by Karin Baine
The rows of dry-cleaned shirts and trousers were practical for a busy doctor but not much use for a slender burn victim who needed covering for both of their sakes. He paused flicking through the rails when he came to his lab coats and scrubs but apparently even they were too much for his over-sexed imagination to handle. He snatched a white shirt from the hanger. The sooner he covered her up, the sooner they could carry on with the real reason she was in his house.
It took a few seconds for his befuddled brain to clear so he could remember what that was.
She was still perched on the end of his bath where he’d left her, looking for all the world as if she were in that post-coital, comfortable-wearing-nothing stage. Except he hadn’t had that pleasure and nothing about this was comfortable for him.
‘Here. This should be long enough to wear as a dress with the bonus of letting the air around those burns.’ He practically threw the shirt at her in his haste to get away. He even contemplated going back to the en-suite in his bedroom for his own cold shower.
When his stomach began to rumble it gave him a different body part to focus on. ‘Just throw your clothes in the laundry and I’ll see if I can rescue what’s left of dinner.’
He reconstructed the layers of pasta as best he could and plated it up with the well-tossed salad. Violet reappeared in the doorway as he was setting it out on the dining table and diverted his appetite elsewhere.
The shirt skimmed the tops of her thighs, covering her curves and brightly coloured underwear, but it did nothing to hide those long, toned legs. He’d never be able to wear that shirt again without seeing her in it or smelling her sweet perfume.
He sat down at the table and took a long drink of water, trying to drown that persistent idea that this was how she’d look the next morning if she’d spent the night. All that could save him now was that folder of truth spelling out in great detail why he shouldn’t get involved with the sexy heiress. She came with more than just overnight baggage.
* * *
Violet could see it written all over Nate’s face that he wanted this night to be over. They ate dinner in virtual silence although she suspected neither of them had much of an appetite. Despite her efforts to make this a casual arrangement it had all the hallmarks of an awkward first date, or a really bad seduction attempt. After her last botched come-on, it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility for one to accuse her of faking a lasagne-related injury so she had an excuse to strip. If only she’d planned this. Or, Nate had been interested in her half-naked body.
‘That was delicious. My compliments to the chef.’ He cleared away the dishes in his obvious hurry to get down to the real business of the evening and send her on her way before she caused any more embarrassment.
‘Thank you, and mine to the doctor.’ Although she was still in some discomfort, the pain had considerably subsided, with only the occasional flare-up of mortification.
She hoped she’d recover sufficiently to put her own clothes back on, dirty or not. She didn’t fancy doing the walk of shame home in Nate’s shirt under false pretences. That was normally only a liberty taken after spending a night together. Naked.
‘Let’s see what the damage is.’ He’d retrieved the folder of paperwork she’d left in the car so they were able to finally get the evening back on track and prevent her from forming any more ideas of how she could get him into bed.
Violet spread the bills and threatening letters over the table, glad she had him beside her to help get her through this.
‘We’ve got household bills, unpaid credit cards, bank statements...’
They sorted the final demands into easier-to-handle piles. Her father would be apoplectic if he suspected they were going through his personal things but this was for his own good as well as hers. Perhaps one day he’d realise that.
‘I’m sure some of these companies might be sympathetic and suspend payment for a while if you contact them and explain your father’s current circumstances. I don’t think they would deal with me since I’m not family.’
‘I’ll phone around first thing. It’s worth a try.’ It would help her if they could find some way to stagger the payments so she could work her way through these gradually.
Nate frowned as he gathered a handful of scarlet bills. ‘Unfortunately, there are quite a few of these which require immediate payment before you find yourself cut off from civilisation.’
Electricity, telephone and rates bills were ones she couldn’t afford to ignore even if her father had.
‘And the credit cards are going to need at least minimum payment made on them. Not to mention the loans he’s taken out with sky-high interest rates.’ It took every scrap of courage inside her not to rip everything up and pretend she’d never seen it. Instead, she created a new ‘red alert’ pile to be dealt with in the morning.
‘There’s definitely no emergency fund anywhere to buy some time?’ Nate’s optimism had long outlived hers.
A thorough read of the bank statements confirmed her father had been living on a wing and a prayer for quite some time. No doubt his good name had given him more leeway than most but little else.
‘I’m afraid his finances are as dire as my own.’
‘Can I help?’ Nate reached for the nightmare she was holding in her hand but she snatched it away from his grasp.
‘No!’ She’d put upon him enough, let him pry further into the family secrets than anyone, but she had to draw the line somewhere. Asking Nate for financial assistance would be the final insult to all involved. Her father would never forgive her and she didn’t want Nate to feel even more used than he already did. If she could find any other way to bail out Strachmore than borrowing from him she would.
‘It’s only money, Violet. Something I can help with.’
It’s only money.
How many times had she heard those words from her father? Enough to know it was never ‘only money’. It annoyed her more hearing it from someone who’d worked hard to make his fortune, not inherited and squandered it. It was more than money, it was a matter of pride.
‘Thanks but I don’t want to go down that road. I can cover a few of the smaller debts for now and I have an idea of how to raise the rest.’ She didn’t have much in the way of inheritance other than headaches and a useless title but there were a few things she could sell that her father had absolutely no say in.
‘I don’t like the sound of that.’
He had his arms folded across his chest, his pride probably wounded by her refusal of help, but Violet hadn’t relinquished total control just yet. Nate was her support but it was important she didn’t compromise her own principles to suit him. Otherwise, that made a mockery of everything she’d railed so hard against. She might as well be married in that case.
‘Thanks to my mother I’m still a woman of certain means.’
‘You can’t—’
‘I’m going to sell her necklace. It’s only jewellery after all.’ Suddenly the ball was firmly back in her court.
‘I won’t let you do that.’ Nate couldn’t stand back and watch her throw away the only thing of worth left from her mother. Not on behalf of someone who didn’t appreciate her and certainly not when there was an alternative on offer.
Money he had, could give her easier than anything else when it held no emotional attachment for him. It could solve the problem and let him off the hook a hell of a lot quicker if she’d accept it.
‘You won’t let me? Who the hell do you think you are telling me what I can and can’t do?’ Violet leaned across the table to blast him as she battled for control. With that passion she could’ve been the CEO of her own company, defending her assets in the boardroom.
Assets he was getting a good view of every time she leaned over.
‘Your friend. I know how much your mother’s things mean to you.’ He wa
lked around the table beside her so this supposed friend wasn’t getting excited with every glimpse of her white cotton bra.
‘I have some of her other belongings, which don’t represent the problems that kept her awake at night. Expensive jewellery was Dad’s way of showing off money he didn’t have, not an expression of love for my mother.’ She had that defiant tilt to her chin she used to have when she was challenging her parents’ authority.
Nate didn’t want her to think she didn’t have anyone in her corner. He was there, yelling advice from behind the ropes.
‘I don’t want you to give up something you love just to make a point to your father. You might come to regret it.’
‘Been there, done that.’ She was talking about him. He could see it in that wistful smile and he wanted to believe she’d loved him once. It meant everything to him to know she might’ve regretted leaving him. That he hadn’t imagined the strength of their bond and he’d been more than part of the fixtures at Strachmore.
All of the anger he’d been holding against her for these past years seemed to fade and render his resistance to touching her futile. He reached out to tuck a wayward strand of hair behind her ear.
‘How did we end up here, Vi?’
Things could’ve worked out so differently if she’d been brave then and given them a chance regardless of what anyone thought. He’d been so in love with her all she’d had to do was give him the word and he would’ve gone anywhere with her, done anything for her. Now he was a man on his own, too scarred to let anyone into his life.
‘I don’t know but sometimes I wish I could go back.’
With Violet standing here in his dining room wearing nothing more than his shirt and a smile, this was as far from those innocent days as they got. ‘I can’t say I’d rather be anywhere else.’
He leaned in to kiss her, reasoning twice in twelve years wasn’t going to wreak too much havoc. He simply wanted to find out if her lips were as soft and sweet as he remembered. They were.
He should’ve left it at one gentle peck on the lips, enough to reconnect and erase the bad feeling left with her departure. When he opened his eyes and saw her lips parted for more, felt her hands slide around his neck in submission, he couldn’t recall any reason to hold back. They both wanted this. In some ways they needed it to enable them to finally move on.
He slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to deepen the kiss he’d waited too long to repeat. As Violet pressed her body against his it soon became clear this was more than one innocent smooch. His erection grew ever stronger with every flick of her tongue against his, every breathy moan of acceptance.
With his hands at her waist he lifted her off the floor and set her on the edge of the table. Violet gave a yelp against his mouth in surprise but wrapped her legs around him to keep him in place. With one sweep of his arm he cleared the papers from the table to the floor so he could lay her down. He went with her, kissing the exposed skin at the open V of his shirt. She was a feast he intended to enjoy guilt-free.
Violet’s limbs had turned to jelly with that first brush of his lips on hers and made her forget they were in the middle of an argument. Her thoughts were hazy with desire but she’d known he’d only been trying to help as always. She’d been the one to let emotions get in the way by almost letting slip the extent of her feelings for him in the past and lighting the touch paper for this chemistry that had been bubbling between them since she’d come home. If she was honest it had always been there and it had been a long, hard fight to keep it at bay, and not always a successful one.
That second kiss had nothing to do with the past. This time around they were acting on pure carnal instinct. Having sex on a dining table was as animalistic and far from emotional entanglement as she could hope for.
As if to illustrate her point, Nate was reaching beneath her shirt to remove her panties and making her wet with want for him. Her skin was so sensitive every brush of his fingers sent a shudder rippling through her in anticipation. She couldn’t distinguish her scald marks from the rest of her skin burning up with his every touch.
He stepped back and tossed her underwear over his shoulder with a grin, leaving Violet squirming on the hard wood surface. She didn’t care how uncomfortable this was, all that mattered was the ache he’d created inside her and how soon he was going to cure it.
Not any time soon, it seemed, as he began a torturously slow ascent along her thigh using his mouth and tongue. Her body was on high alert—her nipples hardening, her arousal heading to meet him—as he teased her with a sample of everything he could do for her. To her.
Violet braced her hands on the table, fighting off the too early waves of ecstasy trying to drag her into oblivion. She wanted this to last as long as humanly possible because in all likelihood it could be their first and last surrender to temptation.
Somewhere in the distance she heard a faint buzzing sound. She hadn’t figured Nate to be into anything kinky but, spread-eagled before him, it wouldn’t be right to start getting prudish now. She heard Nate groan and bit back one of her own. He was certainly taking his time. If he was into that tantric nonsense she was going to have to take matters into her own hands pretty soon.
‘I’m really sorry, Violet.’ The sound of his voice and the cold air hitting her where his hot lips had once been pulled her sharply back from the brink.
‘Hmm?’ She was struggling to sit up, her body limp with desire and Nate-tending.
‘I have to go. I’m needed at the hospital.’ He waved a battery-powered device at her, which was unfortunately ending their evening, not getting it off to an exciting start.
‘You’ve been paged?’ She came close to banging her head on the table in frustration.
‘’Fraid so.’ The bulge in his trousers and his sad eyes said he was as disappointed as she was that this was over before it had begun.
Violet scrabbled to sit up, her hands sliding on the remnants of the bills scattered around. Her guilt receptors kicked in immediately. Putting her own needs first had saved her sanity in the past, but in this case she’d lost sight of what was most important. They were supposed to be working on helping her father, taking steps to make sure she could escape at the end of all of this. Getting jiggy with Nate certainly wasn’t doing anything to fast-track those plans.
He was integral to all aspects of her life here and she didn’t want to jeopardise any of that. She should be doing everything she could to try and get her father back in his rightful place instead of finding reasons to keep her around.
‘It’s probably for the best. You’re my dad’s cardiologist...you’re helping me with Strachmore...that has to be more important than this...us.’
Nate was left breathless with the full impact of Violet’s comment. It was bad enough that he’d been physically pained at having to call a halt to this moment of madness but Violet’s reaction had body-slammed him and stolen what was left of those feel-good endorphins.
He was acceptable in his professional capacity treating her father, helpful in his role as financial advisor, but, when she’d stopped to think about it, not good enough even as a temporary bed partner.
Of course, hooking up with Violet hadn’t been a good idea; he’d known that from the first time they’d almost done this. He’d simply got carried away with the revelation she might’ve loved him at some point. If he’d been thinking with his head he might’ve realised that had made her even more callous for leaving him.
‘I have to go straight into surgery so I’m afraid I won’t have time to take you home. I’ll leave money for a taxi. Make sure you lock the door on your way out.’ This time he wasn’t going to sit around brooding about why she didn’t want him. He had a job and a life outside Lady Dempsey’s whim.
CHAPTER FIVE
VIOLET HAD KEPT herself as busy as possible in the days following Lasag
ne-Gate. She’d managed to sell her mother’s diamond necklace back to the jewellers her father had originally bought it from, for probably a fraction of what he’d paid for it, but it had eased some of the financial burden heaped on her shoulders. For the best part of forty-eight hours she’d had the phone attached to her ear, fending off the bailiffs before they descended on the castle to seize the family silver. It had taken a lot of time, talking and money but she’d managed to pacify most of the creditors chasing her father. For now. Unfortunately none of it had managed to keep Nate from her thoughts for long.
If the hospital hadn’t paged him she had no doubt they would’ve rocked that dining table all night long. That call had given her the clarity to remember how much sleeping together could complicate things. Even he seemed to have had a change of heart since then, reverting to that aloof Nate she’d encountered on that first night. There’d been no mention of the fact they’d almost done the deed at his house, neither had there been an invitation to finish what they’d started. It was a shame her body wouldn’t let her forget the sizzling after-dinner entertainment.
She and Nate had kept interaction about Strachmore matters in strictly public areas since that night but it didn’t prevent her from thinking about what they’d done in private. His talk of fire-risk assessments could have well been about the physical effect he had on her. A five-minute chat these days was enough to leave her hot and bothered when she could still feel his lips inching along her inner thigh. It wasn’t fair only one of them appeared to be suffering, and it was confidence-crushing to find he had no lingering desire to see that night to a conclusion. Even if her conscience had played a part in bringing matters to an end.
Unresolved sexual tension aside, this past couple of nights had been tough. It didn’t cost her a second thought to come home every night to her London flat but Strachmore seemed to amplify her loneliness. The chimes of antique clocks echoing through the empty house taunted her, reminded her of the time that had passed between her and everyone here. She couldn’t get it back and some day her lone occupancy of the castle would be permanent.
