The Tempestuous Flame Read online

  His voice sounded clearly through the closed door, but Caroline pointedly ignored him. How dared he make fun of her like that! Warped sense of humour indeed—warped mind, more like!

  ‘Don’t be childish, Caro. I warned you I’d get you back for sinking your teeth into my hand. We’re quits now. Don’t be such a bad sport.’

  She could feel herself weakening under his cajoling. She had bitten his hand, and he had warned her he would pay her back for it. At least he hadn’t done her any physical damage as she had him, only embarrassed her a little. No, be honest, he had embarrassed her a lot. Her eyes had been drawn compulsively to his tanned body as he removed his shirt, and she had to admit it was a very attractive body. Wide powerful shoulders tapered down to a narrow waist, dark hair ran down his chest to his navel, and his skin was a deep mahogany brown, evidence of his time recently spent in the sun.

  ‘Caro?’ he persisted.

  ‘All right.’ She opened the door. ‘And will you stop calling me by that name!’

  ‘Don’t you like it?’ She could tell by the laughter still evident in his eyes that he was still amused by her embarrassment.

  ‘It isn’t that. It sounds—it gives people the wrong impression about us.’

  ‘Brian Wells, you mean,’ he guessed shrewdly. ‘I’ll call you what I damn well please. Caro suits you better than Caroline.’

  ‘All right. I’ve realised by now that you’ll only do what you want to,’ she sighed. ‘You’re so stubborn!’

  ‘So are you. That’s probably why we argue.’ He took her arm. ‘I’m ready for those sketches now. And no teasing this time.’

  She looked up at him, seeing the difficulty he had controlling his mirth. She had to laugh, and he soon joined in. ‘How far would you have gone if I hadn’t stopped you?’ she asked between chuckles.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ he answered truthfully. ‘I can’t really answer that—you did stop me, so my answer would be irrelevant. But I’m not ashamed of showing my body.’

  She wasn’t surprised. It was a firm muscled body, and he obviously kept himself in good physical condition, with none of the boardroom fat that seemed to trouble her father. This man looked after his body.

  He sat down in the chair. ‘So how do you want me?’

  She raised a mocking eyebrow but forbore from making any comment. ‘Just act normally, I don’t want set poses.’ She began to sketch in earnest, strong firm lines on the paper that soon began to take on the shape of André Gregory’s face.

  ‘Do you want to listen to some music?’

  She shrugged, concentrating hard, her tongue resting on her bottom lip. ‘I don’t mind. If you feel you can relax better, go ahead.’

  André stood up. ‘I’m not tense. I just thought it might be nice to listen to some soft romantic music’

  Her look sharpened at his use of the word romantic, but he was no longer looking at her but at the varied record collection in the cabinet. The sure strong sound of Johnny Mathis soon pervaded the room, an old favourite with Caroline, and she smiled her pleasure. It was the perfect music for a relaxing evening, the sort of music for lovers to listen to. But they weren’t lovers! Nor ever likely to be, no matter what her father said.

  Several sketches later she sat back with a sigh. ‘I think that’s enough for today. I’ll do some more tomorrow when I’m feeling fresher. Want to see?’ She held up the four sketches she had done.

  ‘Sure,’ He came to stand next to her, leafing through them. There was one of him laughing, one simply smiling, another of him brooding and thoughtful, and finally one of him blazingly angry. He laughed when he came to this one. ‘Do I really look like that?’

  ‘When you’re angry, yes. Very forbidding.’

  ‘Mm.’ He studied it a few moments longer, sitting on the arm of her chair, his arm resting across her shoulders. ‘No wonder some of my business rivals look a bit subdued when they come up against me! I never realised I had that effect on people.’

  She was very conscious of his hand on her shoulder, of its warmth against her skin. ‘Believe me, I know. I’ve been on the receiving end.’

  ‘Hm,’ That hand began to massage her nape. ‘Would you like me to make recompense for my bad humour of yesterday?’ he asked softly, and looked down at her bent head.

  ‘Feeling guilty?’ Caroline cursed herself for the break in her voice. If only he would remove his hand, stop doing strange things to her senses!

  ‘No, but I might enjoy making amends.’ His voice was curiously close to her ear, and she squirmed beneath his questing lips on her nape.

  ‘Stop it, André,’ she begged, trying to move away but finding it impossible in the confines of the chair.

  ‘You should have said that the other evening,’ he murmured. ‘Then I might have taken some notice of you. Right now I’m taking notice of nothing but my own senses. And they’re telling me to go right on kissing you.’

  ‘Please, André. Don’t!’ But she didn’t really want him to stop. She loved the feel of his lips against her skin, not soft and moist like some men’s but firm and sure and completely knowledgeable of her most sensitive areas, like the nape of her neck and the area of skin just below her ear. ‘Stop it!’ she pleaded.

  ‘In a moment.’ He spoke from deep within his throat, sliding off the arm of the chair and into the chair itself, their bodies pressed intimately together from shoulder to thigh. ‘Did Wells kiss you like this?’ he parted her lips probingly. ‘Or like this?’ now down to the hollow between her breasts. ‘Or like this?’ he undid the buttons of her blouse to further explore those rosy peaks that could be seen through the semi-transparency of the material.

  ‘No,’ she admitted in a strangulated voice. ‘No one has ever kissed me like this before.’

  ‘No one?’ His mouth returned to tantalise hers, taking her lips and releasing them until she arched up against him in frustration, her mouth parted invitingly.

  ‘No one,’ she answered impatiently, not wanting to talk.

  ‘Do you like it?’ He was pressing slow languorous kisses against her creamy throat.

  ‘I like it.’ Her eyes were pleading, looking at that strong mouth only inches away from her own, so near and yet deliberately denied her. She knew André was well aware of his effect on her, that he revelled in her weakness almost. But it was a weakness she couldn’t help, one that she couldn’t deny, this longing for his caresses. Once again their verbal fencing had brought them to this weakening onslaught, and once again she couldn’t deny him.

  She moved against him now, making only moans of pleasure at his mouth on her own. His body lay across hers, but it wasn’t uncomfortable, more seductive, as he pressed her back against the chair until she could move no further, their bodies curved perfectly one against the other.

  André slipped her blouse off one shoulder, his lips travelling over the soft skin there with a sureness she revelled in. ‘This could become habit-forming,’ he murmured softly.

  ‘What could?’ She scarcely dared breathe lest she break his mood.

  He moved his head back slightly to look at her, the dark swathe of hair across his forehead giving him a rakish appearance. ‘This could. This thing between us that makes me want to either beat you or make love to you. And I’m not sure which emotion is going to win.’

  Caroline breathed huskily. ‘Which do you want to win?’ she whispered.

  He gave a wry grin. ‘Which do you think?’

  ‘I—I’m not sure.’ She avoided his eyes.

  He gave a throaty laugh and bit her earlobe playfully. ‘Right now, as close as we are, I’m sure you’re very much aware of what I want to do to you. But I didn’t come here with a casual love affair in mind,’ he added. ‘So I think one of us will have to leave here soon, before this situation gets out of control.’

  The passion left her eyes and the reality of just what she was inviting washed over her. She stiffened in his arms. ‘Do you ever let a situation get out of control?’ she taunted.

&nbs
p; ‘If I want it to.’

  ‘Do you never let anything happen spontaneously?’

  André moved up and away from her, moving to look down at the fire, his back towards her. ‘I’m a man, Caroline, not a boy. I’ve learnt to control my emotions to a certain degree. Of course, there comes a time for a man when it’s too late to turn back, but I’ve never let things go that far if I don’t know exactly what I’m doing.’

  So it was back to Caroline now! ‘But you—you must have made love—You have a lot of experience!’ That much was obvious!

  ‘I admit that, but on those occasions I’ve known exactly what was going to happen from the beginning of our evening together.’

  ‘You—you make it all sound so—so clinical!’

  ‘Oh, no,’ he turned to look at her. ‘It’s enjoyable, very enjoyable. But if a woman shows me she doesn’t want that sort of relationship it doesn’t make me determined to win her over. I’ve never wanted a woman that badly.’

  Her eyes widened indignantly. ‘But I—I’m sure I never—’

  ‘No, you didn’t,’ he frowned. ‘But I do want you, that’s why I’m saying one of us will have to leave.’

  ‘Well, it isn’t going to be me. You’re being silly about this, allowing two random incidents to colour your judgment.’

  ‘Random?’ He shook his head. ‘They aren’t random at all. I feel like this most of the time, and you don’t help the situation, flaunting yourself and arguing with me most of the time.’

  ‘I didn’t deliberately seek you out this afternoon, you did that.’

  ‘That was because this cottage isn’t big enough for you to carry out the frosty not-speaking act. That fishing expedition was a way for you to get over your sulks and still save face.’

  ‘Well, thanks! I don’t need—’

  André sighed. ‘Caroline! Will you calm down? I’m not sure I can cope with this love-hate relationship. Just try to dampen down this emotionalism a little, hmm?’

  ‘Go to hell!’

  * * *

  ‘More coffee, André?’ Eve Gresham smiled at him enquiringly.

  ‘Thank you,’ he nodded acceptance.

  The four of them were sitting in the lounge of the farmhouse, the debris from their meal all cleared away by the two women. Dinner had been enjoyable—melon, coq-au-vin accompanied by baby potatoes, peas and carrots, followed by cheese and biscuits, and finished by the creamy coffee they were now sipping.

  They had dropped the formality of Mr Gregory and Miss Rawlings after the first few minutes of conversation, for which Caroline felt relieved, having forgotten who ‘Miss Rawlings’ was a couple of times. She and André were barely speaking to each other; after last night’s little episode she thought tie least contact they had the better.

  She might be going to turn the tables on him in the end, but at the moment each time he took her in his arms the situation got out of control—for her at least, and she felt sure André had no more control over the happenings at the time than she did.

  He sat on the sofa next to Eve Gresham, dressed more formally than usual in black trousers and black roll-necked jumper, and a cream jacket. The whole effect was devastating and Caroline had felt her senses heighten just at the sight of him. They had driven over together in his car, and his close proximity had only made her more aware of his warm vital body only inches from her own.

  ‘Caroline?’

  She looked up to see Eve Gresham hovering over her with the coffee pot.

  ‘Er—no—no, thank you.’

  Eve smiled. ‘You seem far away.’

  Caroline returned the smile, liking this woman even while resenting her attitude towards André. That Eve found him attractive was undeniable and Caroline watched his every move for a sign that the feeling was reciprocated. André gave no indication of such feelings, treating all three of his dining companions with the same polite courtesy—perhaps a little coolly towards Caroline, but that was only to be expected.

  ‘I was thinking of André’s attempt at fishing,’ she remarked, giving him a sly look.

  Brian looked at the other man. ‘Did you go today?’

  ‘Yesterday, for a short time,’ André remarked calmly. ‘My first attempt, it won’t be repeated.’

  ‘It’s an acquired taste,’ laughed Eve. ‘Brian isn’t too keen either, but our father loved it.’

  ‘Would you like to see the kitten while you’re here?’ Brian asked her softly, but his sister heard him.

  ‘It’s cold and dark out there, Brian,’ she scolded.

  ‘Not in the barn it isn’t,’ he grinned. ‘Debbie wouldn’t allow her precious cats to be cold. I’ve had to put a storage heater out there for their comfort,’ he told them.

  ‘But it’s cold outside,’ his sister insisted. ‘It’s quite a distance to the barn. Why not come over tomorrow and see them instead?’

  ‘That appears to be a better idea,’ put in André. ‘I have to be leaving in a few minutes, and Caroline will be going with me.’

  Eve’s face showed her disappointment. ‘But it’s early yet. Stay a while longer,’ she pressed.

  He shook his head. ‘Impossible, I’m afraid. Dinner has been lovely, but I’m expecting an important call at ten-thirty.’

  Caroline looked up in surprise. As far as she was aware André had had contact with no one since his arrival at the cottage—except for her father, and she felt sure it wasn’t a call from him. She wondered who the important call could be from. Probably one of his women. And this didn’t please her either.

  ‘I can take you home later if you want, Caroline,’ Brian suggested eagerly. ‘Eve’s right, it’s early yet.’

  She was curious about André’s call. ‘I think I should leave with André,’ she refused. ‘I’ve really enjoyed this evening, thank you.’

  André stood up. ‘Are you ready to leave?’ he asked abruptly. ‘It’s almost ten o’clock now and I don’t want to miss that call.’ He turned to their hostess. ‘Thanks for the meal, Eve. I’m only sorry we have to leave so early.’

  ‘That’s all right,’ she smiled brightly. ‘You’ll have to come again.’

  ‘Oh, we will,’ he agreed politely.

  ‘You’ll come down tomorrow?’ Brian asked Caroline privately. ‘To see Bobby,’ he added persuasively.

  ‘All right,’ she accepted. ‘In the afternoon some time.’

  The silence in the car was becoming oppressive. ‘You were a bit abrupt weren’t you?’ Her voice sounded very loud against the previous silence.

  ‘No one forced you to leave,’ he replied tautly. ‘Wells would have been only too pleased to have brought you home later—with a prolonged goodnight, I have no doubt.’

  ‘You sound almost jealous,’ she returned lightly.

  ‘Don’t be so damned ridiculous!’ he exploded, his face furious. Caroline visibly looked surprised by his reaction to her teasing comment. ‘I’m merely looking after Matt’s interests for him,’ he added.

  ‘I’m sure he would appreciate it—although he doesn’t expect it,’ she threw back at him.

  ‘Just what does he expect?’ he asked, dangerously soft. ‘I know Matt of old—he’s devious, shrewd, and not above manipulating people to get his own way. So why has he left the two of us together at his cottage? Why doesn’t he demand that one of us leave? I know damn well I wouldn’t let you live like this if you were mine!’

  ‘He did demand that one of us leave—me,’ she told him hotly. ‘And I refused.’

  ‘Because you were here first,’ he taunted. ‘That still doesn’t explain why he hasn’t driven up here and forcibly dragged you away.’

  She smiled, trying to visualise her father acting so physically—and failing miserably. ‘That isn’t his way and you know it. At least, you should do, if you know him at all well.’

  ‘Oh, I know him,’ André said grimly. ‘And there are a few things about this set-up that I’m not too sure about, a few pertinent questions Matt could give me answers to if he cared to—
which I’m sure he doesn’t.’

  ‘All this doesn’t explain why you were so rude to Eve Gresham and her brother.’

  ‘I wasn’t rude, merely a little terse. I don’t like getting involved in the domestic scene, with talk of children and animals. I could almost feel the matrimonial noose tightening around my neck.’

  ‘Now who’s being ridiculous? They were merely a nice couple trying to make us welcome. Eve may have been a little—’ she hesitated, ‘well a little…’

  ‘Over enthusiastic in her attentions, is what I think you’re trying to say,’ he finished dryly.

  ‘Well… maybe a little,’ she admitted.

  ‘I would say a lot. She’s a very beautiful and attractive woman, she shouldn’t try to sell herself short.’ He parked the car. ‘There must be plenty of men who would appreciate her as a wife, and think themselves lucky for gaining such a prize.’

  ‘But not you,’ Caroline stated. They were in the cottage now and she reached instinctively for the kettle, intending to make a warming drink.

  ‘Leave it,’ he ordered. ‘I feel like a whisky.’ He strode into the lounge, pouring himself a large amount of the fiery liquid and drinking some quickly before pouring some out for her.

  She watched him drink the rest of the liquid without a wince, sipping tentatively at her own. Goodness, he was angry! She avoided looking at the stormy green eyes, although she could see the tension start to leave his body as the liquid began to soothe his frayed nerves.

  ‘Not me,’ he finally agreed, slamming down his empty glass. ‘That sort of thing doesn’t interest me.’

  Caroline frowned. ‘What sort of thing?’

  ‘Eve Gresham makes no secret of the fact that she’s on the lookout for a husband, someone who’ll take her away from this life.’ He took off his cream jacket and threw it over a chair. ‘I don’t get involved with those sort of ladies.’

  ‘Oh no,’ she smiled bitterly. ‘You only like the ones that know the score.’

  ‘It isn’t that, Caro,’ he muttered, running a hand through the thickness of his hair. ‘Surely you could see what was happening? If I hadn’t stepped in, for all her protestations to the contrary, Eve would have finally agreed that it was a good idea for you to go and see the kittens. She didn’t want to appear too eager, but she would have agreed to the suggestion eventually. And that would have left me alone with her.’