“Precisely,” Sebastian said, hearing her shocked gasp.
It was late July. High summer in that part of Ontario. Even the nights were warm. But suddenly she was freezingly cold and shivering so hard that her teeth rattled.
This was how it happened: one minute people were alive, with the blood flowing through their veins, and their minds full of plans for the next day, the next year…and then, in less time than it took to blink, it was all over. That’s how it had been for her parents, and how it had almost been for her.
Tragedy wasn’t selective in its choice of victims; it could strike twice.
She tried to breathe and could not. The air inside the car was too close, too drenched, and she was suffocating. With a strangled moan, she released the buckle of her seat belt and fumbled for the door handle.
Her lungs were bursting. She had to get out—out into the open air. With a mighty shove, she sent the door flying wide and half-fell, half-crawled from her seat. Never mind the rain pelting down, or the wind whipping wet strands of hair across her face. Anything was better than being locked in the close confines of that long, low-slung burgundy car, which all at once looked and felt too much like a mahogany coffin.
Blind with panic, she set off through the wild night with one thought uppermost in her mind: to find her way back to the brightly lit safety of the roadside café. She’d covered no more than a few feet, however, before she blundered full tilt into a solid wall of resistance and felt her arms pinioned in an iron hold.
“Have you lost your tiny mind?” Sebastian Caine bellowed, raising his voice above the din of the waterfall. “What the devil do you think you’re doing?”
“We were almost killed!”
“And almost isn’t good enough? You want to finish off the job?”
“I w-want…” But the irrational, superstitious terror that had propelled her out of the car and sent her stumbling away in the dark refused to translate into words. She tasted salt and was astonished to find tears mingling with the rain on her face. To her shame, a great ugly sob broke loose from her throat.
“Stop that!” he ordered. “Nothing’s happened yet. At least have the decency to wait until real calamity strikes before you decide to fall apart.” He gave her a little shake, but the hint of sympathy texturing his next remark showed he wasn’t as blind to the cause of her distress as he’d first appeared. “Look, I appreciate that your parents’ accident must still be pretty vivid in your mind, but letting your imagination run wild isn’t helping. Get a grip, Lily, and go back to the car.”
“I don’t think I can,” she wailed.
Even though the night was black as the inside of a cave, she sensed his frustration. “Then let me make it easy for you!”
Before she knew what was happening, he bent down, grabbed her behind her knees and flung her, firefighter-fashion, over his shoulder. Oblivious to her shriek of outrage or her hands clawing at his back, he marched back to the car and tossed her into the passenger seat as if she were a sack of potatoes.
“You’ve taxed my patience enough for one day,” he informed her savagely, yanking her seat belt into place, “so don’t even think about pulling another stunt like the last one, or you will wind up alone on the side of the road and let me tell you, it won’t be an experience you’ll want to talk about—always assuming, of course, that you survive the night.” Then, as a further inducement to comply with his orders, “You do know, of course, that this whole area’s swarming with cougars and snakes. And vampire bats.”
He slammed her door, raced back to the driver’s side and climbed in.
“You’re lying,” she said shakily. “Especially about the bats.”
In the glow from the dashboard, his grin and the whites of his eyes gleamed demonically. “Prove it.”
Unable to drum up an answering smile she huddled down in the seat, listless with defeat. The day, which had started out so full of anticipation, had sunk too far in disappointment to be redeemed with humor and she was beyond fighting to save it. She just wanted it to be over.
As he swung the car around, the headlights sliced across the landscape, turning the rain to long silver darning needles spearing the night. “We passed a motel about ten miles back. Let’s hope the road hasn’t washed out between here and there, and that they still have vacancies.”
Luck was with them, but barely. The motel had been built in the fifties and hadn’t seen a dollar spent on it since. A bare bulb hung above the desk in the office. Tears in the vinyl padding on the one chair were held together with duct tape. The manager, Lily noticed with a shudder, reeked of tobacco and had tufts of hair growing out of his ears, which left him looking like a troll.
“Busy night tonight, what with the weather and all,” he told them. “Only got the one room left. Take it or leave it, folks. You don’t want it, someone else will.”
“We’ll take it,” Sebastian said, slapping down a credit card and filling out the registration card.
“I’m not spending the night in the same room with you,” Lily informed him, trailing behind as he marched to their assigned unit.
“You’d rather sleep in the car?”
“No!”
He unlocked door number nineteen and flung it open. “Well, I’m not offering to, if that’s what you’re hoping, so step inside and make yourself at home while I unload our stuff.”
“Sebastian,” she exclaimed, still hovering on the threshold when he returned with her luggage, a zippered nylon sports bag, and a newspaper, “this place is a flea pit!”
He reined in a sigh. “So sorry it isn’t up to the five-star standards you were probably hoping for, but it’s warm and dry, isn’t it? There’s a shower and a bed.”
Exactly. One bed! Not a bed and a pull-out sofa, not even an armchair. Just a double mattress that sagged in the middle and was covered by an ugly green bedspread, which had seen better days. The only other furniture consisted of a nightstand holding a fake wood reading lamp, a ratty chest of drawers with a TV on top, and a straight-back chair that matched the one in the office, even down to the duct tape patching.
“I’m not sleeping on that bed!”
He shrugged. “Sack out on the floor then.”
Not an inviting prospect, either. There were suspicious stains on the threadbare carpet. “You’re the most insensitive creature I’ve ever met!”
“And you’re a spoiled brat.” Kicking the door closed, he dumped her suitcases next to it, tossed the sports bag and newspaper on the bed, and shrugged out of his jacket. His shoes and socks came off next, followed by his tie.
She watched in sly fascination as he proceeded to peel off his shirt, thereby displaying an expanse of muscular, well-tanned chest and proof positive that his width of shoulder owed nothing to clever tailoring. Well, if he thought flexing his pecs would impress her, he was in for a disappointment! It would take more than that to get a rise out of her.
Just how little more she soon found out. “What do you think you’re doing?” she squeaked in horror, when he casually began unbuckling the belt holding up his pants.
“I’d have thought it was obvious. I’m getting out of these wet clothes, and then I’m taking a shower. Close your mouth and stop gaping, Ms. Talbot.”
“I don’t believe…what I’m seeing!”
“Then don’t look.”
The belt was off, the zipper of his fly sliding down. The next second, he was shucking his trousers as unselfconsciously as if he were completely alone. And for the life of her, she couldn’t look away.
He glanced up and caught her staring. “You’re blushing, Ms. Talbot.”
Any fool could see that! “Well, one of us certainly should be, and it clearly isn’t going to be you.”
He had great legs. Wonderful thighs. Lean, muscular, tanned. Long, strong, powerful. And he preferred briefs to boxers. Plain white cotton to silk stripes and fancy colors.
“Don’t you dare remove anything else!” she said hoarsely. “I’m not interested in
seeing you in the altogether.”
“Just as well,” he said, folding his trousers over the back of the chair. “I don’t show my altogether to just anyone.”
He draped his jacket over a wire hanger in the curtained recess that passed for a closet then did the same for his shirt. And she, ninny that she was, followed his every move and wondered how it was that God had seen fit to bless men with such trim, taut hips, even if the rest of them was oversized!
“Sure you don’t want to use the bathroom?”
“Quite sure, thank you. There’s probably an inch of mold growing in the tub.”
“No tub,” he said, almost gleefully, poking his head around the door to inspect. “Just a shower stall.”
“I wish you the joy of it.”
“I’m sure you do.” He flung a glance over his shoulder and she could have sworn he was biting back a snicker. “No peeking, Ms. Talbot, and no funny business.”
“Funny business?”
“There isn’t room for two in here. If you change your mind about taking a shower, wait your turn.”
“Oh, dream on!” she gasped, flabbergasted by his gall. “Heaven only knows what might come crawling up the drain.”
But the truth was, her clothes were sticking to her most uncomfortably, her skin felt unpleasantly clammy and the idea of standing under a hot shower didn’t seem such a bad idea, after all. She had fresh underwear and a nightshirt in her suitcase; dry clothes she could pull out for tomorrow. Who was she really punishing by stubbornly refusing to make the best of the situation?
Sebastian reappeared ten minutes later, wearing a skimpy towel draped perilously around his hips and nothing else. His black hair stood up in spikes, drops of water gleamed on his skin, and he smelled of clean, warm man. “The place might be a flea pit, but at least there’s plenty of hot water. Sure you don’t want to take advantage of it?”
She cleared her throat. “I might.” She eyed his makeshift loincloth, then hastily glanced away again.
“There’s another towel in there, if that’s what you’re wondering,” he said snidely.
“Good,” she croaked and fled with the toiletry bag, nightshirt and panties she’d taken from her suitcase.
In keeping with the rest of the place, the bathroom was basic: a washbasin, a toilet and a fiberglass shower stall with a mottled glass door. An unused towel the same size as the one barely covering the delectable Sebastian Caine lay folded on a shelf, and the management had kindly provided a minuscule bar of soap, a tiny bottle of shampoo, most of which he’d used, and two paper cups.
Fortunately she came fully equipped with hand-milled French soap, body lotion, salon formula shampoo and conditioner and, praise heaven, toothbrush and paste. She wasted no time putting them all to good use.
From the feel of them, the pillows were stuffed with peanut shells, and the mattress wasn’t a whole lot better. But it beat a marble slab in the nearest morgue, which was where they’d almost certainly have wound up if he hadn’t spotted the washed-out bridge when he did.
He’d been rattled, and he didn’t mind admitting it. But her reaction had been over the top! Jumping out of the car like that and racing off without the first idea where she was headed pretty much proved his first impression had been right: the woman spelled nothing but trouble. Still, he hadn’t been able to help feeling sorry for her. She’d been trembling like a leaf when he finally caught up with her, and the way she’d felt when he’d picked her up…
Best not to dwell too long on how she felt—or looked. His mandate was to deliver the goods, not sample them! Which reminded him Hugo would be expecting them to show up at the house anytime now.
Jamming a pillow behind his head, he stretched out on the mattress, pulled the top sheet up to his waist and reached for the phone.
Hugo picked up on the first ring. “Sebastian?”
“How’d you guess?”
“I saw the weather report on television. The whole county’s under siege with this rain. You’ll never make it up here tonight.”
“I’m way ahead of you, Hugo. We checked into a motel about an hour ago.”
“Thank God! So both you and Lily are safe?”
No point in regaling him with their close call. No point, either, in entering into a debate about the dubious wisdom of daughter and stepson spending the night together. “We’re safe.”
“So tell me, how do you like her, now that you know her a bit better?”
“She’s…” Nosy. Annoying. Too smart-mouthed for her own good. And, he was beginning to realize, sexy as all get-out! “Hell, you know me, Hugo. I don’t jump to conclusions until I’ve got all the facts.”
Hugo laughed. “Just once in your life, could you try not to behave so much like a lawyer?”
And do what? Take advantage of the situation and put the moves on her? Better stick to being a lawyer! “It’s who I am, you know that.”
“I want the two of you to get along. We’re all family here, Sebastian.”
“Which is precisely why I’m being cautious. You’ve always been like a father to me, Hugo. Now it’s my turn to act like a son and protect your interests.”
“You’re worrying about nothing. Lily doesn’t have any ulterior motives for seeking me out.”
“Uh-huh.” No point in stating the obvious: that she was her mother’s daughter. Even if genetics weren’t a factor, her role model had been a woman without conscience or moral rectitude. All that being so, who could say what motivated her actions? Only time would reveal that.
“Is she as pretty as she looks in the photo she sent?”
Just then, the bathroom door opened and Lily emerged on a cloud of steamy, flower-scented air. Her skin was flushed—and he ought to know. Enough of it was showing.
“Sebastian?” Hugo’s voice came from a great distance. “Are you still there?”
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat and dragged his gaze away from the hem of the pale blue nightshirt, which barely covered her backside. How come she didn’t smell of cheap motel soap, the way he did? How come she looked as if she’d been polished with moon dust? Why was her damp hair so lush and lustrous-looking that he wanted to take handfuls of it and let it slide through his fingers?
“Well? Is she?”
Dry-mouthed, he said, “Is who what?”
“Is Lily as pretty as her picture?”
She came to the foot of the bed and stood with her hands behind her back, looking for all the world about fifteen years old. Well below the age of consent! “Shall I wait in the bathroom until you’ve finished your call?” she whispered.
“No,” he said, answering them both at once. The photo Hugo was referring to had been a snapshot taken at a distance and had revealed only sketchy details. Addressing his stepfather again, he added, “I’d say ‘different.’”
“Better?”
“Different,” he said firmly. “Look, Hugo, I’ll call you in the morning, once I’ve checked the road report. Sleep well and don’t worry about us. One way or another, we’ll make it home tomorrow.”
“Why didn’t you say it was Hugo on the line?” she started in, the minute he hung up. “I’d have liked to speak to him.”
“He knew I was calling from a motel room.”
“So?”
“I didn’t think you’d want him to know you were sharing it with me.”
“Why not if, as you claim, it’s an unavoidable and perfectly innocent arrangement?”
“Because I’m not so sure it is innocent. If it were, you wouldn’t be parading around half-naked.”
Her pupils flared and she heaved a breath that set her breasts to bouncing gently beneath her nightshirt. “You’ve got some nerve! What about you flaunting nothing but a towel?”
He jerked aside the sheet and rather enjoyed the way she reared back in alarm. “You’ll notice I’ve exchanged it for a perfectly decent pair of swimming trunks.”
Which fit snugly enough to discourage untoward activity in his nether regions!
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“I wondered what you had hidden in that sports bag,” she said, recovering quickly.
“Now you know.”
“And are swimming trunks all you’re planning to wear to bed?”
“Afraid so. I forgot to bring a top hat.”
“Very funny, I’m sure!”
He shrugged. “I aim to please.”
She gave a huffing little sniff, which told him exactly what she thought of his pathetic sense of humor. “Move over to your own side. You’re on my half of the bed.”
“I thought you said you wouldn’t sully your body by laying it on this mattress?”
“Upon consideration, I’ve decided the bed’s safer than the floor.”
She wouldn’t want to bet money on it, if she knew the direction his thoughts kept taking!
She turned back the top sheet, using only the tips of her fingers as if she expected something to leap out and bite her. “This isn’t exactly the kind of place I expected to be spending the night.”
“Relax,” he said. “I already chased away the bed bugs.”
Her eyes, large and luminous to begin with, widened to saucer size. “Is that another of your feeble jokes?”
“Hell, no! They were marching heel to toe over the pillow, big as fighter jets, some of them—but they didn’t hold a candle to the cockroaches tap dancing on the floor.”
She yelped and leaped onto the mattress. It creaked ominously, formed an even more pronounced sag in the middle and sent her rolling toward him. One minute, he was lying there keeping his distance, and the next, she was pressed up against him with nothing but her abbreviated nightshirt coming between them.
She smelled even better, up close. As for the way she felt…! Silky, smooth as cream, soft. The way nature intended a woman to feel, with just enough meat on her bones to turn her angles into sweet, alluring curves.
Intending to shove her back where she belonged, he closed his hands over her shoulders and managed to choke out, “You’re trespassing.”
But that’s as far as he got because he made the mistake of looking at her face. Her features were delicate as porcelain, her brows finely shaped, her lashes so long and thick they looked artificial. And her eyes…
Mistress on His Terms Page 3
