Sweet Surrender With the Millionaire(16)

Morgan … She bit down on her bottom lip pensively. He'd behaved like a  perfect gentleman after that one scorching kiss. They'd eaten Kitty's  wonderful dinner, talked, laughed a little and enjoyed coffee with a  fine liqueur before he'd seen her home to her front door. He'd tucked  her hand through his arm as they had walked the short distance down his  drive and into the lane before reaching the cottage, and although she'd  known it was merely a casual gesture it had seemed strangely intimate to  feel the pressure of his body close to hers. Once at her door she had  prepared herself for the goodnight kiss. Only it hadn't come. Not even a  fleeting peck like the one he'd given her after the scorcher. She could  have been his maiden aunt, she thought crossly.

Willow frowned to herself, inhaling the fragrant scent of coffee as she  idly watched two blue tits hanging from a nut feeder she'd hung from one  of the trees bordering the garden, their distinct blue crests on tiny  black and white heads vivid in the sunshine.

Not that she had wanted him to kiss her, she assured herself firmly. The  close embrace hours before had been enough to convince her that where  Morgan was concerned she'd be playing with fire. No, far better to keep  it light and easy. And that was exactly what he'd done. Her frown  deepened. Which was fine.

She finished the coffee and fetched another cup, settling herself down again in the same spot and feeling intensely irritable.

She was being ridiculous. She nodded to the thought. And hypocritical,  which was the one human failing she loathed above all others. A hot  arrow of guilt pierced her. She couldn't insist Morgan kept his  hands-and his mouth-to himself and then feel miffed when he did exactly  that. She was being monumentally unfair and capricious and unreasonable,  but why hadn't he mentioned seeing her again? Why had he just walked  off without a word?

Because you're just the neighbour he helped out.

She lifted one shoulder in answer to the thought, the motion defensive,  almost aggressive. In that case he'd had no right to kiss her as he had,  had he? She took a long pull at the coffee, scalding hot though it was.  He hadn't; it had been grossly unfair.                       
       
           



       

She was being ridiculous. He'd explained that kiss as one of those  things that happened now and again between members of the opposite sex,  and that was what it had been. It wasn't his fault that it had been the  most devastatingly, incredible, amazing experience of her life and had  left her wanting much, much more.

Her heart jolted violently and then jump-started itself into a  machine-gun gallop. She put her hands to her chest as though to calm it  down, her mind racing.

No, no, no. She shut her eyes tightly as she struggled for calm. He had  said friends and that was exactly what their  relationship-relationship?-was. Friends. Neighbours. Nothing more.  Nothing less. Anything more would be disastrous.

She opened her eyes. The blue tits were back, having been disturbed  temporarily when she'd gone to fetch her second cup of coffee. They  twittered happily, positively frolicking on the nuts.

She had no right to feel let down. No right at all, and yet she did.  More than she could have imagined. Which only proved she had been  absolutely right when she had told herself that Morgan Wright was  dangerous and to be avoided.

'So she didn't stay another night?' Kitty said disapprovingly.

Morgan clenched his teeth but when he spoke his voice was cool and controlled. 'No, Kitty, she didn't.'

'Pity.' Kitty sucked her breath through her teeth. 'Pity.'

'Pity?' Even as he told himself not to bite, he responded.

'I think so. She seems a nice young lady.'

'Ah, but I go for the bad ones, Kitty. You should know that by now.' He grinned at her with a lecherous wink.

Kitty treated his mockery with the contempt it deserved and ignored it  as she plonked Morgan's breakfast in front of him. 'So when are you  seeing her again?' she said stolidly.

Morgan deliberately finished the last of his coffee before he said,  'I've no idea. When she needs rescuing from a burning building or  something similar? That seems to be the pattern.'

Kitty surveyed him, hands on hips. Even her apron seemed to rustle with  indignation. 'You didn't arrange to see her again? A lovely young woman  like that? Why ever not?'

He had asked himself the same question countless times and the answer  didn't sit well with him. Willow had the potential to complicate his  autonomous controlled life and he needed that sort of aggravation like a  hole in the head. In fact it scared the hell out of him. Pouring  himself more coffee, he said casually, 'Why would I arrange to see her,  Kitty? She's a neighbour who needed a helping hand, that's the only  reason she came here in the first place.' He took a sip and burnt his  mouth.

'Maybe, but she did come and you seemed to get on well.'

Get on well? He was drawn to Willow with a strength that he hadn't felt  before and that was the very reason he had to avoid contact. Shrugging,  he murmured, 'She was polite and grateful, but I think getting on well  might be pushing it a bit. Besides which-' He stopped abruptly. Was it  wise to go on?

'What?' Kitty's ears pricked up immediately.

'Nothing.' And then he decided to tell her. If nothing else it might  stop her infernal matchmaking. 'She's not in the market for any sort of  relationship, as it happens. She was married and I gather the divorce  wasn't an amicable one. Once burnt, twice shy. She doesn't date and she  intends to keep it that way.'

Kitty snorted. 'Poppycock. The lass might be a bit wary, but that's  better than some of these brazen types that are around these days.  That's the one thing I can't abide in a woman, brazenness.'

What she meant was the brazen types he dated, Morgan thought wryly,  being fully aware of Kitty's opinion of his lifestyle and in particular  his women. He unfolded his Sunday paper, signifying the conversation was  at an end, his voice dismissive when he said coolly, 'She's a  neighbour, that's all, Kitty. And I'll have a round of toast to go with  the bacon and eggs, please.'

For once Kitty wasn't playing ball. Folding her arms across her plump  little stomach, she said grimly, 'You let this one go and you'll regret  it, m'lad. That's all I'm saying.'                       
       
           



       

For crying out loud! His tone deliberately weary, he said, 'I can't let  go of what I don't have. End of story.' And he raised the newspaper in  front of his face.

He didn't enjoy his breakfast and the paper was full of rubbish.  Irritable and out of sorts, he decided to take the dogs for a long walk  to blow away the cobwebs and get himself back on course so he could work  that afternoon.

Pulling on a leather jacket, he whistled the dogs and left the house a  few minutes later. There was a pleasing nip in the air, foretelling the  frosts that were sure to come later in the month. The October day was  fresh and bright, shallow sparkles of sunshine warming the fields that  stretched either side of the lane beyond his house. He walked in the  opposite direction to Willow's cottage and the village, a host of  magpies in the trees bordering the lane chattering across the autumn  sky.

Shortly after leaving his property, he turned off the lane onto a  footpath that led between fields recently ploughed under the stubble of  the old wheat crop, the dogs gambolling ahead but taking care to stay on  the footpath like the well-trained animals they were. The landscape was  already turning into a glorious world of golden tints from copper to  orange and Morgan stood for a moment, breathing in the sharp air and  looking up into a blue sky, which until recently had been full of  swallows gathering together ready to migrate and screaming their  goodbyes.

Everything was fine. He nodded to the thought. Nothing had changed. His world was ticking along nicely and under his control.

He continued to tell himself this throughout the rest of the walk and by  the time he returned home he was ready for his Sunday lunch. He ate a  hearty portion of Kitty's Yorkshire pudding and roast beef with roast  potatoes that were crisp on the outside and feathery soft on the inside,  and disappeared into his study for the rest of the afternoon. By the  time he re-emerged as a golden autumn twilight was falling he had the  facts and figures of the papers he'd been studying clear in his head.





He met Kitty in the hall and she was carrying a tray holding steaming  coffee and a plate of her delicious home-made shortbread. 'Though you  might want a break,' she said fussily. 'You work too hard.'

Morgan hid a smile. This was her way of saying he was now forgiven.  'Thanks, but I'm just on my way out,' he said, and it was only in that  moment he realized he'd been intending to call round and see Willow from  the moment he opened his eyes that morning. 'I'll be back as and when,'  he added, 'so don't worry about dinner. I'll grab a sandwich or  something when I come in. Your roast was enough to keep a man going for  twenty-four hours.'