Wild and Willing! (17 page)

Other details, the sort you couldn’t really ignore, became distressingly apparent to her. Like the fact she was lying half on top of him, one thigh draped over his legs again, one arm hooked around his neck, her breasts crushed against his torso, her head wedged under his chin. The fact she was only covered by a thin layer of cotton and he by even less made it quite clear he was not unaffected by the intimate contact.

‘She’s awake, she’s awake!’ two voices chirruped. ‘Can we get in too?’

Anna groaned, and with a convulsive movement
rolled off him onto the floor, taking the covers with her. ‘How could you?’ she breathed, glaring at him wrathfully. She realised belatedly that pulling all the covers off him had been less than a good idea. He had the best body she had ever seen, or at least the only one that could make her stare like a child in a sweet shop. It could make Greek gods weep with envy!

‘How could I not?’ he responded, catching the sheet she flung at him with a grin. ‘Kids, bathroom,’ he said to the boys, who were standing on top of her bed watching the proceedings from their grandstand position. He just inclined his head to the doorway when they showed a marked inclination to linger, and the call of nature was more urgent than their curiosity. ‘Admit it, Anna, you’d have been insulted if I’d been immune.’

‘You’re nothing but a lecherous…!’ she began in an agitated voice. The rich, warm burr in his voice and the gleam in his eyes made her seriously frightened.

‘I’m a man who woke up with his arms full of beautiful, soft, warm, sensuous female. Incidentally you look pretty passable in the morning. What do you expect me to do?’

‘
Any
female would have done, then?’ she interjected, her pride stung. Stupid, stupid, Anna, she told herself, biting her lip but finding the words impossible to retract.

‘Fishing?’ he suggested, sitting upright with a fluid movement that made the muscles in her stomach clench. God, but she loved to watch him…touch him too, a small, honest voice added.

‘If you need to be reassured that I find you attractive we’ve got a bad communication problem here. I thought I’d been pretty forthright on that subject last night.’

‘I’m hardly flattered that you took advantage of the situation.’

‘On the contrary, I behaved with extremely painful decorum.’ His eyes half closed as they slid over her slender figure, a half-rueful smile playing on his lips. ‘Emphasis
on the painful! I enjoyed waking up to find you plastered over me, and I did peek.’ A devilish light shone in his eyes as she gave a disgusted groan. ‘I’m only a weak man. I wasn’t in any fit state to do anything about the situation last night.’

‘That’s not the way I remember it,’ she said drily. ‘Either way you seem to have recovered this morning.’

‘You noticed that?’

‘Hardly at all,’ she responded dampeningly. He seemed to be entirely too smug about this situation for her liking. She cursed the flush that mounted her cheeks as a slow, intimate smile curved his lips.

‘I can hardly let that slur on my manhood go unchallenged, sweetheart.’

‘Adam!’
she warned.

‘Come and warm your…feet, darling,’ he suggested. He was teasing her now and she knew it, but even so the tiny hiccups of excitement kept fluttering through her bloodstream, making her head feel light and giddy.

‘This isn’t funny,’ she hissed. ‘The twins saw us; what will they think?’

‘The twins aren’t out of that blissful and all too short age of innocence yet.’

‘Don’t sound so superior,’ she snapped, placing her hands on her hips and loosing her grip on the swaddled blankets. ‘The twins are likely to share that information with other people who will be less generous with their interpretation of events.’

‘Does this mean your parents are likely to ask me to make an honest woman of you?’ he enquired with interest.

‘Be serious, Adam,’ she retorted. ‘If only I hadn’t fallen asleep,’ she wailed suddenly, sitting down crosslegged and pulling the blanket over her shoulders. ‘This is so…so humiliating.’

‘I think you’re creating a tragedy out of a triviality,’ he said, unmoved by her dejected figure. ‘It’s not as if
we did anything—unless you took advantage of me after all?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ She shot him a murderous look.

‘I thought I was the one without the sense of humour? Aren’t you overreacting just a tad?’

If it had been anyone else but him she would have enjoyed the absurdity of the situation, but with Adam…

‘Why did you get into bed with me anyway?’

‘You asked me to,’ she reminded him bitterly.

He struck his forehead with his hand. ‘You mean that’s all it takes?’ he said in a thunderstruck voice. ‘When I think of all the time I’ve wasted over the years—all the romantic dinners and flowers.’

‘Shut up! I haven’t received any romantic dinners or flowers.’

‘Does that mean…?’

She would feel a lot safer if she could extinguish that gleam in his eyes. ‘I got into bed with you because you were about to wake the twins, and I felt sorry for you. You were very tired,’ she finished weakly.

‘Oh, that makes it
much
clearer; I was a charity case.’

‘You won’t find the whole thing so funny if Jessica finds out about it.’

A speculative gleam entered his eyes and he rolled with sinuous grace back down onto the canvas bed. ‘Do you think that’s likely?’ He placed his hands under his head and stared reflectively at the ceiling.

He didn’t sound the least little bit bothered. In fact he sounded as if he relished the prospect! The inconsistencies of this man’s behaviour were baffling.

‘What is it with you two? Is your sex life together so boring that you need extra conquests?’

‘Are you planning to be my conquest?’ His attention switched back to her.

With a smile of sweet malice she placed her foot on the end of the camp bed. She deliberately placed her full weight on the fragile structure. The action had the desired
effect of sending him slithering onto the floor in an inelegant heap. Silence would be the most dignified form of exit, she decided, making it to the door before he had an opportunity to retaliate.

CHAPTER EIGHT

S
IMON
arrived whilst everyone was sitting around the big farmhouse table eating breakfast. He looked taken aback to see the guests.

‘Sorry to interrupt, but I need to talk to Anna.’ Simon sounded like a man in the grip of strong emotions.

‘Sit down and have some food,’ her father suggested. ‘She’s hardly eaten anything yet,’ he observed critically.

Anna had been hoping her lack of appetite would go unnoticed. She was sure the twins were going to innocently introduce what could be a very embarrassing subject at any moment, and her nerves were stretched taut. Kate had already looked at her very curiously when she’d returned to the bedroom earlier and she didn’t want to fuel the speculation she’d seen in that young woman’s eyes.

‘Actually it’s quite urgent, and I’d like to see Anna
alone
.’

‘I’ve finished,’ Anna said quickly. The faces around the table responded to this unusually forceful outburst with varying degrees of surprise and interest. ‘Let’s take a walk around the garden,’ she suggested, pushing her chair away.

‘Great!’ Simon shot her a grateful look.

‘Excuse me, everyone.’ She couldn’t stop her eyes from travelling towards Adam.

He sat between the twins, who each sat on top of cushions to boost them up to table level. He had lost his tailored, professional look today and was wearing a black T-shirt and jeans. The black was made for his blond hair and tanned skin, and the denim hugged his
lean hips and muscular thighs in a manner that made her throat grow dry and her cheeks grow pink.

He wasn’t looking at her, but as if sensing the eyes on him he raised his head slightly and stared directly into her face. The look was so cold and hostile that Anna flinched from the austere regard before turning to leave. How dared he condemn her? she thought furiously. For it had been condemnation she’d read in his eyes and the faint sneer of his lips.

She tried to dismiss Adam from her thoughts as she led Simon to the walled herb garden that was her mother’s pride and joy. He was emanating enough tension to make it quite obvious he was a friend in need and he deserved her full attention.

‘Well?’ she said, finally breaking the silence.

‘I’ve been thinking about what you said—about my marriage. You were right,’ he said in a rush.

‘If only everybody had your perception,’ she teased lightly, but it was easy to see Simon was not in the mood to appreciate humour, dry or otherwise. ‘Can I help?’ She ignored the voice that told her not to get involved.

‘I was hoping you’d say that.’ Simon caught her hands in his own.

‘That sounds ominous,’ she murmured. The distant sound of the twins’ laughter was suddenly cut off and when she glanced in the direction of the sound there was nothing to be seen.

‘The thing is, Anna, it’s little Emily’s birthday at the end of the week and I thought I’d surprise her—them both.’

‘Sounds like a good start,’ she said, not quite seeing how her co-operation was necessary for this scheme.

‘Mum’s gone to Scotland to stay with Aunt May; it’s her annual holiday. She’s brought in someone to look after the shop and post office. I’m the live-in tenant for the duration, for security purposes—the insurance insists.’

‘You want me to house-sit?’ she said with some relief. ‘Is that all?’

‘Then you’ll do it?’ A grin broke out over his face and he lifted her up in a bear hug. ‘You’re an angel!’

‘Simon,’ she squeaked with amusement. ‘I’ve been accident-prone enough lately without adding broken ribs to the list.’

‘Sorry. You do think I’m doing the right thing?’ Doubt crept into his voice as he placed her back on her feet.

‘I’m positive,’ she responded dutifully. She was rewarded with a grin that reminded her of the boy she’d once known.

‘About the other thing,’ he began awkwardly. ‘I’d hate you to think I’d been using you… I’ve always found you very attractive…’

‘Forget it,’ she said firmly. ‘I have.’

She watched him leave a little while later and wished her own problems had such a simple solution.

‘Isn’t Simon coming in?’ Beth asked when she went back into the house.

‘Not today; he’s got a lot to do,’ she said, automatically taking the clean plate her mother passed her. Instead of putting it away she stared at it fixedly, her thoughts elsewhere.

‘Jake’s popped into the village for the Sunday papers. Lovely boy,’ she added, her eyes on her daughter’s face.

‘What…? Mmm,’ Anna agreed vaguely.

‘So like his uncle.’

Anna’s attention sharpened at her mother’s too innocent face. ‘Only in the looks department,’ she responded. ‘As you said—
Jake
is lovely.’

‘I hope you won’t send his hormones haywire by telling him that,’ the voice behind her commented drily.

‘Listen who’s talking!’ she snarled belligerently, turning around to face her tormentor. ‘You’re hardly the epitome of control, are you?’

‘I think I’ll go and help Kate and the boys pack,’ Beth said, as if the antagonism that had sprung to life in the room weren’t there. ‘Excuse me, Adam, dear,’ she murmured as she elbowed her way past his brooding figure.

‘Has lover boy gone?’

‘If you’re referring to Simon then yes, he has.’ She stared with unwilling fascination at a pulse that jumped erratically beside his mouth. For some inexplicable reason Adam was in a furious temper.

‘He’s not right for you.’

‘Whatever makes you think I’d take your judgement as law?’ Her large eyes sizzled with anger. ‘Always supposing it was any of your business to begin with.’

‘I’m making it my business.’

Anna was angry and confused, but even so she could recognise jealousy when she saw it. The sheer hypocrisy of it took her breath away, but not her voice.

‘What is this, Adam? You don’t want me, but you don’t want anyone else to have me either?’

‘I
do
want you.’ All his anger and frustration were channelled into the stark words.

‘As a bit of light relief,’ she accused bitterly, ‘before you get on to the serious stuff, like marrying Jessica!’

‘Jessica isn’t relevant in this conversation.’

‘I wouldn’t lay odds on that.’

He reached out and placed his hands on her shoulders. They felt as heavy and oppressive as the love she was carrying around in her aching heart. ‘What exactly is Simon offering you? He is a married man.’

‘At the moment,’ she taunted, lifting her head and smiling with deliberate provocation into his savage face.

‘And what would he say if he knew you woke up in my bed, my arms?’ he asked. His hands slipped up to cup her face.

‘I expect he’d laugh about it.’ Her own laugh tinkled out, brittle and strained. ‘After all, it was a bit of a joke, wasn’t it?’

Hard-faced and remote, the colour bleached beneath his tan, Anna barely recognised Adam. All his emotion seemed concentrated in his eyes, and she flinched from the expression there. Maybe she’d gone a bit far in her efforts to repay some of the misery he was inflicting on her. Not that she could ever hurt him in the same way—you had to love someone to be that vulnerable. She’d just targeted his pride and frustrated lust.

‘Is this a joke?’

Way too far, she thought dizzily as he lifted his mouth from her bruised lips a few moments later.

‘And this?’ he persisted thickly. His mouth unmercifully teased her lips into submission. With fatal subtlety he wrung a passionate response from her. As his head lifted she stood stock-still, mesmerised by the expression of fierce triumph in his hooded eyes. ‘You’re not laughing,’ he observed throatily.

She angrily blinked back the sudden sting of hot tears. He could be so cruel! She moved her fingers, which had somehow become interlaced behind his back, and let her arms fall to her sides.

‘I don’t think I was meant to.’ She lifted her reproachful eyes to his face. ‘You didn’t illustrate anything either of us didn’t already know. All you’ve done is prove what I already knew deep down: you don’t give a damn about me. You wanted to hurt me! You have—satisfied?’ She glimpsed a startled expression on his face before she swept out of the room.