Part 28 (1/2)

He raised an eyebrow. 'And had you?'

'No.'

'Would you like me to do it again? Just to be sure?'

She nodded, suddenly shy.

'Presumably it's the same drill as before?' he said. 'No funny business?'

'Depends what you mean by funny business,' she murmured, lowering her gaze.

'Miss Swift, are you flirting with me?'

'I would if I knew how.'

'Now you're just fis.h.i.+ng.' He tipped her chin up. 'But I'll carry out your bidding, if you'll come through to the other room.'

Terrified that her nerve might give out somewhere between the kitchen and sitting room, Harriet said, 'Here is fine.'

He looked amused and ran a finger over her lips. She s.h.i.+vered, slipped her hands round his neck and pulled him down to her. Almost immediately this time she was filled with the euphoric warmth that seemed to fill her from head to toe. She clung to this extraordinary man who could do this to her, no longer caring what she was doing, or what the consequences would be. All that was important was that Will didn't stop what he was doing. Without once ever letting go of her, he manoeuvred her out of the kitchen and along the hallway, b.u.mping and cras.h.i.+ng against walls and pieces of furniture. She thought he was going to take her upstairs, but instead he pushed open the sitting-room door and took her in there.

She had been undressed many times before, but never by a man as deft as Will. Or was she just too drunk on erotic desire to notice her clothes slipping away? They were on the floor. Music was playing. She leaned over to kiss Will but he resisted and, proving again how deft he was, in one easy move he tilted her onto the carpet and began kissing her. At the same time he gently parted her legs with his hand and made her gasp as he slid a finger inside her. For a split second she tensed, but as his tongue pushed further into her mouth and the palm of his hand pressed against her, she relaxed and gave in to his touch. With a swiftness she'd never experienced before, she was arching her back on the brink of climaxing. Too soon, she told herself. Much too soon. What about him? She tried to distract herself, but it was no use, the wave was getting nearer. 'Stop,' she begged.

'What, and spoil all the fun?' he whispered in her ear. He carried on, slowly, rhythmically, expertly, but now he was watching her face intently. His eyes, even darker now, had a strange look in them; an absorbed, mysterious look she couldn't fathom.

'But what about you?' she moaned as the wave came closer.

'Ssh ... stop worrying. Concentrate on enjoying yourself.'

She did as he said and when it came, it was like nothing she had ever experienced before. It was a tsunami, the mother of all tidal waves. And just at the point when the o.r.g.a.s.m took hold of her, he kissed her so deeply she was suddenly adrift from all her senses, swept away by something so powerful the blood pulsed in her head and she thought she was going to pa.s.s out. For minutes afterwards she lay quivering in his arms, fearing her body would never feel the same again. Finally, she broke the silence and said, 'What was that?'

'I think it's what we in the trade, Miss Swift, call a cla.s.sic case of the earth moving.'

'But what did you do?'

He raised himself up onto an elbow and kissed first her left breast and then her right. 'I'll show you again in a minute, if you like.'

True to his word, he did. And a lot more besides. At three in the morning, she crept across the road and fell into the soundest sleep she'd ever known.

Chapter Forty-Four.

At work the following morning Harriet was having difficulty staying awake and if it hadn't been for Dangerous Dave surprising her at ten thirty with a cup of coffee and an iced doughnut, Howard may well have found her asleep at her desk. As it was, when he thumped on her door and came in she was leaning back in her chair, sucking the sticky remnants of the doughnut from her fingers and reliving with guilty shame all that had happened between her and Will. She had just told herself for the umpteenth time that it had been a night of proving that she was as spontaneous and sensual as the next person. What they'd done was nothing more than an exercise in proving a point.

'Not disturbing you, am I?' Howard said, eyeing the empty plate on her desk. 'Seeing as you're so in the zone.'

She snapped to attention in her seat and promptly knocked over a file with her elbow. She bent down to retrieve it from the floor and looked up to see Howard smiling oddly at her. 'How are you fixed for Friday?' he asked. 'Any chance you can squeeze a trip to Dublin into your hectic schedule?'

She didn't need to check her diary; she knew the day was free: it was her birthday. 'No problem.'

'Excellent. I'll fill you in on the details later. Meanwhile, I'm off to the dentist for the joy of some root ca.n.a.l work.'

'Ouch.'

'No doubt that's what I'll be saying when the cheeky sod bills me. See you.'

He closed the door after him, and with the greatest of effort Harriet forced her brain to apply itself to the programme she was working on. No more thoughts of Will, she warned herself, adopting a much-favoured work position, that of sitting cross-legged in her chair. She soon changed her mind when she realised her body was too sore to sit that way. A picture flashed before her of her legs wrapped around Will's waist. At once desire tingled up and down her spine. The colour rose to her face, just as it had at breakfast when her mother had commented how tired she looked and had then asked what time she'd got in last night. She swallowed and put the image of her and Will on hold and got on with some work.

She didn't stop until after one, when she reached a convenient point to take a break. After making sure her door was shut, she settled in the chair again and closed her eyes. She would eat later, she decided. Her immediate priority was to catch up on some much-needed sleep. She was exhausted.

From the second the alarm clock had woken her, she had tried to remember the exact moment last night when she had relinquished her ability to think straight. In her determination to prove Dominic wrong and to prove she wasn't as dull as he and Spencer had made her feel, she had somehow lost all sense of what she was doing. One minute she was satisfied that she hadn't imagined the effect Will's kiss had had on her, and the next she was panting for more. And the trouble was, she knew that having experienced that pleasure, she wanted more of it.

But she was going to be sensible.

And firm.

What had happened last night was a one-off. She would have to make that very clear to Will.

Don't kid yourself, Harriet Swift. Don't go pretending this is just another a.n.a.lytical process for you to get your teeth into. You want that man to s.h.a.g your brains out again, don't you?

She opened her eyes in panic. The voice - the voice of her conscience - belonged to Dominic. She could see him clearly mocking her. Sneering at her. Taunting her. 'Oh, so Miss Prissy Boots gets it now, does she? Now she knows what all the fuss is about. Well, my dear, congratulations, you've learned the all-important lesson: s.e.x is the only thing that makes you know you're truly alive. So what are you going to do about it?'

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to sleep now, she went and stood at the window overlooking the car park and fiddled absently with the wooden slats of the blind. But the question remained, and though her body ached in places it never had before, she knew exactly what she was going to do. Heaven help her, but she couldn't help herself. Dammit! Why was she so weak all of a sudden?

'Oh, so you're going to use him, are you?' taunted Dominic's voice. 'How deliciously ironic. The girl who sat in judgement of my s.e.xual proclivities has come a long way.'

I'm not using him, Harriet told herself, and went back to her desk for her mobile phone. No more than he's using me. We're both adults, both getting out of this what we each want. It's called fun. After what I've been through, I reckon I deserve it. What's wrong with that?

'You know best, Hat.'

In his office, while listening to the lunchtime news on the radio and eating a Pot Noodle - a nasty vice from his student days which he'd never grown out of - Will answered his mobile. He sat up straight when he heard Harriet's voice. He'd wondered who would ring who first. He'd spent most of the morning dithering. He wanted to speak to her for the pleasure of hearing her voice and because he knew women usually demanded a follow-up call, but he worried that she would think he was being pushy and getting above himself. This latter concern stemmed from her lukewarm response last night when they were saying goodbye. He'd handed her a business card with his mobile number and asked the dangerously loaded question of when he might see her again. 'I'll have to think about that,' she'd said.

Wrong answer! he'd wanted to shout. How about you saying you'll show up at the shop for lunch and asking if I'd mind kissing you again? I'm sure Jarvis wouldn't mind holding the fort while we got busy in my office.

Over the years he'd been on the receiving end of some tempting come-ons, but that line of Harriet's - I need you to kiss me again - was without doubt the s.e.xiest he'd heard. It had been her brisk, no-nonsense manner undercut by excruciating embarra.s.sment that had done it for him. She had seemed so vulnerable. He suspected that she had no idea what a turn-on it had been. Prior to last night, he'd given considerable thought to what she might be like in bed, but the reality had more than lived up to his expectations. Crudely speaking, once ignited, she'd been hotter than hot and they'd had what would be termed by the pundits as 'great s.e.x'. He got the feeling she'd been pleasantly surprised by how good they'd been together. Or was that him plumping up his ego?

'Hi there,' he said, in his best George Clooney voice.

There was a pause before she spoke. 'You okay, Will? You sound like you're coming down with a cold.'

So much for George Clooney. 'It's exhaustion,' he said. 'I hardly slept a wink last night. But when I did drop off, I dreamed this incredibly s.e.xy woman turned up on my doorstep and demanded I made love to her for hours on end. I know it was a dream because a guy like me could never be that lucky.' He crossed his fingers, hoping he hadn't overdone it.

'That's weird, because I had the same dream too.'

'You did? You mean the woman turned up on your doorstep as well? The two-timing little minx!'

Her laughter had him relaxing back into his chair and putting his feet up on to the desk. 'So, any chance we might get together again? I know it's difficult for you, what with - '