Sheltered by Her Top-Notch Boss Read online

  ‘Was there a reason you came to see me?’ she asked.

  He nodded. ‘I realise I upset you earlier today, and I wanted to apologise for that. You were quite right. I was out of order. How you and Lewis relate to one another is none of my business.’

  She thought about it. ‘Perhaps I was a bit touchy,’ she conceded. ‘With one thing and another—Mel taking the complaint further, and work, and the stress of working on a TV series—it’s possible I could have overreacted.’ Now that she’d had time to get a grip on herself she was beginning to regret her quick flare of annoyance. Perhaps she’d taken on too much and it was showing in the way she reacted to situations.

  ‘We’re okay, then?’ He stood up and went over to her. ‘I wouldn’t like to think that things are strained between us.’

  She nodded, getting to her feet. ‘That would be awkward, seeing that we have to work together, wouldn’t it?’

  ‘It would.’ He laid his hands gently around her arms, his long fingers making bands of heat on her bare skin. ‘I’d much rather we had a good working relationship.’ He smiled. ‘In fact, we’ll probably be working together more than you think.’

  ‘Oh? How is that?’ His touch was doing strange things to her nervous system. She was finding it more and more difficult to concentrate.

  ‘I have to go to the TV studios on Saturday,’ he answered. ‘I’m going to record a programme about the Birchenall history—didn’t you mention that you were going to the studios that day, too?’

  ‘That’s right.’ She looked at him curiously, and as she moved slightly, he drew her into the circle of his arms. ‘How did it come about that you’re doing a show—didn’t you say you hadn’t time to do that sort of thing?’ His nearness was disconcerting. At the same time he was so near, it seemed, and yet so far away. She was beginning to yearn for something much more intimate.

  ‘I did say that.’ He half smiled. ‘Obviously I spoke too soon, but my father’s keen for me to do it. He’s very proud of his heritage—though he doesn’t often allow the cameras into his home.’ His grey gaze moved over her, warming her with its shimmering heat.

  Perhaps he, too, was finding their closeness distracting, because all of a sudden he appeared to have trouble thinking straight. ‘I think the skirmish with the press made him realise he has to work on his image, so when this opportunity came up, he asked me to stand in for him.’ His hand wandered along the length of her spine, coming to rest in the small of her back. ‘I want to put his mind at ease, so I agreed.’ He drew her closer and the breath caught in her throat as the softness of her curves collided with his toned masculine frame.

  ‘I get the feeling the weight of the Birchenall dynasty lies squarely on your shoulders.’

  ‘Oh, yes.’ Again, there was that rueful quirk to his mouth. ‘My father is determined that we live up to our heritage.’

  ‘I guess it means everything to him,’ she murmured.

  ‘Yes, it does.’ He looked down at her, his glance sliding over her flushed face and coming to dwell on the ripe fullness of her lips. All the time his hands gently stroked her, smoothing over the rounded swell of her hips, and her heart began to thump heavily in her chest so that she could feel it banging against her rib cage.

  This was much more than a friendly, soothing touch. It was a caress, gossamer-light and incredibly compelling, enticing her to move into the shelter of his strong, male body.

  He bent his head towards her, and she realised what was about to happen. It was as though everything was in slow motion.

  ‘Ellie?’

  She didn’t know if it was a sigh or a question, the way he said her name. Either way, there was plenty of time for her to make a move, to stop him there and then, but recklessly she did nothing.

  ‘I can’t think straight,’ he said huskily. ‘You’ve bewitched me.’

  She was mesmerised by his warm, comforting presence, and more than anything right now she wanted him to sweep her into his arms and make her troubles fade away.

  He didn’t let her down. His lips softly claimed her mouth, brushing over it with tender expertise and tantalising her with his coaxing, possessive kiss. Her hands slid upwards, over the flat plane of his stomach and onto his hard rib cage.

  He groaned softly and crushed her to him as he deepened the kiss, and she clung to him, her fingertips tracing the line of his powerful biceps. There was strength and control there, arms that could hold a woman fast and promise her heaven on earth.

  ‘You taste so good.’ He murmured the words against her lips, and a quick, unexpected ripple of desire flowed through her, shocking her to the core. She’d never felt this way before, never had such a deep-seated longing overwhelm her and cast her inhibitions to the wind.

  ‘Ellie, I want you. I could make life so sweet for you. Give you so much.’

  ‘You don’t have to give me anything,’ she murmured. She revelled in the way his hands moved over her, shaping her, enticing her to lean into him, to feel her soft body melding with his hard frame.

  He kissed her again, a fervent, passionate kiss that stirred her senses and had her almost begging him for more, much more.

  ‘You don’t need to be with my cousin,’ he said raggedly. ‘He’s not right for you—let me be the one to make you happy.’

  Ellie froze in shock. What was he saying? How could he say those things to her? Did he truly believe she was making a play for Lewis? Was that why he was holding her, kissing her? Just so that he might divert her away from him? Was that what he planned all along?

  She stared at him, scarcely able to believe what was happening.

  He frowned, conscious of her sudden withdrawal, but when he might have coaxed and cajoled her once more, his phone began to ring. He stood very still for a few seconds while the ringtone burbled. Then, as if he had been woken from a trance, he said quietly, ‘I’m sorry about this. I have to answer it. It might be... Excuse me.’

  He answered the call. He listened for a moment and then said, ‘Sophie, what’s wrong? No, I’m at Ellie’s house. Yes, I told you about her. We work together.’

  He broke off again as Sophie began to speak. Then, ‘It’s just a few minutes away. Why?’

  Sophie answered him and after a short time he interrupted her quickly to say, ‘It’s all right, I’ll come home. Loosen any clothing around his neck and prop him up with pillows. Has he had his glyceryl trinitrate spray?’

  He shut off the phone a second or two later and Ellie looked at him worriedly. ‘Your father? Do you need an ambulance?’ Her mind was a whirl of confusion.

  James frowned. ‘I’m hoping we can get through this without sending him to hospital—he hates being there. But he went out to visit friends today and now he’s having a bad episode. Can’t get his breath. It’s lucky that Sophie was with him—she has a key to the house so that she can come and go and keep an eye on him for me.’ He sucked in a quick breath. ‘I’ll try him with a stronger diuretic to see if that will help reduce the load on his lungs.’

  She went with him to the door. ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’

  He shook his head. ‘I have everything I need. Thanks.’ He glanced at her briefly. ‘Ellie, about you and I. You need to know—’

  ‘Go to your father, James,’ she cut in. ‘He needs you.’

  He drove away and she went back inside the house. She couldn’t get her head around what had just happened between them. What had she been thinking of, falling for him that way, when all the time he had been leading her down a false trail?

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ‘I WANTED TO wish you good luck, Ellie. I hope the filming goes well for you today.’ Lewis was cheerful on the phone, and Ellie smiled.

  ‘Thanks. I’ve looked through my notes and checked with the studio that all the props are in place, so hopefully it will all go smoothl
y.’

  ‘It’ll be great. I always enjoy watching your shows.’

  ‘I’m glad—though I think you’re a teeny bit biased, Lewis!’

  ‘Yeah, maybe.’ He chuckled. ‘Anyway, I’ll let you get off. I know you have to be there a couple of hours beforehand to get your make-up done and so on. I suspect that’s why you took the job, so that you could be cosseted every now and again.’

  She laughed. ‘And why not?’

  She finished the call a short time later and went out to the courtyard to say goodbye to Jayden. He was with his grandmother, getting ready to go to his grandparents’ house, and she wanted to give back a couple of toys that he had left behind.

  ‘I think you forgot your jigsaw puzzles and the new storybooks,’ she said, handing them over.

  ‘Thanks.’ He looked in the bag and passed it to his grandmother. ‘We’re going to see Mummy at the hospital this afternoon,’ he said. He frowned. ‘I think the baby’s coming today.’

  ‘Really? You’ll be a big brother—imagine that! It’s very important, being a big brother, you know.’ Ellie smiled at him and he nodded cautiously.

  ‘Yeah. Mummy said that.’

  Ellie looked at his grandmother. She was in her early fifties, a slender woman with neat brown hair feathered around her face. ‘He’s been a joy to have around,’ Ellie told her. ‘I shall miss him.’

  ‘We’re really grateful to you for looking after him. Thank you so much.’

  ‘You’re welcome. If you have any problems and need to have him sleep over any time, just let me know.’

  She watched them get into their car and waved as they drove away. Then she slid into her own vehicle and set off for the studios.

  The road passed through wooded hills and vales, by gentle waterways, and in the distance she could just about make out the misty peaks of the Pennines. The countryside was beautiful, serene, and incredibly peaceful.

  The only blot on her landscape was that James was going to be at the television studios and she hadn’t worked out quite how she was going to avoid him. It could be managed, though, because they would be using different studios for their recordings.

  Whatever happened, she’d made up her mind that she wasn’t going to let him get to her. How could she have been such a fool as to let him work his way into her heart like that, only to have him turn the knife when she least expected it? And why had she even thought about getting together with him when it was clear he wasn’t averse to playing around? Wasn’t he just like her ex?

  Well, it was enough. She’d learned a lesson. He wouldn’t get the chance to hurt her again.

  Soon the scenery changed from rural to urban, and a few minutes later she slowed the car as she approached the impressive building where the show was to be filmed.

  Everything looked spacious, with architect-designed buildings made up of brick and marble and a huge expanse of plate glass, all surrounded by landscaped terraces.

  ‘It’s good to see you again, Ellie,’ the receptionist said as she walked into the grand foyer. ‘They’re ready for you in Make-up—you can go straight through.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  She drank coffee and chatted while the hairdresser styled her hair, teasing her silky curls into a loose topknot, and then she relaxed while the make-up girl, Alice, set to work, giving her a light touch of foundation and adding a gentle sweep of blusher to her cheeks. At least, she tried to relax.

  ‘I was watching James Birchenall in the garden studio a little earlier,’ Alice confided. ‘I couldn’t resist listening in on his interview. They’re going to do some more filming at the house and then piece everything together, but today he was talking about how the land passed to his family in the sixteenth century, and telling us about the gentry who have lived there over the years. Of course the house has been altered in that time, with bits added on here and there.’ She sighed. ‘How the other half live! I certainly wouldn’t mind being his other half.’

  Ellie chuckled. ‘I expect a lot of women feel that way.’ Excluding herself, of course. She was immune to him now, wasn’t she? But from the sound of things she could rest easy because his programme was over and done with and he was most likely on the road home by now.

  After Alice finished working on her make-up the hairdresser came along to add a few finishing touches to her style, and then Ellie went off to record the programme.

  She talked about cardiovascular health and how people could look after themselves by eating the right kind of food and getting enough exercise. Then she talked to a nutritionist about fruit and vegetables and cereals, and measured people’s blood pressure after cycling and various kinds of exercise.

  The programme finally came to an end, and Ellie collected her bag and jacket, ready for the journey home.

  ‘Oh, you mustn’t go just yet!’ the producer exclaimed. ‘I’d like to talk to you about doing another series. I was thinking maybe something on pregnancy and women’s health—what do you think?’

  She nodded. ‘Sounds good. I’d need to expand my list of experts who could take part—but I could ask my friend and colleague Lewis about that.’

  ‘That’s great,’ he said. ‘Look, why don’t I join you in the Green Room in half an hour or so and we can talk about it some more? We’ve laid on quite a spread in there, so you must sample it while you’re waiting. There are some prime cuts of meat and great desserts.’ He lowered his voice, speaking in a confidential tone. ‘You’ll have to forget about all the stuff you were saying in your programme just now and live a little, but with your figure it won’t hurt, will it?’

  She laughed. ‘I suppose, if you’re going to twist my arm...’

  ‘That’s my girl.’ He waved her towards the door. ‘You won’t regret it.’

  She went to the Green Room and took advantage of the free time to make a quick call to Lewis.

  She told him what the producer had suggested, and asked him about people who might agree to appear on the show.

  ‘That’s great news, Ellie,’ he said. ‘I can think of a few people offhand, who might like to take part. I’ll drop by your house one evening—maybe Friday, because Jessica will be out then. We can talk about it and I’ll let you have a list of names.’

  ‘Thanks, Lewis.’

  When the call ended, she went to help herself to the buffet, filling her plate with thin slices of roast beef and a generous helping of rice and salad.

  ‘Ellie—I hoped I would see you here today.’ James’s deep voice smoothed over her, and she looked around to see that he was right by her side.

  Hot colour swept along her cheekbones. She’d been congratulating herself on managing to steer clear of him so far, and now he’d turned up when she was trapped with absolutely no excuse to rush away.

  ‘I was rather hoping the opposite,’ she murmured.

  ‘You’re angry with me?’

  ‘How did you guess?’

  His plate was filled with a selection of meats and savoury pastries, she noticed. He had a healthy appetite and never seemed to put on an ounce of fat, and she guessed he burned it up by being constantly on the go.

  A waiter offered a selection of wines and fruit juices and she chose a small glass of Bordeaux, as she would be driving later.

  She went to sit at a table by the window, overlooking one of the terraces. There were ornamental cherry trees out there, graceful weeping willows and banks of flowers, and every now and again benches were placed where people could sit for a while and relax. She studied the view for a while, trying unsuccessfully to ignore the fact that James had come to sit opposite her. She was way too conscious of him.

  ‘I don’t want to see Lewis getting into something he can’t handle,’ James said, offering her a bread roll from a wicker basket. ‘But that doesn’t mean I blame you for anything. I meant what I said to you. Y
ou’re a beautiful, caring, thoughtful woman. What man wouldn’t want to be with you? What would be the harm in you and I getting together?’

  She could have mentioned his girlfriend—the woman who spent so much time at the manor house and who, according to Noah, had been singled out for him, coming from a well-to-do family that had been linked to his in friendship for many years. But James was clearly pushing any such thoughts to one side for the time being. Wasn’t that what she might have expected, given the way men went from one woman to another, at least in her experience?

  Instead, she murmured, ‘I can think of a few things offhand.’ She speared a cucumber slice and then recounted the list of reasons. ‘Let’s see; you’re devious, conniving, an opportunist—and as you pointed out, should I be foolish enough to be caught out a second time, the rumour mill will start to work overtime at the hospital.’

  ‘We can overcome all those things,’ he said. ‘They’re nothing.’

  ‘Hmm. You would say that, wouldn’t you?’ She savoured her wine, letting it rest on her tongue for a second or two. ‘Of course, there’s always the fact that your father hates me.’

  ‘He doesn’t. Anyway, my father isn’t the one who wants to date you,’ he said, his mouth making an amused quirk.

  ‘That’s definitely true.’

  She glanced across the room and James must have caught her look of surprise because he turned to follow her gaze and said in a low voice, ‘Well, there’s a turn-up for the book. What’s my father doing here with Sophie?’ He frowned. ‘I warned him there’s no way he should be here.’

  ‘That’s what I was thinking,’ she said in a puzzled tone. ‘I wouldn’t have thought he was well enough to be out and about—it was only the other night you had to rush off to help him.’

  James nodded. ‘I don’t know what he can be thinking.’

  He stood up. ‘Excuse me. I’d better go and invite them over, if that’s all right with you?’