Australian Affairs: Claimed. Margaret Way

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      He sat in the driver’s seat and turned on the ignition while his foot gave the throttle a couple of pumps. ‘Sounds like a blockage in the fuel line.’ He leaned down and popped the bonnet lever. ‘I’ll have a quick look under the hood.’

      Kitty sucked in her tummy as he moved past her. He looked so vital and male dressed in a black T-shirt and chinos. Every muscle looked as if it had been carved to his torso by a master sculptor. He smelt like summer—a mixture of surf and sweat, sunscreen and aftershave. She wanted to run her hands down the muscular slope of his back and shoulders, to press her mouth to his and feel him shudder with need.

      Maybe her cousin was right. What would be so wrong about indulging her senses for once? What harm would there be in a relationship with him, even if it was on his terms? Wasn’t it time she lived a little? It wasn’t as if she had to be as progressive as her parents. Even a short-term relationship could be exclusive. She wouldn’t settle for anything less. It was just so tempting to explore the chemistry she shared with Jake. What if she never felt this level of excitement again? She would regret it for the rest of her life. She would spend the rest of her days wondering what she’d missed out on. She would have no memories of his possession. No images in her head of their bodies entwined in passion. Her body would never know the full extent of its sensual response in his arms.

      She wanted to know.

      ‘Want to give it another try?’ Jake called out.

      Kitty snapped out of her reverie and turned the ignition. The engine choked and spluttered and then died. ‘Am I doing something wrong?’ she asked.

      ‘No,’ he said, coming round to her side as he wiped his hands on a handkerchief. ‘The fuel line was definitely blocked but it sounds like your battery’s had it as well. I can hook it up to my charger overnight.’

      ‘But I have to get to my practice session,’ she said, frowning at him in worry. ‘I’ve joined a local doctors’ orchestra. It’s our first session tonight.’

      ‘I can give you a lift.’

      Kitty gnawed at her lip. ‘What if people see me getting out of your car?’

      A smile lifted the edges of his mouth. ‘I promise not to kiss you goodbye, OK?’

      She gave him a guarded look. ‘How do I know if I can trust you on that?’ she asked.

      His sapphire-blue gaze flicked to her mouth for a heartbeat. ‘You can’t,’ he said, and then turned and led the way to his car.

      Jake pulled up outside the church hall where the orchestra was rehearsing in the suburb of Annandale on the other side of the city. ‘How long will you be?’ he asked.

      ‘You don’t have to wait for me,’ Kitty said. ‘I’ll get one of the other doctors to drop me off near a bus stop or a cab rank.’

      ‘I don’t mind waiting,’ he said, putting on the handbrake. ‘Even better, why don’t I come in and listen?’

      ‘It’s probably not to your taste.’

      He gave her a sardonic smile. ‘A little too highbrow for someone like me, huh?’

      She tightened her mouth. ‘I didn’t say that.’

      ‘I’ve heard about this orchestra but I’ve never been to any of their concerts,’ he said. ‘Maybe it’s time I stretched my horizons a bit.’

      ‘Please don’t feel you have to do so on my account,’ she said. ‘I’m quite happy to make my own arrangements.’

      He got out of the car and came around to open her door for her. ‘I’ve got nothing better to do this evening,’ he said.

      * * *

      Kitty tried to concentrate on the conductor’s beat but her gaze kept drifting to where Jake was sitting in the stalls. He kept smiling at her in that indolent way of his, making her fingers fumble over the notes like a nervous schoolgirl at her first school concert. But about halfway through the rehearsal she noticed him glance at his phone. It must have been important because he got up and left the hall and it was at least ten or fifteen minutes before he came back.

      ‘That’s it, everyone,’ the conductor said as the session drew to an end. ‘Same time next week if you can make it.’

      Kitty made her way to where Jake was chatting to a couple of the doctors he had introduced her to earlier. ‘Thanks for waiting,’ she said, once they had moved on. ‘I hope you weren’t too bored.’

      ‘Not at all,’ he said. ‘I found it relaxing. I had no idea you could play like that.’

      ‘I’m not that good,’ she said. ‘I need to do much more practice.’

      ‘Well, from my end it certainly didn’t sound as if any cats were being tortured.’

      She gave him a sideways glance. ‘Thanks.’

      ‘How long have you been playing?’

      ‘I started when I was six,’ she said. ‘My parents wanted me to experiment with a whole range of instruments, but I only ever wanted to play the violin. I finally wore them down.’

      He gave her a crooked smile as he led the way out to the car. ‘Not many kids nag their parents to learn a classical instrument,’ he said. ‘Isn’t it normally the other way around?’

      ‘I know,’ Kitty said wryly. ‘I think I’m a throwback. My parents are quite ashamed of me for being so conservative. I haven’t got a single piercing or a tattoo. I don’t even dye my hair.’

      ‘Why would you want to?’ he said. ‘It’s fine the way it is.’

      ‘It’s boring.’

      He stopped, reaching out and picking up a stray lock of her hair. He coiled it around his finger. ‘It’s not boring,’ he said. ‘It’s beautiful—especially when it’s loose like this.’

      Kitty felt the voltage of his touch all the way down the shafts of her hair to the skin of her sensitive scalp. The skin on her body tingled in sharpened awareness as he came that little bit closer.

      Her breasts tightened behind her clothes.

      Her breath stalled in her throat.

      Her pulse rate escalated.

      Her mind turned to mush.

      The warm fragrant night air cast its spell of seduction around her, making her forget everything but the way his mouth had felt on hers. She felt the hard tug of attraction deep in the pit of her belly, pulling her towards his body like a magnet does a tiny iron filing.

      ‘I should get you home,’ he said as he stepped back from her.

      ‘Yes…I’ve taken up far too much of your time as it is.’

      Kitty was acutely aware of him sitting so close to her inside the confines of his car. Her gaze kept tracking to his tanned arm as it worked the gear shift. And his muscular thigh as it bunched and released when СКАЧАТЬ