‘Did you do this to Linton too?’ Jared rasped. ‘Did you drive him insane too as you gave him pleasure and pain at one and the same time?’ His ragged breathing burnt her throat.
Nothing like this had ever happened with Brian, this wild thrill of excitement that couldn’t be denied even though she wanted to. Instead she remained silent.
With a furious groan Jared drove into her more fiercely than ever, his hands beneath her holding her into him as she tried to lie impassive beneath him. Denial was impossible, for either of them, and as their bodies reached ecstasy in unison Kate knew that her movements had matched his own thrusting ones, that she had met and equalled his fierce possession.
He lay above her, breathing deeply into her hair, their bodies slicked together with a perspiration of their own making, their thighs still joined, their legs entangled.
It wasn’t the time for the doorbell to ring, its shrill ringing bringing with it stark reality. Kate became aware of the carpet beneath her back, the lounge furniture that surrounded them, the sunlight shining brightly through the window on the far wall of the room.
She would have liked to call what had just happened between them rape, and yet she knew it hadn’t been. Even in his blazing fury Jared had only shown her ecstasy, had made no effort to hurt her, only to pleasure her. And if that were her punishment then she wanted it to go on and on.
‘Your visitor is persistent,’ Jared groaned, leaving her as the doorbell rang once again, standing up to pull her effortlessly to her feet. ‘I should go and answer it.’ He picked up her robe and threw it at her, collecting up his own scattered clothing to walk to the spare bedroom. ‘But if it’s Linton come back for more I would advise you to get rid of him,’ he drawled derisively. ‘I have no intention of waiting in the bedroom all night while you conclude your—business with him.’ He closed the bedroom door with a decisive click.
Kate felt her anger return at his scathing comments, as she pulled on her robe to fasten the belt with shaking fingers, checking her appearance in the mirror before she went to answer the door. Heavens, was that really her reflected there! Her hair was a tangled mess about her face and shoulders, her eyes a deep languorous gold, her mouth full and swollen from Jared’s heated kisses.
She glared at the closed flat door as the bell rang yet again; whoever her visitor was they weren’t going to go away. She hurried to the bathroom to quickly wash her face and brush her hair, at least restoring some normality to the chaos Jared’s lips and hands had caused.
Gill was just turning away as Kate opened the door, but she turned back gratefully once she saw her. ‘Thank goodness!’ she sighed her relief, her arms weighed down with heavy vegetable dishes. ‘I thought you must be in, you usually are this time of day, and I didn’t relish the thought of carrying these upstairs again later tonight. I’m not disturbing you, am I?’
Kate glanced fleetingly at the spare bedroom door, knowing the reason Jared had chosen to use that room to dress, knowing he still believed her bed to show the imprint of her time in Brian’s arms. She stepped forward to take some of the dishes from Gill as they unbalanced precariously in her arms. The last thing she wanted was broken vegetable dishes on her doorstep when she had waited this long to have them returned! Besides, the longer Jared spent in the bedroom the more chance of him calming down.
‘Not at all.’ She led the way into the flat, selfconsciously checking the floor for any article of clothing that might give away the tumultuous lovemaking that had just taken place there. There wasn’t one; Jared had not missed a thing. ‘Please come through to the kitchen,’ she invited woodenly.
Gill put the dishes and their lids down on the table with some relief. ‘I don’t know how you manage to keep your kitchen so neat and tidy,’ she said ruefully. ‘Mine always looks such a mess!’
Kate’s smile was tight. ‘I’m not here often enough to cause a mess.’
The other girl nodded. ‘Of course, you just got engaged, didn’t you?’ she said wistfully. ‘I wish I could get married,’ she sighed.
‘Perhaps Giles …’ Kate tidied away the dishes, only half of her attention on Gill, the other half listening in case Jared should leave.
‘No,’ Gill laughed dismissively. ‘Giles’ interest doesn’t lie in marriage. I—’ she broke off as Jared strolled into the kitchen, her eyes widening with appreciation of his lithe attractiveness.
Kate didn’t know which one she was more angry with, Gill for instantly falling under the spell of Jared’s rugged attraction, or Jared for walking in here looking for all the world as if nothing had happened between them only five minutes earlier, his hair neatly brushed, his worn denims and shirt fitting him easily, none of their earlier passion evident in the coolness of his eyes. At least, they were cool when they looked at her; Gill was a different matter!
Interest kindled in the deep blue eyes as his gaze roamed lazily over the other girl. ‘You must be Gill,’ he drawled softly. ‘I’ve heard a lot about you.’
‘You have?’ she breathed huskily, obviously captivated.
‘You live downstairs, don’t you?’
‘That’s right.’ Wide blue eyes devoured him.
He nodded. ‘So Kate told me.’ He finally turned to look at her, his expression withdrawn. ‘I’m leaving now,’ he told her abruptly.
‘But—’
‘Thanks for the use of the—facilities,’ he bit out roughly, silencing her. ‘I’ll see you again if I come back to town, but Richard should be back soon to take care of you.’ He turned back to Gill. ‘Nice to have met you.’ His tone was at once softer, the smile he bestowed on the other girl completely charming.
Which was more than could be said for the last look he gave Kate, his eyes steely, his mouth a taut angry line. He was still furious with her!
She turned away, blinking back the tears as she stared sightlessly out of the window. Seconds later she heard the flat door quietly close.
‘I was disturbing you,’ Gill said regretfully. ‘I didn’t realise you had company …’
‘I didn’t.’ Kate hastily wiped away any evidence of tears before she turned back. ‘Jared is—He’s my brother,’ she desperately used the relationship he had claimed several times in the past. ‘He’s just been staying here for a few days,’ she explained.
‘Oh,’ Gill looked thoughtful. ‘I can see the resemblance,’ she nodded.
‘You can?’ Kate looked slightly dazed.
‘You have red hair, and your brother’s has that deep copper colour,’ Gill pointed out. ‘Red hair usually runs in a family, doesn’t it?’ she chattered on.
It could also account for the fact that they both had volatile tempers! Jared could now add a third occasion to the list of when he had completely lost control over his actions, his temper rocketing out of its normal bounds, this time forcing a woman to accept—and like—his lovemaking.
‘I didn’t realise you had a brother,’ Gill continued, not noticing Kate’s silence.
‘He doesn’t come to London very often,’ Kate evaded.
‘It must have been nice having his company while your fiancé is away,’ the other girl nodded.
‘Richard is in France for a few days,’ Kate confirmed absently, suddenly remembering what Jared had told her about Richard’s visit to Paris. Could it really be true that Richard had resumed his affair with the beautiful Frenchwoman he had told her was once his mistress, or had that just been a jealous accusation on Jared’s part? Rumour, he had said it was, but Jared’s contacts seemed to give him pretty reliable information.
‘It must be nice to travel,’ Gill said longingly, making herself comfortable on one of the breakfast stools. ‘I suppose you’ll go with him once you’re married, won’t you?’
She seemed to be settling herself down for a lengthy visit! ‘We haven’t really discussed it,’ Kate replied awkwardly, thinking of the incongruousness of carrying out such an inane conversation when only minutes earlier Jared had forced her into the joy of his lovemaking. H
er legs still felt weak, her body trembling slightly from the fierce tenderness of his caresses.
‘I suppose it’s too soon yet,’ Gill nodded thoughtfully, her chin resting in her cupped hands, her elbows resting on the breakfast bar for support.
‘Yes. Er—would you like a cup of coffee?’ Kate offered as the other girl seemed in no hurry to leave for a while.
‘Thanks,’ Gill accepted with a friendly smile. ‘I’ll make it if you like, maybe you’d like to finish your shower or something?’
‘I’ve already taken my shower,’ although it seemed a very long time ago now! ‘But I would like to get dressed,’ Kate agreed softly.
‘Fine,’ Gill nodded. ‘I’ll just make the coffee.’
In the end she stayed for over an hour, something she had never done before, although by the way she poured her heart out about her feelings for Giles, those feelings obviously weren’t as deeply reciprocated. Like her, Gill didn’t seem to have many close female friends, and Kate had the feeling that the other girl had just needed to talk to someone. Maybe if she had done the same thing after her break-up with Brian she would have got all the bitterness out of her system and could have related to Jared in a normal way at the hotel, wouldn’t have stupidly got herself engaged to Richard on the rebound.
When Gill finally left the flat seemed very empty, its clean tidiness showing no signs of the heated scenes that had taken place here tonight, first with Brian, and then with Jared—although the latter had been far more dangerous. She had no doubt that he had gone out of her life for good this time, his disgust as he left had been plain to see.
Nevertheless, she scrambled to answer the telephone when it rang, and her disappointment was acute as she recognised Beryl’s voice.
‘No personal calls for you, I’m afraid,’ Beryl reported regretfully. ‘Not even from Richard!’
Somehow Kate wasn’t expecting to hear from Richard while he was away, especially after what Jared had told her about Madeleine Duval. And Jared didn’t need to telephone her, he had called personally.
‘Never mind,’ she dismissed lightly. ‘Any urgent calls?’
‘Mr Harkness wants you to go in tomorrow afternoon to sign the contract.’
‘Fine.’ Kate couldn’t even summon any enthusiasm for that.
‘Are you all right, Kate?’ Beryl asked concernedly. ‘Only you don’t sound your usual self.’
She laughed softly. ‘I haven’t eaten yet.’
‘Ah, well that accounts for it,’ the other woman laughed. Kate’s temper was notorious when she was hungry. ‘Tom’s chafing at the nosebag too,’ she added. ‘I’d better get into the kitchen and cook his dinner.’
‘Thanks for calling, Beryl. I appreciate it.’
‘My pleasure, love. I’ll see you tomorrow, hmm?’
All Kate’s tomorrows stretched out bleakly in front of her, long empty days and nights without Jared. It was a bitter and empty prospect.
She didn’t bother with dinner, not in the least hungry, moving restlessly about the flat, staring moodily out over London, watching the people in the street below her as they rushed home or out, all seeming to have somewhere or someone to go to. She had nowhere she wanted to go, and no one to go with, not if she couldn’t have Jared. Somehow, somewhere, she had fallen in love with her blue-eyed devil. Although she had fought admitting it and had constantly denied it to herself and him.
Well, she wasn’t denying it now, the full agony of loving a man who no longer loved her was with her, painfully, absolutely. And the pain of it was so much worse than when she had lost Brian. Her love for him had been the love of an adolescent, a youthful destructive love, whereas the feelings she had for Jared were those of a woman, her pain all the harder to bear because she knew she had driven him away with her bitterness and ambition. What did any of that matter, what did the rest of her life matter, now that Jared was gone?
Her sleep was full of hundreds of Jareds, all leaving her, their eyes full of contempt, pushing her away as she would have tried to stop them. And then the old Jared was there, the Jared she had first known, with his laughing blue eyes and gentle hands, soothing her, holding her, telling her he loved her.
And she clung to him, not wanting him to go again, the tears streaming down her cheeks.
‘Don’t cry, darling,’ he groaned. ‘For God’s sake, don’t cry! I won’t hurt you again, I promise. Kate!’
Her lids flew open, staring up at Jared in the darkness. It was no dream. Jared lay in the bed beside her, his bronzed bare chest visible above the bedclothes as he held her in his arms, his face agonised as he looked down at her.
‘Don’t cry,’ he smoothed away her tears. ‘Darling, please don’t cry any more,’ he moaned shakily.
He really was here, the man that she loved, the tender lover, his anger gone, and love for her shining in his deep blue eyes.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘JARED …’ Kate breathed her ecstasy, her hands clutching desperately at his broad shoulders, determined he shouldn’t escape her now that he had come back, not caring how he came to be here, or of their anger earlier, only knowing she wasn’t going to let him leave her again, not until he knew she loved him.
His dark head was bent as he kissed the curve of her throat, the deep swell of her breasts, his body arched over her as one of his legs pinned her beneath him, his proximity telling her of his aroused nakedness. ‘I couldn’t leave things like that between us, Kate,’ he told her shakily, looking down at her intently, ‘Ugly.’ His mouth twisted. ‘I know I hurt you, that you hate me now. But I can’t bear your last memory of me to be my brutality.’
‘Last memory?’ she repeated sharply, tensing in panic. ‘Jared—?’
‘After tonight I swear to you I’ll leave you alone, leave you to live your life the way you’ve chosen.’ He framed her face with his large gentle hands. ‘But I can’t—call it pride, arrogance—I can’t let you go on remembering only that I raped you. God, if I could undo that I would, but—’
‘Jared!’ With a burst of strength that left him startled she pushed him over on to his back, her eyes glowing as she looked down at him. ‘I’m going to “rape” you in the same way,’ she mocked huskily.
He frowned, although the frown soon turned to a low groan as she began to kiss his body, starting with his chest and slowly making her way downwards, each caress, each stroke of her lips building the throbbing desire within him, holding his hands immobile at his sides as he would have stopped her more intimate caresses.
‘Rape, Jared?’ Once again she looked down into the flushed arousal of his face, his eyes dark with passion, and shook her head slightly. ‘Between you and me it can only ever be called making love, I know that now.’
‘Kate …?’
The look of anguished hope in his face couldn’t be misinterpreted, and kissing him deeply, she told him the words she had longed to say but thought she never would. ‘I love you, Jared.’ It was so easy and beautiful to say, so right and natural. ‘Brian was only here because—’
‘I’m not interested,’ he cut in with dismissal, leaning up on one elbow to search the loving glow of her face, the candour of her eyes that shone with her love for him. ‘Yes,’ he began to laugh softly, triumphantly. ‘Yes, it’s true—you do love me! Oh, Kate, Kate!’ he crushed her to him. ‘I never thought you would say those words to me! Kate …’ The last came out as a ragged groan, then he captured her lips in a kiss that banished any further talk, their lips and bodies all the communication they needed for the next hour, prolonging their passion, tormenting each other’s desire until finally Jared couldn’t take the torture any longer, and took her with a swift, devastating passion that had them both crying out their rapture within minutes.
‘I think,’ Jared remarked long breathless moments later, his face buried in her throat, neither of them prepared to relinquish the joined closeness of their bodies just yet, his hand still idly caressing her from breast to thigh, ‘that any close neighbours you have will thi
nk you’ve just been attacked!’
Kate smiled with languorous satisfaction. ‘No one seems to be running to my rescue.’
‘No,’ he drawled acknowledgment of the fact. ‘Perhaps it’s as well, they’re going to have to get used to you being “attacked” a lot in future!’
‘Mm, nice,’ she murmured appreciatively.
He raised his head to look down into her sleepy face. ‘Are you going to fall asleep on me?’ he teased.
‘You have that the wrong way round,’ she mocked, her lids feeling very heavy. ‘But yes, I think I am.’ She yawned tiredly as if to confirm it.
‘We have to talk …’
‘In the morning, darling.’ She touched the hardness of his cheek with loving fingertips, smiling drowsily. ‘Nothing else is important except that we love—You didn’t say you love me,’ she realised in a stricken voice, her eyes wide.
‘Because it isn’t necessary,’ he chided gently. ‘I can’t stop loving you.’
Her smile was back, that satisfied sleepy smile that told him she couldn’t stay awake for much longer. ‘I love you.’ Her eyes closed.
‘Say my name,’ he groaned close to her ear.
She gave an irritated frown of puzzlement, but her lids really were too heavy to keep them open. ‘Jared,’ she obeyed.
‘Again!’
‘Jared, Jared, Jared …’ She had fallen asleep.
* * *
‘Why?’
Jared blinked up at her with puzzled blue eyes, the sunshine of early morning filtering through the lemon curtains at the window as he stretched with lazy enjoyment, grinning as his arm ‘accidentally’ brushed against the bared breasts above him. ‘Why what?’ he asked in a preoccupied voice, turning his head to slowly kiss the dusky nipples that so enchanted him.
Kate moved impatiently, wanting to talk now, needing to talk. ‘Why did you make me say your name last night?’ she asked quietly. ‘Why like that?’
His face darkened, the passion quickly dying from his eyes as he looked at her unsmiling face, sensing the tension in her. ‘Kate—’
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