‘Seems she decided that an all-night drinking binge wasn’t such a good idea.’
‘Oh, right.’ She looked anxiously at Curtis, wondering how to phrase the unavoidable question, but in all events he read her mind and answered it without having to be asked.
‘I told her that you had sprained your ankle and I had done the good employer thing and brought you back. I told her that you were up in bed, nicely settled, and that I was on my way out.’
What did you think of her? Tessa wanted to ask him, but she bit back the temptation. Instead, she said, ‘I must get up and go down to see her.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. Your foot needs rest. The last thing you want to do is leap down the stairs to make sure your sister is all right. Trust me, she’s fine.’
‘I wasn’t planning on leaping anywhere!’ Tessa retorted. ‘Would you mind passing me some clothes if I tell you where to find them?’ Before he could answer, she was pointing to her chest of drawers, directing him towards her underwear, a long-sleeved tee shirt and her most comfortable pair of jogging bottoms. All items of clothing that the fashion police would have her hung, drawn and quartered for wearing, but she needed to get changed quickly, something that she did with his help. Lord, but it was difficult, when her body kept having a mind of its own and, as much as she kept hurrying him up, so he took his time. She protested but could hardly prevent the groundswell of excitement every time his fingers brushed against her skin.
Once she was fully dressed, she informed him that he could take her down.
‘Would that be a command?’ he asked, amused at the change between the woman with clothes on and the woman with them off.
‘I could always try and go it on my own.’
‘I take that back. It wasn’t a command. It was a cunning piece of emotional blackmail.’
He lifted her up and carried her down the stairs while she protested futilely on what her sister would say.
Lucy, as it turned out, said nothing for a few seconds. She just looked as Curtis brought Tessa in and deposited her on the sofa.
‘I see you’ve been swept off your feet, sis!’ Lucy’s face broke into a smile of pure charm and she flashed Curtis an approving look.
It was the sort of look that inspired jealousy in other females. Tessa had never, ever, been jealous of her sister. She had been proud of the lovely child who had matured into a gorgeous adult. Lucy had all the hallmarks of the glamorous bimbo. Long, streaming blonde hair, perfectly chiselled features, wide blue eyes and a figure that screamed out for very tight clothing. However, she was saved from being the archetypal blonde by nature of her personality. Her eyes danced and her mouth looked as though it was permanently ready to laugh. There was something sweetly wicked about her and it had got men hooked time and time again.
No, Tessa had become used to sitting back and enjoying her sister’s impact.
Not quite so now. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Curtis just in case he, too, was falling under her sister’s spell.
She caught herself. This was the man who had just made love to her! Touched her in ways that had set her body alight!
But then…a little voice of malice said, he hadn’t exactly been shouting out his love, had he? Or even his attraction. And it hadn’t really been making love, had it? Not really. Not technically. He had pleasured her…
Lucy had flopped into one of the chairs, with one leg dangling over the arm and her head thrown back.
She was managing to turn brown into a colour everyone might conceivably want to wear, in the hope that they might pull it off too. Brown, flared jeans, brown tight cardigan cropped at the waist, exposing a terracotta-coloured silk vest. Nothing else. No jewellery, nothing brash, just utter simplicity.
Tessa roused herself sufficiently to answer Lucy’s questions about how she fell and where and how and why and wasn’t she so lucky to have had her boss there, on the spot, ready to charge into action and rescue her from being trampled to death by crowds of people intent on Christmas shopping.
Lucy made a feeble attempt at a joke about Christmas, turkeys and shoppers, forgetting the punchline three times, but still managed to evoke a hearty chuckle from Curtis when she did finally remember. Tessa’s laugh was a little more forced.
‘You seem pretty sober for a night on the tiles, Luce,’ she said, changing the subject from herself, and Lucy snorted, sitting up straighter and tucking her legs under her.
‘Started too early,’ she explained. ‘Lunch time, in fact. Just a quick one at the pub and you know how it goes. I barely drank a thing, actually. I’d planned on doing a bit of, yes, shopping, and I spent half my time checking my watch and wondering whether I could leave and catch them all up a bit later. Which is what I did, except by the time I caught them up I was as sober as a judge and they were rolling in the aisles.’
‘Not a good situation,’ Curtis said sympathetically. Tessa’s acidity levels rose accordingly. The warm glow she had felt in the immediate aftermath of their love-making was fading fast. Too many doubts had set in, and now, when she sneaked a look at Curtis, it was to find his attention focused on her sister.
‘Hence,’ Lucy was saying airily, ‘my early night. Well, early compared to what I had planned on. I would have come home a lot sooner if I had known about your leg, sis.’ Her voice became serious. ‘You should have called me.’
‘I didn’t think you’d hear your phone amid the noise,’ Tessa hedged. Actually, calling her sister hadn’t occurred to her at any point in time. Why would it? she thought sourly. How many damsels in distress would choose being rescued by a disgruntled sibling dragged away from a hell raising pre-Christmas pub-crawl over a knight in shining armour? Especially when said damsel in distress was in love with the knight in question?
‘True,’ Lucy admitted readily enough. ‘Although it does vibrate. I would have felt it in my bag. Maybe. Well, much more fun being rescued by a tall, gorgeous hunk, anyway.’ She giggled and Curtis shot Tessa a look that very much resembled a cat in possession of the proverbial cream.
‘Oh, good grief,’ Tessa said, ‘that sort of remark is just the thing to go to his head. Which,’ she added, ‘is already heavily inflated anyway.’
‘Though not by your sister, I hasten to assure you,’ Curtis addressed Lucy, who gave them both an odd little look from under her lashes. ‘So…’ he leaned back and relaxed ‘…I’ve heard enough about you. Tell me what you do, Lucy.’
Tessa butted in before this particular conversation could kick off. ‘Shouldn’t you be thinking of leaving, Curtis? I mean, taxis…Christmas…long wait…’
‘Oh, I’ll drop him back! If you’ll let me borrow your car, Tess. I can guarantee that the alcohol levels in my blood are non-existent, despite original plans.’ She giggled and Tessa frowned, not liking this suggestion but not really knowing how she could deflect the inevitable acceptance of the offer from Curtis.
Jealousy ate away like a poison and she knew why. Lucy was just the sort of girl Curtis went for.
When she tried to tell herself that he had slept with her, had made love to her, the little nasty voice she was becoming accustomed to reminded her that she had been the one to put temptation in his way, that he was a commitment-free zone who hadn’t once mentioned anything normal like, When shall we meet again? On a date? She, the little voice continued remorselessly, had wanted him because she felt more than mere physical attraction. He, on the other hand, was the same person who had felt sorry for her and still did.
In the middle of her protracted internal debates, she was aware of Curtis quizzing Lucy about her course, asking her a million questions about the kind of things she designed, on what she intended to do once she was through with college. As usual, intently curious, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his thighs, his amazing eyes focused on Lucy’s face as she spoke, his head inclined in the attitude of the avid listener. Pure animal magnetism flowed off him in waves. The sort of waves that women could easily drown in.
Lucy,
enjoying the single-minded attention, was happily talking about Lucy and Tessa noticed that she seemed to be a heck of a lot more forthcoming about her possible future with him than she was with her. None of her usual vague ‘oh, I’ll just wait and see what happens when the course is finished’ nonsense. Oh, no. Apparently she had ideas of going into advertising! Starting at the bottom and working her way up the ladder!
Tessa sourly thought that a few magic words of interest from Curtis Diaz and suddenly her sister was a miracle of revelation.
‘I think I’ll be heading up now.’ She yawned and they both looked at her. ‘Sorry if I’m spoiling the party,’ she muttered and Curtis threw her an amused smile.
‘I’ll carry you up, m’lady.’ He stood up and bowed lavishly to Lucy’s merriment and Tessa’s annoyance.
‘It’s okay. You’ve already done enough, thanks. I’ll try and make my own way upstairs. I think I should get as much practice using this foot anyway. It’s not as though it’s broken or anything.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. Treat that foot properly and you’ll be ready for dancing in a couple of days’ time. Walk on it and you’ll end up laid up for the next two weeks.’
‘Which would be fine considering I won’t have to go to work,’ Tessa retorted, standing up and delicately placing a bit of pressure on the foot in question.
Before she was aware of it, he was next to her and sweeping her up in one easy movement. Out of the corner of her eye, Tessa could see her sister grinning like a Cheshire cat and she scowled, unfortunately into Curtis’s chest.
She couldn’t work out where things had all gone so horribly wrong. The feel-good factor that had been there in the bedroom, the sensation that everything she was doing, mad though it all was, was somehow right had disappeared like a puff of smoke.
What had she done? Bit late in the game to start asking questions like that, she thought, but they still kept coming at her thick and fast and Curtis, with his usual impeccable perception, had obviously clocked into that because as soon as he deposited her on the bed he stood back, arms folded, every inch the forbidding male.
‘What’s the matter with you?’ he asked her without preamble.
‘Matter?’
‘Don’t play dumb, Tessa.’
Tessa decided to drop the act. She had never been very good at playing dumb anyway. She shrugged and went for the outright lie instead. ‘I didn’t want to say anything but my foot was beginning to act up a little.’ She looked at it mournfully. The painkillers were doing a brilliant job. ‘You were right. It needs to be rested if it’s to mend.’ Curtis being a man, she thought that that little piece of ego flattery would deflect him from his perceptive appraisal of her mood, which was something she didn’t want to dwell on.
‘Sweet of you to agree with me on that one.’
Tessa’s eyes flickered to his face. His expression was serious but there was just enough of an edge of sarcasm to his voice to make her think that the syrupy appeal to his male ego hadn’t been as accurate as she had hoped.
‘So, what do you think of Lucy?’ she asked, idly brushing some non-existent fluff from her jogging bottoms. Her body tensed. To have not asked the question would have spared her any unwanted truths but she knew that she had to find out. For her own peace of mind. She wasn’t looking at him but she could almost hear him thinking.
‘Not what I expected.’
‘What did you expect?’
‘Someone a lot more frivolous.’
But you found her attractive, didn’t you? Tessa wanted to press on. In other words, you were attracted to her, weren’t you? In ways you could never be attracted to me?
‘She’s got some interesting things to say. Would you like to look at me when I’m talking?’
‘Sorry. Just a little sleepy, that’s all.’ I have a stunningly attractive, deep and interesting sister. More silly, foolish, unfamiliar, unacceptable jealousy seared through her. She wanted to point out that, gorgeous and interesting though she might be, she hadn’t invented a cure for cancer, for goodness’ sake! ‘What?’ she asked irritably, because he looked as though he was about to say something.
‘It’s nothing,’ he said eventually. ‘You’re tired. You need to get to sleep.’ He stepped towards her, undeterred by the wall of frost she had erected, and sat on the bed next to her. When he lowered his head to gently kiss her on the lips, she wanted to pull back. Pride should have made her pull back. But the pressure of his mouth was so sweet, so unbearably sweet, that she closed her eyes and kissed him gently back. And hated herself for it the minute her eyes were open again and he was back by the door, lounging against it and eyeing her with brooding speculation. The kind of brooding speculation that made her wonder what exactly he was thinking and what he had been on the verge of saying to her before he changed his mind.
For someone who could be flamboyantly open, he possessed a talent for self-concealment, she thought uneasily.
Catching herself thinking and staring, Tessa made a show of yawning widely before snapping off the bedroom light and rolling onto her side.
He left quietly, without shutting the bedroom door. The corridor light will keep me up, she thought, but the effort of doing something about it was too much. Besides, now that she was lying down, she discovered that she really was tired. Exhausted from the battle that had been raging inside her.
She expected to hear the sound of the front door any minute, but in fact she nodded off before the anticipated click came and only awoke, groggily, some time later. She didn’t know how much later because she had left her watch on the dressing table.
She was only aware of two things. The sound of voices from below and an urgent need to go to the bathroom.
Her foot had stiffened up and was aching, but it struck Tessa that it was amazing how Nature’s setbacks could be circumnavigated provided the incentive was right.
In this case, the incentive was her burning curiosity to find out what was being said at the bottom of the stairs.
Shouldn’t Lucy have dropped him off and be back home by now? Because, even though she couldn’t discern the words, she could instantly recognise the timbre of Curtis’s voice.
She hobbled to the door, pulled it slightly wider and then dropped to all fours. Ludicrous but necessary. If she walked, or rather staggered, to the top of the stairs, they would both notice her, unless they coincidentally had their backs both turned. They would see her the minute she emerged from behind the wall, from which the staircase down went directly to the small hallway.
On the other hand, it would be highly unlikely that they would notice if she just peered round the wall at ground level.
She slithered into position, peeped and saw Lucy and Curtis both by the front door, which was open. Through it Tessa could see the back end of a taxi. He had somehow managed to find one. That momentary distraction didn’t last long.
They were making no attempt to keep their voices low, obviously expecting her to be well away in the land of Nod, so she didn’t have to strain to hear what was being said.
All the usual pleasantries. And they didn’t appear to be standing too close to one another. Tessa wondered whether she had mistakenly jumped to wrong conclusions. Her mind was halfway wandering off, dreaming up impossible scenarios, when he said it, appropriately dropping his voice to a lower decibel.
‘So are you sure it’s okay if I get in touch with you…?’
Lucy laughed and pinkened. ‘Absolutely.’ She tiptoed and kissed him demurely on his cheek. Tessa’s heart, which was in full plummet, fell even further. ‘I never thought when I came home tonight that I would end up meeting someone who could turn out to be so good for me!’
From where he was standing, with his hand on the door, he smiled, and Tessa squeezed her eyes shut very tightly, fighting back the tears of self pity.
‘But not a word to your sister. Not yet. I thought of saying something when I said goodnight to her, but let’s just see where we’re going with this before…before, we
ll, we say anything…’
‘I agree.’
‘And I’ll see the both of you on Boxing Day!’
Tessa didn’t wait to hear the remainder of the damning conversation. She crawled back to her bedroom, hobbled to the bathroom and practically sprinted to her bed before Lucy could make it up the stairs and discover that her sister was still up.
Although, Tessa thought bitterly, no girlish sharing of confidences would be forthcoming. Not when there was so much to hide…
One thing she knew for sure…she would not be going to spend Boxing Day with him. No way was she going to witness Lucy and Curtis flirting surreptitiously with one another while she skulked in the corner with various assorted relatives, pretending that everything was fine and dandy!
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHRISTMAS DAY was a miserable, protracted affair that involved a great deal of jaw-aching jollity as Tessa pretended that everything was all right. In the absence of any other family members, they had always made a big thing of Christmas lunch, making sure that all the trimmings were there, from the traditional turkey to the mince pies. With her foot still too sore to handle the cooking, Tessa watched as Lucy took over, displaying nerve-jangling cheeriness as she flitted across the kitchen, keeping up a steady stream of conversation. It would have been too much if there had been just the two of them over the Christmas lunch, but thankfully three of Lucy’s friends, all Australians who were over for the duration of the course, joined them for lunch and, from the relative safety of onlooker, Tessa felt free to observe her sister undercover.
Was it her imagination or did Lucy seem to be over-bright? She was like a wind-up toy into which new batteries had been inserted. Tessa thought that her sister could have continued for days, chattering and laughing and brimming over with gaiety. It was infectious. At least for the guests. Never flat at the best of times, the Australians were positively bursting with good cheer.
At seven, Tessa could stand it no longer and made her excuses. A headache, she apologised, avoiding Lucy’s probing, concerned eyes. As excuses went, it was pretty feeble, but it could prove useful in the morning when she pulled it back out of her hat and produced it as a reason why she couldn’t possibly go to any Boxing Day thing at the Diaz residence.
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