She closed her eyes and let Alex explain the details of how they had become lost, only opening them again when the room swayed and she found herself clasped against his chest once more.
‘At least we’ve a bed for the night,’ he murmured as he climbed the stairs. ‘The landlady, Mrs Pike, said to use the room at the far end of the landing. She’s gone to find you some dry clothes,’ he added as he deposited Jenna in the centre of a small bedroom which was dominated by a very large bed.
‘Where’s your room?’ Jenna queried tiredly as she flopped down on the bed. The mattress felt gloriously soft, and her eyelids drifted shut, but she forced them open again as she felt a hand tug the zip of her boots.
‘You need to get out of these wet things,’ Alex told her firmly. ‘You’re blue with cold; I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve got hypothermia.’
‘I’m okay, Alex. I can manage,’ Jenna squeaked, slapping away the hands that were busily unfastening her coat buttons. ‘I asked you where you’re going to sleep tonight.’
‘In here,’ he replied calmly, and she frowned.
‘So where’s my room?’
‘This is it—one room, and by the looks of it one bed. What did you expect? The Hilton?’
Jenna’s tiredness miraculously vanished, and she glared at Alex. ‘I’m not sharing a bed with you,’ she informed him coldly, but at that moment Mrs Pike tapped on the door, smiling cheerfully as she handed Jenna a voluminous cotton nightdress.
‘Here you are, pet; your husband explained that you left all your belongings in the car. It’s a raw night, and no mistake, you’ll have to snuggle up close to him and keep warm.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
JENNA rolled onto her side on the ancient sofa and cursed beneath her breath as her hip ground against an unruly spring. The two-seater sofa was upholstered in a curious material—horsehair wouldn’t have surprised her—and as she wriggled to find a comfortable spot her blanket slithered to the floor.
‘Alex, are you awake?’ No sound came from the bed, which only increased her irritation. He must have fallen straight to sleep—but then he had the luxury of the double bed to himself, while she was forced to manage on this sofa which was practically an antique.
Not that Alex had made her sleep on the sofa, she admitted honestly.
‘It’s a big enough bed for the two of us,’ he had argued, after flatly refusing to take the sofa himself. ‘For heaven’s sake, Jenna, I’ve wrecked my car and battled through a blizzard. My libido is the last thing that’s troubling me, and the sight of you in that nightdress does not incite my lust, I can assure you.’
‘I’m not sharing a bed with you, and that’s final,’ Jenna had snapped as she’d snatched a pillow and blanket and headed for the sofa. ‘I’d rather cuddle up with a rattlesnake.’
‘Please yourself,’ he had murmured, beginning to un-button his shirt, and as his hands had reached for the zip of his trousers she’d given a yelp of impotent fury and hurried to the bathroom.
It was freezing, she thought grumpily as she wrapped the folds of the enormous nightdress around her. She was tired, cold and miserable, and she hated Alex Morrell—but her reluctance to share his bed had little to do with fear that he would use the situation to his own advantage. As he had pointed out, the sight of her looking as though she had stepped from the pages of Little Women did nothing to trigger his desire, but unfortunately one glance at his naked chest had sent her hormones into overdrive. It was herself she didn’t trust.
The sound of his contented sigh as he rolled over was too much to bear, and she sat up and punched her pillow into submission. ‘God, he sleeps like the dead,’ she muttered, and in the darkness Alex grinned.
Another few minutes and he would have to take charge of the situation, by picking her up and placing her in the bed, if necessary. But as he lay still he heard her move, and the mattress depressed slightly as she slid beneath the sheets.
The bed had to be as old as the sofa, Jenna decided as she hooked her fingers round the edge of the mattress to prevent herself from rolling into the dip in its centre. It was blissfully warm, though. She could feel the heat that emanated from Alex’s body and shifted further to her side of the bed, away from temptation. It would be like spending the night clinging to the north face of the Eiger, she decided, as she hung on to the mattress.
But gradually her grip relaxed, and, left to its own devices, her body rolled towards Alex and curled into the crook of his arm.
It was still dark when Jenna awoke, but moonlight filtered through the gap in the curtains and cast shadows over the room. She was warm and comfortable, but as she stretched she came into contact with something hard, and when she turned her head she discovered she was lying in Alex’s arms.