12 Days At Silver Bells House (15 page)

‘Going somewhere?'

Jamie's voice punctured her ruminations like another needle prick. But sharper and deeper this time. She spun around on the landing, the carry-on knocking against her leg.

He stood by the front door, keys in his hand. She must have been wallowing in her self-pity so deeply that she hadn't heard the door open let alone his ute pull up outside. Her breath wouldn't come to speak though it was there swirling in her lungs. She threw a hand behind her, indicating the rest of her luggage which he probably couldn't see, gathered her breath and let her worries out in a rush. ‘I can't do Christmas, Jamie. It's not my scene this year.'

‘Where are you going?'

‘What are you doing back so early?' she asked.

He threw his keys onto the hall table and stepped to the bottom of the jarrah staircase. ‘I've been a bit off with you, Katie. I'd like to apologise. And explain.'

‘Oh, I didn't notice. Don't worry.' She looked away. ‘I suppose I've been a bit irritable too, actually.'

‘Were you going to walk into town?'

She nodded. ‘I know how busy you are.'

‘You haven't said why you're going.'

No. And neither did she want to. She pulled an excuse from the recesses of her brain. Not the real reason, but a semi-truthful reason and one she'd been contemplating for the last few days. ‘It's my birthday.'

Jamie's gaze sharpened; he put a hand on the wrought iron railing. ‘Today?'

‘No,' she shook her head. ‘Christmas.'

‘Your birthday is on Christmas day?'

She looked down at him. ‘Sucks. I was born under a Christmas tree.' And she was wasting time by telling him this, but if she stopped talking now she might tell him the real reason she was leaving. And that she didn't
want
to leave. ‘Dad was restringing the lights over the branches because they'd slipped off,' she said, ‘and Mum was on a stepladder steadying the angel. Dad was never any good with anything electrical and hadn't noticed the worn cord, so when he plugged them in the fairy lights blew and my mum got an electric shock. Just a little one, but it was enough to make me jump too, and whoosh. Out I came. Under the tree.'

He smiled quickly, but blinked it away. ‘Kate,' he said softly.

‘It gets worse.' She held her carry-on up so that he could see the large lettered name plate.
K.A.S
. She always included her middle initial, even though she was ashamed of it. It wasn't as if anyone knew. ‘A,' she said in a dead flat tone, ‘is for…wait for it: Angelica.'

‘Angel,' he said. ‘What's wrong with that?'

‘And,' she hurried on, ‘I'm turning thirty.' Something else she'd been contemplating. For over a week now. Since New York, when the scumbag had suckered her life plans.

Jamie took his hand off the wrought iron and stepped back. ‘Shit. That's bad.'

She looked at him. ‘About being born under a Christmas tree due a fairy light malfunction?'

‘No. About being that old.'

She gasped. ‘You don't mean that. Do you?'
Did he
?

Jamie frowned. Was he pretending to think — or was he really evaluating her mighty age so negatively?

Oh stuff it. What was the point in trying to cover up the real problem? She let the carry-on fall from mid-air until it swung in her hand and knocked against her knee. ‘It was the kiss, Jamie. That's why I'm leaving.'

****

Jamie nodded. ‘That's why I came back,' he said, doing his damnedest to hold onto the worry in his chest. She'd hit the nail on its head with the hammer of reality.

He waited while she dithered at the top of stairs, clutching the handles of her leather bag, bobbing her head sideways and biting her lip as though she were in decision mode.

‘The problem is,' she said at last, studying something on the wall. ‘I liked kissing you.'

‘I know,' he said. Time to put an end to the game-playing. ‘I liked kissing you too.'

She tilted her face and studied him. ‘You did?'

‘I stayed away because I liked it so much I thought I might not be able to stop myself from doing it again, whether you wanted me to or not.'

She took a breath, eyes widening.

He smiled up at her. ‘Want to do it again?' Anticipation prickled the back of his neck.

She furrowed her managerial brow and lowered her dainty, executive chin. ‘Did my mouth feel really old?'

He smiled. She made him smile every time she spoke. ‘No,' he said, ‘but I'd like to test it again because I'm pretty sure an electric shock went from your mouth to mine and that's what interests me most.' Alongside simply wanting to nibble her, from the mouth down.

She was so seriously disturbed by her Angel name, the decision she'd made to leave — behind his back, he noted, although he couldn't blame her for that — and about what they were going to do next. ‘So how about we start with another kiss? Before you turn thirty and give up on yourself.'

‘Start?' she asked, ignoring his jibe.

Jamie nodded, put a hand on the bannister rail and stepped up one step. ‘Stop flapping, Katie. We're going to kiss again.'

She hauled in a breath. ‘I'm not flapping. I just wondered if you thought my mouth felt ancient.'

‘Your lips tasted of raspberries. I only wish I'd opened your mouth and tasted the inside.'

She stared at him, her body stiffening, though he could see her trembling.

‘Do you want to kiss me?' he asked. ‘Or not.'

She nodded. She hadn't paused, not for a millisecond.

Jamie held both arms out. They'd been aching the entire day. Aching to hold her. No, damn it. Let's get real truthful. Seven days…and counting.

She dropped the carry-on and skittered down the stairs with the grace of a Siamese cat.

Jamie caught her as she threw herself against him.

A split second later he'd steadied her, had his arms around her tight enough to hold her up and his mouth on hers before she had the chance to change her mind about the kiss. Bingo. The shock trembled through them both as he opened her mouth and tasted her. He deepened the kiss as her arms tightened around his neck. His sweet, executive lady had the name and the body of an angel. His lady.
His
. Jesus. He'd only met her a week ago and yet she sent shockwaves of adoration down his spine. ‘Katie,' he said, releasing her from the kiss so he could speak. So he could tell her…

‘Holy jalopy!' she said, breathless, eyes wide. ‘You felt that? Yes? The tingle.'

He smiled, studied her face, and moved her fringe where a strand of her hair had caught on her eyelashes. ‘Right down to my gumboots.'

‘So what do we do now?'

‘I think we need further tests.'

‘To check the chemistry stuff before we sleep together?'

He loved the way she thought. No messing about. We've kissed, we liked it, next step is to go to bed with each other.

‘I was never any good with sciences,' she told him. ‘But I was good at maths.'

‘So how long have we known each other?'

‘A hundred and sixty-seven hours and—' She angled her head and glanced at the watch on his wrist. ‘Thirty-two minutes.'

Jamie nodded. ‘You're good. I could give you a job sizing up ditches if you want one.'

She opened her mouth to speak but Jamie kissed it to stop her. He ran his hand down her spine until it landed on her right bottom cheek. He squeezed it.

‘Am I getting fat?' she murmured through the kiss.

‘You're getting sexier every day.'

‘Because I'm putting on weight?'

‘In here,' he said, pulling back and tapping her forehead with his index finger. ‘You're getting sexier with every newfound discovery you make about how lovely you are. With every happy thought about yourself.'

‘My mind is making me sexy?'

‘You're damned right it is.'

‘So are we going to sleep together because of my mind?'

‘No. And we're not going to sleep until much later. We've got a few physical moves to get through first.'

****

Kate paused, holding her breath.

‘Unless you've got something else to do…' His words trailed off.

She stared into his darkened brown eyes. Five minutes ago she'd been hoping for a bus. Now it looked like she'd be getting another fireman's lift from her rescuer.

‘I didn't fancy the walk into town anyway.'

He didn't hesitate. He walked her up the stairs, backwards, holding on to her waist, a desperate look in his eye.

Her heart rate matched the sound of their footsteps on the stairs — wild. She clung onto his shoulders and let him lead her. ‘I can't wait to get you out of your clothes, Jamie Knight.'

‘Uh-uh,' he denied with a rasp in his voice as he pushed her through the doorway to the big main bedroom. ‘Guests first.'

Undressing Jamie Knight was going to be better than undressing ten top-paid models. Better even than raspberry-ripple anything.

Kate was experiencing a wave of expectancy as, true to his promise, she was the first to shed her clothes. And she wanted to be naked when she undressed him, so that when she was done, there was nothing in their way.

Her fingers tangled with his. ‘Just pull it out of the slot,' she told him as he fumbled with the wrap-belt of her stupid herringbone wraparound dress.

‘I'm trying. Where the hell's the slot?'

She laughed, pausing them both by holding his waist and pressing her face to his chest. ‘Oh, Jamie, I'm sorry.' She was tied up tighter in this dress than a trussed turkey in a baking tray.

He stepped away, letting her go. ‘Okay, this is the way it's going to work.'

Kate's smile wavered with desire, her body tingling in all the unused places. The places that hadn't tingled for — who cared how long? They wouldn't be waiting much longer. ‘How?' she asked.

‘You undress yourself from that executive wraparound and I'll stand back and watch.'

His impertinent grin could untangle the belt on its own. But probably not quickly enough.

Kate unknotted the tie at her waist, ripped the belt apart and out of its side-slot and flung the dress back from her shoulders.

It landed on the floor at the exact same time as Jamie inhaled a hot-sounding ragged breath.

‘Dear God, Katie. If I'd known you had those in your suitcase this would have been happening five days ago in the paddock.'

‘Eight days,' she reminded him, slipping her white pumps off her feet while smoothing her hands over her hips and the string of her black lacy knickers. More of a tiny V-shape piece of nothing than an article of clothing.

‘Or on the back seat of the digger.'

‘There isn't a back seat,' she reminded him.

‘Believe me, Kate, I'd have found the space.' He stepped towards her and Kate moved back. ‘Uh-uh! You're watching, remember?'

‘But I want to touch.'

‘You said I had to get undressed before you did.'

‘That was all of three minutes ago. I want my hands on your naked body, Katie. Now.' His gaze moved up her torso and rested on the matching lacy bra. The saucy, push-up half-cupped underwire bra that she wore because she was a designer and was supposed to wear flibbertigibbet lingerie even though it was occasionally scratchy and not always the most comfortable. ‘You want me to take this expensive old thing off first?' she asked, flicking the silky pencil-thin strap on her shoulder. ‘Or these?' She snapped the straps of her lacy knickers.

‘Shit. Just take it all off quick if you won't let me do it.' He toed off his boots and started undoing the buttons on his shirt.

‘Hey!' Kate held up a warning hand. ‘That's my job.' And she intended to enjoy every button-worth. But as he didn't look willing to wait, her striptease would have to happen another time. Please God let there be another time.

After
this
time…

She unhooked the bra and let the straps fall down to her elbows as she shimmied out of her knickers. By the time she'd stepped out of them, Jamie had his hands on her waist. He pulled her upright and kissed her as he slid the bra straps from her arms and off, his mouth hot and sweet-tasting on hers. His hands roamed her body, cupping and caressing, sliding and stroking.

‘You're one damn fine piece of engineering, Kate.'

And she was happy to have him measure her and size her up. She was, after all, his next job.

He started on the buttons of his shirt again. Kate let him, the pads of her fingers prickling with pins and needles. She'd never deal with the small buttons. But she'd probably manage the khaki trousers.

She dealt with his belt buckle, then the buttons on his fly.

He growled like a bear as her fingers flicked against him.

He shrugged off his shirt. Kate tugged the trousers from his hips, then his boxer shorts. He stepped out of them and suddenly — Master of the Universe stood before her, naked.

He pulled her against 48-inches of muscle-bound He-Man chest.

She should be struggling to get her arms around the circumference. Fortunately, pressed so close to him, she managed. ‘Hot Tamale.' He made her mouth feel all sizzly inside. ‘You're so…so…'

‘Desperate,' he said, looking down on her, clinging on to her.

‘You could do the lot, Jamie.' She fluttered kisses onto his lime-scented chest then brought her hands from behind him to cup his handsome face. ‘Nude. Photographic. Apparel.'

‘I don't have time,' he said, taking hold of her bottom in his master-builder hands and yanking her against his pelvis. ‘I'm going to be doing you.'

The man would hit the Top 50 Working list by bearing his left thigh on a billboard let alone the rest of his virile self. She'd dated now and then. She'd had sex — now and then — but Jamie was going to ruin her for all other men.