Man Hater Part 4

Kelly pushed open the door, unable to bear listening to her friend saying any more. She couldn't look at Jake.

"Kelly ... come and sit down next to Jake and I'll make us all a cup of tea. Jeremy's had to go out, but he won't be long. I've invited another couple to join us for dinner. One of Jeremy's clients. You'll like them..."

Kelly couldn't bear the tense silence that followed Sue's departure.

"I suppose you enjoyed hearing all that," she began fiercely.

"Not enjoyed, precisely," Jake responded.

"It was certainly enlightening." His arm was stretched across the back of the settee, and he started to wind a loose frond of hair from her chignon round his finger.

"Don't do that!" Kelly hissed, jerking away and then gasping with pain as he refused to let her go.

"Don't touch me!"

"We're supposed to be lovers, remember," he drawled laconically.

"Sue expects to come back and find us in each other's arms. Think back,"

he taunted.

"Try remembering what it was like with Colin."

Kelly couldn't stop herself. She went white, shaking with nausea as she did remember. Colin, wrenching her head round, pulling her hair, slapping her face. She wanted to be sick; to scream and cry as she hadn't done then; she was aware of the room starting to recede, of Jake's muttered imprecation, and then she was in his arms, struggling against their confines, hating the frighteningly male contact of his body--and yet in some strange way some part of her longed to simply acquiesce, to give in and rest her head against his shoulder, to draw comfort from the sheer solid maleness of him.

"Kelly!"

She was aware of the anxiety in Sue's voice as Jake responded for her.

"She isn't feeling too well, but it's nothing to worry about."

"Darling, you must go upstairs and rest, can I get you anything?"

"I just felt faint," Kelly a.s.sured her.

"Nothing much--I came out without breakfast and felt slightly carsick, but I'm all right now."

"I think Sue's right, you ought to go upstairs and rest," Jake cut in firmly.

"I'd come with you," he added with a wicked twinkle, 'but somehow I don't think' you get much sleep if I did. "

Sue grinned, enjoying her friend's embarra.s.sment, but Kelly was glad to escape from the room; from Jake's too disturbing presence. Something about him frightened her; and yet what possible reason could she have for feeling so threatened?

In spite of her resolution she did fall asleep. Maisiewas right, she thought drowsily, lying on the large double bed, she did need a rest.

The thought of Corfu at Easter was tempting, but only if she and Sue could go alone. She couldn't bear the thought of fending Jeremy off for an entire week.

The door opening woke her. She glanced up sleepily, her heart pounding with fear, as she saw Jeremy standing there, watching her knowingly.

"Nights too exhausting for you nowadays, are they?" he taunted.

"So the iceberg's finally thawed! You should have told me, Kelly, I'd have been only too happy to oblige. Who is this guy anyway? I've never heard you mention him before. If you'd wanted a lover you only had to tell me." He was coming closer to the bed. Kelly knew she ought to get up, but her muscles were locked in remembered terror and dread, her eyes wild and haunted as she stared up at him.

"You're a very desirable woman, Kelly, in spite of that cold front that comes on so strong," Jeremy continued. His eyes were on her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and Kelly felt her heart pound with terror as he reached out towards her.

"She's also my, woman," Jake's voice interrupted coldly from the open door.

Jeremy whirled round, glowering furiously.

"What the..."

"Sue's looking for you," she heard Jake say contemptuously, 'so unless you particularly want to cause an unpleasant scene I suggest you leave--now. "

Kelly couldn't move; not even when the door had closed behind him.

"So that's what it's all about," Jake commented quietly.

"Pity," he added, his mouth thinning, "I was just beginning to be intrigued by you, wondering what lay behind the mask, but it's all a ploy, isn't it, Kelly; afayade behind which you can conceal your affair with your friend's husband? Have you no compunction about what you're doing?" he demanded angrily.

"Don't you think Sue's had a raw enough deal as it is? Can't you see what Benson is? Or don't you care?"

"You've got it all wrong," Kelly choked, struggling to sit up.

"You think so?" One dark eyebrow rose cynically.

"It seems pretty obvious to me that the reason you needed an " escort" for this weekend was not so much to make up a foursome as to deceive your friend as to your real relationship with her husband."

"No!"

"No? Then what?" he taunted.

"It was because of Jeremy, because I knew he.. he wanted me," she shuddered, 'that I wanted an escort. I couldn't disappoint Sue, as you say, she's been through too much, but I knew if I came here alone Jeremy would. "

"Try to make love to you?" Jake supplied, watching her with an intensity that was unnerving.

"And that was why you came to the agency?"

"Yes."

"Umm."

"You don't believe me?" Kelly was astounded to hear herself asking the question. What did it matter to her whether he believed her or not?

"Oh, on the contrary, I believe you completely," he averred, 'but what does puzzle me is why a cool, controlled lady like you should act like a terrified innocent every time a man comes near her. You were petrified just then," he reminded her, 'and I only have to come within a yard of you and you shrink away from me."

"You're exaggerating," Kelly lied nervously, sliding off the bed.

There was a look in his eyes she didn't like. It was distinctly speculative, and more . much more, she acknowledged, shivering with a sensual awareness of all that the look he was giving her implied.

"Let's just put that to the test, shall we?" Jake murmured dulcetly.

"I don't know what sort of game you think you're playing," Kelly gasped, 'but may I remind you that you happen to be in my employ, and that I could report you to the agency for this! "

"Go ahead," he invited, mocking her.

"It might just be worth it."

Before she could stop him he had reached her, ignoring her stiffening muscles as his arms went round her, one hand tracing the rigid line of her spine, while the other deftly removed the snood constraining her hair, his fingers sliding through the silken weight he had released.

"Stop this!" Kelly ordered.

"Stop it right now!"

She saw him frown, his eyes darkening suddenly as he exclaimed, "You're frightened! I wonder why..."

"I'm not frightened," Kelly denied, "I'm just furiously angry. Who do you think you are? Just because you're a man you think you can a.s.sume whatever physical rights you choose to take-well, not with me, I..."

Her eyes blazed their defiance up at him, her fists beating an angry tattoo against the impervious wall of his chest.

"I've just saved you from a fate worse than death, remember?" he taunted.

"Don't I get a reward?"

"What do you want?" Kelly demanded nastily, 'a bonus? "

"Why, you..."

It was too late to tell herself that she had gone too far, much too late to evade the bruising pressure of his mouth on hers, stifling her protests, cutting off her breath, as he ground her lips back against her teeth, making her feel faint with fear and pain, only her eyes mirroring her shock and bitter resentment.

"Kelly!" Her bruised mouth was released, and she winced with pain when his thumb brushed softly against its swollen fullness.

"G.o.d, I..."

"You wanted to hurt me," she stormed at him.

"Well, you did.

Satisfied? Is your male ego flattered by the knowledge that you can hurt me physically? You men, you're all the same! " she raged half hysterically.

"You..."

"No!" The harsh denial cut through her furious ravings.

"No, Kelly, we're not all the same. I'm sorry I hurt you." He bent his head and she flinched, watching his eyes narrow and harden in some purpose she couldn't guess at.

"You made me angry and I got angry back, but it wasn't a deliberate attempt to hurt you. Hasn't anyone ever told you that any man is bound to act like that when a woman freezes in his arms? Didn't Colin ever tell you that?"

She went milk-white, her eyes dark with pain, her fingers curling against his shoulder.

"Kelly?"

"I...".

She gasped as his mouth brushed the parted softness of hers, but it was too late to reject him. Her de fences were already far too weak and it seemed far easier simply to lie pa.s.sively against him, and give in to the gentle motion of his mouth against hers; teasing, and tantalising with a touch as gentle as b.u.t.terfly wings, the moist warmth of his mouth stroking over the outline of her lips, encouraging them to soften and part to cling helplessly to the hard warmth of his; her mind reeling, spinning with the impact of what was happening to her.

"Kelly, are you all right?"

She was dimly aware of Sue's voice outside the door, of Jake releasing her slowly, his eyes holding hers, daring her to deny that she hadn't responded to him; that she hadn't--she shivered with the knowledge--actually for one brief second physically wanted him.

"Kelly!"

She made a superhuman effort to regain control of her senses.

"We're coming. Sue," she called back to her friend.

"I'm fine now."

"Kelly..."

Jake was watching her, and she sensed that there was something that he wanted to say to her. Could he have guessed how long it was since she had been kissed like that? How many years her starved senses had been denied the sensual contact they had just enjoyed?

"I must go... I..."

"Kelly, what is it you're so frightened of?" he asked quietly.

"Nothing," she lied tautly.

"I'm not frightened of anything... Now, will you let me go," she hissed, pulling away from him and heading for the door. Was she going completely out of her mind? Allowing him to kiss her like that? What on earth was happening to her? She had been told she was frigid for so long that she had come to believe it, she acknowledged as she opened the door. She had thought herself impervious to the kind of s.e.xual arousal Jake had just subjected her to, but she wasn't, and the knowledge terrified her. It was like looking in a mirror and seeing a completely different reflection from the one she was accustomed to.

Jake had kissed her--once-and her body ached with a need she was terrified to put a name to. Why? Why now? and why, oh, why with this man who saw and knew far too much about her already?

"So you're Kelly's friend?" Jennifer Gordon eyed Jake appreciatively.

"Lucky Kelly!"

"Exactly my sentiments," Sue admitted with a laugh. At the other end of the table Jeremy shot his wife a thin-lipped smile and said nastily, "Sorry, darling--you couldn't afford him, could she, Kelly?"

Jennifer Gordon's cold blue eyes sharpened speculatively, and Kelly longed to dash the contents of her wine gla.s.s in Jeremy's over-fed and pasty face.

"My feelings for Kelly have nothing to do with her wealth," Jake cut in coldly, and if Kelly hadn't known better she could have sworn that that was real anger she saw in his eyes, real intent behind the pointed comment, real desire in the look he bestowed upon her as he lifted her hand and turned it palm upwards, towards his lips, his brief caress where her pulse raced treacherously sending shimmering waves of reaction through her.

She wouldn't be sorry when the whole farce was over, Kelly decided later, smiling politely as theGordons left. It was well after one, Jeremy was obviously and unpleasantly drunk, and Sue had borne his snide insults so bravely all evening that Kelly could have wept for her. Sue was worth twenty of her husband, Kelly fumed; how could she simply sit there and allow him to insult her, the way he had done?

Half an hour later she was on the point of going upstairs when Jeremy staggered out into the hall.

"I wish you luck of her," he muttered to Jake, who was behind her.

"Frigid little b.i.t.c.h!"