Glass Ceilings (34 page)

But Kerry
wasn’t just a desirable woman. S
he was a co-worker
.

And a wife
....

‘Shall I pour the wine?’
Her voice was like a low purr, and when s
he leaned over
the coffee table, her wrap fell open.

He inhaled sharply. His treacherous body was responding, his resistance was subsiding under a wave of pure, uncomplicated
,
lust
. Kerry
ti
l
t
ed her head to look
at him from under her lashes, well aware of what she was doing, and
her expression remin
ded him of a
panther
on the prowl
.

His brow furrowed
and he heard Ella’s voice in his ear
.

Snap out of it!
Don’t give in to the
m
anipulative little cow. How would
you ever face
Jim
again if you succumbed
?
He doesn’t deserve this.
And what would Verity think?

Royce felt as t
hough someone had thrown the ice bucket
over him.

‘No thanks,’ he barked,
‘
w
hy don’t you take the bottle
back to your room where you
and Jim can
share
it
.’

Kerry
gave an impatient
‘
humph
’
and
unfurled slowly to rise
to her feet. ‘Jim who?
Don’t worry a
bout anyone
else, t
onight’s all about us.’ She
walked over to stand so close to Royce her filmy wrap brushed his arm. She reached up to run
a long fingernail down
the
opening of
hi
s
partly undone
shir
t
, stopping only whe
n
she hit a fastened button. P
ursing
her lips like a sulky child
, she breathed,
‘
You know, Royce,
I went to a lot of trouble to facilitate some nocturnal
island
activitie
s
.
...
’

He pushed her hand away
and frowned
.
‘What?’

‘Surely you didn’t think it was an accident our units are right beside each other?’

‘I hadn’t realised
you
,
and Jim
,
were in the next unit,
’
Royce growled
, straightening
to his full height and looking
down
on her
.

Kerry felt the
stin
g of disappointment
.
A
nger f
licked across her face, making her look
ugly.
‘
Oh,
right
.
But
of course
you
had
realised that
Verity
was on the other side.
I
could hear
the two of yo
u
getting all cosy
out there,
just before.’
Her predatory purr was gone, replaced by a plaintive mew, and Royce was finding it increasingly easy to resist her temptations.

‘
Not that it’s any concern of yours,
’ he said dispassionately,
‘
but
I only found
that
out
when I happened to see her
outside
just now
.’
A v
ision flashed into his mind
of Verity
,
standing
aglow
in
th
e
moonlight, a shining woman. That scene
felt
a world away from the sordid
one
he found himself in now.

Kerry
hissed, ‘A
fter all my attempts to have her located as far away as po
ssible
, to give us some privacy,
the damn r
esort went and put her beside you
anyway.’
She
struggled to regain
a
seductive tone
. T
he heat of her jealousy was threatening to overwhelm her.

‘Well, you’
ve certainly gon
e to some trouble, Kerry—
’

‘Thank you, Royce.
I did it for us.
’ The purr
returned
,
and she pushed herself against him
.

Royce
took a step back and
carried on as though she hadn’t spoken.
‘
But
it’s a shame it was all for nothing.
There is
no
us
.’

Shaking off her irritation, Kerry
fixed him with an intense gaze
that
oozed desire
,
and said huskily,
‘What do you mean? Of course ther
e’s an “us”
. I’m here
,
and you’re here.
That’s all the “us” we need.
...
’

Royce stood his ground stiffly as she
moved in for the kill,
wi
nd
ing
her arms around his neck, and
wrapping one smooth leg
around his.
She raised her face
, whispering breathlessly,
‘
And what I need now.
...
’

But he didn’t bend
his head to kiss
her quivering, expectant mouth. He
wrenched her arms dow
n and
g
rabbed her by the shoulders. Spinning
her around
, he
began
pushing her none too gently towards the door.

‘Royce, w
hat are you doing? Oh
, I see, you want to play
rough.
W
ell, that’s OK by me too
—
’

‘I think it’s time we said goodnight
,
Kerry,’ Royce said
harshly in her ear as he propelled her towards the door.
On the
way,
h
e bent to collect the
wine
bottle from the coffee table and the coat she had
thrown carelessly on the floor, pushing
both roughly into her hands.

‘Royce, wait! You’re going too far with this hard-to-get routine.
Come on, l
et me go! If you’re not careful, I’ll think you’r
e serious and withdraw my offer.
...
’ S
he
glanced up and
saw
Ro
yce’s stern, set face, and her voice grew shrill.
‘No, you don’t want to do this!
Think of what you’re mis
sing out on—
’

‘
You’re a married woman
,
Kerry, in case you’d
forgotten
, so
go home to your husband
and take your
offer
with you
,
’ Royce gr
owled
.

H
e opened the door and pus
hed her into the corridor, b
ut she clung to
him with one hand,
pleading breathlessly
, ‘Royce, don’t be stupid, let’s talk about this. Is it because of that
bitch
next door? I always thought there
was something between you two. B
ut you won’t
get anywhere with her, she’s damaged goods.
’

He paused long enou
gh to grind
out
in
cold, angry
words
,
‘Wh
at’s
between
me and Verity
is none of your damn business. L
ike you’re none of mine.
’ He shoved away her restraining hand and said contemptuously,
‘
Goodnight.’

‘
Royce? ROYCE!’
Kerry’s
desperate whisper had become
almost a shriek. She
jump
ed as
the
door
was firmly shut in her
shocked
face
,
and then stood gaping
stupidly at it, breathing hard.

That BASTARD! How could he—

Suddenly
realising she was
in full sight of anyone passing, she q
uickly donned her coat, glancing around nervously as she did so,
and ran to
the door of
her u
nit with hot tears burning her eyes. She paused before
quietly let
ting
herself in. Luckily
,
Jim was still asleep.

* * *

Kerry stood waiting impatiently while t
he
dive shop
attendant
assembled
the scu
ba gear for the
delegates g
oing
diving that morning
.
The
sun hadn’t
yet breached the horizon. She
yawned. She hadn’t slept at all well
, and
resented having
to rise
so
early to organise this
stupid
dive trip....

She fretted
, her face sour,
a
s she watched
the attendant
work
.
She should have been enjoying herself on this brief sojourn to t
he island, especially as she didn’t get to attend
many of these business junkets
.
B
ut she found it
impossi
ble to appreciate the lovely
setting
or the
p
ampering
at the hands of their well-paid hosts
. Jealousy and hatred were consuming
any pleasure she might have drawn from the trip
.

And I know who
to blame for that,
she
t
old herself
darkly,
the same person I’m sure is to blame for
the change in
Jim’
s
behaviour lately
.

H
er husband
had
become more attentive
recently
, as though
aware of certain
goings-on
within
his marriage
.
Kerry
wrinkled her nose
. S
he
didn’t want
J
im being all lovey-dovey, buying her roses,
expecting her to join him on outings,
and totally cramping her style.
But the sneer slid from her lips when
Royce’s face
materialis
ed b
efore her eyes
,
stabbing her with the
same vile look of
contempt
he’d worn when evicting her from his unit
the night before
.

That
image
had
lingered
night
-long,
like a painful ache,
causing her
to toss and turn
when she should have been sleeping
.
Even Jim,
a modern-
day
Rip Van Winkle, had
surfaced from his deep sleep, disturbed by
her restlessness
. He’d
gathered her in his arms, asking
if she was alright
,
and
if he could get
her
anything
.