The Seduction Trap (22 page)

‘I don’t love you. How could I?’ she snapped. ‘You only made love to me to get my property back. You and Giselle masterminded a foul, vicious campaign against me and you seem to think it’s fine to run two women at once! Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but in my book that kind of behaviour is despicable. Sing for your wretched cottages! I’m hanging onto them!’

‘Stay right there!’ he warned as she took a step towards the door. ‘You’re not leaving.’

‘Why?’ she tossed back.

‘Because you have no shoes and no knickers on and because you seem to be under a misunderstanding,’ he said, his mouth twitching.

‘Oh, don’t try that one,’ she said wearily. ‘Be graceful in defeat, Guy. I’ve sussed you out. Let me go!’ she yelled as in a lightning move he picked her off her feet and deposited her on the kitchen unit. Her naked thighs were on either side of his body and immediately she felt herself contract with need. To her horror, her eyes had closed briefly and her lips had parted, betraying her. And Guy was kissing her sweetly, cruelly, reminding her of the pleasure they’d shared. ‘No,’ she mumbled into his mouth. ‘Don’t hurt me, Guy.’

‘I’m stopping you from walking out on me because I happen to believe in us,’ he said softly. ‘Look at me.’

‘I won’t!’ she wailed, knowing what would happen if she did. ‘Then damn well listen,’ he said grimly. ‘I wasn’t involved in Giselle’s campaign. She did that all on her own. When you saw me with the bleach bottle, it was because I’d taken it from her as she was about to pour it down your septic tank and yelled so loud she took to her heels. Didn’t you hear me shout?’

‘Y-ye-es,’ she admitted.

‘Then you found me bending over your bike. I’d seen that someone had taken your wheels and was wondering what to do. If I’d taken them, where were they? Do you think I swallowed them?’

‘Ha-ha.’ But his story made sense and she felt herself wavering.

‘You saw how angry I was. I couldn’t believe Giselle would go that far. And I offered to replace them, didn’t I? I couldn’t tell you my daughter was doing vicious things to you because she was scared and jealous-’

‘Your what?’

Guy met her startled eyes with an expression of affectionate exasperation. ‘I told you I’d been married and had a daughter-’

‘No, you didn’t!’ she squeaked. Then she eyed him suspiciously. ‘You said you’d got the boss’s daughter pregnant. But... Giselle? She’s a young woman!’

‘Can’t you count, you idiot?’ he said tenderly. ‘You didn’t say when this happened! It could have been a few years back, for all I knew,’ she protested sulkily. ‘I’ll find Giselle’s birth certificate if it’ll shut you up! Pay attention,’ he said sternly. ‘I was seventeen when I married and Giselle was born a couple of months later. She’s eighteen-and horrifically mature, I grant you. Her mother didn’t want her. I was the one Giselle loved. She’s become very, very possessive. But she needs to start living her own life, and I’m trying, as compassionately as I can, to help her to move out of my shadow.

‘I made it clear to her that I wouldn’t tolerate her harassment of you. She could see how agitated I was and told me that I’d fallen for you and I was a traitor. That shook me up, I can tell you!’ He grinned. ‘She’s a minx, Tessa, and I’m sorry for the distress she’s caused you. But she’s no more a monster than I was.’

‘She stopped short of the dead pig,’ she conceded. Her hand reached out to touch his cheek, her heart thudding hard with hope. He leant closer and she could feel the heavy beat of his pulse against her thigh. There was a glazed look in his eyes. ‘She’ll hate me,’ she said sadly. ‘Not if I tell her I love you.’

‘But you said a father should never put his child second,’ she reminded him unhappily. ‘That bond between parent and child shouldn’t be broken-and you’ll’ threaten it if you tell Giselle she must be nice to me.

Her anxious eyes scanned his. Men had been known to abandon relationships because their children hated the new women in their lives. Giselle hated her. Tessa recalled her confrontation with Giselle and knew Guy was being over-optimistic. If there had to be a choice, the blood tie of father and daughter would win out

especially if theirs had been such a long and close relationship as Guy and Giselle’s.

‘The bond can be broken sometimes,’ he said quietly. ‘It was severed between my father and me, between your mother and you-’

‘But both of us were unhappy. We missed them terribly.’

‘Maybe they weren’t the wonderful people we wanted them to be. Maybe they were selfish. We’ll never know the whole truth. But my sadness stems from the fact that I wanted my father to be strong and honourable-and to be there for me,’ he said soberly.

‘I wanted my mother to be there for me too,’ Tessa said, absorbing what he’d said.

‘I don’t think she ever will be,’ he told her gently. ‘I’ve been looking for her ever since she disappeared. My lawyers have finally tracked her down to Martinique. They assure me that she doesn’t want any contact with you at all.’

‘Oh,’ Tessa said in a small voice. ‘Perhaps if I spoke to her. ..’

‘Sweetheart,’ he said gently, ‘I spoke to her myself. She says she’s making a new life for herself. I gather from my lawyers that she’s latched onto an older man a playboy she met here, in nearby Domme. I got the lead from Madame Legrand, your neighbour across the lane, who saw his car in the square once and recognised him. Anyway, your mother persuaded him to take her out to Martinique and she doesn’t want to complicate the arrangement with a long-lost daughter. I’m sorry.’ His hands found hers beneath the over-long sleeves of the shirt and he held them tightly.

‘I suppose she doesn’t even want to see my father,’ she said sadly.

‘She made it clear that she’d washed her hands of him years ago, and that she’d only given you the cottages to spite me and confound her creditors.’

Poor Dad! He’ll be devastated. I must talk to him-’

‘You can use my mobile phone in a moment. I’ll leave it here.

But I had a chat with him too, and told him everything that has happened. I think it’s been strangely liberating for him to know that he’ll never see Estelle again,’ Guy said surprisingly. ‘He joked about eventually getting hitched to a neighbour across the street who’s been very kind to him.’

‘Good grief! Edith!’ she said faintly.

Guy smiled at her astonished face. ‘He sounded very happy. Your mother’s spell has been broken, and I, for one, am relieved. And I have to tell you, the image you have of your mother is a distorted one-and out of date.’

‘What do you mean?’ Tessa asked, puzzled. ‘I almost told you once before,’ he said gently. ‘You went on and on about how beautiful she was and I wanted you to know then that she has changed. Her beauty has gone. I was shocked when I arrived from New Orleans and saw how gaunt and wrinkled she is from taking too much sun. I pity her now, though I can’t forgive her. I wish you and she could have been reconciled. But it’s not to be.’

Tessa sighed deeply. ‘It’s very sad. I’ve missed out on having a mother; she’s missed out on having a daughter. She’s very self-centred, isn’t she? I hate saying that, but it’s true. I see that now.’

‘She’s never been able to love someone more than she loves herself,’ Guy said quietly. ‘What about your father? Will he be happy with this neighbour, do you think?’ She brightened. ‘Yes, I’m sure! She’s a lovely, generous person. I hope Dad takes the plunge, for both the’ sakes.’

‘Giselle will find that you’re a lovely, generous person, he said confidently. ‘She’ll come around, you’ll see.’ Tessa wasn’t so sure. There was so much unresolved. She didn’t dare allow herself to be caught up in his optimism. Giselle could come between them and shatter any dreams they might have.

‘She’s already lost her mother’s love.’ Tessa sighed heavily, seeing no way out of the problem. ‘You mustn’t withdraw from her.’

‘I must, for her sake. Slowly. I love her dearly and so I must help her to grow away from me. It’s a parent’s job to encourage children to fly the nest. It’s partly my fault she’s been such a thorn in your flesh,’ he admitted, kissing her anxious mouth. ‘From birth she’s been fed promises of ‘when we’re in Turaine’. And when we arrived and found my home in a state of disrepair she decided to help me fight my battles. Once she sees you’re not the enemy, she’ll relent, I promise.’

‘I hope you’re right,’ she said, managing to smile and conceal her doubt. But she felt worried. Now she’d found the man she loved, she didn’t want to lose him. It would have been easier to fight any other woman than his only daughter.

Guy smiled. ‘Care for a croissant?’ he asked hopefully, reaching for the bags.

‘I’ll be huge!’ she said wryly, making herself more comfortable on the kitchen unit.

Guy moved closer between her bare legs and her pulses quickened. ‘I doubt it. If I have my way with you, you’ll never be still long enough to get fat,’ he said, with a theatrical leer. Tessa munched. He didn’t seem to realise but he was stroking her inner thigh, and she wished it didn’t make her feel so wickedly ravenous for him.

‘You’re wearing nothing under that shirt,’ he mused, his fingers crawling nerve-rackingly higher. ‘Guy, I-’

‘You’re not sure about us, are you?’ he said softly. Slowly she shook her head. ‘I’m not.’

‘Then I’ll make you sure.’ The wonderful anticipation fled as he moved away, his jaw set hard. ‘Eat your pastry-finish the whole lot if you like. Get dressed and get out of here. I have things to do.’

‘But-’

‘Do as you’re told,’ he said hoarsely. ‘Go back to your cottage and smash the living daylights out of that wall. I’ll send a team in to mend your roof.’

‘Do you mean you don’t want the cottages, or-’ There was an arrogant tilt to his aristocratic head, a calculating and determined look in his dark eyes. ‘Give me a little time and I’ll prove to you what my feelings are. But stay away from me. I don’t want to be accused of seducing you and using you.’

‘Oh,’ she said, astonished, struggling with the desire to be seduced again-very soon.

‘Tessa, I love you!’ he said, chuckling. ‘I’m out of here.’ His voice grew deliciously husky, making her shiver. ‘I think a long run to the point of exhaustion might stop me from coming back and making love to you wherever you happen to be at the time.’

The look he threw her nearly made her slide to the floor and fling herself into his arms. But he turned and walked out before she did such a mad thing.

In the days before she saw or heard from him again, Tessa decided that this time her instincts were right. Guy was the man for her. She knew it with a quiet conviction that warmed her through and through.

So, when an invitation appeared in her letter box and invitation to dinner with Guy the next evening at Il Vieux Logis, an exclusive hotel in nearby Tremolat-she danced around in excitement. Guy had found a way to prove his love. She’d tell him he didn’t need to. Over the pudding, she decided with a giggle. That way they’d get through the meal before he rushed her off to bed!

‘I have nothing to wear!’ she wailed, when he turn up on the doorstep half an hour later. ‘Then wear nothing.’

Her mouth went dry. The two of them stood gazing at one another hungrily, longingly. ‘I do love you,’ she said in a small voice.

‘And I love you.’ Long seconds ticked away. ‘What eyes will you choose?’ he asked softly, tenderly. ‘Don’t know,’ she said stupidly, her tongue clogging up her mouth. Her brow furrowed. ‘Can’t we go somewhere else? I’ve nothing posh-’

‘I’ve told you before,’ he said gently, ‘that it doesn’t matter what you wear. To me you will always be my Tessa.’ When she made a little crying sound, and clutched the door for support, he swallowed, his eyes darkening. And, clenching his fists, he took a step back. ‘Do you think Madame Legrand will be shocked if I make love to you here?’ he asked in a heart-achingly hoarse voice.

She nodded dumbly, needing him, delighted that he needed her. ‘Yes,’ she squeaked.

‘In that case, I’ll wait. OK. The Logis is a classy country hotel. It’s used to French dignitaries turning up. Also to people in jeans and casual shirts. Don’t worry. I’ll think you’re beautiful and that’s all that matters, isn’t it?’

A slow smile lit up her face. It was. They both liked her new rounded shape. He loved what she was, not what she wore. That was a good basis. It meant that when she fell ill, or grew old and her body lost its bloom, he would still love her. ‘I’ll wear green eyes,’ she said breathily. ‘Pick you up at seven tomorrow evening,’ he muttered, and turned quickly on his heel, giving a hasty nod to the passing Madame Legrand before striding at an alarming rate down the lane.

Tessa wore a white tube dress in the end, which gave her figure a Marilyn Monroe look-sexy and vulnerable. It surprised her.

Only three hours earlier she’d been wielding a pickaxe! But now her skin gleamed satin-soft and her hair, which had grown at an amazing rate, tumbled in soft sun-bleached waves about her face.

‘Let’s forget dinner!’ Guy croaked when she opened her door. She nearly agreed. It was the first time she’d seen him in a dinner jacket, and the shape emphasised his physique and the shirt set off his handsome face in a way that had her heart racing.

‘Let’s do everything,’ she husked, correctly identifying what he’d had in mind as an alternative. ‘Dinner first!’ she said, laughing, when she saw the intention in his smouldering eyes.

‘Brutal woman!’ he complained, and handed her a small package.