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‘I didn’t get much sleep last night,’ she admitted.
‘Over-excited?’
‘Probably.’
‘Then why not have a little nap before lunch?’
She shook her head. ‘I have been known to fall asleep in cars and buses, but never on planes.’
Taking off his jacket he queried, ‘Any particular reason?’
Without intending to she found herself telling him the truth. ‘I can’t relax enough. I’m never really happy flying. My father was killed in a plane crash.’
‘I’m sorry. How long ago was that?’
‘Six years.’
‘I’m sorry. And what about your mother?’
‘My mother died when I was quite young and my father married again.’
‘His dying like that must have been hard on both you and your stepmother.’
Her generous mouth tightening, she said shortly, ‘My stepmother didn’t care.’
‘Oh?’
‘She was playing around with another man when it happened.’
Her companion waited, his eyes on her face.
Though she had had no intention of revealing any more, Charlotte found herself saying, ‘He was an oil company executive and barely a month after my father’s funeral she married him and went to live in the Middle East.’
Knowing Tim Hunt must have been just a schoolboy at the time, Daniel waited for her to go on. But once again she said nothing about her stepbrother.
After a moment, he probed, ‘I guess you were still at college?’
Wondering vexedly why she had told him so much, Charlotte answered briefly, ‘Yes, I was.’
Seeing she didn’t want to carry on the conversation and watching her smother another yawn, he said, ‘Nap time, I think.’
He adjusted the angle of the seats so that they were reclining comfortably and gathered her close.
‘Put your head on my shoulder.’ He settled her head at the comfortable juncture between chest and shoulder, adding, as he might have done to a child, ‘I’ll keep you safe.’
For an instant everything seemed to stop—her heartbeat, her breathing, her very lifeblood—and she froze into stillness.
Then, with a kind of backlash, she felt an almost uncontrollable urge to tear herself away and cry Keep your hands off me, you swine!
But the last thing she must do was let her true feelings show. She had to play-act for all she was worth.
Though for the moment any acting ability seemed to have totally deserted her.
Recalling Carla’s advice, she knew she should be snuggling against him, doing the ‘wide-eyed and helpless’ bit, but somehow she couldn’t.
Breathing in the clean freshness of his shirt, the faint suggestion of shower-gel and the masculine scent of his aftershave, all she could do was stay quite still, every muscle in her body taut.
‘Relax,’ he urged softly.
Only too aware of his overpowering maleness, the firmness of bone and muscle beneath her cheek, the sureness and strength of his arm holding her, she knew it would be impossible to relax.
But after a while, with a weight of warmth and tiredness lying over her body like a cashmere shawl, her tension drained away and she slept.
When she finally stirred and resurfaced for a second or two she had no idea where she was, or who was holding her so closely.
‘Feeling better, Miss Michaels…?’ a pleasant male voice queried.
‘Yes, thank you,’ she mumbled.
Looking into forest-green eyes still dazed with sleep, he added, ‘Or may I call you Charlotte…?’
‘Please do,’ she replied automatically as she gathered her wits and struggled to sit up.
His smile teasing, he said, ‘Somehow, I feel that watching over you while you slept has moved our relationship on to a more…shall we say…personal footing.’
Flustered by the thought of Daniel Wolfe watching her sleep, she drew hastily away.
Removing his arm and readjusting the seats, he pursued, ‘You must have been absolutely shattered. You’ve slept for almost two hours.’
A glance at her watch confirmed the truth of his statement. ‘I—I’m sorry,’ she stammered. ‘I haven’t been much company.’
In truth, he had enjoyed the chance to just hold her quietly and watch her sleeping face.
When Glenda, his younger sister, married and became a mother, she had once remarked how much time she and her husband had spent just looking at the cherished new arrival.
Finding it difficult to take his eyes off his companion, Daniel now knew exactly what his sister had meant.
Studying that glorious hair, the silky brows and thick, naturally-dark lashes that curled so enticingly, the pure curve of her cheek, he had felt a fierce desire.
Then noticing how, in repose, her soft mouth drooped a little at the corners, as though she’d forgotten how to be happy, he had felt an odd kind of tenderness mingling with desire.
Now seeing her look of genuine concern he shook his head. ‘There’s nothing to be sorry for, I do assure you.’
Tucking in a tendril of silky, red-gold hair that had escaped from its neat coil, Charlotte sighed inwardly. Though he sounded quite laid back about the lack of company she was vexed with herself. She should have been using that time to amuse him, rather than just sleeping.
Once they reached New York and went their separate ways, it would be too late…
‘About ready for some lunch?’ His voice broke into her thoughts.
Finding herself unexpectedly hungry, she nodded.
‘What do you fancy?’ He handed her a menu that bore little resemblance to the kind of airline food she had been served in the past.
Seeing her hesitate, he asked, ‘Something wrong?’
‘I’m just bowled over by the choice,’ she admitted. ‘I usually travel economy class.’
He grinned. ‘Oh yes, I remember it well.’
‘You do?’ She failed to hide her surprise.
With a kind of wry self-mockery he told her, ‘After graduating, to see what I was made of, I spent a couple of years working my way round the globe. At times cash was so tight that even those ubiquitous plastic containers were welcome…’
While they ate a leisurely lunch followed by coffee and brandy they talked about his travels and the various places he’d visited.
‘Have you travelled much?’ he asked at length.
‘Not as much as I would have wished.’
‘Even though you dislike flying?’
‘I wouldn’t have let that stop me. At one time I’d planned to go round the world when I finished college, but…’ She stopped speaking abruptly.
‘But?’
‘I had commitments.’ She still felt unbearably desolate and sad when she thought of Tim. Poor Tim. And it was all this man’s fault.
A fresh wave of anger and hatred shook her.
Watching her, Daniel waited.
When she said nothing he queried carefully, ‘Is there anywhere in particular you’d still like to go?’
Taking a deep steadying breath she answered, ‘Quite a lot of places. But until earlier this year Carla—the girl I share the flat with—has been lighting candles for my financial status.’
‘It doesn’t sound as if we’re paying you enough.’
‘As I said, I had commitments.’
It seemed as if Sheering had been right when he suggested that Charlotte had been supporting her stepbrother, Daniel thought, and once again he waited, hoping she would go on.
But her face had that still, controlled look he was coming to recognize and, sighing inwardly, he decided to back off and change the subject.
Leaving the more emotive topics, he began to talk about international finance and how it affected current business interests.
After a moment, appearing cool and collected now, she joined in and held her own in a conversation that, though general, was deep and wide-ranging.
He moved easily from money issues and world trade to global warming and the preservation of natural resources. All the time testing her knowledge, seeking her reaction, asking her opinion, which, greatly to her surprise, often seemed to coincide with his.
If they touched on a subject that she was more familiar with than he was he saluted her superior knowledge. Generously.
Used to being talked down to by the men on her team who seemed to think brains and beauty were incompatible, she found it stimulating to be taken seriously and treated as an equal.
By the time they reached New York and came in to land at busy JFK Airport she had almost forgotten her reason for being there.
Almost.
Once again, with a light but firm hand at her waist, Daniel Wolfe took charge of everything. In no time at all, it seemed, the formalities were completed and their luggage was being ferried to a waiting limousine by a smartly uniformed chauffeur.
Instead of being dull and damp, as it had been in London, to Charlotte’s surprise there was a fresh cover of snow. Overhead the sky was a cloudless cornflower-blue, and the sun shone coldly bright.
As they drove through Queens, which seemed to be mainly residential, she queried, ‘How far is it?’
‘About fifteen miles to mid-Manhattan. It’ll take about an hour, depending on the traffic.’
Though aware that she should be using the time to advantage Charlotte could think of nothing else to say, and once again very conscious of the man by her side she looked resolutely through the car window.
For his part, his first surging excitement now leashed by his better judgement, Daniel was content to simply have her by his side.
Earlier, on the plane, the urge to hold her in his arms had been so great that he had thrown caution to the winds.
He had felt her momentary withdrawal, her tenseness and, expecting the worst, had braced himself for an open rejection.
When it hadn’t come he had been both pleased and puzzled. Either she had decided to forgive and forget or she was playing some deep game of her own.
Whichever, it seemed that, in the short term at least, life was going to be far from dull.
CHAPTER THREE
AS THEY approached Manhattan, though Charlotte had seen enough pictures to make it reasonably familiar, she still caught her breath at the sight of the city decked all in sparkling white.
‘Isn’t it wonderful?’ she exclaimed.
‘I think so,’ he agreed.
Her reason for being there momentarily forgotten, she turned to him in excitement. ‘I thought I knew what to expect, but I hadn’t imagined anything quite like this.’
Pleased and relieved that she liked his city, he said, ‘New York has so many different faces, so many moods, that it’s always able to surprise even the people who call it home. That’s one of the reasons I enjoy living here.’
His comment reminded her of something she still wasn’t sure about, and she asked, ‘Perhaps you can tell me where I’ll be living? Mr Telford mentioned a company flat, but I’ve no idea where it is.’
‘The company flat is at our headquarters in the Lloyd Wolfe building, which is situated Uptown on Central Park East.’
‘Is that where you live?’
‘No. I live in Lower Manhattan.’
‘Oh!’ It would have suited her purpose better if he’d been living in the same building.
