Free Old Desires/A Stranger's Kiss (2-in-1 edition) by Liz Fielding Page A

afternoon, but a different man entirely — the one who had put his arms around her, holding her close while she had cried her heart out.
    A man who had kissed her because her heart was breaking.
    Maybe that was why she was unwilling to return. A quite ridiculous complication. He had merely been kind, although kind was not a word she associated with Joshua Kent. And she doubted that he could ever be described as merely anything.
    ‘I’ve brought some lunch,’ he said, putting down a wicker basket, as if this were sufficient explanation for his sudden appearance, and folded himself up beside her on the hard, dry earth.
    Holly forced her eyes up from the pleasurable contemplation of his square shoulders, the strong, tanned column of his neck, to the more dangerous territory of his face, and suddenly she was wide awake.
    ‘How did you find me?’ she asked.
    ‘I saw your car parked on the road. They told me what you were driving at the hotel.’
    She made an impatient, dismissive gesture. ‘I didn’t mean that. How did you know where to look in the first place?’
    ‘Were you hiding?’ One dark brow flicked up in apparent amusement at her naïveté. He began to open a bottle of wine dewed with moisture. ‘You’ll have to try a little harder if you’re being serious about it.’
    ‘Of course I wasn’t hiding, but…’
    ‘But?’ he asked, an edge to his voice warning her that he expected an answer.
    ‘But nothing,’ she said. ‘I just didn’t go out of my way to let anyone know where I was. That’s all.’
    ‘No, but you sent David a postcard from Arles. You hired a car and bought some clothes using a credit card. Finding someone is not so difficult if you know the right computer to ask.’
    ‘And I’msure you know them all personally.’
    ‘A few,’ he conceded, apparently not at all put out by the irritation in her voice. ‘Try this.’ He handed her a glass of wine and then proceeded to tear hunks of bread off a loaf. ‘Cheese? Or there’s some pate,’ he offered.
    She ignored his offer of food. ‘All right, Joshua, you’re proved how clever you are. Now perhaps you’d like to tell me exactly why you’re here?’
    ‘But you know why I’ve come, Holly.’ He looked up then, his eyes creasing against the fierce sun. ‘I’ve come to take you home.’
     

 
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
    ‘HOME?’ Holly repeated. Then his arrogance hit her like a sledge hammer and she exploded. ‘You’ve got some kind of nerve, Joshua Kent. I’ll come home when I’m good and ready.’
    He was unmoved by this outburst. ‘Your prolonged absence is causing me problems. I need signatures on some documents and decisions have to be made about property.’
    ‘Why? Surely nothing is that urgent?’
    ‘It won’t take long,’ he said, as if this was sufficient reason for her to comply with his wishes. He scooped a piece of ripe Brie on to a crust. ‘You can always come back when everything is tidied up.’
    ‘Well, thank you, sir,’ she said, fury at his casual hijacking of her life striking sparks. ‘You are too kind.’
    The tiny fan of white lines around his eyes disappeared as he smiled. Tm glad you see it that way. For a moment I thought you were going to be difficult.’
    ‘Difficult?’ She drew a deep breath, determined to show him exactly how difficult she could be. But then she stopped. Why she couldn’t exactly have said. It took a great deal to provoke her to anger but once aroused nothing and no one could stop her until she had given vent to her feelings. Something warned her that it wouldn’t make any impression on Joshua Kent. ‘When you’ve gone to so much trouble?’ she replied, suddenly all sweet compliance.
    She was rewarded with a sharp, appraising glance. She had surprised him and that was recompense enough for her restraint.
    ‘It was no trouble,’ he said.
    ‘But surely a telephone call would have done? There is one at the hotel,’ she persisted. ‘Why did you have to come