Merlyn's Magic (19 page)

Her teeth chattered uncontrollably. 'Have I thanked you
yet for saving me?'

'I'm just glad I saw you when I did.' His expression was
grim as he paced the small room, at least they were out of the biting
wind in here. 'I almost didn't,' he scowled. 'With that green dress and
dark hair you were camouflaged pretty well against the trees. Then just
as I was locking the car something made me glance over here. Just in
time to see you fall in!'

'I didn't fall in.' She huddled beneath the blanket,
tucking her feet up underneath it. 'The planking gave way.'

He looked at her and frowned. 'It did?'

'Mm,' Merlyn nodded, starting to feel a little warmer now.
'It must have been rotten. With all this rain that isn't surprising,'
she added wryly.

'No,' Rand acknowledged.

'If one more weatherman tells me it's the wettest summer
for years…!'

'Yes,' he grimaced his agreement.

This was ridiculous. They were lovers, Rand had probably
just saved her life, and here they were discussing the weather like
polite strangers sitting in a dentist's waiting-room.

'You received the message that I'd called, then?' She
certainly didn't have the experience to know what the next move was in
an affair!

'Did you think I wouldn't?' Rand frowned.

She shrugged. 'Your housekeeper gave me the impression she
didn't approve of my calling you. Or maybe she just isn't used to women
telephoning you?' she added hopefully; that 'with the others' still
rankled.

He gave a grimace, peering out of the window where the
rain had once again started to fall. 'It isn't you she doesn't approve
of, she just knows you stayed at the house that night. It's a village
community, Merlyn,' he answered her dismayed expression. 'Little goes
on here that someone doesn't know about.'

No wonder she had received such a frosty response the one
time she had actually met Mrs Sutton and then again on the telephone
this evening; the other woman hadn't given the impression that the
twentieth century had caught up with her yet, let alone the 'permissive
society'.

'Do you mind?' She looked closely at Rand, his face
unyielding in profile.

He turned slowly to look at her. 'Do you?' His voice was
husky.

She shrugged. 'Why should I mind anyone knowing about a
relationship that even I don't understand?'

Rand's eyes narrowed as he stepped away from the window.
'What is there to understand?'

'You!'

His mouth twisted. 'That would be a case of "the blind
leading the blind". I don't understand me either,' he rasped. 'And
besides the fact that your very existence is a medical miracle, I know
little or nothing about you either. What you like, what you dislike.'
He shook his head.

She was cold and wet, would probably have been hysterical
if it weren't for his comforting presence, and yet the mention of her
own birth reminded her of the child he and Suzie had lost, and she
deliberately made her reply lightly enquiring. 'Disregarding all the
injustices of the world, like famine, and drought, and—'

'Yes, disregarding all those,' he drawled.

'Just my own personal likes and dislikes?'

'Yes,' he nodded.

'We're both soaked through and you want to discuss my
likes and dislikes?' she laughed.

Rand returned the smile. 'We don't have anything else to
do.' He looked pointedly at the rain.

They both knew that wasn't true, her desire for him
reflected in his eyes, and yet with the condition they were both in
anything else but talking was impossible. 'Which would you like first?'
she said lightly. 'I have three real loves in life, and only one real
hate.'

His brows rose. 'Then we'll save that one until last,' he
drawled, sitting opposite her in the chair, the lamp giving a golden
cast to his features as it stood on the table beside him.

'Well,' her eyes glowed, 'I love cats. I don't just like
them, you understand, I love them. All colours, shapes and sizes. Of
course I haven't had one of my own since I left home, it wouldn't be
practical when I now live in a flat and go away so much. But one day,
when I can afford it, I'm going to buy a big old house somewhere in the
country and fill it with cats!' Colour heated her cheeks as she
realised she had probably just described his house to perfection. 'When
I can afford it,' she added defensively.

'Then people will
know
you're a
witch,' Rand teased softly, completely relaxed. 'What's your second
like?'

'Rain. Walking in it. Usually.' She gave a pointed grimace
to the weather outside. 'Even I've had my fill of it this year!'

He gave a throaty laugh. 'And your third love?'

'Burnt biscuits,' she announced with relish.

'
Burnt
biscuits?' he repeated slowly,
as if he must have misheard. Or hoped he had!

Her mouth quirked. 'Actually, I love burnt toast too, but
I think burnt biscuits comes first.'

'Of course,' he agreed as one humouring a slightly
deranged person.

Merlyn chuckled. 'You did ask!'

'Hm.' He seemed to question his own sense in doing so.
'Why
burnt
biscuits?'

'Because they taste the best,' she shrugged carelessly.

'So if I ever want to bring you a gift I forget about
roses and chocolates and bring along burnt biscuits instead?' he
drawled dryly. 'Mrs Sutton would have a fit if I asked her to
deliberately burn her delicious cooking!'

Remembering the lovely meals the housekeeper had left him
prepared in the freezer, Merlyn thought the other woman would probably
resign on the spot if he made such a request. But the thought that Rand
might like to bring her a gift at some stage in their relationship
filled her with a warm glow. 'I don't eat chocolates,' she told him
huskily. 'But I do like roses. White ones.'

'And now for this intriguing one dislike you have,' he
said abruptly.

'It isn't that interesting,' she declared, realising by
his suddenly withdrawn manner than she had over-stepped some imaginary
line by telling him her preference in flowers.

'Tell me anyway,' he invited softly.

She pursed her lips. 'I hate being called "Ms"! I told you
it wasn't very interesting,' she shrugged uncomfortably.

'But it is,' he mused. 'Very interesting. You're an
independent lady, have a successful career, should be just the sort of
woman who would revel in the featureless Ms!'

'Featureless,' she repeated with feeling. 'That exactly
describes it. If women are so liberated they can obviously do without
men why do they need to hide their marital status behind Ms!'

'You really don't like it, do you,' Rand chuckled
incredulously.

'I don't see the need for it, women that are so liberated
they really believe they don't need anyone else, not even emotionally,
usually refuse to change their name or wear a ring when they marry
anyway. I certainly can't see any insult or slight being implied by
being called Miss when it's so obvious a man isn't needed for a
complete and fulfilling life any more!'

Rand stood up, determinedly crossing the room to sit down
beside her on the sofa, unfolding the blanket from about her with deft
movements. 'There's still one thing you need us for,' he murmured as
his head bent towards hers.

Her last observation definitely hadn't been a personal
one. 'Oh but—'

'
You
need me for his,' he groaned
before his mouth claimed hers.

Thunder crashed and lightning flashed overhead as that
kiss went on and on, Merlyn flushed and breathless when Rand at last
raised his head. That remark wasn't meant on a personal level,' she
gasped before he could demonstrate a second time how much she needed
him. 'I'm not ashamed to admit that I need you.' She caressed the lean
hardness of his cheek.

His eyes were dark. 'I need you too. But not here, and
especially with the two of us like this!'

She fully understood what he meant by the latter. Where
they were drying off the odour from the lake water and weeds was
becoming quite pungent; they both needed a shower.

'You haven't told me any of your likes or dislikes yet,'
she teased. 'Besides smelly lakes!'

'Right now that is paramount on my list of dislikes.' He
stood up to turn off the oil lamp, leaving the moon as their only
illumination. 'But one of my likes—loves—supersedes
even that.' He flung open the door to the gazebo, the wind and rain
instantly blowing inside. 'I
love
making love to
you.' He held out his hand in silent invitation.

Merlyn looked from the heavy rain falling outside to Rand,
drowning in those beautiful silver eyes. She stood up to take off the
one shoe she still wore, putting her hand in his as they ran out into
the storm together.

They were laughing with the sheer joy of just being
together by the time they reached her room, undressing quickly to step
under the shower, their gazes locked as they slowly washed each other
beneath the soothing spray, Rand's body forging with hers in a tempest
of emotions much stronger than the storm thundering outside.

'We never did have dinner,' Rand murmured some time after
eleven, the two of them lying naked together in Merlyn's bed.

'Still hungry?' She mocked the feast he had made of her
body the last two hours.

His eyes gleamed with mischief. 'Anne's chef does a lovely
Club sandwich!'

'At this time of night?' Merlyn groaned.

'
Especially
this time of night,' Rand
assured her, already picking up the telephone to place an order for two
of the sandwiches and a bottle of wine.

'I suppose you do realise that you've just ruined my
reputation.' She quirked mocking brows as he replaced the receiver
after making the order. 'This room is supposed to be let to a single
lady.'

'Want me to call them back?' he teased. 'Tell them we've
changed our minds?'

As it always did, their awkwardness together fled when
they were in bed. 'Very funny.' She gave him a playful punch on the
arm. 'But I—'

She broke off as the telephone began to ring. 'Who on
earth—!'

'Yes, this is room 202,' Rand confirmed down the receiver.
'Of course you can speak to Miss Summers.' He held out the receiver to
her, seeming to be having difficulty in keeping a straight face.

Merlyn understood why as the room-service waiter
identified himself and asked if an order had just been placed from her
room, colour flowering in her cheeks as Rand got out of bed to move out
of earshot of the telephone before he burst out laughing.

Merlyn was so fascinated by that throaty laugh that she
answered the waiter in a vague voice. God, Rand was
beautiful
when he forgot his bitterness and gave in to genuine humour.

'Ask him not to forget the coleslaw,' he prompted dryly.

She made the request before she realised what she was
doing, quickly ending the call to glare at Rand. 'It will be all over
the hotel by tomorrow,' she groaned.

'No, it won't,' he assured her lightly. 'The staff here
can be very discreet. Why do you think he telephoned back to make sure
he had the right room?'

'So that someone didn't end up with a free meal after I
refused to pay for it because I didn't order it!'

'You watch too many films,' he derided mockingly. 'The man
was merely checking that he didn't go to the wrong room and interrupt
the wrong couple!'

'And I thought Anne ran a respectable hotel!' Merlyn
feigned dismay, enjoying the exchange immensely.

'She does; it's the disreputable film-crew she has in
residence that are dragging down the tone of the place,' Rand told her,
tongue-in-cheek.

'Not nice,' she reproved with mock indignation. 'Just
because I can't stay out of your arms is no reason to suppose the rest
of the cast are behaving as disgracefully.'

'No? When we came in earlier I saw two couples who
certainly weren't married to
each other
go into
rooms down the corridor.'

Merlyn frowned. 'Anyone I know?'

'I would say you knew all of them,' replied Rand. 'But
Drake wasn't one of the men, if that's what you're wondering.'

'I wasn't,' she denied. 'At least, not for the reason
you're implying.' How could she explain to him that if Christopher had
found a woman to divert his attention he might be more amenable to her
tomorrow when she told him she wouldn't do a nude scene with Mark. 'I
only—' She broke off as a knock sounded on the door. 'That
was quick,' she muttered as she stood up to pull on her robe, belting
it tightly about her waist as she moved to answer the knock.

'Want me to hide in the bathroom?' Rand taunted softly.

She gave him a scathing glance. 'Wouldn't that be a little
pointless in the circumstances?'

'I think so, yes.' He gave an abrupt inclination of his
head. 'But it's up to you.'

'You could try putting something on to save the poor man's
blushes,' she snapped. 'But that is up to
you
.'

He mockingly pulled on his trousers, dry now, but very
badly stained from the lake water.

Merlyn waited only long enough to be sure he had zipped up
the trousers before opening the door, her polite words of invitation to
the room-service waiter dying in her throat as she saw it was
Christopher who stood there.

What on earth could he want at her room at this time of
night!

She quickly turned to look at Rand, knowing from his
expression as he regarded the two of them with narrowed eyes that he
was wondering the same thing—and drawing his own conclusions.

Christopher
was obviously looking at their half-naked state and drawing his own
conclusions too—only his were the right ones.

'I didn't realise I would be interrupting anything,' he
drawled softly, his blue gaze speculative. 'I received a message that
you wanted to see me as soon as I got back, Merlyn.'