was a guest—nothing more. And a guest who had outstayed her welcome. But then what else had she really expected...?
He added, ‘Until later, then.’
And Maddie nodded, smiling back, and left him, her hands clenched by her sides to conceal the fact that they were trembling.
When she reached the suite, she went into her room and threw herself face downwards across the bed, pressing herself into the mattress as if it might open up and hide her.
She thought, ‘What am I going to do? Oh God, what am I going to do?’
Somehow she had to get through the rest of the day—and the night—without revealing the seething turmoil within her. To deal with the stranger that Andrea had suddenly become.
It was almost better when he’d been her enemy, she thought. Then, at least, he had looked at her as if she was human.
No, she amended quickly and guiltily. He’d looked at her as if she was a woman. She’d sensed it from the beginning, responded to it, at first against her will, then quite deliberately in an attempt to ameliorate a dangerous situation.
But only to be caught in her own trap, finding herself drawn to him and wholly unable to resist his attraction. This urgent, aching need he’d somehow awoken in her. And which he’d seemed to share.
Yet now...
She buried her involuntary moan in the pillow.
I never meant it to happen, she whispered silently, as if placating some unseen malevolent force. And I should have believed him when he said it was over. Should have made myself leave with the hateful Simpson.
Because she knew now that nothing—nothing—could be worse than inhabiting this—limbo she’d been consigned to.
At last she got up wearily, loosened her hair, removed her skirt and top and, after a brief trip to the bathroom to wash her face and hands in cool water, slid under the coverlet and tried to sleep.
It was not easy. Image after image chased through her mind, and all of them Andrea—devouring her with his eyes as she descended the stairs towards him, kneeling to attend to her blistered feet, and, above all, pleasuring her with such potent lingering sweetness that she ached at its memory.
Memories that were all she would have to take with her when she left.
Eventually, the pictures in her head began to blur and slip away and with them, if only for a little while, went the tension, the hurt and the unspoken yearning as she slept.
There were shadows in the room when she opened her eyes, but as she sat up she realised there was light coming from the bathroom together with the sound of the bath filling, and the next moment Luisa appeared in the doorway.
She checked. ‘Scusi, signorina.’ She indicated her watch. ‘E l’ora di cena.’
She went to the closet and extracted the black dress, but Maddie shook her head.
‘No, grazie. I will choose—decidere.’
Luisa’s expression as she hung the dress back in the closet plainly asked ‘What choice?’ But she ducked her head in assent and left Maddie to her own devices.
Her sleep had done her good, she thought, as she went into the bathroom. She had woken, seeing things much more clearly, knowing herself far better than she’d done an hour or so ago.
And, as a result, she’d reached a decision. One last throw of the dice, she told herself. Make—or break.
She sniffed at each of the array of bath essences and picked one with the scent of clove carnations, adding a generous capful to the steaming water.
After she’d bathed and dried herself, she used the matching body lotion rubbing it lightly and sensuously into her skin. She gave a slight grimace as the mirrored reflection of her nakedness showed that she was still bruised from her recent adventure, although the grazes were healing well.
But there was no time for the marks to fade, she thought, as she returned to the bedroom. She had to act now. Tonight.
Besides he already knew what she looked like without her clothes, bruises and all, she reminded herself, her skin warming at the recollection.
She opened the adjoining closet and took the black nightgown and robe from the rail. As she slipped the gown over her head, the delicate fabric, so sheer it was like a dark mist, touched her like a caress.
It hid almost nothing, of course. But wasn’t that exactly why he’d chosen it? And if she’d worn it the first time to throw his challenge back in his face, this time she intended it to be total enticement,