Bargaining With The Boss (Harlequin Romance)

by George, Catherine

  ‘I was dumbfounded, I suppose. Then when I was about to admit I felt the same the power went off and—well, the moment sort of slipped away.’

  ‘So if you hadn’t happened to need a visit to the bathroom tonight we would still be cold and sleepless, alone in our separate beds.’

  Eleri shivered and he held her closer, moving his lips over her face. ‘I honestly never thought I’d feel like this about any woman,’ he said huskily. ‘Do you believe me now?’

  She nodded wordlessly.

  ‘Enough to let you back to your own bed if that’s what you really want.’

  ‘No!’

  ‘If you stay here you know what will happen. In fact—’

  ‘You want to make love again right now.’

  ‘Correction. I want to make love to you again right now. There’s a difference.’

  Eleri let out a long, unsteady sigh and reached up to pull his head down to hers. She kissed him long and hard and exulted as she felt him grow taut against her. ‘I love you, James,’ she whispered. ‘I love the difference too—’

  Eleri woke late next morning to find herself alone in a strange room in a bed she could now see was wide and rather beautiful, with a headboard carved from dark wood. The rest of the room was furnished sparsely, with a chest and wardrobe in the same dark wood, rugs on the polished boards of the floor and heavy dark red curtains at the multi-paned windows. Since the dressing gown draped over a chair matched the curtains, James, she thought, smiling, was obviously partial to red. Eleri stretched blissfully in the bed, wondering where he was, and braced herself to get out to make a trip to the bathroom. She snatched up his dressing gown and wrapped herself in it, then looked for the socks discarded in such haste the night before. She pulled them on then went to one of the windows, to find a white, silent world outside with a grey sky ominous with the threat of more snow.

  Eleri raced through a chilly top-to-toe wash, brushed her teeth and slapped moisturizer on her face, and was attacking her wildly dishevelled hair with a brush when James knocked on the door.

  She flung it open and smiled at him so radiantly he blinked and caught her in his arms, kissing her with a relish she responded to with fervour.

  He raised his head, and smiled at her possessively. ‘I’ve never meant good morning half as much before.’

  ‘I know what you mean,’ she assured him happily. ‘I borrowed your dressing gown.’

  ‘It looks better on you. In fact...’ James held her away and ran his eyes over her from head to foot. ‘You look wonderful.’

  ‘I feel wonderful.’ She shivered a little and burrowed close against him. ‘But a bit cold, though.’

  ‘The power’s still off, so throw your clothes on and come downstairs; I’ve lit the fire.’

  Eleri dressed at top speed, and ran downstairs to find a blazing fire and a tray ready laid for breakfast on one of the tables.

  James came in from the kitchen with a coffee-pot in his hand and set it down, then took her in his arms and kissed her again. ‘I was steeling myself to cope with the uptight Miss Conti again this morning,’ he said into her hair, ‘full of regrets for her night of abandon.’

  She tipped her head back, smiling up at him. ‘Not a bit of it. I loved every minute of last night, waking and sleeping—once I was in your bed, at least. I was gradually freezing to death in the other one.’

  ‘So you let me make love to you just to get warm!’

  Eleri pushed him away, sniffing the coffee with anticipation. ‘There wasn’t much letting about it, James Kincaid.’

  ‘True,’ he agreed with relish. ‘Let’s pull the sofa nearer the fire. I’ve done some bread and butter, but no toast, I’m afraid. And I thought we ought to hang onto the eggs in case we need them later. By the look of the weather we’re not going anywhere today.’

  ‘A good thing you’ve got a camping stove,’ she said with fervour as she sipped the coffee. ‘How far is it to the village?’

  ‘About a mile.’

  ‘Is there a shop there?’

  ‘Yes. One of a disappearing breed, a post office stores.’ He smiled at her caressingly. ‘By the way you’re wolfing down the bread you’re obviously hungry.’

  She flushed a little. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Making love most of the night does make one hungry, my darling.’ James’s eyes softened as they took in her heightened colour.

  ‘I’ve never—’ She stopped, biting her lip.

  ‘Never what?’

  ‘Made love all night before. I didn’t think it was possible.’

  James threw back his head and roared with laughter. ‘Anyone would think you were thirteen, not rising thirty—now what have I said?’

  Eleri smiled brightly. ‘Nothing. More coffee?’

  They sat in silence for a while, then James took her cup and put it back on the tray with his own. He turned to her and pulled her onto his lap, and held her close.

  ‘I still can’t quite believe this is happening,’ she sighed, gazing into the flames.

  ‘But it is,’ he said gloatingly, and turned her face up to his. ‘And whether we want to be or not we’re marooned here until the weather improves. I went down to the car earlier on and it’s half buried in a snowdrift.’

  ‘So Northwold will have to manage without us,’ she said with glee.

  ‘And without a few other people too, at a guess. Only those who live close by are going to make it into the plant today. A good thing we got the new launch up and running last week.’

  ‘I’d better ring my mother again, tell her I won’t be back until—when?’

  ‘Can’t say. No radio, television, newspaper—and the phone’s dead too. Without my trusty mobile we’d be totally cut off.’ James bent his head and kissed her suddenly. ‘A situation I find totally to my taste in present company.’

  Eleri returned the kiss with enthusiasm, then drew back to smile at him. ‘It might pall when the food runs out.’

  James grinned, and got up to put more logs on the fire. Then he paused, and put them back in the basket. ‘Feel like a walk into the village? Rough going, but we could lay in a few supplies. I could go on my own if you don’t feel up to it—’

  ‘I’d love to come.’ Eleri jumped to her feet. ‘That way we might get some idea of how long our idyll is likely to last.’

  He took her hands in his. ‘You think of it as an idyll, then, darling?’

  ‘Oh, yes.’ She reached up to kiss him. ‘The real world will pull us back soon enough, so let’s enjoy today.’

  ‘And tonight,’ he said huskily, and pulled her close for a minute, then thrust her resolutely away. ‘Any more of that and a walk will lose its appeal.’

  ‘The dishwasher’s no use now, so we wash up before any walk!’

  ‘No, we don’t. We save the dishes until we have a bowlful. We have to heat the water, remember! Now give your mother a ring, and then let’s get going.’

  The selection of boots in a broom cupboard included an old pair of Helena’s. With an extra pair of socks inside them, James’s sailing waterproof over her jacket and her own fur-lined gloves, Eleri felt ready for whatever the weather could throw at her. James, in old hiking boots, with a wool scarf at the neck of a much-worn Barbour and a shapeless tweed hat pulled low over his eyes, locked the cottage behind them and they set out to make their way along the partially blocked road to Compton Priors.

  When they reached the village at last the store was full of people on the same mission. The forecast wasn’t all that promising, they were told, with little likelihood of restored power before next day, and even then only if the snow held off. James had been coming to Fosse Cottage since early childhood, and knew most of the customers. He introduced Eleri all round, explaining their situation, whereupon people asked if they were all right for firewood, told them the garage could provide an extra canister for the camping stove and offered advice about burst pipes.

  Laden with carrier bags of supplies, Eleri and James slithered their way back t
o the cottage, by which time it was early afternoon and snow was coming down thick and fast again.

  ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m done in,’ panted Eleri as she stamped snow off her boots in the little front porch.

  James pulled her inside, dumped the bags down, then sat her down on the stairs so he could pull her boots off. ‘I’ll see to the fire first, then we’ll have some lunch.’

  Something easy and quick was voted on, with anything more ambitious to be kept for their evening meal. Eleri opened two large tins of asparagus soup and put them to heat on the little stove while she put the rest of the food away. She hummed happily as she sliced bread, and suddenly James came up behind her and slid his arms round her waist, rubbing his cheek against her hair.

  ‘I’m very grateful to the snow,’ he said in her ear.

  ‘So am I.’ She twisted round in his arms, her face rosy with exertion. ‘This is all such fun.’

  He grinned. ‘No hot water for a bath, no light, no television or radio, a two-mile hike in the snow and the lady thinks it’s fun!’

  ‘Isn’t it fun for you, too?’

  ‘It’s more than just fun.’ He pinched her cheek gently. ‘I need that to convince myself this isn’t a dream.’

  ‘You’re supposed to pinch yourself, not me!’

  ‘More fun my way,’ he assured her, then leapt across the kitchen to rescue the pot of soup. ‘Like me, this is near boiling point.’

  They ate their meal in front of the roaring fire, so comfortable in each other’s company Eleri wished this out-of-time interlude could go on for ever.

  After lunch she made a sauce from the tins of tomatoes bought that morning. Along with some good olive oil, garlic and tomato paste from the same source, she added a pinch of dried basil and began heating the sauce on the camp stove.

  Then she brought the pan to the hearth in the sitting room, where James constructed an impromptu trivet of logs so that the sauce could simmer for a while without wasting any of their precious gas.

  ‘Then tonight all I need to do is drop some of your sister’s pasta into a pot of water, grate some cheese, and hey presto—supper,’ she said jubilantly.

  ‘Wonderwoman!’

  They sat close on the sofa while the light faded, talking in the glow of the flames. Eleri felt sleepy after the gruelling walk followed by the hot soup. Secure and warm in James’s arms, she found she couldn’t keep her eyes open and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. She woke, refreshed, to find herself stretched full-length on the sofa with a rug over her.

  James sat reading by the light of the fire and a pair of candles, and Eleri lay very still, gazing at the forceful profile limned against the firelight.

  And as though she’d sent out a message to him James turned his head to look into her eyes. They gazed at each other without speaking. He put down the book, doused the candles, leaned forward and pulled the pan of sauce out of harm’s way, then got up, holding out his hand. Without a word, Eleri reached up to take it, and he pulled her to her feet and led her from the room.

  They mounted the stairs in total silence, and once in his bedroom she began taking off her clothes with dreamlike slowness, oblivious of the cold as she basked in the heat of the glittering gaze which followed every movement. When she was naked James seized her by the elbows and held her at arm’s length, his eyes devouring every line of her, then suddenly he pulled back the covers and thrust her into the bed before stripping off his own clothes and sliding in to take her in his arms, both of them so aroused by the silent build-up to their lovemaking that this time there were no preliminary caresses, only a wild, frantic loving even more wonderful, in its own way, than before.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  WHEN Eleri was to look back on her interlude in the snow with James she would think of it as something as near perfection as any two mortals could hope for. They ate and slept, and in between made love more often than she’d have believed possible. They went downstairs for dinner that first night, but afterwards it seemed foolish to stay down and waste logs when they could keep each other warm in bed far more effectively. They lay entwined in the candlelight, discovering each other with questions and answers that taught each of them a great deal about the other, neither of them wishing to waste the hours in mere sleep. But because lying close together in bed had a tendency to make James want to stop talking and make love to her, they grew tired at last and fell asleep in each other’s arms.

  Eleri woke late next morning and knew at once that their idyll was over. The bedside lamp was on, and outside the world was cracking and dripping past their window. The thaw had begun.

  ‘James,’ she said, stroking his face. ‘Wake up. The electricity’s back.’

  He groaned, holding her tightly. ‘Switch it off. Let’s stay here.’

  She sighed. ‘If only we could—’

  Right on cue the phone began to ring. James reached out a bare arm and picked it up, barking his name.

  He listened, then asked some brief questions.

  ‘Right. I’ll be in tomorrow morning.’ He rang off and turned to Eleri morosely. ‘Northwold, it seems, has not ground to a halt without us, but I gather our return would be much appreciated just the same.’

  ‘Look on the bright side,’ she said cheerfully. ‘At least we can have a bath this morning. I’m tired of turning blue while I wash myself in bits—why are you looking at me like that?’

  ‘A bath,’ said James, eyes glinting. ‘Good idea. I’ll join you.’

  And, protest as much as she liked, Eleri couldn’t dissuade him, with the result that the bathroom floor needed much mopping up afterwards and both she and James were blue with cold by the time they were dry and in their clothes, restored heating or not.

  ‘That particular pastime,’ said Eleri over breakfast, ‘is just not possible until you get a bigger bath.’

  James paused, a forkful of omelette halfway to his mouth. ‘If I do will you come out here and share it with me?’

  ‘Now and then, maybe.’

  He resumed eating, suddenly businesslike. ‘We won’t be able to start back quite yet, so let’s talk.’

  Eleri poured coffee into their cups, frowning at him across the table. ‘I have a feeling I’m not going to like your subject.’

  ‘I merely want to know where we go from here.’

  She nodded glumly. ‘I thought you might. Shall I tell you what I want?’

  James looked taken aback. ‘I thought it was more usual for the male half to take the lead in this kind of thing.’

  ‘I don’t see why!’

  He threw up his hands. ‘All right, don’t flash those black Italian eyes at me!’

  ‘Welsh, not Italian.’ Eleri finished her coffee, eyeing him warily. ‘Perhaps you’d better go first after all. My agenda might not find favour.’

  ‘Mine’s fairly simple.’ He raked a hand through his hair, eyeing her with something less than his usual self-confidence.

  ‘Go on,’ she said quietly.

  ‘I’ve never felt like this before,’ he began with sudden urgency. ‘I’ve known and liked a few women in the past, but I’ve never felt I couldn’t live without any of them. You tell me you love me too—’

  ‘And demonstrate it fairly comprehensively, I would have thought,’ she pointed out.

  ‘So much so,’ he agreed, ‘that it’s taking a great effort of will on my part to remain this side of the table. But there’s more to life than making love. I need commitment from you, Eleri.’

  ‘Commitment,’ she repeated expressionlessly.

  ‘Yes.’ He cleared his throat, then gave her an odd, awkward smile. ‘Whatever form of it you like best. A partnership, marriage—whatever you say.’

  Eleri’s heart leapt to her throat, then resumed its normal location, leaving her breathless. She thrust her hair behind her ears, looking at him beseechingly. ‘Could you settle for a little less than that, for now?’

  James let out a long, deflated breath. ‘I tell you I love you and
you stare at me, speechless. I propose and you ask me to settle for less. What kind of woman are you, Eleri? Do you take delight in chopping me down to size?’

  ‘No!’ She shook her head miserably. ‘I love you, James. I love you desperately. I have since the moment I first met you. All I’m asking is that we don’t rush into things.’

  ‘I’m not suggesting we rush into anything. We can do the entire, conventional bit Get engaged for as long as you want—’ He stopped abruptly, eyes narrowed. ‘Or is there some prior commitment of yours I don’t know about?’

  ‘Not exactly,’ she said with difficulty.

  James eyed her narrowly. ‘Tell me what you mean, Eleri.’ His eyes lit with comprehension suddenly. ‘Are you married already? Is there a husband around who won’t give you a divorce?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘I can’t tell you.’

  ‘Why the hell not?’

  ‘Because it involves—other people.’ She got up and went round the table to him, her eyes imploring, and James jumped to his feet, holding her off.

  ‘No. Don’t. If you touch me I’m lost.’ He blinked rapidly. ‘I can’t believe you would do this to me.’

  Eleri’s hands fell to her sides. ‘I’m sorry, James.’

  ‘So what do we do now?’ he demanded roughly. ‘Carry on as though nothing has happened?’

  ‘Couldn’t we just go on as we are?’

  ‘Which I’d be happy to do, if it means you were willing to live with me. But you’re not, are you?’

  ‘There’s nothing I’d like more,’ she said passionately. ‘But my father—’

  ‘You’re a grown woman, Eleri, free to do as you want with your life.’

  She gazed at him beseechingly. ‘Theoretically, yes. But in my own case it just isn’t possible.’

  ‘Give me one good reason why.’

  ‘I can’t do that,’ she said in anguish.

  James looked suddenly haggard. ‘Then there’s no more to be said.’ He flung away to open the door, and peered out at the dripping white day. ‘It’s likely to be a hairy ride, but to hell with it. I’d rather drive back than stay here in the circumstances.’