didn’t know if the last remark was a continuation of the first, or a reaction to her attempt at escape. But his soothing yet authoritative tone helped to still her panic.
This man is not attacking you.
Making an effort to relax, she realised that the hand imprisoning hers was warm and, to her surprise, almost comforting. Then he took it away, and began picking up the tiles and replacing them in the box.
‘Some are broken,’ he said. ‘I’ll replace them, or pay whatever it costs you.’
‘You needn’t,’ she told him. ‘I was going to break them up anyway.’
About to place two jagged pieces in the box, he gave her a smiling glance of inquiry. ‘Stress relief?’
‘They’re for a mosaic,’ she explained reluctantly. Talking might help relieve the throbbing ache at her elbow. ‘Most of them are already damaged.’
‘Mosaic…a hobby, or do you do it for a living?’
Rhiannon hesitated. It’s just an idle question, don’t be silly. ‘Not entirely.’
‘Would I know your name?’
‘I doubt it.’
When she didn’t volunteer it, he sent her another glance, his sculpted lips taking on a slightly wry curve, then closed the flaps on the carton and asked, ‘How are you feeling?’
‘I’m fine.’ She adjusted the strap of her shoulder-bag, starting to rise again, and winced.
The man frowned. ‘Are you sure you haven’t broken a bone?’
Rhiannon moved her forearm, testing. It was uncomfortable but she said, ‘I’ll have a bruise, that’s all.’ Carrying the tiles would be a problem, though.
He said, ‘You go first—I’ll bring this along for you.’
With no real choice, she mounted the steps, conscious of his footsteps behind her.
When he’d stowed the box in the back of her station wagon he asked, ‘Anything else I can do for you?’
‘No. Thank you, you’ve done enough.’
‘Ow!’ he said softly.
‘I didn’t mean…’
He laughed, and Rhiannon said quickly, ‘It was kind of you and I appreciate it.’
‘That’s generous, since I caused you to get hurt.’
‘No, it wasn’t your fault.’ Considering his spectacular good looks, any other woman would surely have gracefully accepted his initial offer of help. Instead of falling over her feet in an effort to get away.
‘Is there someone to help you unload them?’ he asked her, indicating the tiles.
‘Yes.’ Not giving any more information, she opened the driver’s door and climbed in.
His expression rueful, he closed the door for her, raised a casual hand and stepped back.
Glancing in the rear-vision mirror as she entered the ramp to the lower level, she saw he was still watching.
As the station wagon disappeared down the ramp, Gabriel Hudson shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked briefly on his heels.
Nice one, Hudson. Not up to your usual style.
Not that he was in the habit of picking up females in car parks, but he’d seldom been brushed off so unequivocally. Even before he’d bought out a failing business for a song, changed its name and built it up to the rank of one of New Zealand’s top private companies, he’d been spoiled for choice as far as female companionship was concerned. His looks were both an asset and an occasional embarrassment. They didn’t usually scare women off.
The instant he’d stepped into the lift this one had scurried into a corner without making eye contact, allowing him to study her for a moment or two before she looked up and caught him.
She’d seemed startled then—large green eyes, slightly almond-shaped but enormous and wary as a cat’s, fixed on him for a long second, unpainted lips parting on a quickly indrawn breath. Tempting lips—their outlines very feminine and well-defined, the tender flesh blush-pink.
Shining mahogany hair cut in a deceptively simple style kissed petal-smooth skin with a faint dusky-rose bloom that had disappeared alarmingly into a deathly pallor when she hurt herself. The box she’d carried had partly hidden her figure, but her plain skirt had been just short enough to reveal nicely shaped legs.
She’d looked away again immediately, the soft lips firmly pressing together, and he’d seen the taut line of her throat ripple as she swallowed, her eyes fixing on the lighted floor numbers as if she could will them to change faster.
He’d felt a throb of desire, surprising himself with the adolescent reaction to a passing stranger. His impulse to help carry the heavy box wasn’t entirely altruistic. He hadn’t planned seduction on the staircase, but he’d had an odd reluctance to just let her walk away. That single glance in the elevator had intrigued him.
He shouldn’t have touched her. That was what had made her jump like a startled fawn and trip on the stair.
Remembering her white face, the green eyes darkened with shock, the lovely mouth pale and tight, he swore under his breath.
He’d blown his chances there, for sure. Making a woman almost pass out with pain wasn’t exactly calculated to endear a man to her.
After that there had been little he could do but see her safely to her car and forget about the disastrous encounter.
Rhiannon drove carefully, aware that her rapidly stiffening arm wouldn’t stand too much strain. Her shoulder muscles were tense, and when a traffic light stopped the car she snatched the chance to practise a deep-breathing exercise, and deliberately loosened her grip on the steering wheel, flexing her fingers.
Curling them again about the vinyl, she had a clear memory of the stranger’s hand on hers, strong yet not threatening. And of his eyes, that seemed to change disconcertingly from glittering silver-grey to the blue of a winter morning sky, promising warmth to come. When she’d first caught him looking at her they’d been idly appreciative, then apologetic and concerned, but later uncomfortably curious and perceptive.
The lights changed and she put her foot down, charging across the intersection before she thought to ease back on the accelerator.
She was…unsettled. On edge. A strange fluttering sensation attacked her midriff, and at her throat a pulse beat erratically. She felt warm all over and oddly weakened.
The fall, of course, had shaken her up. It would take a little while to get over it.
At the old villa in Mount Albert that she shared with another young woman, she removed a few tiles at a time from the box and carried them to the high-ceilinged former bedroom she’d converted to a home studio.
In future she’d be able to do some of her smaller artwork at
