Digging Deeper by Barbara Elsborg Read Free Book Online Page A

that sort of kiss than none at all.
    Flick sat fiddling with one of her earrings, a loose strand of bright red beads she’d threaded herself, thinking about how pleasant it would be to wring Marcus’ neck, when the jewelry came apart in her fingers. One red bead remained in her hand while the others bounced down the staircase and across the hall. Flick bent over to pick them up and felt fingers slide under her skirt.
    “Henry Hartington, keep your lecherous hands to yourself.” Flick squirmed away.
    “Not my dad,” Giles said, “though interesting you might think it was.”
    “Sorry.” Flick realized what she’d said. “No, I’m not sorry. Do you mind?” She tried to get past and he blocked her way.
    “Not at all.” His grin and glazed eyes told Flick he was drunk. That and the two empty bottles she’d picked up between him and Willow. “F-for-Felicity. Can’t have too many Fs. But it’s the X factor that’s done it. Xanthe. I never thought I’d find an X. Give us a kiss, X-for-Xanthe.”
    “No, Giles.”
    He stuck out his bottom lip. “Please. Just a little kiss.”
    “No.”
    “No meaning yes?”
    “No meaning no.”
    He wrapped his arms around her and as she struggled to push him away, Beck and Willow walked out of the dining room. Flick shoved Giles hard in the middle of the chest. He laughed and kissed her.
    “Foxy lady,” he slurred and slipped past her into the cloakroom.
    He hadn’t seen Willow who stood staring like a frozen owl. Beck ushered her back the way they’d come. Flick slammed her hand to her head and groaned. That had not looked good. Why did things like that always happen to her? Sally Greene at work had got the wrong end of the stick about Flick’s relationship with Gordon, her boss. Sally fancied him and thought Flick did too. There was a difference between being friendly and flirting. Good thing looks couldn’t kill. Sally really hated her. Could Sally…? Flick shook her head.
    She was about to risk re-entering the kitchen when Beck came out of the dining room and flew straight at her. He caught hold of her elbow and pushed her against the wall. An electric jolt of red-hot lust zinged through Flick’s body.
    “What the hell do you do think you’re playing at?”
    Ice-cold fear swept the heat away.
    “I know what Giles can be like, but he’s getting married in a couple of weeks’ time, for fuck’s sake. His fiancée is sitting in there weeping.” Beck glared at her, his eyes fiery. “Can’t you stop this cheap flirting?”
    Flick wrenched her arm out of his grip and fled to the kitchen. She moaned and came straight back out. Nik and Nita posed horizontal on the kitchen table. Rather, Nita lay on the table with her bare legs wrapped around Nik’s waist. His trousers slumped around his ankles and that was all Flick wanted to see. When she came back out of the kitchen, Beck still stood there with a face like a collapsed soufflé. If it had been anyone else, she’d have made some joke about what was cooking in the kitchen. Instead, she turned her back, leaned against the wall and tried to steady her breathing.
     
    Beck was livid with her but when he’d touched her, he hadn’t wanted to let her go. Just like before, it was as though they’d been welded together. He’d looked into her eyes, wanting to see the same thing he felt, a flashflood of desire that sent his pulse rate soaring, but the only thing he could see was fear. He’d shouted at her and yet he knew exactly what Giles was like. Damn, he was an idiot.
    He leaned against the wall and waited for Giles to come out of the cloakroom. No way did he intend to leave the pair alone together. What the hell had Giles been playing at? He was drunk, but not that drunk. Beck wanted him back with Willow and away from Flick. She’d flown back out of the kitchen thinking Beck would have gone so she clearly wanted to talk to Giles.
    Christ, what if they were already an item? Giles was cunning enough. That fucking