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Chapter 07
Amelia-Rose lay back and sighed with pleasure as the warm bubbly water cosseted and soothed her scratches. The bath salts she had bought from the specialist shop in the local market town were an extravagance but they smelt great. Her ex-husband had never understood the sheer sensuality of a warm bath with its exquisite smells. Nor had he understood her need to feel cared for.
She told herself off for thinking of her ex-husband and closed him out of her mind. She resolved to think about someone else, someone who wasn't anything to do with her old life in London. It annoyed her that the only person she could think of was the bumbling postman - definitely not the sort of person a girl would want to share her bath with! As a distraction, she reached over and switched on the radio, selected some classical music and leaned back focusing her attention on each note until she was lost in a sea of sensation and sound.
The man on the hill just got into position as she leaned revealingly out of the water to adjust the radio. He wondered what music she'd selected. He resolved to break into the cottage as soon as possible and research her taste in entertainment. He regretted leaving his high-powered directional microphone back at his base. Then he saw how much she was enjoying the bath and felt cross again. So he threw a heavy stone that rattled on the roof and got stuck in the gutter. It was a double success because it startled her and later would make the gutter overflow when the winter rains came.
The woman immediately climbed out of the bath and, leaned out of the bathroom window with a towel wrapped around her and with her sleek black hair making her look like a beautiful mermaid. She frowned as she unsuccessfully sought the cause of the noise. But then there was another noise at the front of the house and she closed the window and disappeared out of view.
Minutes later, she opened the front door cautiously. She was still wearing her bathrobe and this made her feel vulnerable. The smart man standing there had short dark black hair and a confident, casual smile. Over his shoulder, at the end of the garden was the sleek redness of his top-of-the-range executive perks sports car.
"Hello," he said. "I was just passing on the motorway and saw the sign for Exmoor which made me think of you."
"J-John!"
Amelia-Rose hated herself for stuttering. Apart from her husband, this man was at the top of her private list of people she didn't want to see. Like Gerard, he was self-made. Like Gerard, he was supremely confident. Like Gerard, he was used to getting what he wanted and when she'd protested at his advances back in her old London home, he'd ignored her and continued regardless.
She'd lashed out at him. His look of profound shock when she'd slapped his face was scored into her mind, as was the supercilious smirk he'd forced onto his face immediately afterwards. Later, she'd secretly admired his self-control. But then men like him were all about control. They could do anything. They lived in a world where they expected doors to open at their command and if the doors didn't open, they'd walk through the walls.
"We didn't part on the best of terms and now things are in the open between yourself and Gerard, I thought it might be time for us to be friends again," he said lightly.
As he spoke, he leaned casually against the doorframe but Amelia-Rose noticed this action meant that his foot was in position to prevent her slamming the door in his face.
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