Hers For A Night

CHAPTER TWO

FOR perhaps the twentieth time that day, Georgia reached into her handbag and pulled out the small slip of white card, frowning darkly as she studied the words printed on it in an elegant script Not that she had any need to read them through again; she already knew them, and the telephone numbers, off by heart.

‘Ring me when you want to talk business.’

Lucas Mallory’s drawling voice echoed inside her head, the calculated note of contemptuous dismissal searing over tightly stretched nerves.

‘If I did want anything more personal.you would be the last woman on earth I would choose.’

‘Damn you!’ Georgia muttered aloud, addressing the words to the piece of card as if it was the man himself. ‘Damn, damn, damn you! The feeling’s totally mutual, and if I never see you again it will be far too soon!’

Given the choice, she would leave the whole thing well alone, tear the card into tiny pieces and deposit it and her unpleasant memories of the meeting with Lucas in the wastepaper bin once and for all

But she didn’t have the choice, that was the real problem. Only that morning her mother had been on the phone, full of gossip and excitement.

‘I’ve booked Wyndhams to do the catering. They did Polly and Tim’s anniversary do and it was wonderful. Oh, and we’re having that trio that played at Meg’s wedding. We’ll open the doors between the sitting room and the dining room so there’ll be plenty of room for dancing, and have the buffet in the garden room—with champagne, of course!’

‘Of course,’ Georgia echoed wanly, but Anna Harding didn’t seem to need any response, being well launched onto her current favourite subject.

‘I did wonder just who I could get to propose the toast, but when Meg suggested Bryn Walker he seemed the obvious choice, and he was delighted to be asked.’

‘Bryn Walker?’ Georgia didn’t recognise the name.

‘The new manager of the Leeds store, darling! He and his wife will be coming, of course.’

‘But I would have thought that someone closer.’ Never a daughter, of course. ‘Perhaps one of his friends.’

‘Oh, but then I wouldn’t have known just who to choose, and I didn’t want to put anyone’s nose out of joint. And, of course, it is such an important anniversary for Harding’s, as well as Dad’s birthday.’

And Georgia knew only too well which of those two events her father would regard as being the most significant. His membership of the Harding dynasty meant much more to him than his position in his own family.

‘Of course,’ she said again, and this time her mother caught the strained note in her voice.

‘You are coming, aren’t you, George?’ Her own tone had sharpened, as if she suspected a possible flaw in her carefully laid plans.

‘Yes, I’m coming,’ Georgia hastened to reassure her. ‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world.’

She hoped she sounded convincing. There was nothing her mother liked less than the suspicion that all was not right in her rather restricted world. But certainly Anna’s concern seemed to have eased.

‘And you’re bringing someone?’

With her own feelings still see-sawing up and down on that particular topic, Georgia could only manage an inarticulate murmur that might have been agreement in reply.

‘Someone special?’

‘Could be—’

It was an effort to keep her voice light. Her parentsher mother in particular-would definitely regard Lucas Mallory as ‘someone special’. The problem was, could she bring herself to ask him to act as her escort now? And even if she did, would he even consider going to the party with her?

The plan that had appeared so attractive and simple at the outset now seemed to be as fraught with difficulties as a trip to the moon, and on the attraction scale it ranked somewhere well below a mouldy apple riddled with maggots.

‘Anyway, we’ll meet him next week, won’t we, darling?’

Next week. Georgia dragged herself back to the present with a swift mental shake. The party was barely ten days away. So if she wanted Lucas to act as her escort—and after all that was why she’d laid out so much money at the auction—she had better stop vacillating and make up her mind pronto.

If. But did she have any alternative? There wasn’t exactly a long queue of handsome, wealthy, successful men lining up at her door, all panting for the honour of escorting her to her father’s damned birthday party!

There was only one thing for it, she told herself, and, not pausing long enough to allow for the possibility of second thoughts, she moved purposefully towards the phone, pressing the numbers that were etched into her memory with stiff, jerky movements that echoed the state of her feelings.

‘Mallory.’

‘Ohe—’

If she acknowledged the truth, she hadn’t expected any answer, at least, not from the man himself. She had deliberately chosen his work number, reasoning that at this time of the evening he was unlikely actually to be in his office so that she could leave a message on the answering machine, or possibly with a late-working secretary, either of which she would have found much easier than having to respond to that clipped, curt greeting.

‘Hello?’

His voice, not warm at the start, had taken on a distinctly icy edge, one that was too uncomfortably reminiscent of bis last words to her for comfort.

‘Look, is this some sort of nuisance—?’

‘No!’

At last the paralysis that had held her tongue frozen seemed to ease, so that she was able to break in on him hastily. She couldn’t bear to think that he might slam the phone down on her, cutting her off so that it would all have to be done again.

‘I was expecting a receptionist or…’

‘Everyone’s gone home but me. I’m not such a slavedriver that I keep my staff working at this time of night, even if I have to. But if you don’t want to speak to me—’

‘No, wait—please, Mr Mallory!’

The silence that greeted her stumbling words was distinctly unnerving. For a long, fraught moment she had the uneasy feeling that, knowing who she was, he might still cut her off, but then, unexpectedly, he laughed.

‘My dear Georgia—’

If his silence had been disconcerting, then his laughter and the mocking note in his voice when he finally spoke did nothing to restore any sort of sense of balance. It certainly went no way towards making her feel that his attitude towards her had mellowed in any way since the night of the auction.

‘You remember me.’

And he recalled her clearly enough to recognise her voice on just those few words. Georgia couldn’t begin to decide how that made her feel.

‘Of course I do,’ that attractive voice murmured silkily in her ear. ‘How could I ever forget my beautiful mistress, particularly when our previous meeting was—’

‘Mistress!’ Georgia exploded, belatedly realising just what he had said. ‘I am no such thing!’

‘No?’ The smooth voice was filled with a carefully assumed tone of innocence—hurt innocence at that! ‘What else would you call someone who owns me outright, so that I am nothing but her slave, bought and paid for.?’

Dear God, she could only pray that he was alone in his office. Her cheeks flamed at simply imagining what anyone else might think at overhearing his side of the conversation.

‘Oh, you mean the auction!’

Georgia couldn’t decide which feeling was uppermost in her mind, the rush of relief at realising just what Lucas meant, or the shockingly sensual reaction that had run along her nerves like an electric current, tightening her scalp and making all the tiny hairs at the nape of her neck lift in instinctive response.

‘I mean that I am yours, body and soul, completely in your power.’

‘Will you please stop this?’

Georgia prayed that she didn’t sound quite as desperate as she felt. This was like some sort of obscene phone call, except that the sensations his words aroused in her were definitely not the fear and disgust she would have felt if that were the case.

‘You were the one who asked me to ring you if I wanted to talk business.’

‘Oh, business—’

It was as if she had flung a bucket of icy water in his face, driving all trace of warmth from his voice and leaving it cold and hard.

‘Of course, I was forgetting you want to keep things on a strictly formal footing. In that case, just what can I do to help you, Ms Harding?’

Once again Georgia was a prey to conflicting feelings. She was stunned to find herself mourning the loss of the warmly sensual tone, while knowing all the time that it had been just a carefully assumed pretence, with no foundation in fact.

But what really worried her was the fact that the way he spoke should affect her in any way at all. After all, they were complete strangers, destined only to connect with each other very briefly before moving on again on separate paths, like two ships that pass in the night.

Or at least that was how she hoped their relationship would be. Certainly, it was how she would make sure it would be if she had her way!

‘I’d like to discuss our—our—’

Furious with her hesitation, she hunted frantically for the right word.

‘Date?’ Lucas supplied, with what she felt was an unnecessarily exaggerated helpfulness. ‘Assignation?’

‘Our arrangement’ Georgia managed at last.

‘Oh, yes, you said you’d let me know precisely what sort of services you require.’

‘I hardly think “services” is quite the right term!’

‘You mean you want to define my duties,’ Lucas amended, with a smooth courteousness that had her gritting her teeth against a furious retort.

‘Duties’ wasn’t much better, but she decided to let it pass this time.

‘You said something about a party, I believe. Was that the truth?’

‘Of course it was the truth! What the hell else could it be?’

‘I’ve heard better stories.’

‘You’ve heard.!’

The arrogance of the man! Georgia could only be grateful for the fact that he was on the other end of the telephone wires and so couldn’t see the way her mouth had actually fallen open on a gasp of sheer disbelief.

‘Mr Mallory, are you implying that I was simply making up the story of needing an escort to a party in order to—to—enjoy the pleasure of your company for twenty-four hours?’

She injected every degree of coldness she could muster into her words in order to make her feelings clear, and was almost surprised not to see ice crystals actually form on the receiver as she spoke.

‘You’d be surprised what infantile excuses some women come up with,’ he returned blithely, apparently totally unfazed by her attempt to freeze him out.

Kelly had been right! Georgia thought furiously. The man flirted with anything in a skirt! He believed every woman to be fair game, needing only a little encouragement in order to fall flat at his feet, even if she was doing her damnedest to make it clear that she wasn’t in the least bit interested!

‘But someone who looks like you doesn’t need to invent any such story. You only had to ask. In fact, you didn’t even need to say anything. If you’d just waited a little while, I—’

‘Mr Mallory!’

Georgia closed her eyes tight, as if by doing so she could block out the unnerving spell that that soft, enticing voice seemed to be weaving around her senses.

‘Lucas,’ he corrected irrepressibly, but she ignored him and plunged on, drawing on all her self-control to keep her voice steady.

‘I have tried to be polite about this, but you appear incapable of taking in what I’m saying. It seems that I have no option but to spell it out in words of one syllable! I do not—repeat, not—want to spend any time with you. And no matter how hard you may find it to believe that any woman could resist your much-vaunted attractions, let me assure you that here is one woman at least who is totally immune—impervious—to your so-called charms! If the nuclear bomb had dropped and you and I were the only people left alive on this earth I would still not want to spend any more than a minute in your company unless I had to. I am not that desperate!’

‘Aren’t you?’

‘I…’

She had opened her mouth to deny the suggestion furiously, to tell him in no uncertain terms just what she thought of him, when realisation had her stopping dead. It seemed that his impertinent question had been repeated inside her own thoughts, echoing it perfectly, right down to the infuriatingly mocking intonation.

‘So tell me,’ Lucas persisted. ‘If you’re not that desperate, then why did you attend the auction at all? Why not just ask some friend to act as your escort? Why did you have to pay for someone and not just anyone, but one particular man—me?’

‘I don’t have any friends—male friends, I mean. At least, not the sort of friends I could ask to help me out in this.’

‘No one who’ll simply be your escort?’ Lucas’s tone was frankly sceptical. ‘Come off it, Georgia! Any fool—’

‘Any fool won’t do!’

Her outburst fell into a silence that sent a frisson of apprehension shivering down her spine, a silence that grew longer and longer as Lucas stubbornly refused to say a word, obviously waiting for her to speak first. It didn’t take too long for his deliberate obstinacy to stretch her nerves almost to breaking point.

‘Oh, all right! I don’t just want an escort.’

Feeling that she had been backed into a corner, mentally at least, Georgia knew that her grip on her selfcontrol had loosened dangerously.

‘I want someone whose reputation precedes him as yours inevitably does. Someone who has the sort of immediate impact you have simply by walking into a room.’

‘Well, thanks for the compliment. I didn’t know you cared,’ was the sardonic retort. ‘But I still don’t see—’

‘And I want someone who’ll travel with me to Yorkshire to meet my family, but someone who’s not involved in any way. Someone who’ll do just as I say and no more. I need someone—a man—who’ll act his heart out so that he makes it look as if I’m the centre of his universe, the sun in his sky. Someone who can convince everyone at the party that he is hopelessly, head over heels in love with me, just for one day, and then go, walk out of my life without a word, and never come back.’

She paused, expecting some comment, but none came and she had to go on in order to fill the uncomfortable silence.

‘I want a total commitment for that twenty-four hours I’ve paid for, and then nothing—no arguments, no emotional entanglements, just a clean, sharp break. As I said, strictly business. And because it is a business deal I expected to have to pay very well for such a performance.’

This time the silence that fell when she finally finished speaking had a slightly stunned quality about it, one that had her thinking back over precisely what she had just said. She couldn’t stop herself from wincing when she became painfully aware of just how much she had let drop.

What had come over her? she asked herself shakenly, thankful that the fiery colour that flooded her face couldn’t be seen by the man at the other end of the telephone wires. Or perhaps that was why it had happened. Perhaps it was simply because she couldn’t see him, was unable to judge his reaction from his face, that the restraints that normally controlled her tongue had been loosened, resulting in the uninhibited outburst.

But why didn’t he say something—anything? As the silence drew out, even longer than before, she was finally forced to wonder whether in fact Lucas was still there. But she knew she hadn’t heard the receiver being replaced, and it was silence she could hear, not the disconnected buzz of the dialling tone.

Just when she thought that her nerves had been reduced to tangled shreds, that she might scream if something didn’t happen soon, she heard his drily drawling tones once more.

That’s a pretty tall order, lady. This party must mean a hell of a lot to you.’

‘You could say that.’

Georgia’s laugh was weak and shaky, and obviously her voice had had no more strength either.

‘What did you say? I didn’t catch that.’

‘I said, yes, damn you, it does! But that’s my problem. All I need to know from you is whether you’re going to help me. Will you do it? Will you abide by our bargain and be my escort, with all that that implies, for just twenty-four hours?’

Unconsciously she crossed her fingers, twisting them tightly in the telephone cord as she held her breath, waiting for his answer.

‘I’ll have to think about it,’ Lucas said at last after another interminable wait. ‘Give me ten minutes.’

And this time he did put the phone down on her, cutting her off abruptly and leaving Georgia staring in shock and confusion at the silent receiver in her hand.

CHAPTER THREE

‘LUCAS?’

It took a couple of seconds for Georgia to register just what had happened.

‘Lucas!’

She shook the receiver angrily, almost as if wishing it was the man himself, but of course it remained stubbornly uncommunicative, the only sound that issued from it the monotonous buzz of the dialling tone.