He opened it to the first page and flicked his eyes over the brochures with feigned interest. All of his razor sharp attention was on the woman in front of him. Her breathing was shallow. She probably didn’t realize it, but it told him that she was as aware of him as he was of her. Her apron now removed, he could see her nipples, taut and firm beneath the soft, clinging material of her dress, and her cheeks were infused with that sweet pink color that he found so beguiling. She felt this strange, strong desire just like he did.
She was slender. Naturally so, he thought, having seen the way she tucked into the carbohydrate laden dinner without a moment’s hesitation. But despite that, her breasts were… he swallowed. Perfectly rounded. He had to hold the booklet firmly to make sure his fingers didn’t reach out of their own accord and pull her into contact with his rock hard body.
“Sit,” he said in a tone he knew most people wouldn’t dream of disobeying.
She jerked her head from side to side. “I have too much to do, I-.”
“The dishes are done.”
“What?” She squeaked, so surprised that she forgot to be nervous. “You really shouldn’t have.”
He shrugged. “It was no trouble.”
“But… you’re a paying guest.”
“So?” He shrugged his strong, broad shoulders, and her eyes were drawn to his chest, the muscles of which were obvious, even through the wool of his sweater.
“No offence, but you don’t really seem like that kind of guy.”
He laughed again. “A human guy?”
“No!” She shook her head in consternation. “That’s not what I meant.” She wrung her hands in front of her stomach. “I just can’t picture you doing dishes, or vacuuming the floor…”
“What can you picture me doing?” He asked, trying his best to keep the sexual innuendo out of his voice. Because he knew damned sure how he could picture her, and it involved very few clothes.
She scrunched her nose. “Well, you’re not like any high school teacher I ever had.”
His smile felt stiff, at the reminder of the lie he was perpetuating by not correcting her wrongful assumption. He shifted a little. He was aware, standing just in front of her, of the difference in height between them. “I’m a little wounded that you don’t think I’m capable of such a basic consideration as doing dishes, after you’ve cooked such a nice meal for me.” And as if his hand had a mind of its own, he reached out on the pretence of tucking a skein of hair behind her ear. It was as soft as silk, just like he’d thought it would be, and her skin was perfectly smooth.
“It isn’t that,” her voice wasn’t quite even. Her brain was finding it hard to form words into a sentence. “But I don’t usually have guests in the kitchen at all, let alone doing my job for me.”
Why had she let him, tonight? He shelved that question to be analyzed later. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but cooking dinner is not a service you usually offer your guests.” He had researched her business before coming down here today, looking for ways he could persuade her to go through with the sale.
“No, it isn’t.” She agreed with a small frown, her cheek still tingling from where his fingers had brushed against it.
“Then you did me a favor, and now I’ve simply returned it.”
She huffed. “Well, I suppose if you put it like that...”
“Excellent.” He watched as his smile had the desired effect. Visibly, she relaxed. “So, no hard feelings over the fact I washed up. Now, please sit.”
She had any number of excuses at her disposal. She was flat out. She was exhausted. Being a single mum to Maxie, running a business, and restoring a dilapidated old building all took their toll, and what she needed more than anything was an early night.
But she didn’t say that to her guest. She rolled her eyes in mock annoyance and sat down on one end of the worn sofa. It was a mistake to choose the sofa over an armchair, because Marcus immediately came to sit beside her.
She was not going to show that it bothered her in the slightest, but inside, she felt her heart speed up to an almost unbearable tattoo.
“What did you want to know?” She locked her eyes with his and immediately pulled them away, focusing instead on the flames licking the stone grate hungrily. The intimacy of their setting was difficult to ignore, and Katie hoped that it was making her body respond more fully than it otherwise would. If she’d met this man in broad daylight, at a fluorescent-light lit shopping centre, she probably wouldn’t have felt a tenth of this overwhelming attraction. Even as she clutched at the proverbial straw, she knew it was ridiculous. This man would be desirable, anywhere, anyhow, to anyone. He was sex on legs.
Wind rattled against the windows of the lounge and Katie startled.
He raised his eyebrows and she tried to smile, exhaling a long, slow breath in an effort to distill some of the tension.
“I’ve lived here six years, but I still find these storms a bit scary.”
“Scary?” He kept his expression neutral, but he had found her confession oddly sweet.
“You have no idea how good that feels to admit to someone!” She responded nervously. “Usually I have to be the grown up, for Maxie’s sake. Storms aren’t scary, Maxie! This house has been here over two hundred years, it’s not just going to blow away in one night!” She puffed out her cheeks. “But it could.”
Her eyes were so beseechingly earnest that he longed to kiss away her worries. “The house is as sturdy as they come,” he said, lifting his eyes to the ceiling and hoping he was speaking the truth. He stretched an arm along the back of the sofa, his fingers dangling only an inch from her shoulder. The knowledge that he could easily bring her in to an embrace did not help the direction of his thoughts. “You said you’ve only lived here for six years. Where did you grow up?”
She lifted her gaze to his. She felt like she was at an invisible fork in the road. One part of her was so alive in his company that she would do anything to prolong it, while the more sensible part of her was screaming to get away from him as quickly as she could. Men like this, and her ex, were Trouble with a capital ‘T’. Too good looking and confident for their own good. But Katie had been sensible for a long time. And David Trent was only in Wadeford for two weeks. Was it really so very terrible to get to know him a little better? To relax her vice-like grip on her privacy for a short while? After all, she’d been a kid when she’d known Roberto. Surely she had better sense now. A better handle on her own behavior. Surely she could enjoy a harmless flirtation without getting her heart torn into three thousand pieces.
Decision made.
“London.” She said, settling back into the sofa and crossing her legs. She picked at an invisible thread on her dress. “South London, in a little bend of the Thames called Barnes.” She smiled, reminiscing about her picturesque upbringing. Or as it had seemed at the time. “What about you?”
Marcus had decided that his best option was to stick to the truth wherever possible. “I am originally from America, but I went to college here in England, at Oxford, so travelled back and forth during holidays.”
“That’s a lot of moving around.” Though he couldn’t know it, she had her own personal reasons for wanting to know more about such a nomadic life. “Was it hard? To travel so much?”
“Not in the slightest. I relish change. I exist in a permanent state of wanderlust.”
His confession did nothing to remove the romantic image of him she was rapidly constructing. He was strong, handsome, mysterious and a traveler. And a teacher! An academic. A warning light flashed in her brain. He was too good to be true.
“Where else have you been?” She nestled deeper in the sofa and the action brought her shoulder into direct contact with his fingers. He felt the spark of heat that travelled along his arm and straight through his body, and it was obvious from her look of surprise that she had felt it too. She straightened, the relaxed mood seeming to infuse with an aching awareness.
Outside, it had begun to rain heavily agai
n, and the sound of the fire, and the sheeting rain, seemed to strengthen the intensity of the atmosphere. He leaned in towards her, just a fraction, but close enough so that their thighs were touching. “I’ve been everywhere.” His words were husky and Katie felt her stomach roll with desire.
“Everywhere?” She repeated, but her mind felt thick and nebulous.
“Mmmm.” He raked his eyes over her face intently. “Australia, Asia, all over the States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa… everywhere.”
“That sure is a lot of places.” She said in awe. “I’ve never left England.”
“Never?” He raised his eyebrows, momentarily thrown by her confession.
“My dad was terrified of flying, and my mum was too sensible to waste money on holidays. It all went into my education, you see. We were comfortable, but by no means wealthy. They scrimped and saved so that I could go to prestigious public schools. By the time I finished university, I was ready to see the world but…” her voice petered out as she raised her eyes meaningfully towards the ceiling, where a warm little body would now be curled up in bed, fast asleep. She smiled as she pictured him, blankets thrown off, one leg dangling over the edge of the bed, well-worn teddy clutched in his pudgy fingers. “Maxie happened instead.”
Hell, he’d almost forgotten about her child. Had he really been planning on seducing her right here, not caring who might walk in and find them? He’d never met a woman who had turned him on so much in so little time, but that was a serious misstep for a man of his famous control. He gritted his teeth and tried to concentrate.
“I take it Maxie wasn’t planned?”
She let out a short laugh. “God, no.”
“You must have been a child still yourself.”
She felt herself close up. “Twenty two. But I don’t really like to talk about it.” Especially not with drop dead gorgeous strangers. “I guess you must get a lot of vacation time, being a school teacher.”
He winced inwardly at perpetuating the lie. “Where would you travel to? If you could go anywhere in the world?”
She didn’t notice his evasion. “Somewhere beautiful and tropical,” she said wistfully.
Marcus thought of the island home he owned in the Mediterranean. It would fit the bill. God, she’d look hot in a bikini. Or better yet, no bikini, just naked in his Jacuzzi. He banked down the images that seared into his mind, with effort. “You mustn’t get much opportunity for travel, I would think.”
“Not really. Even though we’re quiet in winter, that’s the time I use to work on the house. And Maxie has school. We get up to London a couple of times a year, though, to see mum.”
His fingers, which had been fighting a war with his brain since he’d sat down beside her, finally won the struggle and came to brush lightly against her the side of her neck. He knew it was stupid, but something larger than him was pushing him to own up to the strength of what he was feeling. She was the most enchanting woman he’d ever known. She didn’t move away from his touch, but she took her lip beneath her teeth and gnawed at it worriedly.
“David,” she said with a voice that was nowhere near even. “I’m not…” she furrowed her brow. What was she trying to say? “I haven’t…” She groaned inwardly. She hadn’t been with anyone since Maxie’s dad. And as much as she had suddenly discovered a red-hot passionate streak, she knew she’d regret acting on it.
“You’re not what, angel?” He probed in a gruff whisper.
He dipped his head lower, so close that his lips were almost touching hers. He ran his fingers along the raw column of her exposed neck and he could feel her pulse fluttering wildly. What would she taste like, when he kissed her? Would her body respond to his as his was already dancing to her tune?
“This is … really, really unprofessional.”
For them both. “I won’t mention it in my traveler review.”
He was joking but his words were just the wake-up call she needed. He was a guest! And he could write what he wanted on any number of travel websites. He was a customer. And she’d only met him a matter of hours ago. What the heck had come over her? How did she expect Maxie to grow up respecting women if she was prepared to throw herself at the first available man she’d found attractive in years?
She groaned and dipped her head, rubbing her eyes with her palms. “David, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me.” She pushed up from the sofa and went as far from him as she could, to the other side of the room. She stood in front of the fire and rubbed her hands together in anguish. “That was absolutely crazy.”
He was very still. He wanted to move to her, pull her into his arms, and show her just how right this would feel. Again, the memory of skittish colts came to mind and he forced himself to stay on the sofa. Non-threatening. Accepting.
“Not so crazy, Katie. We’re two single adults. What we do and feel is only our business.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I have to think of Maxie. I can’t afford to complicate his life. He’s my focus. I’m … sorry.”
He swallowed down the bitter realization that she was completely right. Besides, if she knew who he really was, she wouldn’t want him under the same roof, let alone making love to her as he wished to.
He tossed his head back, his eyes clenched shut. As soon as he’d got back from Iraq, he’d virtually gone straight from the airport to an exclusive members-only bar, with one thing in mind. Getting laid. He’d never found it difficult to meet women, even before he had become too rich for his own good. But now, he generally found he could have his pick. And he’d never wanted to sleep with a woman as much as he did Katie Collins from Wadeford House. He stood, exasperated, wishing he didn’t feel such an overwhelming attraction to someone he really should steer clear of.
“But what about you? What about your needs?” He asked thoughtfully, throwing caution to the wind and moving to stand just in front of her.
Her ice blue eyes were tormented, but her voice was resolute. “I … to be honest, yes, I do find you very… tempting.” She colored at the admission. “But I gave up the ability to put myself first when I brought Maxie into the world.”
“Why do the two have to be mutually exclusive?” He asked with purpose, wrapping his arms around her waist and bringing her soft body against his own firm planes, as he’d been longing to do all night.
She closed her eyes and swayed into him. A girl could only be strong for so long. She pressed her hands in to his chest, feeling the heat against her palms. “Physical attraction shouldn’t drive action.” She opened her eyes and stared into his face. “I learned the hard way to think with my brain, not my body.”
“Maxie’s father?”
“Yes.” She lowered her head and pressed her forehead against his chest. He ran his fingers up and down her back, tenderly, but it was like stoking a fire. She felt heat flaring through her veins and she was powerless to stop it now.
“He hurt you.”
“Yes.”
Marcus felt an unfamiliar stab of hatred towards the unknown man. Of their own volition, his fingers lightly traced a path along her back and to her hair. He twisted them into the dark strands and felt her shiver in hungry response. “Katie, I don’t want to hurt you.” Guilt knifed him. He didn’t want to hurt her, but the saner part of his mind knew that every moment he didn’t tell her who he really was meant she was less and less likely to ever forgive him.
“I know.” She didn’t know how she did, but she did. She felt an enormous amount of trust for this man she had just met.
“Who was he?”
Hey pale eyes flashed with pained memory. “I met him through friends. He was nobody, really. Just a tall, dark, handsome stranger that I fell head over heels for in a stupidly short amount of time.”
“And did he feel the same way about you?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “He did. For about three seconds, then he moved on to someone else to love with all of his heart.” Her laugh was without humor and she blinked her eyes firmly, as
if to ward off his memory. “So at least Maxie was conceived out of love, even if it was just a flash in the pan.”
A muscle flexed in Marcus’s cheek. “And the father. Does he know? About Maxie?”
“Of course!” Her cheeks flamed. “I told him as soon as I found out. He might have been a chauvinistic pig who thought he was God’s gift to women, but I would never keep something like that from him.”
“I didn’t mean to offend you, Katie.”
“No, I know.” She let out a shaky breath, painfully aware of how good it felt to be held by this man.
“So where is he then?”
Katie frowned. “Spain, I think.”
“Spain, you think?” Marcus took a step away and ran a hand through his hair as fury sparked inside him. God, he’d known this woman for a few hours, and her son even less, and he was getting way too invested in their lives. But he couldn’t help it! “What the hell?”
“I guess he just wasn’t ready to be a father.”
He narrowed his eyes. “And you? Were you ready to become a mother?”
“No.” She smiled weakly in his direction. “But it was such a blessing in disguise. I can’t imagine my life without Maxie in it. So what if I had to curtail my own plans somewhat? I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“Does he support you? Financially, I mean?”
She bristled. “That’s not really any of your business.”
“I’ll take that as a no.”
She flashed him an annoyed glance. “You can take it however you want. I don’t know you well enough to have this sort of conversation.”
She reminded him of a very beautiful, very cool princess, the way her face stared at him with a mask of unshakable composure. “When did he last see Maxie?”
She frowned at him. “I said I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay, okay.” He raised his hands in a gesture of defeat.
“What about you? I take it you’re not married?”
His quizzical glance spoke volumes. He had been wanting to ravage her senseless only moments ago. “Divorced.”
A Bed of Broken Promises Page 3
