Her New Worst Enemy (2 page)

He looked at her aghast. “Are you seriously suggesting I pay him off?”

“I swear to God, I’ll pay you back. I’d offer him the money myself, but I’m a bit
short at the moment.”

Gideon rocked his head back and let out an exasperated laugh.

“Okay Ellie, say I’m fool enough to go along with this hare-brained plan — what’s
going to happen once we get her away from him?”

“Let me worry about that.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Look, I can be a shoulder to cry on, distract her enough so she doesn’t realize what
we’ve done. Now that I’m on my own too, we can be the ‘single girls around town’ that
we were before I met … Paul.” Her throat constricted as she said his name and she
dropped her gaze to the table so Gideon wouldn’t see the hurt in her eyes. “Please?”
She looked back up at him imploringly, “I’ll do anything.”

“Anything?” His bright, seductive eyes flashed at her, tickling her senses, and bringing
back a feeling she hadn’t experienced in quite some time.

Why did it have to be him that made her react that way?

Once again, she pushed the feeling away, burying it deep.

“Within reason, Gideon. Please.”

“I don’t know, Ellie, it all sounds a bit … ”

Diplomacy lost the fight with desperation. “Gideon.” She cut him off, leaning in,
menacingly. “I’m not budging from this chair until you agree to do this. I can make
life very difficult for you. I’m not above a bit of stalking, and if you don’t agree
right now, your current eye candy will have to finish her meal sitting on my lap.”

Ellie crossed her arms defiantly and stared across at him, her heart racing, inwardly
begging him to relent. Maybe she’d gone too far? But desperate times called for desperate
measures, and if he didn’t agree she had no idea what she’d do. He was her only real
hope.

He regarded her for a moment with a dark, penetrating gaze. “Okay, I’ll do this for
you, but only because your family has been so good to me.” He ran a hand over his
closely shaved jaw. “And you’ll owe me. Deal?”

She hated the idea of being in debt to him, but she didn’t have any choice if she
was going to save her friend from making a huge mistake. “Deal.”

Gideon nodded in acceptance, and she breathed a sigh of relief and secretly wiped
her damp palms on the edge of the fine linen tablecloth. “Come over to my flat tomorrow,
and I’ll explain the plan.”

“Whatever, just go now.”

Ellie got up to leave.

“Are you still in your Redland flat?” The carefully guarded tone of his voice halted
her in her tracks.

“Yeah, I can’t bring myself to sell it yet.”

“See you at seven tomorrow then.”

“Thanks, Gideon. You won’t regret it.”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

• • •

Gideon knocked at the door to Ellie’s garden flat at seven on the dot, but she stood
for a moment to collect herself before opening the door to him. She’d taken more care
with her appearance this time, catching her unruly curls back in a band and making
sure she’d applied make-up to both eyes — purely so he’d take her more seriously of
course.

He looked great as usual, and when he leaned in to kiss her on the cheek, she had
to turn away so he wouldn’t notice the tell-tale flush she felt sure was lighting
up her face like a warning beacon.

She made for the kitchen and felt him follow her into the depths of her chaotic flat.

“I can’t believe it’s a year since I’ve been here. It looks exactly the same.” His
deep voice seemed to further warm the air around her. It took all her willpower to
remain casual.

She hated how he made her feel. She knew what he was really like beneath that charming
persona: arrogant, self-serving, and egotistical.

So why did she still want to jump his bones?

She turned to face him, noticing his gaze sweeping around the ordered chaos of the
room and raised her eyebrows, motioning the letter ‘T’ with her fingers.

“I’d love one. Milk, no sugar.”

“I remember.” She moved through into the tiny kitchenette.

“Hmm. A bit different in here though,” he said, looking around the brightly colored
walls. They had previously been plastered with photos but there were now obvious gaps
where pictures had been recently removed or ripped in two.

“I needed a change of scene.”

There was a flash of concern in his expression, which made her uneasy. She hated to
think of him judging her.

“Clearly,” he said, pressing his fingers against an old photo of her at University.

He moved away and leaned casually against the work surface, watching her performing
the tea ritual. She wished he’d stop looking at her; he was making her nervous. He
seemed to fill the tiny space with his dominating presence, and she was hyper aware
of the magnetic-like pull he radiated, drawing all her senses toward him.

When she turned back to him, his gaze scanned her face, his brow furrowed. “I can’t
believe I haven’t seen you since that birthday party here.”

“You can say his name. I’m not going to go all weepy on you. I’m totally over him.”
Ellie tried for “staunchly defiant,” but gave herself away when tears welled in her
eyes.

Gideon sized her up, as if trying to decide something, before turning back to look
at the wall, mercifully giving her time to collect herself.

“It’s great to see you interested in something outside these four walls again. I thought
you were never coming out of that hermit’s shell you’ve been hiding in.”

“Yeah, well, Penny’s important to me. She was great after Paul left. I don’t know
what I’d have done without her.” She shook her head, trying to fling away the sadness
that had begun to bear down like a lead beret.

“Are you sure you want to do this? It’s a bit over the top. Perhaps you’re over-reacting
because of what happened with Paul,” he said.

She gripped her mug tightly and fought for control. The last thing she wanted was
to break down in front of him. “Look, all we need to do is highlight his weaknesses
and make sure Penny stops to think about what she’s doing. Then, once she realizes
his game, get the bastard where it hurts and send him on his way, pronto.”

He flashed a smile. “I’ve got to hand it to you, I never thought you had an evil streak.
It’s quite refreshing.”

She felt him watch her as she took a sip of her tea, intensely aware of how chaotic
she must seem to him.

For years, she’d watched from the sidelines as he’d dazzled every woman he came within
ten feet of, winning them over with his easy charm and stunning looks. He had a way
of making even the plainest girls feel beautiful. She’d seen it in their faces when
he talked to them. He flattered and excited them, making every one of them fall in
love with him. It was his special talent, one that he took full advantage of and used
regularly. Except on her. For some reason he’d never shown her the same interest,
given her the same attention as the others that flocked round him, desperate for his
praise.

The thought of him questioning her reasons made Ellie uncomfortable, but he didn’t
know the full story of her break up — nobody but Penny did, not even her parents —
and she wanted to keep it that way.

“So where are we carrying out this ambush?” His question jolted her out of her train
of thought.

“I haven’t figured that out yet. We need somewhere away from his comfort zone, somewhere
he can’t run away from easily.”

“We’ll use my house in the country.”

She looked at him in surprise. “Seriously? I thought it was still being renovated.”

“Finished, as of last week. I need to do some checks on the building works, so I’m
going down there anyway.”

“That would be perfect.”

“No problem.”

She’d never been to his family home before. He’d never even invited her brother to
visit him there, so his offer was both astonishing and exciting in equal parts. After
his grandparents passed away within months of each other last year, he’d set about
stripping the place and renovating it to his own taste, eradicating any trace of them.

How must it feel to want to eliminate all signs of your family? The idea of it made
her shiver. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like not to have her family around.

She found her gaze lingering with his but turned away quickly, her heart sending disturbingly
heavy thumps up into her throat.

He moved away into the living area and she heard the sofa cushions groan as he sat
down. She was so tense, her body felt like a tightly coiled spring on the verge of
pinging loose. This was ridiculous. It was just Gideon, playboy extraordinaire and
long-time breaker of hearts. She would be mad to let him get under her skin. She needed
to pull herself together.

“So, how do we get them there without it seeming too contrived?” His question made
her jump. “We don’t want her to see straight through it.”

She threw her shoulders back and turned as casually as she could to face him. “I’ll
phone her and say I bumped into you, and you suggested we all celebrate her engagement
at your house for a long weekend before she gets married. I’ll ask my brother and
Ali to come too, I doubt my parents will make it, but it’ll be like old times, all
of us holidaying together.”

Gideon sighed. “Do we really need to drag Gareth into this?”

“We need it to sound feasible. She’ll think it’s strange if it’s just you and me.”
A hot flush crept up her neck again at the mere suggestion of the two of them participating
in anything together. This was ridiculous. How was she going to pull this off if she
constantly had to hide her face from Gideon?

“Remind me never to get on the wrong side of you,” he said.

Ellie shot a quick grin in his direction, then focused back on her plan. “Okay. We
need to figure out how we start the charm assault. Then how we move on gradually to
the undermining attack until we’ve got him by the balls.”

“Ellie?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re scaring me.”

She turned to find him smiling at her, and tried hard to concentrate on a rogue piece
of hair sticking up on his head and not the way his mouth quirked at the corner.

• • •

One week later Gideon’s car made its leisurely way along a winding road, passing through
jaw-droppingly beautiful countryside. Ellie was too caught up in her plans and schemes
to notice the magnificence of the surroundings.

“I think we’ve worked out the best way to make the intervention a success, but we
might need to improvise at points as time’s against us.”

Gideon glanced over at her as she leafed through the notebook that contained the details
of “Code-name Expose and Destroy,” as they’d begun to refer to it.

“You know, it’s starting to sound like a murder mystery weekend. You’re not going
to ask me to wear a fake mustache and cravat are you?”

Ellie grinned at him “I was thinking more tight trousers and flexing muscles.”

Gideon looked aghast. “Christ.”

The air between them felt heavy with a sexual undercurrent — or was she just imagining
it? It occurred to her that she couldn’t think of a single time before this when she
and Gideon had been alone together. Previously, they’d always been surrounded by friends
or family, which had made it easy for her to draw away from him.

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.