Night with a Stranger

by Joanna Mansell

  'But if it does?'

  'Then there are still all sorts of options,' she said steadily. 'It's very early. An abortion would be easy ‑'

  'You wouldn't do that,' Lewis interrupted her.

  His arrogant assumption infuriated her. 'Just try me!' she snarled back at him. 'This is my body. Don't you ever try to tell me what I can or can't do with it!'

  Lewis shook his head. 'I don't even have to argue with you about it. I know what you can or can't do, and still live easily with yourself.'

  Lorel glared at him furiously. 'You do not know me.'

  'Oh, but I do,' he assured her softly. 'And a whole lot better than you even realise. So, let's drop all these pointless threats of abortion, and consider the alternatives.'

  The infuriating thing, of course, was that he was right. Although she was angry enough to fling the threat of an abortion in his face, she knew perfectly well that she would back away from it when the time came. Something inside her just wouldn't let her go ahead with it.

  'What sort of alternatives did you have in mind?' she muttered at last, in a dark tone.

  'There's one rather obvious, although hackneyed one,' came his calm reply. 'Marriage.'

  'Marriage?' she yelped. 'Are you mad?'

  'Not certifiably so. Although there are definitely times when you drive me more than a little crazy!'

  'I am not marrying you,' she stated with utter determination.

  'I haven't actually asked you yet,' he pointed out. 'I was just putting it up as a possible solution to the situation.'

  'Forget it,' she advised him. 'If you can't come up with anything better than that, then just go away. Leave me to cope with this on my own.'

  'I told you once before, I've got a certain sense of responsibility. I don't walk away from my commitments.'

  Lorel's face grew even more stormy. 'I am not a "commitment". Don't go lumping me together with your stepmother and stepbrother, just another great millstone hanging round your neck!'

  His eyes gleamed for an instant. 'That isn't quite the way I see you.'

  'Well, it certainly sounded like it to me.'

  'Then I apologise,' Lewis said, to her total astonishment. 'But I do think you ought to consider the possibility of marriage. Look at it from a purely practical point of view. You don't have any family, any job, or anyone you can turn to. Marriage to me would solve all those problems.'

  'When I get married, it won't be for any practical reasons!' Lorel howled back at him in outrage. 'I want to love my husband.'

  'And you don't think you could love me?' Lewis asked, just a little too casually.

  'You're the most unlovable man I've ever met!' She was still so angry that the lie slipped easily off her tongue.

  'Think about it,' he advised. 'You could do a lot worse.'

  'Oh, sure,' she retorted. 'I could marry a gorilla! They've got a certain rough charm, as well.'

  Lewis drew in an impatient breath. 'There's no point in going on with this conversation while you're in this mood. We'd better leave it until you've calmed down.'

  'Calmed down!' Lorel exploded. 'And how long do you think that's going to take? Ten minutes? Half an hour? Then I'll be able to look at this whole thing rationally? Let me tell you something,' she went on in a voice that had begun to shake with pure emotion, 'you can wait until hell freezes over, and I still won't have got over this! You tell me I've slept with you, and yet I can't remember a single second of it. In fact, you didn't just sleep with me, it looks as if you've made me pregnant—but to me, the whole thing's a total blank! Probably the most important moment in my life, and as far as I'm concerned, it didn't even happen! That's not the kind of thing you ever get over!'

  It gave her a great deal of satisfaction to see the colour drain from Lewis's face. She thought he was going to say something more. Instead, though, to her surprise, he turned round and silently strode from the room, as if he had suddenly run completely out of words.

  Once he had gone, she collapsed into a chair, shaking uncontrollably now. She felt as if she didn't want to see Lewis ever again. Then, with a fresh pang, she realised that wasn't a very practical proposition. If she was pregnant, then she could hardly go on avoiding the father of her child for the rest of her life.

  Lewis left her alone until after lunch. To her astonishment, she found she was starving hungry, and she ate everything Maria set in front of her. Maria smiled at her approvingly, but Lorel couldn't smile back. Her appetite might have approved, but she was still clean out of smiles.

  Lewis returned shortly afterwards. 'I've been giving some more thought to this question of marriage,' he informed her, as he sat down opposite her.

  'Really?' questioned Lore! with freezing politeness. 'Do I know the unlucky woman you're planning to propose to?'

  'Cut it out, Lorel,' he growled, 'I need to get this straightened out—and now.'

  'That's probably because you're a businessman,' she replied coldly, somehow managing to stay amazingly in control of herself. 'You like to have everything cut and dried, and neatly filed away. Unfortunately, life's often a bit too messy to sort out that easily.'

  Lewis managed to hold on to his temper.

  'I don't see any reason why we shouldn't get married. We get on well ‑'

  'Get on well?' she interrupted incredulously.

  'Things were going fine between us before this happened,' he reminded her.

  Lorel decided she didn't want to think about that. 'That's only because I didn't know the truth about you,' she retorted.

  He ignored that remark. 'I think that, basically, we like each other ‑' he began again.

  'And do you think that's enough to hold a marriage together?' Lorel interrupted rudely.

  'No. But we've got a lot more going for us than just that. And we're not exactly strangers, Lorel.' The expression in his eyes told her a great deal more than his words.

  'It seems to me that you know a whole lot more about me than I do about you,' Lorel said very pointedly.

  Lewis's mouth curved into an unexpected smile. 'We could easily remedy that.'

  Her eyebrows shot up. 'We certainly could not! One night in bed with you was apparently enough to make me lose my memory. I don't know what you did to me, but I certainly don't want to repeat it!'

  His expression abruptly changed. 'I didn't hurt you, or make you do a single thing against your will.'

  'That's your version of events.'

  'Then make an effort to remember it for yourself!' Lewis threw back at her tersely. 'I don't know why you're so damned well determined to forget it. You enjoyed every single second of it...' His voice broke off, and a more thoughtful expression entered his eyes. 'Perhaps that's it,' he said more slowly. 'You don't want to forget it because you hated it, but because you liked it too much. It scared you, feeling that strongly about someone you hardly even knew. Perhaps you even felt guilty, if you're not used to a physical relationship with a man.'

  'Oh, I've had enough of this!' she announced, getting to her feet and pushing the chair back forcefully. 'I'm going into the garden, for some fresh air.

  And if you follow me out there, I think I'll probably scream—and very loudly!'

  He didn't follow her, but when she finally came back into the palazzo he was waiting for her. The subject he wanted to discuss was the same one as before—marriage. Now that he had got the idea fixed into his head, he didn't seem to want to talk about anything else. At any other time, Lorel might have found his proposal flattering and rather exciting—even tempting, she had to admit. Right now, though, she was sick of hearing about it. Her head was spinning, she felt physically drained, and she had long since passed the point where she could think straight. The day had started off more or less like any other day, but had turned into a very bad dream that just wouldn't go away. She longed for some peace and quiet; some time to herself to try and get things straight inside her head; and, more than anything, to be somewhere there was no Lewis Elliott.

  Half-way through th
e evening, she crawled up to bed, aching for sleep but absolutely certain it would be a long and restless night. She had just reached the bedroom door when Lewis materialised out of the dark shadows at the far end of the corridor.

  'I thought I'd try one last proposal before you go to bed,' he told her. 'It struck me that this might be a good time to catch you in a mellow mood.'

  Lorel couldn't even be bothered to argue with him any more. 'The answer is no,' she told him flatly.

  When he next spoke, his voice was a little less casual. 'That sounded like a very definite decision.'

  'I'm glad I'm finally getting through to you. Because it is definite,' she assured him grimly. 'And do you want to know why?'

  Lewis suddenly looked rather tired and bleak. 'I thought we'd already been over all the reasons.'

  'Well, let's go over the main one just once more, to make sure you've got it,' Lorel replied, without compunction. 'I won't even think about marriage to you until I know what happened on that train. For all I know, you did force me. You say you didn't, but I've only got your word for that. There's no way I'm going to risk getting tied up with a man who could do something like that.'

  Lewis's expression changed, the bleakness sweeping away, to be replaced with a mixture of grimness and sudden determination.

  'All right,' he said, catching hold of her arm. 'If those are your conditions, then we'd better get your memory back as soon as we can.'

  Wariness made her eyes shoot wide open. 'How?'

  'It's quite simple,' he told her, opening the bedroom door and then levering her inside. 'We'll repeat what happened that night, step by step, until we finally reach a point where you can't help but remember.' As her eyes opened even wider, he slid one hand down to her breast and fixed her with his fierce blue gaze. 'And I don't care how far I have to go,' he warned huskily. 'Before either of us leave this room again, you're going to know that you went willingly to bed with me that night!'

  CHAPTER NINE

  Lorel broke away from him quite easily. He had only been holding her very lightly.

  'That's a totally crazy idea,' she told him shakily. 'And it won't work ‑'

  'We won't know until we give it a try. And we are going to do that,' Lewis assured her softly.

  Nervousness turned her legs to jelly. 'It'll only make things worse,' she insisted.

  His gaze steadily held hers. 'How could things possibly get worse than they are right now?' He came nearer. 'Don't be a coward, Lorel. Or don't you want to remember?' came his direct challenge.

  'Of course I do.' Then she bit her lip. Was that the strict truth? She wasn't sure any more. What if it turned out that Lewis had been telling the truth all along, and she really had jumped happily into bed with him? Her opinion of herself would Slump to an all-time low, and she desperately didn't want that to happen. Her life had already been thrown completely off balance. She didn't want to end up despising herself, on top of that.

  Lewis was advancing towards her again, though, and there was a very purposeful look in his eyes now. That, and a hot brightness which didn't scare her, as perhaps it should have, but instead sent a pleasant tingling sensation skittering over her skin.

  'You were wearing a black velvet dress that night,' he told her. 'It felt soft to the touch—but not as soft as your skin.'

  She remembered the dress. Remembered buying it; adding the gold embroidery that had made a splash of bright colour on one shoulder. She didn't remember wearing it.

  'You've kissed me again since that night,' Lewis reminded her. 'You know there's nothing very alarming about a kiss.'

  'I suppose not,' she muttered.

  He shifted position again, leaving barely a couple of inches of space between them this time.

  'Then perhaps we'll try just a kiss to start with,' he suggested smoothly.

  Lorel wasn't convinced that was a very good idea, but she had the feeling that she wasn't going to be given any choice.

  As it turned out, she was right. Lewis closed in on her easily but quickly, and his kiss was unexpectedly soft, but very thorough. It was nice—Lorel was willing to admit that—but all of his kisses had been nice. None of them had succeeded in jogging her memory, though, and this one wasn't accomplishing that, either.

  She knew that Lewis had realised it, as well, but he wasn't giving up on the kiss. In fact, she had the impression that he was finding it increasingly hard to remember exactly why he was doing this. Other, more driving motives were beginning to take over, and she felt him finally resist them with a shudder.

  'I didn't think this was going to be quite so difficult,' he murmured drily.

  'Then perhaps you ought to give up on it right now,' Lorel said, with growing unease.

  Lewis's eyes glittered. 'Once I've made up my mind to do something, I never give up on it,' he informed her.

  Lorel had been afraid of that. She supposed she ought to protest more vehemently, make more of an effort to put a stop to this before it went too far, but she couldn't quite seem to manage it. She was suddenly very tired, and she just didn't have the energy. The day had lurched from crisis to crisis, and though she had coped with all of them after a fashion, she had run out of reserves now. Besides, Lewis's hands felt warm and soothing as they moved lightly over her. Just a while ago, she had been certain she never even wanted to see him again. Now, she was almost glad he was here. She was very aware of his male warmth and strength, and she desperately needed something like that right now; someone totally reliable she could lean on.

  Did Lewis really fit that bill? 'asked a small, incredulous voice inside her head. Without him, you wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.

  Lorel supposed there was a logical argument in there somewhere, but her muzzy head couldn't seem to figure out what it was. Anyway, instinct was taking over, and telling her to trust this man.

  'Mad,' she muttered to herself.

  Lewis raised his head for a moment. 'What?'

  'Mad,' she repeated, her eyes drooping with weariness. 'That's what I am.'

  'I don't think so.' He looked at her more closely. 'You're not going to fall asleep on me, are you?'

  'Probably not.'

  His fingers sidled inside her blouse, slid under the soft silk of her bra, and then gently pinched the already highly sensitive tip of her breast.

  As Lorel's eyes flew wide open again, he smiled down at her. 'Just making sure you stay awake for a while longer.'

  'Did I fall asleep on you on the train?'

  'Not until quite a long while afterwards,' Lewis told her. His fingers kept moving thoughtfully while he spoke, sending small tremors right through Lorel's nervous system. 'You're not trying to stop me any more,' he observed quietly.

  'Could I?'

  'If you do it right now. Leave it for a few more minutes—and probably not,' came his husky admission.

  She laid one hand against his chest, feeling the warmth of his body through the thin material of his shirt. 'Why do you make me feel like this?' she muttered in confusion. 'You get close to me, and I want ‑'

  'Want what?' Lewis prompted.

  'Want you,' she whispered reluctantly.

  The front of her blouse was undone now, and he had released the catch on her bra, so that the full softness of her breast was available for him to tease and play with.

  'Why do you suppose that is?' he questioned her a little thickly, his palm cupping the smooth swell in his palm.

  'Don't know,' she mumbled.

  'Don't know? Or just don't want to admit it?'

  She looked up at him languidly. 'Don't want to admit it,' she conceded.

  Lewis's hands provoked fresh shivers of pleasure. 'I could probably force a confession out of you,' he warned.

  'I expect you could,' she agreed. A flicker of curiosity showed in her eyes. 'Are you really that interested?'

  'Yes.'

  She shrugged. 'Well, if you really want to know— it's because you make me want you. But I don't know how you do it.' A light frown cross
ed her face. 'That's not fair, is it? It means you're taking advantage of me. That makes you rather a bastard, Lewis Elliott.'

  'Does it? Think about it a bit more, Lorel. Just what is it that gives me that advantage over you?'

  Lorel wrinkled her nose. He was making her say things that she wanted to keep private, at least for a while longer. The words just seemed to be slipping out of her, though. She guessed it was because she was too tired to have much control over them any more.

  'I suppose it's because I'm just a little bit in love with you,' she admitted with deep reluctance.

  Lewis seemed to become unexpectedly tense for an instant. Then she felt his rigid muscles relax again, and when he next spoke it was in a very different tone of voice.

  'Only a little bit?'

  'Yes,' she said firmly. That was definitely all she was willing to tell him for now.

  'Just one more thing. Are you ready to admit that 1 didn't force you into bed with me that night on the train?'

  Lorel sighed. 'I suppose so,' she said grudgingly. 'I mean, considering everything that's happened, it doesn't seem very likely, does it?'

  'Not very,' Lewis agreed. Then, to her surprise, he took a step back from her.

  'What are you doing?' she asked.

  'I think it's about time I went back to my own room.'

  'But I thought ‑' She stopped rather abruptly, and a light flush of colour spread over her face.

  'Yes, so did I,' agreed Lewis, with a touch of ruefulness. 'But you're half-asleep on your feet.'

  'I could stay awake for another five minutes,' Lorel told him in a low voice.

  'The way I feel right now, five minutes is about all it would take!' Lewis commented drily.

  'I don't think that would matter too much.'

  She heard him draw in a quick breath. 'Don't tempt me,' he warned in a much rougher tone. 'I told you before, you get to me all too easily.'

  'Why?' she asked softly.

  But he looked as if he didn't want to answer that question. She knew perfectly well what he did want, though. There was no mistaking the heightened colour of his face, or the vivid brightness of his eyes.

  'This won't solve anything,' he muttered. 'We could end up in an even bigger mess than we're in already.' His gaze raked over her. 'But I don't want to sleep alone tonight,' he went on in a thick voice.