Sara Craven - Innocent On Her Wedding Night

Her lips parted to call out—to establish her presence and reassure—but the words were never uttered. Instead, her bedroom door was flung wide, and a stark naked man walked out into the living room.

Laine shrieked. Closing her eyes, she took a too-hasty step backwards and stumbled against her abandoned bag, ricking her ankle again, and sending a shaft of pain up her leg which made her teeth ache in sympathy.

The interloper said something that combined blasphemy and obscenity in one gracefully drawled phrase, then vanished back into the room he’d just left.

Leaving Laine standing there as if she’d been turned to stone, a small frightened voice in her head whispering a beseeching No — oh, no … over and over again.

Because she knew that voice. Knew it as well as she knew her own, even though she’d never expected to hear it again.

The body she hadn’t recognised from that brief glimpse, but then she’d never seen it less than partially clothed before.

However, she was in no doubt at all over the intruder’s identity. In which case, she thought shakily, grabbing at her bag, she was on her way out of here.

She was halfway to the door when she heard his voice again, reaching her across the room.

‘Elaine.’ The hated full version of her name, pronounced with a kind of weary disdain. ‘Of all the people in the world. What the hell are you doing here?’

‘Daniel?’ Somehow she made herself say it. Utter it aloud. ‘Daniel—Flynn?’

She turned back slowly and carefully, dry-mouthed, noting with relief that at least he had a towel draped round his hips this time, as he stood in her bedroom doorway, one bare shoulder propped almost negligently against its frame.

He hadn’t changed much in the past two years, she thought numbly. Not on the surface, anyway. The unruly dark hair, shining with damp, was still longer than convention demanded. The lean, incisive face with its high cheekbones and sculpted mouth, was as heart-stopping as ever. The tall body was even more powerful than she remembered, with the long endless legs, and the deep shadow of chest hair that arrowed down towards his flat stomach.

So, although the rudimentary decencies had been observed, there was still clearly nothing to be relieved about, she told herself as she began to shake inside. In fact, quite the contrary …

‘I don’t believe it.’ She invested her tone with considered venom. ‘My God, I hoped I’d seen the last of you.’

‘And instead you saw a damned sight more than you bargained for.’ He looked her up and down, the hazel eyes frankly insolent under their heavy fringe of lashes as he took in the grubby white denims, and crumpled dark blue top. ‘That’s life?’

‘What are you doing here?’ Laine lifted her chin haughtily, trying not to blush.

‘Taking a shower.’ His tanned face was inimical. ‘Isn’t it obvious?’

‘And equally obvious that isn’t what I meant.’ She struggled to steady her voice. To try and regain some control of this disturbing and unwelcome situation. ‘I’m asking what you’re doing in this flat.’

‘But I asked first,’ he said. ‘I understood you were establishing a new career being decorative in the Florida Keys.’

‘I was working in a boat charter business down there, yes,’ she said curtly. ‘What’s it to you?’

‘I was simply wondering why you’re stumbling around here instead of fixing frozen daiquiris on the poop deck.’

‘I don’t have to explain myself to you,’ Laine said coldly. ‘All you need to know is that I’m home to stay, and you can get dressed and the hell out of my flat before I have the law on you.’

His look was contemptuous. ‘And I’m supposed to tremble and obey? Is that it? No chance, sweetness. Because, unless your dear brother’s been lying to me, and frankly I don’t think he’d dare, half this desirable residence is his, and that’s the half I’m using.’

‘ You are using?’ she said slowly. ‘By what right?’

‘I have a three-month lease,’ he said. ‘Properly drawn up and legally enforceable.’

Her heart was thudding unevenly against her ribcage. ‘I gave no permission for this.’

‘You weren’t here,’ he reminded her. ‘And Jamie guaranteed that happy state of affairs would continue. He thought that you and your fellow boat charterer were all set to walk into the sunset together.’ He inspected her bare left hand, his mouth twisting. ‘Or did he get that wrong?’

Yes, she thought. Completely wrong. But at the time it had made more sense to let Jamie believe that …

Aloud, she said, ‘A slight change of plan.’

‘Ah,’ he said. ‘So another one bit the dust? I do hope you’re not making a habit of it.’ He waited for the sharp indrawn breath she could not control, then went on smoothly, ‘However, it was on the strict understanding that I’d have the place to myself that I arranged to tenant the flat during your brother’s absence in the United States.’

‘Absence?’ she repeated numbly. ‘Since when?’

‘Since three weeks.’ He paused. ‘It’s a—temporary secondment.’

‘Why didn’t he let me know?’

‘It all happened rather quickly.’ The silky drawl was even more pronounced. ‘He tried to contact you, but you seemed—unavailable. Phone calls and faxes to your registered office were left unanswered.’ He shrugged, drawing her unwilling attention to his elegantly muscled shoulders, and rather more besides.

God, but that towel was skimpy, she thought, her throat tightening. And none too secure either.

She decided to avert her gaze. ‘Always supposing this dubious agreement is valid,’ she said through gritted teeth, ‘that doesn’t explain why you were coming out of my bedroom.’

‘Except that it’s now mine,’ he said. ‘For the duration.’ His smile was harsh. ‘I’m sleeping in your bed at last, darling. Now, there’s a thought to savour.’

‘Not,’ she said, ‘as far as I’m concerned.’

‘There was a time,’ he said softly, ‘when the idea seemed briefly to hold a certain amount of appeal for you.’

‘But that,’ she said, ‘was before I turned out to be “a cheat, a liar and a bitch”. And I quote.’

His brows lifted. ‘Indeed you do—and with remarkable accuracy. But moving into your room wasn’t a deliberate choice prompted by malice. Or any nostalgia for what might have been,’ he added, his mouth curling. ‘Simply a question of expediency.’

‘However, you must be able to understand,’ she went on, as if he hadn’t spoken, ‘why I wouldn’t wish to share a roof with you now any more than I did two years ago.’

‘I can see it might be a problem,’ he agreed.

‘I’m glad you’re prepared to be reasonable.’ She was surprised, too, she thought, taking another, more even breath. ‘Then perhaps you’d make immediate arrangements to remove yourself and your belongings to a more appropriate environment?’

His grin was total appreciation. ‘Presumably somewhere like the lowest pit of hell? But you misunderstand me, sweetheart. Any problem that might exist is yours, not mine, because I’m going nowhere. What you decide, of course,’ he added, ‘is entirely your own business.’

She stared at him, lips parting in dismay. ‘But you can’t do this.’

He shrugged again, casually adjusting the slipping towel. ‘Try me.’

‘But you don’t really want to live here,’ she said uncertainly.

‘Why not? Apart from the last five minutes, it’s been pleasant enough.’

‘But such a come down.’ She made herself drawl the words, as if she’d suddenly seen the humour in the situation. ‘It’s just a flat, after all. Not a glamorous penthouse pad for a millionaire publishing tycoon. No diamond encrusted taps or wall-to-wall women. Not your sort of place at all.’