Tempting Taine (11 page)

He gave her a calculating look through hooded eyes.
 
“It’s cold outside, and my bed is plenty big enough for two.”

She shook her head.
 
The cowshed was starting to look more attractive with every word he spoke.
 
“It’d be a cold day in hell before I took you up on that offer.”

“You never used to mind sharing my bed.
 
Except of course that it
wasn’t
a bed back then, was it?
 
It was a blanket on the grass or the back of my old truck – you
weren’t
particularly fussy, as I recall.
 
Sharing my bed would be a step up for you.”

Her hands curled into fists at her side with the effort it took for her not to respond physically to his taunting.
 
“Very funny.
 
Besides, in case you
haven't
noticed, I'm not seventeen any longer.
 
I have standards.”

“Let me guess - they don't include me?"
 
He gave a bark of
unamused
laughter.
 
"I guess it’ll have to be the spare bedroom, then.
 
Come on up.
 
I’ll show you around.”

With reluctant feet, she followed him up the wide staircase and onto the landing at the top.
 
It seemed strange that this house, the house that Taine had grown up in, was a complete mystery to her.
 
She had once known Taine so well – every thought that went through his mind, all his hopes and dreams, not to mention every inch of his tanned golden body, but some parts of his life had definitely been off-limits.
 
At the time, she had been so besotted with him, she had hardly noticed.

He had seldom mentioned his family life, for one.
 
After her first disastrous visit to meet his parents, she had not exactly wanted to return in a hurry, and very shortly after that, she had put it out of her power ever to return.
 
Apart from the dining room and lounge, and the downstairs powder room, she had never seen any of the
house
he lived in.
 

He pushed open the door to reveal a dark blue and very masculine room.
 
A large double bed, over which a couple of men’s shirts were thrown, took pride of place in the center of the room, and the bedside cabinets were heaped high with a motley assortment of what looked like business papers.

It
didn’t
look a lot like a guest room.
 
She turned to him suspiciously.
 
“Am I sleeping here?”

He gestured widely in welcome.
 
“I would be delighted if you would join me in here.
 
As I mentioned before, the bed is plenty big enough.”

“I’d rather sleep in the cowshed.”
 
She did not like cows much, but she meant every word.

He shrugged.
 
“Have it your own way.”
 
He opened the adjoining door and gestured her inside.
 
“If you persist in turning me down, you can sleep here tonight.”

She went in and looked around, delighted at the
pretty pink
papered walls and matching
bedcoverings
, the pink and green patterned latch-hook rug at her feet, and the big bay window complete with window seat.
 
Though the furnishings were rather faded, they had clearly once been the ultimate fancy of some young girl.
 
It was just the sort of room that she would have loved when she was growing up, just the sort of room that Aroha would choose.

Taine strode to the other side of the room and pushed open another door.
 
“You have a bathroom in here.
 
It hasn’t been used for a while, but I’ll bring you in some soap and towels in a tic.”

She had already tossed her bag in the corner of the room and
plonked
herself on the window seat to watch the setting sun.
 
If she
was forced
to stay here tonight, then she might as well make herself comfortable.
 
“Thanks.”
 
She tried not to sound too begrudging.
 
He had not asked to be stuck with her overnight, after all.
 
They both had to make the best of a bad situation.

“Come down in half an hour or so and you can give me a hand to with the cooking.”

Her face dropped.
 
Spending time with Taine and his father was not top of her list of all-time favorite things to do.
 
She supposed she was grateful that they were putting her up with so little fuss, but she did not want to be there any more than they wanted her there, or to horn in on their evening together.
 
She would much prefer to hide out in the spare room for the evening, and leave again as soon as the tree
had been removed
and Taine could get his Jeep through.

Taine scowled at her and she felt her face grow red at his evident disapproval. “I’m feeding you dinner, aren’t I?
 
The least you can do is
offer
to help me cook it.”

Another foot put wrong.
 
Could she never get anything right when it came to Taine?
 
And
would he always condemn her out of hand now, never giving her the benefit of the doubt?

“Just give me time for a shower and I’ll be right with you,” she temporized, playing for time.
 
With a hasty calculation, she decided she would take the mother of all showers and with any luck not arrive in the kitchen until dinner was well underway.

First things first, she thought to herself, as Taine shut the door behind him to give her some much needed peace.
 
She reached for her mobile phone and dialed home.

“Hello?”
 
Aroha’s
voice came loud and clear to her over the line.

“Hi sweetie.
 
How’s your day been?”

“Fine.
 
School was okay.
 
Nana made banana muffins for afternoon tea and she let me have three.
 
They were really yummy.”

Verity smiled at her words.
 
Trust Aroha to be most interested in homemade muffins for afternoon tea.
 
“Your Nana spoils you.”

Aroha giggled happily.
 
“I know.”

“Listen, poppet, I’m not going to be able to come home tonight, I’m afraid.
 
I went out to visit a patient of mine in the country, and a tree blew over on to the road.
 
There’s no other way out, so I’m stuck here until the road crew comes and chainsaws it up.”

“You’re stuck out with a patient?”

“Yeah.”

Aroha laughed.
 
“I hope he’s a tall, dark and handsome patient, and worth getting stuck away from home for.”

“Uh
uh
.
 
He’s
seventy if he’s a day, grumpy as a bear with a sore head, and stuck in his wheelchair.
 
I won’t be getting into any mischief with
him
.”

“I wish you had a boyfriend, Mum.”
 
Aroha’s
voice was suddenly wistful.
 
“It would be cool to have a step-dad.
 
He could take me mountain biking and come to parents’ day at school with you and all that stuff.”

It was hard to breathe all of a sudden.
 
“You wish I had a boyfriend?”
 
She had always thought Aroha was quite content living in an all-female household, monopolizing the attention of her mother and her grandmother.
 
She had certainly never said a word about wanting a father figure in her life before.

“Yeah, but he’s got to be a nice one.
 
Someone who would be lots of fun to play with.
 
Not a grumpy old man in a wheelchair.”

“I promise you, the grumpy old man in the wheelchair is safe from me tonight,” she agreed.
 
“I’ll tell him my daughter doesn’t approve and that will be the end of that.”

Aroha giggled again.
 
“You’re silly.
 
I’ll miss you tonight, Mum.”

“I’ll miss you, too, but I’ll look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”

“Love you forever, Mum.”

“Love you forever.
 
See you tomorrow.”
 
And
she disconnected with a click.

“I thought you didn’t have a hot date tonight.”
 
Taine was standing in the doorway of her room, a lavender towel in one hand and an assortment of bottles of shampoo and shower gel in the other.

She wanted to groan at the militant look in his eye.
 
Evidently
hostilities had started again.
 
It was hardly surprising - Taine could start a world war with just one look.
 
“I don’t.”

“So, who were you talking to?”

She tucked her mobile phone back into her purse.
 
“That’s none of your business.”

“He must be important to you.
 
Or do you profess undying love to anyone and everyone you happen to meet?”

Definitely time to end the skirmish before any more blood
was shed
.
 
“You’re right about one thing – the person I was talking to is a very big part of my life.
 
A far bigger part than you ever were
, or ever could be.”
 
She advanced on him and snatched the towel and the toiletries from his hands, before turning on her heel and marching towards her bathroom.
 
“Now, if you will excuse me, I think I will take a shower.”

Taine leaned against the kitchen wall, staring sightlessly at the open recipe book in his hands.
 
Damn it all, but he had messed up again.
 
He had lured Verity out here to give him a chance to sweet talk her into his bed, not to re-open old wounds that still ached more than they had a right to.

He clenched his fists so tightly that a page started to tear.
 
Hearing her on the phone, telling some other man that she loved him forever, had made him instantly see red.
 
He had wanted to rip the phone out of her hands and slam it against the wall until it smashed into little pieces.
 
And then
do the same to the poor sucker she’d been talking to.

He took several deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down.
 
What did it matter to him if Verity had found some other poor fool to string along?
 
He’d
soon dispose of any other man she’d invited into her bed.
 
He wanted her and he intended to have her, and he
didn’t
plan on sharing his prize with any other man.
 
God damn it, but she was his, and the sooner she acknowledged that fact, the better.

“So, what are we cooking for dinner?”

He jumped at the sound of her voice.
 
He had been so obsessed with controlling his rage that he had not even heard her come in.
 
Slowly he turned to face her, schooling his face to obliterate any trace of his previous anger.
 
“Pasta
carbonara
and salad.”

She looked around the kitchen, seeming slightly puzzled at the total lack of preparations.
 
“What can I do for you?”

He reached for the bottle of red wine breathing on the bench and poured a couple of glasses.
 
“Drink this and keep me company while I cook.”

Verity groaned silently to herself.
 
A glass of wine in Taine’s company was exactly what she
didn’t
need.
 
She drank so seldom that even one glass was enough to make her lightheaded.
 
She was bound to say something that would embarrass her – something terminally stupid like telling him how much she missed the touch of his hands on her body, like begging him to hold her and make love to her as he had threatened to do, just one last time.
 

She took the glass he held out to her, but did not drink.
 
Her hormones were playing dirty tricks on her.
 
She had not had a lover in ten years and not really missed the intimacy or the shared pleasure - or so she thought.
 
No one in those ten long years had gotten through her reserve or fired her blood as Taine had done.