His Christmas Acquisition (12 page)

‘That’s ridiculous. I didn’t look at him in any way.’ Had she? Yes, of course she had. She had seen him for the first time in ages and at that point she hadn’t even been sure that she had put her silly infatuation to rest. Slow colour crept into her face.

‘Out of sight,’ Ryan murmured, ‘doesn’t necessarily mean out of mind.’

Flustered, Jamie looked away but she could feel a nervous pulse racing at the base of her neck just as she was aware of his watchful eyes taking in every shadow of emotion she was desperately trying to conceal.

‘Is that why you rushed down to London?’

‘I came to London because … because I knew that it would be easier to find a job down here. Also, when Jessica got married, I sold our childhood home and split the proceeds with her. It gave me enough to put aside some savings for a place of my own, and sufficient for me to find somewhere to rent while I looked for work. It was just a … a matter of timing.’

‘Why am I not buying that?’

‘Because you have a suspicious mind.’

‘Did you sleep with him?’

‘That’s outrageous!’

‘Good.’ So she hadn’t. He gave her a slow, satisfied smile. ‘Although I sense that any competition in that area wouldn’t be worth worrying about.’

‘What are you saying?’

‘Read between the lines. What do you think I’m saying?’ Ryan didn’t know when he had made the decision to overstep the mark. He just knew that he wanted her. The control that he had always been able to access when it came to women had disappeared under the force of a craving that seemed to have crept up on him only to pounce, taking him by surprise and demolishing every scrap of common sense in its voracious path.

He didn’t give himself time to think. He also didn’t give
her
time to think. In one smooth motion, he circled her, trapping her to the side of the pool by the effective measure of placing his hands on either side of her. He leant into her, felt her breath against his face, read the panic in her eyes that couldn’t quite extinguish the simmering excitement. He had been right all along when he had sensed her forbidden interest in him and the knowledge gave him a rock-hard erection even before his lips touched hers.

Nothing had ever felt this good. That brief, public kiss they had shared at Christmas had been just a taster. Her mouth parted on a moan and, while her hands scrabbled against his chest in protest, the feel of her tongue against his was telling a different story.

He pushed her back against the wall so that his big body was pressed firmly against hers. The bottom of the pool sloped slightly upwards at this end and, standing at a little over six-two, Ryan was steady and balanced on his feet. For Jamie to keep her balance, however, she had to hook both her arms up on the wooden planks, which threw her breasts
into tempting prominence. She attempted to say something and he killed the words forming on her tongue by deepening his kiss. Her eyes were half-closed. When she broke free to tilt her head back, he trailed his tongue against the slender column of her neck and Jamie shuddered in instant reaction.

More than anything else, she wanted to push him away but her will power had self-imploded and her body was as limp as a rag doll’s as she soaked up the amazing feelings zipping through her as if a million shooting stars had been released inside her body.

She was dimly aware of him reaching down to hook her legs around his waist, and the nudge of his erection between her spread legs brought her close to swooning.

Water sloshed over the side of the pool as they moved frantically against each other. When he pulled down the straps of her bikini, she was self-conscious but only for a brief moment, then that, like her inhibitions, disappeared completely. With her body arched back and angled half out of the water, the touch of his mouth on her nipple was exquisite as the hot sun blazed down on them.

She could have stayed like this for ever, with him suckling on her breasts, massaging them with his big hands, rolling her nipples between his fingers and then teasing them with his tongue into hard, sensitised peaks.

It was only when he began to tug down her bikini bottom so that he could slide his fingers into her that Jamie’s eyes flew open and she took horrified stock of the reality of what she was doing.

How on earth had this happened?

Of course, she knew. Why kid herself? She had been lusting after him for months—indeed, it felt like for ever. This was nothing at all like what she had felt for Greg. Not only had Ryan ignited something in her that had never been ignited before, but it was all the more powerful because it was
wrapped up in a package that was more than just physical attraction. The whole complex, three-dimensional person had swept her off her feet. She hadn’t even known that she had been carried away until now.

She wriggled, pushing him away from her, and then ducked under his hands so that she could swim away with frantic, urgent speed towards the far end of the pool.

Ryan easily caught up with her.

‘What the hell is the matter?’

Jamie couldn’t meet his eyes but she had to when she felt his fingers on her chin and was roughly made to look at him.

‘I … I don’t know what happened,’ she whispered.

‘That’s fine because
I
know what happened and I’m more than happy to explain it to you. We’re attracted to one another. I touched you and you went up in flames.’

‘I didn’t!’

‘Stop pretending, Jamie. Why did you stop?’

‘Because it’s … it’s wrong.’

She wasn’t saying anything that took him by surprise. Only twenty-four hours ago he had thought about her and dismissed any notion of getting her into his bed as flat-out crazy. Yet here he was, and it didn’t feel crazy.

‘We’re adults,’ he growled. ‘We’re permitted to be turned on by each other.’

‘You’re my boss. I work for you!’

‘I want more than your diligence. I want you in my bed where I can touch you wherever I want. I’m betting that that’s what you want too, whether you think it’s right or wrong. In fact, I’m betting that if I touch you right now, right here …’ Ryan trailed his finger along her cleavage and watched as she fought to catch her breath ‘… you’re not going to be able to tell me that you don’t want me too.’

‘I don’t want you.’

‘Liar!’ He kissed her again and her lies were revealed in
the way she clutched at him, not wanting to but utterly unable to resist.

Jamie felt her weakness tearing her apart. Her mouth blindly responded and she missed his lips when he pulled back to look at her.

‘
Now
tell me that you just don’t know what came over you.’

‘Okay. Okay. Maybe I’m attracted to you, but I’m not proud of it.’ The words felt agonisingly painful and she twisted away from his piercing gaze. ‘I … You’re right, okay? I felt things for Greg. That’s why it was important to leave, to live somewhere else, somewhere far away.’ This felt like the final confession. She was now waving goodbye to her privacy for ever, but what was her option? She had to dig deep and find the strength to turn away from him with a good excuse because if she didn’t he would devour her. She knew that.

Ryan had stilled. For a minute, his stomach twisted into a sickening knot. So she might not have slept with the vet, but she had felt something for him, maybe even loved him. He was shaken by the impact that her admission had on him.

‘I made a mistake with Greg and I’ve learnt from it. I haven’t come this far to make a second mistake. I won’t climb into bed with you just for the hell of it. I’m going to go and I want you to promise me that you’ll never mention this again.’

‘What a lot of things I’m now under orders never to mention,’ Ryan rasped in a savage undertone. ‘And who ever said that sex between us would be a mistake?’

‘I did.’ This time she met his eyes squarely. ‘I’m not like you. I’m not willing to fall in and out with bed with someone just because I fancy them. If you don’t think that you can put this behind us, then I’m telling you right now that
I’ll have my resignation waiting for you on your desk when you return to England from Florida.’

This wasn’t a veiled threat, she meant every word of it; Ryan mentally cursed to himself. He had always accepted his ability to win women over. Jamie felt like the first woman he had ever really wanted and she was turning him down. Frustration ripped through him and he clenched his fists but there was nothing to say.

She was waiting for confirmation and he nodded curtly and in silence.

‘Good.’ Her body was still burning, but she had rescued what she could of her dignity. It felt like a very small victory. ‘I’ll head inside now.’ She stepped out of the water and tried not to think of his hands all over her and his mouth lingering on her breasts. It had happened and it wasn’t going to happen again. Just for good measure, and to show him that she meant business, she shot him one final look over her shoulder. ‘Is there anything you’d like me to be getting on with?’

‘Why don’t you use your initiative?’ Ryan said coolly. ‘I would suggest something suitably engrossing that can help you forget this sordid little business of sexual attraction.’

On the tip of his tongue was the temptation to tell her that perhaps the vet
had
ended up with the wrong sister. Jamie didn’t want a real man. She didn’t want to be sexually challenged. No wonder she had fallen in love with a guy whose top priority was his sick animals with everything else taking second place. How demanding would a relationship with him be? Not very. Which would have suited his prim, efficient secretary right down to the ground.

And that closing thought should have made him feel a lot better as he watched her walk away with her towel firmly secured around her waist, but it didn’t.

In fact, he felt a distinct urge to bash something very hard.
Instead, he made do with the pool. He swam with intensity, not looking up, until the muscles in his arms began to burn and the sun began its descent. He had no idea how long he did it. He was a prodigiously strong swimmer but even for him over two hours without rest began to take its toll.

Nevertheless, he might have continued swimming, slackening his pace, if he wasn’t distracted by the sound of footsteps—running footsteps.

In the tropics, night fell quickly, preceded only by a window of blazing orange when the sun dipped below the horizon. The sky was orange now. Soon, it would be replaced by deep, velvety charcoal-black, but in the fading light he made out Jamie’s slight figure as she paused at the top of the steps and then began running down them.

No wonder the woman had so many accidents!

Ryan heaved himself out of the water and without bothering to dry himself slung on the shirt which he had earlier discarded.

‘Urgent work problem?’ he asked sarcastically, and then paused when his eyes focused on her face and he took in her expression. She was panicked and her panic was contagious. He felt a sudden cold chill of apprehension. ‘What is it? What’s the matter?’

‘It’s your mother, Ryan. Something’s wrong with her.’

‘What are you talking about?’ But he was already heading away from the pool, half running and half turning so that Jamie could talk to him.

‘I had a shower, and when I couldn’t find her anywhere I thought I’d check her bedroom to find out whether she wanted a cup of tea. When I went in, she was lying on the bed, white as a sheet. She said that she’s had some tingling in her arms, Ryan, and her breathing’s erratic. I rushed down here as fast as I could …’

They were at the house and Ryan was taking the stairs
two at a time, while Jamie raced behind him, out of breath in her haste to keep up. She must have been gone all of five minutes, if that, and she hoped, as she nearly catapulted Ryan in the doorway to the bedroom, that his mother had had a miraculous recovery. That all those little signs were no more than a bout of extreme exhaustion.

Vivian Sheppard was awake but obviously unwell and extremely frightened.

Within seconds, Ryan was on the phone to the hospital. The strings he was capable of pulling were not limited to his homeland; Jamie listened as he urgently asked for a specific consultant, watched as he nodded, satisfied with whatever reply he received.

‘The ambulance will be here in five minutes.’ He knelt by the bed and took his mother’s hand in his own. Vivian, usually sprightly and full of laughter, was drawn but still managing to smile weakly at her son.

‘I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about,’ she murmured and tut-tutted when he told her not to speak.

Behind him, Jamie hovered uncertainly, feeling like an intruder at a very private moment. She longed to see his face and desperately wanted to comfort him, but she kept her hands stiffly behind her back. As soon as she picked up the sound of the approaching ambulance, she ran downstairs and directed them to Vivian’s bedroom.

To remain behind or to accompany them in the ambulance? Rather than impose an awkward situation on Ryan, who was grey with worry, she quietly informed him that she would stay at the house but would remain up until he returned.

‘I can’t tell you when that will be,’ Ryan said, barely looking at her as he shoved on a tee-shirt and stuck his feet in his loafers.

‘It’s okay.’

‘Thank God you went in to check in on her.’

Jamie placed her hand on his arm and felt the heat of his body through the dry tee-shirt. It took a lot to keep her hand there and not whip it away as though it had been burnt.

‘I know you must be worried sick, but try not to be. Worry is contagious. You don’t want your mother thinking the worst.’

‘You’re right,’ Ryan agreed heavily. ‘Look, I have to go. I’ll phone the landline as soon as I can. Or better still …’ he flicked out his mobile phone and handed it to her ‘… take this. I’ll use my mother’s phone to call you.’

Then he was gone, and in a heartbeat the sound of the ambulance siren was fading in the distance until the only sounds she could hear, once again, were the crickets and other night-time insects and the soft breeze sifting through the trees and shrubs.

Over the next three hours, she sat on the sofa in the living room with the windows open and a gentle breeze blowing back the white muslin curtains. His mobile was right there, on the small rattan table next to her, but it didn’t ring. She must have dozed off; she was awakened by the sound of the front door slamming, then the sound of footsteps, and then Ryan was standing at the door to the room before she had much of a chance to gather herself.