‘I’m not under thirty. The pace of London life doesn’t have much appeal for me any more. I wanted a home… not a glossy London flat that’s antiseptic and arid. I’ve always liked this part of the world. My parents lived near Bath for a while when I was in my teens. They’ve moved north now. My father comes from the Borders and wanted to go back there when he retired.’
‘Which reminds me,’ her father interrupted. ‘I’ve got the details of some houses for you. You did say you’d prefer something outside the town?’
‘Yes, I do.’
While the two men discussed the various properties available, Helen commented to Miranda that she would be glad when all the fuss of the wedding was over.
Everyone had finished eating, coffee had been served, and the moment Miranda had been privately dreading had arrived.
The lights had been dimmed, the small band had started playing and couples were gradually filling the dance floor.
She prayed that Ben would not out of politeness ask her to dance. The very last thing she wanted was to be held in his arms. And yet, what had she to fear? She had already convinced herself that, no matter how physically attractive she had originally found him, that attraction had vanished once she knew who and what he was, and, that being the case, what had she to fear from dancing with him? Nothing; nothing at all, and anyway, why was she inviting problems that might not occur? In all probability he wasn’t even going to invite her to dance with him.
CHAPTER THREE
‘WOULD you like to dance?’
Miranda tensed. How could she refuse?
‘Er—thank you.’
Unsteadily she stood up and allowed Ben Frobisher to guide her towards the dance floor.
‘I’m sorry if this evening has rather lumbered you with me,’ he apologised to her. ‘When your father asked me to join him this evening, I thought it might be a good way of getting to know a few people.’
Miranda tried not to think about the effect his proximity was having on her. Treat him just like any other client you’ve had to entertain, she exhorted herself, but she knew already that that was impossible.
The band was playing a waltz, and her body tensed involuntarily as Ben took her in his arms.
‘It’s hard to believe that the waltz was once banned for being decadent, isn’t it?’ she said breathlessly as she fought to dismiss the sensations invoked by his touch, sensations which were making her feel as nervous and ill at ease as a teenager. Thank goodness it was impossible for him to know just how he was affecting her!
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ he responded thoughtfully, ‘when you bear in mind that it was the first time that men and women had actually danced exclusively with one partner and the opportunities it affords for body contact. And even these days it isn’t exactly unknown for couples to take advantage of the intimacy allowed in dancing together to reinforce their desire for one another.’
She couldn’t help it—her skin went hot as her mind treacherously conjured up a mental image of the two of them swaying intimately together, dancing body to body, his arms wrapped around her so that she was aware of every movement of his muscles, every breath he took, every small reaction of his flesh to hers… She trembled uncontrollably, causing him to frown down at her and enquire in concern, ‘Are you cold?’
‘Yes. Just a little,’ she lied. It wasn’t true; if anything she was too hot, but she could hardly admit to him just what had caused that sensual frisson of sensation to galvanise her body.
As she matched her steps to his she had an appalling urge to move nearer to him, to close the gap between their bodies and to…
Desperately she shut her eyes, trying to suppress the illicit wash of sensation that rushed through her, but the darkness only made things worse, only increased her sensual awareness of him to the pitch where she was as intimately aware of the heat and scent of him as though they were in fact established lovers.
That shook her more than anything else—that ready acceptance of her senses to acknowledge her physical responsiveness to him.
That was the trouble with being a daydreamer, with having a far too vivid imagination, she told herself bitterly. It led you into all sorts of dangerous assumptions.
For example, if she hadn’t given in this afternoon to her own idiotic and wanton impulse to tamper with the actual reality of her earlier brief meeting with him, transforming it into some kind of impossible erotic encounter, she would not be suffering the humiliation and discomfort of trying to subdue her body’s physical response to him right now.
Thank God that as yet no one had developed any means of correctly reading the human mind. The very last thing she could have endured would have been the ignominy of knowing that he had guessed what was happening to her.
She tried to convince herself that in these days of equality it was no more shameful to her as a woman that she should be so physically affected by a man she hardly knew, and who had definitely not given her any encouragement to feel that desire, than had their positions been reversed, but it didn’t work.
She was obviously a good deal more gender-orientated than she had supposed, she reflected wryly.
‘Your father was telling me that you live out at Gallows Reach.’
The soft-voiced comment made her stiffen slightly before admitting, ‘Yes, I have a cottage out there.’
‘You don’t find it too remote?’
‘Not really. Perhaps if I weren’t mixing with so many people during the day I might find it too isolated, but as it is…’
‘Mmm. I know what you mean. I must say, I’m enjoying the solitude of the place I’m renting. I thought it would be a good idea to see how I took to living somewhere so remote before I actually took the plunge and bought a property.’
‘And how are you finding it?’ Miranda asked him curiously.
‘Interesting,’ he told her promptly. ‘Something of a voyage of self-discovery, in fact. It’s rather a long time since I’ve spent so much time on my own.’
Miranda tensed again. Did that mean that, despite the fact that he wasn’t married, there was or had been someone important in his life? But his next words disproved this theory, as he added, ‘In London I had an apartment at the top of the building which housed our office. Not an ideal situation because it meant that I was virtually spending twenty-four hours a day with my work. In the beginning when we first set up in business that was necessary, but recently I’ve began to find that my whole life seems to revolve around the company.’
Miranda gave a tiny shrug. ‘If you want to succeed these days, you have to be prepared to devote the major part of your time to your career.’
‘And is that what you want? To put your career before everything else in your life?’
‘No, it isn’t. If it was I’d be working in London, not here. I like my work. I enjoy the independence it gives me, but I enjoy other things as well.’
‘Such as?’
His question surprised her into focusing on him. He was watching her closely, the grey eyes alert and thoughtful, the mouth… She gulped and swallowed hard as her gaze slipped inadvertently to his mouth and stayed there as though hypnotised.
‘I… I… I enjoy all sorts of things,’ she told him huskily, adding mentally to herself, yes, dangerous things such as cuddling friends’ babies and daydreaming about strangers.
‘Your father was telling me that you’re actively involved in several local committees.’
‘Er—yes.’
‘Including a newly formed one to protect the town’s historic buildings,’ he probed.
‘That’s right,’ Miranda agreed, wondering where his questions were leading.
‘Charlesworth seems to think that your committee is trying to stir up local opposition to the expansion and redevelopment of the town, even when that expansion would quite clearly be to the benefit of the local inhabitants.’
‘Like your new offices?’ Miranda queried drily, her desire for him thankfully subdued by her anger at what was being al
lowed to happen to the town.
‘Surely it would have been possible to site your offices outside the town, in a purpose-built unit designed to house all the modern hi-tech equipment you might need, rather than despoiling what was a perfect example of small-town Georgian architecture. Too many of our towns are losing their character, their links with the past, to provide anonymous ugly homes for businesses which demand that their environment be destroyed… an environment which could have existed quite happily for several hundred years, and for what? To provide space for a business or a shop which might be in existence for less than a couple of years. It’s insane and—’
‘I quite agree, which is why…’
He stopped speaking as the band stopped playing, leaving Miranda to flush uncomfortably and guiltily as she realised how carried away she had been by her own principles and beliefs.