Kitabı oku: «The Tycoon's Instant Family», sayfa 2

CHAPTER TWO

SHE WAS right. Good strong coffee, a glorious view—and Georgie.

She’d changed out of the dreadful rigger boots and put on a rather less blinding jacket, and suddenly she was just a pretty young woman with black smudges of exhaustion under her red-rimmed and fabulous green-gold eyes.

They’d ordered two of her BLT baguettes, and while they were cooking the waitress had brought them their coffee. He took his black, but Georgie had poured the whole pot of cream into hers, and now her hands were cradling her cup almost reverently and her nose was buried in it, savouring the aroma with almost tangible pleasure. He watched her inhale and sigh, a contented smile playing over her lips.

‘Gorgeous,’ she said, and he couldn’t have agreed more.

‘Talk to me about the plans,’ he said, dragging his attention from the full, soft lips and hoping his confidence in her father’s firm didn’t prove misplaced.

Her nose wrinkled up. ‘What about them?’

‘What do you think of them?’

She met his eyes thoughtfully, then shrugged, the little snub nose wrinkling again. ‘Too dense. Too pedestrian. The architect is dull as ditchwater.’

‘So what would you have done?’

‘Employed a better architect?’

‘Such as?’

She shrugged and laughed. ‘Me?’

That stopped him in his tracks. ‘You’re an architect?’

‘Uh-huh—and before you ask, I am old enough.’

He felt a twinge of guilt, and winced apologetically. ‘Sorry. I guess I had that coming to me. So tell me, why are you running your father’s site?’

‘Hobson’s choice. He collapsed, and I was—what is it they say in the acting world?—resting. Between roles. Actually I was taking time out and thinking about my future, and thus available at zero notice. He needs a triple bypass, and he’s in Ipswich Hospital waiting to be transferred to Papworth for the operation. I’m sure it was worry as much as anything that pushed him over the edge in the end. This project’s been nothing but trouble since it started. Rubbish specification, no answers, nobody in control, nobody taking responsibility, but they put us on a hefty penalty clause because they thought it would speed things up.’

‘Because they needed results fast to bail them out.’

She shrugged. ‘It wouldn’t have worked. The design’s awful—the planners passed it, but I don’t think they were happy. It’s just a series of boxes. As it stands, even with the view, I don’t think the individual units on the site will sell well at all. They don’t deserve to.’

‘So what would you do differently?’ he asked, getting back to his original question. ‘You must have given it some thought.’

She laughed again, the sound sending heat snaking through his veins. ‘Endless, but none of it really formulated.’

‘That’s fine,’ he said, forcing himself to concentrate. ‘Just think out loud.’

‘Now? Really?’

‘Now. Really.’

She tipped her head on one side and grinned, and those gold flecks in her eyes sparkled with an enthusiasm that was infectious. ‘Halve it,’ she said. ‘Far fewer houses, much better quality, and get rid of that hideous extension for starters. It needs a wrecking ball through it. Here—I can’t describe it, I need to show you.’ Grabbing a napkin, she rummaged in her pocket, and he held out a pen.

She flashed him a smile as infectious as her enthusiasm, and started to doodle and talk at the same time, and as she did so he found himself smiling. She was amazing. A tiny powerhouse, full of clever and interesting ideas, a lateral thinker.

And gorgeous. Utterly, utterly gorgeous.

Cradling his coffee in one hand, Nick hunched over her doodles and found himself totally distracted by the tantalising smell of shampoo drifting from her softy, glossy hair. Pretty hair. Nothing remarkable, just a light mid-brown but subtle rather than dull, threaded with fine highlights in palest gold and silver and swinging forwards as she bent her head, the blunt cut just above her shoulders giving it freedom.

Absently, she tucked it behind her ear and a strand escaped, sliding free and hanging tantalisingly close to his hand. His fingers itched to sift it, to see if it was really as soft and as sleek as it seemed, and it took a real effort to lean back, to shift away from her a little and force himself to watch the swift, decisive movements of the pen and see her vision take shape.

And then, once he’d managed to concentrate, he was riveted.

‘It’s all going to be OK, Dad.’

Her father’s brows furrowed. ‘But I don’t understand—where did he come from?’

She laughed. ‘I don’t know—heaven, maybe? I wasn’t going to question him too deeply. He’s put money into the account, and I’ve checked with the bank and it’s certainly there. We’re even in the black.’

The furrows deepened. ‘So what’s the catch?’

‘No catch. He’s buying Andrew out, for whatever reason, and we’re now dealing with him. And he hates the plans, and wants me to come up with some other ideas. He’s put everything on hold—’

‘But the penalty clause—’

‘Gone. He’s deleted it—doesn’t believe in them. Dad, it’s OK. Truly. Trust me.’

His eyes searched her face for any sign of a lie, but for once there wasn’t one, not even a tiny white one, and with a great sigh he lay back against the pillows, closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, an unexpected tear oozing out from under one eyelid and sliding down his grizzled cheek. ‘I really didn’t think we’d get out of this one. I’m not sure I believe it.’

Georgie could understand that. She was still having trouble coming to terms with it herself.

‘Believe it,’ she told him firmly, and bent over to kiss the tear away, a lump in her throat. ‘You just concentrate on getting better and leave it to me. I’ll see you tomorrow.’

His eyes flickered open. ‘You going already?’

‘I’ve got work to do—plans to draw.’

He held her eyes for a while, then smiled and patted her hand. ‘Good girl. You’ve been itching to get at it for weeks. Go and do your best.’

‘I will. Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll do you proud.’

‘You always do,’ he said, his eyes sliding shut again, and with the lump in her throat growing ever bigger, she left him to his rest and went home. The light was blinking on the answering machine, and she pressed the button and a voice flooded the room. Her heart jiggled. Nick.

‘Georgie, tried your mobile but it was off. You were probably at the hospital—hope everything’s OK. Just wondering when we can meet up and go over your ideas. I’m going to be stuck in the office for the next few days, but if you can manage to get down to London in the next day or two we could get together here one evening. I’ve got a spare room, so if it’s easier you can stay the night or I can book you into a hotel, whatever you prefer. Just give me an idea of when—the sooner the better really. I’d like to get this thing underway ASAP.’

Stay the night? Stay the night? Her heart jiggled again, and she pressed the flat of her hand over it and forced herself to breathe. In, out, in, out—

Stay the night?

In the spare room.

‘Keep saying that,’ she advised herself, and, putting the kettle on, she nudged the thermostat on the boiler, grabbed a packet of biscuits and settled down at her drawing board with a cup of tea and a head full of dreams…

‘Nick?’

‘Georgie—how are you?’

All the better for hearing his voice again after twenty-four long, hard hours, but he wasn’t going to know that. ‘Fine. Look, I’ve put some ideas together, but I don’t think there’s any point in going into too much detail until you see what I’ve come up with and I get a better feel for what you’re expecting.’

‘I agree. So are you able to get down here, because I’m really stuck at the moment?’

‘Sure. When?’

‘Any time. My evenings are all free. It’s a bit late tonight; it’s gone six already—how about tomorrow?’

Her heart thumped. ‘Tomorrow?’ she squealed. She’d been hoping for longer to tweak her ideas, but needs must and tomorrow was better than today! She got a grip on her voice. ‘Um—I can do tomorrow, if you’re not too busy—’

‘What sort of time?’

‘I need to see my father—I’ll be able to get the train at about five-thirty, and it’s just over an hour to Liverpool Street. Then however long to get to you from there. Seven-ish?’

‘Great. I’ll meet you at the tube.’ He told her which station to head for. ‘Ring me when you get there,’ he told her. ‘I’ll come straight over. It’ll take me five minutes from when I get your call.’

It took six, and every one of them was endless, but by then Georgie was in such a ferment a second seemed to take an hour and yet the day hadn’t been long enough. She’d gone over the plans again and again, tweaking and fiddling, quickly dropped into the hospital to visit her father and then had to rush through the shower and leave her hair to drip-dry on the train.

So she had a slightly soggy collar on her coat, and as she hovered outside the tube station the March wind whipped up and chilled her to the marrow.

She was scouring the traffic and trying to guess the sort of vehicle he might be driving when a low, sleek sports car growled to a halt beside her and the door swung open. ‘Jump in,’ he said, leaning across with a grin and giving her a tantalising glimpse of his broad, hard chest down the open neck of his shirt, and she slid into the low-slung seat, hugely grateful that common sense had prevailed over vanity and she wasn’t wearing a skirt.

‘Nice car,’ she said, trying not to think about the chest, and his grin widened.

‘It’s my one indulgence,’ he told her, but somehow she didn’t believe him. The man had the air of one who indulged himself just whenever the fancy took him, and she fancied it took him pretty darned often.

‘Buckle up,’ he instructed, and then shot out into the tiniest gap in the traffic with a squeal from the tyres and the sweetest, throatiest exhaust note she’d ever heard. Just the sound was enough to make her knees go weak. That and the fact that it could pull enough Gs to squish her into the leather!

‘I’d love a car like this,’ she said with a sigh, ‘but it would get ruined on a building site and anyway, I’m not a millionaire playboy.’

‘And you think I am?’

‘Aren’t you?’

‘Fair cop. Guilty on at least one count,’ he chuckled.

‘There you are, then. Anyway, I’d look ridiculous driving it.’

‘I think you’d look gorgeous driving it, but in this traffic it might not be a good idea to try for the first time.’

He shot down the outside of a queue, cut across the lights just as they were changing and whipped into the entrance of an underground car park before she could register their whereabouts. Moments later he was helping her from the seat and ushering her towards the lift, while she wondered if she’d ever master the art of extracting herself from his car without loss of dignity. Not that it would be a perennial problem, she had to accept. Sadly.

He was totally out of her league, light-years away from her in terms of lifestyle and aspirations, and so far the only things they had in common were a love of the sea, and his car.

Oh, and disliking the original plans for the site.

She began to feel more cheerful, and it lasted until he ushered her into the lift, inserted a keycard into a slot and whisked her straight past all the numbered floors. When the display read ‘P’, the door hissed open and she walked out of the lift and stopped dead.

‘Oh, wow,’ she said softly.

All she could see were lights—so many lights that the night was driven back, held at bay by the fantastic spectacle of tower blocks like giant glass bricks stood on end and lit from within, layer upon layer of them, explosions of stardust as far as the eye could see.

She could make out the wheel of the London Eye revolving slowly in the distance with Big Ben beyond, and—oh, more, so many more famous London landmarks stretched out in front of them—Norman Foster’s gerkin, the old Nat West tower, City Hall—with the broad black sweep of the Thames snaking slowly past, so close it must almost brush the foundations.

Wonderful. Magical. Stunning.

For a moment she thought they were on the roof, but then he touched a switch and she realised they were standing in a room, a massive open-plan living space with a sleek kitchen at one end and huge, squashy sofas at the other. Between them, the dining area overlooked the deck and the fantastic view beyond the glass walls. And they really were—acres of glass, almost featureless and all but invisible.

‘Oh, wow,’ she said again, and he smiled, a little crooked smile, almost awkward.

‘I wondered if you’d like it.’

‘I love it,’ she said, running an appreciative hand over the back of a butter-soft brown leather sofa and wondering what on earth she was doing here in this amazing place. ‘I’m surprised. I don’t normally like this kind of thing, I’ve always thought they’re a bit cold and unfriendly, but it just does it so well. And the view!’

‘I bought it for the view. It’s got a three-hundred and sixty degree deck. All the rooms open onto it.’

He touched the switch again and clever, strategic lighting lit up planters full of architectural foliage, artfully placed sculptures and even—

‘Is that a hot tub?’

He pulled a face and nodded. ‘Bit of an indulgence.’

‘I thought the car was your only indulgence?’ she teased, and he laughed.

‘Oh, the tub isn’t an indulgence, it’s purely medicinal. I couldn’t cope without it. After a stressful day at the office or a long flight, it’s just fantastic. And anyway, not many people get to see my apartment so it’s pretty much a secret vice, so it doesn’t count,’ he added with a grin.

She found that knowledge curiously comforting. Not that it was any of her business how many people he chose to entertain. Not at all. But somehow…

‘Drink?’

‘Tea would be nice.’

He nodded, put the kettle on and produced a couple of mugs. ‘What about supper? Do you want to go out, or shall I order in? There’s a restaurant downstairs that delivers.’

She didn’t doubt it. So far she’d seen the car park and the view from his apartment, but that was enough. She had sufficient imagination to fill in the bits in between, and she just knew they’d be equally impressive.

‘Here would be lovely,’ she said, unable to drag her eyes from the view. ‘And it’ll give us more time to look at the plans,’ she added, trying to stick to the plot.

‘OK—have a look at the menu and choose something.’

She looked, blinked and handed it back. ‘Anything. All of it. Just looking at it is enough to make me drool. I had a cup of tea for lunch and a biscuit for breakfast, and I’d settle for a bag of greasy chips right now.’

His mouth quirked. ‘I think we can do rather better than that,’ he said, and picked up the phone and ordered in a low, crisp voice, while she watched a little boat make its way slowly up the Thames and wondered what it would be like to live here all the time. He came over and stood beside her, two steaming mugs of tea in his hands, and held one out to her.

‘Come outside and have a look,’ he suggested, and the wall of glass slid effortlessly aside and he gestured for her to go out.

It was gorgeous. Huge, for the roof terrace of a London apartment block, and, as she walked all the way round past what must be the bedrooms and back to the doors they’d come out of, it gradually sank in just how much money he must have.

The car had been a bit of a giveaway, but his one indulgence? She didn’t think so. Not by a country mile.

And yet it was curiously homely. The furnishings were simple, the plants on the deck were well cared for, and she had the feeling he didn’t take his privileged position for granted. Unless he just had a designer with a gift for homemaking and a gardener to keep the roof terrace in order. Goodness knows it was big enough to demand it.

And then there was that other indulgence that was purely medicinal, the cedar hot tub that kept drawing her eye. She could see it was made of solid wood, not one of the timber-clad moulded-acrylic ones which, although very comfortable and easy to install, just wouldn’t have had the same understated dignity as the cedar planks.

This was like a huge, shallow barrel set into a raised area, and with the wooden lid in place it acted as a seat. She perched on it to sigh over the view again, and felt the warmth seeping through the timber. ‘It’s on!’ she said, surprised, and he grinned.

‘Of course. This is the best time of year for them. We can go in if you want—sit in it and unravel and talk about the plans.’

She did want to. She was aching to, but she didn’t quite trust herself, and she wasn’t sure of the clothing etiquette, and anyway, she was here to work, she reminded herself firmly.

‘Don’t you want to look at the ideas on paper first?’ she said with a touch of desperation, and he shrugged and ushered her back inside, to her disappointment and relief. No, just relief…

‘We’ll look at them now while we eat. There’s always later,’ he added, and the relief gave way to a flutter of nervous anticipation.

‘Maybe,’ she agreed, and, picking up the long cylindrical case she carried her drawings in, she un-screwed the end and pulled the sketches out.

‘They’re only rough,’ she warned, but he just shrugged, helped her spread them out on the huge coffee-table and stood a little statue on one corner to hold it down.

She blinked. She recognised the artist, and that piece had probably cost more than she’d earned last year. Oh, dear God, why on earth had she let him talk her into this? There was no way he was interested in what she had to say. He was so far out of her league—

‘Right. Talk me through them. What’s this thing here?’

She dragged her eyes back to the plans, took a deep breath and launched her sales pitch.

‘That was amazing!’

He laughed softly at her as she pushed her plate away and sighed with contentment. ‘I said they did good food.’

‘You lied. It was perfection. Good doesn’t even begin to do it justice.’

‘Coffee?’

She nodded. ‘Please—if it’s not too much trouble?’

‘No trouble. Hot and strong, isn’t it?’

His eyes smouldered for a second, and she felt her cheeks heat. He was only talking about the coffee, for heaven’s sake! ‘Please. With lots of cream, if you have it.’

‘Sure.’ He turned away, and she fanned her face and gulped in air. Actually…

‘Would you mind if I had a walk round on the deck for a minute? I just love the view.’

‘Of course not. Help yourself.’

She let herself out through the seamless glass and crossed over to the balcony rail, leaning on it and staring down in fascination at the lights on the river. She could hear the traffic far below, the sirens, the honking horns, a barking dog, but it all seemed somehow remote. She felt as if they were floating, removed in some way from the reality of it, and against the night sky the city below them sparkled like fairy lights.

It would be so wonderful to slip into the hot tub and just lie there, suspended above the city in a magic world—

‘Your coffee’s ready. Want it in or out?’

She turned towards him and laughed softly. ‘Out, but it’s chilly. We’d better have it inside.’

‘We could go in the tub—talk through your ideas.’

In the subtle lighting she couldn’t read his eyes, but the tension seemed to hang in the soft velvet air between them, as if the world was waiting for her answer.

‘I haven’t got a costume,’ she said, groping for practicalities.

He shrugged. ‘I won’t look, and we don’t have to have the underwater lights on. You could wear your underwear if you’re feeling coy.’

‘What about you?’

She saw the flash of his teeth in the darkness as he grinned. ‘I’ll preserve your modesty, Georgie. I’ll even lend you a robe.’

She couldn’t resist any longer. He took her back in, handed her a hugely fluffy towelling robe and a pile of towels, showed her into a bedroom the size of the average house and disappeared.

By the time she emerged from the French doors in her room and walked round the deck, the cover was off the tub, their coffees were perched on the side and he was nowhere to be seen. But the bubbles drew her, and, slipping off the robe, she dropped it on the deck and stepped down into the steaming water.

The heat made her catch her breath, then sigh with delight as she slid her shoulders under the surface and leant back against the side, her modesty preserved by the bubbling water. She could still see the city stretched out below through the misty air, watch the slow progress of a converted barge as it carried its boisterous cargo of partygoers on their evening out, but the steam and the bubbling of the water cut off all the sounds of the city and wrapped her in a magical cocoon.

No wonder he used the tub to unwind. If it was hers she’d never drag herself out of it!

‘Warmer now?’

‘Oh, you made me jump,’ she said with a laugh, turning her head, and then wished she hadn’t because he was just there, looming over her in the mist, dropping the robe that had been slung over his arm and lowering his long, beautifully honed body into the steaming, foaming water with a groan of ecstasy.

‘Oh, bliss.’

Oh, indeed. And to think she’d imagined the view was perfect before!

He was taller than her, so the water didn’t cover his shoulders, just left her a tantalising glimpse of his chest, the gleaming skin beaded with moisture and drawn tight over rippling muscle, the light scatter of hair over his pecs just enough to underline that abundant masculinity. He’d dropped his head back against the side, and the taut line of his throat and the jut of his jaw made her legs go weak.