The Unwilling Mistress Read online

  To say she looked startled was an understatement, her eyes widening before narrowing suspiciously. ‘What does that have to do with anything?’ she said guardedly.

  Will shrugged. ‘I merely wondered if your father had been one of the gallant men you referred to a few minutes ago.’

  ‘Oh.’ She blinked, seeming to straighten defensively.

  ‘In that case—he was a blunt-talking Yorkshireman,’ she said with obvious affection.

  Will nodded. ‘There’s no doubting who you take after, then,’ he returned teasingly.

  There was no doubting her defensive attitude now, either, two bright spots of angry colour burning in the otherwise pale magnolia of her cheeks. ‘Is there something wrong with being honest?’ she challenged hardly, sitting slightly forward over the table. ‘Personally, I abhor any kind of dishonesty.’

  Will looked at her consideringly. Her eyes were sparkling with anger, her cheeks flushed, her whole attitude since she had arrived here a combatant one.

  ‘March, what’s wrong?’ he prompted softly.

  ‘Wrong?’ she repeated stiffly. ‘Who said there was anything wrong?’

  ‘I did.’ He sighed, not at all happy with the way this conversation was going.

  One thing he had discovered during his conversations with March over lunch earlier today: he liked and admired her. He liked her blunt, no-nonsense manner, her complete loyalty to those she loved, namely her two sisters, and as for the way she looked… Everything about her was beautiful, her face, her hair, the willowy slenderness of her body, the habit she had of using her hands to illustrate a point as she was talking.

  Something she hadn’t been doing this evening…

  Something was definitely wrong, and the sooner Will knew what it was, the better he would like it.

  ‘March, has something—happened, since we had lunch together today?’ he pushed determinedly. ‘There’s nothing wrong with May, is there?’ he continued frowningly. ‘Or your younger sister—January, isn’t it?’ he added with a casualness he was far from feeling.

  If January and Max had telephoned from wherever they happened to be on holiday, and either March or May had happened to mention to Max the name of their temporary lodger—!

  Will knew he couldn’t indefinitely keep his reason for being here from March and May, but the longer he left telling them, the harder it was becoming to do so.

  When he’d initially come to look at the studio with a view to renting, he genuinely hadn’t known it was the Calendar sisters’ farm that March had sent him to. Why should he have known? There were dozens of farms in the area, it just hadn’t occurred to him that this could be the one where the Calendar sisters lived. Once he had become aware he obviously could have beaten a hasty retreat, but by that time March had arrived home, and the temptation to neatly turn her trick back on her by renting the studio had been too much of a temptation for him to resist.

  At the moment both sisters seemed to like him, but learning of his connection to Jude Marshall, a man they both obviously disliked intensely, was going to change all that. And he already knew that having March hate him wasn’t something he relished happening. Far from it!

  Because he wanted March Calendar. Holding her in his arms earlier today, kissing the soft sensuality of her mouth, feeling the curves of her body moulding into his, had told him that he wanted her very badly. And, in the circumstances of his being here at all, she was probably a woman he could never have…

  But, for this evening at least, she didn’t know who he was or why he was here!

  He stood up abruptly, moving round the table to take March’s hand and pull her unresistingly to her feet. Only because she was too surprised to resist, he was sure, but for the moment that didn’t matter.

  ‘You are so beautiful, March,’ he told her huskily. ‘So absolutely beautiful,’ he murmured throatily as his mouth began to lower towards hers.

  She blinked, stiffening in his arms. ‘What—what are you doing?’ she gasped.

  He smiled self-derisively, his lips only inches away from hers now. ‘Guess,’ he teased softly.

  ‘But—but—’

  A speechless March was just too irresistible, and as Will slowly bent his head to claim the moist softness of her lips he knew he had no intention of even trying…

  CHAPTER SIX

  MARCH was so stunned at the suddenness of finding herself in Will’s arms that she didn’t even try to resist, not when he held her, nor when his lips claimed hers.

  And then it was too late to resist anyway. She groaned low in her throat as heated pleasure moved swiftly through her body, her mouth moving instinctively against his as he ran his tongue lightly across her lips, his hands moving caressingly down the length of her spine as he moulded her body against his.

  A body that seemed to have turned to liquid fire, totally beyond anything March had ever known or felt before. Making her realize she wanted this man as badly as the arousal of his body seemed to say he wanted her!

  His lips were moving heatedly down the length of her arched throat now, her skin seeming on fire where he touched, her own hands entangled in the silky hair at his nape as she clung to him.

  Drowning. It must be like drowning, March decided dreamily, knowing there was no point in fighting against the tide of desire that enveloped her, any more than there would be fighting against a whirlpool that had her in its grasp.

  Will felt so good against her fingertips, the buttons to his shirt proving no problem as she bared his chest to her searching hands, his skin warm and yet hard to the touch, hearing his own gasp of pleasure as her lips moved moistly against that heated flesh.

  March groaned low in her throat as Will’s hand cupped her breast beneath the warmth of her jumper, feeling the nipple harden beneath his touch, the pleasure that coursed through her now making her legs feel weak, at the same time that every nerve-ending in her body responded to that caress.

  His lips claimed her parted ones, his thumb moving rhythmically against her pouting breast now, his tongue seeking an answer to his unspoken message.

  March answered that call, her response tentative at first, and then becoming more confident as she was the one to deepen the kiss. She couldn’t stop this now. She just couldn’t!

  ‘Oops!’ he gasped softly, his legs having caught the side of the bed, losing his balance slightly to sit down on the edge of the bed looking up at March with cobalt-blue eyes. ‘March…?’ he groaned uncertainly, his hands lightly clasping her hips.

  She moved instinctively towards him, her hands cradling the back of his head as he pushed her jumper aside to kiss her bared breasts.

  March really thought she was going to drown now, couldn’t believe the heated emotions that swept over her as Will’s lips and tongue paid homage to her uptilted breasts.

  Where had this man been all her life? Why had it taken so long to find him? How had she existed for twenty-six years without—?

  She hadn’t been the one to find him—Will had been the one to deliberately find the Calendar sisters! As for where he had been all her life—!

  ‘No!’ she gasped, pushing him away from her, hastily straightening her clothing to look down at him with accusing eyes. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ she rasped accusingly.

  Will blinked at the suddenness of her rejection, his eyes still dark with arousal, his cheeks flushed with desire. ‘We were both doing, March,’ he corrected slowly. ‘And surely the “what” must be obvious,’ he added ruefully, at the same time running a hand through the blond thickness of his hair.

  The same hand that had touched and caressed her seconds ago! The same hair her own hands had been entangled in seconds ago!

  She turned away, her movements jerky and uncoordinated, putting a hand up to her eyes as if to block out what had just happened between them.

  But it would take more than that to shut out the memory of the intimacies they had just shared. If she ever could!

  ‘March?’

  She sw
allowed hard, straightening her shoulders defensively before turning to face Will. And just as quickly wished she hadn’t; his gaze was still sleepy with desire as he looked at her quizzically, that aroused flush on his cheeks.

  March shook her head, denying her own response to that arousal. ‘I was referring to your own motivation for—for just now,’ she finished hardly.

  ‘Motivation?’ he repeated softly, frowning slightly now. ‘You’re beautiful, March.’ He smiled ruefully.

  ‘Beautiful. Desirable. How could I resist you?’ He shrugged self-derisively.

  Her mouth tightened as she fought her own response to this verbal seduction. ‘The fact that I’m also one of the Calendar sisters had nothing to do with it, I suppose?’ she scorned harshly.

  Oh, she knew she had agreed with May not to challenge Will on this point just yet, could even understand her sister’s reticence in wanting to know more about the situation before confronting Will with it; but at the moment, who she was, what she was, was her only defence against what had just happened between them!

  She watched as Will’s cheeks lost that emotional flush, his gaze seeming wary now as it remained on her even as he slowly reached up to rebutton his shirt before standing up. The same shirt she had so ably unbuttoned only seconds ago!

  March had no idea where any of those instincts had come from, had only known a need to be closer to Will than she’d already been, to touch his flesh in the way that he’d been touching hers.

  But her response had been instinctive—could Will claim the same?

  Will shrugged slightly, grimacing ruefully as he spoke. ‘How much do you know?’

  Not a lot, if the truth were known. In fact, only a growing certainty that Will worked for Jude Marshall in some capacity, if she were honest. But she didn’t intend letting Will know that!

  ‘I’m merely wondering what sort of man Jude Marshall is that he managed to buy the loyalty of both you and Max,’ she replied insultingly.

  The flush on the hardness of Will’s cheeks was due to anger now. ‘Jude hasn’t bought me—or my loyalty,’ he snapped tautly. ‘Max’s either, for that matter,’ he added scathingly. ‘You’ve met Max, he’s going to marry your sister, for goodness’ sake; does he seem like the sort of man who could be bought? By anybody!’

  March met his angry gaze unflinchingly. ‘And you?’ she challenged scornfully.

  His mouth tightened. ‘I’m not employed by Jude, March,’ he told her hardly. ‘I am an architect, however. A damned good one, if I do say so myself. But I choose who I work for.’

  An architect. Which must mean that Will was here in order to draw up the plans for the health and country club Jude Marshall intended building on the Hanworth Estate. On land that the Calendar farm was smack in the middle of!

  ‘You’re William Davenport!’ she said astoundedly, looking at him with new eyes now. ‘You’re the man that designed the award-winning building for the new museum in Leeds,’ she realized dazedly.

  He gave an inclination of his head. ‘I am.’

  March had visited the museum several times on trips to Leeds, the building a marvel of Victorian-style architecture, totally in keeping with its surroundings and ideally suited for its purpose.

  No wonder this man drove around in a Ferrari; he was reputed to be in demand all over the world. Although at the moment he seemed to have settled for a very small part of it. Her part of it!

  ‘And at the moment you choose to work for Jude Marshall,’ she came back derisively. ‘That only makes it worse!’ she assured him disgustedly.

  Will’s gaze narrowed shrewdly as he gave her a searching glance. ‘But until this moment you didn’t know that, did you?’ he realized slowly. ‘Why, you little—’ He broke off, giving a shake of his head. ‘Minx!’ he finished heavily.

  March was too angry to feel anything else at the moment, but she knew that later, when she was alone, she was going to feel so much more than that. Which was why she intended clinging to that anger for as long as possible!

  ‘In the circumstances, I think it will be better if you leave,’ she told him coldly.

  He arched blond brows. ‘Now?’

  ‘In the morning will do.’ As long as he was gone before she came home from work tomorrow evening!

  If she didn’t have to see him, to know every day for the next two weeks that he was staying just across the yard in the studio over the garage, maybe she could at least put this evening to the back of her mind!

  ‘No.’

  March gave him a sharp look, her eyes widening indignantly as he returned her gaze unblinkingly. ‘What do you mean “no”?’ she rasped disbelievingly.

  Will shrugged. ‘I acknowledge there’s no written contract, but there is a verbal agreement between your sister and I. I’ve already paid over two weeks’ rent in advance—’

  ‘We’ll return the money to you!’ March cut in heatedly. Although quite how they were going to do that, she wasn’t completely sure; May had informed her earlier that she had already used the money to order the necessary supplies for mending the barn roof!

  Will gave a shake of his head. ‘I don’t want the money back. I’m comfortable here, I would rather stay.’

  ‘But we don’t want you here,’ March protested.

  ‘You don’t want me here,’ he acknowledged evenly.

  ‘But does May feel the same way?’

  March felt her frustration with this situation rise to an almost unbearable pitch. ‘May will agree with whatever I decide,’ she told him angrily.

  ‘Will she?’ he mused calmly. ‘Why don’t we stroll across to the farmhouse and ask her?’ He made a move towards the door.

  ‘How dare you?’ she attacked furiously, not at all sure, after what May had said earlier, that her sister would agree with her asking Will to leave. ‘You wheedled your way in here under false pretences, charming my older sister along the way—’

  ‘But not you,’ he accepted heavily as he turned back to face her. ‘March, I didn’t wheedle my way in anywhere,’ he rasped. ‘Neither did I set out to charm anyone. I told you from the first that I was in the area on business—’

  ‘Without telling me what that business was!’ she reminded him accusingly.

  ‘Because at the time I had no idea it was any of your business!’ he came back harshly. ‘In fact, I’m still not sure that it is. Look, March, I know you aren’t going to believe me,’ he continued heavily as she got ready to burst into fresh anger, ‘but until you arrived back from work yesterday and announced yourself as one of the Calendar sisters, I had no idea that’s who you were! Why should I have known?’ he reasoned impatiently at her sceptical look.

  Indeed, why should he? Unless he had found out all about the Calendar sisters before coming to the area. Which, in his place, she most certainly would have done!

  She didn’t believe a word he was saying, Will realized frustratedly. Not that, in the circumstances, he could altogether blame her. But no matter what she might think to the contrary, he knew he was telling her the truth.

  Of course, in a fair world, he should have told both sisters, as soon as he’d realized who they were, exactly who he was, and what he was doing here. But in view of Max’s recent defection—something Jude, when Will had spoken to the other man on the telephone the previous evening, had been absolutely incredulous about—and the sisters’ obvious fury towards the absent Jude Marshall, there just hadn’t been the right opportunity to tell them that he was also in the area on the other man’s behalf.

  Besides, Will inwardly mocked himself, by the time he had learnt exactly who May and March were—but especially March!—it had been already too late to tell them the truth. Too late for him. Because by that time he’d already known himself to be so attracted to March he hadn’t wanted to see the laughter and fun in her eyes replaced by scorn and dislike when told the reason he was in the area.

  The same scorn and dislike he could see in those beautiful grey-green eyes at this very moment…!

/>   He gave a heavy sigh. ‘I’m sorry, March, but I’m not going anywhere.’

  She glared across the room at him. ‘You aren’t staying here,’ she told him just as determinedly.

  Who would believe, looking at the two of them now, that minutes ago they had been in each other’s arms, with only one obvious conclusion to their roused passions?

  March had been like liquid velvet in his arms, arousing a desire in Will so strong that he still ached at the memory of it.

  ‘I’m afraid that I am,’ he came back evenly.

  She gave him an impatient frown. ‘But why? Why do you have to stay here? There are any number of places quite near here that I could recommend—’

  ‘You don’t live at any of them,’ Will cut in ruefully.

  ‘Me?’ She looked startled now, that surprised expression as quickly turning to one of suspicion. ‘Why should it matter to you where I live?’ She eyed him warily.

  Will gave a humourless smile. ‘You can ask that, after what just happened between us?’

  Her eyes seemed to shoot green sparks at being reminded of what had just happened between them. ‘Nothing happened between us!’ she scorned dismissively. ‘Nothing of any importance, anyway,’ she added insultingly.

  Deliberately so, Will knew. Even in the short time he had come to know her, Will knew that anger and scorn were March’s methods of defence. A defence to hide the warm softness of her nature, the vulnerability of her heart…

  ‘Maybe not to you,’ he allowed gently, doubting that it was true—he didn’t believe for a moment that March was the sort of woman who went around kissing, and caressing, men she didn’t care about—but not wanting to say anything that was going to hurt her. Hurting March Calendar, he was discovering, was something he never wanted to do…

  ‘Or to you, either,’ she instantly derided.

  March wasn’t in the mood to listen to him, Will knew, but he didn’t go around kissing and caressing women he didn’t care about, either…

  He gave a rueful shrug. ‘I doubt there is anything I could say to you right now that would convince you otherwise—’