Mail-order Bridegroom Part 70

But a minute or more pa.s.sed before Damon hauled himself upright and,

muttering under his breath, began to eat as well.

They didn't speak again until their plates were clean and Teresa came to clear the table.

"Not much of a honeymoon," she commented sadly.Damon's head jerked up at that. He glowered at; her."What's that supposed to mean?""You all day talkin' on the phone, Mrs Damon going' to town by herself.""We don't have to live in each other's pockets, Teresa," Damon said shortly.But Teresa just clucked her tongue."What'm I gonna tell your mother?""My mother?" Damon looked so horrified that Kate almost laughed."You don't have to tell my mother anything!"Teresa stepped back."You don't got to yell, Mr Damon. I hear you. I be right here. Course I got to tell her. She asking'."

Kate saw Damon visibly try to control himself. With considerable effort hesoftened his tone."Our honeymoon and our marriage are our business, Teresa. Not my mother's.

I will thank you not to say a word."

Kate watched with interest as the two stares met, Damon's hard and fierce,

Teresa's mild and curious.

Finally the older woman shrugged.

"Not one word, Mr Damon?"

"Not one word."

"f that's what you want." Teresa turned almost sadly and started towards the

kitchen.

Damon grunted his satisfaction.

As much as in this instance Kate agreed with him, she did wish he'd be a

little less high-handed with Teresa.

"It was a lovely meal, Teresa. Thank you," Kate called after her, determinedto be polite even if her husband wasn't.Teresa turned and beamed."My pleasure. You have a good night, now. I be seem' you at breakfast. You take extra good care of Mr Grouchy here." She shot a

quick look at Damon, noted his fierce expression, giggled and vanished into the kitchen.

"G.o.d, I don't know what's got into that woman," he complained, shoving his chair back and heading for the door.

"She never used to be so cheeky."

"She's pleased for us."

Damon snorted.

"She has a d.a.m.ned funny way of showing it."

"She thinks we're madly in love and she's enchanted."

"The more fool she," Damon muttered and strode towards the cottage without

looking back.Kate hurried to catch up."Dibs on the shower."He glanced back briefly, his expression distasteful. "You could use one.""How gallant of you to say so."He gave her a twisted smile."Always glad to be of help." His echo of her earlier words mocked her as she hurried past.

d.a.m.n it, she groused as she undressed, why did it have to be like this? Why

did they have to continually snipe at each other? Why couldn't they get along?

Kate couldn't ever remember a man who could provoke her the way Damon could.

Nor a man who attracted her quite so much either.

She didn't want to think about that.

Deliberately she turned on the water as hard as it would go, stepped under

the shower and welcomed a cleansing rush of water beating down on her naked

body.

She didn't know how long she stayed there. Long enough, she hoped, to get herself firmly under control, long enough totamp down all interest in Damon Alexakis, long enough to recite the list ofevery nanny she had ever placed, every family she had ever served, every goalshe had set for herself.

She hoped, too, as she finished drying off and slipping into her nightgown,that it was long enough for Damon to have settled down in the living-room andfallen asleep. She didn't want to have to face him again tonight.

He was asleep all right. On her bed.

Scowling, Kate crept towards the bed and peered down at him.

Damon was sprawled across it, face down, one arm out flung the other tucked

under his head. The khaki shorts and T-s.h.i.+rt he had been wearing lay in a

heap on the floor. He was clad now in only a pair of light blue boxer shorts.Kate stood quite still taking in the prospect of his smooth tanned back, thecurve of his firmly muscled b.u.t.tocks, the length of his hair-roughened legs.She'd always thought the Greek G.o.d business so much hot air. Now she wasn'tso sure.

She closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath, then licked parched lips.

"Damon," she said firmly.

"Get up."

He didn't stir.

"Damon!" Her tone was louder and more irritable this time. She opened her eyes as she did so.

Still he didn't move.

Kate reached down and tugged on one of his feet. He groaned and pulled uphis knee."Damon! Get up. It's time to go to bed."He made a m.u.f.fled sound, "m in bed.""It's my bed. My turn.""Share," he mumbled into the sheet."No, I'm not going to share." That way lay disaster. "You're going to leave. Now." Once more she reached for his foot and gave it a jerk.

A hand reached out and grasped hers, yanking her down on to the bed beside him.

Oooff! Damon! d.a.m.n you! " She struggled against a surprisingly stronggrip."Let go! Get up and get out of here. Now!""No. Too d.a.m.n tired. Here--' he shoved over slightly '--your s.p.a.ce."His eyes fluttered shut again; his breathing deepened.

Kate wrenched her wrist out of his grasp and scrambled off the bed.

She felt like punching him, like kicking him. Hard. She contented herself with smacking him once on the rear end.

He rolled on to his back and regarded her scowlingly from beneath hooded lids.Kate stepped back hastily."You agreed. I took your word as a gentleman.""Your mistake." A slight smile flickered across his mouth."You don't need to stand there with that look of outraged virtue on your face.I'm hardly any threat to you tonight. I can't keep my eyelids up, much less anything else. "

"Don't be crude."

"I'm not being crude. I'm being accurate." And he rolled over once more and

started to snore.

Kate, hands on hips, glowered at him.

So, fine, he wasn't a gentleman. He was right about that. She should have

known that from the first. A gentleman would never have proposed such a

marriage!

Well, she certainly wasn't going to sleep in the same bed with him, then.

How did she know he wasn't lying this time, too?

She should go straight up to the main house and sleep there. That would

teach him. And it would certainly give Teresa something to call home about!But even as she thought it, she knew she wouldn't. And not only for Damon'ssake either. On her own behalf, she didn't want to disillusion Helena. Sheliked her new mother-in-law. She regretted that she was only going to have her a year. But as long as she did have her, Kate didn't want to see the worry and sadness she knew would appear on Damon's mother's face.

The more fool she, she thought grimly, echoing Damon's words.

Cursing both him and herself, she yanked the afghan off the back of the wicker chair and stalked into the living-room, shut out the lights and curled on the set tee Half an hour of twisting this way and that convinced her she'd never get a moment's sleep if she stayed there. Grumbling, she placed the cus.h.i.+ons on the wood floor and stretched out on them.

There, she thought, lying down, that was better.