Eleri gazed in despair at his broad back. ‘James. Please. Don’t—’
‘Don’t what?’ he said bitterly, slamming the door shut. He turned to look at her with cold, angry eyes. ‘You slash me to ribbons then tell me not to make a fuss?’
‘I would do anything not to hurt you,’ she said wildly. ‘This is why I’ve never let myself get near anyone before. I thought I could avoid falling in love. And I did. Until I met you. Then I couldn’t help myself.’ To her horror tears welled in her eyes and spilled over.
With a choked sound James covered the space between them and took her in his arms. ‘Don’t cry,’ he ordered huskily, rubbing her cheek against his. ‘I’ve never seen you cry before. Stop, for God’s sake—I can’t handle it!’
Eleri gave a smothered sound somewhere between a sob and a chuckle, and pulled free, knuckling her tears away. ‘Sorry.’ She looked up at him. ‘I’ll go and pack, then.’
‘Is that an oblique way of saying we’ve reached an impasse?’ he demanded.
She breathed in deeply and squared her shoulders. ‘James, I love you desperately. I probably will for the rest of my life. And I’ll spend as much social time with you as you want, short of moving in with you, as well as working at Northwold. But if, as you say, you can’t handle all that I’ll hand in my resignation—officially this time—and take myself out of your life.’
‘My God,’ he breathed, staring down at her. ‘You mean it too, don’t you?’
Eleri nodded, sniffing inelegantly. ‘I just wish we’d never made love. It’s going to be so hard—’
‘No, it isn’t.’ He caught her hands in his. ‘All right, I had some crack-brained idea about driving you home and parting from you with a dignified goodbye. But that doesn’t happen in real life.’ He smiled ruefully. ‘Instead I think I’ll come courting in the good old-fashioned way. Maybe if your parents see my intentions are honourable they might fight my corner for me.’
Whereupon Eleri hurled herself into his arms and wept far more bitterly than before, and James crushed her close and said a great many things she had never in her wildest dreams imagined he’d say. At last he put her from him gently and sent her upstairs to wash her face and collect her belongings.
She was composed by the time she rang her mother to say she was on her way home and warned her that the journey might take some time because the roads were still far from clear.
‘All right, darling?’ said James as he helped her into the car.
‘Yes.’ She smiled at him, then looked back over her shoulder at the cottage. ‘Just sorry to leave here.’
‘So am I.’ He heaved a sigh as he got in the car. ‘But civilisation demands our presence.’
They reached Pennington late in the afternoon, after a difficult journey through pouring rain, the resultant spray from heavy goods vehicles making visibility dangerously poor on the faster stretches of road back to the town. When they arrived at the house James lifted Eleri down then reached for her bag and waved her before him to her front door.
‘At this time of day I assume your parents are probably home. I’d like to apologise to them personally for not getting you back to them on Sunday.’
Eleri quailed at the prospect, but one glance at James’s implacable face decided her against any argument. Instead of using her key she rang the bell for once, and smiled involuntarily as Nico flung the door wide, a broad grin on his face.
‘I saw the car—thought it must be you, El. Hi, James, you brought her back in one piece, then.’
‘A bit late,’ said James in wry apology. ‘But safe and sound in the end. Are your parents in?’
‘Sure. Come in.’ Nico led the way down the hall towards the family sitting room. ‘Ma, Eleri’s home. James is with her.’
Catrin emerged from the kitchen, hurriedly removing a butcher’s apron from her formal black dress. ‘Thank goodness. I was beginning to get worried,’ she said, hugging her daughter. ‘Were the roads bad? Come in, come in, Mr Kincaid. Nico, go and call Papa. He’s upstairs, changing.’
Within minutes James was installed on a sofa with Eleri, tea and scones pressed on them, while Nico fired questions about their journey in the snow.
‘Good job it didn’t start on Saturday,’ he said with fervour.
‘Might have cancelled your old football, I suppose,’ said Catrin in disapproval. ‘Have another of these, Mr Kincaid.’
‘James, please,’ he said, smiling at her, then got to his feet as Mario Conti came into the room, dressed formally for his evening at the trattoria. ‘Good evening, Mr Conti.’ He held out his hand. ‘James Kincaid. I trust you’ll forgive the intrusion. I’m here to apologise for marooning your daughter in the snow.’
Mario Conti took the large, capable hand, shook it formally, and waved James back to the sofa. ‘I am only grateful you were able to get her to safety.’
To Eleri’s surprise the encounter went off very well, with James very much at home with her family. Nico, of course, had already given James his personal seal of approval, but it was interesting to watch her parents responding to him with far more enthusiasm than accorded to any other of her men-friends in the past. But that was the point, of course, she reminded herself. They thought of him as her employer.
It was a full hour before James took his leave. He smiled at Eleri, told her he’d see her in the morning, then went out with Mario and Nico to see him to the door.
‘I thought he’d be older than that,’ said Catrin absently as she piled cups on a tray.
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe it’s me, getting old. I didn’t think a managing director would be so young.’
‘He’s late thirties, Ma. Not wet behind the ears, exactly.’ Eleri took the plates into the kitchen, holding open the door for her mother.
‘You never mentioned what an attractive man he is either.’ Catrin cast a sharp glance at Eleri’s tired, pale face. ‘No hardship to be cut off by the snow with him, I fancy?’
‘No,’ agreed Eleri, unruffled. ‘He’s good company—and we’ve known each other quite a time now, remember.’
‘How did you manage when the power was off?’
‘Very well. We had a log fire to keep warm, and a camping stove to cook with.’
‘How about food?’
‘The village store provided that,’ said Eleri, deciding not to mention the box of provisions James had brought with him. She yawned. ‘You’re both on duty tonight, I suppose. Shall I make Nico’s supper?’
‘No need. I did a chicken casserole and some rice. You just have to heat it up.’ Catrin eyed her daughter searchingly. ‘You look as though a good night’s sleep wouldn’t go amiss.’
Eleri nodded casually. ‘My adventure in the snow was a bit tiring after my London spree.’ She looked up as her father came in. ‘James gone, Pa?’
‘Yes.’ Mario smiled a little. ‘He is not at all what I expected, cara.’
‘Did you like him, Mario?’ asked his wife.
‘Yes. I asked him to call again, whenever he wished.’
Next morning Eleri arrived at Northwold half an hour earlier than usual, and found James, as she’d hoped, alone at his desk in the deserted administration block. As she went in she closed the door behind her, and he jumped to his feet with a smile which turned her heart over.
‘Shut the other door too,’ he instructed softly.
Eleri obeyed, then walked into the arms outstretched to receive her and lifted her face to a kiss as hungry and protracted as though they hadn’t seen each other for months.
‘It’s almost twenty-four hours since I last kissed you—I was suffering withdrawal symptoms,’ he said huskily, when he raised his head. ‘Good morning, my darling Miss Conti.’
‘Good morning, Mr Kincaid,’ she returned demurely.
He sighed and released her reluctantly. ‘I’d better get back behind my desk before I ravish you on the carpet. Now I can exist reasonably well until tonight, when I kiss you again. I’m taking you
out to dinner.’
Eleri sat down in her usual place, her eyes meeting his in appeal. ‘I can’t tonight, James.’
‘But you know damn well I’m going to London in the morning to a meeting. I won’t be back before late on Friday night!’
‘Sorry.’ She smiled placatingly. ‘It’s a big night tonight at home. Nico’s bringing a girlfriend to supper.’
‘A girlfriend! He’s only fifteen,’ said James in disapproval.
‘Didn’t you have a girlfriend when you were fifteen?’
‘Lord, no. In my school we played a lot of energy-channelling games and took cold showers.’ James frowned. ‘Are there girls at Nico’s school, then?’
Eleri nodded. ‘The comprehensive in the town.’
‘Is that where you went?’
‘No. Claudia and I both went to St Ursula’s, the convent school. High standard of education, but no contact with the opposite sex.’ She smiled wryly. ‘Nico’s never shown much interest in girls up to now. We didn’t know he had a girlfriend. So tonight my parents are having a night off from the trattoria, my father’s going to cook the meal in honour of the occasion, and my presence is required.’
‘By your parents?’
‘No. Nico asked me. He thinks Lucy might not be so nervous if I’m there too.’ She sighed, looking at him through her eyelashes. ‘I’d rather be with you.’
‘I’ll take plenty of work home with me to keep me occupied,’ he said grimly. ‘And I’ll leave plenty for you to do while I’m away too, madam. I don’t want Bruce, or any of the others, monopolising your time.’ He paused, rolling a pen between his fingers. ‘What was your parents’ verdict, by the way?’
‘On you? They were impressed. According to my mother you’re very young and attractive to be a managing director, and my father approved of your proper behaviour in coming to apologise for keeping me out in the snow.’
‘Good,’ he said smugly. ‘I liked them both. With luck I’ll soon have them on my side.’
‘Don’t you dare take any little short cuts with my family,’ she warned, eyes. flashing.
‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ he said silkily. ‘I just thought I’d get them used to me by degrees. I think Nico approves already.’
‘Oh, yes—he thinks you’re cool.’
James leaned forward. ‘He’s wrong. The last thing I feel about you is cool. It was bad enough when I had no idea how you felt about me. But now, with the thought of you in my bed coming before me and my report to the board—’
‘James!’ Her face flaming, Eleri was prevented from giving the managing director a tongue-lashing by the arrival of Bruce Gordon, who came in to commiserate with James for being stuck in the snow.
James assured him it could have been a great deal worse. The cottage, he informed Bruce blandly, had been equipped with all the comforts a man could want—at which point Eleri excused herself hastily and left to get on with her day.
Eleri was glad of a period of quiet, both at Northwold and at home, while James was in London. It gave her time to think, to sort things out in her own mind before she saw him again. He asked her to stay on a little later each day in his absence, so he could ring her for a private talk out of earshot of either colleagues or family. The conversations grew so protracted that by Friday night Catrin was indignant about the amount of overtime her daughter was putting in.
‘I thought you said James was away,’ she said crossly, when Eleri arrived home. ‘I had to wait for you before I could go over the road.’
‘You needn’t wait for me, Ma. I’m a big girl, you know.’
Her mother looked unconvinced. ‘Talking of which, I’ve been thinking, cariad.’
‘Always a dangerous pastime!’
‘Be serious, girl. It’s your birthday on Sunday.’
‘I know.’ Eleri pulled a face. ‘A bit of a wrench, not being twenty-something any more.’
‘Age is relative,’ stated Catrin positively. ‘Anyway, as your birthday falls on a Sunday, I thought we’d have a family meal, with Claudia and Paul as well, if the baby hasn’t arrived. And I thought you might like to invite James.’
Eleri’s eyes widened in dismay. ‘James?’
‘Yes. Why not?’
Eleri thrust strands of hair behind her ears in agitation. ‘I work for him. It wouldn’t be the right thing to do.’
‘I know very well you work with him, but you’re in love with him too,’ said her mother, rendering her daughter speechless. ‘And, unless I’m very much mistaken, he feels very much the same about you.’
Eleri stared at her mother wildly. ‘Why would you possibly think that?’
Catrin shook her head pityingly. ‘Do you think I’m blind, or too old to remember what it’s like? When you were sat together on the sofa there was a sort of aura enclosing you both. Your father didn’t notice it, of course, but Nico did.’
‘All right, all right,’ said Eleri in despair. ‘But don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything rash.’
‘Perhaps it’s time you did, Eleri Conti. It’s certainly time you had a man of your own. And unless I’m completely wrong James is in complete agreement with me. He didn’t touch you, of course. But, duw, he wanted to.’
‘Oh, go away, you Welsh witch,’ said Eleri, laughing.
‘Life’s too short to waste it, love,’ said Catrin soberly as a parting shot, and went off to help her husband at the trattoria.
Nico came home from a visit to the cinema with his fair, pretty Lucy, and threw himself down in front of the television, eyeing Eleri’s wet hair and towelling robe.
‘No date tonight? I thought you might have been out on the razzle with James.’
‘He’s in London. You’re home early.’
‘Match tomorrow.’
‘School?’
‘Weren’t you listening, El?’ he said indignantly. ‘I told you last night I’m playing for Pennington under-sixteens.’
‘So you did. Sorry.’ She rubbed at her hair, smiling apologetically. ‘Want me to come along and cheer?’
‘No need for the sacrifice. Lucy’s doing the cheering.’ Nico looked at her. ‘What’s up, El? You look different since you came back from London. Is it James?’
‘Yes,’ she admitted warily. ‘I like him very much.’
‘Like him?’ Nico hooted. ‘You’re nuts about him. And he’s the same way about you. What are you going to do about it?’
‘I don’t know—I haven’t decided.’
He uncoiled himself and got up, yawning. ‘Don’t keep him hanging about too long. He might go off you.’
‘Thanks a lot!’ Eleri gave him a shove. ‘Off to bed.’
Eleri lay full-length on the sofa when Nico had gone, stretching pleasurably at the thought of a whole Saturday with James. When the doorbell rang a few minutes later she looked up with a frown.
Putting down her book, she went out into the hall and along to the front door, opening the door only as far as the safety chain allowed. When she saw James standing there, grinning triumphantly, she slammed the door shut, removed the chain, then opened the door wide, her smile incandescent.
James closed the door behind him and took her in his arms without a word, kissing her until her head reeled.
‘I couldn’t wait until tomorrow,’ he whispered. ‘I took a chance on finding you alone.’
Eleri drew him into the sitting room, her eyes alight with pleasure. ‘I am. My parents are at the trattoria and Nico’s gone to bed. I was just lazing here, thinking about tomorrow. Are you hungry?’
‘No. I had something on the way home. All I want is this.’ He picked her up and sat down with her on the sofa, kissing her all over her face. ‘I like you all shiny-faced and warm from a bath. I could eat you. Have you missed me?’
‘Yes. I told you that on the phone earlier.’
‘This is better. Face to face, mouth to mouth...’ There was silence for some time, until at last James put her away a little, smiling ruefully into her dazed, glittering e
yes. ‘No more or I’ll disgrace myself and make love to you here and now on your mother’s sofa.’
‘I’d like that,’ she murmured, and trailed a hand down his face.
He caught it, kissing the palm. ‘What time are you coming round tomorrow? Or shall I come here and fetch you?’
‘No. I’ll drive over. When do you want me?’
‘Right now.’
Eleri pushed him away, laughing. ‘I’ll come round about midday. Shall I cook lunch?’
‘No. I’ll make you a sandwich with my own fair hands. We’ll go out for a meal in the evening.’ He got up and pulled her to her feet. ‘I’d better go. I don’t want to alienate your parents after making such a good start the other day.’
Eleri went with him to the door, melting into his arms with such uninhibited warmth to say goodnight it took James very obvious, gratifying effort to. tear himself away.
‘Go straight to bed and get some sleep,’ he ordered. ‘And don’t be late!’
CHAPTER TWELVE
JAMES was waiting impatiently when Eleri arrived promptly at noon next day.
‘You’re late,’ he accused, and stifled her indignant protests with a kiss so lengthy and possessive she was flushed and untidy by the time he set her free.
‘I’m on time, not late. Hello, James,’ she said pointedly, and he grinned.
‘Hello, Eleri—’ He broke off, eyeing the small hold-all which had dropped to the floor, unnoticed. ‘Hallelujah! Does this mean what I hope it means?’
‘No. You said you were taking me out to dinner, so I brought something rather more appealing to wear than this.’ She waved a hand at her pink sweater and faded jeans.
‘You look appealing to me in anything. Even more so,’ he added, reaching for her again, ‘in nothing at all. Come to bed.’
‘Certainly not,’ she said severely, dodging away. ‘I was promised a sandwich, remember. I’m hungry.’
James sighed theatrically and led her into the kitchen, where a covered platter of sandwiches waited, with so many varieties of both bread and fillings that Eleri eyed him suspiciously.
Bargaining With The Boss (Harlequin Romance) Page 14
