by Tricia Jones
“It didn’t sound like you were discussing your personal life, and we’re not having a relationship.” She hoped the snap in her voice disguised the myriad feelings jostling for attention. The part of her that had given herself to Nathan and allowed her to feel again, to take a chance, warred with the more pragmatic concerns that something wasn’t quite right.
“Why have you changed the completion date for the cottage?”
His cool gaze slipped over her in an assessing manner. “I don’t intend to use the place for its original purpose. I’d hoped my solicitor would have informed you of that.” His voice tightened along with his shoulders. “I thought you might perhaps relish the thought of staying there until your new flat is at least habitable.”
“You don’t intend pulling out of the sale?” She hadn’t realised her throat was so tight, and was surprised when the words came out in a strangled stream.
He leaned back, shaking his head. “The workings of that mind of yours are a perpetual mystery to me. How do you get from me offering you a few more weeks to move, to me pulling out of the sale?”
“There’s no mystery. Two and two make four. I’ve always been very good at math. A man like you doesn’t do something out of the goodness of his heart, not where business is concerned. I just want to be one step ahead of your game, that’s all. It’s called looking out for your own interests.”
With a flick of his wrist, Nathan contemplated his watch. “Well, that took even less time than I’d anticipated.”
“What did?”
“For you to find an excuse to get me back behind that bloody barrier of yours. The one that keeps you one step ahead of my game and ensures Chloe Greenwood gets to call the shots.”
“I’m a businesswoman. I have my interests to protect, just as you have yours.”
“Except, unlike me, you’re scrupulous and you don’t go around kicking old ladies to get what you want.” There was temper now. Controlled, but potent. It was almost tangible, sparking across the table and making Chloe’s heartbeat pick up. “Just how do you get what you want, Chloe? Come on, enlighten me. How do negotiations work in the world of the scrupulous Ms. Greenwood?”
“I am scrupulous.” She glared at him, firm and determined despite the pressure building in her chest. She knew exactly what he was implying and her heart broke a little. She wouldn’t let him know that. She’d never let him know that. Her voice was remarkably steady, despite the knife dead centre of her chest.
“I don’t negotiate on my back, as you’re obviously suggesting, and normally I wouldn’t deign to qualify such an offensive remark. As my instincts about you were so badly off the mark, I feel I owe it to myself to just say this. I slept with you because I was attracted to you. I don’t plan on repeating the activity, and the only relationship we have is a business one. I don’t want to stay in the cottage a moment longer than I have to, not if it means dealing with you. I’d appreciate keeping to the original completion date.”
She suddenly felt bone weary, mortified as tears swam behind her eyes.
When Nathan stood and prowled the kitchen, she could only be grateful. At least it gave her time to recover.
He turned to face her and gave a casual shrug. “If that’s what you want, consider it done.”
“Good, then I think that concludes our business.”
She tried to walk slowly and purposefully from the kitchen, grabbing her wrap from where she’d dropped it on the hall chair. Her throat felt thick, burning, and those stupid tears threatened again. Chloe focused her attention on the big oak front door and how she wanted to get through it before she made an idiot of herself. Though she yanked and tugged the brass handle, the darn thing wouldn’t budge. Humiliated, angry at herself and him, and dangerously close to tears, her body started to shake. She gave the door another almighty, but fruitless, yank. Please, she willed it, please. She hadn’t given a thought to transport or how on earth she was supposed to get home. All she wanted was to get out of there. Away from him. Just away from him.
Chloe didn’t have to turn to know he was behind her. Every nerve ending she possessed already alerted her to it. Don’t let him touch me, she prayed, still fighting with the door.
He didn’t touch her, merely reached around her for the large key sticking out of the brass plate, the one Chloe hadn’t even noticed in her desperation to get out. He didn’t unlock the door but slid the key from the lock and stuffed it into his pocket.
“You’re not leaving until we discuss what that was all about.”
“We know what that was all about,” Chloe snapped, “Just open this door.” Temper vied with frustration and hurt, and she gave the door a good, solid kick. Well, as solid as a stiletto clad foot could manage.
“I can only be grateful that wasn’t aimed at me.”
She turned now, bristling. There was temper in Nathan’s eyes, too. His own kind, simmering and contained, but most definitely temper, and Chloe raised her chin defiantly.
“That could be easily remedied.”
She glared at him while he watched her, steady and relentless, discomfort making her shift from one high-heeled shoe to the other. How on earth were you supposed to sound intelligent and determined while standing in the very shoes you’d recently worn while having sex?
When he still made no attempt to move, Chloe decided to change tactics. Anything to get away. “Look, I don’t want to argue. We had a nice time. We both wanted sex, we both knew it meant nothing. It’s over. No harm done.” Her insides shuddered at the incongruity of that. She would likely live with the damage to her heart forever.
“So if it’s casual sex I want, I should go and find some other victim?” There was no teasing tone, no humour at all. Not in his voice or his expression. Chloe swallowed, then took a long, slow breath. She hadn’t meant to say that. In her rush to get away from him, she’d just said what she hoped would persuade him to let her go.
“I didn’t exactly mean that.” She used her best appeasing tone. “What I meant was… We both knew it was just… It didn’t mean anything, so there doesn’t have to be any awkward silences or embarrassed explanations. That’s all I meant.”
“You want to get away from me and move on to the next man?”
“Of course not!” What was it about this man that threatened her annoyance level so easily? “I don’t make a habit of this, I told you that last night. How dare you insinuate I do?”
“But you dare, apparently.” He took a step toward her. “You’ve decided I’m the sort of man who sleeps around, based on what, I don’t know exactly. You probably don’t know yourself, unless you have access to some knowledge about me that I’m not party to.” He took another step closer, backing her up against the door. “What about it, Chloe? Want to tell me the name of this mysterious purveyor of my sexual habits?”
Chloe felt the solid thump of wood at her back. Why was it that she always seemed to have her back against the wall in her dealings with this man? “Don’t be ridiculous,” she snapped. “I just… It’s evident you enjoy the company of women. I’d be a fool to expect that you want a relationship that is anything but casual.” Sometime soon she would put her brain in gear before she opened her mouth. “Look, like I said, I don’t really want to argue about this.”
“I do enjoy the company of women.” He leaned in, no doubt deliberately. “What I don’t do is make promises I can’t keep, nor pledge what I can’t deliver. Strange as it seems, I enjoy your company, although I could do without the slur on my character. I don’t normally pursue women, things usually happen mutually, but in your case I decided it would be worth it.” He leaned even closer until more than his chest pushed against her. Chloe drew in a sharp breath. “You don’t disappoint.”
Nathan’s mouth was dangerously close. He hadn’t shaved yet and the dark shoots of stubble were strangely erotic. Chloe’s fingers itched to feel their way around that imperious jaw. She wanted to bite and lick. To explore and taste. She wanted… Oh heavens, she just wanted.
“I’d like to get something clear. Just so there’s no misunderstanding.” She whispered it against his mouth, not wanting to move away from him. Quite how he’d managed in the space of a few minutes to take her from wanting to make a hasty escape, to wanton desire, she didn’t have the wherewithal to work out right then.
Nathan brushed her lips with his as his arms came around her. “You really do pick the most inopportune times for a conversation.”
“At certain times I seem to have your full attention.”
“You always have my full attention.” He said it between tiny little bites to her neck, and Chloe fought to keep her mind focused on what she wanted to say. “Just what exactly did you want to clarify?”
She pulled away at the humor in his voice. “This isn’t funny,” she said, unable to stop from grinning at his mock serious expression. “I just want to say that I don’t expect anything from you except that you’re honest with me. That we’re honest with each other.”
“A rule I live by.” His mouth found her neck again. “While we’re being honest, I should tell you I’m hot for you. Have been since I saw you in action at that auction. There’s one cool, determined, independent woman, I told myself. Just my type.”
Chloe dropped her head to the side as he bit his way around her tender flesh. “You’re not my type. Nothing like it.” Because he could so easily break her into little pieces, which was why she always chose men she found mildly attractive, men who could never in a million years affect her like he had.
“In that case—” Nathan swept her into his arms. “Let’s go upstairs and I’ll convince you just how much your type I am.”
Chloe’s heart was already tripping a warning. She knew, soul deep, Nathan was every single thing she’d ever wanted in her life. If she thought she’d felt alone after losing her parents, and even more so after losing her grandparents, something told her she hadn’t even scratched the surface of what loneliness really felt like.
That particular feeling was reserved for the moment when Nathan Fitzgerald bid her farewell and walked out of her life.
Chapter Eight
For one awful moment, Chloe thought Nathan might insist on sailing them back to her cottage. What he’d done for her had been magical, and she doubted she would ever forget the sight of mermaid rocks lit up like a fairy grotto. Mellow as she felt after a long, leisurely morning of Nathan’s lovemaking, she just didn’t relish braving the high seas again quite so soon. So that lovely mellow feeling remained as he swung the dark convertible into the parking space outside her cottage.
He’d no sooner cut the engine when Chloe saw a familiar grey head pop above the hedge separating her cottage from her neighbour’s. Mrs. Rawlins gave her a big smile and a friendly wave as Chloe stepped from the car and headed over.
“How lovely to have you back.” Chloe leaned in for a hug. “Did you have a good time at your sister’s?”
Elderly pale blue eyes, incandescent in the spring sunshine, twinkled. “I’m glad to be home,” she whispered. “It’s all very well, but two women in the same kitchen never works for long.” Still gripping Chloe’s hand, the old lady turned to Nathan, who strode up Chloe’s front path toward them. “Who is your handsome friend?” Her gaze flickered approvingly over Nathan’s big frame and then as easily over Chloe’s evening attire. Her mouth quirked in knowing amusement. “Or perhaps I shouldn’t ask.”
Mrs. Rawlins might be in her eighties, but she never missed a trick. She often chastised Chloe for being a workaholic, hinting at how a young woman needed male companionship from time to time—however independent they liked to think themselves.
“Nathan Fitzgerald.” He thrust out his hand. “We’ve spoken on the phone.”
“Have we indeed.” Mrs. Rawlins’s eyes sparkled as she assessed Nathan. “Goodness, you remind me of my Jack.” Her expression went dreamy. “Built like a mountain, he was, just like you. As big and brawny too, in his younger days, and dark eyes… Can’t beat dark eyes on a man.”
Chloe took grim delight in seeing Nathan flustered, even if it was short-lived. She had to admit a momentarily flustered Nathan was rather endearing, and made her want to run her hands over that brawny, mountain build. His patience and understanding as the old lady rambled on was something of a novelty, too. Which was unfair of her. He’d showed more than a little patience and understanding with her last night on the boat, and then later…in his bed.
Best not to think about that right now, Chloe decided as her whole system fired up and an uneasy flush threatened to provide visual evidence of her thoughts.
Nathan flashed the old lady a smile to stop traffic. “My company’s buying your house,” he prompted as Mrs. Rawlins continued her appraisal. “We’ve arranged for you to view one of the new harbourside apartments.”
“Oh, yes. Indeed. As I told your lovely secretary, I still want to go ahead and do that, and it’s very kind of you to make time to show me around. I know you must be a very busy man.”
Chloe’s gaze swam across Mrs. Rawlins’s lovely front garden with its abundance of spring flowers and bulbs. For as long as she could remember, the old lady had tended her garden with loving hands. It became even more of a solace to her when her husband died just a year after Chloe lost her parents. She hated the thought of Mrs. Rawlins being ejected from her home to accommodate Nathan’s requirements. That wasn’t fair of her, either. Mrs. Rawlins had been suggesting for several years now that her house was too big for her to handle, the garden becoming more of a burden than a pleasure.
Later, as Nathan drove along the coast road for a late lunch at a popular seafood restaurant in a neighbouring town, Chloe realised she hadn’t been doing an effective job of hiding her feelings.
Nathan glanced over. “Want to spit it out?”
With her attention fixed firmly on the road ahead, Chloe shrugged. “I just think it’s a shame Mrs. Rawlins feels she has to leave her home.”
“It’s her decision.”
“Oh, come on. I’ve been on the receiving end of your…tenacity, remember? Don’t pretend you won’t pull out all the stops for something you want.”
“What are you implying? That I bullied her into selling, is that it?”
“Didn’t you?”
The set of his jaw made her tummy jump, but she was prepared to hold her own. “I’m sure you smoothed the path of decision making,” she prompted as Nathan pulled into a parking space outside the restaurant. “What did you offer her, a few little extras? Make it an offer she couldn’t refuse?”
He turned to her as he switched off the ignition, settling his powerful shoulders back against the seat. “Still doing it, aren’t you, Chloe? Finding reasons to put me back behind that barrier of yours. Nathan Fitzgerald: swindles old ladies into selling their homes. How on earth could you possibly get involved with someone like me?”
“Stop being ridiculous.” Chloe reached for the handle on the passenger door. Suddenly it was stifling in the restricted space, and she didn’t care much for his tone or for the sudden panic creeping up her spine. “I didn’t mean that and you know it. It’s just that I feel sorry for her, that’s all, and I don’t want to put you behind a barrier.” She shook her head, irritated at herself, at him. “Not that I have a barrier. I’m just careful about allowing myself to feel.”
“Ah, there we have it.” He shifted to face her, caught her hand even when she would have pulled it away. “I’m not about to hurt you, Chloe. It’s the last thing I want to do.”
“I know. It’s just me.” She shook his hand away, annoyed that she could never seem to think straight around him. “Let’s have lunch and talk about something other than old ladies and property.” And the fact that I can’t seem to do anything but want you, she thought miserably.
Chloe forced a smile as the waiter fussed around them, topping glasses and seeking assurances that they had enjoyed their meal. Nathan offered a firm assurance and requested coffee on the terrace. It was a warm, almost balmy, d
ay and the cliff breeze danced in Chloe’s hair as they sat enjoying their coffee.
Nathan reached out and placed his hand over hers. “I’ve a meeting in Cannes next week, why don’t you come with me?”
“I have a business to run. I can’t just leave in the middle of a working week.”
He sat back, keeping his hand over hers as he stretched out his legs. “Then come over for the weekend.”
The sound of that, the thought of that… A weekend in the South of France with Nathan. It was just too pleasurable for words. Not that she could risk it. If she saw his home, his surroundings, she would have that picture in her mind forever. She would be able to imagine him going about his day without her in it. For him, she was a passing fling, someone he could enjoy for a while. He’d said so himself.
“I can’t. Not right now.” She resisted the urge to pull away, knowing that if she did he would push her. “I’ve several properties nearing the completion stage, and we’re swamped with viewings at present. Plus I need to supervise the building work on my new premises. I don’t want you grumbling that I’m not ready when the paperwork finally comes through. Speaking of which, maybe you could give your legal department a little shove?”
She hadn’t meant to involve him in the sole agency agreement, but part of her was getting just a little irritated that Pam’s efforts to get information from Poseidon’s solicitors were continually thwarted. Sometimes it was best to go straight to the top.
“I’m not sure I follow you.”
“It’s just that I’d like to sign contracts and get things moving. I want to make sure the new premises are ready for business.”
He ran his hand thoughtfully over his jaw as he watched her. “Okay, if that’s what you want. I’ll push things through.”
“Thanks. I just want things to be legal. I’m sure you understand.”
