The Wicked Bad (Crimson Romance) (24 page)

Gideon’s deep tones broke into her thoughts. “So how did you manage to persuade Penny to come? I thought she wasn’t talking to you.”

The plan. She needed to focus on the plan. “I groveled. It wasn’t pretty.”

“I can imagine.”

“She was really pleased when I told her you’d offered your house. She’s looking forward to seeing you again.”

“It’ll be good to see her, too. It’s been ages.”

Ellie stared out of the window, recalling the fun they’d had on the family holidays together. She and Penny had worshiped Gideon when they were young. He made their time together hum with excitement and promise. The throb that had begun low in her pelvis the moment she’d got into the car with him intensified.

“So, are you going to be able to cope without a bevy of beautiful babes to seduce this weekend?” It was impossible for her not to rib him.

He raised a sardonic eyebrow. “You know you’ve got a worryingly skewed idea about how I run my love life.”

Ellie cleared her throat uncomfortably. “Hmm. I’d hate to see your bedpost — it must be in bits by now.”

“Come over some time and see for yourself.”

She looked sharply over at him. Was he flirting with her? The thought sent an unwelcome frisson of excitement straight to her nerve endings. Surely he couldn’t be. He’d never taken the slightest bit of interest in her as a woman before; why would he start now? He must be doing it to wind her up; that was the only feasible explanation.

He glanced over and she had to avert her face so he didn’t see how flustered she was. She couldn’t deal with this teasing conversation. Not here. Not now. She was acutely aware of his hard thigh only inches away from her own. The air held his scent; clean with an underlying spicy undertone. It made her head swim.

“No thanks, people might talk and I couldn’t stand the shame.”

She jumped as he shifted gear and his hand skimmed tantalizingly close to her knee. The low throb moved further down her pelvis. Where was her focus when she needed it?

Regarding him out of the corner of her eye, she felt a stab of arousal at the teasing smile on his handsome face. She cleared her throat again, suddenly aware of how loud it sounded in the confines of the car. “So Gareth and Ali can’t come until the last day, but Penny and Will should be arriving about eight tonight.” Her voice sounded strained to her, but Gideon didn’t comment on it.

“Well, we’ll be ready for them.” He smiled, his sensual mouth widening to reveal straight rows of pearly white teeth.

Ellie wrenched her gaze away and took a deep, calming breath.

• • •

After twenty more minutes of driving past tall hedges and down narrow lanes, Gideon finally swung into an unmarked private road. They bumped down a track dominated on each side by ancient oak trees, their grand branches forming a tunnel blocking out most of the light, until they fell away and the road opened out onto a sweeping drive. The handsome red brick manor house swung into view, and Ellie let out a low whistle of appreciation.

“Nice. You really are Lord of the Manor.”

“Hardly.”

“But your grandparents were titled, weren’t they?”

She glanced over at him as an expression of discomfort flashed across his angular face.

“I don’t use it.”

“Surely it’s a prime pulling tool though.”

Gideon swung up to the front of the grand facade of the house and jammed on the hand brake. He turned to capture her gaze, leaning in to her, only inches away, locking his eyes with hers. The air crackled between them.

“You can tease all you want, Ellie, but you’re not getting a rise out of me.” His emerald eyes changed color as a shaft of sunlight streamed in through the windscreen, his irises flaring from dark to light.

Ellie swallowed a lump in her throat. “We’ll see.” She jumped out of the car quickly, before the strangely charged atmosphere drove her do or say something stupid.

She could see why so many women fell at his feet. She wouldn’t though. He was the exact opposite of what she wanted in a partner. She needed someone she could rely on. Someone who wasn’t going to walk away without a backward glance — and anyway, she couldn’t stand the humiliation of him getting the better of her. She was sure the only reason they’d remained friends was because he actually liked her cool, glib taunting and found her refreshing after the simpering women he usually surrounded himself with. Refreshing, but not sexy. Not sensual or foxy. Just straight and honest and … well, Ellie.

• • •

Gideon watched as Ellie strode toward the house, gazing up at the grand facade in wonder. Her movements were slightly awkward as if she knew she was being watched and he felt a stir of something not unlike desire at the thought. He checked himself. This was Ellie, the crazy kid sister of his best friend, who he still thought of as being eleven years old with her wild curls and tomboy figure.

Except she wasn’t any more.

Over the years, she’d blossomed into a striking looking woman, with sensuous curves and dips in all the right places.

He imagined exactly how she’d look under those oversized clothes; how her breasts would be softly curved and high, how they would feel under his hands. He mentally shook himself. Just friends — that was what they were. Her disapproving tone earlier had provoked him into flirting with her, just to watch her squirm, but he wasn’t seriously entertaining the idea. Was he?

No. She was off limits.

Gareth would kill him if he made a move on his sister, and anyway, he made a point of never sleeping with his friends. It made things too complicated.

Besides, she’d made it perfectly clear she felt no attraction to him whatsoever.

A soft voice in his head whispered something about a challenge. He let it live there for a moment before getting out of the car and walking around to the boot.

He needed to keep focus. He’d only agreed to this hare-brained scheme, or appeared to, to keep her out of trouble and save her family from more stress and heartache.

He was acutely aware of the debt he owed Ellie’s family, and the least he could do was stop her from making a fool of herself and losing her best friend, along with her mind, in the process.

The end of her last relationship had obviously knocked the wind out of her, and she was probably projecting her anger about it onto Penny’s fiancé. He needed to gauge for himself if this guy was for real before deciding on the best course of action.

A loud ringing came from Ellie’s bag. She whipped out her mobile and answered it, turning her back on him and walking away toward the gardens.

He watched her go, her corkscrew curls hanging halfway down her back, and he found himself longing to gather them up in his hands.

What the hell was wrong with him? He’d never looked at Ellie this way before, but now he had, he was having immense trouble looking away.

She returned a moment later looking rather pink about the cheeks and wild eyed.

“What’s wrong?” For a moment Gideon was terrified someone had been hurt, and a throb of fear lodged in his throat. A memory of standing in the drawing room of the manor after his grandparents had told him about his parents being killed niggled its way forward, but he pushed it back mercilessly into the recesses of his brain.

“They’re not coming.”

The fear subsided, leaving an itch of irritation. “Not at all?”

“No. I mean yes, they’re coming tomorrow instead.” She ran an agitated hand though her curls. “Will arranged for them to see other friends ages ago apparently, and they can’t get out of it.” She didn’t even try to hide the angry disbelief in her voice. “We came down too early and it’s too far to go back now.”

“Why would we want to go back? We can use this opportunity to relax. I’m sure we’ll find some way to pass the time.” A look of uncertainty flashed across Ellie’s face and he realized he’d slipped into flirting with her again. He wondered how hard he’d have to push to get the required reaction out of her.

It was an intriguing thought.

She’d never been touchy-feely with him, which was probably a good thing; it enabled him to keep her compartmentalized as his best friend’s sister and safely at a distance. Although, standing here in front of him, her big blue eyes staring sadly back at him, her soft lips parted, he was suddenly and unexpectedly hit by a wave of sexual heat that squeezed the air from his lungs and coursed like fire through his veins. He slammed a lid on it.

He seriously needed to sort out his love life if he was reduced to lusting after one of his oldest friends. He forced himself to smile casually at her, relieved she wasn’t able to read his mind and see all the tantalizing images that had just flashed through it.

He needed to rein himself in here. Anything other than straight friendship would cause all sorts of trouble and strife. There would be knock-on effects that weren’t worth the risk. He needed to keep his distance. This weekend was going to be a real challenge.

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