by Anne Mather
‘Yes. Ms Ashleigh Forrester and I are celebrating our engagement and forthcoming marriage,’ Jake said and, tucking the envelopes in his back pocket, added, ‘Oh…and could you also contact the press and make a formal announcement on my behalf?’ He took one of the gold pens off the reception counter and, reaching for a hotel notepad, quickly wrote down what he wanted to appear in the following day’s paper and handed it back to the concierge.
‘Consider it done, Mr Marriott. And on behalf of the hotel management and staff may I offer you our most sincere congratulations.’ He turned towards Ashleigh and gave her a polite smile. ‘Nice to meet you, Ms Forrester.’
Ashleigh mumbled something in reply and stumbled after Jake as he led her by the elbow towards the bank of lifts.
Once they were out of earshot of the reception area she tugged herself out of his hold and dusted off her elbow as if to remove something particularly nasty from it before sending him a furious glare. ‘You’ve got a dammed hide!’
Jake pressed the call button without answering and, folding his arms across his chest, leaned indolently against the wall.
Ashleigh felt like stamping her foot in frustration.
‘You know what the staff are all thinking, don’t you?’ she hissed at him. ‘They think we’re going to hole ourselves up in your room for a night of raunchy sex, fortifying ourselves with champagne and bloody room service!’
Jake’s eyes were still and dark as they met her flashing ones. ‘Is that a problem for you?’
She let out a whooshing breath. ‘Of course it’s a problem for me! This time yesterday I was engaged to Howard Caule. What will everyone think when they see tomorrow’s paper and hear that you are now my fiancé?’
The lift doors opened and Jake stood back to allow her to enter first. The door hissed shut behind them before he responded smoothly. ‘They will think the best man won.’
She let out another infuriated breath. ‘This is all a game to you, isn’t it, Jake? All this talk about winning and losing, as if I’m some sort of prize that everyone’s been bidding for.’
She caught her lip with her teeth and looked away from the glint of satire in his dark eyes. ‘I don’t want to even be here with you, much less sleep with you,’ she said, privately hoping she had the strength of will to follow through on her rash words.
‘You know you don’t mean that, Ashleigh, so don’t go making me get all fired up just so I have to prove it to you.’
She felt a flicker of betraying need between her thighs at his statement, the smouldering fire in his challenging gaze threatening to consume her on the spot.
The lift doors opened and she almost fell out in relief, her lungs dragging in air as if she’d been holding her breath for hours instead of a mere few seconds.
She suddenly felt faint, light-headed and disoriented, the carpeted floor rolling up towards her, the swirling colours getting all mixed up in a stomach-churning pattern that seemed to make the floor unstable beneath her feet…
‘Are you all right?’
She heard Jake’s voice as if he was speaking to her through a long tunnel, the words rising and falling like an echo, here one second, gone the next.
‘I…I think I’m going to…She wobbled, one of her hands clutching at mid-air until she found something strong and immovable to keep her upright.
Jake held her tightly against him as he swiped his key card to his room and, shouldering open the door, scooped her up and carried her inside, the door clicking shut behind him.
‘I…I…I’m going to be sick…’Ashleigh gasped as she put a shaky hand up to her mouth.
‘The bathroom is just through—’
Too late.
Ashleigh threw up the contents of her stomach all over his chest.
Jake managed to salvage the cream carpet by tugging his shirt out of his trousers to act as a sort of bib-cum-scoop as he led her to the bathroom. He set her down on the edge of the bath, one hand still holding the contents of his T-shirt as he frowned in concern at the pallor of her face.
‘Oh, God…’
She swayed for a moment and then lunged for the toilet bowl. He winced as she threw up again, each harsh tortured expulsion of her throat reminding him of the weeks after she’d left him in London when a daily bottle of Jack Daniels had been his only comfort.
He gingerly removed himself from his T-shirt, leaving it in the bottom of the shower stall, and reaching for one of the hand towels, wet it under the cold tap before applying it to her shockingly pale face.
‘Hasn’t anyone ever told you never to drink champagne on an empty stomach?’ he said, gently mopping her brow.
She gave him a withering glance and looked as if she was about to throw a stinging comment his way when her face suddenly drained of all colour once more and she lurched towards the toilet bowl again.
Jake waited until she was done before handing her the rerinsed towel again.
Ashleigh buried her face in its cool, refreshing, cleansing folds, wondering if this was some sort of omen for the rest of their future together.
‘When was the last time you ate?’ Jake asked.
Ashleigh groaned into the towel. ‘Please don’t talk about food!’
‘How many glasses of champagne did you have at your parents’ house?’
‘I don’t know…two…maybe three…’
‘Too many, if you ask me.’
‘I didn’t ask you.’
‘That reminds me,’ Jake said, helping her to her feet, his hands on her upper arms gentle but firm. ‘It has occurred to me that I haven’t actually asked you to marry me.’
Ashleigh stared at him, her stomach still deciding on its next course of action, her throat raw and her eyes and nose streaming.
‘You were right to be angry with me,’ he continued. ‘I didn’t ask you, I just told you that we were going to get married. I didn’t even give you a choice.’
She opened her mouth and just as rapidly closed it, not sure if words or something a little less socially appropriate was still intent on coming out.
‘Ashleigh…’ He cleared his throat, his eyes dark and steady on hers. ‘Will you marry me?’
Jake stepped backwards as she lunged for the toilet bowl again and flinched as she gave another almighty heave.
She was right after all, he thought wryly as he rinsed out the hand towel yet again.
Maybe he did need a little polish on his proposal.
Ashleigh crawled into the shower a few minutes later, way beyond the point of caring that Jake was standing watching her shivering naked under the warm spray. She closed her eyes and let the water run over her, trying to concentrate on staying upright instead of sinking to the floor and disappearing down the drain, which her body seemed to think was a viable option.
‘You don’t look so good,’ Jake said.
She opened one bloodshot eye. ‘Thanks…just what a naked woman wants to hear.’
He smiled and reached for a big fluffy white bath sheet, holding it to one side as his other arm brushed past her breast to turn off the shower rose.
Ashleigh stepped into the soft towel he held out and didn’t even try and take over the drying of her body herself. Instead she stood like a helpless child as he gently dried her, the softness of the towel and his soothing, caress-like touch making her throat threaten to close over with emotion.
‘Do you want me to dry your hair for you?’ he asked once he’d wrapped her sarong-wise in a fresh dry towel. ‘There’s a hairdryer on the wall next to the shaving outlet. I’ve never done a blow job before but who knows? Like someone else I know, I might prove to have a natural flair.’
She rolled her eyes at him and then wished she hadn’t. ‘I think I might just lie down for a while…my head hurts.’
He pulled back the bed covers and she climbed in, closing her eyes as soon as her head found the feather-light pillow.
Jake stood watching her for endless moments, wondering if he should have called a doctor or something.
But then he remembered what a hopeless head for alcohol she’d had in the past. One drink and she was practically under the table.
His conscience gave him a sharp little prod of recollection which he wanted to push away but couldn’t. She had held him off for two dates but on the third he had been so determined to have her that he hadn’t thought much beyond getting her clothes off any way he could…
He gave a rough-edged sigh and, before he could stop himself, gently brushed the back of his hand across the velvet softness of her cheek, the feel of her skin under his workroughened knuckles reminding him of the smooth cream of silk. She mumbled something he couldn’t quite catch and, curling up into an even smaller ball, nestled her cheek further into the pillow.
He reached for the bedside chair and sat in it heavily, his head dropping to his hands, his fingers splaying over his forehead.
It was going to be a long night.
Ashleigh woke sometime during the night, her head feeling surprisingly clear but her stomach instantly clamouring for food.
‘Did you say something?’ Jake’s voice came out of the darkness from the other side of the huge bed.
‘No…that was my stomach,’ she said, her insides giving another noisy rumble.
She felt the slight tilt of the mattress as he reached for the bedside lamp, her pupils shrinking a little when the soft light washed over her.
‘What did it say?’ he asked, his mouth curving into a small smile.
Don’t look below his neck, she warned herself.
‘It said it wants some food,’ she said, fiddling with the edge of the sheet that only just covered her breasts.
‘What sort of food?’ Jake got up from the bed and stretched. ‘Soup and toast or what about something greasy for a hangover cure?’
‘I don’t have a hangover,’ she said a little tightly.
She sensed rather than saw his smile as he reached for the phone.
‘Jake Marriott here, suite fourteen hundred,’ he said. ‘Can we have some bacon and eggs with a double side of fries?’
Ashleigh threw him a filthy look and he added, ‘No, no champagne with that order. We haven’t started on the other bottle yet.’ He hung up the phone and gave another big stretch, his biceps bulging as he raised his arms above his head, his stomach muscles rippling like rods of steel under a tightly stretched satin sheet.
‘Do you have to do that?’ she said irritably.
‘Do what?’ He rolled his shoulders and dropped his arms, his look totally guileless.
She pursed her mouth and edged the sheet a little higher. ‘You could at least put something on.’
‘You’ve seen me naked before,’ he pointed out. ‘Besides, I fell asleep in the chair a little earlier and it made me a little stiff.’
Her eyes went to his pelvis, her cheeks instantly filling with heat. She wrenched her gaze away and fiddled with the sheet to distract herself from his tempting form.
‘You know something? You never used to be such a little prude,’ he commented. ‘I hope Howard hasn’t given you a whole lot of hang-ups about sex.’
‘I don’t have any hang-ups…’ She chewed her bottom lip for a moment. ‘It’s just that…’ She paused, not sure it was exactly wise to go on.
‘Just what?’ he asked.
She raised her eyes to his. ‘It’s just it’s always been such a very physical thing…for you, I mean.’
‘And it’s not for you?’ he asked, holding her gaze.
‘Yes, yes, of course it is…but…’ She lowered her eyes and began to tug at a loose thread on the sheet, wishing she hadn’t drifted into such deep water.
‘I don’t like the sound of that “but”,’ he said after a short silence. ‘What are you trying to say? That you’re still in love with me after all this time?’
She stared at him for five heavy blood-clogging heartbeats.
‘Ashleigh?’
There was a discreet tap at the door and their eyes locked for a moment.
‘Room service,’ a young male voice called out.
Jake reached for his jeans where he’d left them hanging over a chair, stepping into them, zipping them up and running a rough hand through his hair before he moved across to open the door.
Ashleigh hitched the sheet right up to her chin and watched as Jake tipped the young man who carried in the tray of food, waiting until he’d gone again before turning back to her.
‘Come on, let’s get some food into you, then we can continue that little discussion we were having on sex,’ he said.
She propped herself up in the bed with pillows as he carried the tray over. He set it across her lap, giving her a little wink as he snitched a French fry and popped it in his mouth.
She gave him a guilt-stricken look as she suddenly recalled how the evening in his room had started. ‘You must have missed dinner…I’m sorry.’
He gave her another one of his wry smiles. ‘To be quite frank with you, sweetheart, I didn’t feel all that much like food after your little bathroom routine.’
She grimaced and speared a chip with her fork. ‘Don’t remind me.’ She gave a little shudder. ‘Yeeuck. I am never going to drink champagne again. Ever.’
He laughed and took another fry. ‘You never could handle alcohol. One drink and you are anybody’s.’
Her fork froze halfway to her mouth, her eyes slowly meeting his.
His smile faded. ‘You know, I didn’t actually mean that quite the way it sounded.’
‘Yes, you did.’ She pushed the food away in disgust.
‘No!’ He rescued the tilting tray and set it to one side before coming back to untie her hands from where she’d crossed them tightly over her breasts.
‘Hey.’ He gave her fists a little squeeze. ‘I didn’t mean to insult you. The truth is, I have never forgotten what it was like that first time…’ His throat moved up and down in a swallow. ‘I’ve tried to, believe me, but it just won’t go away.’
She tossed her head to one side. ‘You’ve probably had hundreds of lovers since then who have imprinted themselves indelibly on your sexual seismic register.’
‘Maybe—’ he gave a shrug of one shoulder ‘—but, as far as I recall, no four point fours.’
Her eyes came back to his, her look indignant. ‘Four point four? Is that all I rated?’
He tapped her on the end of her nose, the edges of his mouth tipping upwards sexily. ‘Thought that would get a rise out of you.’
She reached past him for the tray of food and scooped up a rasher of bacon without the help of cutlery and stuffed it in her mouth, her blue eyes flashing sparks of fire as she chewed resolutely.
‘You know something, Ashleigh,’ he said, spearing a French fry with her abandoned fork. ‘You’re really something when you’re all fired up.’
‘Stop pinching my fries.’ She slapped his hand away. ‘I want them all to myself.’
He laid the fork down and, moving the tray just out of her reach, kissed her hard upon the mouth.
Ashleigh blinked up at him when he lifted his mouth off hers.
‘What was that for?’ she asked.
He picked up a French fry and held it near her tightly clamped lips. ‘Open.’
She opened.
‘That’s good.’ He smiled as she chewed and swallowed. ‘Now we’re getting somewhere.’
Ashleigh wasn’t sure she wanted to know exactly what he meant. Besides, her stomach was still screaming out for food and he seemed perfectly happy to pass it to her, morsel by morsel. All she had to do was chew and swallow and avoid his probing gaze.
She opened her mouth on a forkful of easy-over egg and wickedly fattening bacon and closed her eyes.
Heaven.
CHAPTER TWELVE
ASHLEIGH woke the next morning to find Jake sitting fully dressed in one of the chairs near the bed, his dark gaze trained on her, his expression thoughtful.
‘Hi,’ he said, a small smile lifting the edges of his mouth.
‘Hi.’ She e
ased herself upright, securing the sheet around her naked breasts, wondering what was going on behind those unreadable eyes.
‘I’ve been doing some thinking while you were sleeping,’ he said after a little silence.
She gave him a wary look without responding.
He ran a hand through his hair and continued. ‘I realised during the night that from the very first day I met you in London I fast-tracked you into a physical relationship. I did it to you again recently.’ He held her gaze for a moment or two. ‘I want to prove to you that I’m serious about making our marriage work by being patient, a quality you’re not used to seeing in me.’ He drew in a breath and added, ‘In the next four weeks leading up to our wedding I promise not to kiss you, touch you or even look at you in a sexual way when we are alone.’ He paused as if waiting for her reaction to his announcement but when she remained silent he shifted his gaze and, getting to his feet, walked over to the window and looked down at the street below, his back turned towards her. ‘I want to get to know my son and start to build the sort of family structure I missed out on as a child.’
‘I see…’
He turned back to face her, his expression giving nothing away. ‘Four weeks isn’t all that long when you consider we’ll have the rest of our lives together, don’t you agree?’
Ashleigh wasn’t sure how to answer. She had spent four and a half miserable years missing him and now that he was back, four minutes without him touching her hurt like hell. How would she ever get through it?
‘If that’s what you want…’ Her eyes fell away from the intensity of his.
He eased himself away from the window sill where he’d been leaning and reached for the room service menu. ‘Let’s have breakfast and get going. I want to spend the day with Lachlan. He’s probably wondering where we both are.’
Ashleigh sat on the back step at Jake’s house and watched as Lachlan helped his father complete the tree-house they’d been building in the elm tree.
Almost four weeks had passed and Jake had stuck to his promise; not once had he touched her while they were alone.
