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‘No...no...please don’t go,’ she begged, swiftly reaching up to catch hold of his hand. ‘Not...well, not until after I’ve seen the doctor.’
‘Relax—there’s no need to worry. I’ll definitely stay here for as long as you need me,’ he promised, before leaving the room.
Goodness knows what it was about this highly disturbing girl... Ace mused as he lifted the phone to call the main hotel. She looked a complete mess, of course. But there was something about the tone of her voice—and the soft gleam in those startling blue eyes—which was clearly having a rather odd effect on him. In fact, ridiculous as it might seem, he was definitely beginning to find her sexually attractive!
Luckily the hotel was able to arrange immediate attention. And Ace, waiting out on the veranda, was relieved when the doctor confirmed that the patient was now well out of danger.
‘You did well to stop the bleeding in time,’ the elderly stout man puffed, brandishing a large white handkerchief as he wiped the perspiration from his brow. ‘However, the cut is not too serious. Provided that you look after your wife, and make sure that she stays in bed for the rest of the day, she will be quite well enough to fly back to America tomorrow.’
‘What... ?’ Ace gazed at him in astonishment. ‘I’m sorry...you clearly don’t understand the situation. I can assure you that this lady is very definitely not my wife. In fact...’
‘Ah, yes, I see how it is—you lucky dog!’ the doctor chuckled, giving the Englishman a sharp dig in the ribs. ‘We are, of course, both men of the world. So, there is no need to worry. Your secret is quite safe with me,’ he added, with a friendly slap on the tall man’s shoulders, before making his way back down the steps of the veranda. ‘I will leave you to look after the lovely “lady”, yes?’
‘No! I mean...you’ve got hold of the wrong end of the stick!’ he called out as the doctor disappeared from sight, leaving only the sound of a hoarse, rumbling laugh hanging heavily in the air behind him.
Ace brushed a hand roughly through his dark hair. What in the hell was he supposed to do now?
The idea of being forced to look after that strange, weird-looking girl was hardly a tempting prospect. All the same...he could hardly walk away and leave her on her own. However, with any luck she would by now be feeling tired, and only too pleased to see the back of him. Right?
Definitely feeling in need of a stiff drink. Ace braced his shoulders and forced himself to knock on the bedroom door.
‘I’m sorry to have to say that the doctor, for some strange reason, seems to have completely the wrong idea about us,’ he said as he entered the room. ‘While I’m quite willing to do what I can, I really don’t think—Good God!’
Making his way slowly across the large room, Ace—feeling as though he’d been hit on the head by a heavy lead pipe—was having considerable difficulty in accepting the evidence of his own eyes. What on earth had happened to the blood-streaked, almost grubby-looking figure of the woman whom he’d rescued from the beach less than an hour ago...?
‘I simply don’t believe it!’ he breathed, his stunned gaze travelling up over the long shapely legs and lightly tanned, hourglass figure, tantalisingly covered by a diaphanous chiffon wrap over a minuscule blue bikini which left virtually nothing to the imagination. In place of that hideous black scarf there was now a mane of long, wavy red hair—like a fiery, brilliant sunburst on the pillow—surrounding a perfect heart-shaped face, enormously wide blue eyes, and a mouth which curved as sensually as her firm, full breasts.
‘I must have died—and gone straight to heaven!’ he exclaimed huskily. ‘Because you have to be the most utterly gorgeous...fantastically beautiful girl I’ve ever seen!’
And then, as she gave a peal of laughter at the sound of his hoarse, strangled voice, and his stunned expression, he clutched hold of one of the bedposts and made a determined effort to clear his mind.
‘I...er...I’m sorry,’ he muttered, his cheeks flushing slightly as he realised that he’d been behaving like a stupid idiot. ‘It’s just that...’ He gave a distracted shake of his dark head, completely unable to put into words the effect she was having on his normally wellcontrolled self.
‘Hey—relax! There’s no need to apologise,’ the girl assured him. ‘I don’t know why the British have a reputation for being so formal and icily polite,’ she added, with a surprisingly breathless shaky laugh. ‘In my experience, you guys seem to be born with an amazing ability to make a girl feel like a million dollars!’
‘I wish it was true. But I fear you’re sadly mistaken.’ Ace smiled ruefully down at the beautiful creature lying so elegantly stretched out on the bed. ‘Unfortunately, most of the time we look—and act—as if we’re well and truly strangled by our old school ties!’
‘Oh, really...?’ She grinned. ‘Well, since you clearly aren’t wearing a tie at the moment, how about fixing us both something to drink?’
‘If the doctor gave you any medicine, you ought to avoid alcohol,’ he warned.
‘It’s OK. I haven’t even taken any aspirins,’ she assured him. ‘Although I normally drink very little, I reckon that after today’s misadventures I could do with a stiff dose of brandy.’
‘That sounds like an extremely good idea,’ he agreed, grateful for the opportunity, however brief, in which to make a determined effort to pull himself together.
It was clearly ridiculous for a grown man, approaching forty years of age, to find himself so completely bowled over by a girl—however lovely she might be, he told himself, his lips tightening grimly as he mixed their drinks at the bar in the large sitting room.
After all, following the break-up of his marriage, he’d had plenty of glamorous, highly attractive girlfriends, none of whom had caused him to lose a wink of sleep at night, or produced even the slightest ripple in his life. So why...why should it take just one brief smile from that admittedly beautiful but troublesome American girl...and he was straight into meltdown?
In fact, if he didn’t get his act together—and fast!—he was going to be in dead trouble, Ace warned himself sternly. So, he’d better get the hell out of here, and as soon as possible.
‘Well, now...’ he drawled some minutes later, sipping his brandy as he leaned casually against one of the tall, wooden posts at the end of the bed. ‘I’m hoping you can solve the mystery of why, for the past few days, you’ve been dressed like an old bag lady? Why cover yourself from head to toe in thick layers of gauze? Not to mention the reason for wearing that quite dreadful hat!’
‘There’s no mystery. I was just being very careful not to get sunburned.’ The ravishingly lovely girl grinned up at him, before holding up a lock of her fiery red hair. ‘Unfortunately, with my kind of skin, if I sit in the sun for even ten minutes I turn a bright shade of lobster. And if you want to spend some time in the water, wearing total block isn’t always the answer, either.’
‘But you’ve got a wonderful tan,’ he protested, attempting to keep his gaze well away from her luscious figure.
She shrugged. ‘Well, I’m sorry to have to tell you that like everything else in show business it’s false. Just an illusion.’
‘I know nothing about “show business”, as you call it.’ Ace shrugged, before walking through into the other room to fix them both another drink. ‘In fact, I can’t recall the last time I went to see a play or a film. And I’m not exactly keen on the ballet, either,’ he added, returning to place a glass in her hand.
‘Oh, Lord...!’ he continued, his hooded grey eyes gleaming with amusement as he stood looking down at her. ‘I hope I haven’t said the wrong thing? Are you a dancer?’
‘No, I most certainly am not!’ she laughed. ‘Anyway, who cares about what either of us does for a living? I’m far more interested in the fact that I don’t even know your name.’
‘Yes, I suppose we ought to introduce ourselves. So...’
‘Just a minute.’ She winced, struggling to adjust the pillows behind her head. ‘I seem to be getting a real crick in my neck, staring up at you like this. How about taking the weight off your feet?’ she added, patting the bed beside her.
Maybe it had been a great mistake to pour them both a second drink. Because, when thinking about the episode, much later, Ace would totally fail to understand why he’d chosen to ignore the loud warning bells ringing so urgently in his head as he slowly lowered himself down onto the soft mattress.
‘That’s much better,’ she sighed, raising a hand to rub the back of her neck. ‘So, how about if I kick off by saying that, as far as Christian names are concerned, my parents chose to call me Eloise.’
‘Well, Eloise...’ he began, suddenly uncomfortably aware of the effect that the close proximity of this amazingly sexy girl was having on his body. ‘I...er...I regret to have to tell you that I am one of those very boring members of society—a lawyer. And, even worse, at my christening I was burdened with the truly awful names of Algernon Cedric Emerson!’
‘I’m not sure that “awful” is exactly the right word,’ she murmured, clearly trying not to laugh. ‘I’d be more inclined to call it downright cruel. Because I’m afraid that there is nothing in the least romantic about the name Algernon.’
‘You’re so right!’ he drawled, desperately fighting a totally crazy, insane urge to make mad, passionate love to this gorgeous creature who was smiling so enchantingly up at him. ‘Which is why, from my earliest years, I’ve insisted on being called by the name formed by my initials.’
‘Hmm...that’s a lot better,’ she agreed, the warm gleam in her wide blue eyes causing his pulse to begin racing out of control. ‘Yes, I think that Ace is just about the perfect name for a guy like you.’
There was a long silence as they gazed at one another, the smile slowly dying from her lips, her cheeks reddening slightly under his steady gaze.
‘I could be very wrong, of course,’ he said slowly, ‘but I have the distinct impression that there’s definitely something going on here, between the two of us?’
‘Well... er...maybe... yes. I think you could possibly be right,’ she agreed breathlessly. ‘It’s absolutely crazy, of course.’
‘Absolutely crazy,’ he agreed softly, his grey eyes darkening momentarily as she nervously moistened her dry lips with her tongue.
‘And... and we hardly know one another,’ she added with a helpless shrug, closing her eyes for a moment as a deep crimson flush spread over her face. ‘But... well, the truth is...um...I have to confess that I’m certainly feeling very... er... very peculiar!’
‘Believe me—you’re not the only one!’ he murmured huskily. Raising a hand, he brushed a stray tendril of hair from her brow before gently trailing his fingers over her cheeks and on down over the incredibly soft, velvety flesh of her neck to the creamy hollows at the base of her throat.
‘However, before I completely lose all control of my senses, I think you’d better tell me to go away,’ he added thickly, his heart pounding like a sledgehammer as she responded to his light caress with a low moan. ‘Quite frankly—we’re both likely to be in a whole lot of trouble if I remain here any longer.’
‘No...don’t go,’ she whispered softly, raising her arms and placing them about his dark head, before drawing him slowly down towards her. ‘I really don’t understand what’s happening to me. And...and I can promise you that I’ve never done anything like this before. But please...please don’t go.’
‘Wild horses wouldn’t be able to drag me away!’ he breathed huskily, before gathering the slim figure up into his arms, his mouth closing possessively over her soft, trembling lips.
CHAPTER TWO
ACE put down his pen, sighing heavily as he leaned back in his chair and gazed out through the window of his study at the trees and parkland surrounding Ratcliffe Hall.
It was now three months since he’d returned from abroad. A hard, frantically busy three months, dealing with the burdensome legacy of his inheritance: a dilapidated ‘stately home’ and an estate which had been badly neglected for many years.
With so much work to do—including many long, drawn-out meetings with the family trustees—he’d had no alternative but to resign from his position as senior partner of the large firm of lawyers in London. However, while he’d originally thought that he might miss the cut and thrust of City business, Ace had been surprised to discover that he’d gained a considerable bonus. Despite now being forced by circumstances to live in the country, he’d found himself actively enjoying the slower pace of quiet, rural life. But that was just about the only silver lining to the dark clouds which still loomed over his unexpected inheritance.
His young daughter, Emily, appeared to find the whole situation highly amusing—‘It’s really cool, Dad—totally far out!’ But Ace wasn’t particularly thrilled about the fact that, following so many close relatives’ deaths, he’d now inherited a title first granted to his family by Henry VIII.
As he had told one of his oldest friends the other day, ‘Quite frankly, to be now known and addressed as Lord Ratcliffe has to be a complete anachronism in this day and age. Of course, it’s quite useful if I want to book a table in a restaurant,’ he’d added with a wry smile. ‘But in all other respects it seems a bit pointless.’
Ace was, in fact, far more concerned with the many important, vital decisions he would have to take concerning the large estate, amounting to some ten thousand acres.
After calling in agricultural experts, he had learned that, while the land itself was in good heart, the various farmhouses, farm buildings, machinery and livestock had been badly neglected. Unlike his uncle Hector, who’d successfully managed to ignore the problem for so many years, Ace felt it was both his duty and responsibility to do everything he could on behalf of the people and the families living on his estate. Unfortunately, there was also the serious problem of exactly what he was going to do about Ratcliffe Hall.
Pushing back his chair and rising to his feet, he began to prowl restlessly around the large room.
Having made enquiries, he was now in no doubt that, as matters stood at present, it was useless to even think of trying to sell the huge old mansion. No one with any sense would dream of taking on such a massive house. Especially one which needed a great deal of money to be spent on its restoration.
And that was proving to be a real problem. It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford to pay for the repairs—having worked so hard in the City for the last twenty years, he was now very wealthy in his own right—but, as his own financial advisers had pointed out, why would a divorced man, with no intention of remarrying in the foreseeable future, want to spend a fortune restoring such a huge building which was clearly designed for a large family?
In fact, the whole problem of what to do about Ratcliffe Hall had proved to be nothing but a major headache. Until he’d heard about the needs of film and television companies, who were continually searching for large old houses in which to film their various productions. Which was why, after he’d swiftly contacted several agencies, he’d been pleased to have a TV crew here last month, filming the exterior of the Hall for an Edwardian-style version of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors.
It wasn’t the complete answer, of course. Although the fee which he’d received for the use of the place was almost indecently large, it was a mere drop in the ocean as far as paying for any serious repairs was concerned. Still, it was a start. And with the arrival yesterday of an American-financed film company, prepared to take over and use the whole of the mansion for at least a month, it now looked as though he could stop worrying about the house. For the time being, at least.
He’d also been successful in persuading the tax authorities to take, in part-settlement of death duties, two huge Old Master paintings. While they had been all that was left of a once large, well-known collection, he wasn’t prepared to spend too long regretting their departure. Especially since the dark, gloomy scenes of religious life had been highly depressing.
So, all in all, he hadn’t done too badly over these last three months, Ace assured himself. In fact...
His thoughts interrupted by the shrill, ringing tones of the telephone, he strode back to his desk and lifted the receiver.
Grimacing at the all too familiar sounds of his ex-wife’s breathless, child-like voice, he waited with grim patience to discover what she wanted. Because, of course, Martina wouldn’t dream of ringing him up—not unless she needed something. He could only hope that there was no problem with his daughter, Emily.
Looking back, it seemed to Ace as if their marriage had been doomed from the start. Originally captivated by the tall, exquisitely beautiful model, whose face had adorned so many magazine covers, it hadn’t been long before he’d discovered that there was very little in that lovely blonde head. And, to be fair, she had obviously been disappointed to find that she’d married a man who not only took his work seriously, but whom she clearly regarded as a boring workaholic.
Missing the world of the media and show business, it hadn’t been long before Martina had run away from home to live with a cockney pop star. She had also taken their small young daughter with her. Despite desperately missing his little girl, and being prepared to do just about anything to ensure his daughter’s happiness, Ace had bent over backwards to ensure that he remained on good, friendly terms with both his ex-wife and the new man in her life, Joe Tucker.
Surprisingly, it hadn’t proved to be too hard a task. The pop star had turned out to be a basically kind and thoroughly decent man. And Ace could only admire the fact that Joe—professionally known as Frank N. Stein, and lead singer of the Raving Monsters—had turned out to be far too shrewd and down-to-earth to make the mistake of marrying Martina.
Unfortunately, as time had gone by, it began to seem that neither the pop star or Ace’s ex-wife had any idea of how to cope with Emily, by now a thoroughly difficult fourteen-year-old adolescent. And Ace himself was also becoming increasingly worried about the young girl—not only going through a typically ‘rebellious’ phase of life, but also receiving little discipline from her butterflyminded mother.
‘OK...OK...’ he sighed, cutting across his ex-wife’s ramblings. ‘I’ve got the picture. And you can tell Emily that I’m thoroughly ashamed of her behaviour. What on earth possessed her to swear at her teacher? There’s absolutely no excuse for such bad manners. Quite frankly, she’s very lucky to find herself suspended from school for only a few weeks,’ he added grimly. ‘Yes...yes, of course...if you’re having to go abroad for a few days she’s more than welcome to stay here with me. In fact, she can probably make herself useful by keeping the film company off my back.’
And that last remark, he told himself ruefully, putting down the phone some minutes later, had been a bad mistake. Because as soon as his ex-wife had heard the magic words ‘film company’ he’d had the greatest difficulty in persuading her that while Emily was more than welcome Martina definitely was not.
On top of which, there had been a decidedly unwelcome over-friendly tone in his ex-wife’s voice. In fact, he told himself with a frown, if it didn’t sound too ridiculous, it had almost seemed as if she’d been seeking some form of reconciliation...
However, he had absolutely no intention of going back down that road. His daughter, Emily, might be badly in need of a stable home environment, but there was absolutely no way he could ever face remarrying her neurotic, shallow and empty-headed mother.
He’d had several glamorous girlfriends since his wife had walked out all those years ago. But either he’d grown quickly tired of their company or they, too, had become fed up with always coming a bad second to his working life. In fact, Ace had never seen any reason to get married again—basically on the principle of ‘once bitten...twice shy’. Not until his heart had been totally captured following that brief, quite extraordinary meeting with the bewitchingly lovely Eloise.
It was three long months since their passionate encounter, but he could still recall his delight at the miraculous way their two figures had seemed to fit so perfectly together, and the excitement of gently caressing her quivering, trembling flesh, which had almost seemed to melt beneath his fingers. If he closed his eyes, he could still smell the intoxicating, sweetly perfumed scent of her body, still hear her soft moans and breathless gasps of pleasure as their lovemaking had become more intense, both inciting and increasing his own fastmounting desire.
Although he had tried to keep himself well under control, the thrillingly erotic, sensual touch of her hands and mouth on his body had overcome all restraint. Helplessly gripped by the fierce power of a deep primeval force, the like of which he’d never known before, he’d finally possessed her with a raging, thrusting urgency, the loud, pounding thud of her heart beating in rapid unison with his own as they’d both climaxed together in wave upon wave of ecstasy, before spiralling dizzily back down to earth.
Afterwards, as they’d lain entwined together in languorous warmth and tenderness, with Ace gently brushing tendrils of that wonderful fiery red hair from her damp brow, he’d known with absolute certainty that he had never, until that moment, experienced such overwhelming joy and happiness.
Try as he might, he’d been quite unable to forget the impact of that utterly astounding, spellbinding experience. Unfortunately, however much he might have loathed the idea, Ace had known that he had no choice but to return to his new, heavy responsibilities in England. It was also clear that, with the width of the Atlantic Ocean as a permanent barrier between himself and Eloise, there could be no ‘happy ever after’ ending to their brief night of passion.
Besides, he was old enough to know that the sooner he did his best to put Eloise out of his mind, the better. There was obviously no way that they would ever meet again. And to be continually recalling the wondrous, soft quality of her skin, the truly dazzling heights which they’d attained in their lovemaking, could only make his present-day life even harder than it was already.
Lois gazed out of the window of the limousine as it sped along the motorway. The countryside was so different from that in the United States; it was taking her some time to get used to the very small scale of local geography here in England.
London, of course, had been great. When she’d first arrived in the country, some three weeks ago, she’d managed to find the time—amidst costume fittings, voice coaching sessions and learning her script—to see the usual tourist sights of Buckingham Palace, the Tower and Westminster Abbey. But, this last week, which had been spent filming location shots outside various old houses all over the country, had been something else! In fact...
‘You’re going to love this house. It’s far grander than the others we’ve used so far.’
‘Hmm...?’ Lois turned to look at her personal assistant, Peggy Fraser. who was leafing through a large file on her lap.
‘Now... this is what I call a real stately home,’ the English girl said, handing Lois a large black and white photograph.
‘It certainly looks impressive,’ Lois agreed, gazing at the picture of a classical Georgian-style Palladian mansion, whose entrance was dominated by huge stone pillars above a broad, sweeping expanse of wide stone steps. ‘What’s the interior like?’
‘Absolutely frightful!’ the other girl laughed. ‘In fact, the main rooms are in a terrible state. But, as the producer says, that’s all to the good. It’s meant that we’ve had a completely free hand in the decoration.’
‘Are we really staying there?’ Lois frowned. ‘It looks pretty uncomfortable to me. What’s wrong with a nice, quiet local hotel?’
Peggy shrugged. ‘I understand the film company negotiated a really good package deal with the owner. Which means that we can use practically the whole house—including all twenty-five bedrooms!—and the catering company will have masses of room in the enormous kitchens. In fact,’ the small blonde girl added with a grin, ‘I reckon it’s going to be a lot of fun.’
‘In your dreams!’ Lois told her assistant gloomily. ‘I’ll lay you any odds that the plumbing will be practically non-existent. And I don’t suppose that anyone will be too familiar with those important words “constant hot water”, either!’
‘Well, you may have a point,’ Peggy admitted. ‘But with the schedules having to be altered at the last minute...’ She shrugged. ‘I suppose this is the best that the production team could come up with under the circumstances.’
‘I guess you’re right,’ Lois sighed, well aware that it was solely her fault that there had been such frantically hurried necessary changes in the film’s shooting schedule.
Unfortunately, her appointment to see an eminent doctor in Harley Street, two weeks ago, had been fairly traumatic. Not being entirely a fool, she’d had a very good idea that he would confirm her suspicions. But, all the same...the whole scenario was definitely an earth-shattering one.
However, she was going to have to pull herself together pretty damn fast. Especially since the American backers of this new film had made it abundantly clear that the whole show was now riding on her slim shoulders.
‘We know that you’ll do us proud,’ Sol Weiser had said, when she’d signed the contract some months ago, his wide, beaming smile not reflected in those cold, small piggy eyes. ‘But, let’s face it, darling—without your name on the credits, we wouldn’t have dreamed of putting up the money for this arty type of film. So, we’re all going to make sure it’s a success, right?’
‘I’ll certainly do my best. It won’t be my fault if this film bombs at the box office,’ she’d told him with a confident smile.
However, after leaving his office, Lois had known that she wouldn’t be human if she hadn’t been plagued by doubts. Which had made it all the more nerve-racking when she’d had to phone Sol last week and tell him the news: she’d just discovered she was expecting a baby.
There had been an ominous silence for three days, before she’d heard that the film had been given the goahead. Although, in view of her changed circumstances, the schedule had been drastically altered.
‘I’d like to pull the plug on this production,’ Sol had told her, his voice heavy with disapproval. ‘But the other backers seem to feel that if Madonna could manage to cope with the problem—and have such a great success with Evita—we ought to take a chance that you, too, can pull it off. But, I don’t want any press exposure. So I expect everyone to keep their mouths buttoned up real tight. Do I make myself clear?’ he’d added menacingly.
