Fiancee By Mistake

  Fiancee By Mistake

  Harlequin Presents #2150

  Kate Walker

  (Proofer's note the scan appears to be missing approximately the first eight pages of this book. If you are able please include what is missing.)

  from the strength of his hold. 'It was no such thing! If you think—'

  But movement was a mistake. Instead of loosening his grip, he tightened it painfully, crushing her even closer to the warmth of his body. She was so near to him that she could feel the steady beating of his heart under her cheek.

  'Calm down.' His voice was softer now, warm as the touch of his hand on her face, stilling her instantly. 'You've had a shock. Take a minute or so to recover. Breathe slowly, deeply.'

  Soothed by the gentle stroke of his thumb over her cheek, Leah obeyed automatically. But if breathing deeply was meant to calm her, it had exactly the opposite effect. It only added to her awareness of him in a new and disturbing way. The scent of some clean, tangy cologne tantalised her nostrils, but mixed in with it was the subtle, uniquely personal scent that was his alone.

  Leah suddenly felt as if something had short-circuited inside her brain. She couldn't think clearly, couldn't focus on anything other than the warmth and strength that enclosed her, the pressure of Sean's body all along the length of her own.

  Her heart seemed to be racing in double time, sending her blood pounding through her veins until her head swam. There was a hot, tight knot of excitement deep inside her that, contrarily, made her shiver convulsively.

  'Are you cold?'

  Being so very close, Sean couldn't have missed her reaction. His hands closed over her arms, sliding under her coat, smoothing the soft skin below the short sleeves of her dress.

  'You're frozen!' Concern sounded in his voice and he increased the pressure of his touch. 'You need to get your blood moving...'

  How could that be? Leah wondered dazedly. How could her skin be cold when inside she felt so burning hot? And her blood didn't need any assistance. Already it was searing through her with the white-hot force of molten lava.

  There was one thing she did need, though, and the force of that desire was so great that she just couldn't fight it.

  With a low murmur of sensual awareness, she lifted her head and pressed her lips to Sean Gallagher's neck, her mouth soft against the warm strength of the taut muscle of his throat. The roughness of a day's growth of stubble abraded her cheek and the faint salt taste of his skin made her tongue tingle.

  For the space of a heartbeat she felt him stiffen in shock, and knew the fear of rejection. That momentary panic was enough to bring home to her the foolishness of what she had just done, but before she had time to react the hostile tension in his long body suddenly changed to a new and very different sort of awareness. Leah had perhaps a second or two to register the change before he moved again.

  'So that's your game, is it?' he muttered, swinging her round sharply, so that instead of being at his side she was now clamped firmly against him.

  Her breasts were crushed against the hard wall of his chest, her pelvis tight against his. Then, as he leaned back against her car, he pulled her between his legs so that she felt enclosed by him on three sides. The bite of the wind receded as she felt the heat of his body reach her even through the layers of their clothes.

  Sean's mouth came down onto hers, taking it without care or consideration, crushing her lips back against her teeth and forcing a cry of shocked response from her. If her blood had seemed hectic moments before, now she felt that it was positively incandescent.

  When his tongue probed the sensitive interior of her mouth she moaned out loud, as if the action had been a more intimate invasion. She couldn't control her instinctive response to the arrow of need that sliced through her, making her writhe in an uncontrolled movement that drew a low growl from deep in Sean's throat. It seemed as if some wild, electric charge had passed through every inch of her body, setting it alight with burning, tingling excitement.

  She had no awareness of the darkness around them. She didn't feel the stinging sensation of the whirling snow as it fell against her face, nor the icy drifts that pooled around her feet in the well-worn shoes. There was only herself and this man and the blazing electrical storm they had lit between them. Leah whimpered in blind delight as rough hands pushed under her coat, finding and closing over the sensitised swell of her breasts under the scarlet velvet

  With shocking suddenness Sean broke the intimate contact, wrenching his mouth away from hers with a violent imprecation. She was his brother's fiancée! For several seconds more he swore with savage and unnerving eloquence, pushing her away from him with such force that she slid dangerously on the treacherous road surface.

  'And what was all that about?' The blazing fury in his voice could be heard even above the wild cacophony of the howling wind. 'Just what did you think you were doing?'

  How could she answer that? Leah didn't dare to even look into his face, keeping her eyes fixed on the ground as she tried to impose some order on, her wildly confused thoughts.

  What had she been doing? What had possessed her to throw herself at a man she had never met in her life before? A man she knew nothing about other than the stories hi the tabloids and the fact that his face and form appeared on her television set once a week?

  'I—didn't think.'

  'You didn't think!' he echoed scathingly. 'Oh, I can believe that! But it wasn't your mind that was driving you, was it, Miss Elliot?'

  That brought Leah's head up in a rush, wide, shocked eyes going to his face. How did he know her name? Where...?

  But as her gaze focused on his strongly carved features the question in her mind never got past her lips. Instead it was stopped by her own hand, her fingers coming up to cover her mouth, the shock that kept her silent turning her eyes dark as pansies.

  It was only now that she realised he had kept part of his face turned away from her. When he had opened the car door, and again when he had held out a hand to help her, she had only seen his right profile, the left staying hidden by the darkness. The rest of the tune she hadn't been looking at him and—hot colour flamed in her cheeks—she had kept her eyes closed when he had kissed her.

  'Sean!'

  Now, for the first time, she could see all of his face, and the sight made her breath catch harshly in her throat. In spite of the darkness, there was no mistaking the devastating effect of the raw, jagged line that ran down his face from the comer of one eye, angling away from his mouth to end just on the strong, forceful jaw.

  The barely healed scar was obviously recent, clearly the result of some dreadful accident. The handsome looks that had won Sean Gallagher so many fans were ruined; the face that adorned thousands of publicity photographs was destroyed for ever.

  Watching her intently, Sean had seen the direction of her gaze, the response she couldn't disguise.

  'Pretty, isn't it?' His cynicism was brutal.

  'Oh, Sean!'

  Shock and sympathy drove every other thought from her mind. Reacting purely instinctively, she moved forward impetuously, only realising as he flinched back, away from her, that she had actually lifted a hand as if to touch his damaged face.

  'No way, lady!' he warned roughly. 'I don't fall for that trick twice in a row.'

  'It was no trick!'

  Furious at the way he had misinterpreted her gesture of concern, Leah actually stamped her foot hard, regretting her impulsive act instantly as it sent a spray of freezing snow over her feet and legs.

  'What sort of person do you think I am?'

  "The sort of female...' deliberately he emphasised his use of a different noun '...who throws herself at any available man without a thought for the one she's left behind.'

&nb
sp; The arrogance of the man! He actually believed that just because he was a TV star any and every woman must be crazy about him, available solely for his pleasure! But then the exact words Sean had used hit home with a worrying clarity. '

  'What do you know about any men in my life?'

  She just managed to get the words out before the truth exploded inside her head with a force that made her head reel.

  It didn't matter how Sean Gallagher knew about Andy—if in fact he knew anything, and wasn't just making a lucky guess. What mattered was that she hadn't spared the other man a thought at all, not since Sean had appeared so unexpectedly.

  Leah bit down hard on her bottom lip as her conscience reproached her bitterly. For the shock of the accident to have temporarily driven all thought of the man who had asked her to many him from her head was one thing. But to discover that the man she had parted from only that evening had been completely wiped from her mind was quite another. How could she be so foolish—so shallow?

  Sean's smile in response to her question was cold, dangerous.

  'I get the impression that you're the sort of woman who uses her undeniable charms to entrap poor, weak fools, only to chew them up and spit them out when you're done with them.'

  'And on what evidence do you base this outrageous attack on my character? You don't know—'

  'I don't need to know.' Sean's icy response slashed through her indignant protest. 'I have eyes to see.'

  A contemptuous wave of his hand and the downward flick of his eyes made Leah suddenly aware of just how she must look.

  Her long dark hair had fallen from its elegant coil and now tumbled in wild disarray around her face. Her skirt seemed to have stuck high up on her thighs, still revealing the lacy stocking tops, and her coat now hung wide open, exposing the smooth white curves of her breasts above the clinging, low-cut bodice. The wind had whipped up a hectic colour in her cheeks, making her eyes unnaturally bright above them.

  Unable to bear Sean's cold-eyed scrutiny, Leah pulled her flapping coat closely round herself like a defensive shield, tugging the belt tight at her waist

  'I was at a party, for God's sake! It is Christmas—peace and goodwill and all that!'

  'Goodwill to all men!' he flung back at her. 'Or just a select few?'

  'Now look here—' Leah began, purple eyes flashing fire.

  But the full effect of her anger was ruined by the way that her teeth chattered against each other, and the fact that she was shaken by a sudden, convulsive shiver. The snow was still falling steadily, now coming down thicker than ever, and in the thin-soled shoes her feet were like blocks of ice. With a grimace of distress, she shifted uncomfortably, trying to ease them.

  'Oh, for God's sake!' Sean exclaimed impatiently. 'We can't stay here like this. We'll freeze if we do.'

  'I couldn't agree more.'

  Leah was glad of any excuse to end this embarrassing confrontation. All she wanted was to get her car back on the road and be on her way. Sean Gallagher might have seemed to be a knight coming to the rescue of a damsel in distress, but appearances were definitely deceptive. He appeared to be the most devastatingly attractive man she had ever met, but his character had to be the most unpleasant of any she had encountered in all her twenty-five years.

  'If you could just help me move my car...' she began, her voice failing as she saw his dark head move in obdurate denial of her request

  'No chance,' he stated flatly. "There's no way we can do anything with it without a tow-truck and some chains, and even then I doubt if it will start. I mean, look at it.'

  Following the contemptuous wave of one hand, Leah had to admit he spoke nothing but the truth. Leaning at a perilous angle, its front wheels deeply embedded in the ditch and the snow piling up heavily all around it, the Renault looked totally immovable. It would take professional know-how and equipment to enable her to continue her journey.

  'Then perhaps you could drive me to the nearest garage or house.'

  She looked hopefully to where Sean's car was parked at the side of the road. A heavy layer of snow had built up on its bonnet and roof while they were talking, but it looked in much better shape than her own vehicle.

  'Please.' Tact made her add the last word, though she felt very far from wanting to be strictly polite. '

  A harsh, humourless laugh left her in no doubt as to exactly what he thought of that idea.

  "The nearest garage, my dear Ms Elliot, is more than ten miles in that direction.' He gestured back towards the way he had come. 'I've just negotiated that road once on the way here, and believe me it was no fun at all! in this weather. I've no intention of doing it again and risking my life for anyone. Have you tried the emergency services?'

  'I'm not a member of a breakdown service or anything like that. Oh, I know!' she exclaimed as she saw the scathing look that told her exactly how he felt about that. 'I probably should have joined—as I'm sure you did—ages ago! But I only took possession of this car last weekend. And besides, I'd need a mobile phone to call them from here—something I don't run to on my salary.'

  She glanced at the sleek and obviously expensive lines of his own BMW. A new light brightened her eyes and she looked at him expectantly.

  'I suppose you've got the very latest model in your car. I could—'

  As a matter of fact, no, I haven't,' Sean put in coolly. 'When I'm on the road I prefer to be unobtainable. And I know for a fact that there are no houses any closer than my own cottage. One of the reasons I bought it in the first place was because it is so isolated.'

  'But what can I do? How am I going to get home?' A note of desperation .threaded through the question.

  Broad shoulders under the navy woollen jacket lifted in a dismissive shrug.

  'Strikes me you've got two possible choices. You can stay here till morning...'

  The look of scorn Leah turned on him made it only too plain that she wasn't going to take that suggestion seriously. She'd freeze before midnight.

  'Or?'

  'Or you can come with me. My house isn't far from here. We should make it before the roads become impassable if we're careful—and quick. You'll have to leave your car, I'm afraid. But as no one's likely to be able to move it, even if they were out in this blizzard, it should be safe enough. You can spend the night with me.'

  'Spend the night with you!' Leah echoed in blank disbelief. 'You have got to be joking!'

  At last her brain seemed to be functioning again. The idea of getting into this man's car and letting him drive her off to God knew where was not one that appealed in the slightest. She didn't trust him as far as she could throw him, and he had already proved to be extremely dangerous in more ways than one.

  When her uncomfortable conscience put in the reminder that, judging by her earlier behaviour, she probably had more to fear from her own foolish impulses than anything Sean Gallagher might do, she pushed it aside furiously.

  'No way! I'd rather take my chances with the elements!'

  As her defiant words were whipped away on the wind she nerved herself for his response, expecting an angry protest laced with dark scorn at her foolishness.

  It never came. Instead he shrugged again, even more dismissively than before.

  'Your choice, lady.'

  Already he was turning away.

  'Have a good night.'

  Leah watched, open-mouthed, in frank disbelief. He couldn't mean it! She couldn't believe that he would actually leave her here.

  But it seemed that he would. He had turned his back on her and was moving purposefully towards the dark, sleek shape of his parked car. Without even his ambiguous presence the silent lane seemed suddenly very dark and cold, and full of darkly threatening shadows.

  'You can't do this!' Her words had to be pitched high against the manic howling of the wind. 'You can't just go and leave me here alone!'

  For a brief second he paused, glanced back, eyes narrowed against the whirling snow.

  'Try me,' he tossed at her, and turned ba
ck towards his car.

  CHAPTER TWO

  HE MEANT it too, Sean told himself as he strode away from her. Never once in all the thirty-four years of his life had he left a woman in a position of need when he could offer help, but there was always a first tune, and this was it

  This woman was far more trouble than she was worth, and quite frankly the thought of letting her into his house, the home he had kept as his own very private haven until now, was not something that appealed in the slightest

  He couldn't work out just what it was about this particular female that affected him so badly, but it seemed as if his thinking processes, normally as cool and rational as any scientist's, had seized up from the moment he had left his car and headed for hers.

  But could he really leave her here, alone and unprotected, in such appalling weather conditions?

  His steps were already slowing when he heard her voice behind him.

  'Wait! Please!'

  She had finally pulled her skirt down, he noted automatically as he swung round in response to the sharp cry of distress. And the black coat was now fastened close across that stunning cleavage. Sean didn't know whether relief or disappointment was uppermost in his mind. He only knew that it was a damned sight easier to think more clearly when there was so much less of her body on display.

  'Changed your mind? Decided to see sense?'

  'I—realise I have no choice.'

  The admission had had to be dragged from her, her stilted tone said. Her reluctance to speak to him was emphasised by the way she held her head proudly upright, those amazing violet eyes watching him as if he was something particularly unpleasant that a cat had just brought in.

  'I'll freeze if I have to stay here. So if your offer of shelter still stands I'd—like to take you up on it.'

  'Like' obviously didn't come in to it. She knew she had no alternative, and she hated being obliged to admit it

  'In that case we'd better get moving. Do you have anything you want to bring with you?'

  'My case. It's in the boot.”