The Engagement Deal (13 page)

His words made her conscious of the fact she was very grubby indeed. She shot upright, looking anxiously at the chintz-covered sofa she was stretched out on.

‘Will you lie down?’

‘I bet you say that to all the girls.’ Her lips unconsciously tightened.

‘One of my best-tried lines,’ he confirmed drily. ‘Seriously, Holly, you ought to rest.’ He regarded her face with narrow-eyed concern; habitually pale, her milky skin seemed almost transparent at that moment, but considering how little sleep she’d had last night, possibly fatigue was a contributory factor to that.

His breath quickened as his body responded spontaneously to the thought of their night together. He wanted her now, right here; the raw urgency of his need was intense enough to shock him. His eyes darkened and his throat worked as he recalled the exact raw needy note in her voice as she’d cried out in the extremity of sexual frenzy.

‘Nonsense, I’m absolutely fine now. Just deeply embarrassed at being such a wimp. I’ve always had this thing about heights,’ she explained uncomfortably.

‘Which makes what you did all the more extraordinary.’ His blue eyes had a fervour which was lacking in his level observation. ‘Do you make a habit of saving people’s lives? First the restaurant,’ he reminded her. ‘Now Dan.’

Holly flushed with embarrassment. There were a lot of emotions she’d like to evoke in Niall, but gratitude wasn’t one of them. ‘I was just in the right place,’ she mumbled. ‘Well, actually,’ she corrected, ‘I was in the wrong place— I got lost. I wasn’t concentrating.’ She could hardly tell him she’d been wandering around, feeling sorry for herself. ‘I heard you talking about the restoration work with your father,’ she recalled, feeling the grime of several centuries in her hair and grimacing. ‘I should have thought. Boys that age…’

‘As a father of a boy that age,
I
should have thought,’ he contradicted her grimly. ‘Warning the boys to keep away from the attic seems in this to have had the opposite effect. I should have remembered how appetising forbidden fruit immediately becomes,’ he drawled drily. ‘It’s just lucky for us you have no sense of direction, and strong arms. I now know what clinging on for grim death really means. You weren’t going to let go, were you…?’ His words sounded more like accusation than admiration, and there was a strained expression in the burning eyes fixed on her face.

‘What can I say?’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘I’m stubborn.’ He watched the bleakness chase across her face. ‘Besides, if I hadn’t stopped you leaving early this morning,’ she reminded him in a small miserable voice, ‘none of this would have happened.’

With a sharp exclamation of annoyance, Niall caught her chin in his hand and forced her to look up at him.

‘You’re filthy, Niall.’ She noticed for the first time the dust ingrained like heavy theatrical make-up in the faint lines that bracketed his mouth and fanned out from the corners of his eyes. If his face had any minor imperfections, it would have highlighted them. Hungrily, her eyes skimmed lovingly over the sharply angular blemish-free contours of his strong face.

The sharp dismissive shake of his head said clearly he wasn’t much interested in his personal hygiene just now. ‘That’s ridiculous and you know it.’

‘Do I…?’ She pulled her chin away and tried to ignore the fact she missed the warm contact of his strong fingers. She rotated her stiff shoulders, painfully aware that her abused muscles were already beginning to stiffen.

Niall gave an exasperated sigh. ‘Jude was hitting out at anyone, earlier on; she was scared. You should have heard what she said to me before you came in. I don’t need to ask permission before I make love to my fiancée at any time of day.’ He looked and sounded incredulous that anyone should think otherwise.

Holly doubted Niall had asked anyone’s permission for anything in years…if ever. For once, she felt surprisingly tolerant of his supreme arrogance.

‘I’m not your fiancée.’ She gave a breezy smile to show how well she could cope with this situation, and refused to allow the achingly wistful note to emerge.

‘Yes, well, we’ll talk about that later…’ He obviously wasn’t going to let the facts get in the way of his argument. ‘Anyway,’ he continued smoothly, ‘as far as Jude and everyone else is concerned, you’ve been elevated to divine status. It’s going to be very hard to dump you now without having the whole pack shrieking for my blood.’

Underneath the sardonic amusement of his smile, there was something else in his intent gaze that made her heart begin to work overtime. Now, don’t go seeing something that isn’t there, she crossly warned her optimistic heart.

‘I could be really awful for what’s left of the weekend, if you like,’ she suggested helpfully. For someone as gifted as I am for saying the wrong thing, how hard could it be to turn myself into a social outcast? ‘I could be so bad, they’ll all breathe a sigh of relief when you dump me…Though actually, I don’t much like the idea of you dumping me.’

It’s not got me singing from the rooftops, either, Niall realised, looking at the threads of gold glinting through the dust on her bent head with stunned eyes.

‘I’d much prefer to be the one doing the dumping, and that way nobody can blame you.’

If Niall’s smile seemed a little strained, Holly didn’t notice. ‘That’s as may be, but a man has his pride,’ he announced, adopting a comically injured expression.

‘Pooh,’ she hooted, entering into the spirit of things. ‘Being dumped by your fiancée is not nearly so bad as being dumped by your wife, and you’ve…’ Her hand went immediately to her open mouth. ‘Oh, God,’ she babbled, ‘I didn’t mean to make it sound as if—’

‘Being dumped by your wife is not a pride-enhancing experience,’ he admitted frankly, regarding her horror-struck expression with amusement. ‘But I’m not so emotionally fragile that you have to walk on eggshells. It all happened a long time ago.’

Holly remained gloomily unconvinced. If you loved someone, time didn’t enter into the equation—she of all people should know that—and he would say that, wouldn’t he…? He wasn’t the type to parade his emotional scars.

‘Tara copes well in a crisis.’

‘A lot of people make the mistake of thinking she’s an airhead,’ Niall responded drily.

‘Well, I’m not one of them,’ she snapped, very conscious of how swiftly he’d flown to Tara’s defence. ‘You still care for her a lot, don’t you?’ she persisted masochistically.

‘We’ve shared a lot together…’

Holly smiled thinly. Well, she hadn’t really expected him to deny a bond that was so patently obvious.

‘I’ll always love, Tara…’

Holly closed her eyes.

Serves me right for asking, she thought.

‘But I’m not in love with her any more,’ he added softly.

Holly’s eyes shot open.
‘Really?’
Hearing the eagerness in her voice, she felt a warm rush of hot colour wash over her fair skin. ‘You don’t have to tell me this.’

‘Pity…’

A wary frown puckered her smooth brow. ‘Is it?’

‘I was kind of hoping that you’re not an entirely disinterested party?’ There was a disturbing smile as he waited for her response.

His words might just have the potential to put a new and remarkable spin on things. If her brain hadn’t stopped functioning, she’d probably have been able to figure out what that spin might be.

‘Why should it matter to me if you’re in love or not with Tara?’

‘It might affect your decision to carry on seeing me.’

Holly clenched her feebly fluttering hands to her sides. She swallowed and tried to sound casual. ‘Seeing you? After this weekend, you mean?’

‘You sound shocked. Surely it isn’t such an extraordinary idea, after last night? Or are you saying that nights like that come along every day of the week for you?’ There was frustration mingled with the glint of dry humour in his eyes.

‘No,’ she denied readily. ‘But I thought maybe they did for you.’

Niall’s shrewd glance narrowed. Unless Holly had a sex life that defied belief, what she’d said betrayed a surprising naivété that inclined him to rethink quite a lot of things. Maybe she had seemed to act as if she’d never done certain things before because she hadn’t…A disbelieving laugh was wrenched from him, but his expression was sober enough as it locked with hers—in fact, it was deadly earnest.

‘They don’t.’

Her mind was racing. Did that mean he’d thought it was special? How special? She waited with breathless impatience for him to fill in the infuriating gaps left by his terse response.

‘Last night…’ It was strange to see the articulate Niall almost fumble for words to describe what they’d shared. ‘Was not like any other I’ve spent,’ he rasped. ‘You were incredible…Last night was incredible, this morning was incredible, and, call me crazy, but I don’t see any reason not to repeat the experience on a regular basis. If I were a pessimist, I’d say the only way to go after sex like that was down.’ Niall’s nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. He sought and captured her eyes.

Holly was stunned by his admissions. The challenging smile that curved his amazing sensual lips made her start shaking feverishly.

‘But I’m prepared to risk it if you are,’ he admitted in a deep sexy drawl that sent a plump voluptuous shiver dripping down her spine.

It was pretty satisfying to have it confirmed by a second party—second
interested
party—that last night hadn’t been ordinary. And Niall should know, she told herself; he did have a lot more room for comparison than she did!

‘How will that work? I mean, I know you’re not asking me to marry you.’ Her laugh invited him to share the joke—he didn’t. ‘Which,’ she added soberly, ‘is just as well, because marriage isn’t on my agenda for years and years—not until I’m established in my career.’ Her fierce frown defied him to argue the point—he didn’t.

‘I think you’ve mentioned that point before…’

There was no harm reinforcing it. ‘Marriage is only one possibility for a woman,’ she told him earnestly. ‘People assume…’

‘People being men.’

Holly gritted her teeth determined to show him she could match anyone in the cynicism stakes. ‘People assume that every woman wants marriage and babies…’

‘Is this a direct Rowena quote?’ he enquired with interest. ‘If I hadn’t seen how happy your parents are with my own eyes, I’d have assumed you’re both the products of a particularly bitter divorce.’

‘I’m not some Rowena clone!’ she shrieked.

‘I already know that,’ came the dry response. ‘If I promise not to propose.’ His heavy ironic tone made her feel gauche and clumsy. ‘We could see one another, go out occasionally…’ The hot look he shot her made Holly’s stomach dissolve into an erotic black hole ‘And stay in a lot.’

His message came through loud and clear. He wasn’t talking exploring a deep mutual bond, here; he wasn’t talking love—he was talking
sex
! And where will I be when the novelty wears off? she asked herself. Still fathoms in love, that’s where, you idiot. Cut your losses now: you’re only delaying the inevitable, the sane voice of logic in her head told her sternly.

‘I’m starting my stint on paeds—paediatrics—next month. I’ll be working long hours…’ As excuses went, this one was just begging to be demolished. You could have at least
pretended
to think about saying no, she told herself with self-disgust.

‘All the more need for relaxation.’ His relaxed expression suggested that there never was any question over her reply.

‘I’m a bit of a couch potato when I finally do get any time off,’ she warned him. ‘Not very entertaining company.’

‘I’m sold by all these lures you’re throwing in my direction.’ There was a thread of steel in his sardonic tone. ‘Be careful, Holly, or I might get the idea you’re not keen.’

‘For heaven’s sake!’ she snapped. ‘You know perfectly well I’m keen.’ She blushed deeply—considering some of the things she’d babbled at him in the grip of mindless passion, he must be aware that
keen
didn’t begin to cover the way she felt about him. ‘I wish I wasn’t!’ There was no mistaking the heartfelt sincerity of this statement.

‘Is it the idea of the baggage I carry around that worries you?’ Niall speculated in a hard, cynical voice. ‘Is this another of your lifestyle choices: you don’t date fathers?’

‘You’re my first.’ First love, last love, she thought, feeling the warmth of unshed tears fill her eyes. She turned her head away and blinked rapidly to clear the suspect moisture. ‘But that’s more by luck than good judgment.’

‘It looks like your luck has run out.’ His dark, fierce face came very close to hers as he drew a line through the chalky grime on her cheek with the tip of his forefinger.

‘I don’t mind.’ Twisting her fingers into his hair, she made the husky confession almost defiantly. God, she needed him any way she could have him. She’d show him she could be as casual as him if it killed her!

His electric blue eyes smouldered with triumph as he swept her into his powerful arms. ‘I think we’re going to have a lot of fun,’ he told her, just before he nuzzled the delicate area beside her ear.

Holly was all for fun, but it didn’t suggest depth of commitment. Was it so wrong to want those things? she wondered bleakly. She firmly buried her restless sense of dissatisfaction as Niall chose that moment to torment her lips with a series of soft muted kisses.

He laughed deep in his throat when she growled softly and tightened her grip on his hair. ‘Is this what you want?’

The kiss drove the air from her lungs and left her wanting more—much more!

Her lips moved to form a sultry smile. ‘You’re on the right track.’

‘Well, was it so bad?’ Niall asked as his wildly waving family diminished from view in the rear window.

‘I had a nice time, thank you.’ Holly looked at her hands neatly folded in her lap rather than at the man beside her. It was one thing to play the fiancée for an audience; it was quite another to act the girlfriend…

‘Even after Mum’s attempts to teach you to ride.’ Niall didn’t seem to share her feelings of awkwardness.