The Marriage Merger (6 page)

Her initial physical attraction had changed
to something far deeper. Sympathy, yes, but she had felt
sympathetic towards other patients’ family members. There was
something about Braden that pulled at her heart. He was a strong
man with a forceful personality but the tenderness and caring he so
obviously felt for Caitlin revealed more to Jenna than he would
probably have liked. It was at odds with the cynical attitude he
had displayed when she had originally told him she was staying
because Caitlin needed her. He was an enigma she was tempted to
unravel, but wary of doing so for fear of what she might
discover.

When Jenna walked back to the kitchen she saw
the table had been cleared, the dishwasher stacked and the kitchen
cleaned up. Braden had said he had work to attend to, so Jenna
decided to take advantage of her first time of being alone for
days. She selected a CD and placed it in the stereo unit. Soft,
flowing instrumental music filled the room.

Jenna relaxed back, closed her eyes and let
her mind flow with the music. She conjured up scenes of peaceful
lakes and gently meandering rivers. Then she concentrated on her
breath flowing in through her nose and deep into her lungs. She
imagined it coloured a soothing pale blue. Silently her mind
repeated the words ‘I am’ in synchronization with her breathing.
She felt her body relaxing more deeply.

She became aware someone else was in the room
and her eyes snapped open. Braden was standing over her, and in the
split second before he could disguise it, she saw the naked hunger
on his face as he gazed down at her.

“You startled me.” Her voice was breathy.

“I thought you were asleep.”

“I was meditating.”

He raised a sceptical eyebrow. “I’ve always
thought the concept excellent, but have never been able to carry it
out sufficiently well enough to prove it.”

She smiled. “I felt that way for many years.
Then a friend gave me a tape that made it so easy - took all the
saffron-robe mysticism out of it.” Her heart did a double-flip as a
smile that would charm any female from eight to eighty altered the
contours of his face. For the first time she realised just how very
attractive he was.

“Perhaps you might let me listen to the
tape.” He moved to sit next to her and she shifted quickly so that
their bodies didn’t touch. A knowing glint sparkled in the grey
eyes. He was playing with her, she realised.

“I’m sorry,” her regret was genuine, “it was
with the luggage I forwarded to Sydney. But I could teach you how
to do it.”

“I’m willing to try anything. Once.” He
wasn’t even trying to conceal his amusement now. Jenna’s
less-than-placid nature sparked in answering challenge. She stood
up.

“For your first time you’ll be a lot more
relaxed if you lie down.”

Obligingly he kicked off his shoes and swung
his legs up onto the lounge. He lay back with his arms folded
across his chest.

“Put your arms down by your side,” she
commanded. “You mustn’t have any part of your body touching another
part.”

“What about touching someone else’s body?” he
countered.

“Strictly forbidden,” she responded primly.
“Close your eyes.”

She knelt beside the lounge and her tone
softened as she began to describe the imagery involved. Her voice
became mellow, fluid, soothing. She watched as Braden followed her
hypnotic instructions. Gradually the tension left his muscles and
his breathing became deep and regular.

Jenna kept up the steady flow of words,
leading, guiding. And as she talked her gaze traced the outline of
his face; the smooth forehead, the straight nose, faltered on the
full lips that were invitingly parted just a fraction.

By the time her gaze lingered on the rhythmic
rise and fall of his chest she was quivering. Desperately she tried
to fight the rising desire in her blood. She could feel her nipples
firming against the smooth satin of her bra and push against her
soft cotton shirt.

Her voice grew husky. As though sensing the
reason for the change Braden’s eyes opened and fixed on hers. Like
a mouse mesmerized by the unblinking stare of a snake she froze. He
slowly raised himself on one elbow, his head leaning towards hers.
She knew he was going to kiss her, knew she should get up and run,
but all coherent thought fled as his lips met hers.

It was a soft, gentle feathering of skin on
skin, his warm breath mingling with hers, a faint woodsy tang of
aftershave that lingered, then a tentative flick of his tongue on
her lips and her eyes closed. The faint moan that escaped her
throat was all the response he needed. His hand twined into her
curls as his mouth ravished hers.

It was like falling into a deep abyss of
pleasure. Her body came alive like it never had before. Her breasts
flooded with heat and a deep wanton ache pulsed in her groin. Her
hands found the hard chest muscles they had craved to touch and
stroked sensually over them. It was heady, intoxicating.

And frightening.

Somehow a fragment of her mind registered how
badly she had lost control. Like a drowning person fighting her way
to the surface she pushed away and fell back onto the floor,
panting as though she had run a marathon.

She saw the glazed look in Braden’s eyes and
a swift glance told her he was fully aroused. Her thoughts
clarified and she suddenly realised the vulnerability of her
situation. Braden was a strong man, and she would stand little
chance of fending him off if he decided to take what his body
obviously wanted.

But what terrified her more was the knowledge
he wouldn’t have to fight her to get it. Nothing had prepared her
for the devastating effect on her senses wrought by Braden’s kiss.
If she had kept kissing him she would have ended up completely
unable to stop him from taking what he wanted. And even more
terrifying was knowing her body would have betrayed the restraints
she had placed on herself for the past three years.

Fear panicked her tongue.

“Is this how you treat all your
housekeepers?”

CHAPTER FIVE

Braden's face froze in astonishment. Jenna
shrank back against the floor. Then a deep rumbling started in his
chest.

He was laughing at her!

Humiliation burned her face. He must have
guessed her fears and thought it funny that she should think he
would not be able to control himself with her. Or perhaps he was
laughing at her almost adolescent reaction to the intensity of her
desire. She sprang to her feet, fists clenched in frustration and
chagrin. “Well, I just hope you spell out the ground rules to your
next housekeeper!”

The laughter died. Suspicion took its
place.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You know I can’t stay here after … after
what’s just happened.” She knew she was acting like an overwrought
teenager but, heaven help her, it was just what she felt like.

Shards of ice darkened his grey eyes. The
lines of his face hardened into granite.

“You would abandon Caitlin?”

She shivered at the disgust in his voice. He
had her cornered and she knew it. Nothing would make her leave
until she had done everything in her power to get Caitlin as
healthy and happy as possible. Apart from her personal concern her
professionalism wouldn’t have allowed it.

“No. I wouldn’t do that.”

“Really? Women do it all the time - walk out
on their children, their husbands. Why should you be any different?
Caitlin isn’t even your child.”

There was something in his tone that scraped
an uneasy note in Jenna’s brain. She had the feeling it wasn’t just
Caitlin he was talking about.

“No, but she is my ... concern. I’ll stay as
long as I can. You have my word on that.” She drew in a deep
breath. “But I would appreciate our ... relationship ... staying on
a strictly professional level. I’ve found that families of trauma
victims can become too emotionally dependent on their loved one’s
doctor or therapist. That dependency can be misread as attraction,
but it’s an attraction which doesn’t outlast the patient’s
treatment.”

“Is this a text book scenario, Jenna? Or did
you learn it the hard way?”

She ignored his question.

“Caitlin will need us both. It’s important
that she feels as secure as possible. Keeping our relationship on a
professional level will enable us both to concentrate on what is
best for her.”

“So you’re just going to dismiss the obvious
attraction that exists between us?” His voice developed a low,
seductive timbre. Her limbs started to melt as his words washed
over her. She shook her head, as much in denial as to shake off
their effect.

“Mrs Jenkins will be back in five weeks and
I’ll be leaving to take up my new position in Sydney. We’ll
probably never see each other again, so I can’t see any point in
discussing this further.”

Before he had a chance to reply she walked
out of the room.

In the privacy of her bedroom she tried to
gather her scattered emotions. Why had she allowed him to kiss her?
Why had she stayed there and let it happen? She should have known
what it would be like. That initial gut-wrenching attraction should
have warned her what it would be like in his arms. The last thing
she needed was to become involved with him. He was her boss, and
Jeff’s boss, and Caitlin’s uncle - all good reasons to keep her
distance. It had taken her a long time to mend the breaks in her
heart and she was determined to keep it whole.

Fleeting memories of her first love flooded
back. Her patient had been a small boy who had fallen when climbing
a tree. His father, a widower, had been attracted to Jenna from the
start and she had fallen in love with him. Unfortunately when the
long months of rehabilitation had ended so had the relationship.
Oh, he hadn’t been cruel, he was actually quite upset at having to
hurt her, explaining that what he thought he felt had turned out to
be gratitude, not love. The pain she had endured was the catalyst
for her overseas trip. She no longer felt the pain, but was
reluctant to risk her heart in the same manner again.

The job she had returned home for was a good
career move. She had been accepted as head of occupational therapy
in a large private hospital. She would miss working exclusively
with children but the career advantages would be worth it. Or so
she had told herself. The fact that the job entailed a good deal of
administration work which would allow her limited time to become
involved with patients and their families was something she had
glossed over in her mind. Now she was forced to admit that it had
been the deciding factor in her decision to accept the
position.

Had she really become such an emotional
coward? Was she running away from the one aspect of her job which
had previously meant the most to her because of her fear of being
hurt again? And was that fear of being hurt the real reason she had
run from Braden like a scalded cat? It was a hard lesson to learn
that all the maturity and confidence she had striven for could be
so easily destroyed by the fear of having her heart broken
again.

Before she had left Sydney two years ago her
mother had warned her to make sure she was leaving for the right
reasons. Running away from your problems never solved them, only
made them harder to face, she had said. Was that what she had done?
Run away? And was that what she was doing now with Braden? Was she
refusing to acknowledge their ‘obvious attraction’ because she was
afraid of becoming involved and thereby running the risk of being
hurt again?

Perhaps it was time to let down her guard and
see what eventuated. There was a possibility that this attraction
could lead to something more substantial.

Then why did the yellow traffic sign with
‘Caution’ printed on it keep intruding into her thoughts?

The next day Braden's attitude towards Jenna
was polite but remote.

In the afternoon Jenna and Caitlin played a
simple ‘match the pairs’ card game. Caitlin wasn’t laughing. She
wasn’t smiling. But she was relaxed and there was a sparkle in her
eyes. It made such a change to the thin pale face that Jenna had a
glimpse of what she must have looked like before the accident.

Braden emerged from his study and made
himself a cup of coffee. As he sipped the hot liquid he watched
them play, then suddenly asked if he could join in. At Caitlin’s
pleased look Jenna readily agreed.

To Jenna's surprise he pretended to be
completely ignorant about how the game was supposed to be played,
dropping his cards, putting down cards that were obviously not
pairs so that Caitlin had to pull on his arm and point this out to
him. He feigned bewilderment so well that Caitlin patiently sorted
through the cards in his hand to find the right pair. Then he
thanked her with a kiss to her hand and told her how clever she
was.

It was a side to his personality that Jenna
was sure few people would get to see. The Braden Fleetwood Jeff had
written about was a tough, hard-headed businessman. The Braden she
was seeing now had a sensitivity and warmth that she found even
more attractive than his good looks and athletic physique.

When the intercom buzzed Braden walked over
and answered it. A cultured female voice gave her name and Braden
immediately pressed the button to unlock the entrance door
downstairs. A few minutes later he opened the door to one of the
most striking and beautiful women Jenna had ever seen.

An inch or two shorter than Jenna, model slim
and elegant, skin the colour of pale honey and a sleek cap of
shining blonde hair that swished gently with every movement of her
head, she was dressed in white slacks, matching sleeveless blouse
with large gold belt accentuating her tiny waist, gold sandals and
shoulder bag. The gold chain necklace and expensive rings declared
rather than suggested wealth.