The Burlington Manor Affair

“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

Was that wariness she heard in his voice? Did he think there was someone else? “Luckily for you, no. I just got out of the shower.”

“Shame I’m not there to towel you off.”

Carmen refused to acknowledge how much she’d have enjoyed that, too. “A girl needs a break from these full-on weekends you’re subjecting us to.”

Rex laughed. “So you’re enjoying our time together at the manor?”

She’d walked into that trap. “After the past two weekends, you need to ask?”

“I can’t ever be sure with you. You’re a hard woman to please. That’s why I’d like to hear you say it.”

His voice was teasing but it was full of warmth and it seemed to move over her like sunshine, making her stretch out on the bed to enjoy the heat. “You’re very demanding.”

“But you like that about me.”

There was something different about him, she noticed. She supposed it was because she wasn’t used to hearing his voice over the phone, but he sounded as if it meant a lot to speak to her.

“You know I’m enjoying it,” she replied.

“So let’s do it more often. Why stop at a month?”

Her heart missed a beat. Was it a trick?

There was no way she could do this for more than a month. If she did, she wouldn’t survive the hit when he got bored and walked away from her. She’d tutored herself to cope with a month. No more. “What do you mean?”

“Meet me for lunch tomorrow.”

She should have been relieved he meant a midweek meeting and not an extension, but she wasn’t sure how it left her feeling. “You promised. A few days without contact so I can concentrate on my work and stay sane.”

“I know, but I clearly can’t be trusted.”

She couldn’t help herself. She laughed. “I’ve always known that.”

“I can’t help wanting you.”

Oh, that sounded good, and there was tender intimacy there; she wasn’t imagining it. “You admit it, then.”

“I thought it was obvious.”

“You just have to have every woman who takes your fancy.”

“Maybe, but some women are more elusive than others...and there’s this one in particular who makes me want her even more every time I’m around her.”

His tone had changed. There was an implied power struggle there and it focused her, as if he’d flicked a switch and they were back trading sexual kinks at the manor.

“In fact, I want her so much that I’d record my conversation with her so I could listen to her voice over and over again, if I didn’t think it was creepy and she might accuse me of being a stalker if she found out.”

Again she chuckled. “You should be ashamed.”

“I can’t help it. This woman is turning me into a crazy man.”

“I find that hard to imagine.”

“Seriously, we’re talking stalker territory. I could watch this woman all day. I want to watch her dress, undress...get naked and crawl across the floor on her hands and knees.”

Carmen’s breath caught. She forced herself to respond as levelly as possible. “It’s hard to imagine a man with such presence being able to stalk someone without being noticed.”