A Lesson of Intensity: Season of Desire Part 2 (Seasons Quartet) Read Free

you’ve made it very clear that’s not the case.’ As he puts his jacket on, he gives me a look that brings me up short suddenly: it’s full of a power I’ve never seen before and it almost makes me gasp. I feel a kind of fear shimmer through me, as though I’ve been playing with a tame tiger that has just turned round and shown me its bared teeth. The atmosphere becomes charged with something I can’t identify. It’s not fevered lust now but a sense that we’re preparing ourselves for combat and he’s letting me know that he’ll be a challenging adversary.
    He turns and goes to the door. As he reaches it, he turns again to face me and stands very still. Those bright blue eyes, hard as granite, are fixed on me again.
    ‘Let me make something clear to you, Freya Hammond. I’m not your slave, for sex or anything else, and I’m not here to service you, like some pathetic gigolo. No one can ever order me to sleep with them, and certainly not you.’ He lets those words hang in the air for a moment before adding, ‘I’m going out now to assess the weather and scout out the area while it’s clear. You’d better get dressed. You’ll freeze your arse off dressed like that.’
    With that parting shot, he opens the hut door, letting in a gust of freezing air, and is gone in a moment, leaving me standing open-mouthed, staring after him, speechless with impotent fury.
     
    At first, I’m glad Miles has gone. I pull on my jeans, buttoning them up furiously.
      He drives me crazy! I knew from the moment I met him he had attitude and I was right! Well, as soon as we get out of here, I’m going take great pleasure in sacking his ass.
      I imagine the scene. I’m standing at my father’s side as he sits behind that huge desk of his – a desk that shows who really wields the power round here. Together we watch as a thoroughly cowed Miles comes in and stands before us. He glances meekly at me. I know that he can see in my eyes that he’s about to get what’s coming to him.
      ‘Daddy,’ I say coolly. ‘This is the one. You must sack him at once.’
      ‘Anything you say, honey,’ responds my father. ‘If that’s what you want, that’s what you get. He’s toast.’
      I smile at my father. ‘Thank you, Daddy.’
      Miles stares down at his hands, his shoulders bowed. He’s utterly beaten.
      My father looks up at me, frowning a little. ‘Just one thing, honey. Why am I sacking him?’
      ‘Because…’ I falter a little. ‘Because…’ Then I say firmly, ‘He disobeyed my orders.’
      ‘Did he?’ My father looks grave. ‘Why, that’s awful. He must certainly be dismissed in that case. And what were your orders?’
      I blink hurriedly and say, ‘Well…’
      ‘Yes?’
      ‘I…’ Even in my fantasy, I have no idea how to tell my father that I want this bodyguard sacked because he refused to have sex with me when I demanded it. It just isn’t the kind of father–daughter conversation I can envisage. My imagination fails and the picture in my mind disappears.
      I know what’s more likely to happen. Now I can see Miles sauntering in, his right eyebrow lifted in that arrogant way, a sardonic look in his eyes. He’s totally in control and completely self-confident. My father is asking him why he wants to quit, and Miles looks at me with a piercing gaze and says quietly, ‘Why don’t you ask Freya, Mr Hammond?’
      ‘Oh, damn it all!’ I say loudly, pulling on my boots. I can’t even successfully imagine a triumph over him. ‘And damn Miles to hell!’
      For a while, I let my anger stew, taking pleasure in thinking up ways that I might be able to bring him down and give him a little taste of the humiliation he’s given me. Once I’m dressed, I begin to warm up again and the little room is becoming quite cosy with the blaze from the fire. I pick up a log and throw it on, noticing that there’re only a few dry ones left. Miles will need to bring some more in from outside