Fortune in the Stars (15 page)

She flung herself at him in a fury to retrieve it,
realising her error almost in the first instant of moving.

He caught her by both wrists, his laughter mocking softly
in her ears as he forced her back down, his hands trapping her arms
high above her head as he leaned over her.

'You really have the most delectable body,' he crooned,
his smile stopping short of his eyes as he leaned further over her
until the darkly matted hairs of his chest brushed against the tips of
her breasts. 'And the most delightfully responsive,' he added in
mock-surprise as her nipples leapt to erect attention beneath that
barely perceptible touch. 'Which is just as well,' he continued softly
as he allowed almost the full weight of his unmistakably aroused body
be taken by hers. 'You see, you have exactly the same delightful effect
on me.'

Then he slowly lowered his head to hers, his lips hovering
the barest of fractions from her own.

'What could be more natural than for us to make love?' he
whispered, each movement of his lips bringing them into tantalising
contact with hers and sending scorching waves of heat burning through
her body. 'Oh, Penny, what could be more natural…more
exciting?' he breathed, releasing her wrists to cup her face in his
hands.

And every nerve in her pulsating body was crying out in
agreement with those words, sighing in incoherent agreement with them
as her arms wound unconsciously around his neck and began urging his
head to lower fully to hers.

It was with a small jolt of disbelief that she felt his
mouth resist hers. But it was only when the tentative probe of her
tongue against his unyielding lips brought his head jerking back to
escape her arms that the calculating coldness of what he was up to
finally dawned on her.

'You may congratulate me on this, the second manifestation
of my remarkable control,' he stated coldly, rising agilely from the
bed. 'But don't ever bank on my ability to perform such a feat again.'

He had almost reached the bathroom before Penny had begun
to stir herself from her shock-induced stupor.

'Perhaps you'd care to join me in a cold shower?' he
mocked. 'After which I suggest we see about getting something to eat.'

She was aware that she was toying her way through each
course, barely taking more than the odd mouthful from each. But it was
what was going on inside her head that rendered her lack of appetite
completely immaterial.

It was as though her eyes had developed a will of their
own, constantly straying towards the man opposite her. But it was the
effect on her of what her eyes were seeing that was scaring the wits
out of her. The instant her gaze had alighted on the hands now holding
a knife and fork her body was racked by the reliving of those same
hands in sensuous exploration against it.

She closed her eyes momentarily, trying to block out what
was happening to her, then trained them down towards her plate as she
forced herself to take another mouthful of food.

But her eyes strayed again, this time to the mouth that
had hungered on hers as her own now relived that same hunger.

This was crazy, obsessive…obscene, she thought
in dazed panic as that hunger slowly spread throughout her.

And the most astounding—and altogether
humiliating—thing of all was the total ease and gusto with
which he could tackle food while she was in the throes of this complete
disintegration!

Desperate to appear every bit as relaxed as he was, she
racked her brains for something to say.

'That phone call you had—' She broke off, her
cheeks turning scarlet.

'The one just now?' he enquired.

Penny nodded—the one he had marched stark naked
from the shower to take.

'I was wondering when you'd get around to asking about
that,' he informed her coolly. 'You appear to have an exceptionally low
interest threshold.'

She stared at him in blank incomprehension.

'Considering my sister's supposed to be your best friend,
I'd have thought you'd be on tenterhooks to hear what was going
on…not leaving it until you're halfway through your meal
before it even occurs to you to ask.'

Oh, God, here we go again, she thought wearily, cramming
food into her mouth to obviate the need to reply. Of course she had
been interested in any news the call might have brought; it was just
that the sight of him stark naked had thrown her completely when she
had earlier handed him the phone. Had she ever thought about the
subject it would have been males she would have considered the most
likely to be dumbstruck by the force of their desires at the sight of a
naked female…the idea of the reverse happening to her would
never have entered her head. Yet that was precisely what had happened
to her in that moment she had turned to place the receiver in his
dripping hand.

Suddenly aware of his impatiently censorious look, she
hastily swallowed the food to which her parched mouth was reacting for
all the world as though it were sawdust.

'Well, are you going to tell me or not?' she demanded.

'No—I'm going to ask you a question,' he replied. 'Does the name Winterton—Neil
Winterton—mean anything to you?'

She paused for a moment, then shook her head.

'Well, as far as we know, that's the name of the guy she
seems to have been with for the past several days.'

'With him?' breathed Penny, her heart leaping. 'Where?'

He shrugged. 'Nowhere that can be pinpointed as yet. But
Winterton—'

'Hang on a minute—I've a feeling I
do
know that name,' she exclaimed, frowning as she tried to concentrate.

The next moment her eyes were widening in disbelief, her
concentration scattering as Dominic let fly a string of crystal-clear
and utterly foul oaths.

'God Almighty, I don't believe this!' he snarled at her.
'First the name Langton just happens to slip your mind, and
now—' His words came to an abrupt halt as the napkin Penny
hurled at him caught him in the face.

She leapt to her feet and marched from the dining-room.
And when she reached the foyer she marched straight on. It was only
when she was in the street, with the sting of rain on her burning
cheeks and the bite of wind tearing into her lightly clad body, that
her steps faltered to a halt. Now what?

One thing was for sure, she promised herself fervently;
she wasn't setting foot back there, to be ranted and sworn at as though
she were…

'Penny, for heaven's sake stopping playing the
prima
donna
,' snapped Dominic, grabbing her by the arm and
spinning her round to face him.

'Don't you dare touch me!' she yelled, lashing out at his
legs with her foot as she tried to twist free. 'You think you
can—' She broke off with a choked scream of fear as he caught
her other arm and jerked her viciously against him, his face dark with
a terrible rage.

'I can honestly say I've never met a more self-centred
bitch than you—and believe me, I've met some,' he intoned
with a quietness that sent a sharp shiver of fear through her. 'When my
sister is found you'll be free to get on your high horse and stay on it
forever more, as far as I'm concerned,' he rasped, shaking her with a
brutal disregard of his own strength. 'Until then, everything else is
secondary, do you understand? Including you and your selfish tantrums!
Now, tell me…who is Winterton?'

Stunned by the magnitude of his anger, Penny felt her own
drain from her.

'His name's not Neil—I think that's what threw
me; it's Niall. Lexy was with him at a party a few weeks
ago—at least, I think she was with him—'

'Whose party?'

'Dominic, I can't think when you fling questions at me
like that. Just give me a moment to think,' she pleaded.

He released her instantly.

'It was John and Susan Bateman's—'

'Their number's in Lexy's book, but I got no reply from
it. What does this Winterton do?'

'I'm pretty sure Lexy said he was a doctor. Dominic, are
you certain she's with him?' she asked reluctantly. 'It just doesn't
make sense… She hardly knows the man.'

'She knew him well enough to go to a party with him.'

'I've told you I'm not even certain she was actually with
him,' protested Penny, desperately trying to think back. 'I remember
her saying something about his being a friend of a friend…
For all I know they could just have met up at the party.'

He took her arm. 'Come on, we'd best get inside before you
freeze. And it might be an idea to pass this information
on—at least we'll have the guy's name right, if nothing else.'

As he led her back into the hotel, Penny found herself
able to examine his angry accusations, her own anger remaining dormant
as she began to understand how her behaviour might appear to him.

Only once before had she had an intuition as strong as
this one she had about Lexy; it had been when she was fifteen and her
parents had been involved in an air crash. Before she had had definite
word of her parents, and despite knowing that several people had lost
their lives in the disaster, there had been an unquestioning certainty
within her that her parents were all right. It had been a feeling that
had no bearing whatever on wishful thinking, and she had been very much
aware how worried the school authorities had been in the face of her
unnatural calm in the hours before good news had come through. It had
been only in Lexy, Erica and Sarah that she had confided her intuitive
knowledge, and all three had instantly understood and accepted it.

She glanced up at Dominic's tense and exhausted profile as
he held open the door for her, and found herself wishing with all her
heart that he could have been one to understand and gain comfort from
such an understanding.

'You look cold,' he said, surprising her with the
gentleness of his tone. 'I'll have some cognac sent up with the
coffee… Would you like that?'

She nodded, a shiver unconnected with the cold skimming
along the surface of her flesh. 'Yes, I'd like that very much.'

'Dominic,
there's something I need to tell you…well, try to explain,
really.'

He had walked ahead of Penny into the room, and now his
tall, athletic frame froze to immobility at her words.

'Dear God, what now?' he exclaimed, swinging round to face
her, both alarm and suspicion in his eyes.

'It's nothing for you to be alarmed about,' she said, her
heart, despite everything, going out to him as the look in his eyes
spoke in volumes of the horrors of his inner torment. 'I…
Dominic, I just wanted to try to explain the reason behind my appearing
relatively unconcerned about Lexy; I know that's how I must seem to
you.' She cast him a nervous glance, already having serious doubts over
attempting to explain what was essentially inexplicable. 'Though you'll
probably end up thinking me an even bigger fool than you already
do—if that's possible.'

'Why not try me, Penny?' he suggested abruptly, shaking
free of his jacket.

'It's just that I have this feeling—except that
it's a lot stronger than that,' she began disjointedly. 'Deep down I
seem to know that Lexy's all right.' She gave a soft groan of
exasperation as a knock on the door interrupted her.

'That should be the coffee,' he muttered. 'Come in!'

Penny watched as the waiter entered and placed a tray on
the table, wondering what on earth had possessed her to start all this.
His opinion of her was low enough already…any minute now he
would be convinced she was stark staring mad!

'Come and sit down and have some of this,' he suggested,
flinging himself down on one of the chairs next to the table. 'Or would
you rather get out of those clothes first? They look a bit damp.'

Penny shook her head, then joined him. She had started, so
she might as well get it over and done with.

'Cream?' he asked as he poured the coffee.

She nodded, feeling totally ill-at-ease with his sudden
civility; at least with his open hostility she knew exactly where she
stood.

'This…feeling you have about Lexy,' he said,
passing her a cup. 'I take it you're referring to some sort of sixth
sense?'

Almost squirming with embarrassment, Penny nodded. 'I'd
hate to give the impression I was claiming to be…well, fey,
or anything,' she muttered uncomfortably. 'I've only ever had a feeling
this strong once before. Dominic, I—' She placed her cup on
the table, the utter futility of expecting him to understand crowding
in on her. 'Look, I'm sorry. This must all sound like complete
gibberish to you… It was stupid of me to bring it up.'

'Have a drink of this,' he suggested, passing her a
cognac. 'Then you can tell me about the other time you had this strange
feeling.'

Her eyes flew to his, certain they would encounter
mockery, and lowering in nervous confusion when they found none.

She took a sip from the glass, then told him of her
earlier experience concerning her parents.

'Lexy and the others understood,' she finished, feeling
less and less at ease with every passing second. 'But the school staff
certainly didn't; to them I must have appeared almost callously
unconcerned, which they put down to shock.' She took another sip of the
brandy. 'I really am sorry to have brought this up with you, Dominic,'
she apologised in strained, hollow tones.

'Why?'

'Because…probably because examining it forces
me to face how completely irrational it is putting such faith in what
most would regard as wishful thinking.'

'But it didn't turn out to be wishful thinking where your
parents were concerned,' he pointed out quietly.

'Yes, but…that doesn't really have any bearing
on…' She bit back the words as pinpricks of doubt began
niggling away at her.

She had started all this in the irrational hope that he
might derive some comfort from it, and all she had succeeded in doing
was undermine her own certainty.