Carole Mortimer - Sensual Encounter

‘Why not?’ she snapped tautly. ‘You have for the last three months.’

‘I told you I was going to North America; it was something I couldn’t get out of. But I asked you to come with me,’ he reminded her.

‘Yes, well—–’ she avoided his searching gaze, ‘I had no intention of hitch-hiking around Canada for three months with a man I’d only just met!’

‘Hitch-hiking?’ he repeated with a frown. ‘Who said anything about hitch-hiking?’

Her gaze moved scathingly over his casual attire, the faded denims even patched in a couple of places. He was decidedly out of place in the tasteful elegance of her home, the exact opposite of Richard’s sophistication, despite the fact that the two men were of a similar age, both in their mid-thirties.

‘Oh, I see,’ Jared derided tauntingly as he correctly read her scorn. ‘You don’t think I’m capable of affording any other form of transport. Are you a snob, Katharine Mary Collier?’ His eyes were narrowed again.

‘No, of course not!’ She flushed in spite of herself. ‘You told me yourself that you live on your wits, and I just—–’

‘Don’t believe in roughing it with someone like me when you can ride around with friend Richard in the Porsche. That is his car outside, isn’t it?’ he mocked.

‘Yes. But—–’

‘Nice car.’

‘He thinks so,’ she said stiffly.

‘And you, do you think so too?’ His voice was taut.

‘Of course,’ she bit out. ‘Look, Mr Rourke—–’

‘Mr?’ he derided mockingly. ‘Really, Kate, you’re being ridiculous now. I doubt your friend can hear us out here, it’s quite safe to call me Jared when we’re alone.’

‘All right, Jared,’ bright spots of angry colour darkened her cheeks, her eyes gleaming, ‘Richard is my friend, and why you’ve had to come here and try and cause trouble I have no idea.’

His eyes widened. ‘What trouble have I tried to cause? I wasn’t to know you would have your boyfriend here.’

‘You could have called first!’

‘It took me long enough to find out your real name and address, let alone your telephone number!’

‘ How did you find out my name and address?’ she frowned.

‘It wasn’t easy,’ he shrugged. ‘But I remembered you said you were in advertising. I have a few connections in the business world,’ he ignored her scathing snort, ‘people who owe me a few favours. Luckily there aren’t too many redhaired beauties like you in advertising. It was a simple matter to visit all the ones who fitted the description. You were third on the list.’

‘The fact that I did give you a false name should have told you something,’ she snapped.

‘Oh, it did,’ he nodded unconcernedly. ‘It told me you didn’t mind spending a couple of days with me, but you didn’t want any of your high-class friends to find out about it.’

Kate glanced towards the lounge with a hunted look in her eyes. ‘Will you please keep your voice down?’ she hissed vehemently. ‘I don’t want Richard to hear.’

‘No, we mustn’t have that, must we?’ he taunted. ‘Tell me, Kate—–’

‘Darling, are we—Are you still here?’ Richard frowned his irritation as he saw the other man at the door. ‘Hasn’t Kate explained to you that Gill lives downstairs?’ His arm went possessively about her slender waist.

‘Kate’s explanation was very exact,’ Jared told the other man tautly.

‘Then if you’ll excuse us,’ Richard said haughtily, ‘we happen to be going out.’

Kate bit her lip anxiously at the derogatory tone of Richard’s voice. One thing she had learnt about Jared Rourke, if he had something to say then he said it. Richard’s disdainful attitude was guaranteed to spark the Irish temper lurking in the icy blue eyes. She waited for the explosion that would ruin all her carefully laid plans, plans that would make her Richard’s wife. But not if Jared told him about their meeting three months ago, not if he told him about the two days—and nights—they had spent together.

‘Then I won’t keep you any longer.’ Jared pushed away from the doorframe in one lithe movement. I mustn’t keep Gill waiting,’ he added wickedly.

Richard looked uncomfortable at the suggestive tone in the other man’s voice. ‘Er—no. Well, glad to have been able to help you, Mr—–?’

‘Rourke,’ Jared supplied, his expression mocking as he looked at Kate. ‘Thank you, Miss Collier. I’ll tell Gill how helpful you’ve been.’

Kate was left with the impression that it was a possibility that Jared would tell Gill exactly that—and he didn’t even know Gill! Not yet, anyway. She knew from experience that that wasn’t necessarily a drawback as far as Jared was concerned; once he made his mind up to do something he did it, regardless. It could be Gill’s lucky night—if she liked attractive Irishmen, that is. Strangely that thought didn’t please Kate at all.

He gave a brief wave of his hand as he stepped into the lift, his blue eyes burning with mocking mischief as he pressed the button to close the doors. Kate watched the lift floor numbers above the doors, her mouth tightening as it stopped on the floor below. Damn him, he was going to see Gill! He had gone to all the trouble of seeking her out, and now he had gone to the flat of a woman he didn’t even know.

She closed the door with forceful anger, wondering why Jared should go through the lengthy process of finding her only to meekly leave again. It didn’t seem like the man she knew. But going to see Gill he was! She knew better than most what a sensual man Jared Rourke was, how much he enjoyed women.

‘Odd-looking man,’ Richard said thoughtfully.

Kate gave him a sharp look. ‘Odd?’ she questioned his choice of word.

‘Well, he must be my age,’ Richard derided with a twist of his lips, ‘and yet he looked like some damned hippie.’

Jared’s casual clothing hardly made him a hippie, in fact the tight denims suited him, as did the rakish hairstyle, the leather jacket emphasising the width of his shoulders. She had forgotten his shoulders were that broad, his waist that narrow, his hips so powerful, his legs long and lean. Damn him, why did he have to be so attractive!

‘Hippies went out years ago,’ she snapped her agitation.

‘Exactly,’ Richard drawled derisively.

For the first time in weeks Kate felt irritation with him. ‘Nothing about Mr Rourke looked outdated to me,’ she said tautly.

He seemed not to notice her lack of good humour, glancing at his wrist-watch once again. ‘We really will have to go now, Kate.’ He held out the silver jacket that complemented the simplicity of style of her black dress and matched the colour of her sandals and evening bag. Richard knew he could never fault Kate’s way of dressing, everything she wore was stylish and complimentary to her slender beauty—even creations that didn’t belong to his stores!

If Richard could have read her thoughts at that moment he would have been a little shocked by her thoughts. She was remembering a time not so long ago when her clothes had been as casual as Jared Rourke’s, of walking on a golden beach in her tight denims, her anorak stained with sea-spray. It was a memory she had tried to put out of her mind; seeing Jared again had reminded her of a lot of things she would rather forget.

‘Yes, let’s go.’ She put her arm through the crook of his. ‘I’ve been looking forward to our evening together.’

Richard looked pleased by her eagerness, and he visibly preened as they went down in the lift, liking the way she clung to his arm. Although he didn’t look quite so happy when he saw the way a red Lamborghini had trapped him into his parking space. ‘Damn,’ he frowned at the rakish angle of the red car, before getting in behind the wheel of the Porsche to manoeuvre it slowly out on to the road with Kate’s guidance from outside.