Carole Mortimer - Passionate Winter

She trudged wearily along the darkened road, refusing the offers of a lift that she received. She didn’t have far to go now, and she wouldn’t have accepted any of them anyway.

Yet another car passed by and Leigh moved swiftly to the side of the road as the powerful car swished past her at great speed. Roadhog! she fumed silently, looking up with some surprise as the car came to a screeching halt some way down the road, and began reversing towards her. Leigh stepped back again on to the side of the road as the car drew up beside her.

The window moved down by the press of a button, the driver leaning over to speak to her. ‘Can I be of any assistance?’ asked a familiar deep masculine voice.

Oh no! Leigh just didn’t believe it! Her luck seemed to have run out on her this evening. ‘Do you make a habit of picking up young girls, Mr Sinclair?’ she asked icily.

Silence. She heard his sharp intake of breath before he answered. ‘Not as a rule, Miss Stanton.’ So he actually remembered her name! ‘But you seem to be in some sort of trouble, and I thought an offer of help wouldn’t come amiss. Needless to say, I didn’t realise it was you when I stopped.’

‘And now you do?’

‘My offer of help still stands.’ He flicked open the door from the inside, leaning over her to press the button to close the window after she had seated herself next to him. Instantly Leigh became aware of his warm male-smelling, body, and the nearness of his thigh to her own. He turned in his seat to look at her, switching on the interior light so that he could see her better. ‘Would it be too much to ask what you’re doing wandering about on a deserted road at seven o’clock in the evening? Don’t tell me it’s a repeat of last night? You surely didn’t change your mind again when it actually came to the point?’

There was no missing the scorn in his voice. ‘Is that Gavin’s explanation of yesterday?’ she asked angrily.

Piers Sinclair’s mouth tightened. ‘I haven’t seen Gavin since we left him last night. I stayed at my apartment in town after I left you. Satisfied?’

‘You don’t owe me any explanations, Mr Sinclair. And if you really want to know what I’m doing here I can quite easily explain that. My car has broken down a couple of miles down the road and I was looking for a garage.’

‘You drive?’

‘Well, I didn’t push it here, if that’s what you mean,’ Leigh said tartly. He probably thought her incapable of driving a car.

‘Okay, cut the witty comments.’ He backed the car up and turned it round in a gateway. ‘Is your car very far back?’

‘A mile or two, but I have no idea what’s actually wrong with it.’

‘Women rarely do.’

‘And that is a typical male patronising comment, Mr Sinclair. Just because you were a racing driver and know how a car works, that doesn’t mean everyone has to. I might be quite knowledgeable on some subjects you know very little about.’

‘I’m sure you are. Now tell me how we get to your car, I don’t remember seeing it as I drove along.’

Leigh almost missed seeing her car herself, having pushed it to the side of the road out of the way of other traffic. Thank goodness it hadn’t been a big car or she would have just had to leave it standing on the road.

Piers Sinclair got swiftly out of the car, putting his hand out wordlessly for the car keys, before lifting up the bonnet of her old battered Mini. After a few minutes he slammed the bonnet back down and climbed into the car. Leigh stifled a chuckle at his imposing figure sitting so incongruously in her tiny car. It still wouldn’t start and she tried hard to hide her smug smile at his inability to find the trouble. That would teach him to be so sure of himself all the time!

He got out of her car without a word and began looking through the boot of his own car. A second later he came back, a large petrol container in his hand. ‘Didn’t you bother to check the petrol gauge, or are you in the habit of letting it run dry?’

Leigh blushed a fiery red. ‘I … er … I didn’t think. I’m so used to it breaking down that I didn’t think about checking the petrol.’ She moved nervously from one foot to the other. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said dully.

‘Don’t apologise to me.’ He wiped his oily hands un-caringly down his dark trousers. ‘I’m not the one who walked two miles for nothing.’

‘No. I am.’ She felt so embarrassed. And she had thought him sure of himself! She shouldn’t have been so smug. ‘Please … please don’t make your clothes dirty because of my stupidity. Here,’ she handed him a clean handkerchief from the pocket of her jeans.

‘What’s the matter?’ he asked softly. ‘Are you frightened I might send you the cleaning bill?’

‘You can if you like,’ she smiled at him cheekily. ‘Although whether or not I can pay it is a different matter.’

She saw a flash of white teeth as he smiled in the darkness. ‘Another broke student, huh?’

‘I’d hardly call Gavin that,’ she scoffed.

‘Is that why you went out with him? Because he has money?’ His voice had hardened to anger.

Leigh stiffened. ‘I didn’t know your son had money. I went out with him because I liked him. I don’t have to take your insults, Mr Sinclair. Yesterday you accused me of being …’ she hesitated. ‘Well, you know what you accused me of. And now you as much as call me a gold-digger. Have you quite finished insulting me, or do you have something else to say?’

‘Nothing else for the moment.’ He handed back her car keys. ‘It should be all right now, but I should have it checked over all the same, just to be on the safe side.’

‘Is the car worth it?’

‘Not really.’

‘Thanks very much!’ She marched over to her own car. ‘We can’t all afford flashy cars.’

Piers Sinclair moved with a speed that surprised her, gripping her arms so tightly it made her wince with pain. He swung her roughly round to face him, towering darkly above her. ‘You asked my opinion, Miss Stanton, and I gave it. It’s hardly my fault if you didn’t like that opinion. And I was not being patronising when I said that about your car. I genuinely don’t think you should be driving it.’

‘I’ll bear your opinion in mind. Thank you,’ she said in a stilted voice, shaking off his restraining hand. ‘Mr Sinclair, you’re hurting my arm.’

Instantly she was set free, overbalancing slightly at the suddenness of it. ‘Goodnight, Miss Stanton,’ he said curtly.

Leigh didn’t know if she was relieved or disappointed that the car started the first time she tried it. Trust that man to be right! She found her dislike of him increasing, although she couldn’t deny that her heart began beating erratically at his slightest touch, and she was always very much aware of him as a man.

No man had the right to be so blatantly sexually attractive, his deep husky voice affecting her senses in a way she didn’t care to admit, not even to herself. Not that he deliberately drew attention to himself, but Leigh knew that no matter where he was he would instantly demand attention and command respect.

But she hated him! Hated him as she had never hated anyone or anything before in her life. How dared he think such things about her morals when he didn’t know the first thing about her!

‘What happened to you? As if I need to ask,’ joked Karen when Leigh finally let herself into the flat. ‘Car break down again?’ she asked sympathetically.

‘As usual,’ grumbled Leigh. ‘I’m sorry I’m so late,’ she glanced at her watch. ‘Give me ten minutes and I’ll be ready.’

‘Don’t worry, Leigh. Keith said he’d call for us on his way and you have another half an hour yet, no need to hurry. How did you get the car started this time? Call a mechanic?’