Lee Wilkinson – From Mistresses To Wives?: Mistress to a Bachelor / His Mistress by Marriage / Accidental Mistress (страница 2)

Jessica had seized the opportunity gratefully. A little time on her own was just what she needed in order to get herself back into gear. Looking back, she wondered how she could ever have believed Paul capable of commitment. Men didn’t change their inborn habits.

Past and done with, she told herself firmly, stifling any pangs. When she left here she would be starting afresh. She had enough put by to see her through until she found a job and somewhere of her own to live. With only her personal possessions to bother about, a bedsit would do for a start. What she wouldn’t be doing was taking any more advantage of Leonie’s generosity than she absolutely had to.

Back in bed, she still found sleep hard to come by. The masculine scent lingering on the sheets evoked memories she would prefer to forget. There was very little of her that those long supple fingers hadn’t explored in those searing moments before realisation had come crashing in.

Zac Prescott. Leonie had certainly never mentioned him. She wondered how long the affair had been going on. It seemed such a casual arrangement. Not that Leonie had ever been what might be called conventional in her way of looking at life. Men, she had often said, were there to be enjoyed for what they were, not castigated for what they were incapable of being.

An attitude, Jessica thought wryly, she might do best to formulate for herself.

Thankfully, she was unlikely to be seeing this particular man again. The very thought of facing those taunting grey eyes was enough to make her squirm.

She slept eventually, waking at seven to the sunlight she was beginning to take for granted. Breakfast out on the balcony was a treat she couldn’t have enough of. In daylight the views up and down the rugged western coastline were spectacular, the detail so clear and sharp at this hour, the air itself like fine wine.

Apart from a couple of trips into Palma, she had taken little advantage of the hire car these past few days. With her return flight booked for the day after tomorrow, it was time she stopped mooning around the apartment and saw something of the rest of the island while she still had the chance. It would be some time before she was able to take another holiday for certain.

She left the small, exclusive apartment block at nine to head up the coast. From her study of the map she had found in the writing desk drawer, she planned on driving as far as Valldemosa, then taking the marked scenic route inland and cutting back across country to hit the main highway again. The heat was rising already, making her glad she had hired one of the canvas-covered jeeps instead of a sedate little saloon.

This early in the season there were relatively few tourists on the road. Jessica took her time, stopping at every viewpoint to photograph the stunning coastal and mountain scenery. It was coming up to twelve thirty by the time she reached Valldemosa. A good place to have lunch, she decided, her appetite sharpened by the fresh air.

The guidebook she had brought with her gave the Mirador hotel top billing in every sphere. Expensive, of course, but what the hell, Jessica thought recklessly. She was due a little luxury.

Set high up above the lovely mountain village amidst a grove of orange and lemon trees, its white walls clothed in climbing roses and bougainvillaea, the hotel looked to be everything the book said. The jeep safely parked in a corner of the sloping car park, she made her way via a marble-floored, plant-strewn reception area out to a dining terrace overlooking the magnificent panorama.

Even this early in the season, only three of the dozen or so tables were unoccupied. Jessica chose one close by the low parapet wall in order to have an unrestricted view of the scenery, donning her sunglasses against the midday glare. This, she thought luxuriantly, sipping iced orange juice while she perused the extensive menu, was the life! One she could live quite happily given half a chance.

Without lifting her eyes from the menu, she was aware of being studied by the man who was about to take a seat at a nearby table. His scrutiny made her feel uncomfortable. She looked up with what she hoped was a suitably chilling expression when he came over, feeling the bottom drop right out of her stomach as she registered the face she had thought never to see again.

Zac Prescott returned her stunned gaze with an equanimity she only wished she could emulate. ‘You turn up in the most unexpected places,’ he said.

‘I didn’t know you were staying here!’ Jessica denied, wishing she’d kept her mouth shut as humour sprang in the grey eyes.

‘I daresay you’d have steered well clear if you had. But as you are here—’ he indicated one of the spare chairs ‘—perhaps I might join you?’

Jessica vacillated for a lengthy moment, torn between the dictates of common courtesy and the urge to tell him to get lost. Courtesy won by a short head, and only then because of Leonie. ‘All right,’ she agreed with reluctance.

He pulled out the chair and sat down. His appraisal was too intrusive for comfort. ‘You have me at a disadvantage. You know my name but I still have to learn yours.’

‘Jessica Saunders,’ she acknowledged, unable to come up with any good reason for keeping it a secret.

‘Jess for short?’

‘Not if you value your health!’

Zac laughed. ‘I’ll make a note of it.’ He studied her again, taking in every detail of her face with its wide-spaced green eyes, small straight nose and soft full mouth. ‘I’d say you’re a good three or four years younger than Leonie. That would make you around…twenty-five?’

‘Almost.’ She lifted an eyebrow in faithful imitation of his own interrogative style. ‘And you are?’

He laughed again. ‘Thirty-three. What’s the relationship?’ he added. ‘You and Leonie, I mean.’

‘Why?’ she asked.

‘Call it plain curiosity. Obviously you don’t have to answer.’

What reason was there to keep that a secret either? Jessica asked herself. ‘We’re cousins,’ she said.

‘You’re in the same line of business?’

It was Jessica’s turn to laugh. ‘Hardly. I’m just a humble secretary.’

‘Secretary maybe, humble I’d doubt,’ he returned drily.

He glanced at his watch as a waiter materialised at his elbow, then down at the menu he’d yet to open. ‘You go first,’ he invited.

‘The seafood platter, please,’ she said. ‘And a Perrier.’

Zac took his time perusing the menu. Crisply styled, the thick dark hair had a healthy shine in the sunlight. From the depth of his tan it seemed evident that he spent a good deal of his time in sunny climates.

Wearing light cotton jeans and a white T-shirt today, he had no less of an impact on her senses; the short sleeves emphasised the muscular structure of his upper arms in a way that made her quiver deep down inside. Last night those arms had enclosed her, those long-fingered hands caressed her. She quivered again at the memory.

She was glad of the dark glasses covering her eyes when he looked her way again as the waiter departed with their orders. Feeling the way he made her feel was one thing, revealing it quite another.

‘Do you spend much time here?’ she asked.

‘On and off,’ he acknowledged. ‘Your first visit, is it?’

Jessica nodded. ‘It’s very different from what I expected.’

‘You thought it would be wall-to-wall tourists?’

‘More or less.’

‘You’d find plenty down around Magaluf, and up the east coast, but this side is too rugged for majority tastes.’

Jessica cast a glance out over the spreading scene. ‘It’s beautiful! I can understand now why Leonie chose to buy a place here. Not that she gets to use it as often as she’d like these days.’

‘The price of success,’ Zac observed. ‘How long are you here for?’

‘A week,’ she said. ‘With two days to go.’

‘You think it’s going to be long enough to sort yourself out?’

She looked at him sharply, meeting eyes too perceptive by half. ‘Sort myself out from what?’

‘Whatever it is you’re running away from. Could it be the man you mistook me for last night?’

Jessica made every effort to stay cool and collected, if only on the surface. ‘Would it really be any of your business?’

‘No,’ he returned imperturbably, ‘but I seem to have struck a chord. Turn out to be a bad lot, did he?’

‘Is there any other kind?’

Broad shoulders lifted. ‘Don’t judge the whole barrel by one rotten apple. Try another.’

‘Anyone in mind?’ she asked sweetly, and saw his mouth slowly widen.

‘I wouldn’t say no.’

The sudden flaring temptation was undeniable. Jessica took a forcible hold on herself. Even if the man wasn’t her cousin’s lover, indulging a purely sexual need was certainly no way to go.

‘How long have you known Leonie?’ she asked with deliberation.

The question in no way threw him. ‘It’s a couple of years since we first met, though we only see one another on rare occasions, and never by arrangement. I took the long way up from Palma last night on the off-chance. I planned on surprising her.’

Jessica kept her tone level. ‘Sorry to disappoint you.’

‘Not so much a disappointment as a deprivation,’ he said. ‘You were so—’

‘I don’t want to know!’ she cut in hurriedly. ‘Just forget about it!’