British Bachelors: Delicious & Dangerous

‘I asked what kind of temperature you wanted?’

‘Hot.’

Such a simple, commonplace word shouldn’t sound so...so provocative. But it did. And it didn’t help her case that she remembered telling Hal that she was hardly fazed by seeing a man’s naked body and had ‘seen it all before’. She didn’t doubt he thought she must be referring to her intimate experiences. Perhaps he thought she’d had several? The truth was she’d had just one briefly intimate liaison and that had turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. She’d been stupidly bluffing when she’d made her comment, so that he wouldn’t think he had the upper hand. And she’d called him egotistical!

‘Okay,’ she said.

‘I’ll need you to help me get in the water—also to put the waterproof cast protector on.’

‘Of course.’

‘Then I suppose I’d better get undressed.’

Swallowing hard at the very idea of seeing this man’s toned, athletic body bared for her eyes only—albeit so that he could take a bath—Kit had to dig deep to retain her composure. ‘Do you need any assistance with that?’ she asked.

Hal’s golden eyes glimmered almost painfully.

‘Not to get undressed, no. But you might as well stay in here until I’m ready to get into the bath. Think you can do that?’

‘No problem.’ She sensed heat flare in her cheeks even before she answered.

‘I’ll put a towel round me to spare your blushes,’ he declared, his tone indisputably provocative. ‘Even though you’ve assured me that you’ve seen it all before.’

Kit might have known he wouldn’t let her forget she’d said that. ‘Do you want me to put in some bath salts or foam?’ she enquired.

‘Some of that blue stuff on the shelf will do,’ he responded blithely, as if it scarcely mattered.

The ‘blue stuff’ he’d indicated was a seriously high-end exclusive product that probably cost the earth, she noted, a helpless little smile curving her lips. It certainly smelt nice. While Hal lifted off his sweater and T-shirt she kept herself occupied by watching over the bathwater and regularly testing the temperature. When he indicated that he was ready she turned off the taps and swivelled to see that he had wound a slim white bathtowel round the lower half of his torso, while he supported his injured leg on a handy footstool.

But that wasn’t the only thing Kit noticed. Exposed in all their glory, the sheer tantalising breadth of his shoulders and his strongly defined biceps were even more magnificent than she’d guessed they would be. But she couldn’t afford to let the fact distract her...not even for a second.

‘The bath is ready, so I think we’d better get the cast protector on,’ she said briskly.

‘Then let’s do it.’

With the waterproof protector fitted over his cast, Kit made sure to support him strongly as Hal gingerly lowered himself into the fragrant bubbles. Her heart raced in concern when she felt his muscles tensing and saw him bite his lip. ‘Is the water too hot?’ she breathed.

As she assisted him to position his injured leg on one of the marble bath sides he surprised her with an unrestrained grin. ‘It’s perfect. Just the way I like it.’

‘Good...that’s good.’

His even white teeth flashed another smile as he reached down beneath the bubbles to produce the now sopping wet towel that he’d wound round his hips to spare Kit’s blushes. He handed it to her.

‘You have no idea how good.’

Carrying the wet towel over to one of the pair of marble sinks to wring it out, she almost had to bite back a groan. She’d never known that just the sound of a man’s voice could be such a turn-on. And it didn’t help her to stay as safely immune as she wanted to when the man was as physically imposing and arresting as Hal Treverne.

She was appalled at herself for even daring to fantasise about someone like him when he had a reputation for dating some of the most beautiful women in the world. She didn’t delude herself that she came anywhere near that elite category! She reminded herself of the cast-iron rules she always worked by—to be utterly professional and impartial at all times and definitely not to get personally involved. Particularly when the client was a stunningly attractive male who wasn’t averse to teasing and provoking her. The last thing she wanted to do was find herself repeating the same soul-destroying pattern as her mother had...falling for a man who could only spell disaster. She’d already been burned by the brief, ill-judged liaison she’d had with a man who had turned out to be married...

‘Kit?’

‘Yes?’ She finished wringing out the wet towel and turned her head to acknowledge him. The steam from the hot water had created a pall of fine damp mist over his sculpted cheekbones and had made his thick dark hair curl against his neck even more rebelliously. Aside from the fact that the mere sight of him challenged her on almost every level, Kit couldn’t deny the pleasure she felt because he appeared so much more relaxed than she’d witnessed seeing him before.

‘Will you wash my hair for me?’

It seemed she was going to have another challenge.

Helplessly, Kit swirled her tongue over her lips, because they’d suddenly dried. Leaving the damp towel coiled in the sink, she caught a glimpse of her own flushed face and startled blue eyes in the mirror. Her fiery copper hair was once again drifting free from its topknot and the bathroom steam had misted her porcelain skin to make her resemble a girl who had just got out of her lover’s bed. Her insides executed a nervous cartwheel at the thought. Particularly as the lover she’d automatically envisaged had been Hal...

Smoothing her moist palms down over her jeans to dry them, Kit stepped slowly towards him. He was resting his head against the marble rim of the bath and she willed him not to notice how flushed she was. She desperately needed some time to restore her equilibrium. For goodness’ sake, he’s injured, she reminded herself. I’m here to do a job and to help aid his recuperation by providing practical help...not to act like some silly infatuated schoolgirl around him! She’d never been able to understand grown women who acted that way. And neither would she jeopardise her job or her peace of mind by mimicking them.

‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘Of course I’ll wash your hair. Do you have any preference as to what shampoo I should use?’ It hadn’t escaped her attention how laden with men’s grooming products his bathroom shelves were, but once again he shrugged his shoulders as if the choice hardly signified.

‘I don’t have a preference. All I want is for you to wash my hair and help me feel halfway human again.’

‘Okay. I’ll just nip into the kitchen and get a jug so I can rinse the shampoo off. Won’t be a minute.’

In the kitchen Kit found a suitable jug and gulped down a glass of cool water to help steady her nerves before returning to the steamy bathroom and the prospect of washing Hal Treverne’s luxuriant dark hair...

Without a doubt Kit Blessington had a sinful touch, Hal reflected as her long graceful fingers massaged his scalp. It made him long for her to massage the rest of his battered and bruised body As well as giving him his broken femur and damaged knee, the accident hadn’t spared him all the other aches and pains commensurate with a heavy fall.

Remembering the sight of her bending over the bath to run the water earlier, he noted that her fitted corduroy jeans couldn’t help but emphasise her surprisingly lush curves. She had a derrière that resembled the most perfectly ripe peach. How could a healthy male specimen not fantasise about kissing it and perhaps taking a little nibble? It was only natural that his red-blooded imagination should start to linger irresistibly on the idea of making love to her. After all, he was only human, and having not had a woman in his bed for at least six months because of his killing work schedule and extra-curricular sporting pursuits he found his healthy libido was seriously starting to protest at the sexual drought he’d imposed on it. Just because he had a broken leg it didn’t mean that his need and desire for sex was broken too.

Yet it didn’t sit well with Hal that the sudden heated attraction he seemed to have developed towards Kit might compromise her in any way. Somehow he intuited that she wasn’t a woman to take a sexual fling lightly...particularly not one with a man who had hired her to help him as he recuperated from an accident. So, no matter how tempting the alluring redhead was, he should leave well alone...for both their sakes, he decided.

Instead, he would carry out the intention he’d had earlier, to get to know her a little and engage her in conversation. He would encourage her to tell him a bit about her life rather than just talk about himself. God knew there was enough about his career and sporting exploits in the tabloids and magazines if she had a mind to read them... And it didn’t stop there. There were plenty of unwelcome salacious reports about him too... Past associations with models and actresses, for instance, were embellished and exaggerated to the hilt. For some reason the thought of Kit reading about those made him wince...

‘I’ll rinse off the shampoo now,’ she announced cheerfully. ‘Then I’ll get you some warm towels to dry yourself with. You can put your bathrobe on in the meantime.’

‘Thanks, but just before you dash off there’s something I have to do.’ Spying a tiny bubble of foam on the tip of Kit’s nose, where she had unthinkingly wiped the back of her hand across her face after washing his hair, Hal couldn’t help staring.

‘What’s that?’ she wanted to know. Her lips curved in an unknowingly sweet smile.

Unable to resist, he ordered huskily, ‘Come here.’

‘Why? What for?’

But even as she asked the question Kit was bending down towards him, to bring her face nearer to his, and the air between them thrummed with the kind of internal turbulence that was usually felt just before a lightning strike. Even though he might be dicing with danger, Hal couldn’t ignore the irresistible impulse that had been building up inside him ever since she had helped him into the bath.

‘You’ve got some foam on your nose,’ he breathed, gently obliterating the tiny soap bubble with the pad of his thumb.

As soon as he’d seen to that he curved his hand round the back of her neck and brought her face down even closer to his. Her surprised breath fanned him softly just before he helplessly touched his mouth to hers for the briefest of seconds. He’d been longing to experience the taste of her, and it was a Herculean task not to surrender completely to the idea of kissing her more passionately, because everything about Kit Blessington had started to arouse him, Hal realised. Perhaps even more than it should, because in truth she should be strictly out of bounds to him.

Their association was nothing more than a professional one. She was the woman he’d hired as a home help. But, oh, her cherry lips were sweet...

Reluctantly he came to his senses and hastily withdrew. But he couldn’t so easily escape the desire that burned in him as brightly and hotly as a flame that would not go out...

‘You—we—we shouldn’t have done that!’ With her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright Kit self-consciously smoothed her hand down over her hip and reached for the jug of clean water she’d left on the bath side. ‘I’d better rinse off your hair and then get those warm bathtowels for you.’

After rinsing the shampoo from his hair Kit grimly adhered to her task of helping Hal get out of the bath. She was careful not to meet his eyes so he wouldn’t see that she was desperately struggling to maintain her composure. There was no hiding the fact that his naked physical form had deluged her with an uncomfortably primal awareness. That brief but inflammatory kiss he’d delivered had effectively turned her previously ‘safe’ little world upside down, and she didn’t know how she was going to right it again.

Silently helping him into his bathrobe, Kit couldn’t disguise her need to escape for a while. ‘Will you be okay for a couple of minutes while I fetch those towels?’

‘Of course. But don’t be gone too long, will you? I might start to think you’re trying to pretend that chaste little kiss we just shared didn’t happen.’

Forcing herself to meet the undoubtedly mocking glance on Hal’s face, she lifted her chin and delivered a deliberately droll reply of her own.

‘I hate to dent your ego—I really do—but I’ve already forgotten about it. My focus is entirely on your welfare, just as it should be. When I return, I’ll stay and help you dress, if you’d like? I’m aware you’ve already expended quite a bit of energy today, and you need to rest that leg.’

Hal predictably scowled. ‘I don’t need help dressing. Just bring me the towels. After that, rather than have you stay and help me, I’d prefer it if you just went and made me a hot drink.’

‘Your wish is my command.’

‘I wouldn’t push your luck if I were you.’

‘I wouldn’t dare,’ Kit murmured softly, and quickly exited the room...

She came back soon afterwards with the promised towels, then disappeared again to make his drink. Hal couldn’t help feeling a little sombre. He’d told her that rather than staying to help him he’d prefer her to go and make him a hot drink, but it was a lie. He didn’t prefer that she’d done that at all. His assertion that he didn’t want her help because he hated being so reliant on her, and also because everything about her was arousing him...almost to the point of pain.

Hefting a heavy sigh, he glared down at his inanimate broken limb with a feeling that was very close to despair. Being left with too much time on his hands in which to berate himself for creating such a horrendous situation was hardly helpful. He hated being left alone with his thoughts. He’d rather go sky-diving or climb a glacial mountain without a guide rope any day. At least when he was doing that there wasn’t any time for painful brooding—not when his attention had to be absolutely focused on the exhilarating and dangerous task in hand if he wanted to stay alive.

Breaking his leg and being forced to take time out from his usual activities had made Hal realise just how alone and fearful of the future he’d become lately. Having woken up to the fact that he’d deluded himself for too long that money, a successful career and the extreme sports he favoured were enough to keep his loneliness and sense of emptiness at bay, he was now faced with the realisation that in truth he’d been hiding from the one thing that might help counteract that...having a genuinely intimate and meaningful relationship with a woman. He’d avoided the possibility like the plague thus far, due to his dread fear of commitment. In any case, he was hardly a good bet. Aside from his restless nature, he was far too selfish and self-obsessed, and sooner or later the woman he chose would discover that and leave...just as his mother had left his father when Hal and Sam were small...

Uncomfortably ill at ease with that particular train of thought, he stood up abruptly on his good leg and reached out a hand for one of the crutches Kit had left standing against the wall close to his chair. Intent on positioning the padded rest under his arm, he lost his balance. Shockingly, he pitched forward onto the marble floor. Grunting out a furious expletive, because the force of the fall had momentarily robbed him of his breath, he stayed there for several humiliating seconds before coming to his senses and shouting for Kit.

He heard her run down the parquet corridor and for a moment couldn’t help envying her ability to do just that—to run freely without hindrance...

‘What on earth happened?’

Dropping to her haunches beside him in concern, she laid a hand gently on his back. Hal swore he could feel the warmth of her soft skin radiate through the thick towelling robe he wore.

Turning his head towards her, he grimaced. ‘What do you think happened? That I suddenly had a sudden perverse yen to lie face-down on the marble?’

Ignoring his mocking retort, Kit suddenly saw the walking aid lying on the floor beside him and realised what had happened.

‘No, but I think you must have had a perverse yen to play Superman. No one is infallible, Henry...not even you. Why didn’t you call me to come and help you stand up? That’s what I’m here for. Are you hurt?’

‘You mean apart from my pride? No. I don’t think so. Help me get to my feet, then I can check.’

Upright again, and leaning on her with his hard-muscled arm draped round her shoulders, Kit guided him back to the bathroom chair. When he was comfortably settled she dropped down to her haunches again to check his knee and the protective cast for any new signs of damage. Thankfully she couldn’t find any. She’d had the most awful fright when she saw that he’d fallen over, and she couldn’t forgive herself for allowing him to persuade her to go and make a drink rather than stay with him as she should have done. She would never make the same mistake again, she vowed.

Glancing up, she witnessed a muscle visibly flinch in the side of his lean shadowed jaw. ‘Everything looks okay but that doesn’t mean you haven’t damaged anything,’ she said. ‘Can you raise your injured leg off the floor a little for me, so that I can ascertain how much movement you’ve got?’

He did so with a rueful smile. Nothing appeared amiss, and Kit was temporarily able to relax. Rising to her feet, she resisted the sudden shocking impulse to comb his hair back from his forehead with her fingers. For goodness’ sake! He wasn’t a child! But there’d been nothing remotely maternal about her urge to touch the dark silken locks.

All the while she’d been helping him into the bath, washing his hair, then helping him out again, her senses had been taunted and aroused by his dangerously irresistible maleness and close proximity. The scent of his cologne along with the dizzying warmth of his body, seemed still to cling to her. Her very cells felt as though they’d been imbued with his essence. Not to mention the thrill of that brief kiss they’d shared...

In a bid to ground herself, she sucked in a steadying breath. ‘I saw in the diary that the nurse is calling in tomorrow. That’s good. I’ll feel more reassured when she checks you over.’

‘Worried about me, are you, Ms Blessington?’

The teasing glimmer in his compelling golden eyes reassured her that perhaps it had been only his pride that had been hurt. In any case, she wouldn’t let herself rest on her laurels.

‘Don’t take it personally. I’d be worried about anyone in my care who had fallen over—especially someone who already has a broken leg. But you can be sure that next time I won’t be so quick to believe you when you tell me you can manage on your own. That was an unforgivable mistake I made. If you want that hot drink I’ll help you into the kitchen so that you can sit at the table with me. Then I think you should seriously consider going to bed.’

‘That would sound like a much more attractive proposition if I didn’t have to go there alone.’

Hal’s huskily voiced statement—its meaning all too clear—nailed Kit’s feet to the floor. The shock that eddied through her was so strong it made her feel dizzy.

Over a dry mouth, she answered, ‘Is that so? Look, what you do in your private life is none of my business, but I’d urge you to give your body a chance to heal a bit more before you—before you—’

‘Before I attend to needs of a more...shall we say...personal nature?’

After holding her stunned gaze for what seemed like a heart-pounding lifetime, with a wry twist of his lips he suddenly grimaced and shook his head.

‘You’re right, of course. But then it seems that you always are, Kit. I’d like to have a talk with you about how you came to be so eminently sensible. But right now I’m too tired, so our little chat will have to wait until tomorrow.’

Her acute discomfort at his previous incendiary comment thankfully easing, Kit collected Hal’s walking aid and helped him get to his feet again. Once she was satisfied that he had his balance she walked by his side out into the corridor, then accompanied him into the kitchen...

CHAPTER FIVE

IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE to drift off into a relaxed sleep after the day’s events—events that had upsettingly culminated in Hal’s shocking fall. Kit thanked her lucky stars that he hadn’t injured himself more, but she was still anxious to have the nurse check him over when she visited tomorrow. She prayed the woman wouldn’t think she hadn’t done her job properly because she’d left Hal unsupervised and in doing so proved herself incompetent. The last thing Kit wanted was to have her report back to Hal’s sister with the suggestion that she hire someone else. It would be the first black mark on her unblemished record with the agency if she did.

Unable to banish the worry and doubt that plagued her, she thumped the luxurious feather pillow she’d been resting her head on and turned over onto her side. Her mind raced on. More than anything else she wanted Hal Treverne to see that she was the very best at what she did, and for him to realise that she was totally dedicated to helping aid his recovery.

Is that all you want him to see? That you’re competent and good at what you do?

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake.’

Once more Kit sat up and drove her fingers restlessly through her hair. The provoking question her mind had mocked her with was hardly conducive to her getting much sleep at all that night if she decided to explore it, she realised. Yet she couldn’t deny that the man disturbed her. He made her more aware of her femininity than any other man had ever done before...especially when he kissed her!

The fact that he had a broken leg and was irritable and frustrated by his resultant immobility didn’t make Kit any less aware of the man’s undoubted charisma and sex appeal. But then, when she recalled that Hal had told her at the interview that he might need to call on her for company at night if he couldn’t sleep, her heart skipped an anxious beat. People were apt to let their guard down more during the night-time hours. What would they talk about? Kit wouldn’t dream of betraying any confidences he might share, but at the same time she hoped he wouldn’t expect her to reveal any of her own. She’d never been at all easy talking about her past, and whenever it arose she’d developed a strategy of automatically glossing over the details and then acting as if it was hardly of any consequence.

‘The past is in the past and that’s where it should stay,’ she’d comment, endeavouring for a blithe, cheery tone.

Would Hal Treverne break her cover and intuit that her guard was as strong as a portcullis slamming down to keep out the enemy if he should veer into that particular territory? And would he wonder why she was so reluctant to talk about it? Only tonight he’d vowed to talk to her about what had made her ‘so eminently sensible’ she recalled. His resolution had made her understandably anxious at the idea of even briefly having to revisit the circumstances and events that had shaped her. To discuss her past with him might threaten to open a can of worms that wouldn’t easily be closed... It could also undo the self-confidence she’d built up over the past few years since working for the agency. It might even destroy it completely.

Making an abrupt decision to deal with whatever should transpire and not allow it to make her flustered, Kit resignedly combed her fingers through her freed mane of silken copper hair once again and lay back down. Deciding to draw upon the sheer determination and pragmatism she usually utilised to get her through life’s challenges, she promised herself she would have a far less troubling day tomorrow, come what may. And on that reassuring note she finally allowed her eyes to drift closed...

* * *

The surprising realisation that hit Hal on opening his eyes the next morning was that for the first time since the accident he had astonishingly experienced an unbroken night’s sleep. He’d slept through the night without waking even once. Barely able to believe it, he sat upright, bemusedly scrubbed his hand round his studded jaw and then pushed back the duvet. Yes, he’d taken two strong painkillers before retiring, but they had never worked as effectively before.