She wanted to say Don't look at me that way! She wanted to tell him that he didn't have a hope in hell if that was what he was thinking-even while a Keri she didn't know or recognise was wondering what it would be liked to be imprisoned in the embrace of a man with arms as muscular and as powerful as his.
'Keri?' he said softly.
His voice seemed to come from a great distance away, and her own, in response, sounded low, husky-a world away from her usual cool tones. 'Y-yes?'
'Get a couple of plates down, would you?'
He saw the flustered look in her eyes as she quickly turned away. So she had felt it too-that indefinable chemistry which existed between the sexes and sometimes shimmered through the air when you were least expecting it.
No, that wasn't quite true. He had been expecting it. He was as hot-blooded as the next man. Mix up an attractive man and an attractive woman, stir in a little bit of circumstance, and usually the result would be fairly predictable. Jay had been used to women coming on to him since he was old enough to want them to.
But Miss Beauty was different. This was a woman who would put up defences-probably a necessity when you looked the way she did. She would be wary and on her guard against men who wanted her-and what man in his right mind wouldn't?
And you didn't get a woman like that to want you back-not unless you played her very carefully.
Keri put a plate down on the table with a hand which wasn't quite steady.
'You aren't eating?' he asked.
'I'm not eating that,' she said. 'I'll have the peaches.'
'You're kidding?'
'No, Jay, I am not. They will do just fine-and you should never eat a heavy meal before-I mean … after six,' she finished, licking at lips which were suddenly parched. She had been about to say before bedtime, but she'd bitten the words back in time.
'Suit yourself.' He shrugged his shoulders and began to ladle the food out, liking the way she'd said his name-real slow and sweet, as if she'd dipped the single syllable in honey.
She watched as he heaped on what seemed to be an enormous amount of food.
'You honestly aren't planning to eat all that yourself?'
He flicked her a glance. 'I have a big appetite,' he said gravely.
Keri felt her knees grow weak. This was awful. Or was it inevitable that once sensual awareness had shivered into the mind it was impossible to think straight, or to forget it? He's your driver, Keri, she reminded herself. 'Then you should be careful,' she said coolly as she dolloped peaches into a dish. 'Or one day that muscle will turn to fat.'
'I don't think so. If a man stays active he doesn't get fat, and I am very active.' He smiled. 'Now, let's take all these goodies next door. We can sit in front of the roaring fire and then … '
'Then what?' she questioned, her voice rising in alarm.
'Then you can tell me the story of your life.' His eyes gleamed with anticipation. 'So far.'
CHAPTER FOUR
SOMEWHERE between the kitchen and the cavernous sitting room Keri gave herself the kind of silent pep-talk that she hadn't really needed since she was in that hormonal state of mid-teen flux which made girls think their heads were composed of cotton wool.
There was no denying that he was a gorgeous man, nor that she seemed to be attracted to him, in a rather confusing, pulse-racing kind of way. But that was hardly surprising. You would need to have been made out of stone not to acknowledge his physical presence or his to-die-for face. And he had taken charge and got them here safely, and there was an unmistakable appeal about that too. A man who could protect definitely did appeal to an age-old and very feminine need which until this moment she hadn't realised she possessed.
Yet it was more than that. All her adult life she had mixed with men who were good-looking, who probably could match him muscle for muscle-though theirs was of the type which was honed at the gym, which she suspected Jay Linur's wasn't. He looked as if he had been born strong and capable.
But looks were just the exterior package-she of all people knew what they could hide-and the thing about Jay Linur which seemed to set him apart was a kind of inner confidence and ease. And, yes, it was surprising for a driver, and particularly surprising that he didn't seem to be fazed by the fact that he found himself in these isolated surroundings with a woman who would usually have the most confident man slightly lost for words.
Perhaps it was because he had nothing to lose that he seemed to have the ability to treat her as she was so rarely treated-as if she was just another woman and he was just another man.
Which was all he was. A man who was capable in crisis, but ultimately a man she would never see again once that crisis was resolved. So she had better forget all about the hard, rugged profile and stop snatching surreptitious little looks at the hard-packed body.
The fire was roaring now-a glorious blaze of amber and crimson logs sending off the most delicious smell as they burned-and she saw that he had put a small pile of blankets down to warm, well out of spitting range.
Keri sniffed the air, her heart hammering, trying to draw her attention away from the heap of blankets and its implications. Where on earth where they going to sleep tonight? With an effort, she dragged her thoughts back to the fragrant smoke. 'Mmm.'
'Applewood,' he informed her as he put the tray down. 'And there was dried lavender scattered in the bottom of the basket. Good, isn't it?'
Keri nodded. He had parked his long-legged frame on the floor, and after a moment's indecision she joined him. Because it made sense. This was where the warmth was-as close to the fire as possible.
But it seemed too intimate-a feeling not helped by the fire, nor by the fact that the candlelight created a romantic look to the room. Never before had she realised the seductive potential of candlelight even though she had sat in countless restaurants which used it. She told herself that the soft, flickering light was designed to create a romantic 'mood', and she must be sure and remember that the mood they were creating here was an illusion.
He poured her a glass of wine. When she was pensive like that she looked ridiculously young-softer and sweeter. But models were tough-they had to be. He'd known a few in his time-women who wore so many different masks that in the end you wondered whether there was any real substance beneath.
'Here,' he said.
'Thanks.' She turned her head to take it from him, startled by the cold, searching light in his eyes, as if he was examining her under a microscope, as a scientist would.
'Eat,' he said sardonically. 'Mmm-those peaches look so tempting!'
Keri had trained her appetite rigorously over the years. She had learnt to regard hunger as a normal state; you needed to if you were to fit into the clothes you were expected to wear on shoots or on the catwalk. Unlike most of her peers, she didn't smoke any more-and whenever she wanted more food than she knew was necessary to maintain her slender frame she usually went for a walk, or read a book, or arranged flowers. Displacement therapy-none of which were remotely possible here and now.
She ate a peach and took a large gulp of wine, trying to ignore the smell of Jay's food wafting towards her and trying not to watch as he curled the spaghetti round his fork and ate it with a pleasure which was almost sensual. How could some meaty slush like that smell so … so tempting?
For a while he said nothing, just ate with slow and obvious enjoyment. Then he moved a forkful towards her. 'Here. Have some,' he coaxed softly.
The smell was tantalising. 'I don't eat wheat,' she said weakly. 'Remember? Or … or red meat … particularly out of a tin.' She screwed her nose up in an expression of disgust she didn't quite feel.
'Suit yourself.' He transferred the forkful back and ate it himself, and began to scoop up another.
On the one hand she knew exactly what he was doing-trying to tempt her into eating when he knew she didn't want to-and yet there was this unrecognisable Keri who didn't care, whose stomach was empty and rumbling.
'Go on,' he said. 'You know you want to.'
His eyes were brilliant, hard and gleaming like a diamond, and now another loaded fork was just inches away from her mouth. Keri responded instinctively, her mouth opening like a goldfish, and he ladled the food in before she had had time for second thoughts.