He looked thoughtful. ‘You can always call me when you’re free,’ he suggested. ‘After all, I’m only here to see you.’
She blushed at his almost accusing tone. ‘You must realise I have a job to do, that I’m not on holiday,’ she reminded waspishly. ‘I didn’t ask you to spend your holiday here,’ she told him defensively, although she knew that if he had still been just Rick Richards to her that she would have asked her aunt and uncle for a few days off to be with him.
Rod sighed. ‘I accept that I can only see you when you have the time off. Despite what you may think of me, I’m not a spoilt “superstar” who believes he can have his own way in everything. You mean a lot to me, interest me more than any other woman ever has. I haven’t even looked at anyone else since I met you.’
‘Is that a record?’ she mocked.
‘No,’ he answered her seriously. ‘It took me over a year to be attracted to someone else after Veronica died.’
She felt his rebuke. ‘I’m sorry,’ she murmured, knowing by the deep sincerity in his voice that he meant every word he said, that he had genuinely cared for the other woman.
‘Yes,’ he dismissed abruptly. ‘I’ll take you home now.’
‘The tray—’
‘Leave it,’ he instructed curtly.
His quietly controlled anger made her want to apologise yet again, more sincerely this time, until he actually believed she meant what she said. But she couldn’t do it, didn’t want to be friends with this man when he only had to kiss her to make her forget anything but the two of them.
The drive to the hotel was made in silence, Rod seeming deep in thought, Keilly loath to speak in case she should give in to the temptation to see him again. She had no reason to feel guilty, damn it, especially not guilty enough to foolishly agree to seeing him again.
‘I’ll see you inside,’ he told her once they reached the hotel.
‘There’s no need—’
‘There’s every need,’ he told her grimly. ‘It’s late, it’s dark, and I intend seeing you into your home.’
When he put it like that she knew she couldn’t argue with him any more, picking up the box containing the rose that she had discarded so callously earlier in the evening. It was just her luck that her uncle should be locking up for the night when they reached the door, greeting them both jovially.
‘Like a nightcap?’ he offered, locking the bar, the hotel curiously silent and empty this time of night.
Keilly inwardly willed Rod to say no, but she knew before he agreed that he was going to accept, the two of them following her uncle into the large homely lounge through the door marked ‘Private’. Her aunt, seeing there were two more for the habitual late-night pot of coffee, hurried back to the kitchen to get more cups.
‘Did you have a good evening?’ she asked them as she poured the hot brew.
‘It wasn’t a complete success,’ Rod was the one to answer her. ‘I’m afraid Keilly was subjected to the recognition I’ve learnt to live with over the past few years.’
‘Oh dear,’ her aunt gave her a worried look, knowing how Keilly felt about having attention drawn to her. ‘That was a pity.’
‘Yes,’ he agreed softly.
‘But if you will go making excellent films…’ Keilly’s uncle teased.
Rod turned to him interestedly. ‘Don’t tell me that you, unlike your niece, have actually seen some of my films?’
‘Quite a few,’ her uncle confirmed—much to Keilly’s amazement. She had no idea they had seen any of Rod Bartlett’s films! They seemed to have liked them too. ‘Sylvie and I often sneak off to the cinema for the evening in the winter. “Beginning Again” is due to be at the local cinema any day now.’
‘Really?’ Rod’s eyes narrowed.
‘I saw a preview of it on television,’ her aunt spoke again. ‘It looks very good.’
‘I was pleased with it,’ he nodded.
She hadn’t realised her aunt and uncle were actually fans of his, they had never mentioned it before. Maybe they hadn’t liked to after that blistering letter she had written to the magazine!
‘Would you like to come to dinner on Saturday, Rod?’ she heard her aunt asking him, with some dismay. ‘Because we’re so busy right through the summer we don’t have the time to invite our friends over, so we usually like to have everyone over before the season really gets under way. It will only be a few close friends,’ she encouraged. ‘And I can assure you they won’t all stare at you through the evening,’ she smiled.
Keilly looked at Rod with horror in her eyes, wanting him to refuse. After all, what possible interest could he have in her aunt and uncle’s dinner party! The answer to that was all too obvious.
‘I’d like that very much,’ he predictably accepted.
‘Good,’ her aunt smiled, standing up. ‘Bill and I might as well take our coffee upstairs. Saturday at eight o’clock, then, Rod.’
‘I’ll look forward to it,’ he stood up politely as the middle-aged couple left the room.
Keilly was once again lost in her own misery, barely noticing as Rod joined her on the sofa. The dinner party before the start of the holiday season had been a tradition with her aunt and uncle for years, and Kathy and Peter had been coming to them for the last nine!
‘You’re very quiet,’ Rod prompted huskily beside her. ‘Would you rather I hadn’t accepted your aunt’s invitation?’ he asked shrewdly.
She gave him a sharp look. ‘Of course not. I just—Wouldn’t you rather have spent the evening alone with me?’
His eyes darkened in colour, his arm coming about her shoulders. ‘You know I would, but tonight didn’t work out too well. I thought maybe you would feel more relaxed among friends.’
She probably would have done if Kathy and Peter weren’t going to be there!
‘Besides,’ he added. ‘I’ve accepted now.’
‘Yes,’ she said dully.
‘Hey,’ his finger under her chin turned her to face him, his mouth curved into a sensual smile. ‘I promise I won’t embarrass you,’ he chided mockingly.
Colour entered her cheeks. ‘I didn’t think you would,’ she snapped. ‘It’s just that—’
‘It will be all right Keilly,’ his thumbtip on her lips prevented further speech. ‘Now walk me to the door and I’ll see you on Saturday.’
‘Rod, I’m really sorry about what I said earlier,’ she told him when they reached the door. ‘I didn’t realise how—sensitive you still are about—about Veronica.’
‘I know,’ he looked down at her with warm eyes. ‘But she did mean a lot to me. Can you really not see me until Saturday?’ His gaze was sensual on her parted lips.
She probably could if she wanted to, her aunt didn’t make her work twenty-four hours a day, but she didn’t think she wanted to. ‘No,’ she answered firmly.
‘Then this will have to sustain me until then,’ he murmured, bending his head to part her lips with his, drawing her into him, his hands on her spine curving her body against his, drinking his fill of her until he felt her tremble in his arms. ‘Keilly, Keilly,’ he muttered against her temple. ‘If you only knew how much you mean to me—’
‘Rod, please—’
‘It’s all right, darling,’ he soothed as he sensed her panic. ‘I’m not about to ruin things again by moving too fast for you. Although by Saturday I’m likely to be climbing the walls for you,’ he added ruefully, chuckling softly at her blushingly outraged expression. ‘Have pity, Keilly, all I can do right now is talk about it.’ He kissed her lingeringly on the temple. ‘Pleasant dreams, my darling. I’ll be looking forward to Saturday.’
She stood at the door and watched until the tail-lights of the Jaguar disappeared into the distance, all the time wondering how she was going to break this particular piece of news to Kathy. It wasn’t going to be easy!
CHAPTER SIX
‘WHAT on earth can my mother have been thinking of?’ Kathy glanced worriedly at the door for about the tenth time since her a
rrival a few minutes earlier. ‘Why on earth did she have to invite him here tonight?’
As she had known she would her cousin had taken the news of Rod’s expected presence at the dinner party with a mixture of horror and fatalism, sure that tonight her past association with him would come out.
‘I tried every way I could think of to get out of coming here this evening,’ Kathy continued tautly. ‘I pretended a headache, sickness, that Heather’s cold seemed to be coming back. Peter just shrugged them all off,’ she trembled. ‘I feel like a prisoner waiting for the executioner!’ she added with a groan.
Most of the guests had already arrived for dinner, although Rod was still noticeably absent. She had no doubt that he would be here though, had seen him at the hotel bar on several evenings the past week, and he had given no indication then that he didn’t intend coming tonight. But it was already eight-fifteen, her aunt would be serving dinner soon, with or without Rod.
‘Do you have any idea what could be delaying Mr Bartlett?’ her aunt appeared at her side, calm and unruffled, used to coping when it came to cooking meals.
‘None at all,’ Keilly answered truthfully.
‘I see,’ her aunt turned back to the kitchen. ‘Well if he doesn’t arrive soon we shall have to start without him; otherwise everyone is going to be drunk before we have our meal,’ she derided the liberally flowing alcohol.
‘She’s lucky it’s only dinner she has to worry about,’ Kathy muttered once she and Keilly were alone again. ‘What can be keeping the man?’
Keilly wondered that too; he had proven his punctuality in the past, so it really wasn’t like him to be late. It was totally incomprehensible to her, but she was actually getting worried about him! She looked at her watch once more, twenty past eight. Something must surely be wrong.
‘I won’t be long,’ she told Kathy quickly, moving towards the door.
‘Where are you going?’ her cousin frowned her puzzlement.
‘To telephone Rod,’ she explained impatiently. ‘Isn’t it obvious?’
Kathy caught hold of her arm as they emerged into the reception area, the restaurant closed for this one evening of the year, and a couple of local men running the bar for her uncle. ‘Are you mad?’ Kathy demanded incredulously, her voice soft, conscious of where they were. ‘What more could we ask for than him not turning up?’ She looked at Keilly as if she had lost her senses.
‘He could be hurt—’
‘More than likely he’s decided the evening will be too tame for him—’
‘Kathy!’ she turned on her cousin angrily—something she couldn’t ever remember doing before. ‘Will you just, for once, stop thinking of yourself,’ she snapped, uncaring of Kathy’s indignant expression. ‘He meant to be here tonight, so there must be a good reason why he isn’t.’
Kathy looked angry—her nostrils flared. ‘It couldn’t just be that he’s lost interest in you, could it?’ she scorned nastily.
The comment didn’t deserve an answer and Keilly didn’t offer one, going over to the telephone and dialling the number of the cottage, watching dispassionately as Kathy spun on her heel and re-entered the lounge, her expression stormy.
The receiver wasn’t picked up at the cottage, which meant Rod was either not there or else he was unable to come to the telephone. The thought of the latter made her tremble, and she knew in that moment that no matter what Rod had done in the past, what cruelty he had inflicted, she had fallen in love with him. Despite all the odds, her own common sense, she knew she had done the unforgivable and fallen in love with him. The thought of him perhaps being injured and unable to call for help horrified her, and she knew that for her own peace of mind she had to go to the cottage and see if he was all right.
‘Take my car, love,’ her uncle gave her his keys once she had explained what she was doing. ‘It will be better for getting down the track that leads to the cottage.’
Her long grey-blue gown was hardly suitable for driving, but she had no time to go and change, not if she wasn’t to delay her aunt’s dinner too much longer. The roads were wet from yet another downpour, which made the going slower than she would have wished, and it was with some relief that she finally reached the rough road that led to the cottage. The parked Jaguar almost at the top of the track, noticeably minus its driver, didn’t reassure her in the least. Where was Rod?
The Jaguar blocking the driveway meant she couldn’t drive down to the cottage, and leaving the car parked on the road she walked down the tarmaced pathway, relieved when she saw most of the lights were on in the cottage. But if Rod was there why hadn’t he answered the telephone?
‘Darling!’ He answered the door as soon as he heard her knock, pulling her quickly inside the warmth of the cottage, holding her tightly in his arms.
It took her a few minutes to realise he was wearing only a towel draped around his waist, his torso and long legs completely bare, his hair still damp from the shower he seemed to have taken.
She pulled out of his arms, looking at him accusingly. ‘You really weren’t coming to the dinner party!’ she realised heatedly. ‘I thought you were ill or injured, but you just weren’t coming! It would have been polite to call my aunt—’
‘I did call her,’ he said quietly, hitching the towel more securely about his hips.
‘Don’t lie to me on top of everything else,’ she snapped. ‘You—’
‘I called your aunt ten minutes ago, as soon as I got back to the cottage.’
‘From where?’ she demanded to know.
‘From the driveway,’ he told her gently. ‘You can’t have missed my car parked almost at the top?’
‘No. But—’
‘That was as far as I managed to push it before I fell flat on my face in the mud,’ he continued dryly, his dark brows arched mockingly at her disbelieving expression.
‘You—fell…’
‘Flat on my face,’ he nodded. ‘My car got stuck in the mud next to the cottage; after all the rain we’ve had I shouldn’t have been surprised! I managed to drive it a little way and then it just wouldn’t move any further. Pushing it seemed like a good idea at the time,’ he grimaced. ‘But not quite so good when I slipped and landed in the mud.’
Keilly had been having difficulty in keeping a straight face while he gave his explanation, the last was just too much for her, her eyes dancing with mischief as she began to laugh. ‘I’d love to have seen it,’ she began to giggle. ‘Oh, Rod, how funny!’
‘Very,’ he drawled. ‘I telephoned the hotel as soon as I got back and your aunt told me you were coming out here. It’s taken me all this time to wash the mud off me. Now are you going to stop laughing,’ he was advancing on her menacingly. ‘Or am I going to have to make you?’
She sobered as suddenly as she had started laughing. ‘I didn’t mean—’
‘Not quick enough,’ he growled as he took her into his arms.
‘My aunt is waiting for us—’
‘A few more minutes isn’t going to make much difference now. Besides,’ he murmured against her throat. ‘Your aunt told me not to rush.’
With the recent discovery of her love for him she had no defence against his kisses, melting against him, her arms up about his neck as she kissed him back, parting her lips to allow him access to all the dark recesses of her mouth.
‘God, Keilly,’ he groaned raggedly as he lifted his head slightly. ‘Why couldn’t you have been like this when we didn’t have to hurry off?’
She smiled. ‘Maybe for that very reason.’
His own smile was rueful. ‘At least you’re honest.’ He smoothed back the darkness of her hair. ‘We have months to get to know each other, I’m not going to rush you. But after being kissed like that I’m not going to let you see Fenwick again either,’ he added with a hardening of his eyes.
‘I told you, he’s just a friend.’ The feel of his bare torso beneath her hands was making her breathless and in that moment she knew she didn’t care who he was, or that her aun
t and uncle were waiting for them. In that moment she wanted him so badly none of it mattered. ‘Rod…!’
Her husky groan of longing made his breath catch in his throat. ‘I wish I had all night with you, Keilly,’ he moaned his own desire. ‘But they’re waiting for us,’ he added regretfully, ‘and much as I want to be with you I don’t want to upset your family. Will you wait here while I go and dress?’
She nodded wordlessly, feeling shattered by the emotions that had taken her so much by surprise. She hadn’t chosen to love him, hadn’t wanted to love him, and yet it was fact, there was nothing she could do to change it. It made her feel vulnerable and more than a little scared to know this man’s welfare meant more to her than anyone else’s, that she had rushed over here tonight like a love-sick fool, that she would do it again if the need should ever arise. Was this how her mother had felt about her father? If it had been perhaps she could understand a little better now.
‘Ready?’
She turned with a start, not noticing the passing of time as she waited for him, loving the smooth fit of the navy blue suit he wore, his eyes darker in colour as he looked at her. She loved this man, and yet there could be no future for them, only now, before he went back to the life that took him into the public limelight he loved, a limelight she knew she could never share, not as his girlfriend or anything else he cared to make of her.
‘Keilly?’ he seemed puzzled by the almost lost look in her eyes.
She forced herself to act normally; Rod must never know how deeply she cared for him. ‘Ready,’ she agreed brightly. ‘I was just wondering if it wasn’t going to rain again,’ she looked up pointedly at the darkening sky as they went outside.
His arm went companionably about her shoulders as they began the walk back to the car. ‘Not before we get into the dry, I hope,’ he said ruefully.
They took her uncle’s car back to the hotel, the Jaguar still firmly stuck in the mud. She made no demur when Rod took the car keys out of her hand and drove them back, content to sit at his side.
Taming The Notorious Billionaire (HQR Presents) Page 10