Savage Awakening(37)

'Just,' he agreed, taking off his jacket and hooking it over one  shoulder. He waited until her nervous gaze connected with his again  before adding, 'Did you miss me?'

Fliss's lips parted. 'I-I wondered how long you'd be gone,' she conceded carefully. 'Have-er-have you been to see Diane?'

A strange expression crossed his face. 'I've seen her, yes,' he said,  and Fliss's stomach twisted into a tight knot of misery. 'Did you get my  messages?'

'Messages?' Fliss put the emphasis on the fact that he'd said messages  and not message as she'd expected. 'Mr Freeman told me you'd gone to  London, if that's what you mean.'

'He told you?' Matt looked confused now. 'Didn't he give you my note?'

'A note?' Fliss wondered if she could believe him. 'No.'

'Dammit!' Matt shook his head. 'I wonder why the hell not. He was supposed to give you the note, not tell you what was in it.'

Fliss straightened her spine. 'Perhaps you didn't leave a note,' she  said quietly. 'Perhaps you only thought you did. After all, you did  leave rather unexpectedly, didn't you?' She paused, and then continued  doggedly, 'I expect Diane was pleased to see you.' She swallowed. 'How  is she?'

'Do you care?' Matt's expression had changed now, and, stepping over her  gardening gloves and trowel, he came purposefully towards her. 'And I  did leave a note.' His jaw compressed. 'What the hell is going on,  Fliss? Are you glad to see me or not?'

Fliss backed up a little. 'I-well, how am I supposed to answer that?'

Matt scowled. 'It's not rocket science, Fliss. After the way you reacted  the last time we were together, I think I have the right to ask the  question.'

Fliss swallowed. 'Are you staying?' she asked tightly, and his scowl deepened.

'What kind of question is that?'                       
       
           



       

'Like you said, it's not rocket science,' she countered tartly. 'There's  a rumour going round that you might be selling the house.'

'That's rubbish!'

Fliss's heart lifted a little. 'It's not true?'

'Of course it's not true.'

'But-Diane doesn't want to live in Mallon's End. You said so yourself.'

Matt stepped a little nearer, his breath a delightful coolness against  her forehead. 'And that's where the rumour came from? The fact that  Diane doesn't want to live in the country?' He put out a hand and  touched her hot cheek. 'Are you sure you didn't start this particular  rumour yourself?'

'No.' She was indignant, scrubbing her hand over the spot where his  fingers had touched as if to erase it. Nor was she prepared to tell him  it might have been her father. 'Does it matter who started it?'

'Not so long as you know it's not true,' he essayed drily. He looked  down at her from beneath lowered lids. 'You know, I've tried to play  this scene in my mind a dozen times on my way here, but it never turned  out like this.'

Fliss backed up again. 'I'm sorry.' She licked her dry lips. 'But you  went away without telling anyone what you were doing. In a village like  this, people are always going to talk.'

Matt considered. 'And you didn't think about squashing the rumours?' he  asked softly. 'You could have done.' He allowed his fingers to stroke a  sensuous path from the frayed sleeve of her T-shirt to her wrist. 'You  knew I'd be coming back.'

'Did I?' Fliss wondered if he realised how unlikely that sounded to her. 'You didn't confide in me either.'

'I wanted to.'

'Right.' She crossed her arms in an attempt at self-protection. 'So what stopped you?'

Matt sighed. 'Can we go inside? I'd prefer not to broadcast my private affairs to all and sundry.'

Fliss glanced about her. 'I don't see anyone, do you?'

'What's wrong?' Matt looked towards the cottage. 'Is your father at  home? Has he warned you not to have anything more to do with me?'

'I'm not a child, Matt.'

'No, but I don't understand why you're so hostile. For pity's sake, it  was an emergency, right? My mother was taken ill in the night. I didn't  have a lot of time to do anything except write a couple of notes.'

Fliss stared at him, absorbing what he'd said with a wary reluctance. 'You-could have phoned,' she said at last, and he swore.

'I did phone,' he said harshly. 'Twice. Didn't your father tell you?'

'No. I-no.' Fliss stared up at him with troubled eyes. 'Are you sure? You actually spoke to Dad?'

'Gruff, clipped voice-one might also say hostile in his case, too? Yeah, that sounds like George Taylor to me.'

Fliss gasped. 'He never said a word.'

Matt nodded, gesturing towards the cottage again. 'All the more reason for me to speak to him now.'

'No-I-he's not here,' murmured Fliss unhappily, lifting her hands palms  out in defence. 'He's taken Amy to the cineplex in Westerbury. There was  a Disney film she wanted to see and he offered to take her.'

Matt's eyes darkened. 'Couldn't be better. We'll have plenty of time to talk.'

'Matt-'

'What?' His eyes dropped sensually to her mouth. 'We have to talk. You  know that. After the way you brushed me off, I've gone through hell  these past few days. Surely you're not going to deny me a few minutes of  your time.'

Fliss moved her head from side to side. 'This-isn't a good time. I'm hot. I need a shower-'

'I'd say it was the perfect time,' he contradicted her huskily. 'Come  on, Fliss, put me out of my misery. Tell me you're glad to see me.'

Fliss swallowed. 'I-whether I'm glad to see you or not isn't in question.'                       
       
           



       

'I'd say it was the only question,' he contradicted her swiftly. 'Well,  are you? Would it please you to know that no woman has ever hurt me as  much as you did?'

Fliss's jaw dropped. 'You don't mean that,' she protested, backing up  the cottage steps behind her. 'Please, Matt, find someone else to make a  fool of.'

Matt swore then, following her up the cottage steps. 'If anyone's the  fool here, it's me,' he snapped, but, although his words were harsh, his  eyes were dark with emotion. 'For God's sake, Fliss, I told you I loved  you. Doesn't that mean anything to you?'

Fliss could hardly breathe. 'You-love-me?'

'That's what I said.' He glanced behind him and then stepped through the  cottage door, swinging her round so that her back was to the wall  behind her. 'You'd better believe it,' he added grimly and covered her  mouth with his.

The unreality of what was happening gave way to a liquid hunger. His  mouth was so intent, so insistent, a subtle exploration that reduced her  limbs to water. She knew she must be making it easy for him, letting  him see how utterly she succumbed to his demands. But right then, she  didn't care. She'd missed him so much and she couldn't hide the way she  felt.

'God, Fliss,' he muttered at last, resting his forehead against hers, 'you have no idea how you make me feel.'

Fliss drew a shivery breath. 'I think I do,' she whispered, lifting her  hand and cupping his cheek. He hadn't shaved since that morning and  already his dark stubble was rough against her fingers. 'But can we  close the door before someone does come along?'

'Suits me,' said Matt unevenly, feeling behind him and pushing the door  into its slot. Then, he put a hand at either side of her head and  lowered himself against her. 'Now tell me why you didn't believe me when  I said I loved you before.'

Fliss quivered. His lean body was hard against hers and she could feel  his erection, hot and unmistakable, against her hip. 'Wh-what would you  have thought?' she stammered, fighting the seductive pull of his mouth  against her cheek. 'You-you'd just had sex-'

'Made love.'

'-for the first time in-in-'

'Almost two years,' he supplied helpfully, and she gave a convulsive sob.

'All right. In almost two years,' she agreed unsteadily. 'People say things in-in the throes of-of-'

'Passion?'

'All right. In the throes of passion,' she murmured, her face burning. 'They don't always mean them in the cold light of day.'

Matt's sigh was tangible against her earlobe. 'Fliss! Sweet, sweet  Fliss! When I said I loved you I'd already recovered from any relief I'd  experienced. I'd had a shower-a cold shower, as it happens. Coming  downstairs and finding you waiting for me was-well, it was what I'd  wanted all my life.'

'Matt-'

'No, I mean it.'

'But-well, it could have been Diane.'

For once he didn't react violently to her suggestion. 'No, it couldn't,'  he said firmly. He drew back to look at her. 'Listen to me, sweetheart.  To put it crudely, Diane tried to do what you did without any result.  Any result whatsoever.'

'You mean-'

'She wanted us to have sex,' he said flatly. 'When I got back, naturally  she expected us to carry on where we'd left off, but it wouldn't work.  Whatever I'd felt for Diane before I went away was gone, vanished. I  felt nothing when she touched me. Just a faint revulsion that I assumed  was the way things were going to be from then on.'

'Then how-?'

Matt brushed her lips with his. 'Don't ask me how. I don't know. I just  know that from the moment I met you, I started to come alive again. Not  all at once, you understand, but slowly and surely. God, I couldn't  believe how good I felt when you were around. I suppose that was when I  started wanting you. Only I didn't believe that was going to happen  either.'