A Night With Consequences by Margaret Mayo Read Free Book Online

imagined her employer being. He had made her almost cry as well, with his generosity.
    ‘What would you like? More wine, perhaps, or coffee? A brandy, even?’
    ‘Coffee, please,’ she answered. ‘I’ve already drunk more than I’m used to.’ Not that she was drunk or anything like that. She’d only had two glasses, but that was one more than normal. In fact she rarely drank alcohol. Christmas and birthdays were about the sum of it.
    Expecting him to lift the phone and order their drinks, Kara was pleasantly surprised when he crossed to the open-plan mini-kitchen at the other end of the immensely spacious sitting area and proceeded to make the coffee himself.
    It gave her time to look around the sumptuous suite. Soft cream leather sofas, deep-piled cream rugs gracing American walnut floors, original paintings on the walls, crystal chandeliers. No expense had been spared. The room she was in was furnished well, but this wassomething else. And she knew what it had cost just to book it for a few days! Almost more than she earned in a year.
    Floor-to-ceiling glass doors opened onto a wide balcony, allowing views across the spacious gardens. Well-manicured lawns were softly sculpted by trees and shrubs, and she could see a water fountain in the distance. The swimming pool was not visible, but she knew from the brochure that it was as stunningly attractive as everywhere else.
    ‘Here we are.’ Already Blake was joining her, setting out a coffee pot and two china cups on the low table that sat between two of the sofas. Cream and sugar followed.
    ‘I’ll pour,’ Kara said quickly. It would give her something to do and would stop her from looking at him—at those large capable hands with their perfectly manicured nails. She did not know what had got into her but she could imagine those hands on her skin, holding her, touching her. Arousing her!
    Alarm bells rang in her head. Perhaps she ought to leave right now; perhaps it had been a mistake allowing herself to enter his room. When her hand shook as she lifted the pot Blake immediately leaned forward and took it from her. ‘Careful, it’s very heavy. I should hate you to scald yourself.’
    Their coffee safely poured, they both settled back on their seats—opposite each other. Another mistake! He never took his eyes off her. ‘I think it’s about time that you told me something about yourself, Kara. You’ve been evasive for far too long.’
    A swirl of unease circled her stomach. ‘There’s not really much to tell that you don’t already know.’
    ‘I know you’re very wary of men. Who did that to you?’
    It was such a direct question that there was no escaping it. But she was silent for so long that he spoke again.
    ‘Was it a boyfriend? Someone who let you down badly? Is that why you—?’
    Kara drew in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and then let it go quickly. ‘My father didn’t allow me to have boyfriends. I told you he wasn’t very nice, didn’t I? The truth is that—that he used to beat me.’ There—the words were out, the confession made. The hardest thing she had ever had to do. She looked down at her hands twisting on her lap and did not see Blake’s frown, the shock in his eyes. ‘I’d really rather not talk about it.’
    Her heart began to race and she started shivering, and the next second he was on the sofa beside her, his arms around her, saying nothing but making the sort of shushing noises one would make to a crying baby. It was not until her heart settled, until her body stilled, that he began to murmur words of comfort.
    ‘It’s all right, Kara, you’re safe with me. No harm will come to you. I will never hurt you, I promise. You can relax. Just close your eyes and relax.’
    She heard the words through the thick blanket of her mind. And gradually, as he kept repeating them like a mantra, her father was, for once, amazingly forgotten. She was aware only of Blake’s warmth, of the strong arms holding her, of his