Mistress by Agreement

ays. Which might be a very clever strategy on his part? If he softened her up into accepting his terms he couldn’t very well lose.

But in spite of debating the matter daily in her mind, and touching on all the reasons and rationalisations why she had to finish the relationship sooner rather than later, she always told herself one more date wouldn’t hurt. And so it continued.

On a hot Saturday morning towards the end of July Beth arrived on her doorstep, and Rosalie knew the moment she opened the door something was afoot. She had some wonderful news, Beth announced in a flat voice. George had been offered a marvellous position in a top university in New Zealand, and with the children off their hands he felt it was the right job at the right time. It would mean moving there lock, stock and barrel, of course.

At which point Beth broke down in floods of tears. On the one hand she wanted to go, she sobbed; she certainly didn’t want to hold George back and spoil things for him, and of anywhere in the world New Zealand was the one place she’d always had a hankering for, but on the other hand it would mean leaving everyone she knew and being faced with a new life in her middle age. Should they go? What did Rosalie think?

Rosalie hugged her and sat her down with a large slice of chocolate cake and a mug of coffee, and by the time Beth left an hour or so later she was brighter and seeing the positive side to the move more. Which was a good sign.

They would go to New Zealand, Rosalie thought, waving her aunt goodbye from the doorstep as Beth smiled at her from the taxi. And with Beth’s ability to collect friends round her like moths to a flame, she’d soon find her feet. But Rosalie would miss her aunt terribly. Beth meant more to her than she’d realised.

She closed the door, wandering back inside and staring at the pile of work she’d brought home from the office the night before. Kingsley, in consultation with his architect, had accepted one of the tenders, and a builder had been engaged and had started work. Because it was such a big job various subcontractors were involved and she was visiting the site on a regular basis now, but she had other work that needed progressing for other clients, and there didn’t seem enough hours in the day the last few weeks. Possibly because she was spending a large part of her free time with Kingsley, time that had been taken up with work previously.

She frowned as she collected up the empty plates and mugs, taking them through to the kitchen where she made herself another cup of coffee before starting work again.

Twenty minutes later there was another ring at the doorbell. ‘Yes?’ She spoke resignedly into the intercom. It was going to be one of those days where the world and his wife called, she could feel it. She was going to see a show in the West End with Kingsley tonight and they were having dinner first, so she had wanted to put in some good solid hours of work whilst she could. She needed to keep on top of things for her peace of mind.

‘It’s Kingsley, Rosie. I need to talk to you.’

When she opened the front door she was surprised to see him holding a suitcase. ‘Is something wrong?’ she asked quickly.

He nodded before kissing her, a perfunctory kiss that nevertheless sent needles of sensation to her nerves. ‘I need to fly to Jamaica urgently,’ he said quietly, ‘so I’m afraid tonight’s off.’

She forced down her disappointment. ‘Problem with a hotel?’

He shook his head. ‘The friend I was best man to recently, Alex, has been involved in an accident,’ he said briefly. ‘Broken his neck jet-skiing. They aren’t sure how bad it is and he’s stuck in this hospital in Jamaica where they were honeymooning. I’ve known his wife as long as I’ve known Alex and she’s got no family, poor kid. She phoned last night, hysterical, so I said I’d fly out today.’

‘How awful.’ She stared at him aghast.

‘It was their last day there too, would you believe? He made the mistake of drinking at a party some friends they’d made threw to see them off, and then having a last ride round the bay before they changed to get ready to leave.’ He shook his head. ‘Damn fool,’ he muttered hoarsely.

‘I’m so sorry, Kingsley.’ She could see he was struggling and she didn’t know what else to say.

‘Alex and his family were always there for me when Dad remarried; they helped me through a bad time.’

She had drawn him into the sitting room now, sitting beside him on the sofa and taking his hand as he talked.

‘He’s a nice guy, Rosie, you’d like him, and he lives for sport. Any kind, any place, it’s a long-standing joke. It would be better for him to go straight away than be left paralysed. He wouldn’t be able to handle it.’

‘It might not come to that.’ She squeezed his hand gently. ‘Lots of people get better from such things. It just depends where the break is and what damage has been done.’

‘I guess.’ He sank back on the sofa, rubbing a hand wearily over his face. ‘Joanna phoned at one in the morning and I couldn’t get off to sleep again. Hell, I can’t believe he could be so damn stupid; he knows better than that.’

‘What time do you leave?’ she asked softly.

‘In a couple of hours.’ He stretched tiredly.

‘Have you eaten?’ And when he shook his head, ‘Then first thing is a cup of coffee and then I’ll cook us some brunch, okay?’

‘Thanks,’ he murmured, stopping her when she would have risen and putting a hand to her cheek, his touch so light it was like the brush of a leaf. ‘I don’t want to leave you,’ he said huskily. ‘Not like this.’

Suddenly it wasn’t a time for pretending. ‘I don’t want you to go,’ she whispered back.

He ran his fingers over her lips, outlining her mouth, and then down to her throat where he caressed the smooth silky skin delicately before pulling her into him. And then his mouth was coaxing hers open, sensation shooting to every part of her body as his lips and tongue explored hers, the hard pressure of his body as he slid her down beneath him intoxicating.

He kissed her until she was almost mindless with pleasure, his hands stroking and teasing her body as his lips plundered hers, and she knew she was trembling uncontrollably at the need he was drawing forth so effortlessly. He had kissed and caressed her many times over the last months, but never like this. Never like this.

She knew now, and in fact she had known it for weeks, that she’d been waiting for this time from the first moment she had laid eyes on him. It had been there between them, unspoken but alive and electric, the knowledge of how good they would be together.