'Ah…'
The rest of the journey was completed in virtual silence. She tried to make conversation once or twice but Reece seemed to have other things on his mind and answered in monosyllables discouraging further dialogue. They got to the office without any mishap although she got her lefts and rights mixed up once— something she had never done before, and which grated on her overwrought nerves like barbed wire.
'This is your home from home?' He glanced at the neat little office as they drew into the tiny square of car park.
'Yes.' She glanced at him uncertainly as he kept the engine running. 'Do you want to have a look round? I think—'
'Some other time.' He opened his door as he spoke and had moved round the bonnet before she could protest, opening her door for her and offering her his hand as she slid out of the car into the cold frosty air. His flesh was warm and firm and the contact seemed to shoot right down to her toes as she stood up, dwarfed by his great height.
She raised her head to make a polite farewell at the same moment as his glance moved from the building to the left of him and down to her face, and as their eyes held and locked she felt a sudden thudding in her chest. 'Your hair is like fire against the background of this grey sky,' he said softly as he continued to hold her hand in his. 'Warm and alive and glowing with passion. Axe you passionate, Miriam?'
'I…' She couldn't speak. The grey eyes, their darkness soft and warm, had lost their chill, and the metamorphosis was as frightening as it was unexpected. She had never thought a man's touch, the expression in his eyes could set her body trembling helplessly, but she was experiencing it right now, and mixed with the excitement was an overwhelming sense of his male power. He was devastatingly experienced, an accomplished man of the world, and she had never felt her naivety in the sexual realm so strongly as at this minute.
She had had a couple of boyfriends at college, but things had never progressed into anything beyond warm, prolonged kisses and the odd time of somewhat furtive fumbling, because she had always called a halt before any undue intimacy had begun. And, since taking on joint responsibility for her father's firm, every minute of the day and night had been accounted for simply to enable them to keep their heads above water—a fact that had grated on Mitch more strongly than her.
'I don't know,' she managed at last, and then was desperately humiliated at what the hesitant words had revealed to the darkly intent face in front of her.
'You don't know?' His amazement was the last straw, and as she pulled her hand jerkily from his, her cheeks flushing a deep, hot scarlet, she took a step backwards instinctively.
'No, I don't know,' she said tightly, her chin tilting upwards as she surveyed him with angry violet eyes, her mouth defiant. 'What's that, a crime?'
'I…' She wasn't to know that it was the first time that Reece Vance had been lost for words for a long, long time. All she knew was that he had guessed that she was a virgin. At the age of twenty-five. 'No, of course it isn't a crime,' he said softly after a long, tense moment had passed. It's—'
'Not for the want of opportunity,' she cut in tightly, her stance aggressive. 'I just don't happen to be one of those women who think it's necessary to seal every date in bed. All right?'
'It's fine by me, Miriam.' She thought that she detected a glimmer of amusement in the careful voice and glanced at him sharply—that r
eally would be the last straw—but the dark face was as straight as a die and his eyes were totally serious as they stared back into hers.
'Good.' She turned on her heel and stalked off to the office building, feeling an absolute idiot and hating him for it.
'I'll give you a call about the weekend,' he called after her, his voice so devoid of expression that it was an indictment in itself.
'What?' She swung round sharply.
'You were coming to the house to meet Barbara?' he reminded her urbanely. 'I would like her just to OK some of the details.'
'Fine, fine.' She took a deep breath and tried to speak as one should to an employer. 'No problem.'
'Goodbye, Miriam.' He was still standing just as she'd left him by the car, and now she couldn't quite fathom the look on his face. Was it regret, a dark ruefulness, disappointment? She caught herself sharply. Dammit, he'd got her imagining all sorts of things now. She just knew that Mitch should have handled this job; this man was way out of her league and she didn't like the way he made her feel—she didn't like it at all.
'Goodbye, Mr Vance.' The formality was deliberate, but beyond a slight raising of the dark eyebrows he made no comment, walking lazily round the magnificent car whose engine was still purring, and sliding into its interior with a brief wave of his hand.
'Damn, damn, damn…' As she watched him drive away she found that she was speaking through clenched teeth, her cheeks still burning with colour. She'd never been so embarrassed in all her life. She opened the office door and collapsed into her chair as she groaned out her humiliation. What a thing to say. She must have been mad, but somehow, standing so close to him like that, all lucid thought had left her head. She groaned again and put her hands up to her hot cheeks. What was he thinking? What was he thinking?
'It doesn't matter what he thinks,' she said out loud to the empty room. She wasn't ashamed of her virginity—she wasn't—so why should she care what a man like him thought about her? After the next two weeks she'd never see him again in her life so it didn't matter a jot, not a jot.
But the world in which he moved was populated with cool, sophisticated women who were the epitome of elegance and good taste. She shut her eyes tightly as her mind replayed their conversation over and over. He must think her so gauche, so without social repartee. She could have made a light, throw-away remark to defuse the situation, which had started with a compliment to herself, and the whole thing would have been taken care of in the nicest possible way. She opened her eyes and glared at the opposite wall.
Well, she hadn't done that, had she? And she wasn't sorry. Not a bit of it. She wouldn't play his sophisticated, cosmopolitan kind of games anyway—not that she'd get the chance again after this. The thought didn't help, and she found that she was grinding her teeth again.
'Oh, blow it…' She reached angrily for her briefcase, determined to start work, only to realise that she had left it, along with all the relevant papers, in the back of Reece's car, where he'd placed it after he'd helped her in.
'I don't believe this.' She sank back in the seat helplessly. She was destined to make a fool of herself in front of this man and it didn't bode well for the next two weeks. It didn't bode well at all.
CHAPTER THREE
'Miss Bennett?' As her head jerked up from the papers on the desk Miriam saw two bull-necked, stocky men standing in the doorway to the office.