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Stephanie stood up slowly, and took a long breath, feeling more upset than she could explain. He was just an arrogant, overbearing male, so why did she feel like sitting down and weeping when she remembered that expression of regret and pain in those devil-dark eyes? She had no idea, just the certainty that he wouldn’t thank her for feeling that way!
CHAPTER TWO
‘I’M AFRAID that’s all we can do for now, ma’am. The police have been informed, and naturally we shall contact you immediately if it turns up. We operate a very strict security code here which keeps crime to a minimum, but .. ’ The young man shrugged expressively, not needing to voice the rest of what he’d been thinking. Stephanie knew exactly what it was and couldn’t blame him. How could she have been so careless as to leave her bag lying on the path like that? Even allowing for the fact that she’d been concerned about helping Jessica, it had been an incredibly stupid thing to do.
She smiled her thanks at the man behind the desk, then left the office, trying to stave off the almost overwhelming panic she felt, but it was hard to control it. That bag had contained everything—passport, credit cards and nearly every cent. Now what was she going to do?
Wearily she made her way to the bus-stops, wondering how she was going to get herself out of such a predicament. That the bag might be found with her possessions intact was such a slim chance that it didn’t warrant dwelling on. She had to reconcile herself to the fact that apart from the few dollars stuffed into the pockets of her shorts she was broke, and the consequences of that were terrifying. The hotel management was going to take a very dim view of her inability to pay the bill!
A groan slid past her lips, but steadfastly she refused to let any others follow it. There had to be a way out of this mess... there just had to! And once she’d had a good night’s sleep then she would find it.
The sound of a car slowing to a halt alongside her caught her attention, and she glanced round, feeling herself go hot all over when she recognised the driver.
‘Would you like a lift?’ His voice was just as gravelly as she remembered it, the deep tones holding no trace of warmth.
Stephanie smiled at the child who was peering rather anxiously over his shoulder, then shook her head, her blue eyes chilly as they met his. ‘No, thank you.’
She turned her head away, ignoring the throbbing of the engine, and breathed a sigh of relief as the car pulled away. However, it was short-lived as it came to a halt a few yards away and the engine was cut. The man got out, his long legs eating up the distance as he strode back to her, his face set into lines of obvious displeasure. Stephanie glanced warily at him, then looked round, but apart from a couple who were standing with arms entwined, lost in each other, a few yards away there was no one else waiting for the bus.
‘I asked if you would like a lift,’ the man ground out as he came to a halt in front of her and folded his arms across his broad chest.
‘And I told you quite clearly that I didn’t want one. Perhaps there is something wrong with your hearing, Mr...?’ She paused, one slender brow raising in mocking enquiry.
‘Ford. Logan Ford. And for your information, Stephanie, my hearing is perfect.’
Hearing him say her name that way startled her so much that she stared back at him in shock. ‘How do you know my name?’
He smiled tightly, shooting a glance over his shoulder at the small figure who was staring rather anxiously out of the window. ‘You seem to have got yourself a fan there, honey. My daughter hasn’t stopped chattering about you for the past hour. I would have needed to be deaf if I hadn’t caught on to your name. Now come along.’ He slid a hand under her elbow and started to lead her towards the car, but Stephanie drew back, glaring at him.
‘Just hold it right there! I told you that I don’t want a lift and I meant it. Frankly, I can’t understand why you even bothered to stop to offer me one in the first place. I didn’t think we parted on terms which would make either of us anxious to meet again!’
‘You’re right. I don’t give a damn how you get back to your hotel, or whether you achieve it safely or not. From what I’ve seen of you, you can well take care of yourself. However, my daughter doesn’t share my enlightened views. She saw you walking towards the busstop and made me turn back. Seems that she’s worried that something might happen to you, being all by yourself at this time of night.’
‘Well, that was a kind thought. She is obviously a very considerate little girl.’ Unlike her father, she silently added, then flushed when she caught his eyes and realised that he knew exactly what she’d been thinking.
Nervously she edged around the man, not liking the way his eyes had narrowed on her flushed face, or the way his strong jaw had tightened. ‘Tell Jessica thank you, will you? But I don’t need a lift. I’ll be fine.’
His hand shot out, stopping her from moving away, his fingers almost bruising as he held her just in front of him and stared coldly down into her face. ‘I’m sure you will, but Jessica won’t be convinced by such a reassurance. And I don’t intend to spend the night sitting up with her while she has more nightmares, worrying about you! Now we can either do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way, but the outcome will be the same: like it or not, Stephanie, we are giving you a lift!’
He put an insulting emphasis on her given name that stung, but suddenly Stephanie didn’t feel up to arguing any more. The night had taken its toll; the loss of her bag coming on top of their previous confrontation was just too much. Tears slithered down her cheeks and she turned away, hating him to see her this way.
‘What the...?’ The exclamation was bitten off, his surprise evident in the way his fingers bit into her flesh. Stephanie yelped, then cried all the harder, broken sobs which echoed through the night.
‘Look, if this is some sort of trick, lady, then cut it out. It won’t cut any ice with me!’
There wasn’t an ounce of compassion in the harsh tones, not an inch of give now that he had recovered from his surprise, and Stephanie glared up at him with tear-soaked eyes.
‘It isn’t a trick, but I don’t expect you to believe me! For your information, Mr Ford, I’ve had it up to here tonight, what with you being so horrible before and then losing my bag and everything! And if I feel like crying then I shall do so, and I won’t have any arrogant jerk like you telling me not to!’
‘I should watch my tongue if I were you. I won’t have any woman speaking to me like that!’
His anger was rising, but Stephanie was too upset to care. ‘Won’t you indeed? Then what are you going to do about it, Mr High and-Mighty Ford—wash my mouth out with soap and water? That seems to me just about——Ohhh!’
The breath whooshed out of her as he jerked her to him so fast that she hit his chest. Instinctively her hands clutched at his shoulders to steady herself, her fingers fastening on to the iron-hard muscles that rippled under her touch. Startled, she stared up into his face, watching the faint sardonic smile that curved his chiselled lips with a feeling of alarm and something else, some other sensation that made her knees feel like rubber and her heart skip.
‘There’s always more than one way to bring a person in line, honey. It doesn’t always need to be...unpleasant to be effective.’
His eyes dropped deliberately to her mouth, lingering for a heartbeat in a look that she could feel, then abruptly he set her from him and took a slow step back. ‘Now if you’ve got that out of your system, shall we go? It’s late, way past time that Jessica should have been in bed.’
He stepped aside for Stephanie to precede him, opening the rear door of the car with a mocking courtesy. She slid inside, then ran a hand over her face to wipe away the tears, forcing a smile as Jessica twisted round in her seat to stare at her in concern.
‘You aren’t crying, are you, Stephie?’ She glanced at her father, who had slid behind the wheel, her mouth drooping. ‘Daddy didn’t shout at you, did he?’
Stephanie’s eyes caught Logan’s in the mirror for a long second before she looked away with a tiny sigh. How she ached to pay him back for what he’d just done, but it would be unfair to use his daughter this way. ‘No... no, of course not. It wasn’t his fault. I was a bit upset anyway because I’d lost my bag.’
‘Your bag?’ The girl’s eyes rounded, then she gasped. ‘I remember, you put it down on the floor when you stopped to help me. You gave me a tissue to wipe my face. Is that how you lost it?’
There was no doubting the child’s concern or the faint shadow of guilt that showed on her young face. It bothered Stephanie in ways she couldn’t explain. Jessica was far too young to feel guilty about something that hadn’t really been her fault. ‘Probably, but it was my fault. I shouldn’t have been so careless. Don’t you go worrying about it, love.’
‘Which hotel are you staying at?’ The deep voice cut into the conversation, and Stephanie forced herself to glance at the man behind the wheel, feeling the betraying colour stealing into her cheeks. That was the trouble with having such pale, fine skin: whenever she was embarrassed it showed, and she felt embarrassed now as she remembered that strange rush of weakness she’d felt when he’d held her. She must have been even more upset by everything that had gone on than she’d realised.
Hurriedly she told him the name of her hotel, then sat quietly as he drove the powerful car the short distance to pull up in the driveway. She ran a hand over her hair, smoothing the long, silky strands back into the knot on top of her head, then smiled at a point just above his right shoulder. ‘Well, thank you, Mr Ford. It was ... was kind of you to stop like that.’
She stumbled over the words and saw him smile with faint derision as he turned to look back at her, but there was no trace of anything in his voice apart from polite dismissal as he said levelly, ‘Don’t mention it.’
Obviously he was just as anxious as her to get this over and done with now that he had laid his daughter’s fears to rest. Stephanie fumbled with the lock on the car door in her haste to get out, not realising that Logan Ford had got out first until the door swung smoothly open and a large, tanned hand fitted itself beneath her elbow with a murmured, ‘Allow me.’
It should have been nothing more than a small courtesy to help her out, but as Stephanie slid out of the seat she made the mistake of glancing up into his face, and went cold at what she saw there. Did he view all women this way—as commodities rather than as human beings? Or was she being specially selected to bear the brunt of that assessing look that seemed to take stock of every slender line of her body with a disturbing thoroughness?
She straightened abruptly, smoothing the thin cotton shorts down her long, slim legs, wondering why she should care one way or the other what Logan Ford’s views on women were. She searched his face, but it was impossible to read much from his expression as he half turned away from the dim light spilling from the hotel foyer. It was too dark to see what lay in his eyes, too dark even to bring the vibrancy of that deep red hair to life. It just showed her the outline of the man, not the substance, and with a sudden flash of insight she realised that was how he preferred it. Logan Ford was a man who would guard his thoughts and feelings, a man who would stand alone in a crowd.
‘If there’s nothing else I can do, then it’s time we said goodnight again.’
The deep voice stopped her musings and she started self-consciously, hoping that he hadn’t realised where her thoughts had been wandering. Quickly she turned and bent down to the car window, running a gentle finger down Jessica’s soft little cheek as she smiled into the child’s tired eyes. ‘It was nice of you to stop for me. Thank you. I hope you’ll have a lovely time for the rest of your stay here.’
‘But what about you, Stephie? What are you going to do without your bag and things?’
Stephanie forced another smile, although that very thought was gnawing at the back of her mind. ‘Don’t you worry about me. I’ll be fine. Now goodnight.’
She stood up and held her hand out to the tall man, forcing a cool little smile to her mouth that didn’t quite match the wariness in her blue eyes. ‘Thank you, Mr Ford. It was kind of you to bring me back.’
‘But you would have much preferred it if I hadn’t bothered?’ He took her hand and held it, his fingers hard against hers.
‘I never said that.’
‘You didn’t have to.’ He studied her face for a long moment, then let her hand go. ‘Don’t ever be tempted to play poker, will you, Stephanie? Your face is far too expressive.’
He strode round the car and slid behind the wheel, starting the engine and driving off almost before she’d had chance to wonder what he’d meant by that cryptic comment. She sighed roughly and turned towards the beckoning lights of the hotel. What did it matter anyway? That was the last she would see of Logan Ford, and she couldn’t say that she was sorry. There was something about the man that spelled out trouble, and she had quite enough of that to contend with right now. And that was what she had to concentrate on.
It made good sense, yet strangely, when she finally got to bed and fell into a restless sleep, it wasn’t the precariousness of her situation that haunted her dreams, but the memory of a tall man with red hair and eyes the colour of the richest chocolate. Logan Ford, a true enigma; a man with a child who seemed more alone than anyone she’d ever met before.
Six dollars, twenty cents.
Stephanie stared at the neat pile of money, then picked up the bills to re-count them, praying that she’d made a mistake and mixed a twenty in with the rest. American money was extremely confusing, the different denominations of notes looking remarkably similar. However, not even a second nor a third count made a scrap of difference to the total, and her heart sank.
This was all that stood between her and destitution, this meagre sum of money which would barely pay for breakfast, let alone the cost of her stay in the hotel and a ticket home to England. What on earth was she going to do?
A knock on the door roused her from her brooding and she stood up with a sigh, smoothing a hand down over the fuchsia and white patterned shorts which she was wearing with a sleeveless white vest top. She hurried across the room to answer it, then stood frozen in shock as she recognised the man waiting outside the door. He smiled slowly, his eyes running deliberately over her figure in the revealing outfit before returning to her face with a hint of challenge in their depths.
‘Aren’t you going to invite me in, Stephanie?’
The husky roughness of his voice made a sudden unwanted shiver race down her spine, and she drew herself upright. ‘What do you want?’
He smiled again, one brow arching with mockery. ‘My, my, what a welcome, honey. Anyone would think you aren’t pleased to see me.’
‘I’m not,’ she replied baldly, tightening her grip on the edge of the door. ‘Now would you mind telling me what you want by coming here?’ She glanced past him along the empty hallway. ‘Where’s Jessica? Haven’t you brought her with you?’
‘No.’ With an ease which was galling, he removed her hand from the door and walked inside the room.
‘Now just a minute! What do you think you’re doing?’ There was a trace of fear in her voice, and he turned to stare calmly back at her.
‘Not what you evidently imagine I’m planning on.’ He closed the door, then leant back against it while he studied her. He was dressed in a navy T-shirt this morning with white trousers which emphasised the slimness of his hips and the length of his powerful legs, and in the light pouring in through the window his hair gleamed with an unrestrained fire. He was a startlingly attractive man with that unusual colouring, the sort who would draw any woman’s eyes, and Stephanie wasn’t immune to his appeal.
Nervously she turned away to pick up some of the coins from the pile on the table, tossing them from hand to hand as she tried to think of something to say to dispel the mounting tension; but typically it was Logan Ford who spoke first.
‘Let me make this clear from the outset: I am not here for any personal reasons. You don’t need to worry that I have designs on your...virtue. This is strictly business.’
She flushed at the note in his voice which implied that she’d probably lost her claims to virtue years before. She’d had her share of admirers, her attractive looks and vivacious personality being enough to guarantee that, but she’d never felt any desire to allow the friendships to develop into intimacy. One day she would meet the man she would want to share such a relationship with, but until that happened she wouldn’t settle for second best. She remembered the heartache her friend Laura had gone through when such a relationship had gone sour, and used it as a warning. She was probably far more ‘virtuous’ than Logan could begin to imagine, but there was no way she was going to inform him of that fact!
She returned his ironic look as levelly as she could, yet couldn’t quite keep the bite from her voice. ‘Then I suggest that you tell me exactly why you have come. I cannot imagine what sort of business we have with one another, Mr Ford.’
He laughed as he went and sat down on the chair, crossing one long leg over the other as he looked up at where she stood stiffly by the table. ‘Did that hit a bit too close to home, Stephanie? Sorry. I merely meant to reassure you as to my intentions.’
She ignored the taunt, setting the coins down with a clatter. ‘Then why are you here? If this is some sort of a game, then let me tell you that I am in no mood to play it.’
‘I’m sure you’re not.’ He flicked a lean hand at the small pile of money. ‘That’s why I’m here.’
Stephanie frowned as she glanced down at the table. ‘I don’t understand.’
He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair to push it back from his forehead. ‘It’s quite simple. You told me last night that you had lost your bag, and I assume that you lost most of your money with it. Am I right?’
‘Yes, but I don’t see how it’s any concern of yours. Look, if you feel responsible because I lost it when I was looking after Jessica, then don’t.’
‘Don’t worry. I have no doubt it was the result of your own carelessness—that plus poking your pretty little nose in where it wasn’t wanted.’ He ignored her gasp of outrage as he stood up and walked over to the window, staring out for a few seconds before he turned back to her. ‘However, unfortunately Jessica once again doesn’t share my view. She feels that what happened was her fault, and the last thing I want right now is for her to start worrying about it.’
‘I can understand that, but I explained last night that it was just an accident. I don’t want her worrying about it any more than I want you to. I am quite capable of looking after myself!’
‘Even in view of the fact that that is all the money you have left in your possession?’ He picked up the notes and fanned them between his fingers. He had beautiful hands, long-fingered and strong, the skin deeply tanned and sprinkled with the same dark gold hair that covered his forearms. Stephanie found herself studying them, then quickly took the money from him and laid it back on the table in a gesture of defiance.
‘I don’t see that it is any business of yours how much money I have. Now if you have reassured yourself that I don’t hold either you or Jessica to blame, may I suggest you leave? I have a lot to do, as I am sure you can appreciate.’
She turned towards the door, but he continued as though she hadn’t spoken. ‘As I was just saying, I don’t want Jessica worrying. She’s been through a lot recently without having this on her mind as well.’
The harsh note in his voice brought her head round, and she saw a flicker of regret kindle briefly in his dark eyes. It made her hesitate, when what she had been intending was to order him to leave. ‘I don’t understand. Has she been ill?’
He shook his head, his expression guarded once more. ‘No. Her mother died recently, and naturally she’s been very upset.’
‘Oh, how awful for her! Poor little thing.’ She flushed and added hurriedly, ‘And awful for you too, of course. I am sorry, Mr Ford.’
He smiled with a faint derision. ‘You can save your commiserations. Jessica’s mother and I parted several years ago. Anything we may have felt for each other was gone well before she died.’
He sounded so devoid of emotion that Stephanie was shocked. ‘Why, that’s heartless! She was the mother of your child, after all. That should count for something, surely!’
‘My relationship with Amanda isn’t under discussion here. It’s Jessica’s well-being which concerns me.’ He sounded so aloof that a shiver raced down Stephanie’s body, sliding coldly along every vein. He must have cared for the woman at one time if they’d conceived a child together. Yet there had been no reflection of it in his voice, no trace of regret that the woman was dead. Was Logan Ford really as unfeeling as he appeared to be, or was it just a cover to hide emotions that ran so deep that he was afraid to admit to them?
It might have been a desire to find out which or a feeling of compassion for Jessica which made her carry on with the unsettling conversation; Stephanie didn’t really know. ‘Why are you telling me all this? Why have you come?’
He seemed to hesitate, studying her in silence. ‘Because I believe that we can help one another. What exactly did you lose last night?’
Stephanie sighed, not understanding what he wanted with her, yet prepared to go along with him a while longer. ‘Money, obviously, plus my passport, credit cards, bank cards... all those things. They were all in my bag.’
‘So what do you intend to do now?’
‘I was just trying to work that out when you arrived.’ She sank down on the chair, worry shadowing her face. ‘I can probably get an emergency passport issued via the Consul, but that’s the least of my worries when I don’t have the money now to pay for a ticket home.’
‘Your credit card company can cover that. They should issue you with another card within a couple of days.’
‘I’m sure they will, but, seeing as I have reached my credit limit, it won’t help. And I doubt if they will be keen to extend it, in view of the fact that I don’t have a job at present.’
‘How about friends, family? Can they wire you some money? The Consul can arrange that too.’
Stephanie rubbed her aching temples as she went back over ground she’d covered time and again since she’d got up. ‘I don’t have family. My mother died when I was a child, and my father a few years ago. There’s a cousin in London and another in Manchester, but...’ She trailed off with a defeated sigh. ‘The two close friends I went away with are in no better position financially than I am, even allowing for the fact that Rachel has quite enough to worry about at present and that Laura is still in Spain.’ She glanced at Logan in near despair. ‘There’s no one I feel I can turn to for help!’
‘Apart from me.’ He smiled coolly when he saw the shock on her face, leaning against the edge of the table as he watched her.
‘You? But why should you give me money?’
‘Not give, Stephanie. Pay. I am willing to let you earn what you need to pay your bill here and to buy a ticket home.’
‘Earn? But how? By doing what?’ The words were barely out of her mouth when a sudden thought struck her and she shot to her feet. ‘Now look here, if you mean what I think you ’
He straightened to stare down at her, big and arrogant-looking as his eyes met hers with such coldness that she felt a sudden chill. ‘I doubt it. If I were you I would keep that very active imagination under control. My offer is quite straightforward; in return for agreeing to look after Jessica for the next five weeks until she goes back to school, I shall meet your expenses and provide you with board and lodging.’
‘I... I don’t know what to say. Why me? You don’t know anything about me!’
‘You’d be surprised at what I do know, Stephanie.’ He stared calmly back at her. ‘Stephanie Anne Jacobs, aged twenty-five, born in Manchester, occupation, when not travelling, schoolteacher.’
‘How did you find that out?’ There was no hiding her surprise, and she saw him smile with a faint cynicism.
