dragged her attention back and nodded. ‘I’d like to. We’ve been home for six months—’
‘Six months?’ He was sharp. Maggie coloured guiltily and wondered frantically if she’d let her guard down too much. But what could that possibly tell him?
She picked her words carefully. ‘Mum wanted to come home, so I came back with her to settle her in…’
His eyes were narrowed on her face. Intense. ‘So you left London six months ago?’
Maggie nodded.
Caleb studied her. There was a kernel of something there; he was sure of it. But he couldn’t figure what it was. Tom must have sent her away, fearing that Caleb might somehow come after her. Protection. The thought made him feel that impotent rage again. At her betrayal, at his own weakness for her. He made a huge effort to put it out of his mind. They’d agreed to a truce. ‘You’re close to your mother?’
Maggie, relieved that he’d let the London focus go, nodded emphatically. She was unaware of the protective gleam that lit her eyes, making them almost luminous. Caleb’s breath stopped; she looked radiant. The sun had already given her pale skin a warm glow, freckles that made him want to reach out and touch. Her top hinted at the valley between her breasts. A tendril of red-gold hair had drifted over one shoulder and curled tantalisingly close to her breast. This was crazy; he felt jealous…of some hair? He shifted on his seat, his body throbbing. Tonight, he vowed, a steady pulse of anticipation and desire beating through his blood…
A short while later, making their way back to the hotel, Caleb casually took Maggie’s hand in his. She felt tiny and feminine next to his much larger build. He threaded his fingers through hers and she was on very shaky legs by the time they returned. He turned to face her. She looked up, meeting his eyes. The sun was behind him, dazzling her.
He was going to kiss her and there was nothing she could do to stop it. If she tried…he’d wonder why and that would lead them down a dangerous path. Their mutual attraction was undeniable—always had been. He wouldn’t understand her fear…He had her pegged as someone far more sophisticated in these matters. This was a simple transaction for him and no doubt he imagined it was the same for her. She couldn’t afford to appear anything less than willing from now on. For as long as he desired her. And she knew that as terrified as she was of the response he evoked in her physically, it was the emotional minefield at the other end that worried her most.
He pulled her close into his body with one arm, his other hand cradling her head and threading through the silky strands of her hair. His mouth touched hers.
With flames of desire licking along every vein, Maggie finally gave in and, for the first time since seeing him again, even though they’d already kissed, she kissed him back. With full consciousness. Because, despite everything, she wanted to. Because she couldn’t not. This was as necessary to her as breathing. Her mind fought a pathetic battle for a few seconds; it must be the surroundings…the feeling that somehow they were not in the real world, that was making her behave like this…She just couldn’t help it.
With a moan of approval, he felt her tacit acquiescence and tightened the embrace. His tongue sought hers and sweetly stroked and explored and plundered. Maggie gave into powerful desire and slid her hands up his arms. She could feel the bunched muscle under the thin material of his shirt and desperately wanted to be able to feel the silky skin, explore the texture of his muscles, feel how they shifted…changed contours as he held her.
When he finally lifted his head, he pressed another quick kiss to her mouth as though he was loath to let her go. Maggie felt dizzy and light-headed. The only thing holding her upright was his arm anchoring her to him. She hated herself for this; he had her exactly where he wanted her. Acquiescent and pliant, in his arms. And there was nothing she could do except…comply.
‘I won’t have much time later so I’ll have my tux delivered to me and meet you in the hotel bar before the function.’ He let her go and pushed her gently in the direction of the hotel. Before she could be completely humiliated, she turned and briskly walked into the hotel, without a backward glance.
DISMISSING the car and deciding to walk back to his meeting, which was just a few minutes away, Caleb’s mind raced. That kiss…and Maggie filled his senses so much that the thought of work was a thorn in his side. His step became more brisk, as if he could put distance between himself and his uncomfortable thoughts. He’d had other mistresses, lots…what was the problem now? Maggie was just another one. Then he remembered reluctantly that, walking down a street in London some weeks before and seeing the back of a petite redhead, his pulse had quickened through his body with such force that he’d been shaking by the time he’d caught up with her, only to find that she was nothing like Maggie. The force of need that had ripped through him had disturbed him more than he’d cared to admit at the time.
Was that what had spurred him to see her again? To wreak the final, devastating revenge? Because he hated the pull she still had over him?
He berated himself inwardly for giving rein to such thoughts. Applied the stern logic he was famed for. He desired her and she’d offered him the key he’d needed to make her his mistress, that was all. She was just the next in line, however she’d come to him. Reluctantly or not. And the jury was still out on whether or not she had manipulated events from the word go. She had, after all, been instrumental in a bid to see him crushed. He could never afford to forget that. Could never trust her.
But now, after just hours in Maggie’s company—a woman who didn’t even pretend to like him—for the first time ever he was suddenly wishing for an afternoon off. Why on earth was he suddenly questioning the control he wielded that didn’t make it easy for him to walk away on a whim? It was desire pure and simple. Even if it was a more powerful desire than he’d ever experienced, still, that’s all it was. Nothing else. Yet…
Yet nothing…
He hated the thought that he could very well be dancing to her tune…still.
As she waited that evening for the lift to arrive, Maggie’s reflection stared back from the mirrored door. She felt a little unrecognisable. Having always rebelled at Tom’s attempts to get her to ‘dress up’, she had never normally made much of an effort.
And yet now…she suddenly felt the urge? a small mocking voice jeered in her ear. Still, she was glad she’d made the effort, she told herself defiantly, pressing the button again with undue force, a quiver of butterflies taking flight in her belly when the bell pinged loudly, announcing the lift’s arrival.
Caleb nursed a whiskey in the dark bar as he waited. He drew admiring, openly covetous looks from every woman there. He knew it, could feel it, was always aware of it, but let it roll off him like droplets of water off a duck’s back. The only gaze he sought right now was a green-eyed one. Except it was more likely to be combative than covetous, despite her acquiescence earlier.
He was steeled to see her again. All defences raised. She’d invaded his thoughts all afternoon, had made him lose his concentration, his focus. He’d found himself on the verge of agreeing to a merger that would have cost him millions until he’d woken up at the last moment. This is what she’d done before. And, after the call he’d just taken from his assistant in Dublin, he knew she was up to a lot more than wanting her house back for her poor, supposedly innocent, mother. She was up to a whole lot more.
A
