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“What did you think?” Cara asked, as Ella opened the passenger door in the backseat. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I’m so glad we drove up here.”
“What happened to Baird?”
“I think he’s taking some pictures,” Ella fibbed.
“But his phone is here.”
Ella shrugged. “I don’t know what’s keeping him then.”
*
Baird watched Ellawalk away, her long red hair in a single plait down her back, arms swinging at her sides with military precision. She was furious. He wasn’t sure what he felt—disappointment? Surprise?
Last August, he’d thought he was being a gentleman apologizing for his lapse in control, wanting to make amends for behavior that was out of character for him.
Baird didn’t make out with women at parties. He didn’t draw young women into the shadows and kiss them against boathouse walls, hands trapping her so he could better take and taste her mouth.
He certainly didn’t seduce women related to Alec, and yet there he was, hours after the wedding, making love to Alec’s new sister-in-law, feeling things he never felt, wanting things he never craved, desire so strong it had driven all rational thought from his head.
In the end, it might have just been a moment, or maybe thirty moments, who knew? But it would have gotten completely out of hand if he hadn’t heard a voice ask if anyone had seen Ella. Baird didn’t care who asked the question, he just knew they couldn’t be discovered like this, in the dark, Ella pressed to the wall, his hands in her hair, his mouth claiming hers.
Certain they were about to be seen, he stepped backward and tugged on his tie. Ella was still in the shadows.
“I’m sorry.” His voice came out deep, rough. His blood was still humming through him, his body tight, hard.
What an extraordinary moment, more than a moment. Part of him longed to scoop her up and take her to his room and finish what they’d begun. But reason was stirring, and there was no way he’d ever be able to look Alec in the eye if he did that.
No, it had to end here. He had to make this right.
“That was a mistake,” he said gruffly. “It shouldn’t have happened—”
She made a sound. It confused him. Was she laughing? Or…
Flustered, he said something else, trying to smooth it all over, when part of him still felt drugged by the heat and need.
She’d been fire in his arms. Kissing her knocked him sideways. She stirred emotions he didn’t think he had, and even standing five feet apart, he felt her, the desire a living breathing thing.
Kissing her, touching her, holding her had been life changing. It had been the most physical, carnal, powerful need. Like oxygen, he had to have it.
But oxygen and fire were a deadly combination.
He walked away from her because he had to. If he stayed, he’d take her in his arms again and then it would be game over.
He returned to the party, and circulated for twenty minutes at the reception, speaking with friends of the Roberts, and then with Ben, Cara and Ella’s brother. Ben had flown in from Dubai where he worked as an engineer, and Baird, who had clients in Dubai, found a lot in common with Ella’s brother. They talked about their experiences in the UAE, and a person it turned out they both knew, until Ben was called away to dance with his mother.
Baird deliberated if he should circle the reception again or just return to his room.
He returned to his room and once there he stripped out of his tuxedo and dress shirt and showered. With a towel wrapped around his hips, he began to pack. He was going to leave in the morning, catch the late morning flight back to Heathrow and then book a new connecting flight to Edinburgh.
Now, here they were together again, and it was every bit as complicated as it had been in August.
He’d never met anyone who stirred him the way Ella did. He’d never met anyone he wanted like Ella. But there was no logic in the desire, and there was nothing Baird could see to explain the attraction. What did they have in common? Nothing. What goals did they share? None.
Yes, she was beautiful and fiery, spirited and passionate, but those weren’t traits he wanted in a partner. He wasn’t looking for heat. He wasn’t interested in an intense physical connection. He wanted someone steady, someone independent and successful, someone like Fiona, who had been content with him, content without a marriage certificate, content without children, until the day she confessed, she wasn’t.
*
