by Sandra Field
His lips twitched, eyes taking on that roguish gleam. ‘You have an open invitation to sneak up on me any time you like, once this is all over,’ he informed her in a highly sensual undertone, and her breathing went haywire.
She arched her brows delicately. ‘And why would I want to do a crazy thing like that?’
Gray laughed and turned back to his work. ‘Because you want me, Red, just about as much as I want you.’
Shelby couldn’t help but give a swift backward glance in case anyone had overheard that nerve-tingling remark. Gray hadn’t blurted out that they were lovers this time, but from the way her girls watched them both she knew Paula had been on the phone the instant they had left the other house.
She walked a few paces into the room. ‘Would you please keep your voice down!’ she commanded, wincing inwardly. Things were getting out of hand and she didn’t like it.
This time he turned right around to face her. ‘Why? They know, and we both know they know.’
‘They wouldn’t know anything if you’d kept your mouth shut. Oh, this is impossible, I can’t trust you.’ Shelby wailed.
Gray’s blue eyes turned steely and there was a hard set to his jaw. ‘You can trust me to keep you safe from harm, and that’s what I’m doing.’
Shelby threw her arms wide. ‘What harm? It’s been two days and nothing has happened. Nothing is going to happen, either. I hate this, I hate having to be so close to you!’
Something wild flashed into his eyes. ‘No, you don’t. What you hate is liking having me close to you. Stop lying to yourself, Red,’ he returned bluntly. ‘As for the other…Two days is nothing. Even two months of nothing would be too short a time for someone with a grudge and time on his hands. Until we catch him, the danger remains real.’
She knew when she was flogging a dead horse again. ‘No wonder you and Dad work so well together. You’re two of a kind.’
‘You mean handsome, charming and witty?’
‘No, pigheaded,’ she retorted as she turned and walked from the room.
Hidden from view, Shelby cast a frowning look over her shoulder. He was right, she did hate herself for wanting him so much. Having him so near was pure temptation. It made her forget why she had vowed she would never fall for his lies again. Only this time she could see the desire he had for her, and it wasn’t fake. Any relationship they had would be based on mutual attraction. She could have that and know that it was real. It wasn’t love, but she wasn’t so foolish as to expect that from him. Her heart, though, wanted more, and if she did have an affair with Gray, her heart was going to end up even more bruised and battered. Would it be worth it? Quite honestly, right that second, she didn’t know.
By late afternoon all that could be done that day had been accomplished, and Shelby stood back to survey the work with a deep sense of satisfaction. Things were really beginning to take shape now. Gray helped to clear things up ready for the next day. Then, after Shelby had spoken to her assistants about what to do next, she called it a day.
She found Gray waiting for her by the front door. He was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, his face the colour of putty, and her stomach gave an anxious lurch. ‘Are you OK?’
Opening his eyes, he straightened up. ‘Just a bit of a headache. Nothing to worry about.’
‘Have you taken anything?’ She knew from experience there was nothing worse than a pounding headache and working with paint fumes could exacerbate it.
‘I’ve got something back at the flat.’
A memory struck her. ‘Is it a migraine?’ She seemed to recall him suffering them once.
‘If I get the medicine in time, it should stop it developing into a migraine.’
Shelby had never suffered from them, but she knew from friends how debilitating it could be. Which was why she didn’t waste time talking, but urged him out of the house and into her car. The headache didn’t stop him taking all necessary precautions, though, which made her want to scream. Eventually, they were away and she made as good time as she could back to her flat.
Once there, Gray disappeared into the spare bedroom. She left him to it and did her usual daily checks of the phone and emails. She spent an hour in her workroom-cum-office, answering messages and working on plans, and it wasn’t until some time later that she realised the flat was silent. Which was unusual, because Gray tended to prowl around from time to time.
Curious, she went in search of him and discovered him lying on the bed, one arm bent across his eyes. She bit her lip at the whiteness around his lips that spoke of the pain he was suffering.
‘Is it very bad?’ she asked sympathetically, feeling useless.
‘I’ve had worse. The medication will kick in properly soon,’ he answered tautly, and she winced.
Recalling that light was a problem for migraine sufferers, she crossed to the window and drew the curtains. ‘Better?’
‘Some, thanks.’
Shelby approached the bed, hating to see him laid low like this. ‘You’re very tense. That can’t be helping. Let me give you a massage to relieve the tension.’
He looked at her from under his arm and she was sure he was going to refuse, but then he sighed and rolled over on to his stomach. ‘Knock yourself out,’ he invited.
Kicking off her shoes, Shelby carefully knelt on the bed and placed her hands on his shoulders. They were so tight that to begin with she hardly made any headway, but by persevering she gradually began to notice a difference. Concentrating hard, she worked out kinks along his spine, across his shoulders and up his neck into his hairline. As the tension oozed out of him, Gray began to utter soft sounds of pleasure.
‘Hmm, you have magic fingers,’ he sighed, catching his breath as she dealt with another knot.
Smiling to herself, Shelby continued her ministrations. After a while he simply lay there, and it wasn’t very long after that that she realised the rhythmical sounds coming from him confirmed that he had actually fallen asleep. Arms and fingers aching, she crept off the bed, retrieved her shoes and left him alone. It gave her quite a kick to know she had helped him to feel better, and she went to make herself a cup of tea feeling a righteous sense of satisfaction.
She had just finished drinking it when the phone rang and, not wanting Gray to be disturbed, she snatched up the receiver before it could ring again. The caller was the owner of an antique shop she used quite regularly.
‘Hi, Shelby,’ the woman greeted her. ‘You know you were looking for vases for your fireplace. Well, I think I’ve found the very thing you’re after. There has been some interest in them, though, so you’d better get over here and have a look.’
Shelby pulled a face as she turned to look at the closed door behind which Gray lay sleeping. He wouldn’t want her to go without him, and yet she was loath to wake him now. On the other hand, it would only take her an hour at most to get to the shop and back again. Nothing was going to happen, and she would be back before he woke, so he would never know.
‘I’ll be right over,’ she promised, and hung up the phone.
It was the work of a moment to gather up her jacket, handbag and car keys, then she let herself out of the flat as quietly as a mouse. Feeling like a schoolgirl playing hookey, she laughed softly as she took the lift down to the garage.
She wasn’t laughing some hours later, though, as she finally pulled back into her parking spot. She had reached the shop without trouble and, as the owner had promised, the vases were just what she wanted. She had paid for them and left for home, feeling highly pleased with herself. The vases sat proudly on the seat beside her as she drove along, and she had been wondering how she could explain their sudden appearance at her flat without giving herself away when she had hit the traffic. It was snarled up for miles around and, try as she might, she hadn’t been able to find a way round whatever the problem was. She had ended up sitting in her car for over an hour, her mobile still on the mantelpiece where she had left it, knowing that there was no way that Gray would stay
sleeping so long. She was going to be in trouble. Big trouble!
Which proved to be the case. Gray must have discovered her car was gone and had been looking out for her, because he was in the lift when she walked towards it. Her heart sank at the grim look on his face.
‘I know you’re mad,’ she declared swiftly, hoping to head him off. ‘But I can explain.’
That narrowed his eyes as he crossed his arms. ‘You can explain? OK, try me.’
Shelby’s heart skipped a beat, but she waited to speak until after the lift was carrying them both upwards. ‘How’s your head?’ she asked and could have sworn she heard his teeth grind.
‘My head is fine. Don’t change the subject,’ he went on doggedly, and she thought she knew how his squaddies would have felt when they incurred his wrath.
‘My guess is there was a really serious accident, because the traffic was stacked up like you’d never believe,’ she told him in a rather breathless rush. It got her nowhere.
‘And this, somehow, makes it all OK, does it?’ he growled, to which she tried a casual shrug.
‘I would have been back otherwise,’ she explained simply, walking out of the lift ahead of him and pulling a face that he couldn’t see.
‘So, if you had made it back before I woke, everything would have been OK?’ They entered the flat and he shut the door forcefully behind them. ‘Of all the downright stupid things you’ve ever done, this is the worst. I could wring your silly little neck for you! What in hell did you think you were doing?’
‘Picking up these vases,’ she declared brightly, holding them up for him to see. ‘A contact phoned me whilst you were asleep and, as I didn’t want to wake you, I simply popped out to collect them. Aren’t they just perfect for the fireplace?’
His response to that was to swear, and Shelby jumped so much she nearly dropped her precious vases. Hastily she set them down on the sofa where they would be safe.
‘When is it going to get through to you that your life has been threatened, Red? What you did was irresponsible and reckless. Not to mention downright selfish,’ Gray railed at her and, because she knew he was right, she got angry too.
‘Oh, come on. We both know nothing’s going to happen to me.’
His hands opened and closed several times as if he was fighting the urge to shake her till her teeth rattled. ‘No. We don’t know that. You have no right to play fast and loose with your life and worry the people who care about you. I thought you had more sense than that, but I can see I was wrong.
The reference to her father stung, as it was meant to do, and she raked an uneasy hand through her hair. ‘OK, OK, I agree I shouldn’t have done it, but nothing happened, so can we let it go now?’
He looked at her for a long moment, then took a deep wrathful breath. ‘Only if I have your solemn word you won’t do anything like it again,’ Gray returned hardily, and she stared at him in frustration.
‘I don’t like being kept a prisoner in my own home,’ she complained, though she knew it was an exaggeration.
Gray’s expression said he knew it too. ‘That’s coming it too strong. Nobody’s stopping you going out, you just don’t go alone. You’re making this far harder than it need be. So, what’s it going to be? Do I have your word?’
‘Yes, if it means anything,’ she agreed grudgingly.
Having gained her acquiescence, Gray relaxed his angry stance a little. ‘It doesn’t have much value right now. You have to prove it’s worth more,’ he told her bluntly as he headed for the kitchen. ‘I’m making tea; do you want a cup?’
‘Yes, thank you. Milk, no arsenic,’ she retorted, regaining some of her spirit, which had been rather quashed in the face of his justifiable anger.
‘Don’t tempt me,’ he shot back immediately and, realising she had got off lightly, Shelby thought it wise to make herself scarce for a while and went off to work in her office.
The mood between them was rather strained for the rest of the evening. They ate together, but conversation was somewhat stilted. She didn’t like it, and regretted that she had been the cause of the worsening state of affairs.
It was probably her troubled conscience that made her so restless that night. After an hour or two of tossing and turning with only brief snatches of sleep, she threw back the covers and sat up. It was hopeless. She needed something to help her drop off. Coffee would only keep her awake and she didn’t care for milky drinks, but there was always the crossword. It was guaranteed to have her eyes crossing in next to no time.
She had left the newspaper on the coffee table but, so as not to disturb Gray, she decided to pick it up and take it to the kitchen. Having worn her grey cotton vest and shorts to bed tonight, she didn’t bother to put on her robe, but padded about as she was.
With the curtains drawn, at Gray’s insistence, there was very little light in the lounge. Not surprisingly, Shelby stubbed her toe on the coffee table, stifled a yelp of pain and hopped about on one foot rubbing at the injured digit. That was when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a dark shadow detach itself from the deeper shadows by the wall and head straight towards her. Caught like a rabbit in the headlights of a car, she stared in horror as the shadow took on a human outline, but she barely had time to open her mouth to scream when it launched itself at her, catching her around the arms and carrying her down on to the nearby sofa. Terrified, and unable to move her arms, she did the only thing she could do and screamed out.
‘Gray! Help me! Oh, God…!’
That was all she was able to utter as a large male hand was pressed over her mouth, but it left one arm free and she used it to pound at the back of her attacker. At the same time she thrashed around wildly with her legs, kicking out, and knew she had landed a painful blow when the man on top of her grunted in pain.
Her movements unsettled them and they rolled off the sofa on to the floor, thrusting the coffee table out of the way. Silently she screamed for Gray to come and help her, then set about trying to save herself. There was little she could do. He had stopped her kicking by winding his legs around hers, but his hand had slipped slightly, enough for her to get a good grip with her teeth and bite down hard.
‘Ouch!’ the man yelped, releasing her mouth, and she took swift advantage.
‘Gray! Gray! Help me!’ she yelled at the top of her voice, before her breath was taken away when her attacker rolled them over, subduing her with his weight.
‘Stop yelling, for the love of Mike, or you’ll wake the whole neighbourhood!’ a familiar voice growled in her ear.
Shock sent her heart lurching in her chest. ‘Gray?’ she croaked out in disbelief.
‘Right here,’ he confirmed, and she could hear the irony in his voice.
Sick fear turned to righteous anger as she slowly realised that her attacker was none other than Gray himself. ‘I could kill you. What were you playing at? I was absolutely terrified!’
‘That was the general idea,’ he retorted mockingly. ‘Perhaps now you’ll take the situation you’re in seriously. That could have been someone else tonight. Someone who wanted to do you serious harm.’
Fury surged up in her like an exploding volcano. ‘So you thought that gave you the right to scare me half to death? Get off me, you brute,’ she added for good measure, and it was the laugh he gave that tipped her over the edge.
Gray had freed her arms and she was able to rain down blows wherever she could reach, whilst at the same time writhing in an attempt to get him off her. He was far too strong to move, however, and in no time she was exhausted, but she managed to land a good few blows before he could capture her wrists and hold her hands to the floor on either side of her head.
‘Don’t expect me to apologise, Red,’ Gray told her bluntly. ‘I just gave you a lesson you needed to learn.’
Shelby glared up at him bitterly, able to see that it was him now that her eyes had adjusted to the light. ‘It was a despicable trick,’ she snapped, and because his head was just above hers she could see his tee
th flash as he grinned.
‘So you lost a life. You’ve got eight others. And you needn’t bother complaining to your father. He agreed you needed a salutary lesson.’
‘You spoke to him?’ she gasped.
‘What did you think I would do when I found you missing? I had to check out all the places you might have gone, and your father was first on the list,’ Gray explained and her heart sank to her boots.
‘So Dad was in on this?’ How could he? She felt…betrayed.
‘He agreed something had to be done. The method he left up to me. Even I didn’t know what I was going to do until I heard you come out of your room tonight. I was already in the lounge, so I took the opportunity to give you a scare,’ he enlightened her drolly. ‘I’m happy to say you surprised me, Red. You fought like a wildcat.’
She was too angry to be mollified by the praise. ‘If I’d known it was you, I would have scratched your eyes out!’
‘Cheer up. You’ve almost certainly given me a black eye,’ he returned, pressing the spot on his cheekbone and wincing.
‘Does it hurt?’ Shelby asked, with false contrition.
‘Like hell.’
‘Good,’ she said with satisfaction. ‘Now get off me.’
‘Why? I’m quite comfortable,’ he countered in a faintly husky voice, and her eyes shot to his.
She could see the faint glitter in his eyes and her stomach lurched. She had been too busy fighting to be aware of him, but now that they lay still his position on top of her made her think of other things entirely. Her anger ebbed away as she slowly became aware of the sensual pleasure of having his body pressed so closely to hers. Her mouth dried up as her body reacted to his. Deep inside a pulse began to beat insistently as her blood surged through her veins and her breasts swelled, her nipples turning into aching buds that longed for more pressure, not less.
The air about them became charged, waiting, expectant, and in the stillness of the room she could hear her ragged breathing mingling with his.
