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Face it, Kit, she told herself derisively; you stand about as much chance of relaxing around Marcus Maitland, of really going to sleep, as you do sitting next to a tiger poised to spring!
But that didn’t stop her giving every appearance of dozing during the rest of the journey, only making a pretence of waking as Marcus touched her arm lightly and told her that they had arrived.
‘You had a good nap,’ he told her admiringly as he brought the Jaguar to a stop on the gravel driveway in front of what looked like once having been a stately home. Huge pillars supported its entranceway, the stonework old and mellowed. Noise seemed to flow from every open window as the two of them stepped out onto the gravel driveway, where there were a dozen or so other cars already parked outside.
‘“Come and spend a peaceful weekend in the country” was how Desmond described it to me!’ Marcus gave a hint of his distaste for the loud music and chatter as he moved to get their bags from the boot of the car.
Although not normally one for crowds of people on a superficial basis, Kit found herself smiling, quite happy to make this weekend the exception; the more people there were around them, the less likely she was to be so aware of Marcus. Or to spend too much time alone with him.
‘It sounds like fun,’ she responded lightly.
Marcus gave a disgusted snort, leading the way up the stone steps that fronted the house. Its massive front door was thrown open and the large entrance hall inside was filled with what looked like dozens of people.
‘Are you sure you have the right weekend?’ Kit questioned of Marcus.
‘I’m sure,’ he replied grimly. ‘You—’
‘Kit? Hey, Kit, is that really you?’ called out a familiar voice.
A voice that made her freeze in her tracks and caused the smile to fade from her lips as she looked frantically around the entrance hall for its source.
And then she saw him, making his way purposefully towards her, a smile of amused recognition on his overconfident, too-handsome face.
Mike Reynolds.
Her ex-boss from hell.
But he wasn’t the sole reason her cheeks paled and her breathing seemed to stop. There was also another person whom she could see standing a short distance behind Mike Reynolds. Someone Kit wanted to see even less than she did Mike!
Catherine Grainger…
CHAPTER FOUR
KIT was so stunned that she stood totally immobile as Mike Reynolds took her in his arms and gave her a bear hug.
It was as if he had totally forgotten that the last time the two of them had met she had told him exactly what he could do with his job—and his sexual harassment!
But Kit hadn’t forgotten, stiffening in his arms and trying to push him away, panic setting in as she wished herself anywhere but here. Mike Reynolds was bad enough, but she could handle him. She just hadn’t been prepared for that other, much more disturbing guest.
Mike stepped back, his hands gripping the tops of her arms as he held her in front of him. ‘You’re looking good, kid,’ he said, his bold blue gaze moving slowly down the length of her body.
Kit’s mouth tightened at his familiarity, her eyes glowing deeply grey as she glared at him. ‘It’s a pity—’
‘—that we haven’t seen each other for so long,’ he completed smoothly.
She had been going to say something much more insulting! Which was totally unlike her. But after the shock she had just received, politeness—especially to Mike Reynolds!—was the last thing on her mind.
Mike nodded appreciatively, apparently completely impervious to her less-than-enthusiastic response as his arm slid lightly across her shoulders as he moved to stand next to her. ‘Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend, Kit?’ he prompted lightly as he looked curiously at Marcus.
Marcus!
It was testament to the shock she had received in the last few moments that she had completely forgotten Marcus had entered the house with her. In fact, she had completely forgotten everything else but that disturbing female presence standing only metres away from her!
She shrugged off the arm Mike had draped about her shoulders, moving deliberately away from him to stand next to Marcus. She shot a glance at her boss; he was watching her and Mike, his expression unreadable, his gaze hooded.
‘Yes, do introduce us, Kit,’ he encouraged now in a voice that sounded as if it came after walking over broken glass.
Kit winced at the sound of it, knowing that the last thing she wanted to do was introduce these two men. Yet it seemed that was the one thing she was going to have to do if she was going to escape from this hallway any time soon. And she most certainly was going to have to escape, to find somewhere she could be on her own for a while, if only to give herself time to decide what she should do next.
Because she couldn’t stay on here. Not now.
‘Marcus Maitland. Mike Reynolds,’ she introduced stiffly, seriously wondering if this weekend could get any worse than it already was. Not only Mike Reynolds, of all people, but—
‘Marcus! Darling…!’ suddenly greeted an all-too-familiar voice.
It just had, Kit acknowledged with an inward groan. Andrea Revel’s heady perfume enveloped them all as she moved into their group and stood on tiptoe to kiss Marcus lingeringly on the lips.
‘And Kit, too.’ Andrea turned to her, the light of triumph in those cat-green eyes before she gave Kit the merest peck on the cheek. ‘How nice,’ she added with dismissive insincerity before turning back to Marcus. ‘Derek Boyes was kind enough to invite me to come with him this weekend,’ she told him with glee as she linked her arm companionably with his.
Kit looked at Marcus beneath lowered lids, but it was impossible to tell from his enigmatic expression just how he was taking that particular piece of news. Although he had to feel something; after all—despite Marcus’s claim that the relationship was over—he and Andrea had been something of an item for at least the last couple of months.
‘How nice,’ he finally answered with the same insincerity Andrea had used towards Kit a few minutes ago.
Causing Kit to look at him with a new appreciation; perhaps he wasn’t as blind to this woman’s bitchiness as she had thought that he was…?
‘Well, if the two of you will excuse us…?’ He deftly removed his arm from Andrea’s clinging grasp as he bent to pick up his and Kit’s cases. ‘Kit and I have only just arrived, so I think it might be appropriate if we find our host and say hello, don’t you?’ Without waiting for a response from either Mike Reynolds or Andrea, he motioned Kit with an urgent inclination of his head to move further into the house.
Further into the lion’s den, as far as Kit was concerned. This weekend was just going from bad to worse. And she had thought the only thing she would have to worry about during the next couple of days was keeping her feelings towards Marcus hidden from him!
A glance at his face as they walked away from the other couple was enough to tell Kit that he wasn’t quite as calm as he wanted to appear: his mouth was set grimly, his eyes narrowed to icy blue slits.
‘Stop looking so worried, Kit,’ he bit out between clenched teeth. ‘I’m not the type to make a scene.’
She hadn’t for a moment thought that he was—it was that he had just thought about making one that bothered her!
But perhaps the fact that Andrea was here with another man had made him realise he didn’t want the woman out of his life, after all? What other possible reason could there be for him making a scene…?
But Marcus’s attention seemed to become distracted as he looked around them, that frownline back between his eyes. ‘There’s something odd going on here,’ he muttered harshly.
Surely he hadn’t just noticed! Her ex-boss was here, someone she had hoped never to see again, and the current woman in his life was here with another man, and as for—
‘Look around you, Kit,’ he said.
She gave him a startled look. ‘Look—?’
‘Just look,’ Marcus encouraged gruffly.
Kit looked, seeing twenty or so other guests: all of the men looked rich and confident, the women beautiful and glamorous.
But when she looked closer, at individuals, she realised that she recognized quite a number of the men, that several of them had either met with Marcus on business, or she had actually seen their photographs—including Mike Reynolds’s!—in the business newspapers in connection with one successful deal or another.
‘Exactly,’ Marcus pronounced as he saw the dawning realisation on her face. ‘It seems I’m not the only one to have heard the rumours. Or that Desmond isn’t averse to actually using those rumours to his own advantage,’ he added knowingly.
Kit instantly saw what he meant by that remark. Bring together a group of a dozen businessmen, supposedly on a social basis, but with the real object of picking up a bargain on a business deal—like sharks circling one of their own injured species!—and the price on those deals was sure to go higher than if business had been done with those individuals on a private basis.
She gave a rueful smile. ‘He could even have started them.’
Marcus turned to give her an admiring look. ‘You’re turning out to be amazingly astute, Kit,’ he said appreciatively.
She felt the blush in her cheeks at this unexpected compliment. ‘It was just a guess,’ she admitted. ‘I could be completely wrong.’
He gave her a teasing smile. ‘I’m not sure that—well, well, well,’ he said consideringly as something over her left shoulder caught and held his attention, his expression once again enigmatic.
Kit stiffened. ‘What is it?’ she asked as he continued to look at something—or someone!—behind her.
‘Hmm?’ he murmured distractedly. ‘Let’s go and say hello to our esteemed host, shall we?’ He didn’t wait for her reply before grasping her arm with his free hand and directing her across the hallway.
Kit almost came to a full stop again as she saw their host chatting amiably with a number of people, easily recognizing several of them; Mike Reynolds had joined them, since she and Marcus had left him a couple of minutes ago.
Marcus turned to give her a curious glance as he sensed her reluctance to join the group. ‘How about we have a little chat about—your friend, later, hmm?’ he suggested.
She gave him a sharp look before replying, ‘Mike Reynolds is no friend of mine!’
‘I already gathered that,’ Marcus replied. ‘But I have a feeling that he was once,’ he added speculatively.
‘No way!’ Kit denied heatedly. ‘Mike Reynolds is nothing but a—’
‘Later, Kit,’ Marcus advised tersely as they reached their host. ‘And don’t forget what I told you: observe and listen.’ He turned a socially bright smile on Desmond Hayes. ‘Quite a crowd you have here, Desmond,’ he greeted the other man jovially, releasing Kit’s arm to shake the other man’s hand.
‘Marcus!’ The other man’s face lit with recognition. ‘So glad you could make it,’ he welcomed with the smooth charm for which he was renowned. He was a tall, attractive man in his late fifties, his dark hair sprinkled with silver, his lined face handsome, his smiling blue eyes sharply intelligent.
Kit stood slightly behind the two men as they greeted each other, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. ‘Observe and listen,’ Marcus had told her—when all she really wanted to do was blend in with the velvet-embossed wallpaper, disappear into it if that were at all possible!
How much longer was this torture to go on before she could escape to the bedroom she had been allocated and actually give herself time to think—and breathe? Because she was sure she had all but stopped doing the latter a good five minutes ago!
‘And this is Kit. Kit…?’ Marcus called sharply, having turned to introduce her only to find her lurking behind him.
She moistened dry lips, keeping her gaze down on the carpeted floor as she held out her hand to the other man. ‘Mr Hayes,’ she greeted shyly.
‘Desmond, please,’ the older man encouraged with warm invitation, holding onto her hand to pull her slightly forward as she would have released it. ‘And just where has Marcus been hiding you?’ he queried.
Kit swallowed, still not looking up, but very much aware that the group around them had grown silent now as they listened to the exchange. Exchange? It could hardly be called that when Desmond Hayes was the one doing all the talking! In a flirtatious way he had. And, to add to her confusion, he still hadn’t released her hand!
She moistened her lips once again. ‘I—’
‘Careful, Desmond,’ Marcus told the other man with lazy derision, his arm moving casually about Kit’s shoulders as he did so.
‘Private property, eh, Marcus?’ the older man said regretfully.
Kit found this whole conversation distasteful—and attention-drawing. Which was what she most certainly didn’t want at this particular moment!
‘Something like that,’ Marcus returned noncommittally.
‘Can I offer the two of you glasses of champagne?’ Without waiting for their answer, Desmond Hayes plucked two flutes off the tray that a passing waiter was carrying.
Kit accepted the glass he held out to her, taking a much-needed sip of the bubbly liquid it contained. Getting drunk certainly wouldn’t help this situation, but hopefully she would become too numb to care!
Marcus held up the two bags he was carrying. ‘Are you going to tell us where the two of us are to sleep so that I can get rid of these, or do we just go upstairs and take our pick of bedrooms?’ he prompted.
‘I’ll have Forbes take your luggage upstairs,’ Desmond Hayes murmured apologetically, giving Kit’s hand one last familiar squeeze before releasing it to turn and signal to the butler standing unobtrusively down the hallway. The elderly man immediately came over to relieve Marcus of the two bags.
Not that Kit was taking too much notice of these proceedings, still caught up in Marcus’s last comment, especially the part about, ‘where the two of us are to sleep’!
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