First Love, Last Love (12 page)

‘I didn’t mean any offence,’ Robin said hastily, making Lauri cringe at his fawning attitude. How Jane could stand such a man she had no idea. He might be as she described, steady and reliable, but he was also boring, and his deferential manner towards Alex made her feel sick.

‘None taken,’ Alex replied smoothly. ‘And there’s really no need for you to cancel your weekend away because of Lauren and myself. We’ve just decided we aren’t going out after all.’

‘You have?’ Jane sounded relieved.

‘Mm,’ he nodded. ‘We’ve decided to stay here instead.’

Lauri gave him a sharp look, wondering if anyone else could see that dangerous glitter in his eyes. The retribution that look promised made her determined
not
to stay here. ‘I’ve decided I would like to go out after all,’ she said shakily. ‘If you have no objections?’

‘None.’ Revenge would be his wherever they were, his eyes told her. ‘Unless you and your boy-friend intend coming with us,’ he spoke to Jane. ‘I suggest you carry on with your plans to meet Robin’s parents.’

‘Yes, darling,’ Robin encouraged. ‘It’s too late to call them now and say we aren’t going.’

‘But I—’

‘I’m only taking Lauren to dinner,’ Alex soothed, ‘and then I’ll bring her straight back. I’m sure Steve will be a very good chaperone.’

‘Well …’

‘Oh, do hurry, Jane,’ Robin looked impatiently at his wrist-watch. ‘I told them we’d be there by ten.’

Jane sighed. ‘I don’t know why we couldn’t have just gone down tomorrow. Ten o’clock is hardly a decent time to arrive.’

‘You know I had work to do today, and this way we’ll have all of tomorrow with my parents. You have to give them some time to get to know you. Now do hurry up,’ Robin ordered impatiently.

‘Will you be all right?’ Jane asked Lauri.

No, she wouldn’t, not by the looks Alex was giving her! But she couldn’t let her own fear interfere with Jane’s plans. ‘Of course I will,’ she smiled brightly. ‘Go and get your overnight case.’

The other couple finally left and Lauri turned apprehensively to face Alex. His expression told her nothing now, his features once again bland. Lauri’s hands twisted nervously together in front of her, a show of her inner agitation.

‘So that’s Robin,’ he mused softly.

His first remark was far from what she had expected.

‘You didn’t like him.’ It was a statement, not a question.

‘I hardly had the chance to make that sort of decision,’ he mocked. ‘I do know that if I had a girl like Jane interested enough to marry me I wouldn’t give a damn how my parents felt about her.’

‘You like Jane?’ She swallowed hard.

‘Very much. Don’t you?’

Her eyes flashed. ‘It’s hardly the same thing.’

His mouth twisted mockingly. ‘I like Jane because she’s genuine and honest. She has no hidden depths. She’s a very lovely woman.’ His tone implied that
she
was the opposite.

‘Yes,’ Lauri agreed huskily, still waiting for retribution for those scratches. They must be very sore by now.

‘Go and change, Lauren,’ Alex told her almost wearily, ‘before I change my mind and decide to stay here after all.’

Her eyes widened. ‘You really are going to take me out?’

‘Yes,’ he said grimly, pulling back his jacket to look at the blood that was still slowly seeping into his clothing. ‘In spite of this,’ he grimaced.

It did look bad. How could she have done such a thing? Her throbbing breasts answered that question for her. She moved forward, her hand outstretched. ‘Let me—’

‘No!’ He jerked away from her. ‘I think you’ve done enough.’

‘But I was only going to suggest I wash your chest and put some antiseptic on it.’

‘That won’t be necessary,’ he told her coldly. ‘It isn’t important.’

‘But it looks a mess!’

‘And no doubt it is,’ he said grimly. ‘But you should have thought of that before you chose to use your
talons on me. I can see to it later,’ he dismissed.

‘But—’

‘Do you want to stay here?’ The question was a threat.

‘No!’ Lauri almost ran out of the room, his mocking laughter following her up the stairs.

She had a quick shower, quick because she didn’t trust him not to come up here and finish what they had started. Her wardrobe was pretty limited, especially for an evening with Alexander Blair. She had intended buying a new dress, but when the date seemed to be off, hadn’t bothered. She finally chose to wear the only dress that was in the least sophisticated.

She had first worn it when she was a bridesmaid the previous year, the bride choosing to put her brides-maids in white while she herself wore black. It had been an odd sort of wedding altogether, the bridegroom wearing white too, and Lauri hadn’t been altogether surprised when the marriage had broken up after only a few weeks. Both Iris and Nicky had seemed more interested in causing a sensation at the wedding, which their extraordinary outfits had certainly done, than in the actual marriage that followed.

But at least Lauri had the white dress out of it, a beautiful floaty affair, with thin ribbon shoulder-straps, a fitted bodice, flowing gently from the waist to her ankles. She turned in panic as the door clicked open behind her, and Alex stood in the open doorway. She clutched at the open back of her gown, her face fiery red at his insolent appraisal.

‘Very nice,’ he finally taunted. ‘Having a little trouble?’ he mocked her efforts to pull up the zip.

‘Oh, go away!’ Her face was flushed with her efforts, as she realised that the zip had actually caught on a bit of the material.

He did the opposite, coming forward to spin her round and bending to look at the mess she was making
of her gown. ‘Hold still,’ he commanded as she began to fidget.

How was she supposed to do that with his fingers touching her bare skin! Her teeth set in a grimace as he seemed to deliberately linger over the task, his hands seeming to burn where they touched. He must be aware of how she was trembling, couldn’t miss the way she longed to move sensuously against his fingers splayed across her back.

‘There,’ he pulled the zip up to the top with no trouble at all, his hands resting possessively on her hips as he spun her round to face him. ‘Ready now?’ he asked huskily.

‘I—I just have to brush my hair.’

‘I’ll see you downstairs.’

To say she was dazed by his behaviour was putting it mildly. But his manner remained coolly polite as he opened the car door for her, making her wonder if that brutal assault earlier had really happened. But of course it had, hadn’t there been the beginnings of bruises on her breasts when she was dressing? She mustn’t be lulled into a false sense of security by Alex’s mood, beneath the surface she had no doubt he was as furious as ever.

They were driving through the residential part of London and Lauri felt her apprehension grow as Alex turned the car into an underground car park, parking the Ferrari next to the Rolls bearing his number plate.

She turned to look at him, knowing they were at his home. ‘What are we doing here?’

Alex gave her a scathing glance. ‘Use your common sense, Lauren. I can hardly go anywhere in a shirt covered in blood!’

Her face flamed with colour. ‘Oh! I—I forgot.’

He grimaced. ‘I haven’t, I can assure you of that.’

She hung her head. ‘I’m really sorry I scratched you.’

‘You can’t be any more sorry than I am,’ he swung out of the car to come round and open her door for her. ‘Come on.’

‘I—I’d rather wait here for you,’ she refused nervously. ‘And the reason I scratched you was that you were hurting me.’

‘I meant to hurt you,’ he told her grimly, not giving her chance to make any more refusals but pulling her unceremoniously out of the car and locking the door firmly behind her. ‘And I’ll hurt you again if you don’t stop acting like an hysterical idiot. I could be some time getting out of this shirt and I have no intention of leaving you down here while I do it.’ He quirked an eyebrow. ‘You may decide to run away.’

Lauri trailed along behind him as they walked the short distance to the lift, standing apart from him as it swished up the building. ‘What would be the point of running away?’ she said hollowly.

‘True,’ he drawled. ‘I’d just come after you.’ He waited for her to precede him out of the lift, moving to one of the only two doors on this floor and throwing open the door with a flourish. ‘In you go.’ He didn’t wait for her to comply but pushed her inside.

The apartment was very much as she had imagined it to be, very modern, very luxurious, but lacking warmth, as was its occupier. Everywhere she looked was the stamp of wealth and good taste, and yet it lacked atmosphere, lacked that fundamental feeling that told you it was a home. It looked like one of the show-houses she often admired in magazines but knew she could never live in.

Alex watched the play of emotions across her face, a mocking twist to his lips. ‘You don’t like it,’ he stated.

‘I—It—No,’ she answered truthfully. ‘No, I don’t like it at all,’ she confirmed.

‘I knew you wouldn’t,’ he said with a shrug, throwing
his car keys on the side-table. ‘Make yourself at home,’ he added tauntingly. ‘I shouldn’t be long.’ He disappeared through one of the many doors leading off this, the main room, into a room she presumed was his bedroom.

Lauri couldn’t make herself at home and he knew it, knew this wasn’t the sort of place she could ever feel comfortable in. Consequently she was still standing awkwardly in the middle of the room when Alex came back out of the bedroom several minutes later. Her eyes widened as she took in his naked torso, the skin tanned a deep brown, four livid red scratch marks running from his throat almost to his waist. Lauri felt sick. Had she really inflicted those nasty-looking wounds?

Alex came to stand in front of her. ‘Here,’ he handed her a tube of antiseptic, ‘I’m sure you’ll do a better job of it than I would.’

‘Yes, but I—’ How could she tell him she daren’t touch him, daren’t because she was afraid of her reaction to him. She thrust the antiseptic back at him. ‘I’d rather not.’

‘Scared?’ he taunted softly.

‘Certainly not!’ She grabbed the tube out of his hand. ‘I was just afraid of hurting you. This could sting.’

‘I doubt it could hurt more than when you did it. Go on, Lauren, I’ll be a brave boy,’ he mocked.

He wasn’t a boy at all, that was the trouble! His chest and arms were firmly muscled, all the more noticeable as he stood hands on his waist. A fine sheen of dark hair covered his chest, curled slightly against his tanned skin. Lauri’s hand shook as she applied the cream, her head bent as she concentrated determinedly on the task.

His skin felt smooth to the touch, the four jagged scratches marring the male beauty of him. She bit her lip, her concentration almost nil, her breathing ragged.
She had to move away from him, had to escape the magnetism of the sensual aura he was emitting.

‘Finished,’ she said huskily, her head still bent.

‘No, I don’t think you have,’ he contradicted softly.

Her eyes flew open. ‘But I have, you can see I have.’

‘No,’ he shook his head, taking the antiseptic out of her hand and throwing it on the table next to his car keys. ‘There’s one place you missed with your healing touch.’

Lauri frowned. ‘But I’m sure I—’

‘It’s right here, Lauren,’ he pulled her against him. ‘Right here,’ he repeated throatily, his mouth claiming and parting hers.

‘My dress!’ She wrenched away from him, looking down at the way the cream had stained the soft white material. ‘Look what you’ve done!’ she gasped.

Alex pulled her back against him, his mouth caressing her throat and bare shoulders. ‘It doesn’t matter, you’ll be taking it off in a minute.’

‘I—?’ Lauri pushed even harder against his restraining arms. ‘I most certainly will not!’

‘You will.’ As if to prove his point she felt the zip of her dress being pulled down to the base of her spine, his hands moving freely across her bare back. ‘Like now.’ He gently bit her earlobe, not hard enough to cause pain but enough to make her aware that he was in control of the situation—and her. ‘We’re going to prove that I can merit ten out of ten,’ he rasped, ‘on any woman’s scale!’

‘Alex, no … Don’t,
please
!’

He grinned down at her. ‘I think I’d like you to beg, Lauren. But not to be set free,’ he murmured against her lips. ‘I’d like you to beg for something quite different.’ He slipped the thin ribbon strap off one shoulder, the gown slipping down to reveal her bare breasts. ‘No bra,’ he said gruffly, making no effort to hide his reaction to her nakedness. ‘I like that.’

‘No … Please. Please, Alex!’ She dragged the dress back up, her hands at her back as she tried to pull up the zip. ‘Let me go,’ she pleaded, her relief immense as she felt the zip slide easily up her spine.

His hands were at her nape. ‘You know you don’t mean that,’ his mouth ate into hers, the kiss slow and languorous. ‘Come into the bedroom,’ he invited huskily.

‘No! No, no,
no
!’ Lauri wrenched fully away from him. ‘You had no intention of taking me out this evening, did you,’ she accused. ‘You intended bringing me back here all the time,’ her eyes were deeply green in her anger.

‘Eventually,’ he drawled. ‘But I did intend taking you out first.’

‘First?’ she echoed, startled.

‘I always believe in wining and dining my girl-friends before taking them to bed,’ he told her calmly.

‘You—I—You aren’t getting me into bed,’ she spluttered. ‘Whether you wine and dine me first or not.’ She swung away from him, for some reason her eyes alighting on the car keys he had discarded on entering the apartment. She snatched them up, almost running to the door.

‘Where do you think you’re going with my car keys?’

When she turned he was still standing in the place she had left him, making no effort to stop her or retrieve his keys. ‘Where do you think?’ she scorned, throwing open the door.

‘I hope you don’t intend driving it,’ Alex drawled. ‘That, added to the accident you had at the beginning of the week, should be quite interesting to the police.’

She met his gaze defiantly. ‘I have no intention of driving your car. But I do intend throwing these keys in the river. I only wish I could do the same to you!’ She slammed the door as she left.