Double Fault (15 page)

He took her hand and led her out into the passageway that bisected the apartment, and then into the next bedroom. She stopped abruptly when she saw the enormous bed draped with a kingfisher blue duvet.

“What about…I mean you must have a spare room. You have haven’t you?” she asked hopefully.

“Yes but that’s what I’m trying to tell you. Someone’s dismantled the bed and filled every available space with boxes. I didn’t think to check earlier. I was too busy sorting out the problems that appeared out of nowhere and made their way to my desk while we were getting married.”

She stared at the huge bed in despair, trying not to see the pictures it conjured up, pushing the memories of the past far back into the hidden recesses of her mind while she grappled with the immediate problem. Perhaps the spare room could be cleared; after all she hadn’t brought much with her. Most of it was still in the house until she decided whether to sell or rent it out. She turned to the door opposite and pulled it open while Pierce watched her.

It was as impossible as he’d said. It was stacked to the ceiling with boxes, some of them hers and some of them obviously Pierce’s put there for safe keeping until he moved into the house he was having built. Kerry hadn’t seen it yet but she knew it was almost finished and that their stay in his suite of rooms at
Greenleas
would be a short one. The thought was no comfort now, however.

“Convinced?” He closed the door with a grim smile when she nodded. “Well what’s it going to be then; half the bed and take your chances, or the couch?”

“The couch,” she didn’t hesitate but she wouldn’t meet his eyes when she answered him because she didn’t want him to see how much she wanted to share a bed with him again.

He sighed. “Okay you win, but don’t expect to sleep well because it’s as lumpy as hell.”

She shrugged; glad to have won so easily. “I’ll manage and I’ll sort out the spare room in the morning.”

And she had managed…just. She had tossed and turned for most of the night as she tried to get comfortable on the slippery leather cushions while most of her duvet slithered to the floor leaving her feet and legs bare. Miserably she had consoled herself with her meager triumph while experiencing a curious mixture of anger and relief. Anger that Pierce could joke about her sharing his bed and relief that she had managed to deny him despite herself.

On that thought she had finally fallen asleep and drifted into an erotic dream where her barely admitted subconscious wishes became an insubstantial reality as Pierce lifted her up and held her against his bare chest before sinking down with her into a tantalizing softness where arms and legs intertwined and his skin was warm and musky beneath her sleeping cheek.

* * *

She woke up with a start, disturbed by Lauren’s voice calling her, and felt for her watch. It wasn’t there, nor was the small coffee table where she’d placed it. She rolled over, clinging to the duvet so it wouldn’t slip off again, and discovered she was alone in acres of kingfisher blue bed but that the pillow next to hers showed very definite signs of recent use.

She clutched at the buttons on the front of her pajamas with a harsh indrawn breath as the bedroom door burst open and Ben and Lauren hurtled into the room followed by a widely yawning Pierce who was still tying the sash of his dressing gown.

“They were calling for you,” he said by way of an explanation, pushing his fingers through his hair until it stood up on end. Then he sat down on the edge of the bed as if there was nothing unusual about the situation.

She eyed him with alarm as fragments of her dream began to return in vivid detail. What had happened? At what point had her tightly repressed feelings broken free for long enough for her to end up in Pierce’s bed. She must have started sleep walking again. It was something that had happened often when she was young and it still happened very occasionally now, especially when she was stressed. The demands of the past few days must have triggered it and if she wanted to avoid something like this happening again then she would have to start locking her bedroom door.

Chapter Eight

Ben brought her back to the here and now by discovering the acrobatic possibilities offered by such a vast area of pocket springing. His crow of triumph encouraged Lauren to clamber up beside him and the whole bed began to shake as they jumped in unison, effectively distracting Kerry from her attempt to remember exactly what had happened during the night as she tried to restrain them. Pierce chuckled as he caught the nearest wriggling body.

“That’s how you wreck beds,” he told an indignant and red-faced Ben. “I’ve got something much better that you can jump on after breakfast if you’re very good.”

“Bed?” Ben’s initial protest was tempered by curiosity.

“No, not a bed. An enormous bouncy mat especially for little boys and girls.”

“Ben bouncy now!” He pushed his legs sturdily against Pierce’s thigh and stood up, balancing himself by grabbing a handful of hair.

“After breakfast,” Pierce told him as he reached up and pried his son’s fingers open with a rueful expression. The movement parted the front of his dressing gown so the silk fell aside and revealed a large expanse of muscled chest. Kerry looked away hurriedly, trying not to dwell on the fact that his legs were also bare. Instead she concentrated on Lauren who had collapsed into giggles across her lap.

“Is it like this every morning?” Pierce groaned, pulling Ben firmly onto his knee.

“Always. And it doesn’t stop until bedtime.” Kerry buried her face in Lauren’s soft curls so she wouldn’t have to look at him.

“Sounds like a good reason for hiring a nanny.”

She jerked her head up and stared at him. “What happened to the full-time mother you were talking about three days ago?”

“I’ve decided I’d like her to be a part-time wife as well,” the tone of Pierce’s voice changed and a familiar huskiness sent a shiver of anticipation down Kerry’s spine.

“You know that isn’t part of the deal,” she gathered Lauren closer and kissed the top of her head.

“Nor is sleeping in my bed.” Despite the thickness of the duvet between them, his hand on her foot sent an instant flush of arousal through her body. When she finally looked at him her cheeks were hot and pink.

“I…don’t understand…how it happened,” she stuttered, the pink deepening to crimson when she saw the expression in his eyes. “I don’t expect you to believe me but I thought I was dreaming.”

He grinned at her. “You were. I heard you call out and thought you might be having trouble with Ben or Lauren but when I looked in on them everything was peaceful. You, however, were another matter entirely. You were thrashing around in some kind of nightmare with your duvet on the floor and you in imminent danger of following it.”

“I don’t remember any of it,” Kerry tried to move her foot away from the heavy weight of his hand. He chuckled and gripped it tighter.

“I gave up wrestling with your covers when you threw your arms around my neck and kissed me. After that it seemed much more sensible to carry you in here rather than grapple about in the confines of a slippery couch, and you didn’t exactly try to dissuade me.”

Kerry’s cheeks were on fire now she knew that parts of her dream were reality. How was she going to be able to explain away her behavior? Did he really believe her behavior was linked to sleepwalking or did he think she was just making excuses and that she really wanted to sleep with him after all?  To cover her embarrassment she leapt to her own defense.

“If you knew I was dreaming, why didn’t you wake me up?”

His grin widened. “And risk having my head bitten off? Besides sleeping with my wife seemed a pretty good idea to me, especially on our wedding night.”

“But…but it wasn’t like that,” her confusion returned in force as she struggled to remember exactly what had happened during the night.

“Wasn’t like what?” She could tell from the twinkle in his eyes that Pierce was enjoying her dilemma.

“Like…like…oh you know perfectly well what I mean,” anger suddenly took over. “We might have spent some of the night together but we didn’t make love.”

“Didn’t we?”

“You know we didn’t,” Kerry’s voice was a wail of frustration. Ben stopped playing with his father’s dressing gown cord and looked at her with interest.

“Mummy cross,” he announced, his blue eyes twin replicas of Pierce’s.

“No, she’s just confused,” Pierce lifted his hand and rumpled Ben’s hair. The action released Kerry’s foot.

She curled her legs away from him instantly and scowled when he laughed. He had no right to tease her like this. Last night had involved nothing more than the intimacy of sleeping in the same bed, which considering Pierce’s apparent nakedness under his silk robe was bad enough. It wasn’t fair of him to pretend there was more though.

“I am not confused. I remember exactly what happened.”

“You must have been awake then,” Pierce gave her a triumphant grin as she fell neatly into his trap. He stood up and hoisted Ben onto his shoulder without making any attempt to tidy the revealing front of his robe. Then he held out his hand to Lauren without giving Kerry a chance to reply.

“Come and help make Mummy a cup of coffee sweetheart.”

She pulled her thumb out of her mouth and gave him a wide smile. “Mummy tired.”

He leaned down, revealing more of his chest as he scooped her up into his arms. “You could say that. Mummy didn’t sleep very well last night so let’s give her a bit of peace and quiet shall we?”

He walked to the door with both children clinging, giggling, to his shoulders, leaving Kerry shaken by the effect of his body brushing against her as he plucked Lauren from her lap. Her arm tingled where he’d touched her and she could still smell his warm masculinity, a scent that was evocative of so many other nights when she’d shared his bed.

He paused and looked back at her, his face suddenly so serious she knew he was affected too. “Making love doesn’t always end in sex Kerry. Nor does sex always involve making love. Those are the things you ought to think about while you sort out what actually happened between us last night.”

* * *

Alone in the king sized bed, Kerry felt very vulnerable as his parting words washed over her. Was he trying to tell her he loved her after all? Had last night broken down the barriers between them and presented them with a chance of happiness. She closed her eyes against the brightness of the overhead light and let her tactile memory take over. She could recall the warmth of Pierce’s arms about her and the tenderness of his mouth as it roamed across her face and neck and then further as his hands pushed the edges of her pajamas impatiently aside. She could remember her own reactions too. The erotic movements of her hands on his bare skin, her mouth clinging to his with something close to desperation, her body alive in a way it hadn’t been for almost three years. He was right. They hadn’t had sex but they had made love in those long moments before he’d wrapped her tightly in his arms and cradled her back into a deep sleep, soothing her with murmured words until she drifted away from that tearing need.

She opened her eyes wide. Why had he done it? Why had he forced his body into submission when it had pulsed with the same desperate desire as hers? She could still hear the groan of his frustration when he finally pulled her head onto his chest and made her go to sleep. Was it because he knew she wasn’t properly awake or were there deeper reasons? She sat up and plumped the pillows behind her head. Whatever the reason, they had to talk about it because she couldn’t live like this. She had to know how he really felt about her, had to know whether he was just playing with her or whether there was any sort of chance of rekindling the love they had once shared.

* * *

Lauren pushed the door open. “Pierce goin’ out,” she announced as Ben and Pierce followed her into the bedroom with identical frowns on their faces.

“Want bouncy,” Ben’s bottom lip was sticking out to an alarming degree as he glared at his father. “You said bouncy!”

“I know what I said,” Pierce’s frown deepened as he met Kerry’s questioning gaze. “But that phone call said I must go out Ben. Someone is waiting to see me, someone I have to talk to. I’ll take you to the gym and show you the bouncy mat when I come back.”

He spoke to Ben but his explanation was as much for Kerry’s benefit as he handed her a mug of coffee. Their fingers brushed as she took it from him and a pulse of instant attraction fired through her again.

His eyes darkened as he noted the way she moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. “I’ll try not to be long but there are one or two problems I must sort out, and quickly. It’s one of the hazards of living on the premises I’m afraid. Everyone always assumes I’m instantly available.”

She gave him a half smile, still shaken by the way her thoughts had been leading her before he returned to the bedroom. “We’ll be fine won’t we children? It’ll give us a chance to get used to the apartment and find out where everything is.”