The Housekeeper's Awakening

‘What does it l-look like? I’m calling a halt to this before it gets completely out of hand.’

‘I don’t understand. One minute you’re up for it, and the next you’re acting like I’m the big, bad wolf.’ His face darkened. ‘I’m not crazy about women who play games. What’s the matter, Carly?’

‘What’s the matter?’ Moving away, she gripped onto the aromatherapy table for support, her heart racing so hard that she felt dizzy. ‘Where shall I begin? With the total lack of professionalism we’ve both just demonstrated?’

‘I told you that I was prepared to overlook that.’

Carly shook her head. She never got it right where men were concerned, did she? Maybe she was just one of those women who had victim or walkover written all over them. She looked at Luis, at his magnificent body in the faded jeans and white shirt and the way his sensual mouth seemed to form a natural, wilful pout. The wild black hair hung in tendrils around his collar and he looked just as much a pin-up as he’d ever been.

As if someone like him would seriously be interested in someone like her in normal circumstances. ‘Well, I’m not prepared to overlook it,’ she said. ‘Because no woman likes to think of herself as a substitute.’

His eyes were suddenly watchful. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’

‘Oh, come on. This is me, Luis, not someone you’ve just picked up at a party. I’ve been in your life long enough to know what you’re like. You’re renowned as being a ladies’ man. As a man who loves women.’

‘Your point being?’ he questioned coldly.

‘That you’re known for your love of supermodels and actresses. In all the time I’ve worked for you, I’ve never seen you date someone who...’ Say it, Carly. Just come right out and say it. ‘Someone like me!’ she finished. ‘Someone ordinary, who you’re only making a pass at because I just happen to be around.’

He rubbed his finger up and down the uneven surface of a nose which had once been broken by a jealous husband, but when he spoke, his voice was curiously calm. ‘You don’t think I could have one of these leggy supermodels or actresses in my bed within an hour or two, if I wanted? That it might be more straightforward if I did?’

‘So why don’t you?’ she challenged.

‘Because it’s you I want,’ he said savagely. ‘It may be wrong and it may be inexplicable, but I. Want. You. And you want me, too.’

Carly stared at him. His voice had roughened and grown hard with desire, but only one word stood out. His feelings for her were inexplicable, were they? He couldn’t understand why he wanted her. Yet wasn’t he only telling her what she already knew? That this could only ever be a one-off, which was only ever going to end in tears.

And she couldn’t let it happen, no matter how much she wanted him.

She wondered how to handle it. She could storm out without any kind of explanation, but that wouldn’t solve anything. From what she knew about human psychology, she guessed that flight might only sharpen his decidedly alpha traits. He might be fired up enough to hunt her down and kiss away all her doubts and she might not be strong enough to resist him again.

But if she told him the bare facts, then wouldn’t that act as a natural repellent? He was a playboy, yes, but she suspected he had the double standard so common to many of his type. Didn’t men like Luis see women as either good girls, or whores? If he knew the truth about her, he might respect an innocence which would put her off-limits to him, and stop this from happening ever again.

She met the hungry glitter of his gaze.

‘Well, it’s not going to happen, because I’m...’

‘You’re what?’

She tried to swallow down the complex mix of feelings, but suddenly it was no good and the words came spilling out of her mouth. ‘I’m a virgin!’ she burst out, and saw the narrow-eyed look of comprehension on his face. ‘Yes! Now do you understand, Luis? I’m a freak—a weirdo—a twenty-three-year-old woman who has never had sex!’

And with that, she turned and ran from the massage room as if some deadly snake had slithered down from the mountain and was intent on biting her.

CHAPTER SIX

HE DIDN’T COME after her.

He didn’t follow her to her sumptuous room overlooking the bright blue bay. He didn’t push his way in and try to kiss away every one of her objections, which seemed to be diminishing as the minutes ticked by. Carly stood staring out at the sleek white yachts she could see skimming across the distant water and felt the plummet of her heart. Had she really thought he might? Hadn’t she hoped he might?

Well, yes. If honesty was the name of the game, she had.

She bit her lip as doubt washed over her. Even if Luis had decided that making love to her was a bad idea after what she’d just told him, at least he could have reassured her that she wasn’t some sort of freak, even if she’d used that description herself. He could have laughed it all off as behaviour which had just got out of hand. He could tell her what she already knew, that there was definitely chemistry, but that it would be a very bad idea to act on it. Then they could forget what had happened and go back to how it had been before.

She turned away from the window. Could she do that? Pretend that he hadn’t kissed her breasts, or rucked up her skirt like that? Or that she hadn’t enjoyed every glorious and forbidden second of it, until his boast reminded her just what kind of man she was dealing with.

Walking over to the mirror, she saw herself as Luis must have seen her. Her skin was flushed, her hair wild and her eyes didn’t look like her eyes any more. She swallowed. This was a Carly she didn’t recognise.

A Carly she’d thought was lost for ever. A woman who could feel desire and act on it, just like any other woman.