The Perfect Lover by Penny Jordan Read Free Book Online Page B

bitingly. 'I am not your precious Saul, whoever he might be...'
    Her tutor! She wasn't... This wasn't Saul at all. It was...
    Abruptly she opened her eyes, gagging nauseously on the combination of too much wine, too little food and too much man—much too much man, her body told her as she reeled with shock. It was a lethal combination of strong wine mixed with strong emotion.
    'I feel sick,' she wailed piteously.
    'Oh, God,' she heard Gareth breathe irately, and then the next thing she knew was that he had picked her up and was half carrying her, half dragging her into her small bathroom, where he pushed her down in front of the lavatory— and only just in time, Louise realised as her stomach heaved and she started to retch.
    It seemed like a lifetime before her stomach had disgorged its unwanted contents, but logically she knew it could only have been minutes.
    Cold and shaking, she stood up, clinging onto the edge of the basin, running the tap and reaching automatically for some mouthwash.
    She still felt dizzy, confused, not really sure just what was happening. Clumsily she headed for the bathroom door, only to find herself being taken hold of very firmly and marched into the living room.
    'Sit down and eat this,' she heard herself being told, and she was pushed unceremoniously into a chair and handed a plate of hot toast.
    'I'm not hungry...' Apathetically she started to turn her head away.
    'Eat it,' he ordered. 'My God, what's the matter with you? What the hell are you trying to do to yourself...?'
    Louise felt her head starting to ache.
    'Why don't you go away?' she demanded shakily.
    'Not until you've eaten this,' she was told implacably.
    Louise looked at the toast. Her stomach started to heave again.
    'I don't want it,' she told him stubbornly. 'I just want—'
    'Saul...' he interrupted her savagely. 'Yes. I know. You've already told me that...remember...?'
    Louise blanched as she realised just what he meant. The alcoholic fog clouding her brain was beginning >to clear with unwelcome speed. She looked at his mouth. Had she actually...? She could see a small swollen bruise marking his bottom lip, where she had... Quickly she looked away. - 'I don't feel well. I...I want to go to bed...'
    'Why? So that you can fantasise over your precious Saul?' he derided unkindly.
    Louise closed her eyes. She could feel another wave of dizziness surging over her. She tried to stand up and the dizziness increased. She could feel herself starting to black out. She tried to fight it, and then stopped. What was the point? What was the point in anything in a life that didn't have Saul in it.
    Defeatedly she let herself slide down into the darkness.
     
    When she woke up she was lying, still dressed, in bed, and Katie was sitting on a chair next to it, watching her. Her room had been tidied up and the air smelled fresh with polish and coffee. It was light outside, she recognised.
    'What are you doing here?' she asked her sister groggily. Her throat felt sore and her head ached dreadfully.
    'Professor Simmonds came looking for me. He said you weren't very well,' Katie told her carefully, avoiding looking directly at her.
    Professor Simmonds. Louise closed her eyes, her body starting to shake as she remembered what she had done. With appalling clarity and total recall, behind her closed eyelids she could not only see the expression on Gareth Simmonds' face, she could even more demeaningly actually feel every sensation she had felt when she had...when she had...
    Groaning, she rolled over, burying her face in her pillow.
    'What is it? Aren't you feeling well? Do you want to be sick?' Katie asked anxiously.
    'I... I... What did Professor Simmonds say to you about...about me?' she demanded frantically.
    'Er...nothing... Well...he just said that you weren't well,' Katie told her, adding hurriedly, 'There's some kind of bug going round. Loads of people have gone down with it. He did say that if you wanted to go home immediately, without