‘I need a shower, and then I have some work to take care of in the study.’ Jake stopped with his hand on the bathroom door and glanced to where she lay as he had left her, naked on the bed.
Lexi met his gaze. ‘I really do hate you,’ she said bleakly, and she hated herself, she recognised sa
dly. The bright morning sun filled the room, exposing every minute detail; it was barely noon and she had... She couldn’t bear to think of it! Grabbing the edge of the lace bedspread, she pulled it up over her naked body.
‘Bit late for that, sweetheart, I’ve seen it all and more.’ His masculine chuckle only added to her humiliation. ‘I can have you any time I want and after this morning’s little romp we both know it.’
His arrogant assumption was all it took to ignite Lexi’s anger and, hauling herself upright on the bed with the cover firmly clasped above her breast, she recalled his words of the previous night. ‘So much for waiting to make sure any offspring were definitely yours,’ she lashed back defiantly.
For a moment she watched his eyes narrow assessingly on her small face, and then a cynical smile twisted his firm mouth. ‘I don’t need to, Lexi; your boyfriend was most forthcoming this morning. You forget, I speak Italian.’
She groaned inwardly as she realised Jake must have understood every word of Dante’s angry speech earlier. Jake knew Dante had never been her lover. But still, she snapped back mutinously, ‘You don’t know everything.’
An expression of cold derision tautened his handsome face. ‘I don’t want to; your body in my bed when I say so is enough.’ And opening the bathroom door he added as an afterthought, ‘Your luggage arrived earlier from the hotel. Maria has put it in the room next door. Don’t forget, lunch at one on the patio. Maria doesn’t like to be kept waiting.’
Lexi bent her head, her hands curling into fists. Her fingers bit painfully into her soft palms, but it was nothing to the pain she felt inside. Silently she raged at Jake, at the circumstances that had put her here in his bed, and most of all at herself. You’re a fool, a weak-willed sex-starved idiot! she told herself bitterly, and, worse, she had the sinking feeling she had let herself in for a world, possibly a lifetime, of pain.
Abruptly rolling off the bed, Lexi stood up, letting the coverlet fall back behind her; action might dispel her unwelcome thoughts. Quickly she searched for her clothes and, picking them up, she slipped on her briefs then winced as she fastened her bra; her breasts were still tender from Jake’s ministrations.
Jake! Her nemesis! He couldn’t have made it plainer. He would use her when and where he wanted to, and she had to jump to his order. She tried to tell herself she was glad that at least Jake was allowing her to have her own bedroom, but, as she wriggled into her skirt and blouse, and walked across the room to the door, deep in the secret part of her heart, that hurt most of all...
She walked along the corridor, and pushed open the partially opened door of what she presumed was the next room and looked in. Her eyes fell on her battered suitcases standing just inside the door; she heaved a sigh of relief and walked in, closing the door behind her.
Lexi found herself standing in a small, arched alcove. She stepped forward and for the first time in ages her generous mouth curved in the beginnings of a smile as she looked around. The room was a delight; a symphony in gold, cream and the palest lavender.
The walls either side of her were a bank of mirrored wardrobes, which accounted for the small arched entrance-hall. On the wall to the left was a four-poster bed draped in yards of cream eyelet lace lined with lavender silk; a matching cover lay over the bed. Opposite her, two long windows were hung with complementary curtains, caught back at the sides by models of Eros in gold to reveal the terrace and breathtaking view beyond. Between the windows was a huge mirror in an amethyst frame, and in front of that, a deliciously feminine chaise-longue and matching button-backed chair, plus a circular glass and gold occasional table. On the right-hand side wall was a long kneehole dressing-table, draped in the same fabric, with a three-way mirror on top, and next to that was another door.
It was the most totally feminine room Lexi had ever seen, and it all looked new. A variety of pictures dotted the walls, from old-fashioned landscapes to a Gainsborough lady in a velvet frame, and they were all fixed with satin bows and suspended on ribbons. A couple of Aubusson rugs were placed at strategic points on the marble tiled floor.
She crossed the room, her handbag catching her attention; she hadn’t realised she had left it in the car. It rested, along with a small leather box, on the dressing-table. Maria had been thorough. It was Lexi’s jewel-box, not that she had much jewellery, but flicking it open she drew out her wristwatch and slipped it on; she had forgotten it in her haste to get away from Jake that morning. Not that it had done her any good, she sighed wearily. Her hand hovered over the box and slowly, reluctantly, she moved aside a few pieces of jewellery to reveal a plain gold ring. She hadn’t looked at it in years, but she had never quite got around to throwing it away.
Lexi picked up the gold band and held it in the palm of her hand, such a simple piece of jewellery that had once meant the world to her. In her mind’s eye she saw herself as a young girl walking into the register office on the arm of Meg’s husband Tom. She had been nervous, but it had been a trembly, exciting kind of nerves. Her wedding-dress had been a delicate white broderie anglaise affair. Jake had insisted she must wear white, the same way after only a couple of dates he had discovered she was a virgin and insisted she marry him. At the time she had thought it was because he loved her and had too much respect for her to indulge in an affair.
With hindsight, she realised grimly, it had simply been a very smart move on his part to acquire Forest Manor and turn it into a hotel. True, he had paid her father’s debts and made her a sleeping partner in his business, in fact he had insisted on it. She smiled drily; for all she knew she might be a very wealthy woman in her own right by now. She had had no contact with the London merchant bank where Jake had opened her account since the day he had taken her there to sign the necessary documents.
‘You kept it. That does surprise me.’
Lexi jumped as if she had been stung, and whirling round her startled eyes clashed with cold blue. ‘Do you have to creep up on people like that?’ she burst out; she had not heard him approach, and she blushed scarlet, embarrassed and angry with herself.
‘I did not creep, as you put it.’ His cool eyes looked mockingly down at her. ‘But you were so lost in thought that you didn’t hear me. Pleasant memories, were they?’ he probed, his hand reaching out and curving around her closed palm, forcing her fingers to open.
Lexi was incapable of responding with his unexpected presence only a few inches in front of her. The touch of his hand had set her heart racing and the image of what had happened earlier in his bedroom leapt to the forefront of her mind.
‘Too simple for your taste. I imagined you had consigned it to the rubbish bin years ago.’
‘Wh-what..?’ Wide-eyed, she stared at him, her thoughts in chaos. His lips parted over even white teeth in a grin of genuine amusement at her obvious confusion.
‘Never mind. It’ll do until I get you a diamond one.’ And with casual arrogance he took the gold band and slipped it on her ring finger, and she let him, too surprised to do anything else.
‘Still a perfect fit. Just like you and I, Lexi.’
She stared at him, the colour flooding her face at his words. ‘So you say,’ she tried to jeer, but it was right, he had proved it very thoroughly not half an hour ago. She glanced down at their joined hands, anything to avoid Jake’s too knowing expression, but the gold ring glittering on her finger only served to remind her of the hopelessness of her position, and swiftly she pulled her hand free.
Jake lifted her chin with one long finger. ‘Don’t look so shocked,’ he chuckled. ‘We are married.’ And, trailing his finger up to her lips, he added softly but with deadly intent, ‘And this time you will not escape. Which brings me to why I’m here.’
‘I thought you had work to do,’ Lexi said, finally finding the control to string a sentence together.
‘True, but first your passport.’