And, appreciative of the way her luck was going at the moment, she wasn’t in the least surprised when Beth elected to do the beds on the second floor, leaving Ellie to deal with the first floor. Daniel Thackery’s suite was on the first floor...
Taking all possible precautions against bumping into him accidentally, she rang up his suite first and received no answer. Nor did her loud knocking on the door of the suite. Good, he was still out. Although he was cutting it a bit fine if he intended joining them for dinner at eight o’clock; it was almost seven-thirty now...
He certainly wasn’t an untidy man. In fact, looking around at the neatness of the suite, she acknowledged that it was difficult to tell whether it was occupied or not—no personal effects were lying around anywhere. But he was definitely still staying here; Ellie would have been the first to know if he had booked out. And the first to give thanks. He had been a disruptive influence on her life ever since he’d first booked in. And she had to sit down to dinner with the man in—oh, just over half an hour.
She would get this over with as quickly as possible and make good her escape; the last thing she wanted was Daniel Thackery returning to his suite while she was still there!
She had barely begun to turn back the bed when she heard the sound of a door opening behind her. She turned sharply, her expression one of guilty dismay. Not that she had anything to feel guilty about tonight, but—
It hadn’t been the bedroom door that had opened, but the adjoining bathroom door. Daniel Thackery must have just taken a bath or shower. His hair was still damp—his body completely naked!
Ellie just stared at him, hardly able to breathe. He—She—They—Oh, God...!
Daniel looked no more pleased to see her standing in his bedroom, apparently rooted to the spot, than she was to see him. A dark scowl marred his handsome features as he returned her stare. ‘You again!’ he snapped disgustedly.
She was still too shocked to react to that ‘again’, keeping her gaze riveted to his darkly scowling face after that first shocked recognition of his nakedness. There would be time later to remember the smoothly muscled contours of his body, his darkly tanned skin, the almost black hair that lightly covered his body. For now she had to concentrate on explaining herself—and then getting out of here!
‘I did telephone and knock before coming in to your suite.’ She rushed into breathless speech. “There was no answer, so I—’
‘I was taking a shower.’ He drily stated the obvious, making no effort to cover up his nakedness. ‘But the offer was for last night, not tonight!’
Her face suffused with colour as his meaning became clear. ‘The maid wanted to turn back the bed—’
‘Then why didn’t she?’ Dark brows rose over piercing blue eyes.
Why didn’t he put some clothes on, instead of just standing there completely unconcerned with his nudity? He might be accustomed to being naked in front of women, but she certainly wasn’t used to being in the same room with men who had nothing on. And who seemed completely unruffled by the fact!
‘Because for this evening I am acting as the maid,’ she bit out forcefully. ‘Our usual maid is in the bar because we’re short-staffed, and—’
‘Never mind, Ellie,’ Daniel interrupted in a bored voice. ‘I get the picture. You—’ He broke off with a frown as the telephone began to ring on the bedside table. ‘It’s like being stuck in the middle of a traffic junction! Get that, will you, while I put something on?’ he said impatiently.
She was relieved that he was at last going to cover his nudity, but she was not his personal secretary. The fact that she was here at all was because of a set of circumstances she had no control over. She—
‘Ellie!’ he prompted again harshly as the telephone continued to ring and she made no effort to answer it. ‘Just get it, will you?’ he said wearily at her mutinous expression, turning away to open the wardrobe door and look through its contents for something to put on.
She snatched up the receiver. ‘The Grafton Suite,’ she barked automatically, keeping her gaze firmly averted from Daniel, not wanting to watch him as he dressed. It would be too intimate an action, and intimacy was definitely something to be avoided between herself and Daniel Thackery.
‘Oh, good grief.’ The female voice on the other end of the line sounded almost as impatient as Daniel had when the telephone had begun to ring seconds ago. ‘I asked to be put through to Daniel Thackery’s room, and instead I’ve been connected with another part of the hotel. Are you able to put this call back to Reception?’ the woman continued briskly. ‘Or will I have to call back and start again?’
She didn’t exactly sound pleased at the prospect. ‘Actually, you have been put through to Mr Thackery’s suite,’ Ellie answered while giving Daniel Thackery a beseeching look.
She was relieved to see that he was at least wearing a pair of black underpants now. Not that the brief garment made any difference to the intimacy of the situation. He might be wearing as much now as he would at a swimming pool or at the beach, but this wasn’t either of those places—and the two of them were completely alone here in his bedroom. Except for his female telephone caller!
‘But he—er—be can’t come to the telephone just now,’ she continued conversationally as Daniel Thackery made no move to take the receiver but continued to look through the wardrobe for his clothes for the evening. ‘He—’
‘What do you mean, “he can’t come to the telephone just now”?’ the woman cut in sharply. ‘What—?’
‘Thanks, Ellie.’ Daniel at last took the receiver from her unresisting fingers, lifting it to his ear. ‘I thought it must be you, Angela.’ He spoke drily into the mouthpiece. ‘A member of the hotel staff. Yes, a female member of the hotel staff,’ he acknowledge, with a mocking look in Ellie’s direction. ‘How observant of you, Angela. No, I’m not up to anything,’ he added hardily. ‘Angela,’ he said impatiently a couple of seconds later, ‘will you stop giving me a damned day by day countdown to the wedding? I’m well aware of the fact that it’s only ten days away!’ he snapped harshly.
Wedding...Good God, yes—this man was getting married in ten days’ time.
Ellie had been standing close to him, unable to take her eyes off the lean strength of his body, aware of the clean, male—unscented!—smell of him, all of her senses aware that he really was a very attractive man. But the realisation that he was talking to his fiancée on the telephone, to the woman he intended marrying next week, was enough to break the spell. She had to get out of here, had to—
‘Where are you going?’
Ellie had almost reached the door, and escape, but she knew from the way Daniel had raised his voice that he was talking to her. She came to an abrupt halt, turning slowly to raise her gaze to meet his. Daniel was watching her from across the room with narrowed eyes, his hand over the mouthpiece of the telephone, his full attention on Ellie.
‘Where are you going?’ he repeated evenly. ‘I thought you came in here to turn down the bed,’ he reminded her mockingly, his blue eyes gleaming with humour now as he saw the almost desperate way she eyed her avenue of escape only feet away before turning back to look at the almost untouched bed beside him.
Her eyes flashed deeply green at his mockery.
