"A spirit level is not a toy it's a very useful tool. It saves a lot of time and it means we can leave earlier on Friday afternoon and make the most of Friday night, which is a great thing when somebody has planned to open a gallery on Saturday night managing to ruin what would otherwise be a brilliant weekend."
She placed her hands into the back pockets of his jeans and smiled up into his face that was looking down on her. "Good point."
"I just love it when you agree with me without any argument." She feigned outrage as she opened her mouth causing him to chuckle. " And another thing, if I owned any of these paintings they wouldn't be on display, they would be covered up in storage somewhere. I really don't know where the idea that this is art comes from."
"I will have to give you a few lessons on how to appreciate art."
"You can teach me art appreciation but only if you learn the art and rationale of the construction industry."
She puckered her lips. "Maybe, but I think we will have to negotiate the full terms on that one."
Daniel had stopped rotating them both and had bent her over backwards as she was laughing, his head following hers as he was about to kiss her. "I love it when you start trying to persuade me.."
"Hi, is there anybody here?"
The voice from the stairway startled him and he released Emma as if in a panic and stepped backwards. Emma stumbled backwards just managing to stay on her feet and she scowled at Daniel with genuine annoyance. She was annoyed with him not just because she had almost fallen, but also because he was still so adamant about keeping their relationship secret. The secret bit about their secret affair was something she was now getting tired of.
But underlying frustration and anger came out in the tone of her voice when she spoke to Toby. "If you are here for the opening, then you are twenty-four hours too early."
Toby had a brief look towards Daniel and a surprised expression appeared on his face. Looking back to Emma he offered the box which had been under his arm. "And it's nice to see you too, dear sister. Hannah has sent you a few dresses you might want to try for all the Hartington social engagements you've been roped into." He turned towards Daniel. "And whilst we're on the subject of getting roped in..."
Daniel smiled calmly. "You know me, I always give my clients my full attention and I am sure to follow the job through right to the end."
"I know, the control freak."
"Says the errand boy."
Emma tossed her head back and shook it in disapproval. "While you two exchange insults I'm going to try and get some work done. Thank Hannah for these dresses, Toby, they are much appreciated."
"Yeah sure." He released the box to Emma and continued to wander around the room looking at each painting in turn, occasionally looking over at Daniel with a suspicious glance.
Was he ever going to leave? Daniel gave a pointed stare towards Emma whilst nodding in the direction of Toby, it was as if he blamed her for her brother's arrival. She glared back at him as if reminding him that it wasn't her fault.
"Anything that you've got your eye on yet, Daniel?"
Emma smiled sweetly in the direction of Daniel. Answer that one, she was thinking to herself. Toby might not be certain about what was going on, but he wasn't so stupid that he couldn't take a reasonable guess. Here was Daniel, late on Friday afternoon, still working and in the company of his sister and there was no sign of a battle going on. Emma was aware there was still the big stuff they needed to talk about and get through, but things between them had become much better lately and she could see no reason why it all had to be kept a secret any more. They had become stronger, hadn't they?
"What you see on this wall is not what I would consider to be art." He was shaking his head.
"That's exactly what we were discussing when you arrived, Toby." Daniel gave a worried frown. "Weren't we, Daniel?"
Toby carried on slowly walking around the room whilst Emma and Daniel stared in a silent stand-off with each other, Daniel's frown seemingly getting darker with each moment. "You've done a really good job, this place looks great."
"Thanks." Emma and Daniel answered in unison. Emma went on to giggle but Daniel just continued to frown.
To Toby this was just more evidence that his theory of their relationship was probably correct. He turned around and looked at them both, crossing his arms. After a few moments he raised one hand from the cup of his other elbow and wagged a finger in their direction. His eyes narrowed. "Have you two been attending some kind of counselling sessions, the atmosphere between you is very different from the last time I saw you both? Am I missing something?"
Emma adopted a pose similar to her brothers, subconsciously, but as they were from the same family you might have thought it was a genetic trait. She cocked her head and enquired in a challenging way. "Daniel?"
"Emmanuelle." There would be no misunderstanding that her name was spoken as a warning.
Toby hesitated briefly before stepping forward, and grabbing each of them by the arm. "I just hope you two will continue to play nicely, but if you considering joining forces to play me along once again then be warned, I will be a more formidable opponent than I was when we were younger."
He stretched himself upwards to make himself as tall as possible and looked at each in turn smiling at both of them. "I'll see you both tomorrow night." He flung a hand and pointed towards the far end of the room. "That black and red splodges painting, I don't think it's level."
They continued to look at each other and the silence wasn't broken until Toby had gone and the door closed firmly behind him. Daniel was the first to speak. "So we are going public, are we?"
"Excuse me, Mr Kendrick." She stood square on to him, feet apart and her hands on her hips. "I think he has pretty much worked it out all by himself, and if not he is already suspicious."
"Of course he is suspicious. If he had been here any longer you would either have told him, or got us into an argument which would have made it very clear what is going on."
"And that would have been the end of the world, would it?"
Emma watched as he shuffled about uncomfortably moving his legs wider, then narrower as he folded his arms as if looking for somewhere to put them. She suspected they were gearing up for their first big argument for weeks. She decided to go in with a pre-emptive strike.
"I'm not sure what you are worried about any more. Is it your business image you are concerned with? Being seen with Cheshire's number one wild child on your arm? Is that the problem?"
The harshness of her tone surprised him. "Wow. Where did all that come from?"
"It's not just you who remembers my history. I get comments thrown at me at every social function I attend in Cheshire, and now you are a fine upstanding member of the community I'm beginning to suspect you are embarrassed to be seen with me."
"You have said some dumb things in the past but that is probably the dumbest thing you have ever said. I've been quite clear that my private life is nobody else's business but mine." His frown had disappeared and had been replaced by a look of confusion. "And if you don't like the social functions then don't go."
"That's not the point I'm making, and if it's not that, what is it?"
Emma was standing her ground in spite of being aware that she was moving the topic from the safe areas of conversation into the difficult stuff. But she was getting tired of hiding all the time. She was fed up of having to hide her emotions and her smiles from him when other people were present. She even kept silent when she knew there was something she could say that would make him laugh, or because she was having to keep their secret affair, secret. She wanted to be able to lean in and kiss him when that look of his sent tingles across her skin, and she wanted to kiss and squeeze him and demonstrate to everyone of how proud she was of him.
Whenever she was with him her heart beat faster and no other man had managed to do that to her.
All she wanted was to show the world how happy she was. When things had been bad and she'd been mis
erable the world was happy to poke its nose in and judge her, now she wanted the world to see her when she was happy.
"We've been through all this, it's nobody's-"
"Are you telling me you have never been out with a single woman in public, without putting a bag over her head first?"
"So we're going to do the ex's conversation, are we? Well let's begin with the guy who sold your semi-naked pictures to the newspaper once he realised you were no longer going to be funding his party lifestyle."
She shrugged. Of course she had shared that information with him for precisely the reason that he could throw it at her in mid-argument. She shook her head at him, suspecting that he was throwing it at her to deflect away from the conversation she had started, in search of the information she needed. They had become better at sharing things but it was also clear that they were each as defensive as the other. And knowing how defensive they were meant that they needed to let go of some things rather than use them to stoke the flames on the fire.
She looked away from his face, licked her lips with the tip of her tongue to ease some dryness, and went straight to the question she'd been wanting to ask for weeks.
"You don't see the point in going public, do you? Because you know we aren't going to last. So what is the point in telling everyone, right?"
He didn't answer straight away and that caused her to start aching and longing in the way that had become so familiar just lately. His silence seemed like confirmation of what she feared most, and she hated how much that hurt. She felt it was unfair that it hurt so much when they had been together for such a short time. How could a few weeks seem so major when they had spent so many years carrying around so much bitterness and anger.
But it did hurt, and it hurt her a lot. It hurt even more than the day she'd said all those horrible things to him knowing that it would drive her childhood friend away, the friend who had always been just a phone call away whenever she needed him. She looked into his eyes that day and saw how she had hurt him, and how that hurt had transformed into anger and hatred. But her actions had broken her own heart as much as his, so much that it had taken her two years before she could feel anything again. She had given herself two years of self punishment.
He cupped her chin in the palm of his hand and turned her face towards his, telling her firmly, "Don't."
The look on his face and the tone of his voice took her back to the night in the alley at the side of the pub. That night she had been unable to stop reaching out for him and had realised how much she wanted him. Just as she was recalling that night, his hand slid down and around her neck pulling her closer. His arm wrapped around her waist and squeezed her towards him as he lowered his mouth onto hers, kissing away any words of anger.
When they kissed, it was as if they were blanking out everything else so that nothing could come between them. There was nothing but the kissing.
She pressed her body against the hard ball of his chest, her hands finding their way to wrap around his cheeks as their warm mouths moved together, softly and tenderly. She thought she could kiss him for ever and never get tired. That was how she felt as they kissed, and it was how she had felt for the past four weeks. Some days they sat on the sofa together and just kissed. It was one of the things on her ever growing list that she loved about him.
Her pain and hurt subsided slightly with each touch from his lips, with each gentle suck and with each sweeping movement across her mouth. But just as she felt the aching and the longing subside, she felt it rise again only deeper and more intense. And as it grew it seemed to tighten into a knot, creating more tension and the deep aching at her very core, the place where she wanted him to be directly joined to her.
She groaned as her frustration mumbled from her lips, and she pulled her head away just far enough for her to be able to speak. "Let's go home."
He smiled back at her. "No."
He swooped her up into his arms lifting her from the ground and carried her towards the stairs as he kissed her. He stopped suddenly and altered his course offering this explanation.
"Need to get the jacket."
She laughed softly flicking her head back so she could see him better. "What do you need your jacket for?"
"My wallet is in the pocket. And it's what's in my wallet that I need. Remember the first time we were at your place? I have made a pact with myself that we are never unprepared again."
"Who's a good Boy Scout then?"
She sucked on her bottom lip and gave him a mischievous look and smile which caused him to give her a quick, hard kiss. He reached the jacket at which point he squeezed even tighter to secure her before he attempted to pick it up. "Get ready, hold on tight." Her heart raced even faster as she recalled those very words he used to say to her in their childhood. For a time she had insisted that he carry her everywhere and this moment was just like those moments of old. He had remembered them, hadn't he? And she just loved that he was remembering those moments. So she tightened her grip round his neck, and she squeezed her legs around his waist before giving him her command. "Go!"
He was trying to find the pocket with the wallet as she poured kisses along his jaw and down his neck. He started shaking the jacket in an attempt to release the wallet and she started undressing him and wriggling so that her hands were in a better position to undo the buttons on his shirt. Her movements forced him to allow her body to slide down his and her feet landed on the floor. He located the wallet and began kissing her back as she kissed him.
His hands went on to her shoulders. "Come on." He slid his hand down her arm and clenched her fingers in his. "It's time to christen the gallery. I've been thinking about this for weeks and I've got the perfect spot in mind."
He'd been thinking about this for weeks? She just loved how his mind worked. "Where are you thinking of?"
"Just follow me."
She jumped in front of him, facing him so she was walking backwards. She kept kissing him and playfully nipping at his chest as she continued the work of unbuttoning his shirt that she had begun earlier. He was finding it difficult to concentrate as he guided her backwards, all the time returning her kisses and making it as easy as he could for her to remove his shirt. They made their way up a flight of stairs where she discarded his shirt. At the top of the stairs he threw some cushions off a sofa which was on the upper landing. Emma began to unbutton her own clothing so she could speed things up.
Daniel turned back towards her, his eyes widening as he watched how she slowed down her undressing so as to tease him. She opened the edge of her blouse and ran her hand across the lace on her breasts.
"Keep going." Daniel dropped his hands and began undoing the buckle on his belt.
Emma gave him a sensual smile, his eyes watching her every movement just as she watched his. But she didn't need to look into his eyes to know that he was watching her, she could feel him watching her and everything she did just as she had felt his eyes watching her at her parent's party all those weeks ago. She could feel him stripping her naked with his eyes. She could feel him making love to her with his eyes and that made her go weak and she loved that he made her weak just by looking at her.
She dropped her blouse to the floor, and her hand shook as she undid her bra and let it slide down her arms. She could feel herself trembling as she walked towards him and that's another thing she loved, him making her tremble with need every time she was naked in his presence. To the point she felt she would disintegrate if she didn't get him inside her as soon as possible, and she knew she wanted him inside her as often as possible. She didn't know how he managed to do that, she didn't know why it was possible that she needed him as much as she needed air, water and sleep.
She gasped as his hands cupped her breasts, her gasps morphing into moans and encouraging mumbles when he kissed along her neck, across her shoulders and then downwards.
"No... Yes... Slow..." She made various demands between the kisses she was planting all over him before reaching down to her jeans and wri
ggling out of them.
He released her breasts just long enough to pick her up and spread her out over the cushions. He swiftly returned to her nipples, teasing with his thumbs before taking one in his mouth and sucking vigorously.
Frantically they pushed away their clothing and rearranged the cushions for comfort as they continued to kiss, faster and harder, demanding more and more from each other. Their bodies were pressed together and Emma's curves seemed to fit perfectly against the hard muscular plane of his body. The thought of such a perfect fit made her heart beat even faster and caused her to squeeze tighter and kiss him even harder.
Daniel raised his head and began exploring her face, kissing along the line of her hair, her eyebrows, over her closed eyes and over her nose. Just as she thought he was about to kiss her lips he made a rapid descent down her neck to her breasts. She just wanted to give him the same pleasure she was receiving.
She kissed his shoulder and wriggled around so she could carry on kissing down his ribs, towards his stomach and even lower. She looked up at him with her intention written into her eyes, causing him to groan. He stretched upwards as his hands squeezed her waist pulling her backup once again fusing their mouths as his hand searched out her centre, the pleasure growing in each of her nerve endings. He pressed his hand downwards and brushed against her clitoris causing her body to jerk.
He took his hand away and her mouth gave a groan of protest.
"Hang on." He used both hands to remove the hair out of her face before cupping her cheeks and pushing her head back so he could look straight into her eyes, searching, and asking deep meaningful questions with just a blink of his lids. He wanted to see right inside her.
It was as if he had found what he was looking for, his mouth half smiling, the deep brown of his eyes so dark and deep that they caused her heart to ache and the knots to form once more in her stomach. She looked at him and smiled back and as things seemed to stop, she smiled.
"What is it?"
Daniel stared right back at her in a way that he thought meant he was shrugging his shoulders, his thumbs gently caressing her rosy cheeks.
Secret Affair With A Billionaire Page 15
