Daniel’s voice cut across her thoughts and brought her back to the here and now. “Are you okay Claire? You seem to be miles away.”
“Claire spends most of her life day-dreaming,” her mother answered for her. “She isn’t interested in the fact that there’s a great big world out there. She would rather spend her days in a library reading books instead of living a life.” She gave a sharp little laugh as she shook back her hair. It made the rows of beads around her neck and the golden hoops dangling from her ears sparkle in the candlelight.
“I think you’re mistaken,” surprisingly Daniel’s voice took on a slightly steely tone as his eyes locked with Claire’s. “Claire is very much interested in the world. In fact she’s considering coming to Florida to take up a job I’ve offered her.”
Claire’s mother responded with a peal of laughter that was loud enough to attract the attention of the diners at the next table. “If you truly believe that Daniel, then she’s been leading you on. Claire won’t go anywhere. When she was a child she was very obstinate about trying anything new, and she’s the same now. She used to have tantrums whenever we wanted to move on. She even asked if she could be a boarder so she wouldn’t have to keep changing schools, but we told her not to be so silly. We said it was much better to experience new things and make new friends instead of living a life surrounded by rules and regulations. ”
Suddenly Claire had had enough of being the target of her mother’s amusement even though she knew everything she said was true. She had been a shy and difficult child. She had hated moving on and having to make new friends, but she’d done it and, if she was being totally honest with herself, it had taught her some useful lessons. For example she had learned to summon up a cool and confident air that fooled all but the most discerning however churned up she might be inside. She did it now. Eyes flashing she turned to her mother.
“That was years ago, Mum. I’m an adult now and it would be nice if you sometimes gave me credit for it. And, surprised as you might be to hear it, I have decided to take up Daniel’s job offer. I’ll be going to Florida as soon as I’ve worked out my notice at the library.”
After a stunned silence her parents’ reaction was everything she could have wished for. Her father sat and beamed at her and her mother swiftly jettisoned her slightly disparaging air. In its place was genuine enthusiasm and interest, and soon they were all talking about Daniel’s company and how Claire fitted into it. They even toasted her success with the last of the red wine, and made plans to store her belongings while she was away.
Claire smiled and nodded and agreed with everything everybody said as she tried to persuade herself that the fleeting look of triumph she had seen on Daniel’s face when she had made her announcement had been a figment of her imagination. It had been gone in a moment, replaced by a warm smile of approval and questions about timing and how long it would be before she was free to travel. It had been enough, though, for Claire to realize he had manipulated her into doing exactly what he wanted. So much for her thinking he had given up on her. He’d just waited until he found a way to make her agree, and her mother had handed him one on a plate.
She sighed as he signalled for the bill. Why had she fallen for it? Why had she allowed her pride to direct her tongue and agree to something she knew would break her heart? She bent down to pick up her wrap but Daniel was there before her. He tucked it across her shoulders and handed her her purse.
“I’m glad you’ve changed your mind,” was all he said, but his proximity, the warmth of his body, the spicy tang of his aftershave as he stood close to her, made her regret her impetuosity all over again. How was she going to bear it?
Chapter Six
The same feeling of trepidation washed over her again when, six weeks later, she pushed a laden luggage trolley out onto the arrivals concourse and saw Daniel waiting for her. All the way across the Atlantic she had told herself things would have changed, that he would no longer have the power to send her pulse rate into overdrive, that his attraction had been a thing of the moment, an aberration. One look was all it took to blow her theory to smithereens. She tightened her grip on the trolley and pasted a smile on lips that were suddenly dry as she walked towards him.
“Claire!” his deep voice was full of welcome as he greeted her. “How was the flight? Not too tiring I hope.”
“It was fine. Thank you for the ticket. I wasn’t expecting to travel Business Class.”
He waved away her thanks as he took charge of the trolley and led the way to the exit. Claire followed, unable to stop feasting her eyes on the muscular planes of his back under a cotton polo shirt, and the lazy stride of his long, denim-clad legs. What was she doing here, courting heartbreak, when she could have stayed safely at home? One letter telling Daniel that, on reflection, she had decided to decline his offer was all it would have taken. One letter, and a few days of regret, and it would have been over, whereas now she had to see it through. Had to stay for the six months she had promised. Had to honour the contract she had signed.
She sighed. Thank goodness she had at least insisted on a trial period, although, right at this moment, with Daniel’s smile of welcome still burning into her brain, six months seemed like an eternity.
The problem was she hadn’t been able to talk to anyone about how she felt because everyone she knew had been so thrilled for her. Her parents, because they thought that at long last she was showing some of their adventurous spirit; her colleagues, who were all envious of the sudden excitement that had invaded the library; and Jenny, who was quite sure there was a lot more to Daniel’s job offer than Claire was prepared to admit, and who hadn’t stopped quizzing her until she actually boarded the plane and turned off her cell phone. And all of this collective enthusiasm had boxed Claire into a corner, forcing her to bury her misgivings and accept their congratulations and advice while she worked out her notice and organized her departure.
Her new work colleagues hadn’t helped either because as soon as Daniel had returned to Florida they had begun to make contact, acting as if she were already part of the team, their cheerful enthusiasm scuppering any lingering idea she might have had about backing out of the whole deal.
First it had been Scott, the Operations Manager.
“Was I glad when Daniel told me about you,” he said. Then he offered to send her some reading material so she wouldn’t be a complete novice when she arrived.
“You sound like exactly the person I need to help me keep my head above water. Of course you’ll have to be prepared to work twenty-four-seven and then some, but I don’t suppose Daniel mentioned that!”
Claire had laughed with him and then read everything he sent her several times over. And the very act of getting involved had helped to contain her nervousness about changing her job. By the time she had absorbed all the information that kept pinging into her email inbox, she was beginning to look forward to working with Scott, and her excitement about the prospect of doing something that would make a real difference was beginning to overshadow her nervousness.
Then Beth had called her.
“On the books it says I’m Corporate Secretary,” she told Claire by way of an introduction. “But in actual fact I’m just the general dogsbody around here. I get all the jobs nobody else has time for, like finding you somewhere to live!”
Claire, who was still trying, without much success, to come to terms with everything that was happening to her, hadn’t given such practicalities a thought. Beth’s phone call jolted her into a sudden realisation of how soon her life was about to change.
“I…that’s very kind of you,” she said and then stopped, unsure what was expected of her.
Beth chuckled at the other end of the phone line. “I can tell from your voice you haven’t even thought about it yet, have you?” she challenged. When Claire admitted she hadn’t, she offered some options.
“I can book you into a hotel for a week or so while you have a look around for yourself, or you can trust me to fin
d something for you.”
“But surely finding me somewhere is an awful lot of work for you?” Claire protested.
“It really isn’t. Don’t forget the family business is all about holiday properties, so we’re awash with apartments down here. If it’s okay with you I’ll find something I would be prepared to live in and stock it up with the basics.”
“That is so kind of you,” Claire found herself rapidly warming to the woman on the other end of the telephone. Her voice was so welcoming that she sounded as if she might become a friend, someone who could help take her mind off Daniel by introducing her to other people.
“Nonsense! I’ll enjoy it. As soon as you return your signed copy of the contract I’ll start looking. I’ll also book you a plane ticket as soon as you let me know the actual date you can travel.”
After that the rest of their conversation revolved around the upheaval involved in moving continents, although Beth had also asked her a few personal questions.
“It’s just so I can get some idea of what sort of place you would like to live in,” she explained as she prepared to end the call. “Daniel was next to useless when I asked him. For all I know you could be a penthouse suite sort of girl! ”
Then they had laughed together as Claire assured her that she most certainly was not, and a two-room apartment would be fine. Beneath the banter, however, she had experienced a fleeting sense of disappointment. Not only had Daniel not telephoned her since returning to the States, he hadn’t even bothered to tell Beth anything about her. And he could have done. After all he had learned plenty on that fateful weekend, the weekend when he had out-maneuvered her, the weekend when her stupid pride had ignored her heart.
Briefly she wondered if Beth knew how they had met, then she shrugged the thought away. Of course not! If her experience was anything to go by, then Daniel Marchant was exceedingly tight lipped about all things personal. To Beth she would be just another employee, someone he had come across on his travels who just happened to have the qualifications needed in his organization.
* * *
Shaking off the memory of her conversation with Beth, Claire lengthened her stride to match Daniel’s, determined to start behaving like a grownup instead of a moonstruck teenager.
“Scott and Beth have been so helpful,” she told him as they negotiated the car park. “I can’t wait to meet them.”
“The feeling appears to be mutual,” he said, glancing across at her, his eyes full of rueful humour. “So much so that Beth seems to have put the day-to-day work on hold while she concentrates on organizing your apartment, and Scott has moved the filing cabinet into the entrance hall and shifted everything around in the office to make room for your desk.”
Claire’s face flushed with pleasure, even though she protested she hadn’t meant to cause so much disruption. It was good to know that, despite her misgivings about working with Daniel, other people were looking out for her, and looking forward to meeting her.
* * *
The journey to her new home took much longer than Claire had anticipated, so when Daniel pulled into a rest area and suggested they stop for something to eat she was only too happy to comply.
“I didn’t realize how hungry I was,” she told him as she tucked into a plate of sizzling paprika chicken garnished with peppers and onion.
He smiled at her. “I make the same journey too often not to know when it’s time to eat,” he said. “I learned long ago the best way to deal with time change is to eat local time from the moment the plane hits the runway.”
Claire laughed. “I seem to remember it’s how we first met.”
“So it was,” his smile grew wider as he recollected their first meeting. “I was about to grab something to eat when Carl’s voicemail came through telling me he had set up a date. Irritated as I was at the time, it did at least mean that I ended up finding you, so, on behalf of my company, thanks Carl!”
They both laughed as he clinked his ice-cold glass of water against hers.
“What did you say to him when you got home?” Claire was curious.
“Only that I’d prefer him to concentrate on his own life in the future and keep out of mine.”
“He’ll still know it’s me though, won’t he? After all he set up our so called date, so he’s bound to recognize my name if we ever meet.”
Daniel shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll certainly meet him. It’s not possible to avoid anyone in a place as small as Dolphin Key, but I can guarantee he won’t mention it.”
“You sound very sure of that.”
“Oh I am!” Daniel chuckled as he remembered his conversation with his brother. “Carl isn’t likely to mess with me again for a long time, not if he knows what’s good for him.”
He saw Claire’s eyes widen and the chuckle turned into an easy laugh. “I forgot. You don’t have brothers or sisters do you? It’s okay! I didn’t threaten him or anything. We just came to a brotherly agreement that he would live his life and I would live mine. I also told him if he ever breathed a word of what he’d done then I would dredge up a few childhood memories to share with Beth!”
“Beth?” Now Claire was thoroughly puzzled.
“Yes Beth. Didn’t she tell you she’s married to him?”
* * *
By the time they pulled up outside the apartment Claire was going to live in for the next six months, she was dizzy with tiredness. She had forced herself to stay awake for most of the journey, only nodding off for a few minutes at a time as Daniel’s dark blue Range Rover ate up the miles.
“Careful of your ankles, there are rocks here and lose stones,” Daniel steadied her as she stepped down from the car into a blackness that was so dense she couldn’t see the ground. “Stay right where you are while I fetch the flashlight from the trunk.”
“Is it…um…always this dark?” Claire, who was used to a streetlight shining outside her bedroom window back in the city, tried to penetrate the darkness without success.
“No, but the moon doesn’t seem to want to play ball tonight,” Daniel’s disembodied voice was deadpan. He relented when he switched on the flashlight and shone its beam away from the car towards the black outline of a building standing foursquare in front of them.
“Don’t worry. Although you can’t see them from here, there are safety lights along the walkway at ground level. If you’d rather stay somewhere where there are streetlights, though, then tell Beth. She’ll be happy to find you a different apartment.”
“No! It’s fine. I guess I just wasn’t expecting it to be so dark,” Claire swung her flight bag onto her shoulder and retrieved her jacket from inside the car. She had no intention of letting Daniel add afraid of the dark to the list of hang-ups he had already uncovered. And what could be so bad about it anyway? After all she was going to be living in an apartment block with other people, so if something scared her in the middle of the night then she would be able to share it with someone. Making a firm resolution to get to know her nearest neighbours as quickly as possible, she slammed the car door shut and gingerly felt her way around to where Daniel was lifting her suitcases out of the trunk.
He handed her the flashlight. “You look after this while I take care of your luggage.”
Feeling better now she had charge of illuminations, Claire shone the beam ahead of them as they picked their way across an area of rough ground dotted with hillocks of coarse grass, rocks ready to trip the unwary, and an area of shingle. Then they were on a boardwalk that led, finally, to a covered walkway and an elevator.
* * *
Daniel, following on behind, took in every detail of Claire’s silhouette; the long, denim encased legs, the square determination of her shoulders, the tangle of upswept hair revealing the slender stem of her neck, and felt himself being sucked into a future where he had no control.
Unlike Claire, he hadn’t expected their time apart to diminish her attraction, nor had he had any second thoughts about enticing her to Florida. From the mom
ent he first met her he knew how he felt about her and he wasn’t expecting that to change anytime soon. So, with characteristic single-mindedness, he had done something about it, and then buried himself in his work. It had left him with little time to think and even less time to worry about what would happen when she arrived, so when he had set off for the airport he hadn’t considered how he might react when he saw her again.
Tall and striking in black denims and a scarlet jacket, she had been easy to spot, and he had already raised his hand to wave to her when their eyes met. She hadn’t smiled. She had just acknowledged him with a cool gray gaze as she walked towards him, her expression unreadable.
He had greeted her cheerfully, made small talk, taken charge of her luggage, all without touching her, when what he had actually wanted to do was sweep her into his arms and kiss her for a long, long time. The interminable journey to Dolphin Key and the stop off to eat hadn’t helped either. Having Claire so tantalizingly close and yet not be able to touch her had taken far more will power on his part than he would have thought possible.
Now, under cover of the darkness that surrounded them, he let his guard down for the short time it took them to reach the elevator, and recalled the moment when, glancing across at Claire, he saw she had fallen asleep, her head resting sideways against the window. Free to look at her without worrying she might think he was coming-on to her; he had divided his gaze between the dark ribbon of the freeway and her sleeping profile for several uninterrupted minutes. Although it had been too dark for him to see her in detail, every shadow and curve of her face had etched itself into his brain, and at that moment he had realized that for him it really was Claire or nobody.
Reluctant Date Page 5
