Her New Worst Enemy (3 page)

“Nice. You really are Lord of the Manor.”

“Hardly.”

“But your grandparents were titled, weren’t they?”

She glanced over at him as an expression of discomfort flashed across his angular
face.

“I don’t use it.”

“Surely it’s a prime pulling tool though.”

Gideon swung up to the front of the grand facade of the house and jammed on the hand
brake. He turned to capture her gaze, leaning in to her, only inches away, locking
his eyes with hers. The air crackled between them.

“You can tease all you want, Ellie, but you’re not getting a rise out of me.” His
emerald eyes changed color as a shaft of sunlight streamed in through the windscreen,
his irises flaring from dark to light.

Ellie swallowed a lump in her throat. “We’ll see.” She jumped out of the car quickly,
before the strangely charged atmosphere drove her do or say something stupid.

She could see why so many women fell at his feet. She wouldn’t though. He was the
exact opposite of what she wanted in a partner. She needed someone she could rely
on. Someone who wasn’t going to walk away without a backward glance — and anyway,
she couldn’t stand the humiliation of him getting the better of her. She was sure
the only reason they’d remained friends was because he actually liked her cool, glib
taunting and found her refreshing after the simpering women he usually surrounded
himself with. Refreshing, but not sexy. Not sensual or foxy. Just straight and honest
and … well, Ellie.

• • •

Gideon watched as Ellie strode toward the house, gazing up at the grand facade in
wonder. Her movements were slightly awkward as if she knew she was being watched and
he felt a stir of something not unlike desire at the thought. He checked himself.
This was Ellie, the crazy kid sister of his best friend, who he still thought of as
being eleven years old with her wild curls and tomboy figure.

Except she wasn’t any more.

Over the years, she’d blossomed into a striking looking woman, with sensuous curves
and dips in all the right places.

He imagined exactly how she’d look under those oversized clothes; how her breasts
would be softly curved and high, how they would feel under his hands. He mentally
shook himself. Just friends — that was what they were. Her disapproving tone earlier
had provoked him into flirting with her, just to watch her squirm, but he wasn’t seriously
entertaining the idea. Was he?

No. She was off limits.

Gareth would kill him if he made a move on his sister, and anyway, he made a point
of never sleeping with his friends. It made things too complicated.

Besides, she’d made it perfectly clear she felt no attraction to him whatsoever.

A soft voice in his head whispered something about a challenge. He let it live there
for a moment before getting out of the car and walking around to the boot.

He needed to keep focus. He’d only agreed to this hare-brained scheme, or appeared
to, to keep her out of trouble and save her family from more stress and heartache.

He was acutely aware of the debt he owed Ellie’s family, and the least he could do
was stop her from making a fool of herself and losing her best friend, along with
her mind, in the process.

The end of her last relationship had obviously knocked the wind out of her, and she
was probably projecting her anger about it onto Penny’s fiancé. He needed to gauge
for himself if this guy was for real before deciding on the best course of action.

A loud ringing came from Ellie’s bag. She whipped out her mobile and answered it,
turning her back on him and walking away toward the gardens.

He watched her go, her corkscrew curls hanging halfway down her back, and he found
himself longing to gather them up in his hands.

What the hell was wrong with him? He’d never looked at Ellie this way before, but
now he had, he was having immense trouble looking away.

She returned a moment later looking rather pink about the cheeks and wild eyed.

“What’s wrong?” For a moment Gideon was terrified someone had been hurt, and a throb
of fear lodged in his throat. A memory of standing in the drawing room of the manor
after his grandparents had told him about his parents being killed niggled its way
forward, but he pushed it back mercilessly into the recesses of his brain.

“They’re not coming.”

The fear subsided, leaving an itch of irritation. “Not at all?”

“No. I mean yes, they’re coming tomorrow instead.” She ran an agitated hand though
her curls. “Will arranged for them to see other friends ages ago apparently, and they
can’t get out of it.” She didn’t even try to hide the angry disbelief in her voice.
“We came down too early and it’s too far to go back now.”

“Why would we want to go back? We can use this opportunity to relax. I’m sure we’ll
find some way to pass the time.” A look of uncertainty flashed across Ellie’s face
and he realized he’d slipped into flirting with her again. He wondered how hard he’d
have to push to get the required reaction out of her.

It was an intriguing thought.

She’d never been touchy-feely with him, which was probably a good thing; it enabled
him to keep her compartmentalized as his best friend’s sister and safely at a distance.
Although, standing here in front of him, her big blue eyes staring sadly back at him,
her soft lips parted, he was suddenly and unexpectedly hit by a wave of sexual heat
that squeezed the air from his lungs and coursed like fire through his veins. He slammed
a lid on it.

He seriously needed to sort out his love life if he was reduced to lusting after one
of his oldest friends. He forced himself to smile casually at her, relieved she wasn’t
able to read his mind and see all the tantalizing images that had just flashed through
it.

He needed to rein himself in here. Anything other than straight friendship would cause
all sorts of trouble and strife. There would be knock-on effects that weren’t worth
the risk. He needed to keep his distance. This weekend was going to be a real challenge.

Before Ellie had a chance to reply to his unsettling statement, Gideon turned away
and opened up the back of the car, hauling his bag out and swinging it easily onto
his shoulder, before grabbing a couple of carriers of shopping. She walked over to
where he stood to grab her own bag and stared in puzzlement into the now empty boot.

“Gideon, where’s my case?”

He frowned at her. “I thought you put it in the boot.”

“No, I asked you to put it in.”

“No, you didn’t.” He shook his head slowly. “You said ‘I’ll put my case in the boot,
okay?’ I heard you.”

“No.” Ellie fought to keep the exasperation out of her voice. “I said, ‘Put my case
in the boot, okay?’”

“Ah.”

“Gideon! What am I supposed to wear? Bin bags?”

“Well, to be honest Ellie, a bin bag would be an improvement on some of the outfits
I’ve seen you in recently. What happened? You used to be so stylish.”

It took a moment for the panic to abate before she felt capable of answering. “I could
kill you.”

“Ah, come on, it’s not that bad. Think of it as a good excuse to revamp your wardrobe.”

“With what? I’m not made of money you know, and it’s not like we’re in the middle
of a shopping Mecca here. The nearest town’s miles away.” She kicked at some loose
stones in the driveway in frustration, and watched them skitter away from her.

“Listen,” he murmured, try to placate her, a bemused grin lighting up his handsome
face, “there are some of my sister’s old clothes in one of the wardrobes upstairs.
I found them in the attic. I guess my grandmother never got round to giving them to
the charity shop.”

“Great. Thanks a lot. So I’m reduced to wearing your sister’s cast-offs. Did you do
this on purpose? I wouldn’t put it past you.”

“No, Ellie, I didn’t. Anyway, Harriet’s stuff is pretty decent. She was always a bit
of a clotheshorse. Our grandmother wouldn’t let her step out of the house in anything
less than designer. I’m sure there’ll be something you like. She had good taste.”

“Hmph.”

“Although, apparently your taste’s gone missing, so we may be in trouble.”

She stared down at the ground as unwanted tears sprung to her eyes. “Kick me while
I’m down, why don’t you.”

To be fair to him, he had a point. She hadn’t been paying much attention to her appearance
for quite some time. Somehow it hadn’t seemed important any more, but that didn’t
stop the sting of hurt his words brought.

Gideon must have realized he’d gone too far when she wouldn’t look at him because
his voice softened and he touched her gently on the arm. “Come on, cheer up. I’ll
buy you a new outfit once we venture out into civilization. You can’t say fairer than
that.”

“Okay,” Ellie agreed grumpily. The skin on her arm tingled where he’d touched her.

“Let’s get inside and dump our stuff … my stuff.” He tried hard to keep from smiling.
“I’ll get the kettle on. A cup of tea will sort you right out.”

“Fine. But I’m cooking tonight. I don’t think I could stomach another ’Gideon’s Slop’
meal. Especially as the nearest hospital appears to be at least twenty miles away.”

He affected a look of abject hurt. “I’ll have you know I’m an excellent cook. Anyway,
I have other talents I consider much more useful.”

Ellie’s stomach dropped away. His gentle innuendos were doing nothing to calm her
erratic heartbeat.

“You’re incorrigible,” was all she could muster.

She was finding it an increasing strain to relax around him, but she had to get it
together if they had any hope in pulling off their plan. For years she’d teased and
berated him to prove he didn’t get under her skin. She was determined not to give
herself away now.

• • •

Gideon reminded himself he needed to be more careful with Ellie. She wasn’t someone
he should be toying with, but he didn’t seem to be able to stop himself. He jostled
her gently, trying to undo the damage.

“I was talking about my sparkling repartee.”

He laughed as Ellie raised an eyebrow at him. “Come on. One night alone with me can’t
be that bad. I promise, I will be a perfect gentleman.” He laid on the sarcasm, but
somehow it failed to dispel the unnerving undertone of possibility he’d created.

This was going to be a long night.

Motioning her to follow him, he unlocked the heavy oak door and led her into the hallway.

He was aware of feeling uncharacteristically unnerved around her and it seemed to
be making him act rashly. If he was going ahead with this crazy plan, he needed to
be driving it; if there’s one thing he hated, it was being out of control.

Being in the manor house brought back the memories that still haunted him. After losing
both his parents when he was eight years old, he’d only spent holidays here hiding
from his strict grandparents. The twang of unease as he walked inside made him shiver.
His strongest memory was standing here in the hallway, his bags at his feet as he
waited to be driven off to boarding school only weeks after his parents had died.

He’d reacted by getting into trouble for the next three years and had almost been
expelled. He didn’t know what would have happened to him if Ellie’s brother — a day
boy at the school — hadn’t taken him under his wing. He was understandably messed
up for a long time, but after meeting Gareth’s family and being so warmly accepted
into their home, he’d finally found the strength to deal with his grief one baby-step
at a time.

Ellie’s parents had been shocked at his grandparents’ lack of interest in him and
had taken him under their wing, inviting him for meals and sometimes to stay with
them in the holidays. He’d even spent Christmas with them, and he’d be forever grateful
for their kindness.

He watched as Ellie looked around the grand hallway of his home and felt a rush of
affection toward her. After not laying eyes on her for months, he’d been appalled
to see how little care she’d taken with her appearance when she’d turned up in the
restaurant. When she was young she’d always taken such pride in the way she looked,
but you wouldn’t know that to look at her now.

He was surprised she’d come to him, too. He couldn’t remember a single time since
he’d met her seventeen years ago when she’d dropped that proud front to ask for help.

Especially not from him.

He’d spent the last couple of days talking himself in and out of her crazy scheme
and had finally come to the uncomfortable conclusion that he couldn’t let her down.

This problem with Penny had obviously fired her up enough to finally get her out of
the house for something other than work, which had to be a good thing. Perhaps it
would permanently coax her out of hiding.

He knew her family was worried about how she’d cut herself off from them over the
last six months, and that really said something. The Holdsworthys were the closest-knit
family he knew. Their support and love had been invaluable to him, and now it seemed
the perfect opportunity to pay back some of that perturbing debt had fallen straight
into his lap.

• • •

“How many bedrooms did you say you have here?”

“Twelve.”

“Wow.” Ellie stood in the impressive entrance hall, her gaze following the grand sweep
of the staircase to the magnificent stained glass windows above them. “What are you
going to use them all for? Sleep in a different one every month of the year?” She
ran her hands over the highly polished wooden banister; it felt beautifully sleek
under her fingers.

“Trust you to think of something as loopy as that.” He grinned over at her. “You’d
do that if you had the chance.”

“Of course.” She grinned back at him and looked away quickly as the idea of christening
each of the rooms with him flitted through her mind. The thought made her breath catch
in her throat.

“I’m going to drop the shopping in the kitchen, then I’ll give you the grand tour.”