Annie West – Rebel's Bargain (страница 2)

‘Family!’ Orsino didn’t hide his bitterness.

The closest family had come recently was when his father’s CEO, Christos Giatrakos, had made contact, wanting to cash in on Orsino’s reputation, requesting—no, demanding—that he be the ‘face’ of the company. Orsino and his father had never been close but at least the old man could have rung himself.

‘Yeah, well, I know I’ve been busy but—’

‘I didn’t mean you, Lucca.’ Orsino palmed his bristled jaw with his unbandaged hand, feeling like an ungrateful heel. ‘Sorry. I’m in a foul mood, not used to being stuck in a hospital bed. I shouldn’t take it out on you.’ He drew a slow breath, knowing his injuries were only part of the problem. ‘I appreciate the offer but there’s nothing you can do here.’

‘Maybe not now, but when you’re released from hospital you’ll need someone.’

‘You’re offering to play nurse?’ Orsino smiled. ‘It might be worth agreeing just to see it.’

His twin’s chuckle was the best thing he’d heard in days, warming him in ways thermal blankets hadn’t. Orsino hadn’t realised till this week what was important in his life. Now he knew, and he’d make it his business to catch up with his twin more regularly. But only after he’d recovered enough not to be a figure of sympathy.

‘Why do you always underestimate me, Orsino? Just because you’re a couple of minutes older?’

‘I’m picturing you in a starched cap and apron, Lucca. The idea has a certain appalling fascination.’ Orsino spoke again over his brother’s laugh. ‘Don’t worry about the nursemaid gig. I’ve lined up someone.’

‘Lucilla?’

‘No, though she called. Our big sister still worries about us after all these years, and despite the fact Giatrakos clearly runs her ragged.’

‘You need someone experienced, someone you can trust.’

Orsino bit back a bark of laughter. Trust?

No, trust didn’t describe his feelings for Poppy. Once he’d vowed never to see her again. But days stuck on a mountain expecting to die gave him a new perspective.

He’d never trust her again. But there was a freedom, and power, in knowing that.

Poppy and he had unfinished business. That’s why she still haunted his thoughts. For five years he’d told himself he was done with the past, but in the burst of clarity that had come to him on the mountainside, he knew it would never be over till he’d faced her one more time.

Something lingered there. Something he had to face before he walked away for ever.

She’d hate being with him again. After what she’d done that would be tough, even for a woman so brazen. As for being at his beck and call while he recovered …

Orsino’s lips curved in a tight smile. He looked forward to making her squirm. It was small enough revenge for what she’d done.

‘Don’t fret, Lucca. The woman I have in mind is just what the doctor ordered.’

Poppy drew a jagged breath as the taxi wove through traffic.

Fear had crowded close from the moment news broke of the avalanche and the two injured climbers. Even strangers felt fear for Orsino and awe for what he’d done. She’d overheard them discussing it at the airport: Orsino Chatsfield’s heroism, or his foolhardiness, depending on your view.

She looked at her ringless hands twisting in her lap. It wasn’t fear she felt but terror. It grated through her empty stomach.

She hadn’t seen Orsino in five years but she couldn’t imagine a world without him in it. His vitality, his passion, oh, Lord, his passion!

Her hands clenched as memories rushed to the surface, heating her skin.

His arrogance. His demands. The way he was so ready to judge but so unready to face his own faults.

Despite all the negatives, a hard, heavy lump pressed down on her chest as if she’d swallowed an anvil.

The message from the hospital—so uninformative, yet so peremptory—had congealed the dread in her veins. It had sent her racing from France to the base of the Himalayas. She hadn’t caught her breath the whole way. Even now her heart pumped too fast.

The taxi stopped and Poppy looked out at the ugly hospital, her heart in her mouth.

She didn’t even blink when a cluster of press surged, bombarding her with questions. She barely heard them. All she could think of was what awaited her inside.

* * *

Poppy’s footsteps echoed in the silent corridor. With each step her nerves screwed tighter.

Please, please. Let him survive. Let him live.

She’d told herself she felt nothing for Orsino Chatsfield. The burn of negative feelings had died long ago, buried under the overload of sheer hard work that had taken her to the top of her profession. No time to feel hurt, regret or guilt when every waking hour was occupied. That’s what she’d told herself for five years. What she’d believed. Till yesterday.

The fact he’d almost died on one of the world’s most inhospitable mountains, might even now be dying, made her swallow convulsively, her throat clogging.

He couldn’t die.

Poppy stumbled. She who never faltered, not even in six-inch stilettos, navigating a catwalk artistically obscured by dry-ice vapour.

Finally she reached the last room. Taking a shaky breath she stepped in, only to halt as she spied the figure unmoving in the hospital bed.

He was so still that for a horrible few seconds she wondered if he breathed.

Poppy pressed her hand to her chest. Her heart battered her ribs so hard it felt like it might jump free.

Her gaze riveted on the bed. She couldn’t remember Orsino being still. He was always on the move, as if his life force was greater than everyone else’s. The only time she’d seen him unmoving was when she’d woken before him. She remembered drinking in the sight of him, heart-stoppingly gorgeous, so precious as he sprawled beside her. The desperate intensity of her feelings had terrified her.

With good reason.

She should have trusted her instincts and run for her life.

Except she’d been hooked from the first look.

Orsino lay swathed in bandages—glaring white against his tan. One arm was in a sling, covered from fingers to elbow. The other, bare on the cotton blanket, bore livid bruises. His head was bandaged, as well. Not just his scalp but his eyes, too.

Poppy’s heart plunged to the toes of her soft kid boots.

Only the darkened jawline and column of bronzed throat were familiar. They were strong, beautifully formed and powerful. And his mouth—she surveyed those thin lips that could quirk in a smile guaranteed to make a woman’s heart soar.

She blinked, trying not to remember the words that had shot from those sculpted lips five years ago. But time hadn’t diminished her memory. They slashed her anew, reviving guilt, indignation and tearing pain.

Poppy swallowed convulsively. How bad was he? The news reports had been sensational but unreliable. Those head wounds—

‘Amindra? Is that you?’

Everything in her froze at the low words, gravelly as if he wasn’t used to speaking. She remembered that early-morning voice, how it had woken her so often, murmuring outrageous suggestions as his marauding hands played her body like a maestro tuning an instrument.

Relief flooded her that he was well enough to speak, and horror, too, at her tumbling rush of emotions.

Poppy bit her cheek, summoning strength. She felt wobbly but after more than a decade modelling she was an expert at hiding behind an impassive mask.

Her gaze went to his bandaged eyes and she shivered. Fear iced her spine.

‘Nurse?’ His voice was sharper. ‘Is that you?’

‘Hello, Orsino.’ Her voice was like smooth, golden honey, as rich and seductive as in his dreams.

He stiffened, fingers stilling as they groped for the call button. He registered the familiar disinfectant hospital scent and realised this was no dream.

Something whacked him hard in the chest, a jolt of pain as his bruised ribs expanded then eased when he remembered to breathe again.

She’d come.

Even trussed up like a turkey dinner and blind to boot, he knew her voice. He’d know it anywhere. He’d even thought he’d heard it beneath half a tonne of snow. It had bullied and cajoled him into not giving up. How was that for ironic? He must have been out of his mind.

‘Who is it?’

Orsino heard her soft gasp. Obviously she expected him to recognise her voice but he’d be damned if he’d give her that satisfaction.

She’d come too soon! They’d promised to take the bandages off his eyes today. He hadn’t wanted her seeing him like this—helpless and light-headed from medication that kept pain to a dull throb.

How had she got here so fast when he wasn’t expecting her for another couple of days?

‘It’s Poppy.’ She was at the end of the bed.