Free An Affair to Forget by Evelyn Hood

sitting upright and trying to get as far away from Gareth as possible without actually shifting to another seat. His nearness bothered her. His body sent out waves of masculinity that seemed to ripple over her skin.
    “ I preferred it long,” he murmured, then looked up with a bland smile as Sam arrived.
    When they boarded the plane Sam led Morrin to the middle seat of a row of three and took the aisle seat beside her. Gareth was seated across the aisle, beside two girls, young and pretty and obviously setting out on holiday together. They gaped when they looked up to see him towering above them.
    “ It looks as though you’re going to be stuck with me for the entire journey,” Morrin heard him drawl before he slid into his place beside the delighted girls.
    By the time the plane had reached its cruising height, the area where Gareth sat had taken on a party atmosphere. His companions erupted in a crescendo of giggles almost every time he spoke to them, and the people in the seats before and behind him had become involved. Even the flight attendants made a point of lingering in his vicinity whenever they could.
    Morrin read, talked to Sam and tried to remain aloof from the merriment across the aisle. Occasionally, when she happened to glance over, she encountered an amused green sidelong look. Once he raised his glass to her in a mocking toast and she felt colour warm her face. She didn’t know how she was going to get through the next few days.
    When Sam left her side just before the plane began its descent to Tenerife, Gareth immediately excused himself to his besotted companions and moved to sit beside Morrin. “Enjoying the trip?”
    She turned a page of her magazine. “Yes, thank you. I don’t have to ask you the same question.”
    “ Nice girls. It’s their first holiday abroad. They’re spending a week in Puerto de la Cruz.”
    “ They certainly seem to have made up for your skiing friend’s absence.”
    “ Well, you know what they say.” He turned in his seat to study her. “Any port in a storm.”
    She was wearing a perfectly respectable dark brown velvet skirt and matching jacket over a white vee-necked blouse and yet as his eyes travelled over her she found herself putting down her magazine so that she could pull the jacket shut over her breasts. Annoyed with herself, she moved her hands to her lap.
    “ I didn’t think Alison – that was her name, wasn’t it? – would have allowed you to come to Tenerife.”
    “ She didn’t have any say in the matter. Besides, I’ll be back in time for Austria. And I’ve promised her a week in Paris over Easter if we miss out on the skiing trip.” He slid a sidelong glance at her. “She’s well worth waiting for.”
    I ’ll just bet she is, Morrin thought savagely. Aloud, she asked, “Gareth, why are you coming to Tenerife? Why did you change your mind?”
    His eyebrows rose. The green eyes beneath them were wide, innocent. “Because your… your boss” – he deliberately hesitated over the word – “made me a good offer. Because I’m curious to find out if Charlotte Dreaming would really adapt into a play. Because I want to know what happened to make you run away from Yorkshire.”
    “ Not here. Not when Sam might come back at any minute.”
    “ Very well, we’ll have plenty of chances to be alone together in Tenerife. For now, you can tell me about Vicki Queen. What’s she like as an actress, as a person… as a woman?”
    “ The last two are the same thing, surely.”
    “ Not to a man,” Gareth drawled with maddening chauvinism. She opened her mouth to argue hotly as Sam appeared in the aisle. He glanced swiftly at Gareth, who had fastened the seat belt when he sat down, then shrugged, winked at Morrin – a wink that said clearly, ‘Humour this man, we want him on our team’ – and went to join the two girls Gareth had deserted.
    Gareth hadn’t turned towards the aisle, though he must have seen Morrin’s gaze moving above his head