by Tricia Jones
When he released her, Chloe tugged open the door and hurried through the rain toward his car. She couldn’t wait to get home, to the one place she felt safe and secure. Her sanctuary.
Chapter Three
Chloe slipped the phone on its cradle and leaned back in her chair. It hadn’t taken her long to discover everything about Nathan Fitzgerald. Including the fact that he was chief executive officer of Poseidon Holdings.
Chloe bit into her lower lip. It might have been nice of him to tell her who he was, but then that was typical, wasn’t it? He had no compunction about grilling her, but when it came to his own business it was a different matter.
Just why was the CEO of one of the largest marina development companies in the western hemisphere getting personally involved in purchasing her cottage? Surely he had staff to sort out employee accommodations? The man was a millionaire a few times over.
Just over ten years ago, he had been called back from a stint working as a marine biologist in the Bahamas to take a position in the company owned jointly by his father and uncle. He had worked his way through the ranks to become a well-respected and extremely talented entrepreneur, with those adroit fingers in many lucrative pies.
Ryan Richards was Nathan’s cousin, but according to the local grapevine, Ryan had recently left the company, the reasons for which gave rise to some nice, juicy speculation.
The resemblance between the two men was strong. Of course, Ryan didn’t have those interesting splashes of blue in his dark eyes, nor the tendency for one side of his mouth to curl higher when he grinned. Plus, he didn’t have that sexy scar…
But he’d been a darn sight more forthcoming than his cousin.
So, why was Nathan getting involved with the sale of her cottage?
The opportunity to ask him presented itself a couple of days later when she pushed open the door to her agency and saw Nathan talking to one of her assistants.
“Oh, Chloe.” Meg gave her a practiced smile. “This is Mr. Fitzgerald. He’s been looking through the details of some of our properties and would like to view Berrow Lodge and Claybury Manor.”
“I see.” Chloe caught her assistant’s wide-eyed signal and the silently mouthed “wow” behind Nathan’s back. “I’m sure Meg will be able to make arrangements for you to view the properties whenever you choose.”
“Would you like some coffee, Mr. Fitzgerald?” Meg’s lashes actually fluttered.
“I was hoping to persuade your boss to let me take her to lunch.” He turned, unsmiling, to Chloe. “There’s some business I’d like to discuss.”
“I already have a lunch appointment.”
“Oh, we can do that tomorrow,” Meg gushed, obviously more interested in setting up a romantic interlude for Chloe than negotiating her annual raise. “While you’re having lunch, I’ll see if I can arrange viewings for Berrow Lodge and Claybury Manor this afternoon.”
Chloe made a mental note to have a few words with her meddling assistant, even as Meg handed her keys and shoved her out the door.
She didn’t look at him as she slipped the keys into her bag. “There’s an Italian restaurant just down the road from here.”
With the lightest touch, Nathan took her elbow, steering her around the corner toward the small parking lot at the back of the precinct. “I thought the seafood place along the coast would be more private. Like I said, there’s something I want to discuss, and I don’t want any interruptions.”
“What you want you usually get, I imagine.” Her tone, heavily sarcastic, had the pleasing effect of making that lush mouth harden into a thin line of displeasure. “I mean, your position as CEO of Poseidon Holdings would ensure that.”
He held the passenger door of his car open for her. “You’ve been checking up on me.”
“Just protecting my interests.” The smile she gave him oozed so much syrup a lesser man would have run for cover. “You’re not the only one who likes to know who they’re doing business with.”
It didn’t take long to discover why he’d insisted on whisking her along the coast to a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. She couldn’t run out on him so easily, could she? And right now, as he sat across the table from her, looking as if it were the most reasonable request in the world, the only thing Chloe wanted to do was run. Okay, perhaps not the only thing. Wiping that easy, confident smile off his face came high on the list of her immediate ambitions.
“You’re amazing.” She hissed it out with a grim irony as she shook her head. “You actually want me to help you evict an old lady from the home she’s lived in for heaven knows how many decades?”
“A slight exaggeration. I have no intention of evicting anyone. I’m offering your neighbour one of the new retirement apartments opposite the marina. They’re being built to the highest specifications and are worth almost double the price of her cottage, complete with resident concierge. It’s an excellent deal.”
Chloe almost choked on her wine. “An excellent deal? You’re asking her to leave her home because of an excellent deal? It might come as a surprise to you, but there are some things more important to people than making money.”
“Ah, spoken like a true businesswoman.”
“Don’t you be funny with me. I most certainly am a businesswoman, the type who doesn’t feel the need to steamroll people to get what I want.”
His fierce glare made her stomach jerk, but she wouldn’t look away. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. He leaned ominously forward, then back as their main course arrived. The waiter fussed a little and was rewarded with a curt “thank you” from Nathan, whose dark eyes never left hers. He picked up his wine and sipped before replacing it. “Contrary to your quite obviously low opinion of me, I do not go around intimidating old ladies.”
“No. You just hassle them while they’re on holiday, and how did you get her sister’s number, anyway?”
He smiled at that, as if the very idea of his not being able to access whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it, was ludicrous. “I have my sources.” He sipped his wine again, watching her over the rim. The glint had returned to his eyes, which both irritated and, much to Chloe’s disgust, aroused. That strange and inappropriate little flutter in the region of her solar plexus was becoming ludicrous.
“Anyway, it’s academic. She turned you down.”
“On the contrary. She intends to give it some thought.”
Chloe smirked. “You simply want me to push her over the edge.”
His own smile was slick. “I’d be most grateful.”
“You do your own dirty work.”
He drew in a long breath. “I can when the situation demands it.”
“You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“I confess I am. Frequently.”
His grin did sexy things to that scar above his eyebrow, and despite herself, amusement bubbled in her throat. As she started to smile, her mobile rang. After a discreet and hurried conversation, Chloe popped the unit back in her bag. “Meg has arranged viewings at both properties this afternoon,” she told him with brisk efficiency. “Berrow Lodge is expecting us at two-thirty, and as Claybury Manor is empty, we can go there afterward.”
“Excellent.” He pushed back his cuff to check the heavy silver wristwatch. “Which means we have well over an hour to enjoy our lunch.”
Surprisingly she did, if “enjoy” was the appropriate word when your tummy hitched and spun with just the merest glitter of devilment in that delicious charcoal gaze of his. Or when your heart thumped if he looked at you for just a moment too long, or if the blood shot through your veins with the brush of fingers against your hand as they reached for the water jug together.
It was tempting. He was tempting, she considered as the vendors of Berrow Lodge showed them around their property. But he was dangerous. Too dangerous for her. She couldn’t trust herself with him, couldn’t trust her reactions. With men she usually could. As long as she made sure she was the one in control, the one who set the rules of a rela
tionship, the one who made sure things didn’t get too cozy, all was well.
She’d have none of that control with Nathan Fitzgerald.
While she might easily be tempted to have a fling with him, something told her it could get serious and she could get hurt. Getting hurt, suffering loss—well, that was most certainly not an option.
She never wanted to feel too deeply for anyone again, not ever. Never wanted to rely on another person for her sense of safety and security. Already she had lost too many people in her life, people she loved and depended on. Her world had shattered. She would never put herself in a position to hurt so badly ever again, and if that meant dating men who merely passed through the town and didn’t give her one iota of the reaction this one did, then so be it.
She watched him as he strolled confidently through the property, or perhaps prowled was more appropriate. The ultimate predator, with eyes that searched and missed nothing. A hard, muscled body that used the sleek, civilised cloak of a business suit to hide the honed perfection she knew lurked beneath it.
He scared her, terrified her. The sooner they completed their business, the better. Then she wouldn’t have to suffer this ridiculous reaction to him. He would go back to the South of France and out of her life.
Later, as they walked alone through the sprawling elegance that was Claybury Manor, Chloe asked, “What possible use could you have in mind for a property like this? It needs complete renovation.” She slid her gaze over the crumbling plasterwork. “Better still, it could be pulled down and rebuilt from scratch.”
Nathan ran long fingers around the edges of a dilapidated window frame. “I’m considering buying some investment properties.” He heaved open the huge casement window and tested the frame by shaking it and sending the glass rattling ominously.
“Aren’t there any suitable investment properties near Cannes?”
He laughed, a lovely low rumble of amusement, then turned to her. “Want to get rid of me, Chloe?”
“Don’t flatter yourself. I don’t care one way or the other.” She turned and headed for the hallway. “We might as well go back. I can let you have details of some other properties that won’t need so much work.”
“Might as well see all of it while we’re here. Let’s take a look upstairs.”
The upstairs was as huge and rambling as downstairs, even more dilapidated, and the floorboards creaked ominously under their weight.
“You’d have to spend your free time supervising the refurbishment of this place,” Chloe addressed Nathan’s back as he hunkered down to inspect a badly cracked marble fireplace. “Wouldn’t leave much time for sailing.”
He straightened up and, swivelling to face her, brushed down his jacket. “I could say the same about the place you’ve just bought. That will most definitely need some tender loving care.”
“I’ve lined up a builder to do it.” Chloe suffered an involuntary shiver at the thought of the figure on the builder’s estimate.
“Then you can give me his number.” Nathan’s gaze swept around the enormous room with its peeling brocade wallpaper and aged creamy paintwork. “This place will keep him busy for a decade or two.”
“You’re not actually buying it?”
“Maybe. It’s got potential, and like I told you, there’s nothing I enjoy more than a good challenge.”
He moved closer now, his gaze fixed on hers. When her legs tingled, she shifted back, bumping solidly against the wall. “Like I told you, I’m not interested.”
“Oh, I think you are.” Invading her personal space, he leaned down. “You’re just too chicken to act on it.”
Panic shimmered as her stomach jumped, and the shake of her head loosened the tidy chignon. “I’m not chicken.”
When he didn’t move, she clamped her palm to his chest. She couldn’t breathe and, in retaliation for the tightness in her lungs, gave him a little shove. He didn’t yield. Not one inch.
“Like me, you’re curious.” His voice was low, husky. “You wonder how my mouth would feel against yours, how we’d fit.”
Her treacherous gaze flew to his slightly parted lips. “Go away.” Another little shove, but with no real impetus behind it. Oh lord, the man was strong as Hercules.
His mouth lowered until she could feel the warmth of his breath on her face.
“We’ve been spoiling for this since we set eyes on each other, Chloe, so why don’t we just indulge ourselves, get it out of the way?”
“God, you’re arrogant.”
“I prefer ‘adventurous’. Take the journey with me, Chloe. I want to know how you taste, how you feel. How you’d fire up in my arms.”
Somehow he’d edged her closer to the wall, pinning her there. His chest heaved against hers, or maybe it was the other way around.
Her breath lodged in her throat, heart thundering against her ribcage. “Don’t.” Don’t, she repeated silently, even as she ached for him to ignore her plea. She couldn’t allow herself to feel, not like this. She could never afford the price she would pay if she let this man too close. With him she would feel too much, need too much. Then she would lose him. Just as she lost everyone she came to care for. Never again did she want that aching sense of loss. The arbitrary brush of fate that stole away the people she loved.
For a moment he stayed as he was, their mouths close, breath mingling. Then he stepped back; his heady, masculine scent lingered in the space he’d created between them. “This won’t go away, Chloe. You want me and I most definitely want you.”
Now a safer distance from him, Chloe brushed moist palms down the front of her navy skirt. She still couldn’t breathe comfortably. “While I might be attracted to you, it doesn’t mean I intend to act on it. Not with some ‘girl in every marina’ type who wants a nice convenient affair to while away the hours until he can get back to where he really wants to be.” Heat burned along her cheeks. “Ours is a business relationship, and I’d rather you get it out of your head right now that it will ever be anything else.”
With a not-quite-steady hand, she tidied the bunched thickness of her hair. “There are any number of women around here more than happy to entertain you, and I’ve no doubt some of them will feign resistance and allow your inflated ego to enjoy the pursuit and ultimate surrender. So go find your challenge with someone else, Nathan, because I am most certainly not it.”
He’d been watching her with a sort of quiet magnificence that gave her the stupid urge to launch herself into his arms. Now his eyebrows curved up. “That’s quite a speech, and very enlightening.” He moved in front of her and held open the door to the landing. “While I enjoy a challenge, I have to believe it’s worth the effort. Right now I’m second guessing myself, which is a notion my inflated ego is not entirely familiar with.”
The cool arrogance made Chloe’s skin heat as she swept by him and headed down the stairs.
Arriving back at her office, Nathan turned to her as he pulled up at the curb. “There’s a life to be had outside business, Chloe,” he said as she gathered up her bag. “If and when you decide to get out from behind that barrier of yours, maybe we could enjoy each other for a while.”
Chloe’s head flashed around, her mouth already open and about to hurl a denial. His mouth came down on hers. Crushing and punishing until fury gave way to the delicious white heat of sensation soaring through her veins. Powerless to stop her lips from parting beneath his determined mouth, Chloe was horrified when she heard the needy little moan escaping her throat. It was only the shock of that sound that stopped her arms from snaking around his big neck, stopped her moving into him. It gave her the chance to let common sense rule again.
“What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?” Her hand trembled against his chest as she pushed him back. “Perhaps I should have the word tattooed on my forehead.”
One dark brow rose in a sardonic sweep. “No need, it’s plain enough. Like I said, I don’t usually second guess myself, but today I’ve had a salutary lesson in the concept.”
Sarcasm dripped from his very talented mouth. “Let’s just say that it’s apparent my convenient affair in this particular marina won’t be with you”
Chloe gave the door a good hard slam, then hurried away as fast as her hollow legs would carry her.
Safely ensconced in her office, having slipped by her assistant, who was thankfully engaged with a potential client, Chloe slid her tongue over her sensitised lips. That kiss, and its shimmering aftermath, was a fluke. It was only natural she would feel like she’d been knocked sideways by a force ten. Some men could kiss, it was just their natural birthright. Some men could make a woman melt and dissolve, it was just the way of things. A natural, biological fact. It was her unfortunate fate to have come up against such a man.
He tasted so good. How was it that a simple kiss could weaken a normally sane, sensible woman? A woman who had spent her adult life keeping a tight lid on her emotions, staying a safe distance from the sort of relationship which would make her want and need.
Leaning back in her chair, she closed her eyes, let her fingers gently, sensually, trace the soft swell of her lips. This was insane. She needed to stay away from Nathan Fitzgerald, which wouldn’t be hard now that he’d made it clear he’d lost interest. Which was what she wanted, wasn’t it? Him out of her life? Him as far away from her as was humanly possible?
Sighing, she opened her eyes and reached for her keyboard. She didn’t have time for this, she assured herself as she logged onto her computer. Who cared if he was now out of her life? Not that he’d been in it in the first place, which was the best thing for everyone.
So why, a niggling and uninvited little voice inside her questioned, did she feel like she just suffered the worst loss of all?
With a glance at his passenger door, Nathan marveled at the wonders of modern technology. He’d half expected the door would be hanging on its hinges after the way she’d slammed it. Bloody woman.
He strode through the parking lot toward his office. She’d made him sound like some lothario who couldn’t keep his pants zipped for five minutes. Bloody nerve.
