Truly I do (5 page)

The trail of
her miserable thoughts was disrupted by Russell who threw open the
front door to his cottage and shouted "What on earth are you doing
standing out there in the cold, you goose?" He flashed her a
brilliant smile that melted into her heart and warmed her through
to her toes. But still she resisted the urge to run to him. Instead
she shrugged sulkily and dragged herself down the path feeling as
if she was walking toward the worst kind of doom. Russell seemed to
sense the cold shoulder. His smile disappeared and he sobered his
attitude. She could see he was disappointed; he had started the day
in a playful mood.

She deftly
avoided brushing against the silky form of his tight, muscular,
naked chest as she passed him. Her wish that he'd had the decency
to put some clothes on brought a frown to her face. The frown
cleared as she looked around and took in the snug and restful
homeliness of the interior of the old cottage.

Her
brightening gaze swept across warm red-brick herringbone floors
that were adorned by beautiful antique rugs. The cosy entrance hall
opened out to a spacious lounge area. She caught sight of a
beautiful, welcoming log fire already crackling in the
Inglenook.

Smiling, she
eyed the comfortable looking antique Chesterfield and surrounding
wing-back chairs that curved around the fire's glow. A couple of
antique polished oak tables were well dressed with red and blue
Ironstone china and lush green house plants which gave the room a
congenial air. She'd visited Joe's old cottage a few times as a
small child and had remembered it as a dark, dank slightly
malodorous place. Now it was a delight to be here. Cheered-up and
forgetting her resolve to keep her distance she swung around to
tell Russell what a lovely home he'd created. He was immediately
behind her and she suddenly found herself looking up into the
fathom-less depths of his clear blue eyes. She noted the cheery
crinkles around those smiley eyes and the healthy glow of his
smooth skin. The scents of shower products mixed with male musk
filled her senses as he seemed to envelop her in an unexpected,
strong and irresistible embrace.

"I've been
looking forward to this!" he murmured.

The next thing
Julie-Anne knew was that his warm, dry mouth was pressed against
hers and his sensuous tongue was exploring her lips to find out
what would evoke the most sensitive responses in her. His touch
excited nerve endings and sent electrifying thrills through her
spine. He was kissing her with thoughtful care, finding her weak
spots and tenderly playing over them whilst seemingly measuring her
reactions through feather light fingertips. He stroked and explored
her back, encouraging her petite body to arch toward him in
submission, pressing her against the firmness of his chest and
drawing her deeper into his full embrace.

Startled,
Julie-Anne had just melted into the experience. As she became more
consciously aware of what was happening to her she thought 'My
goodness! I have never been kissed like this before!' She'd been
bracing her hands against his pectoral muscles, but now that she
was becoming lost in newly awakened carnal desires, and had closed
both her eyes and her mind to the realities of the dawning day
surrounding them, her hands began to explore the curves and creases
of his naked upper body.

He had tangled
his fingers in her hair and was holding her head firmly into his
kiss. She had smoothed her hands over his shoulders, down the
muscular perfection of his arms and around to the firmness of his
back muscles so that she could press him closer to her body. Her
breasts, suddenly brought to life by this new experience, were
hungry for attention and she was enjoying the feeling of his warm
body squeezing them under her soft dress and bra. She wanted to
move, to excite her nipples even more against him, but lost in the
moment she did not. Indeed, she felt, the yearning he was awakening
in her, the anticipations and thrills that were erupting deep
within her body, were just too exquisite to dare to disturb. She
could have stayed locked in that embrace for ever.

Eventually it
was Russell who broke the seal between them. Gently lifting his
head he looked down at her. "Hmmn!" He mumbled, looking slightly
smug. "That was a very nice supplement for breakfast!" Cheekily he
licked her lips with the tip of his tongue and his radiant smile
seemed to lighten something within her. She felt a cool spot as he
pulled his fingers down through her hair to release her - and
unlocked the arm that had been around her waist. Suddenly, she was
no longer in his clutches.

He stepped
away.

"Coffee?" he
asked, turning toward the lounge. "I'd just put a tray of hot
coffee and toast in here when I saw you arriving, come join me." He
looked back over his shoulder and winked at her, that little
gesture that sent an electric thrill down through her groin. Seeing
that she was vaguely hesitating he stretched back one hand to grab
hers and pulled her into the lounge after him.

Julie-Anne and
Russell sat together on the deep burgundy, leather Chesterfield in
his lounge, sharing his breakfast of toast and coffee.

Julie-Anne was
struggling internally, fighting to resist the urge to say "I love
you, I love you". Instead she listened while he talked; so that,
slowly, she was switching off all the emotions that swarmed through
her mind.

"I had a good
phone-call from someone other than you yesterday", he told her.

"Hmmn?"

"Yeah, I need
to go to Yorkshire, to a little place near Harrogate. It's
business, but while I'm up there I could spend a few days looking
at some local archeological digs and seeing the Viking artefacts.
I'd be kill two birds with one stone - y'know? Mixing business with
pleasure!"

"Oh?"
Julie-Anne felt numb. They'd just found each other and now he was
going to go away.

He looked at
her with a boyish grin and carried on, "Well I think I should make
this visit. I've been invited to go talk to some archaeologists at
the British museum. This trip would help me to do a bit of
exploring and revive my enthusiasm for the hands-on stuff, instead
of just sticking to books. It's been a long time since I left
university and I could do with some catching up on new findings up
there; maybe see some new ideas in the field."

"I see."
Julie-Anne had kept her answer brief, she was now thinking to
herself 'There! You see, no sooner have I fallen into his arms than
he's busy going off, going away from boring old me, off to pastures
new. I'm being played with for his convenience until he goes away
and drops me.' She shifted away from him, feeling cold despite the
crackling fire.

She realised
he had said something and she wasn't listening. "Sorry?" she
prompted.

"I said - I'm
going for a couple of weeks to start with, to suss things out, meet
a few people. Will you come?" His face was serious now. "I think it
would do you good to get away from here for a while, don't you?
Give you an opportunity to find yourself. And you could help me,
you did fine arts at uni' didn't you? That could be really useful,
some of your knowledge could add a whole new perspective on what
I'm going up there to look at. What d'you say?"

'Ah.' she
thought, looking coldly into the flames rather than up at his blue
eyes, 'I was right, he is only inviting me to go with him because
it would be beneficial for him. He simply wants me to accompany
him, to use my skills to help revive his career.'

"Well?" he
prompted.

Julie-Anne
shrugged, "Could do I s'pose", she tried to sound nonchalant. "When
were you thinking of going?"

Taking this as
a 'yes', Russell suddenly looked like an excited child. Pale
sunshine streamed through the window behind him, turning his golden
curls into a halo as well as outlining the strong masculine lines
of his shoulders. Julie-Anne was almost overwhelmed by his Grecian
beauty, 'he looks like a statue of a God!' she mused ruefully.

Again she
realised he was talking, and pulled back her focus to listen - "It
just so happens that there's an old hotel in the castle grounds
close to the site I have to visit. It has two rooms vacant - and a
couple of the people I want to talk to are available right away. So
I thought we'd go up this morning!"

She frowned.
"This morning?"

"Yeah. Well,
it's two hundred and fifty miles. It'll take at least five hours to
drive there. I thought it would be nice to have time to pull off
into Harrogate and grab some shopping before doing the last bit of
the journey. What d'you say?" His smile was so endearing.

"But I haven't
packed! I haven't got anything with me to go away with!" Julie-Anne
protested, "even if I rush to it - I don't think I could get home
and pack so quickly."

Russell pulled
a playful mock pout. "Awgh!" His eyes twinkled merrily, "Here's the
thing," he explained whilst taking his attention away from her to
start piling the breakfast crockery onto a tray, "come with me now
and I'll get you anything you need. I've actually got an
unimaginably healthy bank account at my disposal. I mean - " he
glanced at her, obviously realising the incredulity of what he was
saying, ". . . I mean that my father was a wicked old man who spent
his life amassing incredible fortunes. Dad banked wisely and
managed to make sure that his fortunes stayed protected whatever
the financial climate. In short - I'm a very wealthy man! It has
taken a while to get it all sorted out and some of it was quite
hard to trace and confirm but, actually, I have, as I said, got
access to stupidly large amounts of money . . . and it's all
mine!"

Julie-Anne was
staring at him, her eyes wide with shock and suspicion. "And all
you can think to do is go messing about in Yorkshire, with some
archaeological digs?" she queried.

"I told you,
I've got some business to take care of in Yorkshire as well." He
frowned at her reluctance to catch his mood of reckless excitement.
As if to hide his disappointment Russell turned away, stood up and
began to walk, with his breakfast tray, towards a door in the far
corner of the room. From there he was answering her over his
shoulder, "Well, what else should I do? I've got to go. I mean I
suppose in the end I'll have a family and get a house for them and
everything, so I should continue to make sure that my investments
and accounts are safe and still growing. I just didn't want to
leave you behind - not now."

He turned to
look at her, his face almost imploring, "Julie-Anne let's be a
little spontaneous, eh? I wasn't brought up to be a fabulously rich
person, but now I can buy stuff whenever I want to, do things when
I want to. And what I want to do now is take you away to a nice
hotel in Yorkshire and get you all sorts of treats and pamper you a
bit . . . is that too much to ask? I'll never have to worry about
money - so let's go a little crazy, let's just up and go, eh? It's
not as if I'm asking to take you on a 'round the world cruise or
anything!"

Julie-Anne
didn't know what to think. Russell looked so earnest and it did
seem typical of him that he wouldn't let great wealth taint his
kind, generous, gentle nature. The phrase 'oh God, I do love you'
rose up in her mind and she wanted to run to him, to let herself
fall into his arms and feel safe, but now was not the time. 'He'd
just think I'm trying to get his money' she thought, coldly.
Anyway, none of this altered the fact that she was convinced he was
just inviting her along because it was convenient for him, even
more so than she'd first thought, she decided. Now she could see
that a man in his position shouldn't travel alone; a companion with
some useful knowledge and nothing but a bit of emotional baggage to
concern her would be an ideal stooge for a chap like him. That
would be okay until he met the girl with whom he would choose to
have this family and home he was just describing - then it would be
'Thanks and goodbye' for conveniently useful old Julie-Anne. She
surfaced from her thoughts, he was talking again.

"I'm sorry
Julie-Anne, I've stunned you. I didn't mean to. I just thought that
you deserved to get out and about and have some fun. I thought we
could do some shopping, get you some new clothes and stuff for the
break and, well, just indulge a bit . . . make it up as we go
along. No ties, and no holds barred. I thought you could think of
it as a sort of vacation-on-me. I can see that everything I've just
told you must seem a bit, well, weird?"

Julie-Anne
suddenly thought, 'I could reinvent myself a bit. He is right that
getting away from this village for a while would give me the chance
to get over my losses and re-gather myself'. She looked up at him.
"Okay" she answered simply. "I don't even need to tell anybody I'm
going, so we can leave as soon as you're ready. Let's close a few
doors on the past and escape!"

He beamed. And
while she worked hard to maintain a cool exterior, her heart
melted.

"I'll just
shove this stuff in the dishwasher." he said brightly.

". . . And put
a shirt on?" she added.

"And put a
sweater on - its sunny but damned cold out there, and going two
hundred and fifty miles north means it'll just get colder as we
go!"

"And . . . "
she called as he disappeared through the door.

His voice was
muffled, "Yes?"

She shouted
which helped her to deliver a tone of firm resolution "I've got
money of my own, my husband wasn't a multi-millionaire but he did
all right. So you needn't think I'm going to go away with you and
rely entirely on you for everything I need, thank-you!"

The plates and
mugs going into the dishwasher clinked and this was the only noise
in response to her statement. 'How easily the male ego is
punctured!' she mused to herself.