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The thought struck them both at the same time, and Rachel rolled away her computer chair and hauled out her briefcase, which she had shoved to the back of the tunnel under her desk.
‘The photographs—’ she said in dismay when she knelt down and unsnapped the case. She sat back on her haunches. ‘They’re gone!’
Matthew swore. ‘So it could very well have been our blackmailer.’
‘But no one knew I had them! Except you…’
His eyes kindled. ‘Are you accusing me of paying someone to toss over your house while we were making out on the back seat of my Dad’s car?’
His phrasing was deliberately designed to make her blush, but she refused to give him the satisfaction. ‘No, of course not,’ she said weakly, rising back to her feet.
‘I know you don’t really trust me yet, but at least credit me with some sense of morality,’ he scolded her, before turning back to the immediate problem. ‘Since our engagement was announced maybe whoever it is needs to urgently find out what’s really going on between us. And, since my residences are pretty well impregnable, the logical place to troll for stray information on our relationship would be here. The fact part of the evidence has been retrieved might indicate our blackmailer is getting cold feet. Thank God you keep that unfortunate note I wrote to you close to your heart—’
‘It’s in my wallet,’ she corrected him sharply.
He grinned. ‘I was speaking figuratively,’ he soothed.
‘Well, there was nothing else to be found, so I doubt whoever it is will come back,’ murmured Rachel, wrapping her arms around her waist. The late afternoon was edging into evening, and soon she would have to start thinking about her solitary meal. She lifted her chin. She probably wouldn’t feel like anything much after their superb four-course lunch. Maybe just a boiled egg in front of the TV…
Matthew was observing her contradictory body language. ‘Not that it matters, because, friendly neighbourhood or not—you’re not staying here,’ he announced. ‘Not tonight, anyway. And preferably not until we arrange to have the locks changed and a decent alarm installed.’
Rachel tossed her head, her eyes flaring with pride. ‘I’m not scared!’
‘Maybe not, my dear lioness, but I am,’ he said with rueful truth. ‘If anything happened to you I’d feel responsible, and I have enough on my conscience. I’m not prepared to leave you here alone, Rachel, and that’s that! And if you’re honest you’ll admit you don’t really want to be by yourself tonight, either. You’re staying with me.’
Honesty hadn’t had a hell of a lot to do with allowing herself to be persuaded into his unnecessarily protective custody, Rachel thought to herself later, as she lay in a huge bath of bubbles in one of the upstairs bedrooms of his country fortress. The real truth was that she had craved more of those mind-blowing kisses, and in that she had been severely disappointed for Matthew had suddenly become as virtuous as a priest.
After entertaining her with a detailed tour both inside and outside his house that would have done credit to the impersonality of a real estate salesman, Matt had urged Rachel to have a swim while he prepared another of his delicious light salads, this time with shrimp, for their evening meal. He had served it with a crisp white wine and kept the conversation innocuous, and then, leaving the dishes in the sink for the housekeeper to deal with the next morning, had pleaded pressure of work and gone through a stack of papers while Rachel had curled up on the other end of the couch and tried to concentrate on a borrowed book, sipping her way through another glass and a half of wine.
She had felt all her senses humming by the time he had closed the last folder, only to find herself confronted by a masculine yawn and a polite goodnight that had shunted her off to her room…alone. There her thoughts had grown oppressively melancholy, until she had banished them by mentally weaving a series of passionate fantasies which she now had an urgent desire to turn into reality.
Stepping out of her bubble bath and patting herself dry on the huge dark green bathsheet, Rachel reached for the sexy knee-length white satin chemise that Robyn had given her as a thank-you present that morning. It had looked quite modest in the box, but, looking at herself in the mirror, she realised that the slinky fabric concealed yet cleverly revealed the peaks and valleys of her body, sliding against her skin with every breath, the tips of her breasts showing as sharp points against the pearly satin.
She smoothed down the sides with trembling hands, a little tingle shooting through her as her fingers encountered her silky thighs through the daring slits that reached almost to her hip. She had had just enough wine to free her from nervous inhibition, and more than enough to dispel any niggling fear of rejection. She ached with a deep-seated need that Matt was destined to appease.
He hadn’t told her where his own room was—a glaring omission which Rachel refused to consider a deterrent. Her feet bare, she embarked on her quest through the maze of quiet, carpeted hallways on the upper floor, her figure shimmering like a ghost in the pale rays of the silver moon which shone down through the strips of patterned glass in the ceiling.
When she finally saw the mellow glow of an electric light spilling out through a half-open door, Rachel ventured in without knocking.
‘You said I wouldn’t want to be by myself tonight, and you were right…’
Matt, clad only in his cream trousers, his belt unbuckled, whirled around from the low mirrored bureau, his unshielded eyes flaring with shock. He threw the towel he was holding onto the dark-covered bed and strode towards her.
‘Dammit, Rachel, what are you doing here?’ His voice was hoarse as his gaze slid over the waterfall of satin to focus briefly on the rippling V where her thighs met before racing back up to her face. Even without his glasses he could still recognise trouble when he saw it. ‘If I’d already turned on the motion sensors the security board would be lit up like a Christmas tree right now!’
‘But you hadn’t. You knew I might be lonely,’ she said huskily, and reached out to walk her fingers up his naked chest. ‘You told me I shouldn’t be alone tonight…’
He caught her wrist. ‘Don’t do that,’ he ordered roughly.
‘Why not?’ With her other hand she touched his flat nipple. It was hot, dry and beaded instantly under her touch. She felt a surge of reckless pleasure. ‘Isn’t this what you expected when you brought me here?’
‘For God’s sake.’ His fingers manacled both her wrists, holding them out to her sides. ‘Not now, not like this…’
‘Like what?’ she asked, moving forward so that the front of her thighs brushed his and her satin-tipped breasts settled against his skin. She bent her knee, excited by her own daring, allowing it to nudge between his muscle-locked legs. She lifted her face and touched her tongue to the ridge of his jaw, tasting his tangy male flavour.
‘When?’ she murmured seductively. ‘When will you make love to me, Matt?’ The lighting was sensuously low, and the simple functionality of the room spurred her imagination. ‘I want you to love me here, now…on the bed, on the bureau, on the floor—I don’t care,’ she purred. ‘I just know we can make each other feel good…’
‘Rachel—’ He groaned as she tasted him again, sipping and nibbling at the dark stubble on his chin, pushing closer and rubbing herself wantonly against his stiff body. ‘Dammit, I promised myself I wasn’t going to let this happen,’ he gritted. ‘I should never have let you drink the rest of that wine, but I thought it might help you relax…’
