Holiday with a Stranger (7 page)

‘Did you move my laptop?’ she asked as they tucked into the food.

He took his time looking at her and she wondered why he suddenly seemed so uncomfortable. A slow sinking feeling heated her stomach.

‘What is it?’

He put his cutlery down. ‘We had a break-in while we were out. They took your laptop.’

She gawped at him, her befuddled brain taking a few seconds to catch up with his words.
‘What?’

‘Someone jimmied the lock on the front door and got in. There wasn’t a lot to steal, but your laptop was one of the things that went. I’ve already spoken to the police and they’ve given me an incident number for an insurance claim. You should check nothing else of yours has gone.’

She put her own cutlery down and dropped her head into her hands. This day just got better and better.

‘But we’re so remote out here. Why would they target this place?’ she said, looking back up at him.

‘It happens quite a bit. There are lots of holiday homes in this region. They’re easy pickings.’

‘Maybe someone’s trying to tell me something,’ she said, sighing. That was it, then. All her work on the tender document was gone.

‘Maybe someone wants you to have a
real
holiday?’ he said, picking up his fork again and shovelling omelette into his mouth.

‘Yeah...’ She felt defeated.

‘You’ve got insurance for it, right?’

She nodded and picked at her food, suddenly not hungry any more.

He frowned at her. ‘At least you weren’t here when they broke in.’

‘True.’

They sat in silence while Connor cleared his plate.

‘Not hungry?’ he asked, nodding at her food.

‘No. Sorry.’

He shrugged. ‘No problem. How are you feeling generally?’

‘My head’s still a bit painful, but nothing like it was.’ She wanted to go back to bed, so the day would be over, but she didn’t want to be rude to Connor. Especially after what he’d done for her. ‘It’s a good job you’re so well trained in first aid.’

He smiled and pushed his empty plate away from him, looking out of the window. He was closing down the conversation again, but in this case she really didn’t mind. She guessed it was his way of telling her to move on without dragging her through the humiliation of directly saying it. It was a kind and decent thing to do and she felt new warmth towards him.

‘So what is it you’ll be doing in India?’ she asked, taking his hint and opening up a new conversation.

‘I help set up clean water projects in the developing world. This next trip is about making contact and scoping out where the water refineries are needed most,’ he said.

She looked up sharply. ‘Abi never mentioned you were doing that.’

‘She probably doesn’t know. I’ve never talked to her about it.’

An unnerving heat made its way up from deep in her pelvis. He was a world champion at dropping conversational bombshells. ‘She’s under the impression you’re swanning around the world on one long, extended holiday.’

He shrugged, but didn’t say anything.

‘Why didn’t you tell me before? There have been plenty of opportunities. You let me think you were some kind of entitled layabout.’

He leant in conspiratorially. ‘I thought you might be here spying on me and reporting back to my sister.’

Even though she knew he meant it as a joke, she was sure there was an underlying truth there.

‘She misses you, you know.’

His shoulders stiffened and he broke eye contact. ‘I wouldn’t know. We communicate through lawyers.’

A heavy weight of sadness settled in her belly. How incredibly sad for them both. And she thought
she
had a difficult relationship with her family. At least they all spoke to each other, even if she kept her contact with them to a minimum.

‘I can’t imagine being that far removed from my family,’ she said, leaning in to him and putting a hand on the table between them in an awkward attempt at empathy.

‘We have nothing to say to one another,’ he said, scowling at his empty plate.

‘I think Abi would disagree.’ The memory of the pain in Abi’s eyes when she’d talked about him resurfaced, and something clicked together in her head.

‘Let’s change the subject.’

There was a finality to his tone she didn’t dare challenge. Another subject it was, then. For now. She’d find a way to get through to him eventually. It was the least she could do for Abi after the trouble she’d caused.

She leant back in her chair, feigning nonchalance in an attempt to take the atmosphere down a notch or two. ‘So, tell me more about your involvement in the projects. You find locations and fund them? Run them all single-handedly?’

He snorted and looked up at her with humour in his eyes, the deep scowl gone from his face. ‘I have a lot of help with the day-to-day running. I research the areas that most need support, raise the capital and get the projects underway.’

‘Very worthy.’

He raised a disdainful eyebrow. ‘I do it because it needs doing.’

‘Yes, of course, but you must get some sense of personal satisfaction out of it?’

He shrugged. ‘More than I would working for a corporation obsessed with profits.’

Pushing down a niggle of annoyance, Josie said nothing to that. She wasn’t sure whether he was having a dig at her job again, but he was starting to open up about himself and she didn’t want to stop the flow of information by making a scene.

‘I need to feel useful,’ he said, turning his head to look out of the window again, so she could no longer see the expression on his face.

She paused, pondering the subtext of his words. ‘Sounds like we have more in common than we realised.’ She looked down at her hands, which were twisted together in her lap, the veins raised against the tight skin. She unwound them, flexing her stiff fingers.

He turned back to her and smiled. ‘Yeah?’

Connor sensed that Josie wanted to say more, but was having trouble getting the words out. He knew she hadn’t told him the whole story when he’d asked her about the
thing
at work; he felt it in his bones. He was going to have to force it out of her.

‘What are you hiding from me, Josie?’

She sighed and there was a beat of silence as she stared at the floor, apparently trying to make a decision—perhaps about whether to finally start trusting him. He couldn’t blame her; he hadn’t exactly made it easy for her up till this point.

‘Some of our employees have made a formal complaint against me. Apparently I made one of them so miserable she’s taken long-term sick leave, citing depression.’

She looked up at him with agony in her eyes and his stomach lurched uncomfortably. That was the last thing he’d expected her to say, and for the first time in his life he was at a loss for how to respond.

‘Ah...’

‘Yeah. Not my proudest moment.’

‘So you’re the Boss from Hell?’ He tried keeping his tone light, to show he was joking, but her face dropped even more.

‘I know I ask a lot of them, and I’m not the type of boss to be all chummy with my team, but we can’t afford to make mistakes. Not ones that cost the business money or spoil our reputation. I guess I’m not good at communicating that without sounding like I’m having a go. People skills are not my strong point, as I’m sure you’ve observed.’

He couldn’t help but notice the way her hands shook as she beat her familiar rhythm on the tabletop.

He leant in, trying to relax his posture to make it clear he wasn’t judging her in any way. ‘It can’t all be down to you. There’ll be other factors too.’

He had no idea what they could be, but he needed to say something to take the look of abject misery off her face. He could imagine she’d be a challenging character to work for, but she wasn’t cruel. At least not based on what he’d seen of her. Getting a team to work well together was a tough business, and it sounded as if she was having more than her fair share of trials at work. No wonder she was so exhausted. He shouldn’t have made that crack about a nervous breakdown; it sounded as if he hadn’t been far off hitting on the truth.

‘I have a real talent for making people uncomfortable.’

She didn’t seem to be able to make eye contact with him any more.

‘I take out my temper on them. I should be nicer and more forgiving of mistakes, according to your sister. My PA usually takes the brunt of my anger.’ She paused and spread her hands out on the table, staring down at her fingers before correcting herself. ‘
Took
the brunt.’

‘And my sister asked you to take some time away?’ He allowed himself to recognise a begrudging respect for Abi. Kudos to her for dealing with this problem head-on.

‘Yeah, before I scare the rest of the team into quitting. I agreed to it because I needed to convince your sister I’m not losing my mind.’

‘Are you?’

She huffed out a frustrated laugh. ‘It feels like it some days. But work is all I have. It’s important to me to be successful. I’ve worked so hard for it.’ She gave a weak smile, but her lip wobbled and her eyes flicked down away from his gaze.

There was a tight feeling across his chest and he had to take a deep breath to release the tension. It was hard seeing her come undone, even though she clearly needed to say all this out loud, but he also felt a ridiculous surge of pleasure that he’d finally been able to get it out of her.

‘So Abi’s running the business by herself while you’re here?’

‘Yeah. Crazy woman. It’s not like
she’s
not stressed to her eyeballs too. She’s the one who should be taking a holiday.’ She closed her eyes and let out a low breath. ‘I guess I just made things worse.’

A sudden sinking feeling in his gut at the thought of his sister dealing with the same anxiety distracted him. He needed to turn this conversation upside down before he got sucked into the melancholy that was nibbling at the edges of his consciousness. A game-changer was in order.

‘Well, you know what’s good for stress?’

‘Enlighten me.’

‘Orgasms.’

The word hung in the air between them, throbbing with potential life.

Her face was a picture. ‘Did you just suggest that we...?’ Josie waved a shaky finger between them both.

‘That we waggle our fingers at each other?’ he said, barely managing to keep the grin off his face at her stupefied reaction.

She tried to laugh but it came out as a cross between a hiccup and a snort. ‘That you and I...?’

He leant in to her again, totally unable to control his urge to tease her. She was such an easy target, and the change in the atmosphere was a relief after the angst of their last conversation. ‘You seem a little lost for words there, Josie. Are you asking me to have sex with you?’

She blushed fiercely and the sight of it made him smile. ‘
No!
I thought you were asking
me
.’

He paused, gathering his thoughts. What the hell was he doing? Whatever it was, he didn’t feel like pulling back. ‘What if I was?’

She shuffled in her chair. ‘Well...that would be...a strange request.’

‘Strange, unnatural? Or strange, I’ve-never-been-propositioned-so-directly-before?’

‘The second one.’

He could imagine. She’d be an intimidating prospect. ‘You haven’t lived.’

‘So you keep telling me.’

‘I call it like I see it.’

‘I’ve noticed.’ She let out a loud sigh, as if she’d run out of steam, her shoulders slumping.

He frowned, feeling her change in mood. Her fire had gone out. ‘You sure you’re okay?’

She gave him a pained smile. ‘I suspect I’ve not been entirely impressive since we met.’

‘Oh, I don’t know. Your tits are quite something.’

She crossed her arms and gave him a stern look. ‘You know, you’ve only been able to get away with saying things like that because you’re so big.’

He gave her a flattered smirk.

‘I’m talking about your immense height and build, not...you know...’ She nodded vaguely towards his crotch. The pink flush that appeared high on her cheeks made him grin.

“You know, for someone with such an extensive vocabulary you’re woefully lacking in the dirty word department.’

She pulled her arms tighter across her body. ‘I can swear with the best of them.’

‘Sure you can.’

‘Are you challenging me?’ Tipping her chin up, she gave him that sexy rebellious stare that always made him hard.

Okay, that did it.

‘Come with me,’ he said, getting up and heading straight for the patio doors that led into the garden.

After a moment he heard the happy-making slap of her flip-flops on the path behind him as he strode past the terrace towards the bottom of the land.

FIVE

‘Where are we
going?’ Josie panted behind him as she tried to keep up.

‘To the edge of nowhere.’

They reached the fence that bordered the farmhouse’s land a minute later. The sun was setting in the distance, bathing the landscape in a soft crimson glow. The lavender fields glowed cerise in the dissolving light.

Stopping to lean on the fence, Connor gazed around him, luxuriating in the last flush of heat that rose from the land.

‘What are we doing here?’ Josie asked beside him, sounding a little nervous.

He turned to look her dead in the eyes. ‘We’re emoting. It’s a trick I learned a while ago to help relieve stress.’

‘Seriously?’ She looked at him as if he was crazy.

‘Come on, Josie, show me what you’ve got.’

She raised a sceptical eyebrow. ‘We
are
still talking about the same challenge, right?’

He smiled. ‘I want you to shout out as many swear words as you can think of. Loud as you like.’ He wanted to see that fire back in her eyes and he knew that the only way to do that was to get her to let go of the anxiety she was lugging about with her.

She gave him a perplexed frown. ‘Here?’

‘Yup.’

She side-eyed him, folding her arms across her chest. ‘I’d look like an idiot.’

‘I won’t point and laugh.’

‘Are you sure? You haven’t set up a camera out here, hoping to record my shame, have you?’

‘Stop being so paranoid and get on with it.’

Her face was already pink with anticipated embarrassment, but there was a glimmer of life in her eyes again.

Was she going to do it? Or would she wimp out? He had no idea which way this would go.

He was about to find out.

Screwing her eyes up tightly, she took a deep breath, shoved back her shoulders and let rip, shouting a long and truly comprehensive list of dirty words into the ether.

Birds rose into the air in a distant field, startled by the noise.

She turned back to him and he gave her an awestruck nod. ‘Impressive.’

Her face was bright red and her chest heaved as she gasped breath back into her body, but she beamed with pleasure, her eyes alive and clear, and at that moment he thought she looked like the most beautiful woman on earth. His heart hammered in his chest and his hands twitched at his sides. He wanted to pull her to him and kiss those soft-looking lips, draw out the remaining poison of her humiliation and set her conscience free.

* * *

Josie couldn’t quite believe she’d just yelled a string of profanities into the tranquil stillness of the French landscape. What was happening to her? She appeared to be turning into a total nutjob, but she felt strangely light and floaty, as if she’d broken free of something. She felt good. Better than she had in a very long time.

‘Pretty rushy, huh? That’s the serotonin kicking in,’ Connor said, his voice strangely rough and deep.

‘Whatever it is, I want more,’ she said, giving him a grin, no longer worried about embarrassing herself. She figured she’d stepped
waaay
over that line already.

‘Me first, then you again,’ he said, holding up a hand before tipping his head back to the sky and yelling his own wide-ranging string of racy expletives into the air, fists clenched at his sides.

He looked back at her, his eyes alive with laughter and something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

‘Your turn.’

‘Okay.’ She took a step back, taking a run-up. ‘These are for you, Connor.’ She took a deep breath, braced her hands against the fence, and belted out all the words she’d called him in her head since he’d gatecrashed her holiday.

When she finally looked back at him he was clearly trying not to laugh.

‘Feel better?’ he asked.

‘Actually, I do.’ She was shocked to find she was actually having fun.

‘It’s good to let go of that tension, right?’

‘Yes, Dr Preston.’

He chuckled at that, then looked directly at her, the intensity in his bright blue eyes making her insides jump.

‘Well, you need to get rid of that anger somehow. I’m guessing that’s what gives you all that nervous energy.’

He took a step closer to her, triggering an immediate explosion of excitement deep inside her body. ‘You need an outlet, but working hard obviously isn’t doing it for you.’

She took a step away from him, uncomfortable with both her physical reaction and his sudden change of conversational direction. ‘Go on, then, give me your conclusion,
Herr
Freud,’ she said, bracing herself for some more home truths. He seemed to think he knew her better than she knew herself, but there was so much she hadn’t told him. Maybe if everything were out in the open she’d be able to stop dodging his probing comments.

He dipped his head thoughtfully. ‘What’s it like, living under your sister’s shadow?’

His question rattled her, but she knew there was no backing away from it. ‘You think you’ve got me pegged, don’t you?’

He ignored her.

‘Tell me about it.’

It was easier to give in at this point. There was no way he was going to leave her alone until the whole sordid mess was out in the open.

Her legs shook with a mixture of nerves and lust, so she sat down to avoid collapsing in a puddle at his feet. Leaning her back against the fence, she waited for him to slide down next to her before she spoke.

‘Okay, yes, you’ve got me. I’m the second favourite daughter in the family.’ She glanced across at him but he was staring at his hands. ‘I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong when I was younger. I wanted my achievements noted, just like Maddie’s were, but no matter what I did she outshone me. I was dim in comparison to her. I gave up trying to get any attention after a while and they sort of left me to it. I think they’ve all written me off as a failure.’

She tried to keep her voice light and breezy, but gave herself away at the end with a wobble on the last word.

Connor chose to ignore it, saving her from embarrassment. ‘Even though you’re running your own business?’ he asked.

‘They think I’m playing at it because it’s taken a while for us to get any traction in the marketplace. Abi and I spent a long time not taking a wage.’

‘That’s a tough thing to comprehend for anyone without a head—or the guts—for business.’

She pulled a long stem of grass out of the earth and ripped strands off it, keeping her fingers busy to stop herself digging her nails painfully into her palms. ‘Every time I turn up at their house they ask the same polite questions about what’s going on with the business and I have to give them the same answers and see the same look of boredom and disappointment on their faces. They want me to be so much more than I am.’

‘Your sister’s set an impossible standard.’

She let out a harsh shout of laughter and wagged a shaking finger at him. ‘There is no such word as
impossible
, Connor. Not according to my father anyway.’ She let out a long breath and tried to release the tension in her shoulders.

‘What do they want you to be doing?’

‘Something exciting and world-changing.’

‘Why did you choose the business you did?’

‘Because when I met Abi through a friend of a friend, and she talked to me about her ideas, I felt inspired for the first time in my life. And luckily she thought I’d make a good business partner. She’s a great MD—all the staff love her. She has a way of motivating people and she’s taken risks on giving people responsibilities that bring out the best them. That’s something she and I disagreed on for a while, but it seems to have worked out pretty well so far. No one wants to disappoint her.’

‘Least of all you?’

She smiled sadly. ‘Too late for that.’

‘I’m sure my sister knows how lucky she is to have you working with her. It was a good move to surround herself with smart people.’

Josie snorted.

‘What? You don’t think you’re smart?’

‘I know I’m smart. Just not smart enough—or maybe not smart in the right way.’

‘How do you quantify that? What does “smart enough” look like?’

‘It looks solid, razor-sharp and Technicolor.’ She relaxed her clenched hands to form a cage, as if she could somehow capture this elusive beast. ‘Whole.’

Now she’d started talking she wanted to tell him everything—about all her fears and uncertainty and anger—but she knew she couldn’t. He wouldn’t want to hear it. Why should he? They weren’t even friends. She bit her tongue.

He must have sensed her hesitation. ‘Just say it, Josie. Say whatever it is you’ve been holding back. What’s the worst that can happen?’

She took a deep breath. The words wanted to escape from her lips; she could feel them pushing to get out of her mouth.

Say it, Josie.

‘I want to win. I want to bloody
win
for once, Connor. I’m so sick of second place.’ She swiped at a speck of something in the air in frustration.

‘Go on. Give it a shout-out.’

She let out a long, low sigh, pulling together the courage to do it.

‘I want to
wiiiinnnn
!’ Her fists were tight with tension and her body was rigid as she yelled it at the top of her lungs, eyes closed against the world.

There was a resounding silence as the echo of her voice faded away into the dusk. Opening her eyes slowly, she saw Connor was looking at her intently.

‘It’s going to be fine, you know. You’ll work it out,’ he said.

The kindness of his tone almost broke her. Tears welled in her eyes and her throat felt so tight she thought she might choke.

He leant in and gently stroked the back of his hand over her cheek, as if brushing off a stray eyelash. The gesture was so intimate and unexpected she gasped. His eyes were dark as they stared into hers, filled with concern, and her insides twisted.

She caught the fresh, masculine scent of him, mingling with the nearby lavender on the breeze. He smelt wonderful—earthy and hot and spicy. She wanted to lick him he smelled so delicious.

The intensity of his expression was unnerving, but she had no idea what to do next. Her body burned with need. How could he possibly want her after all she’d just told him?

The dying rays of the sun deepened the planes of his face and she watched in fascination as his lips moved towards hers.

He was so close to her she could almost feel the touch of his mouth against hers. He’d tilted his head to angle it down towards her, so they were on a level, and his eyes looked clearly into hers. Their breath mingled as his hands drew her face closer to his, trapping her.

‘What are you doing?’ she whispered, forcing the words past her constricted throat.

He paused, his mouth only centimetres away from hers. ‘I figure we’re stuck here together, in the middle of nowhere for a week, without much to distract us,’ he murmured. ‘It seems like happenstance that we’re both here right now, and I really,
really
want to kiss you.’

Her heart thumped against her chest. ‘Happenstance?’

‘Okay, sheer dumb luck.’

‘I think your sister may have something to say about that.’

At the mention of his sister his shoulders slumped and he sighed, pressing his forehead against hers.

Way to break the mood, Josie.

God, what was she like? She knew she was a useless flirt. It had always felt counter-intuitive to flirt with men when she’d spent so many years battling with them to establish her position in the business world, but that was just an excuse.

She was afraid of what was happening here. This was Abigail’s brother—a loner who didn’t appear to care about anyone. The worst person in the world to be getting emotionally involved with.

She was terrified that once she gave in to these burgeoning feelings for him it would be a slippery slope down to disappointment. She really didn’t need to add Connor to the long list of her mistakes. She needed to maintain her focus in order to get her life back on track. Connor was going to ruin that by kissing her. She was sure it wouldn’t really mean anything to him. He just felt sorry for her. It would be a mercy kiss.

He moved his forehead away and for a second she thought he’d changed his mind—given her a reprieve—but he hadn’t. He moved his mouth closer to hers again, until their lips were barely touching, sending tingling currents of pleasure across her skin.

‘Wait,’ she whispered against his mouth, closing her eyes so she didn’t have to see the pity she felt sure must be there. But he didn’t wait. He crushed his lips against hers, taking her breath away.

Her veins filled with fire as the kiss deepened, his lips insistent against hers. Strong fingers stroked along her arms and round to her back, drawing erotic circles against her skin. Waves of longing ripped through her and she instinctively opened her mouth against his, letting him in.

With a groan of pleasure Connor traced his tongue gently against hers, probing the soft depths of her mouth. His body was wrapped tight against hers, and his arms were pulling her into the dip of his body as he pushed her down to the ground. Taut muscles pressed against her belly and with a shock she became aware of his erection hard against her.

Frustration swamped her. She was being torn in two. Her body was telling her one thing and her mind another. She wanted him—there was no doubt about that—and yet it would be a disaster to go any further. She knew it. But couldn’t she...for a short while...let herself have a bit of fun? That was all it would be. She couldn’t see Connor wanting any more from her—not if he was as emotionally closed as he appeared. But—oh, God—she didn’t want this to stop. His mouth was hot against hers, softer now she was yielding to him, but just as persistent.

Instinctively she moved her hands to scoop around his shoulders, feeling the tense muscles move beneath her touch. The strength of him frightened her.

The last remaining sane part of her brain gave her a kick.
No.
She had to stop this.

She put her hands against his chest and pushed. It was like trying to move a brick wall. His hands tightened around her for a second, then relaxed, setting her free.