Page 24 of His Last Gamble

What was this?

The wind tugged at her T-shirt as she closed the car door behind her, and rattled her cotton shorts against her derrière. But it was a warm, strong wind, and the sensation wasn’t in the least unpleasant.

If only she knew what they were doing here!

She watched him nervously as he moved around to the trunk of the car, opened the boot, and looked at her over the top. ‘Tah-dah!’ he said, whipping out a bright red, yellow and brown piece of shaped plastic. It took her a moment to recognise it as a kite. A sumptuous, modern, complex kite, shaped like a bird of prey.

‘Since even Mary Poppins approved of flying a kite, I felt sure you wouldn’t object,’ he said cheekily.

Charmaine didn’t know whether to laugh or stamp her foot in vexation. All right, so she wasn’t another Jinx, and flirting and making love wasn’t her forte, but did he really see her as that quintessential, goody-two-shoes English nanny?

And then she frowned. ‘Wait a minute. You already had a kite in the boot?’

Payne shrugged but looked just a shade abashed. ‘True. My sister and nephew were over here last month, and Adrian, my nephew, was into flying in a big way.’ He slammed the boot shut and began to prepare the kite. It looked complicated, with all sorts of strings and pulleys, but soon he had it working. ‘The little scamp’s only ten, but he could show me a thing or two,’ he said, with such exasperated affection in his voice that, for a moment, Charmaine’s throat closed up with emotion and she couldn’t say a word.

Payne Lacey, the adoring uncle? The richest man for miles, the dedicated gambler, the ultimate playboy, flying a kite with his nephew? How many more unnerving surprises was he going to spring on her?

‘Here we go,’ he said, turning to run a few steps and launch the multi-coloured eagle into the air. He ran fast and well, turning on a dime, as surefooted as a mountain goat as he twisted and turned to catch the wind currents and raise the bird aloft.

She looked at the edge of the cliff nervously. Had the man no sense of danger at all?

‘Want to hold her? I call her Valkyrie.’ He held out the two small wooden poles to her, and without a second thought she reached out for them. Immediately she felt the pull and power of the wind as the strings twitched in her hands and the eagle abruptly nosedived, as if mortally wounded.

‘Whoa! Keep your arms up — like this,’ he said, stepping behind her and taking her hands in his.

Instantly her buttocks tingled as they were pressed into his groin, and her back and shoulders quivered against the hard, muscular planes of his chest and stomach. So intense was her sudden desire for him that she nearly cried out. She very nearly let go of the kite as well. In fact, if his hands hadn’t been cupped over hers, guiding the strings, she might well have done.

She gasped, and then tried to disguise her reaction with a laugh. ‘It’s wonderful,’ she said tensely, licking lips gone suddenly dry. ‘Who’d have thought flying a kite could be so invigorating?’

And then she felt another kind of hardness, pressing against her derrière, and her face flamed.

Behind her, his lips almost brushing her ear, Payne said dryly, ‘Yes. Who’d have thought it.’

What should she do now? Pretend not to notice? Make a saucy comment? She knew what Jinx would do. But she was Charmaine Reece, and was consequently tongue-tied. She took a step forward, breathing a sigh of relief as he let her go. And perhaps feeling just a pang of disappointment?

She jiggled one hand, watching the bird dip and swoop. She mustn’t let her perfectly natural physical reaction upset her. It meant nothing. It couldn’t mean anything, could it?

‘I think I’m getting the hang of this,’ she called back over her shoulder, unaware that he was watching her with sardonic, knowing eyes.

‘I wouldn’t be so sure,’ he whispered, his voice almost agonised.

She looked at him over her shoulder, her big blue eyes wide and innocent. ‘What?’

He shook his head ruefully. ‘Nothing,’ he said, sitting down on a clump of grass, willing his body to relax. It was not easy. He wanted her so badly he ached!

His eyes feasted on the sight of her with the kite, the way her shorts curved around her sexy bottom, the way her breasts, unfettered under the T-shirt, bounced and swayed as she ran and turned, watching the kite with undisguised joy, and he shook his head ruefully.

Just what the hell was he supposed to do with this child-woman?

* * *

They stopped for tea, the traditional good old English kind, at a small café. She ordered India, he China, and she was amused to note that fresh baked scones, which her grandmother would be proud to acknowledge as her own, were served with home-made strawberry preserve and clotted cream. They were even seated outside, on surprisingly comfortable ironwork chairs, amidst a glorious garden.

Only the exotic blooms and colourful, darting birds gave away the fact that they were a long way from the Cotswolds or any other equally picturesque but utterly English pastoral location. That and the bright, fierce heat of the afternoon sun. Surely no such sun ever shined in Oxfordshire!

A young and very-much-in-love couple kissed under the shade of a big tree in one corner of the garden, while an old man dozed behind his newspaper at the next table over. Other than these, they had the place to themselves.

‘No wonder you chose to live here,’ she said softly, watching as a bird, a flash of iridescent green, fed from the nectar of a hibiscus bloom.

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