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Sinful Nights(9)

By:Penny Jordan


Because she told me.' She shrugged disdainfully as he turned round and  stared at her with cold hard, golden eyes. It was at the same time as  she told me about the weekend the two of you spent in the Cotswolds  actually.' Giving him a cold smile she marched past, heading for the  barn door. It would do him good to realise that she wasn't as naive as  he had always believed, but just as she drew level with the door his arm  snaked out, his fingers curling painfully round her wrist.

And that, of course, was why you left me?'

It was one of the reasons-there were others.' It was her turn to shrug  dismissively. But none of that matters now, I merely asked about  Miranda so that I could be prepared for any situation that might arise.'

She doesn't know we're divorced,' Blake told her. After my experiences with you I decided I preferred the life of a bachelor.'

And having a wife tucked away in the background made it all a lot  simpler. Yes I can see that. Let me go Blake, I want to go back to the  house.'

Isn't there something you've forgotten?'

She frowned, glancing uncertainly at him.

Loving partners normally part with a kiss,' he told her mockingly.

Maybe they do, but there's nothing "loving" about our relationship,'  Sapphire snapped. You didn't want to kiss me four years ago Blake, I  can hardly see why you would want to now.'

No? Perhaps I want to see how much your London lover has taught you.'  His head bent towards her and Sapphire immediately tensed trying to pull  away, but Blake was still gripping her wrist. His free arm fastened  round her, his hand on the small of her back forcing her against him.

A mixture of sensations raced through her as the heat of his body  imposed itself against her; anger; tension, but most of all a resurgence  of a familiar vulnerability she thought she had long ago overcome. The  knowledge that she hadn't, blinded her to everything else. She trembled  against Blake, closing her eyes to blot out his mocking smile trying to  convince herself that she was wrong; that the panic storming through her  came from anger and not from fear.

But what was it she feared? Not Blake. No, herself, she admitted sensing  the downward descent of his mouth, and twisting away to avoid it. Not  Blake, but herself, her vulnerability towards him; her  …

His mouth brushed hers and she tensed. Is that all you've learned? Not  very good,' Blake drawled, as his mouth moved from her lips to her ear.  His tongue tip explored the delicate shaping of her ear and panic  exploded inside her. She mustn't let him do this to her, she  …  Another  moment and he would be kissing her again and this time  …  No she wouldn't  let him see that he could evoke a response from her  …  a response that  was really surely nothing more than a conditioned echo of the old  feeling she had had for him?    

 



 

His mouth was feathering across her skin towards her lips. Taking her  courage in both hands, Sapphire turned to meet it, willing herself to  relax. She had dated several men in London before settling for Alan, and  surely she had learned enough technique from them to show Blake that  she wasn't a frightened seventeen-year-old any more.

Forcing herself to ignore the screaming protest of her nerves Sapphire  opened her mouth inviting his deeper invasion, teasing him with the tip  of her tongue. She actually felt the sudden tension in his muscles, the  quickly controlled start of surprise, but her brief advantage was lost  as Blake's arms tightened around her, his mouth taking what she had so  recklessly offered, his lips harshly possessive against hers.

If only he had kissed her like this when she was seventeen. The thought  surfaced through a whirling jetstream of jumbled emotions, fiercely  clamped down as soon as she acknowledged it, and pushed Blake away.

He let her go, watching her with unblinking gold eyes. Almost as though  he willed her to do it, Sapphire ran her tongue over the swollen  contours of her mouth. Well, well  …  That was quite something.'

His mouth was wry where she had expected it to be triumphant, because  she couldn't deny to herself that there had been a moment in his arms  when she had forgotten everything that lay between them and she had  responded to him in a way she had never responded to any other man, but  if anything he looked angry.

He's obviously taught you well.' The comment bordered on the harshly  accusatory and coming from anyone else Sapphire would have instantly  taken exception to it, but sensing that for some reason she had got  under his skin she responded lightly. And very extensively, I'm not  seventeen any more Blake.'

No, you're not are you,' he agreed, so don't expect me to handle you with kid gloves will you?'

I don't expect you to "handle" me at all Blake-that's part of our agreement-remember?'

Oh I think I'll be able to, now, but will you?'

He turned on his heel and left before she could speak, and although  Sapphire told herself it was relief that made her shake so much that she  had to lean against the stairs, in reality she knew that her emotions  were far more complex than that.

What had she let herself in for agreeing to remarry Blake? She had  always known he must despise her, but the anger she had just seen, so  savage and bitter, that was something she hadn't guessed at. He must  want Flaws Farm very badly, she thought bleakly as she made her way on  shaky legs back to the house.

Blake gone?' her father asked, when she walked into his room. Already  he looked much better, and Sapphire realised with an aching pang how  much her marriage to Blake meant to him.

Yes.' She couldn't inject any enthusiasm into her voice. Never mind.'  Her father obviously mistook the reason for her listlessness. You'll be  seeing him tonight. He's taking you out to celebrate-at least that's  what he said to me.'

To celebrate! Sapphire grimaced, inwardly resenting the fact that Blake  hadn't said anything to her about going out. Had he done so, she would  have refused.

I can't tell you how much it means to me that the pair of you are  getting back together again,' her father said quietly. He's a fine man  Sapphire. A good strong man, the sort of man you need.'

She made her escape from the room without giving any response,  half-blinded by the weak tears threatening to obscure her vision. In her  own room she opened the suitcase Blake must have brought up. Even to  think of him walking into her room made prickles of antagonism run down  her spine. How on earth was she going to live with him for six months  when she hated him so much?

She hadn't brought much with her, certainly nothing she could go out in  to celebrate'-and nothing she could wear to get married in. Fresh tears  blurred her eyes as she remembered the dress she had worn the first  time they were married. Stupid sentimentality, she derided herself;  their wedding had just been another part of Blake's elaborate charade,  just like the half-reverent, almost worshipping kiss he had given her  just outside the church doors. Sighing, Sapphire hung up her clothes.  She would wear the plain black wool dress she had brought; it was a  perfect foil for her colouring and a perfect accompaniment for her mood;  Alan had always liked her in it.

Alan! She hadn't told him yet about Blake. She gnawed on her lip  uncertain as to whether to ring him, or wait until he came up. She was  sure he would understand; Alan was always logical and reasonable. For  the first time it struck her just what she had committed herself to. She  would have to give up her job; her flat; her London life; everything  she had fought so hard for when she left Blake. But surely it was a  small price to pay for her father's peace of mind? But say Alan did not  accept her decision. She would not only have lost her job, she would  have lost a good friend and potential lover as well. She couldn't  understand why the knowledge should cause her so little pain. Perhaps  the agony of meeting Blake again; of being forced to remember how much  he had hurt her had anaesthetised her against other, lesser hurts.  Sighing she finished unpacking and went downstairs. One thing she did  remember about farm life was that there was always work to be done and  work, as she had learned in London, was a very effective panacea.    

 



 

I'm just going down to the village to do some shopping and pick up your  father's prescription,' Mary told her when Sapphire asked if there was  anything she could do. Want to come with me?'

No, I'll stay here if you don't mind.' Sapphire frowned. I would have  thought the doctor would call every day, in view of Dad's illness.'

Mary eyed her sympathetically. There's really no point now,' she said gently. Are you sure you won't come with me?'

No  …  no thanks.'

Well I'll be on my way then. I want to call at the butchers, your  father loves shepherd's pie and I thought I'd make one for him tonight.'

How could Mary be so matter of fact, Sapphire wondered, watching the  other woman driving away, but then as a nurse she would be used to  death; she would have learned to accept the inevitable. As she had not,  Sapphire acknowledged, but then she had had so little time to come to  terms with the reality of her father's condition. Blake had broken the  news to her almost brutally. The way he did everything. Unable to settle  to anything she went up to her father's room, but he was asleep. Not  wanting to disturb his rest she left again. What on earth could she do  with herself? Perhaps she ought to have gone with Mary. She wandered  aimlessly into the yard, bending to pet the sheepdog that suddenly  emerged from the field. Tam, the shepherd followed close behind, a smile  splitting his weather-seamed face as he recognised her. Tam had been  her father's shepherd for as long as she could remember. He had seemed  old to her when she was a child, and she wondered how old he was. He was  one of a dying breed; a man who preferred the solitude of the hills,  spending most of the summer in his small cottage watching over his  flocks. The rich acres of farmland in the valley were given over to  crops now, but her father still maintained his flock of sheep on his  hill pastures.