Читать книгу British Bachelors: Delicious & Dangerous - Kate Hardy - Страница 12

CHAPTER FIVE

IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE to drift off into a relaxed sleep after the day’s events—events that had upsettingly culminated in Hal’s shocking fall. Kit thanked her lucky stars that he hadn’t injured himself more, but she was still anxious to have the nurse check him over when she visited tomorrow. She prayed the woman wouldn’t think she hadn’t done her job properly because she’d left Hal unsupervised and in doing so proved herself incompetent. The last thing Kit wanted was to have her report back to Hal’s sister with the suggestion that she hire someone else. It would be the first black mark on her unblemished record with the agency if she did.

Unable to banish the worry and doubt that plagued her, she thumped the luxurious feather pillow she’d been resting her head on and turned over onto her side. Her mind raced on. More than anything else she wanted Hal Treverne to see that she was the very best at what she did, and for him to realise that she was totally dedicated to helping aid his recovery.

Is that all you want him to see? That you’re competent and good at what you do?

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake.’

Once more Kit sat up and drove her fingers restlessly through her hair. The provoking question her mind had mocked her with was hardly conducive to her getting much sleep at all that night if she decided to explore it, she realised. Yet she couldn’t deny that the man disturbed her. He made her more aware of her femininity than any other man had ever done before...especially when he kissed her!

The fact that he had a broken leg and was irritable and frustrated by his resultant immobility didn’t make Kit any less aware of the man’s undoubted charisma and sex appeal. But then, when she recalled that Hal had told her at the interview that he might need to call on her for company at night if he couldn’t sleep, her heart skipped an anxious beat. People were apt to let their guard down more during the night-time hours. What would they talk about? Kit wouldn’t dream of betraying any confidences he might share, but at the same time she hoped he wouldn’t expect her to reveal any of her own. She’d never been at all easy talking about her past, and whenever it arose she’d developed a strategy of automatically glossing over the details and then acting as if it was hardly of any consequence.

‘The past is in the past and that’s where it should stay,’ she’d comment, endeavouring for a blithe, cheery tone.

Would Hal Treverne break her cover and intuit that her guard was as strong as a portcullis slamming down to keep out the enemy if he should veer into that particular territory? And would he wonder why she was so reluctant to talk about it? Only tonight he’d vowed to talk to her about what had made her ‘so eminently sensible’ she recalled. His resolution had made her understandably anxious at the idea of even briefly having to revisit the circumstances and events that had shaped her. To discuss her past with him might threaten to open a can of worms that wouldn’t easily be closed... It could also undo the self-confidence she’d built up over the past few years since working for the agency. It might even destroy it completely.

Making an abrupt decision to deal with whatever should transpire and not allow it to make her flustered, Kit resignedly combed her fingers through her freed mane of silken copper hair once again and lay back down. Deciding to draw upon the sheer determination and pragmatism she usually utilised to get her through life’s challenges, she promised herself she would have a far less troubling day tomorrow, come what may. And on that reassuring note she finally allowed her eyes to drift closed...

* * *

The surprising realisation that hit Hal on opening his eyes the next morning was that for the first time since the accident he had astonishingly experienced an unbroken night’s sleep. He’d slept through the night without waking even once. Barely able to believe it, he sat upright, bemusedly scrubbed his hand round his studded jaw and then pushed back the duvet. Yes, he’d taken two strong painkillers before retiring, but they had never worked as effectively before.

Had his redheaded guardian angel put some kind of spell on him? Glancing down at his injured leg, he saw that even the swelling on his damaged knee had diminished a little. That stupid fall of his last night hadn’t hurt him at all. But it had acted as a warning to him not to refuse Kit’s help when he needed it all because he was striving to be so damn independent! From now on he would endeavour to be more sensible. His swift recovery so that he could return to his busy life depended on it.

Although he had a bevy of reliable people working for him, he wouldn’t be happy until he was back at the helm overseeing things and feeling satisfied that everything was being done properly and to the high standards he expected.

A short while after he had washed and dressed there was a knock on the door and his intention to be sensible was immediately put to the test as Kit came in, pushing his wheelchair. This morning she was wearing mouth-wateringly fitted blue jeans that hugged her slender hips and thighs as though paying devoted homage to her arresting contours and what looked to be a large-sized man’s red and white check flannel shirt, encircled by a shiny red belt that showed off her ridiculously small waist. Once again her wavy auburn hair was threatening to tumble free from the topknot that never seemed quite able to secure it.

Hal stared. He couldn’t help it. A bolt of white-hot heat shot through him at the thought of taking down that fiery hair, unbuttoning the ridiculous man’s shirt she wore, freeing her breasts from her bra and kissing them until his lips and body were on fire from the sea of blissful pleasure that he would no doubt be drowning in...

‘Good morning.’ She smiled.

Feeling somewhat dazed by his heated reaction at seeing her again, Hal continued to make a personal inventory of her assets as though noticing them for the very first time. Her eyes were as blue as the brightest delphiniums that Mother Nature could devise, and her rosy cheeks and full red lips would surely tempt even the most devout monk to rethink his vows. Kissing them would be like tasting the sweetest ripe cherries he could imagine.

‘Henry...are you all right?’

The most exquisite little frown he had ever seen puckered Kit’s smooth alabaster brow. She must have put a spell on him. He had a creative mind, but never before in his entire romantic history to date had he thought of a woman’s frown as being ‘exquisite’. He sat on the edge of the vast king-sized bed, with his injured leg stretched out in front of him and resting on a footstool, and right then life felt surprisingly good. If this was what this incredible woman could do for him—make him feel happy to be alive in the midst of what he had previously deemed a disaster—then he’d be an absolute idiot to let her go.

At last he managed to convey his pleasure at seeing her to his lips. Shaping them into a pleased smile, he said, ‘I’m absolutely fine. In fact I’ve never felt better.’

‘I take it you’re being sardonic?’ Again Kit frowned, but this time the gesture was undoubtedly more perturbed.

‘Not at all. I slept like a baby last night. Consequently I feel on top of the world.’

‘Must have been those painkillers that you took.’

‘Maybe.’ With his smile still intact, Hal nonchalantly shrugged his big shoulders.

With a bemused sigh Kit manoeuvred the wheelchair a little closer towards him. ‘Anyway...I thought I’d wheel you into the kitchen for breakfast this morning and save the wear and tear on your legs. Especially after that fall you had last night. You can use your crutches later, after you’ve seen the nurse and when you’ve rested up a bit.’

Even though her concerned declaration made Hal feel more like an eighty-year-old than a young, fit man at the height of his powers—or at least he had been until his accident—he was predisposed to forgive her, because the very welcome sleep he’d enjoyed last night, along with the growing realisation that she was somehow becoming important to him, made him feel much more amiable than he’d felt in a very long while. But he couldn’t resist the opportunity to gently make fun of her. ‘Save the wear and tear on my legs? Who was your last client, Kit? Methuselah?’

‘Very funny. Why don’t you get into the wheelchair and we’ll go and get you some breakfast before the nurse arrives?’

At the table, Kit poured him a large mug of coffee and then sat opposite him to sip the cup of tea she’d made for herself.

‘I’m so relieved to hear that you slept well last night,’ she told him. ‘I was worried that your fall might have given you a few extra aches and pains to keep you awake.’

‘Well, it didn’t. Like I said, I slept like a baby. By the way, what time is the nurse due?’

‘I checked in the diary and she’ll be here in about an hour. That gives me plenty of time to get you your breakfast. What can I get for you?’

‘A couple of slices of wholemeal toast with marmalade will suffice. I rarely have much more than that.’

‘Well...’ Her rosy cheeks dimpled disarmingly. ‘One of these mornings I’m hoping you’ll let me cook you the full English. It’s one of my specialties.’

Fielding another bolt of disturbing heat, because he’d realised how more and more attractive she was becoming to him, Hal leveled her a deliberately flirtatious smile. ‘How could I refuse such an irresistible invitation? You certainly know how to tempt a man when he’s down, Ms Blessington...especially when he’s literally been knocked off his feet.’

His companion’s even white teeth worried delicately at her fulsome lower lip.

‘Are you saying that you’re more susceptible to temptation when you’re feeling low?’

Hal responded with a short, ironic laugh. ‘I hardly need a reason to be more susceptible to temptation than I am already.’ His voice had turned unwittingly husky and Kit’s rosy cheeks turned even rosier, he noticed.

‘Well...’ Seizing the chance to free herself from his undoubtedly disconcerting examination, she got hurriedly to her feet. ‘I’d better get on with making you that toast.’

‘Don’t forget to do some for yourself.’

‘All I need in the morning is a cup of tea.’

His gaze swept pointedly up and down her figure. ‘You’ll fade away. You’re not on some ridiculous diet, I hope?’

‘No, I’m not.’ Her expression was painfully affronted. ‘Do you think I’d be on a diet at the expense of my health? I trust I have more common sense than that. In any case I’m a high-energy person and I don’t easily put on weight. The more I do, the more I just burn it off.’

‘Well, don’t get too skinny.’ Hal grinned, absentmindedly stirring another teaspoon of sugar into his coffee. ‘I like my women to have a decent amount of flesh on their bones.’

‘Well...how fortunate that I’m not one of your women, then,’ Kit returned smartly, delphinium-blue eyes flashing. ‘In any case, according to the press, you certainly have plenty to choose from.’

So she had read those tiresome reports of his so-called salacious conduct in the newspapers. It seemed he wasn’t going to get off lightly in her eyes...broken leg or no broken leg. She wouldn’t be in a hurry to grant him any kind of dispensation. He silently balked at the idea that what she’d read about him might have already sullied her opinion.

‘It may or may not interest you to know, but I haven’t had a date in over six months now—and you really should be a bit more discerning about what you read in the tabloids, Kit. Maybe it’s time you changed to a better class of newspaper?’

The flush on her face was akin to the shade of fresh beetroot, and Hal instantly regretted the biting comment. But it was too late to retract it.

‘You’re entitled to your opinion, of course. Would you like some more coffee with your toast, Mr Treverne?’

Moving over to the shiny stainless steel toaster on the counter, Kit had obviously decided not to get into a debate about the issue, and although he secretly craved her forgiveness for being so cutting Hal was undeniably relieved. But he still wasn’t able to let her have the last word...

‘So we’re back to the more formal address now, are we? I told you I’d prefer it if you didn’t call me that. Anyway...’

She turned just in time to see him raise a mocking eyebrow, his gaze unwavering and direct.

‘...don’t you think it’s rather ridiculous when you’ve seen me buck naked in the bath?’

‘You had a towel wrapped round you, as I recall.’ Kit crossed her arms over her shirt and her glance was formidably fierce.

‘A ridiculously small towel that left very little to the imagination, I’m sure.’

‘Are you forgetting that I helped you into your robe afterwards?’

‘No, I hadn’t forgotten. I was merely being a gentleman and not mentioning it.’

With a bemused look, Kit sighed. ‘At any rate, don’t you think I have anything better to do than spend my time dwelling on what you look like naked?’

‘No doubt you do. But don’t bruise my already fragile ego by denying me the very healthy male fantasy of you lusting after my body in your spare time.’

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake...you’re impossible!’

‘I’ve been called worse things in my time.’

‘I think we should just call a halt to this inane conversation right now and concentrate on having our breakfast, don’t you?’

Once again Hal lifted a sardonic brow. ‘You just told me that you don’t eat breakfast.’

With a frustrated groan, Kit pushed back the tendril of auburn hair that had drifted onto her forehead and exasperatedly rolled her eyes. ‘Well, I might just be driven to it to help me keep up my strength if you persist in trying to wind me up all day!’

It was perverse, but Hal privately admitted to a strange delight in knowing he could get to her—even if her reaction wasn’t the usual smitten one he’d grown used to receiving from women.

Taking a couple of satisfying sips of his coffee, he gave her a disarming grin. ‘I’ll do my best not to aggravate you, sweetheart, really I will. But you surely can’t deny a poor invalid these only too brief opportunities to brighten up his day? That is not unless you have a heart of stone?’

‘So it’s a “poor invalid” you are now, is it?’

‘What else could I be when I’m stuck here in this wheelchair?’ Suddenly, out of the blue, his mood turning on a sixpence, Hal’s frustration at his immobility got the better of him. ‘Trust me, angel. If I wasn’t so incapacitated by this blasted broken leg I’d be chasing you round the room until I caught you and stole a long, satisfying kiss!’ The very idea at being able to carry out such a threat instantly restored his good humour. ‘Although I know one could never possibly be enough.’

‘Don’t you remember you already stole one yesterday?’

‘You told me you’d forgotten about that. Maybe it left more of an impression than you admitted? Perhaps I should take a chance and steal another one to remind you how good it was?’

‘I don’t agree. Although I won’t deny you your harmless little fantasy if it helps to keep your spirits up. Anything that aids your recovery is fine by me, because once you’re up and about again, and you can get back to your busy life and the no doubt infinite number of women who find you so irresistible, you’ll be a lot happier and my job here will be done.’

Just before she turned away to slot some bread into the toaster Hal saw her lips wrestle with the most maddening grin and he couldn’t help scowling because—unbelievably—she had bettered him by finally getting the last word...

* * *

Having pronounced him better than she’d hoped, the cheerful nurse from the private hospital Hal attended departed, promising to see him again in a week’s time and instructing him to call if he needed to see her sooner. When she’d gone he told Kit that he intended to work in his study until lunchtime and that she could please herself what she did until then.

Cutting him down to size with the comments she’d made in the kitchen before the nurse arrived had made her regret being so outspoken, because since then he’d fallen worryingly silent and there had been no more provocative banter between them. Even though her blood had throbbed like honey heated over a slow-burning flame when Hal had confessed he wished he could chase her round the room and steal another kiss...

Kit knew she shouldn’t encourage any more flirtatious comments because it would only make it harder not to see him again when her job came to an end. Besides, she knew he couldn’t possibly be serious about wanting to kiss her for a second time. She was certain that the brief but delicious kiss he’d delivered yesterday had only come about because the circumstances had been so helplessly intimate. After all, you couldn’t get much more intimate than helping a man into the bath and washing his hair, Kit reflected, her blood heating at the memory.

Besides, according to the press, he’d dated some of the most beautiful women in the world. There was no way on God’s good green earth that Kit could ever hope to match up to any of them...but then nor would she want to. If she ever fell in love with someone it would have to be with a man who wasn’t so easily seduced by the temptations of the world, or one who felt he had to keep up some kind of glossy ‘action man’ image to be accepted by it.

No...none of that would be necessary, because the man she settled on would soon learn that he was with a woman who truly loved him for himself...not for what he could achieve or provide materially. Biting her lip, because she’d been drawn into mulling over a scenario that she rarely allowed herself to dwell on, Kit started in surprise when five minutes later Hal called her into his study.

After knocking and entering the room, Kit stared wide-eyed at the proudly displayed evidence of his achievement—awards he’d received from the music industry and stunning photographs of the various sporting challenges he’d participated in round the world. The only evidence of anything more personal was a lovely silver-framed portrait of his sister Sam.

Unable to help herself, Kit twitched her lips in amusement when her glance collided with the calendar above Hal’s desk. The photograph depicting the current month was of a generously curved, famous blonde model wearing a white bikini... Scratch that... Nearly wearing a white bikini. She was still smiling when her gaze returned to Hal and saw that his chameleon-gold eyes were studying her intently, as if he was wondering what she made of all the awards and pictures on show...never mind the audacious calendar.

‘You must be very proud of all your achievements,’ she commented brightly. She didn’t anticipate the downturned mouth and impatient shrug he gave her in response.

‘There are other things I’d like to achieve more,’ he answered intriguingly.

‘Like what, exactly?’

The handsome features were instantly guarded. ‘It’s not something I feel inclined to discuss right now, if you don’t mind.’

‘I don’t mind at all.’

Kit genuinely meant that, but she couldn’t help but be curious as to what exactly Hal Treverne wanted to achieve that was even more commendable than what he’d attained already. Was there any goal or pursuit in the privileged world he inhabited that he hadn’t accomplished or excelled at? It didn’t seem likely.

Lightly folding her arms over her flannel shirt, she asked, ‘What did you call me in for?’

Leaning back in his leather chair, he extracted a business card from his leather wallet and handed it to her.

‘I’d like you to book a table for two at this restaurant for lunch today. Tell them that I’d like one of the more private tables, with some space around it so that I can stretch out my leg.’

Briefly examining the card and recognising the name of an elite Michelin-starred restaurant that the rich and famous were known to frequent, Kit quickly scanned her memory banks for easily accessible nearby parking in the area.

As if reading her mind, Hal said, ‘You don’t have to worry about parking. The concierge will have a member of staff do that for us when we arrive.’

‘Okay. What time should I book the table for?’

‘Half past one will be fine.’

‘And are you meeting your guest at the restaurant?’ Her heart thudded heavily at the thought that he was probably meeting some nubile blonde who was his latest lady-friend. Kit didn’t quite buy his assertion that he hadn’t dated in over six months. A man like Hal Treverne wouldn’t be without a woman for very long—not if his colourful reputation was anything to go by.

‘What guest?’ He was looking distinctly perplexed. ‘It’s you I’m going to lunch with, Kit. Isn’t that obvious?’

Now her heart thudded even harder. ‘But you’re booking a table at one of the most fashionable eateries in town. Do I have to dress up? If I do then I can’t go. My wardrobe doesn’t stretch to anything remotely suitable for a restaurant like that, and I don’t want to embarrass you.’

‘Embarrass me? You obviously don’t get out a lot do you, sweetheart?’ Tunnelling his fingers through his thick mane of dark curls, Hal shook his head bemusedly. ‘You don’t need fashionable clothing, or indeed any adornment other than that mane of glorious fiery hair and those beautiful blue eyes of yours, to make you fit to appear in any fancy restaurant in the world. Besides, I’ve frequented this particular establishment more times than I care to mention, and trust me...’ the sculpted lips shaped themselves into an irrepressible grin ‘...the owner—who happens to be a personal friend of mine—would cut off his right arm rather than risk losing my custom.’

Silently reeling from the totally unexpected effusive compliment she’d just received, and the fact that yet again he had called her sweetheart, Kit struggled for a moment to reply.

‘All right, then. I’ll go ahead and make the reservation.’

‘Good. Now, as much as I regret bringing our little tête-à-tête’ to an end, I suppose I’d better get on with some work. By the way, Mrs Baker, my cleaning lady, is due in soon. Let her in and introduce yourself, will you?’

‘Of course.’

‘Good.’

As he turned his attention back to the paperwork strewn untidily across his desk Kit quietly let herself out, wondering what she could do to help make her more impervious to Hal Treverne’s irresistible charm and charisma if she were to continue to stay working for him.