Scandals and Secrets

Still, her eyes followed him somewhat worriedly when he put the drink down on the bedside chest and sat down on the side of the bed. 'Feeling better after your shower?' he asked, smiling.

She nodded, finding it hard to find her tongue all of a sudden.

'I'm an expert at hot-chocolate making,' he said, and picked up the mug again. 'Here ... Drink up ... '

When he actually held it to her lips instead of handing it her, she automatically curved her own hands around his, lest the liquid spill on the bed. Appalled to find her fingers trembling, she gulped the drink down very quickly, all the while aware of Damian staring at her over the rim with those penetrating black eyes of his. She found herself staring back at him and seeing him in a totally different light.

Where before he'd presented himself as a darkly elegant and very handsome man with flashing black eyes, a boyish smile and an engagingly charming manner, she now noted a wicked gleam in those eyes and a decadent weakness in the slack set of his mouth. Dressed all in black as he was tonight, and with his straight black hair slicked back from his face, he gave off a menacing aura that was making her heart beat faster and her stomach churn. All she wanted was for him to leave her room as soon as possible.

'All gone,' she said with false brightness once she'd drunk all the hot chocolate and was able to take her hands away from his.

'Good girl. Sleep well, now.'

Gemma could not help her look of surprise when he simply stood up and began to walk towards the door.

She was still staring at him when he stopped with his hand on the doorknob and looked back over his shoulder. 'I suggest you sleep in as long as you can tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, I have to show my face in the office, but Cora will be here all day to look after you. Feel free to use the pool-it's heated-or anything else that appeals, and I'll see you when I get home tomorrow evening. OK?'

His smile was so warm and tender that she felt guilty at her earlier bad thoughts about him. Her imagination was definitely getting the better of her. Or maybe her opinion of men had been seriously damaged by what Nathan had done.

'I'll never forget how sweet you've been to me,' she said with genuine feeling. 'I don't know what I would have done without you.'

'Men can be good friends too, Gemma. Always remember that.'

'I will from now on.'

It was after two when Damian slipped back into her room. The sleeping tablets he'd crushed in her drink would be at their peak now. He'd tripled the normal dose, making sure of her unconscious state.

The room was in darkness, the curtains drawn at the windows. Making his way carefully over to them, he very slowly drew them back so that moonlight fell across the bed and the sleeping form within.

Standing next to the bed, he gazed down at her for ages then very slowly peeled the bedclothes back down. Shock riveted him to the spot when she moaned and rolled over on to her side, facing him. But her eyes remained shut, her lips softly apart as she breathed the deep, even breathing of the heavily drugged. His own eyes fell to where her movement had wrapped the nightie tightly around her body, the top awry on her full bosom.

His gut clenched down hard at the sight of half a rosy nipple peeping out at him, his desire flaring madly. The idea of touching her while she was asleep was so exciting that he actually shuddered.

He recalled how her hands had trembled on his earlier tonight. She'd been momentarily afraid of him till he'd managed to allay her fears with his wimpish retreat. But she had every reason to be afraid of him, though, didn't she? Every reason ...

His own hands trembled as he reached out to draw the strap down off her shoulder and down her arm. He was about to was about to expose her breast totally when he heard the sound of the doorknob turning. Reefing the strap back up, he dived under the bed and was hiding there, quivering, when he saw his sister's slippers appear beside the bed.

Holding his breath lest she hear his breathing, he listened to her rearranging the bedclothes, then watched her walk over to the windows where she drew the curtains, blessedly darkening that side of the room. His relief when she left the room was enormous, but for some rotten reason Celeste left the damned door ajar. And the light in the hall was on.

Clearly, his sister was having one of her sleepless nights, when she would wander the house at all hours. If he closed the door, she might see it.