observant eyes. Her face was strained from the effort of maintaining her false smile. “I am frightfully tired. And I’m not exactly dressed for tea or cocktails!” She shook Lavinia White’s hand briefly and attempted to walk across the room nonchalantly. “Good night!”
“Good night, Leigh,” Derek called. His eyes followed her up the stairway and they were gloating and triumphant. She returned his stare with shimmering venom until she could no longer see him. Damn him straight to hell! she thought balefully. He would find out just how bad her temper could be in the morning!
But her troubles for the night were still not over. She grimaced as she remembered that she had also bolted the hallway door to her room. She tried the knob anyway, but as she had expected, it was locked tight.
She wasn’t going back downstairs. Not for anything. Sighing with exhaustion and resignation, she tried the door to the next room. It opened welcomingly at her touch.
She didn’t switch on a light. Her body and mind ached and all she wanted was the solace of sleep. She walked in the dim light until she found the bed, pulled back the covers, and collapsed. She hoped, as she drifted quickly and mercifully into a sound doze, that Emma wouldn’t mind terribly that she had made a mess of two rooms …
CHAPTER THREE
S HE WAS DREAMING, AND it was a pleasant dream. She was floating on an azure sea, kissed by the sun and caressed by the breeze. The water lapped by her side in perfect tranquility, a feeling of relaxation to be matched by none. Overhead white clouds moved across the sky in soft, billowing puffs; they seemed to reach down and cradle her with a tantalizing warmth …
She hurled herself up in the bed with a gasping cry. She was being touched and it wasn’t by clouds. There was a body beside her!
She heard a muttered oath and then an impatient movement. Light flared through the room from a bedside lamp and she found herself face to face with Derek.
“You bastard!” she hissed, shaking so with surprise and anger that her voice wavered even in its harshness. “You are incredible! Get out of my bed. I know you’re capable of dirty tricks, but this is too much. How dare you? And you have the nerve to condemn me …” Her words trailed away, not because she had run out of venom, but because he was staring at her very peculiarly. and not saying a thing in his own defense.
“Would you please get out of here?” she begged in exasperation and confusion.
“I’d be happy to, madam,” he replied with maddening deliberation. “Except this is my bed that you are in.”
If a bomb had fallen in the middle of the room, she couldn’t have been more shaken. She stared back at him helplessly, her eyes registering dismay as she remembered how haphazardly she had chosen a place to sleep. “Oh, Derek …” she stammered, venturing to glance around the room and note that the dresser was neatly covered with his toiletries and that the half-opened closet door displayed rows of pressed shirts and trousers. If only she’d turned on a light! “Derek, I am sorry. My door was locked, you see, I mean both doors … and I didn’t want to come back downstairs, and—and, well, I am sorry.”
“Don’t bother to be sorry,” he drawled lazily. His curious look had become speculative and his eyes, golden with sardonic amusement, roamed from her mane of sleep-tossed hair, to the deep vee created by the open buttons of the tailored shirt, and down to the long slender length of bare legs displayed beneath the tails. “Finding you in my bed has been a surprise, but a most pleasant one.” He ran a finger along her kneecap.
Leigh pushed his hand aside angrily. “Damn you, Derek, I explained what happened—”
“Yes, I know.” He smiled calmly. He was propped on an elbow and rested his head on his other hand. “You picked this room by chance.”
“Yes!”
“Oh.”
“Oh, yourself, and take the fast route to hell,” Leigh snapped
“Good night, Leigh,” Derek called. His eyes followed her up the stairway and they were gloating and triumphant. She returned his stare with shimmering venom until she could no longer see him. Damn him straight to hell! she thought balefully. He would find out just how bad her temper could be in the morning!
But her troubles for the night were still not over. She grimaced as she remembered that she had also bolted the hallway door to her room. She tried the knob anyway, but as she had expected, it was locked tight.
She wasn’t going back downstairs. Not for anything. Sighing with exhaustion and resignation, she tried the door to the next room. It opened welcomingly at her touch.
She didn’t switch on a light. Her body and mind ached and all she wanted was the solace of sleep. She walked in the dim light until she found the bed, pulled back the covers, and collapsed. She hoped, as she drifted quickly and mercifully into a sound doze, that Emma wouldn’t mind terribly that she had made a mess of two rooms …
CHAPTER THREE
S HE WAS DREAMING, AND it was a pleasant dream. She was floating on an azure sea, kissed by the sun and caressed by the breeze. The water lapped by her side in perfect tranquility, a feeling of relaxation to be matched by none. Overhead white clouds moved across the sky in soft, billowing puffs; they seemed to reach down and cradle her with a tantalizing warmth …
She hurled herself up in the bed with a gasping cry. She was being touched and it wasn’t by clouds. There was a body beside her!
She heard a muttered oath and then an impatient movement. Light flared through the room from a bedside lamp and she found herself face to face with Derek.
“You bastard!” she hissed, shaking so with surprise and anger that her voice wavered even in its harshness. “You are incredible! Get out of my bed. I know you’re capable of dirty tricks, but this is too much. How dare you? And you have the nerve to condemn me …” Her words trailed away, not because she had run out of venom, but because he was staring at her very peculiarly. and not saying a thing in his own defense.
“Would you please get out of here?” she begged in exasperation and confusion.
“I’d be happy to, madam,” he replied with maddening deliberation. “Except this is my bed that you are in.”
If a bomb had fallen in the middle of the room, she couldn’t have been more shaken. She stared back at him helplessly, her eyes registering dismay as she remembered how haphazardly she had chosen a place to sleep. “Oh, Derek …” she stammered, venturing to glance around the room and note that the dresser was neatly covered with his toiletries and that the half-opened closet door displayed rows of pressed shirts and trousers. If only she’d turned on a light! “Derek, I am sorry. My door was locked, you see, I mean both doors … and I didn’t want to come back downstairs, and—and, well, I am sorry.”
“Don’t bother to be sorry,” he drawled lazily. His curious look had become speculative and his eyes, golden with sardonic amusement, roamed from her mane of sleep-tossed hair, to the deep vee created by the open buttons of the tailored shirt, and down to the long slender length of bare legs displayed beneath the tails. “Finding you in my bed has been a surprise, but a most pleasant one.” He ran a finger along her kneecap.
Leigh pushed his hand aside angrily. “Damn you, Derek, I explained what happened—”
“Yes, I know.” He smiled calmly. He was propped on an elbow and rested his head on his other hand. “You picked this room by chance.”
“Yes!”
“Oh.”
“Oh, yourself, and take the fast route to hell,” Leigh snapped
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