CHAPTER SEVEN
When Lydia awoke the next morning it was to heavy, driving rain against the bedroom window, and as she glanced at her tiny travel alarm the illuminated dial told her it was half-past five. That meant she had had precisely three hours' sleep after hours of heart-searching following the disastrous confrontation with Wolf. Her heart thudded as she remembered the whole catastrophic finish to the evening in its entirety. It was all very well to blame the alcohol, the seductive surroundings, even him, but. She shook her head slowly as she climbed wearily out of bed and padded across to the bathroom. She'd wanted him to make love to her and then she had chickened out. He must think she was the worst sort of tease. The tears started again and she brushed them aside angrily. Useless to say that she hadn't been thinking straight, that for once in her life she had gone with her feelings and not her head. She'd made a hopeless mess of the whole thing and she wouldn't blame him if he packed her straight back to London this morning.
And how was she going to face him, anyway? She shut her eyes tightly as she let the warm, cleansing flow of the shower ease away some of the aches of a restless night. She could just imagine the cool mockery and veiled contempt with which he would meet her this morning.
When she did meet him at seven o'clock, for breakfast served in their suite, his face was completely expressionless.
"Good morning." He nodded to her as she left her room, face burning and head held high.
She wanted _to sink through the carpet but forced herself to join him at the small dining-table to one side of the full-length window.
"The waiter has just brought the food up." He indicated the beautifully laid out breakfast complete with a small posy of yellow and white daisies in the centre of the table.
"Would you like to help yourself?" he asked flatly.
"Thank you." If she ate anything it would choke her, she thought painfully, but then as she saw his full plate and the way he seemed to be eating with every appearance of enjoyment, a perverse pride made her select a more than adequate meal. Each mouthful was an endurance test but she managed to clear her plate. It didn't help that the whole meal was eaten in absolute silence,
Wolf remote and sombre behind his newspaper. But she hadn't met the cool and cynical mockery she had expected. She glanced up now as she finished her coffee. She didn't understand him at all. Suddenly the newspaper lowered and a pair of very blue and very clear eyes met hers.
"It's going to be a hard day," he said slowly, 'and a long one. "
"Yes, I suppose it is," she agreed quietly.
"So the first thing I would like to do is apologise for last night."
As she opened her mouth to speak he raised his hand quickly, his face dark and severe.
"No, hear me out, Lydia, please. The second is to say it was not my intention to take advantage of you--' “I wasn't drunk," she protested weakly. She hadn't expected him to behave like this: she had expected rage, contempt, cold mockery-- “I’m aware of that. “He smiled grimly.
"But you aren't used to alcohol, by your own admission, and you had drunk enough to feel... a little reckless? I misunderstood the situation and thought--' He stopped abruptly and her _face flamed still further. She knew exactly what he had thought and she couldn't blame him at all. It had been her body giving the 'go' signals there, and she knew it.
"It was my fault. Wolf," she said bleakly.
"I don't know what came over me." Liar. He had come over her, the little voice in her mind sniped immediately.
"Well, don't let's argue the finer points." He rose from the table as he spoke and held out his hand, his eyes veiled.
"Suffice to say we both know where we stand and perhaps we could leave it at that? This project we're involved in is important to me, Lydia, damn important, and I don't want any outside difficulties or tension to deflect our concentration." His voice was expre
ssionless and cold.
"Of course." She had never felt so miserable in her life, she thought desperately as she smiled brightly and nodded her agreement. She had been right; she wasn't even a serious consideration in his life. He could dismiss her without a second thought as a write-off. She took his outstretched hand as he helped her up from the table, and let go immediately as the warmth of his flesh sent a shiver down her spine.
"I'll just get my things," she said quickly.
It had stopped raining as they left the hotel and a weak November sun had lit the grey-blue sky with streaks of gold. The hotel was just past a small village, screened by trees and set back from the main road, and as they drove out of the beautifully tended grounds she glanced in the distance to where craggy mountain peaks of red sandstone and granite topped with white quartzite towered over wild hills dotted with grazing sheep.
"It's lovely in the summer." He had followed her eyes to the harsh, haunting beauty of the bare hills.
"A sea of heather colours the fells purple, and the contrasts of shades have to be seen to be believed."
"I can imagine." She nodded stiffly. How could he talk so normally, how could he?
"But it's beautiful now in its own way," she said quietly, forcing herself to make conversation.
"Yes, it is." The big, powerful car drove swiftly past the tiny village of whitewashed houses and carved gravestones in the ancient churchyard, reaching within minutes the main road which was the fastest route to Inverness, where
Wolfs factory was situated. Lydia tried to relax on the short journey to the office, but it was difficult with his big, aggressively male body so close to hers and the scent of him teasing her nostrils. In spite of every effort to the contrary, she kept remembering how it had felt to be in his arms last night. It was everything she had imagined and more. She kicked herself mentally, hard. Stop it, Lydia, she told herself sternly, you're being ridiculous. But, ridiculous or not, her body continued to play tricks on her all the way to Strade Engineering Scotland, and she was immeasurably thankful when the Rover drew to a halt in front of the offices. Never had a journey seemed so long.