Sensual Encounter

‘You startled me!’ She moved away from the bulky figure of the man, stepping back in the dry sand. She had thought herself alone.

‘I didn’t think you could startle pixies,’ the man mused in that slightly lilting voice.

Kate gave an impatient sigh; she was not in the mood for a flirtation. ‘If you’ll excuse me,’ she turned away, ‘I have to get back to the hotel.’

‘Why?’

She turned back to find him standing very close to her, the wind whipping her long red hair about her face as she tried to distinguish his features in the darkness. It was an impossible task. ‘I just do,’ she said irritably, and began to walk across the sand to the narrow pathway that led up to the hotel grounds.

A hand came out to grasp her arm, the man was still at her side. ‘I’ll walk with you.’

The voice sounded young, interested, and for the first time she realised the inadvisability of coming down here alone in the dark. ‘Would you please leave me alone?’ She pulled away from him.

‘No.’

Kate swallowed hard at that single-worded answer. He spoke so firmly, so inevitably, that she felt her tension rising. ‘I shall scream—–’

‘Who would hear you?’ There was laughter in his voice now.

She moistened her lips, tasting the salt there, the sea-water being whipped up into the air by the fierce wind causing the whitecaps far out to sea being illuminated by the moon. If only she could see her accoster—all she knew was that he looked big and sounded young, his hair obviously long and dark as it was blown about. ‘I didn’t come alone,’ she told him with confidence. ‘I have a friend—–’

‘I know—me.’ Once again he clasped her arm. ‘I know you’re down here alone, at the hotel alone too. Don’t you realise how dangerous it could be out here?’

‘I’m beginning to!’

‘You’re in no danger from me, I can assure you,’ he mused.

‘I’m not?’ She unwittingly showed her uncertainty.

‘Not at this precise moment, no,’ he mocked. ‘Later I can’t answer for,’ he added softly. ‘I’m staying at the hotel too,’ he spoke briskly. ‘I saw you leave over an hour ago, when you didn’t come back I thought I ought to come and check that you were okay.’

‘Who asked you to be my watchdog?’ Kate snapped.

‘No one,’ he replied without rancour. ‘I just didn’t like the picture I’d conjured up of you a helpless crumpled heap at the bottom of the cliff.’

‘Well, you can see I’m fine, so I—–’

‘I’ll just see you back to the hotel, if you don’t mind.’

‘I do!’

‘Well, I’m going back myself anyway, so I might as well walk with you.’

‘I—–’ Kate began.

‘Are you here on holiday?’ he asked conversationally. ‘Only you don’t seem to be with anyone and—–’

‘Are you spying on me?’ she demanded furiously, turning to glare at him in the darkness, her eyes almost luminous, deep gold in her anger.

‘Yes.’

‘I—You—–’ She was speechless at his candidness.

‘I saw you arrive this morning and I’ve been watching you ever since. I can’t seem to do anything else,’ he added derisively.

Now she knew who he was, knew the face and body behind the voice. She had been aware of a man with laughing blue eyes watching her as she brought in her cases this morning, and again as she ate dinner this evening. The man had been seated across the room from her, also alone. He was good-looking if you liked rakish charm and a complete disregard for fashion and elegance. He was also the last person she wanted to talk to, his interest in her being obvious as his gaze never left her during dinner. In fact, it had been this that had hastened her departure from the dining-room this evening, her meal only half over.

‘How interesting,’ she said in a bored voice, relieved as she saw the lights of the hotel.

‘You don’t think so?’ he mocked.

‘No.’ She spoke with the same bluntness he did.

‘It was a man,’ he said with a sigh.

Kate came to a halt, looking up at him in the darkness. ‘What was?’ she queried warily.

‘The reason you’re spending time in a half empty hotel in mid-March.’

‘Oh, but it isn’t going to be half empty for long,’ she derided. ‘Apparently there’s some sort of conference starting at the end of the week; I have to vacate my room then.’

‘Good business management,’ he murmured appreciately. ‘I often wondered how these big hotels at seaside resorts survived through the winter.’

‘Well, now you know,’ she taunted as he held the door open for her, the lighted reception area showing she had been right about his identity; he was the man with the laughing blue eyes and the teasing smile that made the waitress blush as she served him his meal.

‘I certainly do.’ Again he seemed unaffected by her rudeness. ‘Would you like to join me in the bar for a drink?’

‘No, thank you.’ She pushed her long red hair away from her face, slightly wet from the damp air outside.

His mouth twisted. ‘It was a man, wasn’t it, the reason you’re hiding yourself here?’

‘I’m not hiding anywhere!’ she snapped.

‘No?’ he taunted.

‘No!’ Her eyes glowed her anger, there was a healthy colour to her cheeks from her walk on the beach.

‘Then have a drink with me.’ He thrust his hands into the back pockets of his denims, looking at her challengingly.

She was being goaded into accepting, she knew that, and yet something made her want to accept that challange, to show herself that she might have been hurt by one man but she was still capable of attracting another one. ‘I’ll have a glass of brandy, thank you,’ she accepted haughtily.

If he was surprised by her change of mind then he didn’t show it, seeing her seated at one of the plush booths before going up to the bar to get their drinks. Kate compared his attire to the formality of some of the other men in the room, and found him wanting, although he seemed unconcerned, carrying himself with a confidence that said to hell with convention.

‘Here we go.’ He put their two brandy glasses down on the table, sitting close to her in the booth. ‘Now tell me about yourself.’ He sat forward, his elbow on the table bringing him very close to her.

She avoided his gaze. ‘There’s nothing to tell.’

‘You come from London.’