Holiday Affair (7 page)

“You’ll have to set up a firewood delivery. I can give you the phone number.”

“Thank you,” Nick said, moving into the next room.

“It’s a mirror image of my side,” said Lissy moving quickly through the rooms. “Two bedrooms. I use one for a study, a separate dining room and the small bathroom and laundry.”

She moved through the cottage showing him the basics. She stumbled over a loose piece of carpet and Nick put out his hand and caught her before she could fall. His elbow brushed the softness of her breast and his arm automatically went around her waist. He groaned and pulled her into a close embrace. His face was almost level with hers and he could see the deep green flecks in her eyes. He ran his hands through her wild curls, and he remembered the pleasure of her hair on his body that one night they’d spent together.

Nick’s heart was thumping madly. Despite knowing that he should not touch her, his heart was telling him a different story. Looking down into her eyes, he saw a small smile playing around her lips as she touched the flecks of white paint on his chin. He lowered his mouth to hers; he closed his eyes and revelled in the sensation of her soft lips opening under his. He pulled her closer. He was oblivious to anything but his need for her, and he pushed his hips gently into hers, his other hand finding the softness of her breast underneath her sweatshirt. She whimpered with pleasure and realization kicked in for him. He had never lost control like this before. “God, Lissy, what are we doing?”

She stiffened in his arms and it was like a trigger back to reality for him. He pulled away from her. He had never felt like this before and it unsettled him. Years ago, Olivia had thrown his love back at him as though he had not meant anything to her. Even then, he had never lost control like this.

Damn her! He had not fallen for a woman since then, and he was not about to start now.

“You are really clever, aren’t you Lissy? You know what you want and you go for it, don’t you?” Her open palm hit his cheek with a crack that moved his head sideways and left his cheek stinging.

“Asshole!” She threw the house keys at him and stalked from the room, slamming the door behind her.

Nick watched her go, his blood still pounding from kissing her.

Lissy spent a lonely weekend ignoring the flurry of activity, the removalist truck and assorted vehicles that pulled into the driveway. A couple of times someone knocked on her door, but she turned up her music and ignored the knocking. An occasional glance from her window confirmed that the majority of the Richards family had arrived to help Nick at some point over the two days. Late on Sunday afternoon, Luney meowed incessantly at the door until Lissy let her out.

“Traitor,” she murmured when Luney ran to Nick as he carried boxes across the back garden.

Lissy worked hard at regaining her equilibrium on Sunday. She kept herself busy cleaning out cupboards and avoiding her new neighbor. Each time his face appeared in her mind—as it did with regularity—she deliberately blocked him from her thoughts. By the time darkness fell, she had calmed down and as the night chill slipped in, she split some kindling on the veranda. As soon as she had a fire going, she indulged in a hot bubble bath and put on her flannel Mickey Mouse pajamas.

“Okay, time for work,” Lissy muttered as she opened her briefcase and read over the research notes she had left unfinished before going to Gramp’s funeral. Even though she was aware of an occasional noise through the wall, she managed to concentrate on her research for a couple of hours and kept thoughts of Nick and his close proximity at bay. When her eyelids began to droop and she couldn’t hold back the yawn any longer, she packed her notes up ready for her return to work in the morning. Looking around for Luney, she realized the cat was still outside.

Lissy went to the door to let her inside; there was no sign of the cat.

Don’t tell me another female has fallen for the
irresistible professor
, she thought with disgust. Pulling on her boots and grabbing a thick coat off the laundry hook, she went out to the veranda, softly calling to the missing feline.

Damn cat
, she thought as she moved across the lawn, the frost crunching under her boots. Standing by the fence, she stood still and continued to call Luney. A sliver of light appeared on the back veranda; Nick’s back door opened and the light shining from inside the cottage silhouetted his tall figure.

She eased back into the shadows near the fence. The old swing seat on the veranda creaked as Nick settled into it. The chill wind blowing from the mountains sent a flurry of dry leaves skittering across the path near the gate. If she stayed outside much longer, she would freeze.

A streak of white movement near the fence alerted her to Luney’s whereabouts and the mad cat sat down at Lissy’s feet, meowing loudly. Knowing that Nick would see her as she crossed the lawn to go back in, she gathered the folds of her coat with as much dignity as she could muster and strode out across the grass, calling the cat to follow her up the back steps.

Nick was sitting legs outstretched, arms akimbo, looking relaxed. He reached out and grabbed her hand as she attempted to slip past him.

“Melissa, we need to talk.”

“What about?” Her words were clipped and she pulled away from him, trying to escape the warmth of the fingers grasping hers.

“Living here together, working together, setting some ground rules.”

“I don’t need any rules. Living here was fine until you rode into town on your stupid motorcycle.” She glared at him.

“You can’t stay bunkered down in your half of the cottage forever. This is the first time you’ve been outside all weekend.”

“Been spying on me? You keep to your side, I’ll keep to mine. I’m sure we’ll pass occasionally in the corridors at the university, but that’s it. You think I’m so clever? Well, I am. Clever enough to keep out of your way.” He stood up and let her hand go, burying his own hands in the deep pockets of his coat. Lissy backed away from him and turned toward her door.

“Lissy—”

“No, Nick. Don’t you dare call me that. You want rules.

Well, first rule is you call me Melissa or Dr. McIntyre.

Second, you keep your distance from me. Third, you keep your hands off me.”

She bent down and picked up Luney, who was winding around her legs. Pushing past Nick on the narrow veranda, she walked to her back door. Nick made no move to stop her and she didn’t look at him as she closed the door firmly behind her.

…

“I’m thinking of taking some leave.”

Lissy had slept like the dead for the first time in a week and woke in a panic when she realized she was going to be late on her first day back at work. Getting dressed as quickly as she could and skipping her morning coffee, she ran to her car and drove across town to the university.

Grabbing a coffee from the cafe, she was greeted by two colleagues from her faculty.

“More leave! You just got back, Melissa.” Jenny knew Lissy well enough to know when something was bothering her. “Is everything okay? Why do you need more leave?”

“Anyway,” chimed in Clare, “the head of faculty has cancelled all leave applications until the current budget period is over. That’s three months away. Besides, who wants to leave now? You should see the new professor.

Everyone’s been running around this morning trying to get a glimpse of him. Talk about a hunk. Roared up the drive on a big black motorcycle. Drop dead gorgeous…

looks like he just stepped out of the latest
Pirates of the
Caribbean
movie.”

Lissy pulled a face. Jenny hurried them along. “Come on, gals, we have to be in the conference room in five minutes for a faculty meeting.”

Lissy hurried to her office, juggling her handbag, briefcase, laptop and coffee before she placed them on the floor next to the door. Her hands shook as she pinned up a couple of curls that had come loose. Using the mirror behind the door of her office, she reapplied her lipstick before picking up her laptop and coffee and heading for the conference room.

Most of the faculty were already seated at the large conference table and several of her colleagues greeted her as she hurried past. She found a vacant seat at the far end of the table just as Professor Andrews, the head of the history faculty, entered the room, accompanied by the new associate professor.

Lissy took a deep breath, determined to remain calm and professional as Clare kicked her under the table.

“See what I mean,” she whispered. “Johnny Depp look-alike.” Lissy scowled at her.

“You’re incorrigible. Besides, Johnny Depp has dark hair and a moustache!”

As Professor Andrews called for quiet, Lissy sat back and caught Nick looking down the table directly at her. His hair
was
darker, as the sun-bleached thatch had been trimmed to a neat short back and sides since she had last seen him. The relaxed and easygoing buccaneer had disappeared and in his place was the clean-shaven academic clad in a three-piece suit and tie. Lissy glared at him down the length of the table, and he raised a sardonic brow.

“I would like to welcome you all to this morning’s meeting and thank you for interrupting your busy schedules,” intoned the deep voice of Professor Andrews.

“This morning Professor Dominic Richards joins our history faculty and we extend a warm welcome to him.

I will introduce him to you individually at the morning tea after the meeting.” He continued with the faculty arrangements for the rest of semester and his monotonous voice fell into the background as Lissy mulled over the situation she found herself in at home, and at work.

I should be able to avoid him for most of the time. I’ll
continue my research in the library, and hopefully, he will
take the vacant office on the next level. I won’t go near the
Richards farm, and if there are any faculty social activities,
I’ll go down to the coast for the weekend and I’ll—

“
Dr. McIntyre?” she felt another kick to her leg under the table from Clare.

“Dr. McIntyre!” repeated the head of faculty.

“Yes, Professor Andrews?”

“As I was saying, I would like you to meet with myself and Professor Richards after morning tea, to organize the project.”

“The project?”

“Yes, Dr. McIntyre, the project.” Professor Andrews looked annoyed. “I just finished explaining that the major thrust of our research for the next semester will be related to Professor Richard’s Pacific study, and you will be his primary research assistant. We will meet in my office after tea to finalize the arrangements.”

“Yes, Professor Andrews.” Lissy groaned inwardly and felt her heart sink to her toes. Clare and Jenny were looking at her with envy. The meeting ended and as the staff moved to the table at the back of the room to the morning tea table, Lissy made for the door.

“Not so fast, Dr. McIntyre.” Nick appeared in front of her.

Conscious of the curious looks coming her way, she paused before greeting him politely for the benefit of the staff within earshot. Her words of welcome were aided by the self-control she was exerting. “Welcome to the university, Professor Richards.” Nick took her arm and drew her into the corner. A frisson of warmth lingered where his fingers lightly held her elbow and she felt her heart start to race as she fought the urge to shake his hand off her arm.

“Thank you, Dr. McIntyre. Now, how do you want to play this?” he asked quietly when they were out of earshot.

“Will we say we have already met? I don’t want you to be embarrassed.”

“I am not embarrassed, Professor. I believe we met at your parents’ house on Friday evening and then you moved into the cottage next door to me on the weekend if my memory serves me correctly.”

“I’m not a complete jerk, Lissy. Even though we had a rocky start, we still have to work together and socialize—

not to mention—live in the same house.”

“A rocky start, that’s an interesting way to put it.” She folded her arms and glared at him, despite the curious looks of her colleagues. “Hmm, let me see. Lying to me, a sexist bet, taking advantage of an innocent tourist. Yep, you could call that a rocky start.”

Frustrated, he ran his hand through what was left of his hair. Looking up at him, she was amused to see that there were a couple of stray flecks of white paint remaining in the stubble.

“Look, Melissa, I’m trying to be the adult here. We need to sort this out and quickly.”

She could not help herself as she reached up and lightly touched his hair. “Been painting, professor?”

“A run in with a little vixen’s paint brush over the weekend.” She looked up at him and the amusement on his face surprised her.

“Okay, let’s call a truce,” she said. “I need another coffee. We can talk over that.”

They moved across the room to the morning tea table, acting like two colleagues getting to know each other.

Nick poured her a cup of coffee in one of the elegant cups provided by the caterers, and Lissy’s hand trembled as she held the cup and saucer. Jenny and Clare wandered over and introduced themselves to Nick. Lissy shot them a look.

Professor Andrews’ voice boomed out. “Okay folks, back to work. Lots of planning to be done, and there are students waiting for the ten o’clock lecturers.” A couple of academic staff scurried out to their lecture halls as Andrews glanced pointedly at his watch.

“Dr. McIntyre, Professor Richards, give me five minutes and come up to my office please,” he said.

Lissy made a quick escape as Clare and Jenny kept Nick talking. She entered her office, closed the door, and leaned against it, her eyes closed and heart thudding.

What on earth am I going to do?

Taking a deep breath, Lissy turned and looked into the mirror on the back of her door. Even her hair had come loose from its tight French roll, with a couple of curly wisps falling over her flushed cheeks. Her green eyes glittered, awash with the tears she was holding back. Her legs were shaking and felt as though they wouldn’t hold her up.

One look at him and my body goes into meltdown. I
will not let him make me feel like this.