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Chapter Twelve
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Just One Night With Him Chapter Thirteen
The next thing she knew, Roth was taking her very firmly by the arm andpropelling her towards the door, ignoring her protests to leave her alone.At the top of the stairs, to her infuriated chagrin, he turned round and swungher up into his arms, telling her through gritted teeth, ‘If you’re going to faint onme, Elena, then here’s the best place to do it.’She wanted to tell him that fainting was the last thing she intended to do, buther face was pressed against the warm flesh of his throat and if she tried to speakher lips would be touching his skin and then...Swallowing hard, Elena tried to concentrate on banishing the agonizing painin her head but it was something that she couldn’t just will away. As she knewfrom past experience, the only way of getting rid of it was for her to go to bedand sleep it off.They were downstairs now and Roth was crossing the hallway, thrusting openthe door and carrying her out into the fresh air.‘What are you doing?’ she demanded as he
Just One Night With Him Chapter Fourteen
The next thing she knew, Roth was taking her very firmly by the arm andpropelling her towards the door, ignoring her protests to leave her alone.At the top of the stairs, to her infuriated chagrin, he turned round and swungher up into his arms, telling her through gritted teeth, ‘If you’re going to faint onme, Elena then here’s the best place to do it.’She wanted to tell him that fainting was the last thing she intended to do, buther face was pressed against the warm flesh of his throat and if she tried to speakher lips would be touching his skin and then...Swallowing hard, Elena tried to concentrate on banishing the agonising painin her head but it was something that she couldn’t just will away. As she knewfrom past experience, the only way of getting rid of it was for her to go to bedand sleep it off.They were downstairs now and Roth was crossing the hallway, thrusting openthe door and carrying her out into the fresh air.‘What are you doing?’ she demanded as he w
Just One Night With Him Chapter Fifteen
She and the fling she had, had never actually been lovers, although she knew that veryfew people would believe that, nor had she ever used drugs; but she had beentainted by his lifestyle, had had her eyes opened painfully to certain harshrealities of life, and after lucas had interceded for her with her mother and withthe university authorities, getting her a place at Vassar where she had been ableto complete her education, she had promised herself that she would pay him andMia back for their kindness and their love and support by showing the world and her detractors just how worthy of that support she was.At Vassar she had gained a reputation as something of a recluse and a swot;dates and parties had been strictly out of bounds so far as she was concerned andher dedication had paid off with excellent exam results.And now, just as she had once felt the need to prove herself to Lucas andMia, she felt a corresponding need to prove herself worthy of Michael's trust inher pro
Just One Night With Him Chapter Sixteen
It had been the house that she had given most of her mental energy andimagination to lovingly creating, though. A house for a family, a house thatwrapped itself lovingly and protectively around you...a house with enough landfor her to have a pony. A house... The house... This house...!Ran had stopped the Land Rover. Shakily she got out, unable to take her eyesoff the house, barely aware of Roth's expression as he watched her.Just for a second, seeing that luminous bemused expression on her face, hehad been transported back in time...to a time when she had looked at him likethat, a time when...Grimly he reminded himself of what Elena had just said, of the terms she hadjust set between them. She had made it more than plain, if he had needed itunderlining, which he had not, that the only reason she was here in his life wasbecause of her job and that, given the choice, she would far rather be workingalongside someone else...anyone else.The gravel crunched beneath her f
Just One Night With Him Chapter Seventeen
The empty grate in the pretty fireplace, which she would have filled with a collection of dried flowers or covered with an embroidered firescreen, was simply that—an empty grate. The curtains and the bedding were modern and, she suspected, newly purchased for her visit. The same depressing brown carpet as downstairs covered the floor. ‘You’ve got your own bathroom,’ Roth told her as he crossed the floor to push open another door. ‘It’s old-fashioned but it works.’ As she looked into the bathroom past him, Elena said wryly, ‘It may be oldfashioned to you, Roth, but this type of plain white Edwardian sanitaryware is very much in vogue right now.’ ‘There are wardrobes and cupboards on that wall,’ he told her unnecessarily, indicating the bank of built-in furniture. ‘I haven’t had the chance yet, but tomorrow I’ll bring up a desk from downstairs.’ ‘I’ll certainly need somewhere to put my laptop,’ She agreed. ‘But I will also need to have a room somewhere, I think preferably up at th
Just One Night With Him Chapter Eighteen
As he went to answer it Elena headed for the stairs.‘Vicky...’ she heard him saying warmly, and then, ‘Yes...it’s still on... I’mlooking forward to it too,’ he confirmed, his voice dropping and deepening.‘Look, I have to go...’She was halfway up the stairs when she heard him replacing the telephonereceiver.‘Elena—’ he began.But she cut him short, turning round and telling him crisply, ‘Don’t let medelay you if you’ve got a date, Roth. I’ve got plenty of work to read up on.’‘You need to sleep off your headache,’ he told her curtly.‘On the contrary. I need to work,’ She corrected him sharply as shecontinued on her way upstairs.Roth stood and watched her. God, but she got under his skin. Why did he lether? Why hadn’t he simply told her that the only date he had this evening waswith a damaged fence?Angrily he turned on his heel and strode towards the front door.As he closed it behind him elena's body slumped slightly; tension hadinvaded each and every one of her m
Just One Night With Him Chapter Nineteen
Elena laughed as she heard them, relieved, and shook her head at them as shetold them cheerfully, ‘Yes, I may be an intruder now, but you’re going to have toget used to me. You and I shall be seeing an awful lot of one another, youknow.’She stayed with them for several minutes, watching them and talking to them.Soon, no doubt, when it became fully dark, they would be roosting somewhereout of the way of any predatory hunting foxes.Turning her back on them, Elena stared thoughtfully at the house, trying tovisualise how it would look once the stone had been cleaned. That alone wouldcost a small fortune and would, no doubt, take almost as long as it would take forthe interior to be renovated. She must ask Roth to give her any formal recordsfrom when the hall had originally been built and the work done on it since then.She wasn’t sure, but she suspected that the stairway she had seen had been, if notthe work of Grinling Gibbons, then certainly the work of one of his morei
Just One Night With Him Chapter Twenty
What is it?’ Roth asked her, his attention caught by the movement of her hand.‘You’re heavy, Roth, you’re hurting me,’ Elena told him, not entirelytruthfully, as she tried to bury herself in the night’s cloaking shadows, but it wastoo late and she could see from the sudden narrowing of his gaze as it followedthe action of her hand that he realised, as she had just done herself, that herwretched T-shirt had ridden up far enough to expose the lower curve of herbreasts.The last thing, the very last thing she wanted was for Roth to study her body inany way at all, so why...why, the moment his gaze fell to her breasts, did theysuddenly decide to react to his presence by swelling and firming, her nipplessensually flaunting peaks of explicit womanhood?‘You’re not wearing a bra...’‘Thank you, Roth, but I am already aware of that fact,’ Elena snapped at himthrough gritted teeth, her face hot with colour as she tried to reach the edge ofher T-shirt to tug it down. But before
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Just One Night With Him Chapter Thirty Three
What the hell do you think I’m going to do to her?’ Roth had exploded. ‘Takeher to bed and...?’‘Is it really so impossible that you might be tempted to?’ lucas had asked himquietly. ‘I’m not criticising or condemning, Roth; physically she’s mature and sheloves you—or believes she does—’‘She’s got a crush on me that she’ll soon grow out of,’ Roth had interruptedhim grimly. ‘That’s what you want me to say, isn’t it? And I should keep myhands off her until she does grow out of it...out of me... But what if I feeldifferently, Lucas? What if I want...?’ He had shaken his head, angry with himselfas well as with lucas. More angry with himself than he was with lucas who heknew was only doing what he saw as his duty by his stepsister.‘You’re right, she’s a child still, and the sooner she grows up and forgets allabout me the better,’ Roth had told him hardily. ‘And as for taking her to bed,’ hehad thrown at lucas as he turned to leave, ‘well, there’s always a cure for that.’A
Just One Night With Him Chapter Thirty Two
It was later that morning that she actually bumped into Wayne, completely bychance. In the two hours since Roth had left she had had more than enough timeto dwell on what had happened and what she had said, and by the time she sawWayne she had convinced herself that it was totally impossible for her ever tosee Roth again...ever to see anyone again who was even remotely connected withhim.‘Hi there, doll,’ Wayne greeted her with a grin. ‘Looks like it’s time to saygoodbye. I’m meeting up with the eco-warriors this afternoon.’Swiftly Elena made up her mind, seizing on the opportunity to make herescape, not just from Roth but from everything that was associated with him—herlove, her shame, and her fear that he would somehow guess that she had lied tohim.‘I’m coming with you,’ she told Wayne determinedly, adding before he couldargue, ‘My stepbrother has sent me some money so I can afford to supportmyself.’‘How much has he sent you?’ Wayne questioned her interestedly.
Just One Night With Him Chapter Thirty One
What is it? What’s wrong?’ she demanded, not understanding. ‘Last night—’‘Last night was a mistake,’ Roth interrupted her curtly. ‘It should never have happened and I wish to God... Why didn’t you tell me you were still a virgin?’‘I... I...’ Elena could feel her eyes starting to fill with tears.This wasn’t how it should be—Roth aloof, cold and distant, almost accusing.‘Roth, I love you,’ she told him shakily. ‘I want us to be together...married...’‘Married? You’re a child still, Elena... Your mother...’‘I’m not a child, I’m nearly twenty,’ she protested frantically.‘You’re a child,’ Roth insisted, ‘and if I’d known... Why didn’t you tell me?Why did you let me think that you and Wayne were lovers?’‘I did tell you but you wouldn’t listen. I thought you’d be pleased...that you’dwant to be the first...the only one...’ she told him pathetically.‘Pleased? Oh, my God.’ Roth started to laugh, a harshly bitter laugh. ‘The onlything that could make this appalling situation
Just One Night With Him Chapter Thirty
And then, without waiting for his response, she turned her back on him andwalked very slowly and very deliberately to her bedroom door.Once there she turned round and looked at him gravely.He was still standing where she had left him, his face unfamiliarly pale, hiseyes blazing with...Quickly she looked away and then, before her courage could desert her, shetugged open the buttons of her borrowed shirt and shrugged it off.Standing still and naked in full view of Roth whilst he watched her in silencewas probably the hardest thing she had ever had to do, she acknowledged, but,somehow, doing it made her feel strong and brave and very, very womanly.There was an odd glittering brilliance in Roth's eyes, and her stomach musclestensed as she saw the way his jaw tightened as he looked away from her.‘Roth....’ she commanded softly.‘Elena for God’s sake...’Ignoring the tough grimness in his voice, she turned her back and walked fullyinto her small bedroom. Seconds later h
Just One Night With Him Chapter Twenty Nine
Elena blanched. Lucas had obviously told him about that; she wished that hehadn’t.‘I... He’ll pay me back.’ She defended both Wayne’s request and her ownacceptance of it.‘Things have certainly changed since my time at university,’ Roth told hercynically. ‘Then it was the man who did the chasing, the pursuing, not thewoman who had to secure the man’s attentions by offering him money.’Elena stared at him, unable to keep either her shock or the pain his words hadcaused her from showing in her eyes.‘It isn’t like that... I haven’t been pursuing Wayne. I don’t...’She stopped abruptly and looked away from him. How could she tell Roth ofall men...people...that she didn’t run after his sex, when he had good reason tobelieve otherwise after the ways she had so blatantly revealed her feelings forhim? Now he was looking at her in that horribly cynical way, his mouth twistingin mocking contempt.‘lucas asked me to come,’ he told her as she remained silent. ‘He’s had to goawa
Just One Night With Him Chapter Twenty Eight
monthly allowance. She had felt uncomfortable about doing so, but after a small pause,when she had stammeringly explained that she had loaned some money to afriend, he had said quietly that she could leave the matter with him.Naively she had assumed that that meant that he would send her a cheque, andsuddenly she’d had more important things to worry about than money. David,her friend, was dead. He had collapsed at a rave party and been rushed intohospital, but it had been too late to save him.His family had taken him home to bury him and they had also made it plainthat they did not want any of his university friends to attend his funeral.‘They blame us for what happened to him,’ one of his other friends told Elenaangrily. ‘They’re the ones who are at fault. He never wanted to come here...’Elena was too upset to make any comment when Wayne asked for anotherloan, and he was moody and sharp-tempered with her, mocking her upbringingand taunting her with her naiveté and i
Just One Night With Him Chapter Twenty Seven
She had been young and naive but not so young nor so naive as not to be ableto guess where the tiny pretty lacy briefs Roth had given her might have comefrom, and the knowledge that they must have belonged to another woman hadcast a shadow not just over the whole day, but over everything.She had once heard lucas joking with Roth about his taste for older women.‘I’m not in the market for commitment or marriage,’ Roth had returned. ‘ButI’m not about to turn myself into a monk either,’ he had admitted frankly.Neither of them had known that she was listening as she hesitated outside Luca's library door on her way past.‘So a woman who knows what life’s all about, who’s been married anddecided that it isn’t for her, suits me fine.’She hadn’t been able to hide her massive crush on Ran before she’d left foruniversity, in fact had openly offered her love to him, but he had determinedlypushed it away—just as he had also determinedly pushed her away.She had noticed it again at L
Just One Night With Him Chapter Twenty Six
When her mother had first married Lucas father and they had gone to live inhis ancestral home, she had been overwhelmed at first by the darkness of thehuge house. It had been Roth who had guessed her fears and apprehensions afterhe had found her sleepwalking that night. Roth who had been staying at the houseinstead of his cottage one weekend, ‘babysitting’ her in the absence of hermother, and who had taken her, not back to bed, but to his own room where hehad made her a hot drink and talked to her, showing her the telescope he used towatch the night sky.The binoculars beside it he had used for another, more mundane purpose. Asthe estate manager one of his jobs had been to keep a sharp look-out forpoachers. The night had no fears for Roth, and through him she too had learned toappreciate its special beauties. It had been Roth who had taken her to watch thebadger cubs at play, earning her mother’s anger. Elena quickly stopped that lineof thought. Since she couldn’t sleep
Just One Night With Him Chapter Twenty Five
Let go of you...? Do you realise what you’re saying, what you’re accusingme of doing? You’re not a teenager any more, Elena, and if this is some kind ofpetty attempt to—’‘No, I’m not.’ Elena interrupted him furiously. ‘I’m the Trust’s representativehere at Haverton and as such it’s my job to protect the Trust’s interests and itsinvestments... If I think that someone, anyone, is trying to cheat the Trust ormisuse its funds, then it’s my job to—’‘Your job...?’ Roth laughed savagely. ‘You sound very high-minded forsomeone who’s slept her way into her “job” via her boss’s bed.’There was a second’s pause and then a white heat, a zigzag of pure fury andfrustrated womanly pride, hit Elena like a bolt of lightning. Immediately shereacted in the only way her outraged female instincts knew, lifting her hand andslapping Roth's face in furious rejection of his insult.Elena didn’t know which of them was the more shocked—she who haddelivered the blow or Roth who had received it.
