Adrienne looked at him. ‘If you got married you wouldn’t need to employ a housekeeper. It’s time you settled down with a decent woman, not someone like—’
‘Adrienne!’ This time the man’s voice was icy cold. ‘That’s enough. Go and wash your face.’
The girl’s slim shoulders sagged. ‘But—’
‘Now!’
The commanding tone evidently worked because Adrienne subsided and left the room with a last curious look at Libby.
There was a long silence and Libby felt her colour rise.
Feeling that someone ought to say something, she put her coffee down and pushed her tangled blonde curls out of her eyes. ‘Er…about last night…’
Not having a clue what had actually taken place the previous night, she left the statement hanging, hoping that he’d be enough of a gentleman to say something reassuring, but he merely looked at her quizzically and waited for her to finish.
Libby sighed. He was obviously one of those enviable people who used silence as a weapon, whereas she, unfortunately, had never mastered the art.
‘Look.’ Deciding that directness was the best approach, she took a deep breath. ‘Did you spike my drink last night?’
He lifted a dark eyebrow. ‘You think I need to render a woman senseless in order to persuade her to come home with me?’
No, she didn’t think that.
He was the embodiment of most women’s fantasies.
She flushed and concluded from his amused expression that he obviously wasn’t the one responsible for her pounding headache.
‘I’m sorry, it’s just that someone must have but I really don’t remember that much—except the fireworks. They were great. What did—?’ She broke off and cleared her throat nervously. ‘Well, obviously you brought me back here, which was very kind of you, but did we—? I mean, I don’t remember if we actually—You see, I don’t do that sort of thing usually, but I suppose I must have been a bit upset last night and…’
Totally disconcerted by his continued silence, she gave a groan and hid her head under the covers.
Why didn’t he say something?
And what exactly had they done?
She was never, ever going out again.
It was just too embarrassing.
Finally she felt the bed shift under his weight and the covers were firmly pulled away from her.
‘Two things,’ he said softly, and she decided that although he didn’t say much, it was definitely worth the wait when he did. He spoke with a slight accent, his deep voice caressing her nerve endings and soothing her aching head. The tension oozed out of her and she felt herself relax. His voice was amazing. ‘Firstly, you should know that when I make love to a woman, Libby, she always remembers it.’
The tension was back with a vengeance. Her breath trapped in her lungs, heart thudding against her rib cage, Libby swallowed hard and stared into his very amused eyes.
He exuded a raw, animal sex appeal that took her breath away and she felt a powerful urge to slide her arms round his strong neck and kiss him.
She could well imagine that a night with him would be an unforgettable experience.
Appalled by the uncharacteristically explicit nature of her own thoughts, she pulled her mind back to the present and tightened her grip on the covers as if they could afford her some protection.
‘Right.’ Her voice was little more than a squeak. ‘And what was the second thing?’
‘The second thing is that there were no fireworks…’ he dealt her a sizzling smile that sent an electric current through her trembling body ‘…until I kissed you.’
And with that he stood up and left the room, closing the door firmly behind him.
Having dropped Adrienne at her boarding school, Andreas strolled onto the ward an hour later, immediately aware of the consternation his appearance created.
Having recognised him from the night before, the staff were all evidently wondering what had happened to Libby.
‘You’re the new consultant?’ The ward sister stared at him and then gave him a weak smile. ‘Er, I’m Bev—and you’re a day early.’
Andreas lifted a broad shoulder. ‘I like to be on top of things.’
Bev bit her lip. ‘We noticed you last night. But we didn’t know—I mean, we didn’t recognise you.’
‘Of course you didn’t.’ He’d been careful not to introduce himself to anyone.
Bev took a deep breath and asked the question that she was obviously dying to ask. ‘What did you do with Libby?’
Not what he’d wanted to do.
‘I left her to sleep it off,’ he drawled, moving to the notes trolley. ‘Do the nurses on this ward always party that hard?’