the task he’d begun. Alex was watching her from slitted eyes. His chest heaved as if he couldn’t draw enough air into his lungs. She could feel the fine tremors that shook his body. She shot him constant sultry glances as she completed her task.
She was so totally absorbed that the sound of her own name being called didn’t penetrate the sensual fog that had enveloped them immediately.
‘Hope, where are you? I’ve brought lunch, but I didn’t bring enough for two.’ The second step always had creaked. Second step—Anna! Hope glanced down at her half-naked body. Her horrified gaze didn’t extend as far as Alex’s face—she wasn’t that brave.
‘Oh, God!’ Grabbing up her clothes, she ran into the nearest room, which happened to be the bathroom. In a feverish haste she pulled on the garments.
‘It’s the least I can do, Alex, considering you stepped into the breach like a hero. Hope would have been distraught if we hadn’t fixed things up before they were back. For some reason she holds herself personally responsible, but the plumber said that the joint leading into the tank had been leaking for ages. It was already weak. Oh, there you are, Hope. Is the plumbing in good working order now? I was just saying to Alex,’ Anna rattled on cheerfully, ‘how handy it is to know a man who’s good with his hands. What’s wrong? What have I said?’
An inarticulate squeak escaped Hope’s pale lips. ‘Just leave it, Anna.’
Anna unhooked the bulging bag from around her neck. ‘Did I come at a bad time? Sorry, I just thought Alex might be hungry, but you obviously had the situation in hand. I’m off—babies are in the car. Must pick up Sam and Nathan from nursery school.’
‘No, I’m going myself.’ Hope fled.
‘Would you excuse me, Anna?’
‘Don’t mind me…’ she began, but she was talking to empty air.