CATHY WILLIAMS - The Ultimate Persuasion - A Tempestuous Temptation / The Notorious Gabriel Diaz / The Truth Behind his Touch

‘Well, that’s a relief.’ He stood up and shoved his hands in the pockets of his trousers. ‘Make sure you have a key to get back in,’ he told her. ‘I think we’ve caused our obliging landlady enough inconvenience for one night without having to get her out of bed to let you in because you’ve decided to take a walk in driving snow.’

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mrs Bixby, the landlady, heading towards them like a ship in full sail. But when she began expressing concern about Aggie’s decision to step outside for a few minutes, Luiz shook his head ever so slightly.

‘I’m sure Agatha is more than capable of taking care of herself,’ he told Mrs Bixby. ‘But she will need a key to get back in.’

‘I expect you want me to thank you,’ Aggie hissed, once she was in possession of the front-door key and struggling to get her arms into her coat. Now that she was no longer supporting herself against the dining-room table, her light-headedness was accompanied by a feeling of nausea. She also suspected that her words were a little slurred even though she was taking care to enunciate each and every syllable very carefully.

‘Thank me for what?’ Luiz walked with her to the front door. ‘Your coat’s not done up properly.’ He pointed to the buttons which she had failed to match up properly, and then he leaned against the wall and watched as she fumbled to try and remedy the oversight.

‘Stop staring at me!’

‘Just making sure that you’re well wrapped up. Would you like to borrow my scarf? No bother for me to run upstairs and get it for you.’

‘I’m absolutely fine.’ A wave of sickness washed over her as she tilted her head to look him squarely in the face.

Very hurriedly, she let herself out of the house while Luiz turned to Mrs Bixby and grinned. ‘I intend to take up residence in the dining room. I’ll sit by the window and make sure I keep an eye on her. Don’t worry; if she’s not back inside in under five minutes, I’ll forcibly bring her in myself.’

‘Coffee while you wait?’

‘Strong, black would be perfect.’

He was still grinning as he manoeuvred a chair so that he could relax back and see her as she stood still in the snow for a few seconds, breathing in deeply from the looks of it, before tramping in circles on the front lawn. He couldn’t imagine her leaving the protective circle of light and striking out for an amble in the town. The plain truth was that she had had a little too much to drink. She had been distinctly green round the gills when she had stood up after eating a couple of sandwiches, although that was something she would never have admitted to.

Frankly, Luiz had no time for women who drank, but he could hardly blame her. Neither of them had been aware of how much wine had been consumed. She would probably wake up with a headache in the morning, which would be a nuisance, as he wanted to leave at the crack of dawn, weather permitting. But that was life.

He narrowed his eyes and sat forward as she became bored with her circular tramping and began heading towards the little gate that led out towards the street and the town.

Without waiting for the coffee, he headed for the front door, only pausing on the way to tell Mrs Bixby that he’d let himself back in.

She’d vanished from sight and Luiz cursed fluently under his breath. Without a coat it was freezing and he was half-running when he saw her staggering up the street with purpose before pausing to lean against a lamp post, head buried in the crook of her elbow.

‘Bloody woman,’ he muttered under his breath. He picked up speed as much as he could and reached her side just in time to scoop her up as she was about to slide to the ground.

Aggie shrieked.

‘Do you intend to wake the entire town?’ Luiz began walking as quickly as he could back to the bed and breakfast. Which, in snow that was fast settling, wasn’t very quickly at all.

‘Put me down!’ She pummelled ineffectively at his chest but soon gave up because the activity made her feel even more queasy.

‘Now, that has to be the most stupid thing ever to have left your lips.’

‘I said put me down !’

‘If I put you down, you wouldn’t be able to get back up. You don’t honestly think I missed the fact that you were hanging onto that lamp post for dear life, do you?’

‘I don’t need rescuing by you!’

‘And I don’t need to be out here in freezing weather playing the knight in shining armour! Now shut up!’

Aggie was so shocked by that insufferably arrogant command that she shut up.

She wouldn’t have admitted it in a million years but it felt good to be carried like this, because her legs had been feeling very wobbly. In fact, she really had been on the point of wanting to sink to the ground just to take the weight off them before he had swept her off her feet.

She felt him nudge the front door open with his foot, which meant that it had been left ajar. It was humiliating to think of Mrs Bixby seeing her like this and she buried herself against Luiz, willing herself to disappear.

‘Don’t worry,’ Luiz murmured drily in her ear. ‘Our friendly landlady is nowhere to be seen. I told her to go to bed, that I’d make sure I brought you in in one piece.’

Aggie risked a glance at the empty hall and instructed him to put her down.

‘That dumb suggestion again. You’re drunk and you need to get to bed, which is what I told you before you decided to prove how stubborn you could be by ignoring my very sound advice.’

‘I am not drunk . I am never drunk.’ She was alarmed by a sudden need to hiccup, which she thankfully stifled. ‘Furthermore, I am more than capable of making my own way upstairs.’

‘Okay.’ He released her fast enough for her to feel the ground rushing up to meet her and she clutched his jumper with both hands and took a few deep breaths. ‘Still want to convince me that you’re more than capable of making your own way upstairs?’

‘I hate you!’ Aggie muttered as he swept her back up into his arms.

‘You have a tendency to be repetitive,’ Luiz murmured, and he didn’t have to see her face to know that she was glaring at him. ‘And I’m surprised and a little offended that you hate me for rescuing you from almost certainly falling flat on your face in the snow and probably going to sleep. As a teacher, you should know that that is the most dangerous thing that could happen, passing out in the snow. While under the influence of alcohol. Tut, tut, tut. You’d be struck off the responsible-teacher register if they ever found out about that. Definitely not a good example to set for impressionable little children, seeing their teacher the worse for wear…’

‘Shut up,’ Aggie muttered fiercely.

‘Now, let’s see. Forgotten which room is yours…Oh, it’s coming back to me—the only one left with the en suite ! Fortuitous, because you might be needing that…’

‘Oh be quiet,’ Aggie moaned. ‘And hurry up! I think I’m going to be sick.’

SHE made it to the bathroom in the nick of time and was horribly, shamefully, humiliatingly, wretchedly sick. She hadn’t bothered to shut the door and she was too weak to protest when she heard Luiz enter the bathroom behind her.

‘Sorry,’ she whispered, hearing the flush of the toilet and finding a toothbrush pressed into her hand. While she was busy being sick, he had obviously rummaged through her case and located just the thing she needed.

She shakily cleaned her teeth but lacked the energy to tell him to leave.

Nor could she look at him. She flopped down onto the bed and closed her eyes as he drew the curtains shut, turned off the overhead light and began easing her boots off.