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His eyes caught and held hers, and suddenly she was imagining having his strong arms around her, his warm kisses.
“Want some help?” he said, his voice thickening, a pulse ticking in the strong cord of his neck.
She could feel herself blush. “Er … no. I can manage.” She willed her hands to move, only they wouldn’t.
A few seconds went by.
“Sure?”
“Yes. I mean, no.”
The blue of his eyes darkened like a midnight sky. “Can’t make up your mind?” he asked huskily.
“No. I mean, yes.”
He made a guttural sound, his expression stilling. All at once there was nothing more serious than this moment. Nothing more serious than them.
She watched, mesmerized in the mirror, as his hand came to rest on her good shoulder … rested then tiptoed along her collarbone to her throat.
She moistened her lips. “Er … what are you doing?”
His blue eyes said it all. “I don’t know,” he muttered. “I just don’t bloody know.”
Her heartbeat slammed against her ribs. She had to bring back some sense of sanity. “Don’t touch, remember?” she tried to remind him, tried to take charge, only her voice merely dropped into the whirlpool of sensuality in the room.
“I remember. But … if I were to touch I’d do it like.” His index finger touched the sensitive hollows of her neck. “This.”
She moaned silently, her breath entering her lungs in short spurts.
His finger slipped inside the collar of her blouse. “And touching’s not always the same as … caressing.” He stroked the top of one breast.
Oh, God.
“It’s not?”
“No. There’s a difference.” Another pass over the top of her breast. “Feel it?”
She moistened her lips. She could feel nothing else. Closing her eyes, she gave in for a moment, all soft and pliable and very much a woman. “Oh, yes.”
And he was very much a man.
An aroused man. She only had to turn her head and she’d be able to press her cheek against him, inhale him and—
Her eyes burst open and she jumped to her feet, shaken by how easily things had gotten out of control. “Um … it’ll be okay. Don’t worry about the cut. It won’t get infected. I know it won’t. It—”
His face closed up. The moment had passed. “Sit down, Vanessa.”
She shook her head. “No. It’ll be fine, you’ll see.” She leaped the distance to the open doorway.
“Vanessa?”
She turned. “Look, it’s okay. I’ll just stick a plaster over it or something.”
His eyes pierced the distance between them. “You know, Vanessa, sometimes a plaster isn’t enough.”
Unable to stand the tension of being cooped up in the house with Vanessa any longer, Kirk ate a quick lunch then took off for the cattle yards to see how his men were going with fixing a broken water pipe. He had to keep busy.
What the hell was he thinking bringing her here to Deverill Downs? Damn him for letting himself be coerced into this. She hadn’t fooled him, of course. She may fool herself into believing that using him was acceptable, but any respect he afforded her was only as she wanted—as an employee. And even that was going to be difficult for him at times when every instinct inside him warred between wanting her and trying to keep perspective.
God, she’d looked bloody magnificent when she’d flared up at him though. She was lucky he hadn’t swept her up in his arms, carried her to his room and made love to her until dawn.
He’d known it was going to be difficult keeping his hands off her. So the last thing he’d needed today was to apply first aid to her back.
Her lovely, sexy back.
Just the thought of touching her soft skin … of being in a confined space with her … her scent … drove him wild.
He had to stop thinking about it.
He had to stop thinking about her.
He even managed to do that during dinner that evening but only because she was right there in front of him and he didn’t have to think. Not when he could see her.
Josh ate dinner with them, and that helped, though Kirk suspected Vanessa deliberately kept her son up past his bedtime. Not that he minded. He had to admit he was growing to like the kid. Josh had a charm that snuck up on a person.
Like the boy’s mother.
Only, Vanessa’s charm wasn’t pure and innocent like her son’s. There was danger in her charms. A man could drown in them. Drown and not even care.
Thankfully tonight there was a lifesaver in the vicinity in the form of Josh. He was a welcome distraction and Kirk couldn’t help but be mildly amused at his antics. Every time Vanessa turned away from him to eat her dinner, Josh babbled something and dropped his spoon over the side of the high chair.
Kirk looked at her son and felt something kick him inside. Josh was like the son he would have loved to have had one day.
The son he would never have.
He forced away his inner pain. “He’s doing that deliberately, you know,” he felt obligated to point out as she mildly scolded Josh and gave him a new spoon.
“I know,” she said, her mouth curving with tenderness.
Careful, he told himself. “You do?”
“It’s a game, Kirk, that’s all.” Josh babbled and dropped the spoon again and she gave a soft chuckle. “See.” She bent to pick it up but this time didn’t replace the spoon. “No more, young man. That’s enough.”
Kirk’s brows drew together. All that bending over wasn’t good for her back.
Her lovely, sexy back.
The image returned. Both of them in the bathroom. The scent of her. “How’s the cut?” he all but growled.
Her safe-and-sound smile faltered and two pink dots appeared in her cheeks. “It’s a bit sore,” she said, averting her eyes.
Masculine pleasure spurted through him at her reaction. She might not admit she was attracted to him, but her body couldn’t deny the magnetism between them.
“Then keep an eye on it,” he said gruffly, and went back to eating.
Straight after dinner he headed to the study, glad to be able to throw himself into his bookwork with renewed determination. He even managed to put thoughts of Vanessa aside and concentrate on the job at hand.
There was always a ton of paperwork to deal with in an operation this size. Fay was a terrific help as an office assistant, and he employed someone in Jackaroo Plains to do his accounts. But there was still a lot to do himself. Filling in government forms and surveys, plus keeping up-to-date with world breeding programs, latest research and development, and long-range weather predictions, took up much of his time.
Around an hour later he remembered he’d left the local newspaper on the hallway table. It had market data on recent sales and stock prices and he’d wanted to read it.
As he headed down the hallway, he heard Vanessa’s soft voice in the kitchen.
“I said I’d call you when I could, Grace,” she was quietly chiding. “You didn’t have to call the motel.”
For a minute he thought they had visitors, but then he realized she must be talking on her cell phone.
“No, I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you. I just wanted to settle in here first.”
Pause.
“There’s nothing to be upset about. I was going to stay at Jackaroo Plains for six months anyway. Nothing’s really changed.”
Another pause.
“What? You’ve got a dossier on him already? Then you’ll know he’s a good man.”
They were talking about him.
“He’s rich? So? That’s not why I’m here. Money doesn’t matter to me. I’m only his temporary housekeeper when all is said and done.”
A long silence followed her words.
“Grace, I can’t help it if you don’t like it. I needed to get away for a while. You know that.” All at once, Josh started to cry. “Look, I have to go. Josh needs to go to bed.”
Silence.
“Yes, he’s up late but he’s a bit restless tonight. He might be teething. Yes, call me later in the week.”
She hung up.
There was a heavy sigh. “And yes, Grace, I’m peachy-keen, too,” she mused out loud.
Kirk didn’t bother about the newspaper. He quietly went back to the study and frowned as he sat down at his desk. Okay, so that conversation had substantiated some of what Linda had told him about Vanessa’s in-laws. They had sounded a trifle overbearing.
But perhaps they were merely concerned for the welfare of their family? That was understandable. He sure as hell would be checking out a person if one of his family were staying with someone he didn’t know.
No, he wasn’t convinced Vanessa had needed this job.
And that meant she hadn’t needed to use him.
Five
Vanessa wasn’t sure how she managed to fall asleep that night. She kept seeing images of Kirk’s fingers sliding over the top of her breasts, interspersed with images of her outraged in-laws. Either way she was in trouble. Kirk wasn’t supposed to “touch” her, and she wasn’t supposed to let him, and neither of them wanted any type of intimate relations. And then there was Grace and Rupert. Her in-laws had not been happy after telephoning the motel, only to be told by one of the staff that Vanessa and Josh had moved to Deverill Downs.
So she should have expected to see them getting out of the rental car just after ten. She was vacuuming at the time and hadn’t heard the car drive up.
At least Kirk wasn’t here to witness any of this. She could only hope they would be gone by the time he came home for lunch.
Pushing open the screen door, she stepped onto the verandah as they marched up the steps. “This is a surprise,” she said with a smile that took all her control.
And then some.
Grace gave her a quick peck on the cheek, but her eyes were cold. “We wanted to come and see Joshua.”
“Of course.”
Rupert kissed her cheek next. “We haven’t seen the boy since Christmas.”
The boy.
Vanessa gritted her teeth. “The boy” had a name. And while it might seem a lot of time since Christmas to her in-laws, it wasn’t near enough time for Vanessa. All those phone calls had made it seem far less than five weeks ago.
“Did you have much trouble finding us?” she asked, hoping Grace didn’t hear the hint of sarcasm in her voice. She had to stay composed. She didn’t want any more trouble than expected from them.
“A little,” her mother-in-law said, brushing a speck of fluff off her expensive pantsuit. She looked up and gave a false smile. “But that won’t stop us seeing our grandson.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes.
Rupert rubbed his hands together. “Where is he?”
Vanessa’s gaze shot to her father-in-law. “Who?”
“Joshua, of course.”
“Oh, yes.” She kept her face blank, not giving anything away. For a minute there she’d thought he meant Kirk. “He’s taking his morning nap.”
“Then wake him up and let us see the boy,” Rupert said. “We’ve come a long way.”
Vanessa held on to her temper. “Let’s have a cool drink first. Josh should be awake by then.” She pointed to the wicker chairs along the verandah. “Take a seat, relax and look at the view.”
They hesitated but for once she stood her ground until they were seated, then she went to get the drinks. She didn’t want them inside and today wasn’t too hot to sit outside, thank goodness. As it was, she kept an ear out in case they decided to enter the house. She didn’t trust them not to look for Josh and wake him up, leaving him cranky long after they left.
If they left.
The thought filled her with anxiety. She certainly hoped they didn’t expect to stay here overnight. She would definitely have to put her foot down if they did. She was only the housekeeper here and she could imagine Kirk’s response.
She carried the tray out to them. “So. What do you think of the place?” she chatted. “It’s lovely, isn’t it? I hope it’s put your mind at rest about Josh and myself moving here.”
“That’s only temporary, dear,” Grace clarified, then surveyed the area with a critical eye. “Yes, it’s nice but far too isolated. What if Joshua came down with something? What if you needed a doctor?”
