The Price of a Wife

'I… It…' She'd been right; she was looking an idiot. The knowledge provided the burst of adrenalin she needed to bring her stammering voice under control and straighten her back against the leather seat. 'Mr Hawkton—'

'I don't believe we're back to Mr Hawkton.' She could have hit him for the laconic amusement deepening the cool voice.

'Luke,' she amended hastily. 'I didn't mean—'

'Don't lie to me, Josie.' Now there was no humour tempering the silky steel. 'I've been lied to by experts, who have had immediate cause to regret it. You have me down as an egotist, the type of man who is so full of his own importance, so self-absorbed, that he finds it necessary to flaunt his assets at every opportunity, to rely on the suspect admiration of dependants to boost his credibility with a beautiful woman. That was what you meant…'

He paused, and she found she was holding her breath. 'No doubt you have met a considerable number of such sad people in the world you and I inhabit. The rat race is fierce, with everybody using their wealth and power to guard their space, making them easily prone to corruption. I am aware of that, and also that a beautiful woman like yourself must have been propositioned more times than she can remember.'

She didn't say anything; there was nothing to say.

'But I play the game of life by my own rules, Josie, and I've never had the need to bribe or coerce a woman into my bed.'

The hard, sensual face turned to her for just one second, and she shivered at the aura of pure masculinity that was so sexually attractive it hurt. Bribe or coerce? she thought with a faint touch of hysteria. He probably had to fight them off in droves.

She was just about to make a suitably defusing type of reply, to get the conversation back on a more neutral level, when they rounded a corner in the dark country road to find several large cows standing stolidly in their path, their big faces turned towards the car's headlights. She was aware of Luke swearing grimly at her side at the same moment as he swung the car into the grass verge, the brakes screaming as the car nosedived into the long, shallow ditch beyond. Her seat belt clutched her as she jerked forward, the engine made a harsh tearing sound, and then all was quiet besides the disconcerted mooing of the disturbed bovines.

'Are you all right?' Luke turned to her instantly. 'Are you hurt at all?'

'I don't think so…' She hadn't had time to think, it had all happened so fast, but now the memory of that other crash thirteen years ago turned her legs to jelly and his face began to blur in the moonlight.

'You aren't going to pass out. Josie...' He undid her seat belt as he spoke roughly in her ear, before opening his door and moving round the back of the car to the passenger side, whereupon he almost dragged her from her seat into the mild night air. 'Josie, take some deep breaths. Come on…'

It was the fact that she was enclosed in his arms, rather than any medicinal

properties in the slight breeze outside the car, that put a surge of feeling where faintness had reigned, enabling her to stand upright instead of sagging against the hard wall of his chest. 'I'm OK…'

He didn't let her go immediately and she was painfully, vitally aware of the muscled strength of his chest through the thin silk shirt he was wearing. His jacket was open and hanging either side of her as his arms continued to enclose her softness. 'There's no rush. Take some deep breaths and relax; you'll be fine,' he murmured softly against her hair.

Not with you holding me like this, I won't, she thought ruefully. Relaxing and being held next to Luke Hawkton's body weren't compatible. 'Really, I'm all right now.' She forced a smile as she raised her face to look up at him, in an effort to reinforce her words. This was the present; the past was dead and gone, she told herself firmly.

His eyes held hers for a few endless moments, glittering silver in the darkness of his face, and then he lowered his head, brushing her lips in a light, tantalisingly light caress as he carefully put her to one side. 'I'd better inspect the damage in that case,' he said quietly.

She hoped, oh, she did so hope that he was unaware of what that brief embrace had done to her, the way it had reduced her to a quivering mess inside, while he… He was the original Mr Cool.

She watched him now as he raised the bonnet of the car and bent over into murky blackness. 'I can't see a damn thing in here,' he muttered after a few seconds had ticked by. 'I don't suppose there's such a thing as a torch in this hire car.'

'Do you want me to look?' she asked quickly. Anything would be a relief compared to the racing of her thoughts. She knew the embrace and brief kiss had been nothing more than an effort to comfort on his part, that he would have done the same to any female, and she didn't like the way it had affected her.

'No, don't worry.' He straightened, his outline big and dark in the moonlight. 'There's no way I'm going to be able to get this thing out of the ditch tonight, so it's immaterial whether the engine's survived or not. Stupid animals…' He turned his head to survey the cows, who had fled back into the field bordering the other side of the road via a hole in the wire fence they must have escaped through earlier and were lumbering away into the darkness.

'Won't…won't we need a torch to see our way?' she proffered tentatively as he moved back to her side.

'Where exactly are you thinking of going?' he asked lazily, a faint smile twisting his lips. 'There's nothing for miles except fields and grass.'

'But we can't stay here.' She pushed a shaky hand through her tumbled hair and then wished she hadn't as the narrowed eyes watching her so closely slanted still more, indicating that he had noticed her trembling.

'No?' he said indolently. 'Is there something I'm missing? Why can't we stay here, Josie?'

He knew. He knew what he did to her and he was enjoying this, every moment of it, playing with her like a cat with a mouse. How dared he? How dared he? Her chin came up, her mouth thinned and her body tensed for battle. 'Because we could be here all night if no one comes along. It's very lonely—'

'Isn't it?' he agreed laconically.

'So we have to try and get some help,' she persevered, hanging onto both her temper and her dignity with severe difficulty. This was her employer… like it or not. And she didn't. She certainly didn't.

'Do I take it the panic in your voice is caused not so much by a fear of the dark, or wide-open spaces and large animals, that sort of thing, but more by the thought of a night in close proximity to me?' Luke asked with deceptive softness.

'Not at all.' Her chin tilted even higher, but he was completely still as he stood there looking down at her diminutive shape, and she couldn't read a thing in his dark face. 'It's just that I've some work to do when we get back, that's all.'