The Brooding Stranger

by Maggie Cox

  Making a grab for her wayward sleeve, she hiked it up again over her shoulder, and embarrassed heat hotly assailed her as Gray followed every move like the proverbial hawk.

  ‘It’s Sean, isn’t it?’ he ground out.

  Because he was so furious Karen automatically stepped back. A violent tremble seized her even as her throat dried up like a desert.

  ‘Wh-what makes you think that?’ she stammered.

  ‘Where is he? Is he still here?’ Striding angrily into the room, Gray slammed the door shut behind him. He slammed it so hard he almost rocked it right off its hinges.

  Sensing herself pale as the discordant sound echoed threateningly round the room, Karen eyed him nervously. ‘Gray …’ She put out her hand to explain, and found it grabbed and hauled towards him, so that she lost her balance and fell hard against his powerful chest. It was like hitting granite, and for a dangerous moment she was winded and almost overcome by the disturbing scent of fury and heat.

  ‘Was it to get back at me?’ he growled into her face, eyes burning hotter than a furnace as they blazed down at her. He was so angry he was scaring her.

  ‘Sean isn’t here, Gray.’ Her voice rose in protest, and her hands pressed against the warm worn leather of his jacket as she realised his fingers were biting into the soft flesh of her upper arms with scant consideration or care.

  ‘I saw you together on the beach.’

  ‘And you drew your own conclusions?’

  Something snapped inside her—because he’d managed to turn a perfectly innocent event into something almost sordid. Who the hell did he think he was, coming into her home and treating her as if she belonged to him in some way? She didn’t need his or anybody’s permission to do anything. She was a totally free agent.

  ‘I can take a walk with whomever I damn well please! You’re my landlord, not my keeper.’

  Scowling fiercely, Gray abruptly let her go. Then he walked over to the window to stare out at the grassy bank outside, where his mud-splattered Range Rover was parked on the verge. His gaze barely even registered it was there. He was staring beyond it into the distance, where the purple shaded mountains loomed darkly to the right and the sea to the left. Inside, his heart was beating way too fast. He’d never experienced jealousy like this. Never! Maura would attest to that. Hell, any number of women in his past could attest to that. That had been one of their most persistent gripes. Gray hadn’t cared enough for any of them to be jealous. Until now …

  Turning slowly back into the room, he boldly regarded the reason for his painful introspection. In the revealing pink top, her creamy breasts pressed unknowingly provocatively against the flimsy fabric. Her long golden hair was sexily mussed, and her blue eyes clear as polished crystal. Karen was surely the epitome of male fantasy. Raw aching need slammed into him like a train hurtling at full speed into a wall as he drank in the vision of her. He told himself that it didn’t matter that Sean Regan had bedded her first. It hurt like hell, but he’d get over it. Gray still wanted her.

  ‘If you’re suggesting that something went on between Sean and me,’ Karen began, her hands nervously clasped together in front of her waist, ‘absolutely nothing did. We went for a walk—that’s all.’

  ‘Why?’ There was a sudden lessening of the tight band of tension round his chest. He wanted to believe her. Right now Gray wanted it more than anything else in the whole wide world. Wanted it more than he wanted to paint—and that was the supreme accolade as far as he was concerned, because painting was his life.

  ‘Why?’ That endearing little way she had of frowning lightly crumpled her brow, and Gray’s mouth went dry. Even the way she frowned was sexy. ‘Because he asked me to.’ She shrugged, as if it should be obvious.

  ‘What did he want?’

  ‘Look … I don’t understand why all these questions. I’ve done nothing wrong. I don’t see that I have to answer to you anyway. Up until a few weeks ago I didn’t even know you existed.’

  ‘Well, you know now.’ Pushing himself away from the window where he’d been leaning, Gray started to move slowly towards her. He emitted the same raw energy as an athlete at the peak of his fitness, and the air all but crackled round him. Karen’s focus involuntarily slid from his enigmatic laserlike gaze to the long, muscular legs encased in fitted black jeans. It didn’t take a professor of human biology to deduce that he was more than a little aroused, and she forced herself to inhale a shaky, steadying breath, because suddenly she knew she was way out of her depth—drowning in fact.

  ‘So you weren’t in bed with Sean when I knocked?’ The sexy timbre of his voice all but pinned her to the floor.

  ‘As if I—Search the bedroom if you want!’ She bit her lip to stop herself from crying. This was absurd. Did he really believe she was so desperate for physical contact that she’d jump into bed with the next man who asked her? As if her desire for Gray could be so easily transferred—as if it was a mere whim instead of a soul-destroying, earth-shattering experience that kept her awake at nights, aching and longing for just the mere sight of him? Nothing made sense any more because of him. She should be grieving for her husband, not pining after some cold, cynical stranger who was too angry and wounded to be kind.

  ‘I don’t need to do that. I’ll take your word for it.’ Sighing heavily, he drew his hand round the back of his neck, as if he’d been under strain. But then, incredibly, the corners of his mouth curved in a near dazzling smile that came totally out of the blue, and Karen’s insides were submerged in the sensual warmth of heated honey.

  She caught her breath, inwardly struggling to appear calm. Why should he have things all his own way? Just because he hit her where it hurt with that unfair killer smile, it didn’t mean that she had to turn to putty in his hands. Even though she knew she easily could. His presence alone had the power to make her feel exhilarated and alive. More exhilarated and alive than she’d ever felt before. But she knew that he could also make her plunge to the depths of misery, and she wouldn’t forgive him for his Neanderthal behaviour that quickly. Yet again he’d hurt her with his thoughtless innuendoes and she had every right to be furious.

  ‘Am I supposed to be grateful?’

  ‘Never mind that—are you planning on taking more walks with Sean any time soon?’

  ‘That’s none of your business.’

  ‘I’m making it my business.’

  The smile went as quickly as it had appeared, leaving in its place a dark, brooding intensity that made Karen regret her tart reply. Should she tell him that Sean was expected at any time now? That his sister wanted to see her about a potential job? Why put herself in the firing line again? she thought. It would keep. She’d done nothing wrong, and refused to be made to feel as though she had.

  ‘I can’t accept that when it’s totally unreasonable. Anyway …’ She glanced meaningfully down at her watch. Four-thirty … Sean would be here in fifteen minutes. She had to get her skates on if she was going to be ready, and regrettably she had to get Gray to leave—or she’d be a nervous wreck by the time the younger man arrived. ‘I’m going out very shortly. Thanks for dropping by.’ She lowered her gaze because his brooding hot glance was scorching her. ‘Even if it was only to tear me off a strip.’

  ‘Where are you off to?’

  She’d been praying he wouldn’t ask her that, and now all the blood rushed dizzyingly to her head. Telling him that she was off out with Sean—albeit on a perfectly innocent expedition—would surely be tantamount to rubbing salt into an already open wound. But all the same she was going to have to tell him the truth, because she couldn’t lie. Not outright.

  ‘I’m going to see someone about a job.’ She crossed her arms in front of her, still conscious of the fact that the pink top wasn’t perhaps the most suitable item of clothing she could have chosen to wear. Gray had hardly taken his eyes off her figure since he’d come in—a fact that was making her more than a little hot under the collar.

  ‘I didn’t know you were looking for wor
k.’ He frowned, as if the thought disturbed him.

  ‘I wasn’t.’ Karen shrugged. ‘But someone thought I might be interested in this particular job.’

  ‘So what is it?’

  She moistened her lips with her tongue. The interest this innocent action evoked in the tall, rugged man standing just bare inches away from her was instant and tangible. It emanated from him like an electrical current that hit her squarely, deeply in the solar plexus. Swallowing hard, she felt her nipples suddenly surge against the thin barricade of her top, her stomach muscles tighten uncomfortably. Shifting onto her opposite hip, she lifted her chin to help bolster her confidence. ‘I don’t know, exactly. That’s what I’m hopefully going to find out.’

  ‘Are you telling me you need the work?’

  ‘I wasn’t aware that I was telling you anything very much at all. And stop quizzing me … I don’t like it.’ Exasperated by his questioning, which somehow managed to make her feel ridiculously guilty even though she hadn’t done anything to warrant it, Karen moved across to the bedroom door, anxious that she wouldn’t be ready by the time Sean appeared. Somehow she had to get Gray to leave before that.

  ‘Karen? Are you short of money? I can help you out if you are.’ His statement was so surprising that it stopped her in her tracks, and she turned to study him, blue eyes widening in bemusement.

  ‘No … I’m not. I wasn’t considering the job for that reason. I don’t mean that as it sounds—I’m not a millionaire by any stretch—but I’m okay financially for now. Thanks all the same.’

  She was very fortunate that Ryan had left her comfortable in that department, and her own earnings had made a sizeable contribution. Still, she was somewhat taken aback by the idea that Gray would willingly help her out, as he’d so succinctly put it. Again he’d surprised her. Like turning up with the new furniture and giving the sitting room a fresh coat of paint himself, when surely a man of his purported wealth could easily afford to pay someone to take care of such mundane tasks for him? It was difficult to equate his willingness to offer help with the often abrasive arrogance of the man.

  ‘I really have to get ready now.’

  ‘I can give you a lift if you’re going into town? I can even wait and bring you back …’

  The leather sleeve of his jacket squeaked a little roughly as he raised his hand to wipe perspiration from his brow. The movement dislodged the wayward black lock of hair that usually dropped back onto his forehead, and Karen saw the double row of faint yet distinct lines indented in his slightly weather-beaten skin. There was something that touched her deeply about the sight—as if those lines had been put there by too much suffering—and she knew a sorely intense need to offer him some kind of comfort. But now wasn’t exactly the right moment. Not when time and commitment were constraining her.

  ‘Sean’s coming to collect me. He’s taking me and bringing me back as far as I know.’ She let her hand drop helplessly to her side instead of pushing wide the door to the bedroom, where she’d been about to go and change, witnessing the sudden flash of angry emotion in Gray’s clenched jaw and narrowed glare with trepidation.

  ‘I see.’

  ‘No, you don’t see!’ Karen burst out, exasperated. ‘It’s his sister Liz who wants to see me about the job. She’s opened up a café and is looking for help. Sean told her about my baking and gave her some of my fruitcake to try. She thought I might be interested in working for her.’

  When this explanation failed to elicit any response from Gray, verbal or otherwise—nothing but a darkly smouldering glare, in fact—she threw up her hands and groaned.

  ‘She sent Sean to ask me about it. He’s only collecting me as a favour to his sister. It’s hardly a big deal, is it?’

  ‘That rather depends on whether Sean thinks it is or not.’

  CHAPTER SIX

  ‘WHAT do you mean?’ Karen’s expression was as guileless as a newborn babe’s, and Gray was torn between the need either to shake her or pull her into his arms and stop her talking altogether with a long, drugging kiss. The woman had been married for five years, for God’s sake, yet she acted like a total innocent when it came to men. He shook his head slowly from side to side, trying to figure it out.

  ‘Do I really have to spell it out for you? You’re a beautiful girl. Sean’s a young, unattached, reasonably good-looking male. Am I making it any clearer?’

  The penny dropped. Anxiously, Karen drove her fingers through her hair. ‘He doesn’t see me that way.’ She willed away the faint, nagging thought that perhaps he did, and like Scarlet O’Hara resolved to deal with it tomorrow. ‘Besides, I’m not in the market for any kind of romantic liaison.’

  ‘That a fact?’

  ‘You don’t have to act like you know everything. Especially when you clearly don’t.’

  The sound of a vehicle pulling up outside had them both turning their heads towards the window. ‘I’ve got to finish getting ready,’ Karen muttered, deliberately avoiding Gray’s disturbing glance.

  ‘He makes so much as one move on you and I’ll knock his block off,’ he asserted irritably, fists bunching down by his sides.

  ‘How charming … And that’s how you treat a friend, is it?’

  Gray scowled. ‘He’s not a friend, just someone who occasionally works for me. I don’t have any friends. Nor do I need any.’

  Shaking her head in dismay, Karen started to head through the open bedroom door. ‘I don’t have time for this.’

  ‘Just so you know—I’ll be back later this evening.’

  ‘Why? What on earth for?’ She glanced back at him over her shoulder.

  ‘Now, there’s a leading question if ever I heard one.’ Grinning like the devil himself, he opened the front door and strode outside.

  Sean was just getting out of his van when Gray reached him. ‘Hello, Gray.’ The younger man gave him an uneasy smile. As he straightened, his occasional employer frowned warningly.

  ‘If you’re thinking of asking her out on a date … don’t,’ he growled. ‘She’s come here to heal—to get over the death of her husband.’

  ‘She’s a widow?’

  ‘Be respectful, and don’t—don’t—go looking for anything you shouldn’t.’ The frown that was already etched on Gray’s handsome face intensified.

  ‘Sure, I’m only taking her to see my sister about a job,’ Sean replied defensively.

  ‘That’s all well and good. Just make sure you bring her straight home afterwards.’

  ‘I really don’t think that—’

  ‘It’s any of my business?’ Gray interrupted with a wolfish glare. ‘Well, that’s where you’re wrong. As far as—Never mind!’

  Clearly deciding he’d said enough, the older man strode away with his usual impatient stride, and Sean heard the Range Rover’s engine fire up behind him.

  Liz Regan, Sean’s sister, was pretty as a pixie, with cropped red hair, merry green eyes and a slender, tiny frame, and Karen liked her on sight. She also liked what she’d done in turning a once dilapidated old building into a trendy but friendly Mexican café, with terracotta-tiled floors, pumpkin-yellow and blue walls, and sturdy wooden furniture. The tables had yellow vinyl cloths with pictures of fruit depicted on them. As the last two customers of the day paid their bills and left, Liz whipped off the sunny yellow apron she’d been wearing over her tee shirt and jeans, grabbed Karen’s hand and led her into the back room she clearly used as an office.

  ‘You look like just the kind of shot in the arm this place could benefit from,’ she declared, grinning, furnishing her brother Sean, who was lounging in the doorway, with a wink at the same time. ‘And you smell as good as you look, too. I won’t be able to keep those frisky lads away if you come to work for me, Karen.’

  ‘Sean said that you needed some help … What kind of thing were you thinking of, exactly?’

  ‘I’ve heard you’re great at baking the cakes. Being the proprietor and all, I don’t always have time to do much myself—even though I lov
e it. There’s a local woman that works part-time doing a good bit of the baking right now, but I could really use another hand. Think you’d be interested?’

  ‘Well, I—’

  ‘It wouldn’t be just the baking,’ the other woman said hurriedly. ‘Having seen you, I think I’d really like you somewhere visible—front of house, so to speak. You’re so pretty you’d bring in the male population in their droves!’

  Bemused, Karen shrugged. ‘I’ve never been a waitress before … but I suppose I could learn.’

  Glancing at Sean, Liz grinned. ‘What else can you do? What are your strengths?’ Liz drew out the well-worn chair with a curved backrest that sat in front of her desk, then with a nod of her head indicated that Karen sit down.

  Linking her hands as she made herself comfortable, in her mind her nervous visitor scanned the meagre list of things she considered she was good at.

  ‘My strengths are that I’m a quick learner, and I’ll do a good job whatever I have to do. But I suppose more than anything I can confidently say that I can clean and cook. I’ve never tried cooking Mexican before, but I’m willing to be your assistant if that would be of use?’

  ‘A general assistant with paperwork and managing the place, maybe, but I’ve already got someone who does the Mexican cooking. So is there anything else you can do?’

  ‘Like what, for instance?’

  Under her ribs, Karen’s heart had started to knock. She was slightly deflated that cleaning and cooking and being an assistant might not be good enough for this diminutive, colourful woman to employ her—not that she’d exactly pinned her hopes on getting a job here in the first place—and old feelings of insecurity couldn’t help but surface.