She hadn’t been deliberately provocative, but it delighted her to know that he thought she had been. Now that she looked more closely, she realised that under the surface he wasn’t nearly as cool as he looked. She hugged the knowledge to her and rather belatedly recalled what she had intended telling him last night, before they’d got distracted.
‘There’s no need. I’ve found them,’ she told him triumphantly. ‘Whilst you were playing cards I searched Luther’s study. I didn’t find them there, but I did find them in the drawer of his bedside table. I think he reads them every night before he goes to sleep!’
‘It sounds like the sort of thing he would do!’ Nathan remarked scornfully. ‘Where are the letters now? Did you put them somewhere safe?’
‘I left them where they were,’ she said, and hastened to explain when he frowned. ‘I didn’t want him to find them missing last night. I thought we could get them this morning, then, if we left, he wouldn’t discover they were gone until tonight.’
Nathan grinned at her. ‘You’d make a good spy,’ he observed approvingly, but Rachel shuddered.
‘My nerves couldn’t stand it. This is the closest I ever want to come to anything underhand.’
‘Fortunately it will all be over soon. It’s just as well I lost last night. Ames won’t be surprised by our sudden decision to leave,’ Nathan mused thoughtfully, whilst Rachel latched onto the one salient point.
‘You lost?’ she charged in disbelief.
A muscle tightened in his jaw. ‘Don’t sound so surprised. People do lose, you know.’
‘Yes,’ she agreed, ‘but you told me you never lose.’
‘Apparently I was wrong,’ he retorted tetchily. ‘Let’s not make an issue of it. The thing is, we can use it to our advantage. It gives us a valid reason for leaving. After breakfast you’ll have to keep Ames busy whilst I go and retrieve the letters. We’ll leave as soon as I get back. Think you can manage that?’
‘Of course.’ Rachel nodded, mightily relieved that they would be leaving soon.
Nathan smiled at her approvingly. ‘Good. We’d better pack now so we won’t have to delay our departure later. Just for the record, I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else helping me on this job,’ he told her seriously, and she smiled back at him a trifle diffidently. It wouldn’t keep her warm at night, but all the same it was nice to know.
‘I’m glad I came, too. But I won’t be sorry to leave, either. If I never see Luther Ames again after today it will be too soon,’ she pronounced and, as Nathan had intended, quite forgot about the amazing fact that he had lost at cards.
As Nathan had suggested, Ames wasn’t at all surprised when they told him they were going to leave after breakfast. He had the smugly self-satisfied look of a man who had bested his rival—in cards, at least.
‘I’ll need to use your telephone to book our flights back home.’ Nathan expanded their tale, and Rachel saw an opening and took it.
‘Home? But you promised me we’d go shopping!’ she protested loudly.
‘Sorry, sweetheart, but shopping is out. You can blame Luther here for taking me to the cleaners,’ Nathan returned wryly, playing along.
She turned a cold shoulder on him and folded her arms huffily. ‘I don’t see why I have to suffer just because you lost at a silly game of cards.’
‘Next time, darling,’ Nathan promised as he rose from the table. He bent down to kiss her cheek, but she jerked away from him.
‘I’m not so sure there will be a next time,’ she pouted, whereupon Nathan shrugged.
‘Please yourself. I’m going inside to book our flights and pack. We should be ready to leave in half an hour.’
Rachel sniffed. ‘Don’t rush on my account!’ she retorted coldly, and Ames dropped a soothing hand on her shoulder.
‘Don’t worry, Nathan. I’ll look after her for you,’ he declared smoothly, and after exchanging a brief but significant look with Rachel, Nathan walked away.
As soon as he’d disappeared Ames stood and slipped a hand through Rachel’s arm, urging her to her feet. ‘Come along, angel, let’s you and I go for a walk. Perhaps I can think of a way to cheer you up.’
She pretended to perk up, shooting him a provocative smile. ‘I’m open to any reasonable offer.’ Lord, she hoped Nathan wouldn’t be long. She wasn’t sure how long she could keep this up.
Ames smiled, his eyes roving over her hungrily. ‘I thought you might be. You know, you don’t have to leave with Nathan. I can give you anything your heart desires.’
Rachel feigned enthusiasm, whilst she had an uneasy feeling about the turn the conversation was taking. ‘Do you mean it? You’ll take me shopping?’
He laughed, a rather unpleasant sound as far as Rachel was concerned. ‘You can shop till you drop.’
Feeling nauseous, she glanced at him from beneath her lashes. ‘You make it hard for a girl to say no,’ she giggled. Where are you, Nathan? she called out silently.
Their stroll had brought them to a small arbour set beside the path, and it was here that Ames stopped and turned her to face him. ‘Then say yes,’ he urged, running his hands up and down her arms.
Rachel just caught back a telling shudder in time. ‘Maybe I will. I’ll have to think about it,’ she prevaricated, and his eyes narrowed in quick annoyance.
‘What’s to think about? Nathan’s a loser and you know it. Why else would you have been coming on to me ever since we met?’
‘I have not!’ she gasped, pretending to be affronted. Now would be a good time for you to turn up, Nathan, she told his absent figure telepathically.
Ames’s smile was dripping with confidence. ‘Of course you have, angel. Stop giving me the runaround. We both know you’re going to stay, so how about giving me a little something in advance, hmm?’
Before she could protest, Rachel found herself clasped in a pair of surprisingly strong arms. Then his mouth came down on hers so hard his teeth cut her lip, and she tasted blood. She tried to break free, but Ames was much stronger than she would have imagined. Feeling him trying to insinuate his tongue into her mouth, she began to struggle in earnest. Her efforts only made him laugh, and she panicked a little then. She didn’t want him to kiss her or touch her or do any of the things he was doing, but with her arms pinioned by his there was little she could do until he stopped for breath, and then she quickly bit down on his lip as hard as she could.
With a howl of pain Ames thrust her away from him with such force she stumbled and fell, hitting her cheek on the arbour seat. Slightly stunned, she couldn’t take advantage of her freedom and escape.
Ames’s fingers probed his mouth and the stared at he blood on his hand. The expression in his eyes turned nasty and he took an angry step towards her. ‘Why, you damned little tease!’ he growled threateningly, but got no further.
‘What the hell is going on here?’ Nathan’s frosty question had never been more welcome—at least to Rachel. ‘Are you OK, sweetheart?’ he asked her, helping her to her feet, his expression clouding when he saw the cut on her lip and the graze on her cheek.
Pure relief brought real tears to her eyes, and she flung her arms around his neck. ‘Oh, Nathan, I want to go home!’ she cried, and meant it.
Nathan’s arms automatically tightened protectively around her, and the look he sent Ames was glacial. ‘We are going home, darling, that’s why I came to get you. But first you have to tell me if he hurt you.’
The uncompromising tone of his voice had her blinking at him mistily. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that if she said yes he would gather great satisfaction from punching Ames’s lights out. But however much she might want to see the man laid out cold, she had to be honest.
‘He didn’t really hurt me. I fell and hit the seat.’
Nathan searched her eyes then nodded, satisfied she had told the truth. ‘You’re lucky, Ames,’ he declared with quiet menace. ‘Very lucky. Nobody manhandles my woman.’
The other man gathered his composure with a visible
effort. ‘Apparently not, though she gave me every impression that she would welcome my attention. The woman’s a tease.’ he accused, and Nathan smiled.
‘I know. That’s part of her charm. Come along, Rachel, I think it’s about time we left.’
They retraced their steps along the path, leaving Ames staring wrathfully after them. He made no attempt to follow them, though Rachel felt his daggers in her back all the way until they rounded a bend and vanished from his sight. Only then did she breathe a little easier.
‘Did you get them?’ she asked as they approached the house and skirted round it. ‘Were they all there?’
‘I hope so. They’re safely locked in my suitcase, at all events.’ They reached the car and Nathan held the passenger door open for her to climb in. Then he took his own seat, and within minutes they were driving away.
Halfway to the town of Crystal Bay, Nathan pulled the car to the side of the road and shut off the engine. Rachel glanced over at him in surprise.
‘What’s wrong?’ Had they forgotten something? The last thing she wanted to do was return to Ames’s house.
Nathan said nothing, but, reaching out a hand, tipped her head so that he could see the graze on her cheek. A bruise was already starting to form, but he touched her so gently she scarcely felt it. ‘The skin’s not broken, but we’ll clean it up when we get to the airport. I hate to have to say it, but you’re probably going to have a black eye.’
‘Oh, no!’ she exclaimed in dismay, and his smile was wry.
‘’Fraid so. Look at it this way: it will be an interesting conversation piece,’ he teased, then his eye rediscovered the cut on her lip and the smile vanished. ‘Now that wasn’t made by a fall.’
‘No,’ she admitted, her tongue probing the sore spot.
His thumb brushed the small wound. ‘Care to tell me what happened?’ It wasn’t so much a question as a command, and Rachel recognised that even as she silently marvelled at the unexpected protective note in his voice. It made her feel strangely bubbly and warm inside.
‘It really wasn’t anything very much. Ames tried to win me away from you, and thought a kiss would help. I disagreed. The cut on his lip is much worse than this,’ she added with a reminiscent smile.
Surprise and amusement chased across his face. ‘You bit him?’
‘I have very sharp teeth.’
Nathan laughed softly. ‘I’ll have to remember that.’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t bite you,’ Rachel was quick to point out. ‘I just happen to be choosy about who kisses me.’
Blue eyes dropped to her lips. ‘So, if I were to kiss you now, you wouldn’t complain?’
Her pulse kick-started into life and raced into another gear. ‘I’d more likely complain if you didn’t,’ she said with soft expectancy.
Nathan dipped his head and took her lips in a kiss so gentle it could have been the brush of a butterfly’s wing. ‘Better?’ he asked, sitting back, and she had to swallow a large lump of emotion in order to form an answer.
‘Much better.’
‘I should never have left you alone with him,’ he said next, in self-condemnation, but Rachel quickly shook her head and smiled.
‘It wasn’t your fault, and besides, it was worth it to get the letters. To think of him reading them—and making millions using them to blackmail his own aunt—makes me want to shudder. What I want to do now is get them back to Grandfather as quickly as possible, so that he can hand them back to his friend.’
‘I’m with you on that. We’ll put in a call to him from the airport, telling him they’re on their way,’ Nathan proposed as he restarted the car and set it in motion. ‘With luck and a following wind, she should have the letters back some time tomorrow morning.’
It was in the early hours of the following morning, London time, by the time they landed, and Rachel was exhausted. She had wanted to be there when Nathan handed the letters over to her grandfather, but when he suggested that the taxi drop her off at her flat first she put up very little argument. Instructing the taxi driver to wait, Nathan helped her stack her luggage in the lift.
‘Do you want me to come up with you?’ he asked, and though she would have loved to have said yes she was awake enough to know that Emma would be home. Her cousin often stayed up into the small hours, and she couldn’t take the chance on them meeting before she had had time to explain the truth to Nathan. She had abandoned the idea of throwing that truth in his face now that they were lovers, but that didn’t mean the truth wouldn’t have a cataclysmic effect.
‘No, I can manage from here,’ she refused reluctantly. ‘You take the letters to Grandfather. Despite the time, he’ll be waiting up for you. Tell him I’ll see him tomorrow.’
‘I will,’ he promised, then hesitated for a long moment when she thought—hoped—he would kiss her. Instead, with a brush of his knuckles along her jaw, he turned towards the door and the waiting taxi.
Rachel watched him go in disappointment. The least he could have done was kiss her, she thought wistfully. Then, even as she watched, he halted in the doorway and cast a look at her over his shoulder. That nerve ticked in his jaw as he abruptly turned and strode back to her, his hand snaking out to capture the back of her neck and draw her face to his.
‘I don’t know who needs this more,’ he growled passionately, and took her lips in a searing kiss that left her aching for more the instant his lips left hers again. ‘Sweet dreams, Rachel,’ he wished her gruffly, and this time he walked away and didn’t turn back.
With a sigh she pressed the button for her floor, knowing at least that Nathan hadn’t wanted to walk away any more than she had wanted him to. It gave her a warm glow inside as she ferried her cases to the door of her flat, then let herself in.
As expected, Emma was still stretched out on the couch watching TV, and glanced up in surprise when the door opened. ‘Rachel? I didn’t expect you back so soon!’ she exclaimed, coming to help Rachel with her cases. ‘You look bushed,’ she observed, once she had had a closer look at her cousin.
Rachel smiled weakly, glad to sink down on her own comfortable couch. ‘It was a hectic couple of days, but we got the letters back. Nathan’s taking them to Grandfather now.’
‘So you didn’t end up throttling each other, I take it?’ Emma teased, and her eyebrows rose when she saw the betraying colour enter Rachel’s averted cheeks. ‘Oh, no! Tell me you didn’t!’ she exclaimed in dismay, and Rachel avoided her eyes.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she lied, knowing very well, and hating her inability to hide anything from her cousin.
‘Oh, yes, you do!’ Emma countered. ‘You went to bed with him, didn’t you?’ she charged bluntly, deepening the betraying colour tellingly.
‘There was only one bed,’ Rachel pointed out faintly, but that only drew a snort of derision.
‘You can’t distract me that way, Rachel. How could you do it, when you promised me faithfully you would come back unscathed?’
Rachel folded her arms defensively. ‘I am unscathed,’ she insisted, but Emma sent her a sceptical look.
‘Are you telling me Nathan Wade suddenly discovered he was madly in love with you?’ she charged with cutting directness, and Rachel’s throat closed over.
‘No. He doesn’t love me,’ she admitted gruffly. ‘He wants me, although he doesn’t really want to do that either,’ she added with brutal honesty.
‘So he still doesn’t know the truth about Antibes?’
Rachel shook her head tiredly. ‘I did try, but there wasn’t time to convince him properly. Everything happened so fast. But don’t worry. I am going to tell him.’
‘When?’ Emma wanted to know, and Rachel winced.
‘As soon as I think the moment is right.’
Emma didn’t look happy, but she knew when to let the matter drop. ‘Just don’t leave it too long. The longer you leave it, the more of a fool he’s going to feel.’
‘Yes, Mama!’
Emma held up her ha
nds. ‘OK, I won’t say another word. I just hope you know what you’re doing,’ she added disapprovingly. ‘Do you want me to run a bath for you, or do you want to eat first?’
As if that was a cue, Rachel yawned widely and stretched tired limbs. ‘We ate on the plane, and it was surprisingly good. All I want now is a bath and my bed. I feel as if I could sleep for a week!’
‘Come on, then,’ Emma urged. ‘You get out of those clothes whilst I run the bath.’
Rachel enjoyed a deliciously relaxing bath, then fell into bed and was asleep in minutes. When she did finally stir, the morning was well advanced. She had intended visiting her grandfather much earlier, but knew he wouldn’t mind if she was late. The doorbell rang whilst she was still in bed, and she heard Emma answer it. Not long afterwards the door closed again, and she guessed it was one of their neighbours come to borrow something.
Her stomach growled loudly, reminding her it was ages since she had eaten, so she climbed out of bed, slipping on the silk robe her grandmother had brought back with her from a trip to Hong Kong many years ago now. Still tying the belt, with fingers that felt like thumbs, she padded out of the bedroom in search of food.
‘Who was that at the door, Emma?’ she asked as she walked into the living room. The strained silence struck her at once, and she glanced up in swift alarm.
‘The last person you were expecting,’ Nathan replied softly, and after a stunned moment of intense surprise Rachel closed her eyes, knowing that the sky had just fallen in.
CHAPTER TEN
‘N-NATHAN! Wh-what a surprise!’ she stammered stupidly, her heart sinking when she looked at him again and saw the forbidding expression on his face. ‘He—er—came to take you to your grandfather,’ Emma explained tonelessly, looking from one to the other.
‘Linus wanted to thank you himself,’ Nathan added shortly. ‘I promised I would pick you up as early as possible.’
A Daring Deception (Harlequin Presents) Page 13
