She recognised the tone of voice as one he used sometimes with Carla. It was a rhythmic, gentle tumble of words that relaxed her as easily as she had seen it do to Carla. For once the thought of Carla didn’t raise her hackles. Carla seemed a very long way away.
She tried to sit up straight in his arms. “I’m sorry,” she said, embarrassed now. “It was just the shock of seeing him, it was the last thing I expected. You’d think in a place as big as London – ” she stopped. “I thought I was over him, I mean, I am over him, I just didn’t expect him to be so . . .”
“Horrible?” Dominic prompted, with a smile.
“Horrible,” Maura echoed in a small voice, nearly smiling. “Yes, horrible.” She sat up straight again, the movement causing a lock of hair to fall into her eyes.
Almost absentmindedly Dominic reached up and gently stroked it away from her face. The gesture didn’t stop there. His finger began to slowly trace the side of her face, across her cheekbone and down across her lips.
Maura held her breath, looking straight into his eyes.
“He’s a very stupid man,” Dominic whispered.
She went very still.
“And I’ve been a very stupid man,” he said, seconds before he leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers.
Maura closed her eyes as she felt every sense spring alive. She could smell a musky scent off him, a mixture of fresh shampoo on his hair and the faint aftershave she already associated with him. Her breath caught in her throat as his lips moved from her lips to her neck.
“Now it’s my turn to look at you in the dark,” he whispered. Her eyes shot open. He smiled down at her. “But I miss the green pyjamas.”
Her face burned as she remembered the night in the Mayo hotel room. “You were awake?” she whispered, aghast.
“Wide awake. In every way,” he added softly. His eyes looked deep into hers as he gently moved to kiss her lips again.
Before she knew it, the gentle caress had turned into a passionate deep kiss. She was shocked at the response in her body. The night in the hotel room she had convinced herself she was responding to Dominic as an attractive stranger. Now she was responding to him as Dominic.
The kiss seemed to last forever. There was gentleness and strength all at the same time. Silently they fell back onto his bed. Their clothes seemed to fall away. In the dusky light in the room she gazed at the sight of Dominic’s naked body lying against hers. Her fingertips seemed red hot as they travelled the length of his body, her lips curving into a smile as she heard him gasp in pleasure. They didn’t speak. There didn’t seem to be any words that needed saying. The only noise in the room was the whisper of their bodies moving against the sheets and their slow moans of pleasure as they explored each other.
Ireland seemed worlds away. The trip together felt like a decade ago. All she wanted now was the feel of his hard body against hers and in her. When it happened it was as if it was all she had ever wanted. She brought her body up to meet his, again and again, almost dizzy with the pleasure of it. She felt as though she was nothing but a jangle of senses, of touch and taste and feeling. It was beautiful.
At the moment of ecstasy she looked right into his eyes, her eyes widening as he looked right back at her.
“Maura,” she heard him whisper, before they closed their eyes as the pleasure travelled in long, flowing waves through them.
In the middle of the night they woke again.
“What about Carla?” she whispered.
“What about Cormac?” he whispered back. He laughed at her immediate indignation. “I’m teasing you, I know there’s nothing between you and Cormac.”
“But you and Carla?” she whispered back, trying to tease, but suddenly too conscious of their real situation.
He was suddenly serious. Their kisses stopped as he rose above her and gave her a long, searching look.
“Oh, Maura, Carla doesn’t even come into it,” he said in a quiet voice, leaning down to kiss her mouth gently. “Believe me when I tell you I’m not doing this lightly.” His voice suddenly became urgent. “I’ve wanted this since I met you. Carla . . .”he stopped suddenly. “I need to tell you everything about Carla, but tonight isn’t the time. I made a promise to her father and it’s a very long, very complicated story. I promise I’ll tell you as soon as I can. Will you trust me?”
She looked up at him, searching deep into his eyes. So the deal with Carla’s father was real. But maybe there was more to it than she thought. Too many times she had misread him, misunderstood situations with him. She nodded, smiling, her mind already distracted by the wonderful things his hands were doing.
“I’ll tell you everything, soon, I promise. But trust me tonight?” he whispered again.
She did. Somewhere in her heart, she did trust him. And right now there were other things she wanted to do than think about Carla.
Chapter Twenty-nine
She woke up to the luxurious feeling of a gentle fingertip lazily tracing the contours of her face, then moving down her neck and further down, under the edge of the cool, cotton sheet. She slowly opened her eyes, a smile curving across her face.
Dominic was lying on his side, leaning on one arm, lazily running his finger along her body.
She smiled tentatively. “Good morning, Dominic.”
“Good morning, Miss Carmody,” he grinned. “I see we’re back on polite terms again. And there was me thinking we’d broken some ice last night between us.”
Broken some ice? Maura thought. They’d smashed a whole fridgeful of it.
Her body still tingled in memory. She slowly woke up, trying to let everything sink in. She was in a hotel bedroom with Dominic. She had had sex with Dominic. Several times. They’d been responsible about safe sex, so there was nothing to worry about there. But she could still hardly believe it. Oh my God, she thought.
She must have spoken the last thought aloud. Dominic suddenly looked concerned.
“Maura,” he said softly, “Please don’t regret it, it was beautiful, I was sure you wanted it as much as I did. I felt sure you did.”
She looked back at him. There was no point pretending otherwise. “Probably more than you did,” she said. It was cards on the table time. “I think I’ve fancied you since that first day at Lorikeet Hill.” She grinned suddenly.
“Oh, of course. I suspected as much when you served such terrible food. And I suppose the vase of water was to make sure I didn’t mistake your true feelings,” he said solemnly.
“It was that obvious, was it?” Maura replied. “I really must learn to be more subtle.”
He reached for her again, Maura feeling a strange sense of unreality as once again a slow kiss began to build into something more. Feeling herself start to go lightheaded, she tried to grasp at some logical thought. This was just too strange. She was lying in bed with Dominic – and it felt wonderful. Then an image of Carla flashed into her head again.
Maura pulled back from the kiss, her body practically shouting in disappointment. She began to speak quickly, rushing to explain her feelings. “Dominic, I just have to say something. I need you to know that I don’t usually get at all involved with people who are already in relationships. I’ve had it done to me and I hated it. I can’t pretend I like her and I don’t particularly want to stop what we’re doing, but it’s really not what I usually would do to another woman, sleep with her boyfriend like this.”
She suddenly remembered Carla’s midnight flit with the motorbike rider, but decided to keep that one to herself. It was getting complicated enough as it was with the three of them, let alone bringing in a friend of Carla’s.
Dominic looked at her, his initial confusion giving way to a smile that started in his eyes and slowly reached his lips. “Maura, are you talking about Carla?’
She nodded.
“Maura, this might come as a surprise, but Carla and I aren’t lovers. I know it can look like that and sometimes it’s been quite convenient for people to think that, but we�
�re not. We never have been.”
Her face betrayed her amazement. He smiled at her again, punctuating his words with swift kisses to her face.
“Maura, I want to tell you everything about me and Carla, but it’s not just my story to tell. I have to talk to her first. I have a loyalty to her as well as to the arrangement I made with her father.”
That deal again. She’d hoped she’d imagined him talking about it the night before and that Cormac had everything wrong. But now Dominic had mentioned it again. It was like a dark cloud had slipped into the lightness in the room. Maura didn’t want to think about Carla, or Carla’s father or any deals, especially deals as mysterious and complicated as this one was becoming.
Dominic seemed to feel the same way.
“I’ve got an idea,” he said, kissing her lightly again. “Until I get the chance to talk to her, let’s declare all talk of Carla, or her father, even Ardmahon House out-of-bounds.”
Maura smiled her agreement, moving closer to him in the bed and enjoying the luxurious feel of his hand stroking her back.
“Maura,” he murmured her name slowly. “I’ve wanted to ask you, how did an Australian girl get to have such an Irish name?”
Maura shut her eyes, her face warm against his naked chest. In a soft voice, she explained about Catherine Shanley, and how Terri had chosen an Irish name for her adopted daughter, to make sure there were some links between them.
He looked closely at her and she could feel his interest and curiosity. He had a clear, calm way of looking at her, listening to her.
“Your mother was Irish?” he asked softly. “Where was she from?”
Maura waited for a moment, before realising that she wanted to tell Dominic the whole story. She didn’t look up at him, just lay in his arms, slowly telling him all that had happened since she arrived in Ireland. His gentle hands on her back soothed her as she spoke, his soft voice gently asking her questions.
The story told, they didn’t speak for some minutes. But his hands were speaking a language of their own. Maura felt warm, protected. He kissed her gently on her face, then more passionately. Once again, words were forgotten as they gave themselves up to touch.
Some time later Dominic murmured into her hair. “What time does your flight back to Shannon leave today?”
Good God, she’d forgotten all about that and the restaurant for a moment. Poor Bernadette could end up with all the preparations. She leapt from the bed, knowing and enjoying that Dominic was taking in every inch of her.
She found her ticket in her bag. “Three o’clock,” she read aloud.
Dominic reached out to the bedside cabinet and picked up his watch. “Then we’ve a few hours yet. What will we do to amuse ourselves?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, puzzled.
“Well, much as I’d like to stay in bed with you all day, we’ll have plenty of time for that other days.”
She liked the sound of that.
“Won’t we?” he said again, quietly.
She smiled down at him. And nodded.
He drew her back onto the bed beside him. “So what had you planned to do today?” he asked, lazily tracing her shoulderline again and making it very hard to concentrate. Her insides were melting.
Her voice was husky. “Something a proper tourist would do. A London bus tour maybe, something that doesn’t take long.”
“Would you mind if I came with you?” he asked suddenly.
“Mind? I’d love it,” she admitted. “But don’t you have meetings or business to do?”
“I rescheduled them this morning, while you were still sleeping. One of the bonuses of being the boss,” he explained with a grin.
“So I’m in your hands for the day,” Maura said, well aware of the double meaning.
Dominic made the phrase reality, touching her softly, and pulling her body in close against his. “Well, if you put it like that,” he whispered, “who am I to say no?”
By eleven they were climbing onto a tourist bus, rugged up against the cold wind.
Maura couldn’t shake off the feeling of unreality, but was happy to go along with every second of it. As the bus pulled out from the kerb, the tour guide began her spiel, pointing out landmarks and painting a picture of London’s history.
Or Maura assumed she did. The commentary was just a soundtrack to her own soft conversation with Dominic. The subjects of Carla and Ardmahon House may have been out-of-bounds, but there seemed to be a hundred other things to talk about. She looked up at him, amazed to see him so relaxed, feeling the sensual charge of his finger tracing the top of her hand. They laughed and talked so much that the guide began shooting cross glances across at them.
“Have you got the general idea?” Dominic said quietly.
Maura nodded. Holding hands, they both jumped from the bus as it slowed to go round a corner near Hyde Park. She felt like a naughty teenager.
“I’d rather walk with you anyway,” he said, one arm gently across her back. As they walked into Hyde Park they passed a small souvenir stall.
“Wait a moment?” He put his hand on her arm. She stood, pulling her coat in tightly around her, watching as he had an animated conversation with the stall-holder and laughed at something the young man said. She already knew a line appeared in Dominic’s right cheek when he grinned. And that his eyes creased into laughter first. And that his dark hair was starting to go very slightly grey. She had noticed all these things intimately over the last twelve hours and she hugged them to her like a secret.
He walked toward her, offering a small paper bag. “A little present for you. You can’t come to London and leave without a souvenir. Especially a rare one like this.”
She smiled, accepting the package. It was a bright red London bus brooch, complete with smiling passengers waving through the windows. She laughed to see it. “It is beautiful, really exquisite,” she said, solemnly. “Thank you so much, Dominic, I’ll treasure it.”
“I was sure you would.” He smiled down at her.
* * *
He insisted on coming to Heathrow airport in the taxi with her, despite her protests.
“Would a gentleman leave his lady to battle the traffic of London alone? Of course he wouldn’t.” He kissed her gently on the mouth. “I’ll be back in Ireland tomorrow night – we’ve a lot to talk about, to tell each other, Maura,” he said softly.
She was suddenly overwhelmed with a rush of feeling. She didn’t really trust herself to speak. She kissed him goodbye.
He was still waiting as she went through the check-in and through to the departure lounge. She caught sight of her reflection in a wall mirror. There was no other word for it, she thought. She was glowing.
Chapter Thirty
Bernadette collected her from Shannon Airport.
“Well, there’s a girl that’s enjoyed a break,” she said with a laugh, noticing Maura’s sparkling eyes. “The bright lights suit you, by the looks of things.”
“Something like that,” Maura said with a smile. It was too soon to share her secret with anyone. She satisfied Bernadette’s curiosity with tales about Joel, and rapturous descriptions of the restaurant. The rest she kept to herself.
Bernadette had been true to her word. All the preparations were ready for the weekend’s restaurant nights. Maura laughed as Bernadette showed her the extra tables in the dining-room, all hastily borrowed from one of the big hotels in Ennis.
“I just couldn’t say no to the bookings. How do you possibly turn down the food editors from the big magazines and three famous pop-stars. Haven’t we plenty of food to go around?” she said with a grin.
There didn’t seem to be any sign of Carla in the house.
“She told me she’s having a night out in Galway,” Bernadette explained as they continued the preparations in the kitchen. “I tried diplomatically to let her know that Dominic didn’t really want her going too far from the house, but she was having none of that.” Bernadette laughed. “She left not long after y
ou did yesterday, some fellow in a motorbike picked her up, an old friend from her modelling agency I think she said.”
Maura said nothing, busying herself at the sink washing fresh herbs from the garden. Bernadette continued chatting away.
“But she’ll be back tomorrow, she’s booked in a whole gang of her Dublin pals.”
“That’s great,” Maura said brightly. She didn’t mind in the least. In the mood she was in she would happily serve every person Carla had ever met.
Bernadette gave her an odd look, as if puzzled at her sudden enthusiasm for Carla. “And Dominic rang a little while ago, to say he’d be back on the last flight tomorrow night, in time for the final course,” she said.
Maura hid her face again, surprised at the rush of feeling hearing his name gave her. “Oh, really,” she said noncommittally. She hugged her secret close, half-wanting to tell Bernadette everything, but also needing to keep it all to herself for a little while longer.
* * *
Saturday evening was chilly, and as the guests arrived at Ardmahon House in small groups they moved gratefully into the drawing-room to enjoy a pre-dinner drink and the warmth of the open fire.
Maura moved easily among them, her nerves sharply alive, an air of excitement making her eyes sparkle and skin glow. She knew it was partly the excitement of tonight being the final night in the cooking residency, but mostly her anticipation of Dominic’s imminent return.
She had dressed with great care, deliberately choosing an elegant green dress that highlighted the rich red of her hair. It wasn’t the most practical of dresses but she wanted to be sure she looked good out in the dining-room, even if she had to cover herself in a voluminous apron in the kitchen.
“You look terrific,” Bernadette said warmly, noticing her mood. “Who’d have thought we’d get to the final night so quickly – it all seems a bit unreal, doesn’t it?”
Maura spontaneously hugged the older woman. “It’s been wonderful,” she said, “and it’s been fantastic working with you, Bernadette. Don’t start me, or I’ll get all sentimental and ruin the meals tonight.”
A Taste for It Page 24
