Pride After Her Fall

There was a long silence.

‘So what’s in your life now?’ he asked, his voice deceptively lazy.

But Lorelei knew him well enough to catch the watchfulness in those blue eyes viewing her from beneath heavy lids.

You.

The rush of feeling overwhelmed her. She wanted to be enough for him.

She wanted to stand in for racing.

She wanted him to realise what an extraordinary man he was, and for once to stop pushing himself.

She wanted a great deal she probably couldn’t have.

‘I have my work,’ she said diffidently.

‘Yeah, the charity.’

‘No, my horses...’ she began with a little frown.

‘You have horses?’

‘Oui, two, I stable them at Allards.’

‘So you still ride?’

‘Whenever I can.’ She hesitated, then went on the offensive. ‘So what are you lacking in your life, Nash?’

‘Me?’ He looked amused. ‘I’m just easily bored.’

‘I’ll have to come up with some ways of keeping you from being bored, then,’ she said softly, and slid forward over him, her curls falling down to brush over his chest in the way he liked. His eyes met hers, and all that banked heat made the blood pool in her thighs and pelvis. ‘I’ve got a few ideas.’

She knew how to make a man want her, trip over his feet to get to her, but it had never been about that with Nash. From the moment he had put his hand on her shoulder outside the hotel and told her he would handle it, rushed to her rescue like a valiant knight, she’d been off-centre with him. She had always looked after herself, knowing all too well how unreliable men could be. She had given Nash access to the vulnerable heart of hers and made him her lover, and right now she knew there should be more.

For the first time in her life she wanted more.

‘Isn’t this comeback supposed to be hush-hush?’ she asked

He cupped her bottom. ‘I think I’m safe.’

Lorelei kissed him. He was telling her he trusted her, that he accepted her right to know and she had his respect.

‘Besides,’ he said complacently as she kissed her way down his body, her bare bottom resting back on his thighs, ‘we’re releasing a timed leak on Monday. By Wednesday the media will be all over it.’

Lorelei felt as if he’d yanked a rug out from under her.

Her head came up. He wasn’t saying he trusted her at all. He was just saying the timing made it irrelevant. She tried to ignore the crumpling in her chest.

‘What’s happening Wednesday?’ she asked, feeling a little sidelined.

‘A press conference,’ he replied calmly, stroking her thighs, ‘and then lockdown.’

‘What’s lockdown?’

‘Training.’

‘And then what?’

‘The circuit.’

‘A lot of travel?’

‘For the next year.’

He sat up, and she gave a gasp as he flipped her onto her belly and began placing hot kisses down her spine, over the rounded curves of her bottom.

‘Perhaps I can fly in?’ she suggested, feeling a little stunned.

‘I’d enjoy that,’ he said, tracing one quivering buttock.

‘Would you?’ she said a little sharply.

Nash put his mouth to her ear. ‘Your visits would be most welcome.’

She waited for him to ask her to go with him.

He didn’t.

* * *

Nash took the steps by threes, coming out of the darkness into the bright light spilling down the front of the bungalow. He was impatient to get back to Lorelei.

This afternoon they’d driven back to the bungalow around dusk. Nash had never felt less like a boys’ night, but he knew he’d been fairly difficult to pin down, given he was spending all his time with Lorelei, and there were ends to tie up and other people involved in this. He had responsibilities.

‘Two hours, tops,’ he’d told her, ‘and then I take you out to dinner.’

She had smiled softly, a little sad, he knew, because of what he’d told her last night. He had his reasons, and it had not been easy, but she needed to understand racing came first.

He found the bungalow empty and for a strange moment his insides hollowed out.

She was gone....

This was how it would feel next week, and the week after that, and after that.