Chapter Nine
Amy stared straight ahead. She barely came up to his shoulder, so his chest was straight ahead.
A trick of the light, the fineness of the shirt fabric or her wilful imagination, but she could see the suggestion of a sprinkling of dark hair.
It sparked tactile images of her fingers stroking the hair-roughened satiny skin, tracing the ridges of muscle on his flat belly, before…
This was crazy! She was not a particularly sexual person—and certainly not someone who allowed dark fantasies to take over. It had only ever happened with Leo. It didn’t take any effort on his part; all he had to do was breathe to bypass all her defences.
It had always been Leo.
‘In bed, you mean. You’re not interested in me anywhere else.’
‘I was thinking more of a walk in the fresh air, but…’
She flushed. ‘I should be in work.’
‘No one is expecting you today.’
His hand slid down her back, the featherlight contact sending electric flutters of sensation along her spine before his fingers came to rest lightly on her waist.
She told herself he’d pushed in closer but it was a lie; she had done the pushing and all the denial in the world wasn’t going to change the fact.
He held up his arm to reveal the slim, silver-banded watch he wore on his wrist, displaying a light sprinkling of fine dark hair as he flicked the cuff to display a sinewy forearm.
‘It’s five thirty-four.’
He dropped his arm, shifted his stance and the brain-debilitating contact was broken. It took a few deep breaths for her to fight clear of the sexual thrall that had immobilised her.
Amy cleared her throat and met his eyes, her defiance slipping several notches when she read the total understanding gleaming there. She knew that he knew exactly what he was doing to her, and she wanted to crawl away and hide.
‘You shred my control too, you know that.’
He voiced the devastating truth almost casually, but there was nothing casual about the muscle clenching and unclenching in his lean cheek, visible through the shadow of stubble that hadn’t been there earlier.
Amy breathed through the heart-thudding, shocking moment and, before she had formulated any sort of response, he moved towards the door in a dizzying change of direction in his body language and his voice.
‘Even I don’t jump on women who have just got out of their sick bed.’ Which didn’t mean he wasn’t tempted. ‘How about I let you freshen up and have something light to eat sent up? Then we will explore the grounds. It might put some colour in your cheeks.’
Amy knew she had plenty of colour; her cheeks were still burning in fiery reaction.
‘There’s no need for you to do all that.’
‘But I don’t trust you—’ He paused, his glance landing for a few tense moments on her mouth.
‘Trust me to do what?’
‘To not return to the kitchen and get in everyone’s way. They’re already aware of the situation.’
‘You mean they know you’re blackmailing me?’
‘No, that we’re having sex.’
She went white then saw the unholy amusement in his eyes and cursed. ‘Was that meant to be a joke?’
‘Would it be so bad if they did know?’
She regarded him incredulously. ‘Too right it would! And it was sex in the singular!’
‘The day is still young, but I actually meant that they know you’re unwell.’
‘Being unwell cuts no ice in a kitchen, believe you me.’
‘Yes, I’m sure you are very tough, and well able to drag yourself to work with a broken leg or share your flu with your colleagues. But being unwell does cut ice in this kitchen when I make it clear to everyone that you are to rest and recuperate.’
‘That sounds like an abuse of power.’
He breathed out a sigh and folded his arms across his chest as he looked down at her. ‘That’s an interesting take on an employer who looks after the welfare of his workforce.’
Amy decided that this was the point when it made sense to stop digging the hole she was sinking into while she could still climb out. She bit her lip and pointed out, ‘I have rested.’
She still couldn’t get over the fact that she had slept so much of the day away.
‘I think it will take more than a couple of hours to redress the fact that you appear to have been functioning on the edge of exhaustion for weeks, possibly months…’
‘So you brought me here for a holiday?’
He reacted to her sarcasm with a frown as he raked a hand through his dark hair. ‘At this point I don’t know why the hell I brought you here!’
She was still blinking when the door closed behind him with a forceful click.