A Stranger's Love. Laura Martin
followed her instincts and stayed in her cabin...
Bethany’s gaze fixed hypnotically on the two bodies. Chad was whispering something in the woman’s ear as they lay entwined together on the rugs and she was gazing up into his face and laughing happily as his strong, masculine hands travelled sensually over the sheer, clinging fabric of her dress...
Bethany, feeling like a voyeuse, turned sharply and began tiptoeing back down the staircase, desperate to get right away before she was discovered. Oh, what an idiot she would look now if he knew she was here! Gangs of men and abductors, indeed! She had been reading too many thrillers, that was her trouble!
Haste and embarrassment made her clumsy. Somehow she managed to bang the butt of the rifle on the wall. It wasn’t much of a noise, just a scrape really. Bethany cursed silently and listened; clearly the seduction had reached a quiet stage. The image of the two of them stretched out on the cushions, kissing with passion and hunger, flashed unwanted into her mind. She frowned. Damn! Why on earth had she been so stupid?
‘Who’s there?’
Bethany held her breath, swivelling wide green eyes to the top of the landing. Chad appeared, his muscular frame illuminated magnificently by the light from the room, dressed in faded jeans and a denim shirt that had been dragged impatiently from the waistband of his trousers and was doing an inadequate job of hiding the broad tanned chest.
Bethany closed her eyes and pressed herself flat against the wall. There was every chance that he wouldn’t see her at all; the bottom half of the winding staircase was in darkness, and unless Chad bothered to investigate further she would be all right; she would be able to escape unseen. After all, Bethany reasoned, praying desperately, he did have other, far more interesting things to attend to. The state of his clothes, clearly showed the proceedings had moved on a stage. Surely the model-type was enough to keep him occupied?
It seemed not. Chad disappeared into the room, reappeared with one of the lamps and began descending the worn stairs with a tread that was firm and intimidating in the extreme.
‘Well, well! What do we have here?’
Bethany flicked open her eyes and stared speechless as the firm mouth twisted into a mocking smile. ‘Bethany Jones, trespasser, no less!’ Chad held the lamp high above Bethany’s head and surveyed her with cool detachment. ‘Just passing?’ he drawled smoothly. ‘Or did you come to borrow a cup of sugar?’
‘Chad! Who is it, darling?’
He turned his head and shouted back up the stairs. ‘Just someone I met earlier this evening, Theo, dropped by for a visit—nothing for you to worry about. Oh, no!’ Chad swiftly grabbed hold of Bethany’s arm to prevent her from scuttling back down the staircase. ‘You don’t escape that easily, my girl! I’d like to know what you’re doing here—or do you consider that too presumptuous a question?’
Bethany’s gaze shifted towards the landing. His dishevelled partner had appeared, her wild black hair all messed up and the buttons of her dress partly undone, allowing more than a glimpse of a frothy black lace bra.
Chad followed Bethany’s gaze. ‘Make yourself decent, Theo,’ he drawled lazily. ‘I’m bringing our visitor up.’
‘You’re doing no such thing!’ Bethany hissed, glaring at the rugged features and trying desperately to drag her arm free from its hold. ‘You can’t make me enter your...your harem!’
Chad’s mouth twitched for a moment and then his eyes lighted on Bethany’s expression and his jaw tightened ominously. ‘Just watch me!’ he growled.
‘Let go of my arm!’ Bethany cried tightly. ‘You can’t do this! I’m going back home.’
‘After coming all this way?’ Chad enquired with mocking concern. ‘In the dark too, and on such a blustery night as this? Oh, no, I couldn’t allow that! Come on! Up the stairs and into my harem, as you inaccurately call it. As you’ve no doubt seen, it’s a little more hospitable up there. You can take your coat off. I can even offer you a glass of wine.’ His mouth curved provocatively. ‘We could really turn it into a party—I’m perfectly willing if you are!’
‘I don’t want any of your kind of hospitality and I most certainly do not want a glass of wine!’ Bethany snapped. She felt hot and flustered and extremely foolish, and the thought of standing before Chad and his woman trying to explain why she had walked half a mile along the cliff path in what was practically the middle of the night didn’t bear thinking about.
‘Don’t argue with me, Bethany,’ Chad replied conversationally, ‘And there’s no need to look quite so alarmed either. Group sex really isn’t my style.’ His eyes gleamed suggestively. ‘I prefer more of a one to one situation, more along the lines of our experience earlier this evening.’ He raised a hand and tilted her chin so that she had no choice but to look straight into his eyes. ‘You know, you really should have hung in there, Bethany,’ Chad advised, with a coolness that shocked her almost as much as the reference to polygamous activities. ‘We could have had a pretty good time together.’
‘You seemed to be having a pretty good time just a moment ago!’ Bethany retorted bitterly, green eyes flashing. ‘Don’t let me spoil your fun!’
‘I don’t know quite why I’m bothering to explain,’ Chad murmured, ‘but I’ll do it anyway. Theo’s an old friend——’
‘Oh, please!’ Bethany released an angry breath. ‘Spare me the sordid details!’ She summoned up enough courage to glare at the handsome face. ‘Look, I hate to disappoint you,’ she continued with heavy sarcasm, ‘but I have been around! It may suit you to take me for an absolute innocent, but——’
‘You reacted like an innocent this afternoon. In fact you were extremely sweet,’ Chad cut in smoothly, completely throwing Bethany off balance with a voice that was pure intimacy. ‘Very sweet indeed—up until that moment when, for some reason, you decided that beating the life out of me was your best course of action.’
‘Don’t...exaggerate!’ Bethany retorted unsteadily. ‘And anyway, I came to my senses, that’s all! Look, I’d prefer not to talk about that...particular incident! I was in shock. I’d just had a nasty experience——’
‘Really?’ Dark eyes gleamed down at her. Bethany felt a lurch of excitement as Chad leaned towards her. She could smell the musky scent of his aftershave, could feel the warmth of his breath on her cheek. ‘I’m...I’m talking about finding myself stranded in the middle of the sea!’ she retorted confusedly.
‘So you’re willing to admit that our experience wasn’t nasty, then?’ Chad enquired, watching her with amusement as she looked at him in dismay. ‘That’s something, I suppose. You know, Bethany, after I left your cabin I found myself wishing I’d pressed home my advantage further. Looking at you now I still can’t work out why I was quite so...’ He hesitated, his dark brown eyes lingering intently on Bethany’s flushed face. ‘So chivalrous.’
‘Chivalrous!’ Bethany snapped herself out of the trance-like state that Chad had so easily induced with unbelieving venom in her voice. ‘What the hell would you know about being chivalrous? You... you took outrageous advantage of me! I wasn’t thinking straight.... I was upset and...and——’
‘Chad! What are you doing down there?’ The plaintive wail floated down from above. Clearly Theo was becoming impatient.
‘Now let me get the hell out of here!’ Bethany demanded furiously, trying to drag free from his hold. ‘Theo’s obviously desperate for your body——’
‘Oh, she has her moments,’ Chad drawled, ‘but then don’t we all?’ he added, fixing Bethany with dark, mocking eyes. ‘Oh, of course, I’m sorry!’ he murmured silkily. ‘I forgot. You don’t want me to refer to your rather passionate mistake earlier this evening, do you?’
‘You...you arrogant swine!’ Bethany hissed, hating the fact that he could refer to their moment together with such off-hand amusement. ‘You really