The Scent of His Woman (7 page)

‘Come on now,’ he chided, ‘it’s not that bad, drink your coffee and eat a little, I hope
you like lemon sole, it’s particularly good here, then we will talk and you’ll see that all is not
as black as it seems to you right now.’
Lexie shot him a withering look across the top of her coffee cup, but saying nothing
she began to eat, aware he was watching her intently, trying to gauge her mood no doubt.
Well good luck, she thought because right this minute I don’t even know myself how I feel.
Geth let the waiter clear the table and pour them a second coffee before returning to
the subject of what to do next. A plan was coming together in his head, a plan that would
serve his purpose and keep her with him and in his bed, for the next few days, maybe
even weeks. He’d never been this out of control where a woman was concerned and it
was unsettling him, the only cure was to have his fill of her, then he’d be able to move on.
All he knew at this moment was, that he had an overwhelming urge to pull her into his
arms and never let her go. How to sell his idea to her without getting too heavy was going
to be the tricky bit, but if she wouldn’t play ball he’d use the fact that he was now her
landlord as leverage, “all’s fair in love and war”, wasn’t that the saying?
‘Now’ he began, ‘as I see it we have a choice, we can just get you out of the
limelight for a week or two until the press move on to other stories, or we can deal with
them right now, diffuse the situation and get you back to normal life quickly. My thoughts
are that the second option would be the best, what about you?’
Lexie thought for a moment before answering.
‘Well, you tell me what each of those options actually involves and then I’ll tell you
what I think.
‘Well if we find a little hotel somewhere we can hole up quite pleasantly, stay out of
sight for a week, maybe two then when the fuss has died down we can get back to normal,
how does that sound?’
She was scathing, ‘well, to begin with two weeks in your company does not appeal
that much, I can assure you. Then there is the matter of a definition of back to normal. For
you, that will be simple enough, but for me, it will mean going back to live in a village full of
people who believe I sold them out. Not only that, but you and your development will still
be there as a daily reminder. Whet do you expect me to do, pack up and move? Not an
attractive proposal at all. You’d better come up with a better one than that’.
Geth smiled and let her mull that obviously unattractive scenario over a bit before
continuing.
‘Well we could defuse the whole thing quite easily, just by getting engaged.’
He stopped for a moment content with enjoying the look of incredulity that lit her
face, making it even more delightful as her lovely eyes darkened to something close to
midnight in disbelief. Lexie had heard enough, the man was deranged, getting up from her
seat she turned away from him
‘This conversation is over,’ she spat out, unable to keep her voice completely steady
a she began to move away from him.
‘Sit down Alexandria.’
Something in his voice stopped her flight, something hard edged and unmistakably
threatening. Slowly she turned and held her breath as she waited for him to speak.
‘Come back here and sit down, I really don’t think you want to walk away from me,
not given what you stand to lose.
A chill spread down her spine as she turned back to face him.
‘What do you mean, what could I possibly have to lose?’
His face was impassive and cold eyes met hers.
‘I’m sure you don’t need reminding that GLM now owns half the village, including
your shop, your home. Now sit back down and hear me out.’
Slowly she complied, holding his gaze with wide eyes as she slid back into her seat,
the chill spreading rapidly from her spine through the rest of her as she waited for him to
continue.
‘That’s better, now don’t say anything, just listen. Today we will announce our
engagement, the press will immediately forget everything else for a short time. It always
happens, all we will read about is rings and true love and celebrity weddings for a day or
two then they’ll move on. They never stick with a story like that for longer, good news
doesn’t sell newspapers. In the meantime for a while we enjoy exploring what I’m sure will
turn out out be a mutually beneficial relationship. Well, what do you think?’
‘I think you’re mad, that’s what I think. That’s the maddest thing I’ve ever listened to
and worst of all it still means spending time with you, I hate to remind you but I really don’t
relish your company right now.’
His smile was hard, not reaching his eyes, she noticed, ‘well, agree to my plan and
I’ll devote the next few weeks to changing your mind,’
He spoke with a confidence that put her teeth on edge and gave her voice a shrill
note.
‘No, absolutely not! I don’t understand. Why are you forcing me into this? What do
you stand to gain?
‘Let’s just say I need a fiancée for a week or two and you’ll fit the bill nicely. All you
have to do is act the part and get me off a baited hook. In the meantime we can finish what
we started the other night.’
That was when Lexie understood, he was angry that she had called the shots and
walked out on him. It must have been quite a novel experience for him, she guessed, but
to go to these lengths to win, that was unnerving to say the least and quite how she was to
fight this she was at a loss to figure out, he held all the cards and he knew it.
Her home, the shop, how could she survive without them. She’d put years of her life
into building her little business up, but worse than that there was Florence to think of now
too. Florence, who had invested all her hard earned savings in the business when, as the
recession bit, it was in danger of floundering. Florence who had found the time and
commitment to take over some of the running of the shop so that Lexie could devote more
time to the allotment and so introduce the new products that the business needed to
survive.
Swallowing hard to quell the rising panic that threatened to overwhelm her, she tried
to marshal some semblance of a rational argument against this madness.
‘Who do you think will believe it for a start? My sisters won’t credit it for a minute,
and you have a family too what about them?’
A wry smile played around the corners of his mouth.
‘Well actually my family will be quite delighted that their bad boy has decided to
settle down and I have a sneaky feeling you sisters won’t be unhappy to find you leaving
what they believe to be your wild ways behind either.
You think you have it all sewn up don’t you?
Even she could hear the note of defeat creeping into her voice.
‘Pretty much, yes, and if you would stop fighting against me you would see that this
way we both get what we want. I get a fiancée that saves me from my mother’s
determination to match me with her best friend’s daughter and the added bonus of your
delightful company for a while. You get the press hounds of your back, a few weeks of my
undivided attention and at the end your business and home safe and sound. Then, when I
decide the time is right, all we need to do is quietly drift apart and by then I will have had
time to make sure the villagers know you were not to blame for the leak. You will even get
some sympathy when, after a decent interval, your engagement comes to an end, I’m a
playboy you know, it will most certainly be seen as my fault.
‘How do I know you will keep your word afterwards. You’ll still own my shop, you
could use it again to threaten me.
‘You’ll just have to trust me on this one, I’ll get my legal team to organise a long
term lease at a reduced rent for you, that way you won’t need to find the capital to buy it,
but can stay as long as you like. Not a bad salary for a couple of weeks work.’
Lexie was almost at a loss for words, the dreadful thing was as a plan it seemed to
make sense, so though every nerve in her body was screaming no, her brain was asking
her to come up with a better idea before discarding this one out of hand, and of course she
couldn't.
‘Very well... I’ll agree with this madness except for one thing. I won’t sleep with you
and I want your word that you won’t expect me to. It’s just unthinkable, you must see that.’
Geth stood up and reaching across the small table grasped her shoulders pulling
her to her feet.
‘OK, I promise, but I do reserve the right to devote myself to making you change
your mind about that. So we have a deal, don’t we.’
Lexie nodded mutely, wondering bemusedly what she’d let herself in for as Geth
lowered his head and claimed her mouth with his in a searing act of possession.
‘Sealed with a kiss.’
He murmured against her swollen mouth, before gently pushing her back onto her
seat where she sat waiting mutely for his next move.
‘Now,’ he continued briskly.
‘I am booked on a flight to Montreal for a business meeting tonight, it will take two
days, three at most. Montreal is almost as perfect a city for lovers as Paris, lively, modern
and rather European. Then we will go to the farm to see my folks for a few days, it’s my
parents ruby wedding anniversary, so there will be a party and so on.’
Lexie’s numbed brain kicked back in.
‘But you are forgetting the basics, I don’t have anything with me, no clothes,
passport, money, nothing.’
‘I can fix that with a couple of phone calls, and as long as you still have a key under
that pot of lemon scented stuff, it won’t be a problem, where do you keep your passport?’
That was the point at which she let him win, instead of arguing further, she just gave
in and answered.
‘In the top drawer of my dressing table.
‘But I don’t like the idea of anyone going through my things so how on earth do you
propose to get my case packed.’
‘I don’t intend to, the thought of Alun rifling through your smalls doesn’t bear thinking
about, we will get everything else you need in London before we fly. That will give us a
chance to pick out a ring and make an announcement to the press at the same time.’
She turned eyes huge with disbelief at him.
‘You can’t buy me clothes and stuff? At least you can sell a ring afterwards, what will
you do with, with, well personal things?
He laughed out loud at that.
‘Goodness woman, what are a few bits of designer gear, you chose things you like
and call them a bonus for good behaviour, as for the ring, well you can have that too, I
already owe you for lost business don’t forget, call it a down payment.’
With that last remark he pulled out his mobile and was soon giving his site manager
the unexpected instruction to locate the passport and get it to the airport by the evening.
The next call he made was, she assumed to his family, the conversation was all in rapid
Welsh but she did make out the word Mam more than once.
‘Well my mother thinks it’s high time I settled down and assures you she can hardly
wait to meet you.’
Then handing her the phone he continued.
‘Now your turn, once you have told your sisters, we are committed.’
Lexie stared in silence at the mobile phone in his hand for a full ten seconds before
drawing a deep breath up into her lungs and extending her hand to take it from him. Then,
dialing Florence she prepared to tell the biggest lie she had ever told, to one of the two
most important people in her life. ‘
Hi Florence, it’s me, yes I know, but don’t worry about that now. No don’t speak to
the press, we are dealing with it, we, that right Gethyn and me.’
Geth assumed from the way she suddenly removed the phone from her ear that the
sister was yelling now, so without a word he took the phone from her hand and interrupted
the flow of sisterly concern coming through the earpiece.
‘Hi, Florence is it? I think I had better explain. Look I know it’s not ideal, we meant to
speak to our families first, but well you know how resourceful these press people can be,
they saw us together and added everything up wrongly to make the kind of rubbish that
sells paper. What Alexandria wanted to do was to let you know we are getting engaged.
Yes she is with me, quite safe and I assure you we are very happy. We are on our way to
the airport actually, Montreal, only for a few days until the heat is off, so we will see you
when we get back.’
With that he handed the phone back with a smile to Lexie, who accepted it and
found that for the second time he had charmed her elder sister in seconds, no wonder he
was so successful, he was charm personified when the fancy took him, she thought. Then,
after ending the call so that a by now reassured and excited Florence could call Netia and
tell her the news.
‘Well what now.’
‘Now we make our way to my London apartment, we should be there in about an
hour, which will give us plenty of time to buy a ring. Then I have to go in to the office for an
hour or two and while I’m there I can get my PR guys to create the news leak, but during
that time you can shop for whatever you need. That should still leave us enough time for a
dinner date somewhere predictable, Le Gavroche maybe, so the press can scoop the first
photos of us, the happy pair for tomorrow’s rags. We might even be in such a happy mood
that we allow them to photograph your sparkler. What do you think?’

Not waiting for her to answer, he made yet another call from the mobile, presumably to
someone in his office, as he issued rapid instructions for her flight reservations before
moving on to other business. Once he was done, the bill for the meal was paid and they
resumed the journey before Lexie’s swirling brain could get anywhere near back to
normality.
Chapter 5
They reached his apartment within a couple of hours and Lexie was not surprised when it
turned out to be the penthouse at the top of a very plush building, in what was obviously a
very affluent part of the city. She tried to look unaffected, but could not help looking around
in undisguised amazement. Goodness, she knew he was well off, but this was beyond
anything she’d dreamt of. She wandered around the spacious lounge as Geth busied
himself collecting papers laptop and suchlike from an office down the hallway. The room
reminded her in some ways of the Cardiff apartment she’d paid so little attention to. Very
much male orientated, clean minimalist lines, light colours, accents of steel and wood, but
there was nothing cold about the place. Rather it spoke of an uncluttered, comfortable,
home for a man who spent little time in one place. One wall was taken up with a state of
the art entertainment system and there were some pieces of understated art on the walls.
She was willing to bet these were originals, this didn’t look like the kind of place where you
would find cheap prints on the wall. But what really made this place into the dream
property it was, was the huge window wall, which offered a panoramic view of the city and
access onto a spacious balcony that ran the whole length of the window. Lexie was still
standing, hands braced against the thick glass staring out at the view, when Geth walked
back into the room. He stood for a moment, just taking in her stance and the incredulous
look on her face, she was so lovely, standing there, dressed in her usual style, a dark
purple gathered skirt topped by a loose cream cotton and lace blouse decorated with
ribbons and beads. Neither garment did anything to show off what he knew to be a
stunning figure, the flat pumps on her feet not adding to her height. She was still lovelier,
he realised, than any other woman who had ever stood there admiring that view and some
of the countries most celebrated beauties could be counted in that list. How to keep her?
That was the problem, to date he had done nothing but alienate her, he needed to make
her want to be with him, surely the legendary Geth Mathias charm was up to the
challenge, it had to be he found himself thinking, still not able to rationalise why that
should be.