by Kate Hardy
‘You are going to be able to accompany me, aren’t you, Rose? You did say when I took you on that you had a valid passport.’
‘Oh, yes,’ Rose answered brightly.
‘Because you seemed to be a million miles away just then.’ He leaned towards her, eyes narrowed, and Rose automatically flinched back. ‘Is there something you should tell me?’ he demanded unsmilingly and for a few, disturbing seconds Rose thought that he had read her mind and exposed her shameful little secret.
‘S-something I should tell you?’ she stammered weakly.
‘Fear of flying, maybe?’ Nick leaned back and looked at her thoughtfully. ‘It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I know you haven’t done much overseas travel…’
‘Too busy touring the UK in search of spiritual zen,’ Rose said, weak with relief.
‘Right. But there’s no need to be afraid of flying. Believe it or not, there’s more chance of you ending up under the wheels of a car than plummeting from the sky.’
‘Oh. Well, thank you very much for reassuring me that those great metal birds can stay airborne,’ she said sarcastically, recovering her equilibrium.
‘Then what’s the problem?’
‘I…don’t have a problem, Nick.’ She would have to take a swimsuit; she sure as hell wasn’t going to take a bikini. She would take a very sensible one-piece and sneak out under cover of night to have a swim. The thought of frolicking in a pool with him made her feel sick.
‘There you go again.’
‘There I go again what?’
‘Frowning and getting that distant look in your eyes.’ He reached forward and before she was aware of his intention he smoothed her brow with his thumb. It was such an unexpected gesture that Rose literally jumped and gave a little yelp of shock.
‘You’re on edge. Why? If you’re not scared of flying, then is it the unknown?’
‘Yes.’ She wanted to rub where he had touched and brush away the scorched sensation she was feeling. ‘I’m scared of the unknown.’
‘Thought so,’ Nick said with satisfaction, ‘although I can’t understand why. You had a pretty nomadic existence growing up. If anything, I would have thought you would have found the unknown quite appealing. Don’t we always long to revisit our childhood?’
Rose had done her best to discourage any personal conversation between them. She felt safer when their relationship was purely on a business footing. Yes, of course he asked about the house and the work being done on it and naturally she answered him because the house was, really and truly, the reason why she now found herself working for him. But beyond that, she was vague when he asked her what plans she had for the weekend, or how she spent her evenings or even what sort of people she met in the hotel, whether she liked them or not.
However, she was so relieved that he had misunderstood her apprehensive expression that she gratefully clung onto his fear-of-the-unknown nonsense for dear life.
‘Sometimes it doesn’t work that way,’ Rose said distantly. She stood up and began clearing away the empty containers, which looked a little unhealthy as the leftover contents began to congeal.
‘No?’ Nick pulled a chair towards him and propped his feet up on the black leather. After weeks of working with her, sitting within touching range of her when they brainstormed over some niggling problem, brushing her arm with his as he leaned to consult architectural drawings, growing strangely accustomed to seeing her now when he came in through the front door, he could honestly say that he still didn’t know much about her personal life. She had piqued his curiosity a long time ago but, instead of proximity doing what it should have done, and diminishing it, he was more curious about her than ever before.
Now she was throwing him a glimpse into her thoughts and, like a dog tossed a bone, he was annoyed to find himself picking it up and preparing to run with it.
‘You mean you’re scared of what you don’t know even though you spent your formative years dealing with it?’
Rose shrugged. She had her back to him, which suited her. It helped her keep her voice steady as she spoke. ‘You should be doing this, Nick. This is your house and these are your dishes.’
‘But you’re a woman and I’m a man. Don’t women love doing things like that? Keeps them busy and happy.’
Rose spun around, but her heated accusation of sexism died on her lips when she saw the grin plastered across his face. Without thinking she flung the tea towel at him and he caught it and tut-tutted under his breath.
‘I should punish you for that,’ he drawled. ‘Trying to cause grievous bodily harm to your employer…’
Rose felt her mouth go dry. This was the lazy, flirty voice he sometimes pulled out of the bag, with the dexterity of a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, and, it didn’t seem to matter how many times she told herself that he was just one of those born charmers, that voice still got to her every time.
‘With a tea cloth?’ she said lightly. ‘You must be a lot more delicate than you look if a tea cloth can inflict serious injury.’ A brief, electric silence greeted this remark and Rose clenched her hands into fists behind her back. She didn’t know what had possessed her to say that.
‘Should I take it as a compliment that you consider me big and strong?’ Nick murmured provocatively. He could tell that she would have liked the ground to open and swallow her up and for the first time since she had started working for him, he felt suddenly enraged. Enraged that he had given this woman an opportunity many would have killed for. Enraged that she continued to treat him with the studied politeness of a stranger. Enraged that every single time he had tried to get under that armour of hers, he had found himself gently but firmly repelled. Enraged now that she was back to looking at him with something like horror, as usual turning a perfectly innocent, teasing remark into something diabolical.
‘Forget I said that.’ Nick’s voice was cool and dismissive. He even turned away.
Rose was stricken. How was he supposed to know that she shrank away from him because she was just so damn scared that if she didn’t her treacherous legs would have her pelting towards him and her even more treacherous arms would wind themselves around his neck and cling?
What must he think of her? That she was ungrateful? Churlish? Buttoned up? The sort of woman who had suffered a sense-of-humour bypass somewhere along the line?
Rose wondered whether maybe she had.
‘I’m sorry,’ she faltered.
‘What about?’ Nick enquired politely.
‘I’m really excited about going to Borneo…’ Humourless. Buttoned up. An efficient little worker bee who actually thought that what she had to say mattered to Nick Papaeliou. He was courteous, even teasing and flirtatious sometimes, and yet here she was, lips tightly pursed, as if her maidenly honour were under threat. Clutching her precious, uninteresting private life as if one single lapse would send him into a sexual, predatory frenzy. The idea was so nonsensical that Rose inwardly cringed.
‘But I guess I’m a little scared as well…’
‘Oh, yes?’ Nick reluctantly felt himself drawn to that simple, hesitant admission. ‘Why?’
Rose sighed and went to sit at the kitchen table. She rested her chin thoughtfully in the palm of her hand and stared back down the years. She had agreed with him, initially, because he had conveniently supplied her with an excuse for her own disturbing train of thoughts, but now she thought that maybe he was right. Maybe she was scared of the unknown.
‘Tony and Flora always thought that traipsing around the country would make me brave and adventurous. I think they kind of figured that some of their let’s-change-the-goalposts lifestyle would rub off on me, but it never did. When you move from school to school, you end up dreading each upheaval even more than the last one. At least, that’s what it did for me. It’s why I like working for Fedco.’
‘You can hide behind the size?’ he guessed shrewdly, now fully ensnared by her dreamy, distant voice.
‘I can be safe. Borneo…’ Rose laughe
d and blinked so that he was back in her line of vision. ‘Well, Borneo is just something else altogether.’
‘All that heat…’
‘And insects…’
Anything could happen. He nearly said it out loud and caught himself in the nick of time. ‘But Tony and Flora would be pleased…’
Rose gave him a dazzling grin. ‘More than pleased. They’d be overjoyed. You want to hear them on the subject of Lily. They’re thrilled to bits that she’s now on the other side of the world making her fortune. I think they feel that they’ve somehow contributed to that.’
‘And what about you?’
‘I would never contemplate living across the Atlantic.’
‘I mean, are you thrilled that your sister is making her fortune on the other side of the world?’
‘I’ve got accustomed to it,’ Rose told him. ‘I miss her terribly, but it helps knowing that she’s happy and fulfilled.’
‘And are you?’
‘Am I what?’
‘Happy and fulfilled.’ Nick wasn’t quite sure why he had asked the question. He could only think that he must be out of practice when it came to women, because experience had taught him that questions like that provoked answers he didn’t like.
‘Well, I’m pretty pleased with how the house is coming along.’ Rose scuttled back into her shell. ‘Have I told you that I’m going to have it redecorated top to bottom? The whole place is destroyed and, rather than do a patch up job, I’m going to go all the way and really have it exactly how I want it.’
‘Interesting. Sounds like you’re there for the long term.’
‘At least for the foreseeable future,’ Rose said vaguely. ‘But tell me a bit more about Borneo…what else do I need to know…?’
That it took for ever to get there. That was something he hadn’t told her and it was just as well as it had allowed her no opportunity to spend three days angsting over the ordeal of sitting next to him on a plane for a seemingly never-ending period of time. Rose had had enough angst on her plate just worrying about what she was going to buy to take with her.
Then there was the whole question of what exactly she was supposed to do once she got there. She might be a whizz at computers and, yes, facts, figures and financial projections were things she could handle without too much difficulty. And reporting back on her hotel, chatting to the manager, with whom she had developed a pleasant rapport, about the nuts and bolts of city chic, was within her spec…but looking at land in a country she had barely heard of and could only vaguely point to on a map?
‘Okay. Spit it out.’
‘What?’
‘There’s something on your mind. Spit it out.’
Nick snapped shut his laptop computer, sat back and gave her his full, undivided attention.
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘I mean you’ve barely spoken since we took off four hours ago, you’ve been stuck on the same page of your book for the past hour and if you chew your lip any more we’ll have to see if there are any paramedics on the plane. Tell me you’re not worrying about what the hot weather is going to do to your hair.’
‘Hardly. I stopped worrying about what my hair did years ago.’
‘Relax. Enjoy the flight, as our air steward would say.’ He glanced around him and then shot her a lazy, amused smile. ‘Is first class all it’s cracked up to be?’
Rose had had to stop herself from fidgeting with gadgets and demonstrating just how impressionable she was when it came to long-haul travel. ‘And the rest,’ she confessed. ‘And I am very appreciative…well…for this and for…everything else…’
Nick frowned. This wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Gratitude wasn’t what this woman was all about. Stubborn, feisty, mutinous and often highly aggravating, yes. But grateful…no. Over the past three days, Nick had found himself looking forward to this trip. The man who had crossed the Atlantic a million times and more, who had platinum frequent-flyer cards from just about every major airline, who could afford to go anywhere in the world on a whim if he so desired, and in the company of pretty much any woman he wanted…and he had been looking forward to a business trip with a woman who made his teeth snap together in sheer frustration quite a bit of the time.
He had never been one to spend hours soul-searching, but his illogical reaction did make him conclude that his life was full of yes-men, people who would jump if he looked in their direction and silently mouthed the order.
‘I don’t want your thanks and gratitude,’ he grated, and Rose gave him a startled glance.
‘Fine,’ Rose snapped back.
‘So tell me what’s wrong.’
‘I’m not sure I’m up to what I’m supposed to do when we get to Borneo,’ she admitted in a sulky voice. ‘I work with computers. I don’t know the first thing about building sites and conveyancing.’
‘You won’t have to. My Malaysian counterpart is very competent. You won’t be shoved into a position where you have to make technical decisions that are beyond your scope.’
‘So why am I here, in that case?’
Ah. Now, this was back to normal. Rose clambering onto her argumentative bandwagon, although her tone of voice couldn’t have been more polite. He was, he had discovered, beginning to know her.
‘There’s more to a hotel than foundations and planning permission. Let’s just say that you’re here to provide the female touch.’
‘Which is what exactly?’
‘You argue too much.’
‘Only with you.’ Their eyes tangled and Rose looked away hurriedly.
‘I’ll take that as a compliment. It’s nice to know that I can fire you up.’
Rose ground her teeth together and Nick let out a loud laugh that drew stares from the passengers sitting closest to them. ‘Think about the things that impressed you most about the hotel in London, think about how they could be incorporated into a small hotel sitting in the equatorial belt. It’s going to need an almighty leap of the imagination, but you know what I want…’ I want you. The thought weaved a path in his head and he greeted it without surprise. Maybe he had known all along that she was more than just a challenge or a novelty or a refreshing break from the type of women he usually enjoyed. He wanted her. Not just her mind, but her body. Nick lowered his eyes.
Every inch of him gave the impression of a man totally absorbed by what his companion was saying. She certainly seemed to have taken on board everything he had told her in the past about his plans, even things he had mentioned in passing. Now, enthused, she was eagerly discussing them and he made sure to contribute, but the flicker of his eyes was on her mouth, soft and pink, and her breasts, shadowy outlines under her cotton pinstriped shirt as she leant towards him, her hands articulating what she was saying. Something about sunken baths and a rainforest decor that would bring the environment right into the hotel.
‘I did think about buying a guidebook,’ she finished, ‘but I wanted to be assaulted by the place without any preconceived ideas.’
‘Yes. Good idea.’ Nick smiled, setting her at ease. ‘Right…now let’s compare some of those preliminary costings…’
How could she ever have thought that a life devoid of change and adventure was a good one?
Here she was, sitting in the first-class compartment of a plane that would deliver her first to Kuala Lumpur and then onward to Kota Kinabalu, the state capital of Sabah, places she had never heard of in her life before. And, yes, it was exciting.
She looked at Nick surreptitiously from under her lashes and felt that familiar illicit thrill. He was sleeping, his body half inclined away from her so that all she could glimpse was his profile and the gentle rise and fall of his chest.
The seats in first class could be extended to full body length and, although she was as reclined as he was and the cabin was in darkness, she was finding it difficult to sleep.
For the first time, she could sort of understand how Tony and Flora had been affected by wanderlust. The unknown wasn’t sca
ry, as she had imagined. Or rather, she amended to herself, it was scary, but it was also full of possibilities.
The strongest possibility now was that she would remain wide awake for the remainder of the trip and then be fit for nothing when they eventually landed.
But she slept.
And the next few hours so completely removed her from everything that was familiar to her that Rose, delighted and disoriented, put herself firmly in Nick’s care. Connections were made, passports were checked and she just looked around her open-mouthed, until finally they were on the last stage of their travel, quickly covering the two-and-a-half hour trip towards Kota Kinabalu.
Daylight was already fading by the time they were being delivered to their hotel, but it was still very, very hot.
‘It’s…not what I expected…’
‘You can hardly keep your eyes open, Rose. As soon as we get to the hotel, you can climb into your bed and fall asleep. Don’t try and appreciate the scenery now.’
‘But how is it I feel sleepy and you don’t?’
‘I’m an experienced traveller.’ He gave her an amused, mocking glance.
The taxi swung round a corner and there, following a long drive through manicured lawns, was the hotel. As she stepped out of the taxi she was aware of a thousand tiny night sounds.
‘I’m aiming for something more eco-friendly than this,’ Nick murmured into her ear. ‘It’s big but, in terms of comfort, you’ll be hard pressed to better it. Now, I shall get us checked in and then you’re going to go to your room and get some sleep.’
‘I wish I’d read that guidebook after all.’ She yawned ruefully.
‘No need. Lee Peng knows this place like the back of his hand. A living guide is a damn sight better than someone else’s interpretation of a place.’
‘I feel awful leaving you to go to bed…don’t think that I won’t be pulling my weight…perhaps if I just freshen up a bit, I could join you and we could go over plans for tomorrow…’
