by Miranda Lee
Deciding what earrings to wear wasted another five minutes, her more severe hair-do crying out for something glamorous, not the simple pearl drops she’d been planning on wearing.
Unfortunately, glamorous hadn’t been on Lisa’s shopping list for some years. In desperation she dragged out some long, dangling gold ones Greg had bought for her one Christmas, also changing her cream high heels for open-toed gold sandals which hadn’t seen the light of day for yonks either.
Just as well they weren’t a style which dated.
By then it was ten to six. Time to get into her dress.
Stripping off her bathrobe, Lisa carefully slipped the dress over her head, sliding her left arm through the one armhole whilst protecting her hair with her free hand. The dress slithered down her body, the shoulder strap halting its progress. Lisa did up the cleverly hidden side-zip, slipped her feet into her sandals then walked over to inspect the final product in the full-length mirror which hung on the back of her bedroom door.
This was where the panic set in. Instead of looking ultra-sophisticated and coolly glamorous, she looked…well…she looked sexy!
Lisa could not believe it. The dress in itself wasn’t sexy. Just a chiffon sheath which skimmed her slender figure, the material graduating from cream at the top to a coffee colour down at the handkerchief hemline.
Unfortunately, the one-shouldered style meant she either had to wear a strapless bra or no bra. Given that the dress was fully lined and Lisa didn’t have large breasts, she’d decided on the no-bra option. She’d always hated strapless bras, which had a tendency to slip.
She hadn’t realised till this moment that her nipples would be so obvious. Or that she might look as if she had not a stitch on underneath.
Of course, shewas wearing panties. But they were the sleek, stretchy kind which didn’t show a line underneath your clothes.
Lisa was about to rummage through her underwear drawer in search of a strapless bra when she heard the sound of a car coming down the street.
Too late, she realised when it throttled down outside her house.
Grabbing her cream clutch bag, she dashed over to her bedroom window, which overlooked the street below. The sight of a sleek black sports car parked next to her post-box made her groan. The neighbours were going to have a field-day if they saw her getting into that!
She was about to run downstairs and make a quick exit when the driver’s door opened and Jack climbed out.
At least, Lisa presumed it was Jack. The male who’d emerged and was currently striding up to her front doorwas remotely similar to the man she’d met the previous day. He did have the same nicely shaped head. And the same short, dark hair.
But that was where the similarity ended.
‘Oh, my,’ Lisa said in a soft, uncharacteristically breathy voice.
By the time he disappeared under the front porch, Lisa was shaking her head. Who would have believed that a change of clothes—and a shave—could make that much of a difference? Jack now looked just like his car. Sleek and powerful and sexy.
Sexy?
Lisa was taken aback. Since when did she start thinking any man was sexy?
Whirling away from the window, she marched off in the direction of downstairs, reminding herself the whole way down that being superficially attracted to a man was just that. Superficial.
She’d been attracted to Greg, who’d been a very handsome man. But she still hadn’t liked sex with him.
Nothing has changed, she warned herself, so don’t start hoping that it has.
The front doorbell rang on the way downstairs, Lisa’s wayward thoughts back in check by the time she reached for the door knob. There were still some butterflies in her stomach over the evening ahead, but she had every confidence she could hide those. She’d been hiding her anxious nature for years.
Jack appreciated, the instant she opened the door, why he hadn’t been able to get Lisa out of his mind all day.
He’d dated a lot of blondes in his time, as Helene had pointed out. But none had ever exuded what this one did.
She reminded Jack of an Alfred Hitchcock heroine. Lovely to look at. Sexy, in an understated way. But so icily self-contained that you wanted to reach out and pull her into your arms. Wanted to break her down. Wanted to make her lose her much prided self-control.
Her smile was polite. But her eyes remained annoyingly unreadable as they swept over him. ‘My, don’t you look simply splendid? Like James Bond on his way to a casino.’
It was a type of compliment, he supposed.
‘And you look like Grace Kelly, inTo Catch a Thief ,’ he countered.
Only with less underwear, he suddenly noticed.
Actually, if Jack hadn’t known better, he might have thought she was totally naked underneath her dress. She certainly wasn’t wearing a bra.
What he wouldn’t give to reach out right now and slip that thin strap off her shoulder. In his mind’s eye the dress was already slithering down her delicious body onto the doorstep, leaving her standing there wearing not much more but those sexy gold shoes.
When his own body began to respond to his mental fantasy, Jack forced himself to get a grip, clearing his throat and adopting what he hoped was a gentlemanly expression before reefing his eyes back up to her extremely beautiful face.
Her sudden blush startled him.
Because ice princesses didn’t blush. They accepted compliments with cool little smiles. Their cheeks didn’t go a bright red. Their composure was rarely rattled.
But Lisa was definitely rattled at that moment.
How interesting.
‘Thank you,’ she returned, confusion in her eyes, as though she was well aware she was not acting like her normal self.
Even more interesting.
‘Are you ready?’ he asked, quite pleased at how the evening was going so far. Who knew? He might not have to be super-patient after all. If he wasn’t mistaken, his little ice princess was already on the thaw.
Ready?
No, Lisa suddenly wanted to scream at him. No, I’m not ready. Not ready at all! I need a few minutes to find myself again. To find control. And composure. And to work out what happened when you looked me up and down just now.
Lisa was no stranger to men staring at her. She was used to hot, desire-filled glances. Even lecherous ogling.
Jack’s gaze, however, had not been at all lecherous. His eyes had betrayed nothing but a natural interest in her appearance. In truth, Lisa would have been piqued if he hadn’t complimented her.
What had upset her was her own reaction when he’d looked her up and down. Her skin had burned under the silky lining of her dress, her nipples tightening in a most disgraceful fashion.
She’d felt naked before him. Naked, and excited.
Yes, excited. That was what she’d felt.
No wonder she’d blushed.
‘Have you got your house keys with you?’ Jack prodded when she made no sign of moving.
‘What? Oh. Yes. Yes, I think so.’ She opened the gold clasp on her bag and made a pretext of inspecting its contents. ‘Yes. They’re here.’
‘Lock up, then, and let’s get going. I don’t like being late.’
Lisa used the few seconds it took to lock up to calm herself. But any headway she’d made was obliterated when Jack took her arm and started steering her down the front path towards his car.
Such a simple gesture. A gentlemanly gesture, really. But the moment his large palm cupped around her elbow, electric currents went charging up and down her arm, making Lisa stiffen all over.
She smothered a sigh of relief when he let her arm go to open the passenger door of his car, grateful when he allowed her to settle herself into the seat, unaided. But she could feel his eyes on her bare legs as she swung them inside, once again making her hotly aware of her semi-naked body underneath her clothes.
She clutched her bag in her lap as he swung the door shut after her, keeping her eyes steadfastly ahead, resisting the temptation
to glance up at him, for fear of what he might see in her face. But when he came into view through the front windscreen, striding round the low front of his car, Lisa surrendered to the temptation to gaze openly at him, her thoughts reflecting her ongoing shock at how he was affecting her tonight.
Just before he opened the door and climbed in behind the wheel Lisa wrenched her eyes away, hopeful he hadn’t noticed her staring at him.
But what if he had?
Embarrassment curled her stomach. Please don’t let him have noticed. Please let me get through this evening without making a fool of myself.
Because that was what Lisa was suddenly feeling like. A fool. Not a frigid fool any longer. Just a fool.
CHAPTER EIGHT
JACKfrowned as he gunned the engine. Talk about one step forward and three steps backwards.
For a split-second, when she’d blushed, he’d thought she was warming to him.
But just when Jack had started counting his chickens, the hatching had ground to a halt. She’d acted like a marble statue when he’d taken her arm. And now she was staring out of the passenger window and clutching that bag in her lap as if she was scared stiff he was about to pounce.
Clearly, he hadn’t hidden his desire for her as well as he thought he had.
Time to calm her fears with some distracting conversation, or this evening was going to be a total disaster.
‘Very nice place you’ve got there, Lisa,’ he said as he executed a U-turn and accelerated away. ‘It’s a credit to you.’
Her head turned and there was no mistaking the relief in her eyes. Obviously, she didn’t mind his complimenting her house.
‘I do like keeping it nice,’ she said. ‘But my mother says I’m too house-proud.’
‘Nothing wrong with being house-proud. Have you always lived here?’
‘Ever since my marriage. Though it looked like I’d lose the house for a while after Greg died. His insurance payout didn’t cover the mortgage.’
‘So what did you do?’
‘I couldn’t go out to work. I had a child and I hadn’t booked him into childcare. So I took in ironing and cleaned houses whilst people were at work. Anywhere where I was allowed to take Cory with me. I worked seven days a week. By the time I started my business, I was close to paying off the mortgage. I’m now free and clear of debt.’
‘Wow. That’s impressive, Lisa.’
She shrugged those slender shoulders of hers. ‘I did what I had to do. But what about you? Where did you live before you bought up here?’
‘In Sydney’s eastern suburbs. I still have an apartment in Double Bay. But I was finding it hard to write there. I bought the place in Terrigal as a kind of writer’s retreat.’
‘You must be very wealthy.’
‘I’ve been lucky.’
‘I don’t believe that. People make their own luck. I’ll bet writing is hard work.’
‘It’s becoming more so with time. When I first left the army, the words seemed to just flow.’
‘Oh, so youwere in the army. My mother said you must have been. She said you knew too much about weapons not to have handled them yourself. Once I thought about it, I agreed with her.’
‘I was in the army for twelve years. Joined when I was eighteen. Left when I was thirty. I’d had enough.’
‘How long ago was that?’
‘Six years. Do I look thirty-six?’ he asked, slanting her a quick smile. ‘Or older?’
She stared back at him for a few seconds. ‘Thirty-six looks about right,’ she said at last. ‘Though I wouldn’t have been surprised if you’d been older. You do have years of experience in your eyes.’
Jack nodded. ‘Some days I feel a hundred. I saw lots of things I’d rather not have seen in the army, I can tell you.’
‘Hal is you, Jack, isn’t he?’ she suddenly said, her eyes still on him.
‘He’s only part me. I’m not a one-man instrument of justice and vengeance. I certainly don’t go round killing people.’
‘But you’d like to.’
Jack laughed. ‘How perceptive of you.’
‘Hal’s rather ruthless.’
‘He is,’ Jack agreed as he negotiated the first of a series of roundabouts which would lead them past the Tuggerah shopping centre where she’d been this morning, then onto the motorway to Sydney.
‘Do you think you’ll win the award tonight?’ Lisa asked him once they were on the motorway.
‘Probably.’
‘You don’t sound like you really care.’
‘The novelty of winning awards wears off pretty quickly.’
‘That sounded cynical.’
‘Iam cynical. But awards sometimes translate into more money. And money I like. So does my agent.’
‘Do you have to have an agent to become successful as a writer?’
‘You do if you want to make it overseas. And especially if you want your books to be made into movies.’
‘Your books are going to be made into movies?’
No doubt, that surprised her.
‘They already have been. The first one premières in Los Angeles in April next year. I’ve been invited to attend as a special guest.’
‘Wow! That’s fabulous, Jack. Who’s playing the part of Hal?’
‘An unknown actor. The studio didn’t want a big name. They wanted the person who played the part to really become Hal in people’s minds. His name is Chad Furness. I hear he’s very good. And very handsome.’
‘Well, Hal’s very handsome, isn’t he? Oh, you must be so proud.’
Proud.
Jack thought about that word for a long moment.
Proud.
No. That wasn’t what he felt.
Satisfied, perhaps. But not proud.
‘It’s certainly made me a very rich man,’ came his considered reply. ‘I bought this car and my penthouse at Terrigal with some of the money Hollywood paid me. Plus I hired myself a cleaner from the top cleaning establishment on the coast,’ he added with a wry grin.
She laughed, the sound reassuring Jack. He would hate to think she felt tense in his company. And she had been, earlier on.
Suddenly, the thought of never seeing her again after this evening was unbearable.
‘I suppose I can’t talk you into cleaning my study this Monday, could I?’ he said, doing his best to sound very casual. ‘Gail’s ankle wouldn’t have recovered yet and my study’s crying out for a thorough cleaning.’
When she didn’t answer, he glanced over at her.
‘At the risk of being accused of trying to buy you, I’ll pay you double,’ he said.And a million dollars if you’ll sleep with me , came the added Hal-like thought.
Her head turned, her eyes betraying the most intriguing dilemma. She wanted to do as he asked. He could see it. But she was hesitant. Which meant what? She did like him, but was afraid of him for some reason? Clearly, she was still worried that he was going to pounce, sexually.
‘I…I can’t, Jack. I have other work to do on Monday.’
‘Tuesday, then.’ He had no intention of letting her off the hook that easily.
‘I’ll send someone else.’
‘No,’ he snapped. ‘I don’t want anyone else. I want you.’
Jack could have bitten his tongue out. He’d done it now. Showed his hand. He could feel her eyes on him. Feel her tension welling up again.
‘You’re the best cleaner I’ve ever had,’ he went on, hoping it wasn’t too late to salvage the situation. ‘You leave Gail for dead. It’s difficult to go back to second rate when you’ve experienced perfection.’
‘You’re being persuasive again,’ she said.
‘Is it my fault if you’re perfect?’
‘Don’t flatter me, Jack.’
‘The truth is not flattery.’
‘You have a way with words.’
‘You have a way with floors.’
Her laugh delighted him. And made him want to roar in relief.
‘All right,�
�� she said. ‘I’ll clean your study. Once. On Tuesday. But after that, you’re back to Gail.’
‘Oh, cruel woman.’
‘Stop it, Jack,’ she said, but smilingly.
After that she seemed much more relaxed, and they chatted away about all sorts of things. Music. Movies. Their families. Or lack of them. Lisa’s parents were divorced, and, like himself, she had no siblings. All their grandparents had passed away, too.
