Desire And Deception

‘You’re strong, aren’t you?’ Byron commented with surprise in his voice. ‘You have broad shoulders. Must take after your father.’

‘Part of what you’re feeling is shoulder pads,’ she said, not sure how to take this shift in the conversation. If she didn’t know better, she might think her father was trying to make up with her after their last row, not to mention his earlier rudeness.

‘I can manage by myself now,’ he said curtly, as though embarrassed by his conciliatory behaviour and taking it back. ‘Hand me my cane.’

She did. Smiling.

He caught the smile and smiled back.

Jade’s heart contracted. Why did she love him so much when he was such a cantankerous bastard, and when he lived his life by typically male standards? Did he honestly think she believed that one incident had been his one and only transgression with other women while her mother was alive? Good God, just look at him! Fifty years old with a bung leg and a scowling face and he’d still stop most women dead in their tracks at a single glance. His body was still hard, his head still full of hair. And those hard blue eyes were so damned sexy it was sinful.

‘You’re a good girl,’ he said. ‘Underneath. And you look very nice tonight.’

Jade’s smile widened.

‘What’s the private joke?’ he demanded to know.

‘It was the underneath part. I still haven’t got a bra on, you know.’

‘No, I didn’t know. And neither would any other man looking at you in that rig-out, which is exactly how it should be. The only man who should see a woman’s bare breasts is her husband!’

‘I’ll keep that in mind, Pops.’

Jade resisted telling her father that the last thing she was ever going to have was a husband. Marriage, in her books, was not the key to eternal happiness. She couldn’t deny men filled a necessary niche, every once in a while. But as a daily diet?

Good God, no. Marriage was not for her. No way. She did her own thing, ran her own race, thank you very much. Imagine being married to someone like Mr Cool. In no time, he would be telling her what to wear, how to act, how to vote, even! Men like him couldn’t seem to help taking on the role of bossy-boots. The poor darlings actually thought they knew best, that the world would stop spinning if they didn’t spin it personally.

No, she was not interested in marrying Kyle Armstrong. She simply wanted to sleep with him. There! She could admit it now and not tremble with shock. And if she could wangle a position for herself at Whitmore Opals at the same time, then so much the better!

The grandfather clock slowly and sombrely donged eight as they passed, as though giving her a grave warning about something. Jade ignored the omen. She didn’t believe in such things.

* * *

Eight o’clock found Gemma finding a temporary sanctuary in the swimming-pool. She stroked up and down, up and down, wishing she could recapture the euphoria she’d felt earlier that afternoon in Nathan’s arms. But reality had come back with a rush and it was impossible to stop all the doubts and fears from crowding her mind.

What was everyone in Belleview going to say when she and Nathan announced one day in the near future that they were married? Maybe Byron wouldn’t be too surprised—she had an odd feeling he already knew there was something between herself and Nathan. Neither would Ava or Melanie be too shocked. But they wouldn’t be at all pleased. They might start thinking she was a little schemer, that she’d inveigled her way into Belleview in order to entrap Nathan into marriage.

She could perhaps endure that. Kirsty’s reaction, however, loomed as a major problem. Nathan’s daughter was going to feel betrayed. Gemma had become the girl’s friend, more than her minder. How was Kirsty going to react when she found out Gemma had married her father, the father she still hoped would be reconciled with her mother?

Gemma hated even thinking about it. She also hated having to pretend there was nothing between herself and Nathan till they were safely married. She’d always believed honesty was the best policy. Deception and lies were wrong.

But Nathan insisted they keep their relationship a secret till after the event. He wanted no fuss, he said. No arguments. People would try to talk them out of marrying if they knew beforehand.

Which people? she’d asked as soon as Kirsty had left the house to go to the movie marathon with her friends. Was he talking about Byron? Ava? His daughter? His ex-wife? Was it himself he feared could be talked out of the marriage. Or herself?

Nathan hadn’t really answered her. He’d diverted her questions by making love to her yet again. Afterwards, while he was in the bathroom, she’d slipped on her swimming costume and fled to the pool, anywhere where she could think. The suspicion that Nathan might deliberately have used sex to silence her arguments was now teasing the edges of her mind, and, while she automatically shrank from the idea, Gemma found it wouldn’t let go. If anything, it was growing.

A splash behind her had her feet searching for the bottom of the pool. But she was at the deep end, so she was madly treading water when Nathan swam underneath her feet and surfaced in front of her.

‘I couldn’t find you,’ he said, slicking his hair back from his handsome but angry eyes. ‘Why didn’t you tell me where you were going? I wouldn’t have known where you were if I hadn’t looked out of the study window.’

‘I...I needed some air,’ she answered breathlessly, already feeling tired. She wasn’t the strongest swimmer in the world. If there hadn’t been a learn-to-swim programme at school she never would have learnt at all. Lightning Ridge did not abound in water.

‘Have you changed your mind?’ he asked coldly. ‘About getting married.’

‘No, of course not. It’s just that it isn’t going to be easy. I...I’m worried about what Kirsty’s going to say.’

‘Kirsty will adjust. So will everyone else. Just do as I say and everything will be fine. Here, you’re sinking. Put your arms around my neck and wrap your legs around my waist.’

She went to do so but jerked back as though stung. ‘You’re...you’re naked!’

‘Uh-huh. And so will you be...once I get you out of this strait-jacket.’

Gemma gasped as her breasts burst free of her costume, Nathan peeling the purple maillot downwards till it was dragged right off and let go of, to float away. For a while she trod water again, her flapping arms and legs making her even more aware of her abrupt nudity. She glanced nervously around, happy to see that the trees and shrubbery around the edges of the garden gave them privacy from neighbors. The sun had not long set but the evening was warm. Stars twinkled overhead in a clear sky. A half-moon bathed the water in its soft glow.

‘I...I’m not used to this kind of thing,’ she babbled.

‘I know,’ he said, and caught her to him.

His mouth was wet and warm and wild. Gemma wanted to push him away, to say she had things she needed to talk about, but she soon ran up the white flag. Making love with the man she loved was too new and too wonderful and too exciting to replace with serious discussion. That could wait, she supposed. After all, they did have all night.

With a sigh, she moved to fit her body to his, to entwine her arms and legs around his hard lean torso. Nathan groaned deep in his throat and clasped her even closer. Gemma’s head whirled and she pushed all thought of Kirsty aside. It was a night made for love, a night made for lovers. She would worry about tomorrow...tomorrow.

CHAPTER FOUR

JADE watched Melanie steering their dinner guest into the dining-room ahead of them, her conversation obviously finding favour with Mr Cool, since he was smiling over at the housekeeper. A pang of jealousy was quickly followed by a surge of annoyance. What was wrong with her today, becoming fixated on a man who obviously did not return her interest? A challenge was all very well but when it started affecting her total equilibrium then it was time to call a halt!

Besides, she couldn’t possibly be wanting Kyle as much as she thought she did. Sex for sex’s sake had never held any fascination for her. How could it when the physical act left her unmoved? It was male attention she occasionally craved, not male bodies.

Nathan was the only man ever to have really aroused her. But then Nathan was an enigma in that regard. Men like him should be banned from female company. They were far too dangerous.

As for men like Mr Cool...Jade was at a loss to understand why she was finding him so physically fascinating. One would think that after last night her susceptibility to the male sex would have to be at an all-time low. Yet here she was, being plagued by feelings she didn’t want, and desires that were so alien to her that she didn’t really know how to handle them.

Feeling irritated and somewhat bewildered, Jade fell uncharacteristically silent. Too bad her father wasn’t similarly content.

‘Well, what do you think of him?’ he demanded to know as they made slow progress together towards the dining-room.