Freedom To Love

‘When you’ve just invited yourself into my bed it is. What happened to your friend?’

‘Jud? He had business elsewhere.’

‘Look, I’m sorry, Mr Wild, but——’

‘If you don’t come down, Katy,’ he interrupted softly, ‘I’m likely to come up there. Do you want that?’

‘No!’

‘Well?’

‘All right,’ she said crossly. ‘You go ahead and have your dinner and I’ll meet you in—say, an hour.’

‘Fine,’ he agreed briskly. ‘Don’t be late,’ he warned before ringing off.

She wouldn’t dare, not with the threat of him coming to her room. How had he found her? More to the point, why had he found her?

She dressed with care, wearing one of the only two dresses she had brought with her, deciding that denims and tops were more practical for the type of holiday they were on. But as they were staying two nights at this hotel, once this evening and once on the eve of their departure, she had brought two dresses with her. Thank goodness she had; she had the feeling Adam Wild expected sophistication from his companions.

Her dress was chocolate brown, below knee-length, with a fitted bodice and pencil-thin shirt, with a slit up one side of the skirt so that she could walk without hindrance. It was quite a daring dress, very figure-hugging, but the other one was even more so, the bodice on that one consisting of a thin wisp of material held up by two very thin shoulder-straps. At least the brown dress covered her body, even if it did outline every curve!

Her hair she brushed loosely down her back, completely straight, held back from her face by two thin slides at her temples. Her make-up was light, just a light touch of brown eyeshadow and mascara, with a peach lip-gloss on her mouth. She felt satisfied with the result, feeling cool and self-assured.

That coolness and assurance disappeared as soon as Adam Wild’s warm gaze slid over her with slow assessment, reducing her to the blushing young girl that she really was. He had changed from the disreputable denims and shirt, and was now wearing navy blue trousers and a light blue silk shirt that fitted tautly across his broad shoulders. He looked very lithe and attractive, emitting an aura of male dominance that made Katy feel protected and resentful at one and the same time.

He took her arm in a firm grasp. ‘Drink?’

‘Thank you,’ she accepted gracefully.

He left her seated in one of the corner booths of the lounge-bar, going up to get their drinks. Katy couldn’t see Gemma and Gerald anywhere in the room, so her gaze strayed back to Adam Wild as he chatted easily with the bartender. He was very self-assured, the lazy charm he displayed shielding a much more steely nature. Those warm blue eyes could harden with cruel anger, the relaxed body tense with fury. He had reached the top in a profession that was highly competitive, and he hadn’t done it by sitting back and taking it easy.

‘Thank you,’ she accepted the Martini he put in front of her.

He relaxed back on the padded bench-seat next to her, his arm across the back of the seat and almost touching her. ‘You’re doing very well so far,’ he said with amusement.

She gave him a sharp look. ‘In what way?’

He shrugged, his expression amused. ‘You haven’t fallen over anything yet, not in my sight anyway, and the hotel still looks pretty much intact.’

Katy bristled angrily. ‘Do you have to keep bringing up a few trifling mistakes I made on the plane? I can assure you I’m not usually so accident-prone.’

‘I believe you,’ he scorned.

‘Tell me, Mr Wild,’ she said sweetly, ‘did you call me out of boredom or did you just lose your little black book for Canada?’

‘Well, I certainly didn’t lose my little black book,’ he drawled infuriatingly.

‘Thank you!’

He grinned. ‘You asked for that one, Katy. Actually, the explanation is much more simple. I was neither bored nor bereft of my “little black book”. I just happened to see your sister, put two and two together, and decided that there was no point in both of us being alone tonight.’

‘I see.’ Katy smoothed her dress down over her knees, then wished she hadn’t as she realised she had drawn Adam’s attention to the thigh-length slit up the side. Her cheeks warmed with colour as he made no effort to hide his interest.

‘You have nice legs, too,’ he remarked bluntly.

‘Nice legs, shame about the face,’ Katy taunted.

He took her remark seriously, seemingly giving each feature careful consideration. ‘Nice face,’ he corrected.

‘But you’ve seen better,’ she said dryly.

‘Yes,’ he agreed with cruel honesty.

She bent forward to pick up her drink. ‘You—Oh, lord!’ she broke off as the glass slipped out of her hand and the liquid flowed all over Adam Wild’s trousers before the glass smashed on the floor at his feet. ‘Oh no!’ She looked at him in horror.

After an initial look of surprise a look of resignation passed over his features. ‘I knew it was too good to last,’ he groaned, mopping up the surplus Martini with a napkin.

‘I couldn’t help it,’ Katy snapped. ‘It just——’

His eyes went heavenwards. ‘Where have I heard this before? Why is it it’s never your fault? I didn’t see anyone around when you dropped that little lot.’

Katy passed him another napkin. ’You were.’

‘So now it’s my fault. Ugh!’ he grimaced at the stickiness of his trousers. ‘When you do something you really do it well!’

‘Yes.’ She stood up. ‘I’ll get someone to clean up the glass.’

‘Don’t bother.’ He stood up too. ‘I’ll tell the barman. Then you can help me get cleaned up.’

‘Oh, but——’ He had already walked away, leaving her no choice but to wait for him outside.

He joined her within minutes. ‘Let’s go to your room,’ he growled, the drink stained into the left side of his trousers.

Katy stopped in her tracks. ’My room? But——’

‘It has to be your room,’ he said in exasperation. ‘I don’t happen to be staying here.’

‘But——’

He pushed her into the lift. ‘You seem to have got stuck on that word. Which floor?’

‘Tenth. But—I mean,’ she amended at his scathing look, ‘if you aren’t staying here why are you in the hotel?’

‘Don’t worry,’ he scorned, ‘I’m not following you. It just so happens that they serve a good steak here. The fact that you’re staying in this hotel was merely a coincidence.’

‘I’m sure it was.’ She couldn’t imagine him deliberately setting out to find any woman, they would always have to do the running where this man was concerned. ‘I’m really sorry about your trousers.’ Her look was rueful.

‘So am I,’ he said tersely. ‘Unless you can get this Martini out you’ve just ruined a third of my wardrobe. I came away with two pairs of denims and these trousers,’ he explained. ‘And I didn’t intend shopping for new clothes while I’m here.’