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He turned and caught her staring at him.
But he didn’t say anything, just handed her the keys and took her arm, leading her outside.
It was cooler than she’d expected after the warmth of the day. Vivienne ground to a halt before they reached the pavement.
‘I think I should go back and get a jacket,’ she told Jack. Her dress did have three-quarter sleeves but the material was thin.
‘Absolutely not,’ he replied firmly. ‘No covering up for you tonight, beautiful.’
Vivienne winced. ‘Would you mind not calling me that? I really don’t like it.’
His facial muscles tightened. ‘What shall I call you, then? Sweetheart? Honey? Surely not darling? That doesn’t seem to befit a mistress.’
Vivienne’s hand clutched her purse tightly within angry fingers. ‘Why are you acting like a jerk all of a sudden?’ she threw at him.
He glared at her for a moment, then sighed, his face softening. ‘You’re right. I am acting like a jerk. Blame it on male ego. I’m still smarting over your not wanting to be my girlfriend for real.’
Vivienne was tempted to give in and say, okay, I’ll be your girlfriend for real. Because she didn’t like to think he was angry with her. But she seriously didn’t want to do that. She knew she would regret it afterwards if she gave in.
‘You seemed happy with our arrangement when you dropped me off last night,’ she reminded him tautly. ‘Besides, I thought a strictly sexual relationship would be right up your alley.’
‘So did I.’
‘Then what’s your problem?’
Yeah, Jack, what’s your problem? For pity’s sake, get a grip.
He shrugged. ‘No real problem. But perhaps you could compromise a little and go out with me occasionally. On a proper date, that is.’
‘That’s what I’m doing tonight, isn’t it?’
He laughed. ‘You and I both know that tonight’s dinner is just foreplay, not a date. Hell, I took one look at you in that dress and instantly decided to reduce the meal to only one course. You’re going to be my dessert, gorgeous. Can I call you that—gorgeous?’
‘If you must,’ she said, struggling to keep her own desire in check.
‘Good. So let’s stop this useless banter and be on our way. The quicker we get there and eat, the quicker we can leave.’
* * *
But it didn’t turn out quite that way. Shortly after they were shown to a table in the small Italian restaurant Jack had booked in nearby St Leonards, his phone pinged.
‘Sorry,’ he said as he whipped the infernal thing out of his pocket. ‘Have to have a quick look to see. It could be family.’
As much as Vivienne admired Jack’s devotion to his family, she wished he’d left his phone at home—like she had. But she supposed that was being irrational. And more like a girlfriend’s thinking than a mistress’s. A mistress would not object to her wealthy lover doing anything at all, even answering text messages when he was at dinner with her.
Jack’s frown as he read the message aroused Vivienne’s curiosity.
‘Something wrong?’ she prompted.
He put the phone back in his pocket. ‘No. Not really. It was an invite to an engagement party next week.’
‘Oh? Who’s getting married? Family or friends?’
‘Neither. It’s the daughter of a business acquaintance. A very wealthy business acquaintance.’
‘So you’re probably wise to attend.’
‘I’m not sure that would be wise. I might punch out the groom-to-be.’
Vivienne was taken aback. ‘Why on earth would you do that?’
His smile was very droll. ‘His name is Daryl.’
The waiter bringing the bottle of wine Jack had ordered stopped Vivienne from saying or doing anything at that precise moment that she would regret. It also gave her a minute or two to gather herself, and her thoughts.
It was only natural, she accepted once she could think properly, that Frank Ellison would invite Jack to Courtney’s engagement party. Jack had, after all, built Frank’s harbourside mansion, the same one she had decorated last year. Had she received an invitation too? Vivienne wondered. She doubted it. As much as Frank might be ignorant of Daryl’s very recent engagement to another woman, Courtney certainly wasn’t. Or was she? Maybe the girl didn’t know he’d been engaged when they’d started seeing each other.
Vivienne suppressed a sigh. She didn’t want to think about Daryl any more, or the new life he’d made for himself with Courtney Ellison. She’d moved on and, although his actions had hurt her badly, she was feeling better now. Much, much better.
By the time the waiter poured the wine, took their dinner orders and departed, Vivienne knew what she had to do.
First she lifted her glass of chilled Chardonnay to her lips and took a deep swallow. Then she locked eyes with Jack over the rim and said in steely tones, ‘I presume your invitation says “and partner”?’
Jack had an awful feeling he knew what was coming.
‘Yes,’ he answered warily.
‘In that case, I’d like to come with you.’
He knew it! Jack sighed his frustration. ‘I really don’t think that’s a good idea, Vivienne.’
Her eyes turned mutinous. ‘Why?’ she snapped.
‘Because you don’t know what and who you’re dealing with,’ he shot back just as sharply.
‘Yes I do. I’m dealing with a two-timing bastard who’s been allowed to get away with his disgusting behaviour up till now,’ she said, doing her best to keep her voice low so that the other people in the restaurant didn’t overhear. ‘He lied to me when he broke off our engagement. Claimed he hadn’t been unfaithful, that he was doing the honourable thing by leaving me before sleeping with his new love. And I actually believed him at the time! My God, I can’t believe I was such a gullible little fool where that man was concerned.
‘The moment I saw those photos in the paper, I should have gone after him and told him what I thought of him. I should have made him suffer a little, even if it was only discomfort at the distress he’d caused. This is the perfect opportunity for me to confront him. Look, for all I know, Courtney Ellison might not even know about his engagement to me. Daryl could have lied to her as well. I want to make sure she is well aware of what kind of man she’s planning to marry!’
‘There’s no chance in hell that Courtney doesn’t already know everything about you, Vivienne,’ Jack stated with bald honesty. ‘Trust me when I say that Daryl being engaged to you would have added to his attraction for her. Seduction is her favourite game. She went after me big time when I was building her father’s house and cornered me in one of the home’s ten bedrooms one day, as naked as a jay bird.’
Vivienne’s eyes had gone wide, showing Jack how shocked she was, her reaction to such behaviour underlining to him that she would never do such a thing. This strictly sexual fling she was having with him...it was definitely out of character for her. She was the kind of girl who would usually want marriage and children, not the role of mistress.
‘Heavens!’ she exclaimed, shaking her head. ‘And did you...did you...?’
‘No. I wouldn’t touch Courtney Ellison with a barge pole,’ he ground out.
Was that relief he saw in her eyes? He sure hoped so. Because that would show that she genuinely liked him, the way he liked her.
‘You don’t want to be around people like that if you don’t have to be, Vivienne,’ he went on. ‘They’re bad, greedy, soulless people. You’re way too good for them. Like I said, you’re much better off without someone like Daryl in your life.’
‘I dare say what you’ve just said is all true. But, on a personal level, I need to show Daryl that I’ve survived. That he didn’t destroy me. If I go to their party with you, it will be the perfect revenge.’
All the breath left Jack’s lungs at the word ‘revenge’. God, but that actually hurt. He leant back in his chair and studied her for a few moments. ‘Is that all I am to you, Vivienne?’ he asked quietly. ‘An instrument of revenge?’
‘What? No, no, of course not. How can you possibly say that after all I’ve done with you? None of that was revenge. It was...it was... Well, it was just lust,’ she finished, her face flushed and flustered.
‘Just lust,’ he repeated, not feeling particularly happy with that little phrase either. Though it was a lot better than revenge.
‘Jack, trust me, I am over Daryl, and our sexual relationship has nothing to do with him.’
‘Can’t say I’m convinced, but I’ll take you to the party if that’s what you really want.’
‘That’s what I really want,’ she told him.
‘In that case, I have one proviso.’
‘What?’
‘Once you’ve shown your face and had your say, we leave straight away. I have no intention of spending my leisure time with people like that. I’d much rather be somewhere else. With my gorgeous mistress,’ he added, then smiled at her.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#ud8887f14-a148-5fbf-8088-29c9a3d45c2b)
JACK’S WICKEDLY SEXY smile did things to Vivienne which were even more wicked. It constantly amazed Vivienne how quickly Jack could turn her on. A moment ago, her mind had been focused on what she would say and do at Daryl’s engagement party. A split second later, she could think of nothing but being with Jack, her body liquefying as various erotic images danced in her head.
Time to go to the ladies’ room, she decided, making her excuses just as the waiter arrived with a plate of delicious looking herb-and-garlic bread.
‘Don’t be too long,’ Jack said as he reached for a slice. ‘Or this will all be gone.’
She wasn’t long. Just long enough to cool her overheated body, and to change her mind about going to Courtney Ellison’s engagement party. It surprised Vivienne to find that she cared about Jack’s feelings more than her own need to confront Daryl. She hated Jack thinking that she was using him for revenge. Because she wasn’t.
‘You’ll be pleased to know,’ she said as she sat down again and reached for one of the two remaining slices of bread, ‘that I’ve decided not to go to that party after all.’
Jack did not seem as pleased as she thought he’d be.
‘Oh? And why’s that?’
‘You obviously don’t want to take me. And I don’t want to risk spoiling what we have together.’
His eyebrows lifted.
‘Look, Daryl’s dead and gone as far as I’m concerned,’ she went on firmly. ‘Let’s leave him that way.’
Jack didn’t believe that for a moment. Darling Daryl wasn’t dead and gone in Vivienne’s mind. He was still there, influencing everything she did. His dumping her so cruelly for another woman was undoubtedly one of the reasons she’d jumped into his bed. Maybe not out of revenge, but there had to be an element of rebound in her actions. Okay, so there was lust, too—though Jack preferred to think of it as passion and need. Vivienne was obviously a highly sexed girl who enjoyed making love in all its forms. No doubt she’d always had a very active and imaginative sex life with Daryl.
Damn it all, but he didn’t like thinking about her doing the things with that bastard that she’d done with him!
Still, her being so darned sexy was one of the things he liked about her. That and her undeniable strength of character and courage. If she really wanted to go to that party then who was he to say no?
‘I appreciate your concerns, Vivienne,’ he said. ‘And I love it that you don’t want to risk spoiling our relationship.’ Such as it is, he thought ruefully. ‘But I’ve had a few moments to think about the situation from your point of view and I now believe it would be a good idea to go to that party. Otherwise, you’ll never have closure on the matter. You need to have the opportunity to tell your ex what you think of him. And prove to yourself that you’re not a coward,’ he added for good measure.
He’d surprised her. No doubt about that.
‘Then you’re happy to take me?’
‘Absolutely. Ah, here’s our dinner.’
Vivienne had actually forgotten what kind of spaghetti Jack had ordered, her mind having been elsewhere when they’d first arrived at the restaurant. Fortunately, she was not a fussy eater and she loved Italian food. The plate of spaghetti marinara placed before her was a huge serving, with a wide variety of seafood as well as the fish pieces: mussels; prawns; scallops; calamari.
‘Goodness!’ she exclaimed as she picked up her fork. ‘It’ll take me all night to eat this.’
‘I sincerely hope not.’
Vivienne’s stomach did a little somersault. She knew exactly what he was referring to and the thought excited her unbearably. Dear heaven, she was turning into a sex addict. She had to do something, say something to get her mind off the subject.
‘Jack,’ she said abruptly.
He swallowed a mussel with relish before looking up at her. ‘Yep?’ he said, and dabbed at his mouth with a serviette.
Oh, God. Why did he have to do that? She stared at his somewhat hard mouth and thought of the pleasure it gave her. All of it: lips; teeth; tongue. But especially his tongue. She could feel it now, licking, stabbing, sliding inside her.
The heat her thoughts evoked made her squeeze her thighs and buttocks tightly together. Dear heaven, she almost came then. Putting down her fork, she straightened her spine against the back of the chair, forcing herself to get a firm grip on her wayward flesh.
‘I was wondering if you’d heard anything more about Francesco’s Folly today?’ she asked, always having found work a welcome distraction when her emotions threatened to get out of hand. ‘Do you know when I might be able to move in there and start work?’
‘Good news there. Things should be finalised by the end of next week. You can move in as soon as you like after that.’
‘And my contract?’
‘I’ll draw one up for you before that. Which reminds me—I’ve contacted a builder I know who’s going to do the actual work. He’s reliable and has lots of contacts in the area. Knows all the local tradies and building suppliers. I’ve been wondering, since you’ll be living on site, if you’d take on the job as project manager as well as interior decorator? I’ll pay extra, of course,’ he added, and forked in another mouthful of seafood.
‘How much extra?’
He smiled. ‘Lots.’
‘Okay,’ she said with a shrug which belied her crippling sexual tension. Talking about work hadn’t distracted her at all!
‘Good. Now, eat up. Nothing worse than cold pasta.’
She did her best. But her appetite still lay elsewhere. She watched Jack tuck into his meal with relish whilst only picking at hers. She did eat the seafood, the pasta part remaining untouched. And she did drink the wine. Most of the bottle; Jack told her he never had more than one glass when driving. By the time Jack pushed his own empty plate aside, the alcohol had driven out any feelings of nerves, leaving her with nothing but the most dizzying need.
‘Not hungry?’ he said as he wiped his mouth again with his serviette.
Vivienne swallowed the last mouthful of wine. ‘Not really,’ she said.
‘Do you want anything more to drink? A Cognac? Coffee?’
‘No, thanks.’
