Wild and Willing!

by Lawrence, Kim

She flushed. He’d made her sound like an intruder, which of course from his point of view she was. He’d obviously been looking forward to seeing Jessica.

  ‘Didn’t she tell you? Your mother felt sure she would have.’ Surely Jessica had let him know the weekend hadn’t gone exactly to plan?

  ‘My mother?’ he repeated in a voice that showed his tolerance level, never very high, was pretty low just now.

  He looked tired, she noted. His face was pale, with the faintest suggestion of a shadow across his square jawline. Outlined against the doorway he was a tall, powerful figure. The dark formal suit he wore was creased and his tie was loosened. ‘I think you’d better tell me what’s been going on here.’

  ‘There’s no need to be alarmed.’ She scrambled to her feet.

  ‘That sounds ominous.’

  ‘I don’t know quite where to begin,’ she said, brushing down her dusty jeans.

  ‘The beginning seems like a logical place. Don’t stand there gawking like an idiot, woman.’

  ‘I’m not,’ she denied indignantly, knowing she had developed an alarming tendency to stare at him.

  ‘What, an idiot or a woman?’

  ‘Jessica didn’t come.’ That wiped the smirk off his face.

  A look of anger crossed his tired features. ‘Why the hell does nothing go to plan?’ he asked, raising his eyes heavenwards.

  Anna felt a solid lump of misery lodge somewhere behind her breastbone like a lead weight. He’d obviously hurried back, expecting to find Jessica. No wonder he looked pretty gutted at finding her instead, and she looked like a wreck. He’d soon discover that even Jessica wouldn’t have looked brilliant if she’d spent all night soothing the fractious twins.

  ‘You see, when Jake told her the twins weren’t well—’

  ‘What’s wrong?’ he interrupted, anxiety flaring in his eyes. ‘Why didn’t anyone let me know?’

  ‘It all right,’ she soothed. ‘They’ve got mumps, but they’re much better today. Jake thought Jessica was letting you know and she obviously thought he was. Crossed wires.’

  ‘You mean they’re here, not with my mother?’

  ‘Yes, Jake had already come down; he didn’t really know what to do.’

  Adam was watching her with a strange expression. A faint, sardonic smile curved his mouth. ‘But you did, I take it.’

  ‘Your mother was very concerned and she couldn’t get down here to help.’ She was annoyed to hear herself anxiously trying to justify her involvement.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Really,’ she said huffily. She was appalled at this lack of filial concern. ‘She can hardly drive down here if she’s got a bad hip, Adam. It takes hours on the train, and at least two changes. I told her not to bother.’

  ‘I take it my poor, housebound parent explained her circumstances to you on the telephone?’ he drawled.

  ‘Jake gave her my number. He couldn’t think of anyone else. I took them to the farm; we’ve plenty of room and it’s hardly fit here. What were you thinking of, Adam? The plumbing doesn’t work.’

  ‘The contractors promised me faithfully it would be finished,’ he said, with a bland indifference that angered her. ‘I suppose there’s a good reason why you’re crawling around on the floor?’ His critical stare took in her creased and dusty garments.

  ‘Nathan’s left his teddy somewhere and I don’t want to spend another night with him crying for it. Sam has lost his shoe, but that’s replaceable. I’ll find them if it kills me.’

  ‘That might be a bit excessive. You were up all night with them?’ he said critically.

  ‘Not all night,’ she corrected him. ‘And I’m quite capable,’ she added, stung by his reaction to the news that his precious charges had been in her care. ‘I know you think I’m totally feckless, but—’

  ‘I think no such thing,’ he interrupted her smoothly, and with unusual gentleness. ‘You just look washed out.’

  ‘Well, so do you,’ she countered, not exactly cheered by this information. There’s no justice, she thought. I look drab, and he looks as sexy as hell with the odd extra line and shadow on that gorgeous face. ‘Don’t stand there glowering; help me look for Alexander.’

  ‘Who’s Alexander?’ he asked with an expression of bewilderment.

  ‘Nathan’s teddy.’ Her expression revealed her scorn for a guardian who wasn’t in possession of such an essential fact.

  ‘Are you always so cranky when you haven’t slept?’

  ‘Depends on the reason I haven’t slept,’ she retorted smoothly, casting him a maliciously sweet smile.

  ‘Do you lose any sleep over me, Anna?’ The husky purr emanated from far too close to her right ear. She stayed rigidly immobile, belatedly regretting her response.

  ‘In your dreams, Adam.’ She injected as much scorn into her hoarse voice as possible. What was this? Make do with Anna because the beautiful Jessica wasn’t available? He had been insultingly, deeply disappointed not to find the other woman here. Not that I’ve any right to be insulted, she reminded herself firmly.

  ‘I’m not sure my dreams are an entirely safe subject for exploration,’ he mused, in a husky voice full of sexy significance. ‘But I’m game if you are.’ His soft breath brushed the ultra-sensitive area at the nape of her neck.

  ‘You’re engaged!’ she cried out. She swung around to face him, her face filled with anger. ‘Or had that fact slipped your mind?’ How simple it would be to be swept away by the smoky invitation in his voice. A wave of self-revulsion swept over her.

  ‘How could it?’ he returned sharply. ‘When you feel impelled to remind me of the fact every few seconds.’ He closed his eyes and struck the heel of his hand against his forehead. ‘I need to resolve the whole thing as soon as possible. Are you sure the local doctor isn’t in cahoots with Kate and Jake, not to mention my mother?’

  Anna stared at him blankly, wondering whether he’d gone totally crazy. ‘Are you coming down with a touch of paranoia?’ she asked. ‘Why would your mother want the twins to have mumps?’

  ‘My mother appears convinced I’m incapable of managing my own life without her sage advice. When will everyone learn I will not be dictated to?’

  ‘I can see you’re pretty put out to have your plans ruined, but there’s no need to take it out on me, or the twins. They didn’t do it deliberately, poor lambs,’ she added, glaring at him.

  “‘Put out” doesn’t begin to cover it,’ he snapped. ‘You could make this a whole lot easier if you…’

  Anna shuddered involuntarily in response to the subtle slur of arousal in his voice. ‘Slept with you!’

  ‘That’s not what I mean.’

  ‘Oh!’ His words cut the ground from beneath her feet.

  ‘Don’t look so piqued. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to—desperately—but it wouldn’t alter the situation. Things are a little more complex than that.’

  ‘I am not piqued, I’m relieved.’ She was deeply distracted. The husky intonation of the word ‘desperately’ kept replaying over and over in her head.

  ‘Liar.’ He spoke with unassailable confidence.

  ‘Have it your own way, Adam, you’re irresistible,’ she snapped sarcastically. The truth as good a defence as any to defuse this potentially dangerous situation. ‘But in the meantime make yourself useful and look for the damned teddy bear!’

  Rather to her surprise he complied with her demand, and eventually he discovered a shoe on a window-sill whilst she found the bear lurking beneath a pile of timber.

  ‘We make a good team,’ he observed as, with a cry of triumph, she held aloft her prize.

  ‘I’ve never pictured you as a team player.’ The smile faded from her lips as she fought not to respond to the suspicious warmth of his smile. ‘More your despot type.’ Adam was the original lone wolf.

  ‘Benevolent, I hope.’

  ‘No such animal,’ she concluded in a detached voice. ‘You can follow me to the farm.’

  ‘That might be beyond my a
thletic ability, unless you drive very slowly. I came by taxi from the airport.’

  ‘Then you’d better come with me,’ she conceded ungraciously.

  They made their way out to the car and set off for her parents’ house.

  ‘Do you always drive like this?’ he asked tensely, after several minutes’ silence.

  ‘I happen to be an excellent driver.’ She wasn’t prepared to admit that his physical presence in the car was making her a little more reckless than normal.

  ‘I’m in no position to contradict that at the moment.’ He closed his eyes as she negotiated another hairpin bend.

  ‘I might have known you’re one of those macho types who can’t bear to be driven by a woman!’

  ‘Uncle Adam!’ the twins cried in unison. Two small bodies flung themselves at him as he walked into the room. Kate was left balancing the board game she’d been playing with them on her knee, and Jake paused, his fingers above the keyboard of the piano he’d been toying with.

  ‘Back early?’ Jake said casually as he met his uncle’s eyes over the two curly heads.

  ‘It would seem that’s just as well.’ Adam surveyed the cosy domestic scene with a wry expression. ‘Did you miss me?’ he asked.

  His eyes touched Anna as he spoke, and his attention only moved on when he’d acknowledged her uncomfortable blush with a sly smile. What sordid little game was he playing? she wondered angrily.

  ‘We’ve imposed long enough,’ he added briskly as Beth Lacey entered the room, drying her hands on an apron tied around a slim middle that belied her having three grown-up daughters.

  ‘Nonsense,’ she said warmly. ‘We’ve been glad to help and they’ve been a delight.’ She laughed as one twin detached himself from Adam and, with a shriek of pleasure, snatched the teddy that Anna had produced from behind her back.

  ‘I came back with more than I bargained for,’ Anna said awkwardly. ‘I’ve just thought,’ she said suddenly in a horror-struck voice. ‘You have had…?’ Her voice trailed away as the amused glint in Adam’s eyes made her flush.

  ‘Mumps? Yes, I have, Anna,’ he told her obligingly. ‘I’m touched by your concern for my fertility,’ he observed solemnly.

  ‘Uncle Adam!’ Kate remonstrated laughingly. ‘You’ll embarrass Anna.’

  ‘A farmer’s daughter has an early grounding in such matters,’ Beth said. ‘It’ll take more than that to make her blush.’ She glanced at her daughter, who had developed a sudden profound interest in the board game. Anna kept her head bent over it and gave a grunt of assent. ‘Hope was on the phone whilst you were out.’

  ‘I missed her,’ Anna said regretfully. Just now she really could have done with talking to her sisters. Hope was miles away and Lindy was working ridiculous hours in a London hospital. Just lately she’d been feeling nostalgic about the old days when they were all together.

  ‘She’s got a starring role in a film,’ her mother said, her eyes sparkling with excitement. ‘With Sam Rourke,’ she said in a tone of hushed awe.

  Kate squealed and looked acutely envious. ‘Isn’t he a dream?’

  ‘That’s marvellous,’ said Anna. She knew her sister’s ambition had always lain in that direction. Hope had always had her doubts as to whether anyone would ever see beyond her physical presence. She had turned down several roles which would have exploited her reputation and given her nothing to do but look sexy. Anna was happy someone was finally taking her sister seriously.

  ‘You must be very proud.’ Adam disengaged Sam’s arms from around his neck and placed him on the floor.

  ‘I’m proud of all my girls,’ Beth said warmly. ‘Well, Adam, I hope you won’t mind sharing with Jake; we’ve run out of rooms. Unless you’d prefer the sofa?’

  Anna bit back an instinctive denial. The thought of her and Adam sharing the same roof made all her instincts scream in protest. She sighed with relief as Adam replied.

  ‘We really have imposed long enough on your generosity,’ he asserted, glancing around the comfortable sitting room, which showed very definite signs of the occupation by his brood.

  ‘I don’t think you’re being very practical, my dear,’ Beth observed in her kindly way. Anna bit back a giggle at hearing Adam so patronisingly addressed although he accepted it without a blink. ‘The children are much better, but hardly fit to travel. They both hit some nasty temperatures in the night.’ She looked to Anna for confirmation. ‘If you don’t mind me saying so, you don’t look up to the journey yourself.’

  ‘A hotel…’ Adam began.

  ‘Wouldn’t be happy to accept infectious children. I don’t want to hear any more on the subject.’

  Anna grimaced; he hadn’t put up the sort of fight she would have expected of him. Somehow she would just have to get through the next few hours, she decided with stoical determination.

  Adam did prove immovable on one subject—he insisted he take Anna’s place on the camp bed in the bedroom the twins had appropriated.

  Tired, but unable to make her overactive brain switch from its high gear, Anna lay awake, listening to Kate’s light, regular breathing on the other side of the room.

  Her parents’ hospitality and the informal atmosphere which naturally prevailed when two young children were present had made the rest of the day surprisingly convivial. Adam had seemed quite at home in the unpretentious surroundings. He’d been more relaxed than she’d ever seen him in the children’s company. Nobody had appeared to notice anything amiss in her own behaviour.

  Her straining ears picked up the sound of a child’s cry. She waited for it to stop but it rang out again. What if Adam hadn’t woken? Rather than lie there wondering she decided to investigate. The door to her own bedroom was slightly ajar, and she paused uncertainly outside. Another small whimper galvanised her into action.

  Barefoot, she entered the room. Adam’s shape was a dark, ill-defined bulk in the shadows. She avoided the low camp bed as she moved behind the screen that temporarily separated her own bed, occupied by the twins, from his. The bamboo supports of the screen swayed as she got tangled in her own robe which was still draped across one corner. She bit her lip and stifled a cry of vexation.

  The twins seemed to be asleep. She touched their brows and both were cool enough. But she jumped when Sam cried out.

  ‘They’re both asleep.’

  She stuffed her fingers in her mouth to stifle the scream.

  ‘I’m not, though.’

  She stepped round to the other side of the screen. ‘I didn’t mean to disturb you,’ she whispered back nervously.

  ‘Good intentions count for nothing,’ he said huskily. The sound of his voice made her heart race in panic, but it was the sharp, illicit thrill of excitement that made her turn to run. ‘Don’t go.’

  ‘You should get some sleep,’ she said sternly to the dark figure which rose up into a sitting position.

  ‘My back’s killing me on this thing.’

  ‘I told you it was too small for you.’

  ‘Don’t sound so sanctimonious.’

  ‘Keep your voice down; you’ll wake them. Believe me, you don’t want to do that.’

  ‘Poor Anna, you must be tired. Did I say thank you?’

  ‘You save your good manners for my parents,’ she responded, moving closer as Nathan twitched restlessly in his sleep so that she didn’t need to raise her voice.

  ‘They’re nice to me. Why aren’t you nice to me, Anna?’

  She snorted with disgust. ‘Go to sleep, Adam.’ A hand that accurately curled around her ankle stopped her flight. ‘Let go, you idiot!’ she whispered fiercely.

  ‘Or what? You’ll scream?’ he suggested, his voice filled with a smug satisfaction that made her teeth grind. ‘My back is murder. Why don’t you come and take pity on me? In a purely professional capacity, of course.’

  ‘I thought you didn’t believe in alternative treatments,’ she said hoarsely. The idea of laying her fingers against his skin was making her go hot all over. Her heart was pou
nding like a wild thing in her chest as she tried to sound prosaic.

  ‘Think of this as an ideal opportunity to convert me.’

  ‘I’m not that desperate for custom.’

  ‘But I’m that desperate for sleep.’

  The sheer weariness in his voice broke through the fatal chink in her armour. ‘Then sleep on the sofa; I’ll listen out for the boys,’ she offered.

  ‘I already feel guilty enough; I’ve deprived you of one night’s sleep.’

  A tiny sound bubbled free from her throat. One night! If only he knew. ‘It’s not my fault you can’t sleep,’ she whispered back.

  ‘I wouldn’t sound so confident about that if I were you.’ The raw edge in his voice made butterflies squirm in her belly. ‘I’ve got to get this lot back to Hampshire tomorrow, and no doubt the twins will be travel-sick, as is their habit. Then come Monday I have to be back here to begin a theatre list as long as your arm.’

  His thumb rubbed along her fine shin bone. ‘On second thoughts it’s probably longer than your arm, you being such a tiny thing. If you don’t care about me, think about those poor, unsuspecting patients and the scalpel in my shaking hand.’

  ‘For goodness’ sake,’ she said in exasperated defeat. ‘I can’t promise miracles.’ She knelt down and reached tentatively out in the dark. Her cool fingers made contact with his skin and she jerked back as if stung. ‘I can’t see a thing,’ she hissed, licking her dry lips and trying to compose her turbulent mind.

  ‘Does that matter?’ She heard the canvas bed move as he shifted his weight. ‘I’m at your mercy.’

  His words brought some very unprofessional images to her mind. Images of herself astride his powerful body… She shook her head to shake off the powerful illusions. She was glad of the cloak of darkness to hide her blushes.

  ‘My hands are a little cold,’ she said levelly, taking a deep breath and placing her splayed fingers on his back, correctly finding the base of his spine. He inhaled deeply but didn’t reply as slowly she slid her thumbs up either side of his spinal column. Her outstretched fingers moved over the muscled ridges of his back, sliding firmly over his warm, satiny skin.

  ‘You are tense,’ she murmured, repeating the slow motion again. ‘Is that all right?’ she asked. Her body arched over his, intent on locating and releasing all the points of pressure beneath her fingertips.