A Night With Consequences (8 page)

‘She doesn’t like staying with her sister?’ he asked, a
sudden frown replacing his smile. ‘Or—are you perhaps afraid of what is happening between us?’

Kara was glad that they had left the others behind. This was not a conversation she wanted anyone else to hear. ‘I’m not afraid.’ The denial was instant, but she could see that he did not believe her. ‘My mother relies on me. She needs me. And it will be too much for Aunt Susan if she has to look after her for any longer.’

Dark brows lifted. ‘I think maybe we should let your aunt be the judge of that. Why don’t you call her?’

It sounded as though he was giving her no choice. And, although she would have dearly loved to spend more time with him, making magical love—and it had truly been magical—she knew that it would be impossible. ‘You do not fully realise my situation. I’m sorry, Blake, but—’

‘I’m not forcing you to stay,’ Blake said, trying to make his voice sound as gentle and persuasive as possible. ‘But I do think you deserve some relaxation. You’ve worked very hard and I’d like to show you my appreciation.’ She enchanted him, and one night of passion was not enough. He wanted to spend more time with her. Taking her virginity and then coldly dismissing her to resume normal office life was not what he wanted. She deserved better. He wanted her to know that it had not been a one-off. He did not want her to think ill of him.

Not that he was looking for anything long-term. He had no intention of settling with any woman ever again. To hell with all that. One go at marriage was enough. But at least he could show Kara that not all men were bad.

‘OK, I’ll ring my mother,’ she said, still sounding reluctant, ‘and see what she says. Maybe a couple of days. I don’t want to lumber Aunt Susan with her for too much longer.’

Blake would have liked to spend more than two days with her, but he knew that to push the issue would end up with her refusing to go with him at all. ‘I’m sure you won’t regret it,’ he said, touching his hands lightly to her shoulders and dropping a kiss on her cheek.

The sweet, dewy softness of her skin and the intoxicating smell of her was almost his undoing. What he really wanted to do was kiss her and pleasure her again. But he did not want her to think that he was using sex as a way of persuasion, so he reluctantly backed away, leaving Kara to go to her room.

Her mother, surprisingly, was happy for her to stay longer. ‘You deserve a break,’ she said. ‘And your aunt is glad of my company’

‘Everything is all right?’

‘Of course. I’m safe here, Kara.’

Kara knew what she meant. Her biggest fear was that the loan shark her father had lumbered them with might catch up with her.

Her father, as well as being a bully and a tyrant, had taken out a loan in her mother’s name, telling her that it made good business sense for tax purposes. Her mother had been too frightened of him to argue. His building company had begun to go downhill because he had spent most of his money on gambling and drinking, but it had not been until after his death that they’d discovered the loan had never been repaid and that exorbitant interest rates made it look as
though it never would be.

The man after their money was a sharp-faced, cold-hearted individual, without an ounce of compassion. She could not leave her mother to deal with him. Even thinking about him caused her to shudder. But she could not tell Blake about him either. Her mother did not want anyone to know. She found the shame of the whole situation too embarrassing, even though it was most of Kara’s salary that went towards paying off the debt.

Kara quickly packed and drew in several deep, steadying breaths before taking the few steps along the corridor back to Blake’s room. His door was open, as though he was waiting for her. And his suitcase was also ready to go. His brows rose as he waited for her to speak.

‘I’ll come with you,’ she said quietly.

‘Your mother and aunt are all right with it?’

‘Yes.’

‘But you are not?’

‘I’ve never been on holiday with a man.’ In fact she had never been on holiday. Even saying those words caused her heart to flutter alarmingly. Would she be throwing herself in at the deep end without being able to swim? Would she regret it? Would she lose her job because of it? A multitude of questions swam through her mind.

‘You are afraid of me?’

Not Blake. It was her feelings that she was afraid of. She was afraid that at the other end of the spectrum it would all be too much for her, that she would never want it to end. That she would have a taste of heaven before going back to her own private hell.

Although she did not disclose her thoughts, the conflict
in her eyes was clear for Blake to see. With a groan he pulled her against him. ‘You have nothing to fear, Kara, not while you’re with me. I want you to be happy, that is all. You’ve looked tired this last couple of days. I guess I’ve put too much pressure on you. Let this be my way of saying thank you.’

Kara buried her head in his shoulder, feeling stupid tears again. God, why did this man always make her want to cry? The plain fact was that no one had ever been this kind to her before, and she was totally overwhelmed.

‘Are you packed?’ he asked, gently putting her away from him.

Kara nodded.

‘Then let’s go.’

‘Where are you taking me?’

He smiled—the sort of smile that flipped her heart and made her want to lift up her face for his kiss.

‘I’ll let that be a surprise.’

A car and driver were waiting, and on the journey Kara spent her time looking at the stunning landscape, trying to ignore the fact that she was with her boss and that she had spent last night in his bed. Even sitting beside him, not even touching, she was overwhelmed by the feelings he managed to arouse.

Finally they arrived at a beautiful white villa overlooking the shores of a huge lake.

‘Welcome to Lake Como,’ he said. ‘And to what used to be my grandmother’s house.’

Kara’s eyes were as big as saucers. ‘Who lives here now?’

‘No one permanently,’ he admitted. ‘Since her death it’s been kept for any family member to use. I suppose you’d call it a holiday villa.’

A holiday villa! That had to be the understatement of the year. Who could afford to keep a villa like this and not use it? She truly was moving in exalted circles.

‘Is anyone else staying here at the moment?’

Blake shook his head. ‘There is staff, of course, so we won’t be completely alone.’

Keeping it staffed when no one was using it sounded like an alarming waste of money. And Kara could not help wondering whether he had brought his other PAs here—the ones he’d sacked on their return to England. Did he use it as a love nest? Had she been sucked in by his kindness? Was she right to be nervous?

She could not deny that the villa was enchanting, though. It looked like a fairy-tale castle, nestling into the hillside above the lake. But even so it did not make her feel any better about spending two whole days entirely alone with Blake—despite his assurance that whatever they did was up to her.

And it did not help when they were greeted by his army of employees, who looked at her as though she was someone very special. Too polite to do anything other than smile, she was relieved when they melted away after Blake had introduced her.

‘They think that you and I are an item,’ she whispered. ‘I could see it in their eyes.’ Blake had spoken in fluent Italian, while hers was non-existent, but they wouldn’t have looked at her with such interest if they had known that she was really just his PA on a few
days’ holiday with her boss. No, they thought she was his girlfriend. She was sure of it.

Dark brows rose, hands waved airily. ‘You are right. They probably are imagining that you are special since I have brought no one else here. But it is of no consequence. Do not let it worry you.’

At least he had assured her of one thing, and he sounded and looked more Italian than English at that moment, thought Kara. But it did little to alleviate her fears.

‘Would you like me to show you around? Or perhaps you are tired and would prefer to rest?’

Resting sounded good—except that she would have felt safer in a hotel. If
safer
was the right word. Safer from what? From whom? Herself or Blake? She was afraid that she had been thrown in at the deep end. That this was not going to be the recreational break she had expected. For one reason because they were going to be totally alone, and for another because she was seeing Blake in an entirely different light!

Her feelings were running dangerously high. She felt an awareness that scared her rigid. She wanted to feel his arms around her, to feel the hard pulsing strength of him. Despite her misgivings, she wanted him to make love to her again. How could that be?

‘I am a little tired,’ she agreed. ‘This is all so new and so—’ She struggled to find the right words to say what was in her mind.

‘Exciting?’ he suggested, an eyebrow lifting, his body very still as he waited for her reply.

He was right—but perhaps not in the way he thought. What would he say if he knew how intense her emotions
were? That she actually would welcome him holding her, maybe even kissing her, maybe even making love to her again? It was beyond sanity. She had never wanted a man even to touch her, and now she was craving it. One taste and she was hooked.

She drew in a deep breath. ‘Different.’ It hardly described her feelings—or maybe it did. Maybe it was the exact word. Every cell in her body was different. No longer calm and in control. They were dancing all over the place, hot and hungry for this handsome man.

It was strange that she was thinking of him now as more Italian. Had he truly changed or was it all in her mind? Was it this place?

‘You never expected to find yourself here?’ he questioned, his soft smile suggesting that he knew exactly how she was feeling. ‘It is a shame that you do not want to stay longer. But perhaps after a couple of days spent in this very beautiful part of Italy you will change your mind? You will allow me to—’

Kara did not let him finish. ‘No! I
must
go home, Blake.’ Even saying the word
home
brought back the fears that awaited her there. She could not afford to let herself be distracted by him.

Something had happened to her here in Italy—something she dared not think about…something that needed to be crushed. There was no room in her life for romance—or whatever name she cared to put on what was happening to her now. No room at all.

‘Kara—’

Quite how it happened she was not sure, but the next second she was being held against the rock-hardness of
his chest, her head pressed into his shoulder, one strong, warm hand stroking her hair.

Blake could not bear to see Kara so agitated. He wanted to soothe away the fear he had seen in her eyes. Was it really because she was worried about leaving her mother, or did it go much deeper? Something to do with her father? Perhaps she had nightmares about him? Perhaps she was fearful that if she stayed too long she would give herself away in the middle of the night? Or was it being alone with him that she was afraid of?

He continued to murmur her name and smooth her hair against her nape until he felt her tension easing. ‘No one is going to force you to stay against your will. Whenever you want to leave I will take you.’

She lifted her face to his, and when he saw tears in her lovely blue eyes he could not help himself. All his good intentions failed. This was a wounded woman and he wanted to make her better. His hand slid round to cup her chin and at the same time his mouth came down on hers.

What started as a gentle, reassuring kiss soon turned into something else. Into something fast and furious. Her lips parted on a sigh that suggested secret desire, and when he deepened the kiss, when he felt her response, when she kissed him back, he knew he could not resist.

Together they went upstairs, their mouths still clinging, and in his room he began to slowly undress her. In actual fact he would have liked to rip her clothes off and make love to her straight away, but he knew that to do so might make her fearful of him. And he did not want that. She had been fearful of her father. Once in a
lifetime was enough to fear a person. He needed to be gentle.

As each inch of flesh was exposed he feathered it with kisses—and listened to her quiet moans of ecstasy. She tasted good, and her perfume made him even headier with desire. He would never have dreamed that his once prim PA could be so sensual, so sexy, so alluring.

Kara was aware of nothing except the fact that Blake’s kisses, his touch, his energy, totally consumed her. They made love slowly and beautifully, over and over again. They did not surface, did not even stop to eat; food was the last thing on their minds. She had entered a world where nothing else mattered except the senses.

The touch of Blake’s hands on her body. The excitement when he found that some parts of her were more responsive than others. The taste of his skin when she kissed him, when her lips dared to explore places that she had never let herself even think about before. The clean male smell when his body was so close to hers that they became one. The sight of him when he had just made love to her—his face both soft and raw at the same time, so different from the normally controlled man who had always scared her to death. And the sounds they both made when they were no longer in command of their bodies—grunts and groans, cries and shouts.

She knew that she would re-enter the real world soon, but she did not want to think about that. She was enjoying this new-found sexual liberation too much. She did not want it ever to end.

Even when Kara awoke the next morning she was still locked in her time bomb of happiness. She had
learned so much from Blake. She had even instigated their lovemaking on one occasion. Her blood ran hot at the memory. What must he have thought?

‘Kara?’

She suddenly realised that his eyes were open and he was watching her.

‘Are you all right?’

‘I—I feel—’
Embarrassed
was what she wanted to say, but the words would not come. How could she have behaved so wantonly? What had happened to her?