An Innocent Affair (8 page)

‘How long have you been watching me?'

‘Long enough to know you sleep like a baby.'

‘I've got a clear conscience.'

He didn't respond to this light challenge, although he did reflect that conscience depended on personal standards. He couldn't believe she was this uncomplicated. People just
weren't.

The sheet had slipped to reveal the upper slopes of her magnolia-pale breasts. She had the most perfect skin he'd ever seen. One rosy areola peeked cheekily out above the white cotton. He rubbed his finger along the fascinating area and felt the pinkness ruche under his touch.

‘You know all my weak spots. I don't know any of yours,' she complained huskily.

He had one big weak spot, and it stood five-eleven in bare feet. Vulnerability wasn't something that made Alex happy, but sliding his hand beneath the covers to
touch Hope did. If a man had to be confronted with dilemmas, he reflected, this wasn't such a bad one.

Alex pressed his lips to the inside of her wrist and moved with devastating effect along the inner aspect of her arm.

‘Alex…?'

‘Mmm…'

‘You get a lot of pleasure from foreplay, don't you?' That much had been deliciously obvious the night before.

He lifted his head. ‘I get a lot of pleasure giving you pleasure. Are you trying to tell me you didn't—'

‘Hell, no.' She quashed that theory swiftly. ‘The thing is, sometimes a person can feel a bit… I'm trying to be delicate, here, but it's not easy. A person can feel a bit
urgent.
Actually, the moment I opened my eyes and saw you I wanted… Are you laughing at me?'

‘Moi?'
he said, all smug innocence. ‘Go on,' he urged. ‘This is fascinating.'

‘You're a rat-faced, smug—' She broke off and gave a sigh of defeat. Alex looked startled as she grabbed his hand. ‘
This
is how I feel,' she said, leading his hand to the slick heat that indicated the degree of urgency that filled her. A voice somewhere told her she'd become totally wanton and shameless, but she was unrepentant. ‘I want you inside me—
now.
' A low moan vibrated in her throat as his fingers curled against her parted sex.

‘That can be arranged.'

‘You beautiful man, you,' she sighed. ‘I love you.'

 

They were seated at the kitchen table eating scrambled eggs when Adam entered the room. He stood stamping his feet on the flagstone floor.

‘It's bloody freezing out there—' He stopped mid-sentence when he finally noticed that Hope wasn't alone.
After one slack-jawed instant her brother-in-law recovered his poise and continued to peel off his gloves. ‘Is that coffee I smell?'

‘Help yourself,' Hope said, steeling herself for the comments she knew would follow. Alex hadn't betrayed so much as a flicker of discomfiture. She watched enviously as he shovelled another forkful of egg into his mouth. There's absolutely no reason to feel self-conscious, she told herself. But the awkwardness persisted.

‘Car broke down, did it?' her brother-in-law asked, leaning against the work surface with a cup of steaming coffee in his hand.

‘No. Do you have a problem with that?' Alex placed his elbows on the table and looked squarely at his friend. There was more curiosity than hostility in his voice.

‘Why should he?' Hope interrupted tartly at this juncture.

She wasn't even prepared to field Anna's inevitable questions about Alex's intentions, without having Adam start! How the hell am I supposed to reply, she wondered bleakly, when I don't know myself? In Alex's own words, he was only concerned with the here and now. That didn't sound like the basis of a meaningful relationship.

Both men simultaneously shook their heads at her lack of insight into male protective instincts. She could almost feel the bond developing as they exchanged looks. Men! she thought with disgust.

‘The eggs look good,' Adam observed.

‘Well, you can't have any,' Hope said with scant regard for hospitality. ‘And I know you're working the conversation around to a rash of those awful one-liners of yours, so I'm warning you…'

‘I'm gone.' Adam placed the coffee cup on the table.
‘I've banned Anna from driving today, Hope, so I'm afraid you'll be on your lonesome.'

‘I think I'll cope. You really must have got Anna well and truly under the thumb if she lets you lay down the law.' It didn't sound like the Anna she knew.

‘The trick is letting her think it was her idea,' Adam replied with a grin. ‘I think you'll need a hand to dig out your four-wheel drive, Alex.'

‘I'd appreciate that.'

‘If you saw Alex's car then you knew he was here,' Hope realised, detecting a certain inconsistency. ‘You were…'

‘Winding you up?' her brother-in-law suggested. ‘Like a lamb to the slaughter, Hope,' he observed, chuckling as he opened the kitchen door.

‘And you knew he already knew,' she accused Alex indignantly. He didn't appear to have any trouble deciphering this tortuous statement.

‘The Land Rover is parked about six feet from the door. Adam couldn't have gotten in without falling over it,' he pointed out with imperturbable calm. ‘You did say it didn't matter if Adam knew I'd spent the night,' he reminded her.

‘It shouldn't,' she muttered, eyeing him resentfully. The insensitivity of the male species in general was staggering, she reflected.

‘But it does. Would you have preferred I'd slipped away earlier?' The intensity of his gaze made her uncomfortable.

‘No.' Though in some ways it would have been easier, she acknowledged. On balance it was preferable to face the speculation of her ever-loving family rather than have him slip furtively away as though they'd done something to be ashamed of. ‘This all feels a little strange. I'm not used to breakfasting with men.'

The expressive quirk of one darkly defined brow brought a flurry of panic. ‘I usually kick them out the night before.' With a laugh she lessened the impact of her thoughtless confession. Ironically he was far more likely to believe the joke than the truth.

‘Shall we do this again?'

‘Eat breakfast?'

He frowned impatiently at her flippancy.

‘What am I supposed to say, Alex?'

‘Yes or no.'

‘It's that simple?' It probably was for him. There was no conflict for him, no emotional complications. He was just satisfying a basic appetite.

‘That's up to us.'

And that told her absolutely nothing, she thought with frustration. Was it an invitation to establish some sort of official relationship, or a warning not to let things get out of hand? Talk about ambiguous! But it was a bit late to start loving defensively—just love, Hope, she told herself recklessly. Love, and live with the consequences.

‘Yes.' He hadn't actually appeared to be awaiting her verdict with bated breath, but he did now look moderately satisfied.

‘I can't stay tonight. I've got a guest.'

She pushed aside the irrational wave of rejection that swept over her. ‘Fine,' she said calmly. Be adult, Hope, keep it low-key.

‘I'll call in about nine to check things are all right.'

‘You don't have to.'

‘Accept help graciously, Hope.'

‘That'll be the day,' she responded, with a spark of humour. She was going to have to do something fairly drastic about this obsessional craving she was fast developing for his company.

‘I'll chop some more logs before I go. I noticed the
store was getting low. Unless you prefer to wade through a foot of snow to do it yourself?'

‘Look,' she said, placing her forefingers at the corners of her mouth and tugging her lips into a grimace. ‘I'm smiling graciously.'

 

He was early. That was the first thought that entered her head when she heard the banging at the back door. Heart pounding, she hurried across the flagstoned floor, cursing her crutches. She fumbled to lift the latch and tried to subdue the breathless smile of welcome that her features insisted on forming.

‘Lloyd!' The anticlimax was intense. Foolishly she felt like sitting on the cold floor and sobbing like a baby. ‘Whatever are you doing here?'

‘I knew you'd be mad with me, but can I come in? I had to leave the car about two miles down the lane. To be truthful, honey, if I'd known that you hailed from the back of beyond, I'd have stayed in my centrally-heated hotel room—guilty conscience or no.' He blew on his bare fingers and his breath billowed white in the icy air.

‘You'd better come in.'

‘Thank God for that. I thought you were going to kick me out into the snow.'

‘The thought has some appeal,' she admitted drily.

‘Jeez, your poor leg,' he said as she hobbled across the room. ‘You've not been having a good month, have you?'

‘Not so as you'd notice.' A smile hovered on her lips—things had been looking up recently.

‘What can I say? I owe you big time.'

‘Just so long as you know it,' Hope responded tartly. ‘Put your coat by the Aga; it's drenched,' she instructed as he shrugged off his padded coat. Even without the coat Lloyd was a big, chunky sort of man. He was hand
some in a beaky-nosed, rugged sort of way. ‘Didn't you listen to the weather forecast?'

‘Sure, but I didn't think you lived at the end of a dirt track. Did you know there are four gates across it?' he asked as he laid his coat across the back of a chair.

‘I'd noticed,' she said, her lips quirking in amusement at the indignant tone in his voice. ‘I thought you were a rugged mountain man,' she teased.

‘That was way back. These days I'm a more your condo and air-conditioned limo type of man. There's no calluses on these hands.' He extended his well-manicured fingers for her to inspect.

An image of hands that did have calluses flickered into her head. ‘You're soft,' she teased, forcing herself to concentrate. Thoughts of Alex were disastrously distracting.

‘I'm contrite,' he said seriously. He pulled out a chair from the table and straddled it, placing his hands on the ladder back. ‘You have to believe I had no idea that the press would crucify you here too. Shirley and I are really grateful that you kept your mouth shut. Politics is a tough game, but her son got the State appointment, thanks to you, and there's no reason we can't come clean now.'

‘That's good news.'

‘My dear soon-to-be-ex is going to be mad as hell when she realises we took her for a ride.' This thought seemed to afford him some pleasure.

‘I take it this isn't an amicable parting of the ways? So long as I'm not the target of her ire this time.' The last time had been particularly unpleasant.

‘You're out of it now, Hope. I just hope poor Shirley can take the press coverage we get.' Lloyd caught her look and had the grace to flush. ‘It's different for you, Hope, you're tough.'

Gee, thanks, she thought. Did he honestly think the invasive curiosity of the media had no effect on her? she marvelled. Still, the relief that the charade was over was intense. ‘I'll drink to the end of the charade.'

‘I thought you'd never ask. Don't you move. I'll sniff out the booze. Tell me,' he said casually, ‘I don't suppose you've got a number I can contact Sam at. I must have mislaid the one he gave me.'

‘Mislaid?' She shook her head. ‘To think I innocently thought guilt and concern for my welfare were the incentive for this visit.'

Lloyd placed two tumblers he'd retrieved from the draining board on the table. He grinned sheepishly. ‘So they were. I even brought you flowers, only I left them in the car. I just thought while I was here…'

‘You'd wheedle Sam's whereabouts out of me. The man's on his honeymoon, Lloyd. With my sister. She'd never speak to me again.'

‘I've got this great project on the burner—I know he'd kick himself if he missed out.'

‘Your altruism is inspiring, but the answer's no.'

‘Hope…'

‘Wheedling won't work.'

Lloyd sighed. ‘It was worth a try.'

Despite this assurance, Lloyd continued to try and worm the information out of her through the evening. Hope wasn't really offended—she had no illusions when it came to Lloyd. She liked him, but when it came to business he wasn't sentimental. ‘Single-minded' would be a kind way to put it.

‘Just my luck I finally meet a woman who can keep a secret at the wrong moment,' he observed as he prepared to leave.

Hope ignored this sally. ‘Have you got that torch?' she fussed as he buttoned up his coat. ‘These should fit
you,' she added, handing him her father's brown leather gloves. ‘But as I've said, you're welcome to stay to supper.' She was glad he'd refused. Alex would be here soon, and this could be a classic case of ‘three's a crowd.'

‘I'll take a rain check, Hope. Perfect fit,' he agreed, pulling on the gloves. ‘There's a full moon and a clear sky out there—I won't need a torch. It's freezing hard, but they're promising a thaw by morning, and if I leave my car out there much longer I'll never budge it.' He placed his hands lightly on her shoulders. ‘You'll come to the wedding, won't you?'

‘Don't you think you should get divorced first?' she teased lightly.

‘Point taken. The thing is, we've been living separate lives for so long I don't really feel married any more. To tell you the truth, I never thought I'd ever feel I wanted to try again. There hadn't been much incentive to split with Dallas before I met Shirley. Now I wish I'd done it years ago.'

‘Give my love to Shirley.'

‘I will,' Lloyd said huskily. ‘I'll never forget what you've done for me, Hope,' he said with an uncharacteristic rush of emotion. He kissed her warmly. ‘You're one in a million.'