Legacy of Desire Read Free Page B

godson.’
    ‘It’s none of your business,’ she said. ‘For goodness sake be quiet.’
    ‘Quite an interesting little clause,’ murmured Jay Prescott.
    Davina turned towards him. ‘Excuse me?’
    ‘The wording of the clause. Didn’t you find it interesting?’
    ‘Not really. It’s exactly the same terms I had with my uncle.’
    ‘Surely not.’ For a moment the flicker of a smile lifted the corners of the American’s mouth.
    Davina felt confused. ‘Yes it is. I used to do all his secretarial work and act as hostess for him at his parties. Not that I suppose you’ll be living here very much.’
    ‘Why do you say that?’
    ‘Because you live in America.’
    ‘Yeah, but it just so happens that I’m due to spend twelve months in England on an exchange visit. I’m a public prosecutor you see, and I’m coming over here to learn a bit about English law. The house should prove pretty useful to me. I’ll also be entertaining a great deal, and since I’m single I’ll need quite a lotta help in that direction …’
    ‘That’s lucky,’ said Davina weakly, wondering what on earth had possessed her uncle to hand everything over to a man like this. ‘At least I’ll feel I’m earning my keep.’
    ‘Believe me, honey, you’ll more than earn your keep. I can think of quite a lotta other services I’ll require from you, but as long as you carry them out in a satisfactory fashion I don’t see any reason why your life should change.’
    As he spoke his eyes assessed Davina thoughtfully, and suddenly she realised that while done with the best of intentions, the way her uncle had worded his will might have placed her in a very difficult position.

Chapter Two
    ‘What the hell’s that?’ asked Phil, sitting up in bed and listening intently.
    ‘I can’t hear anything,’ murmured Davina sleepily.
    ‘It sounds as though we’re living next to a motorway.’
    She propped herself up on one elbow. ‘Oh God, it must be the removal vans. Jay phoned and said they’d be arriving over the weekend. It’s lucky I got the last of Uncle David’s things out of the house yesterday.’
    ‘You didn’t tell me Jay Prescott had rung you.’ Phil sounded accusing.
    ‘It didn’t seem important,’ said Davina truthfully. ‘Anyway, you were so late getting here last night we didn’t have time to talk about anything much.’
    ‘More to the point we didn’t have time to
do
anything much,’ he said, sliding a hand beneath the hem of Davina’s night-dress. ‘Now we’re awake I think we ought to remedy that.’
    Davina sighed inwardly. Since her uncle’s death her sex life had taken a turn for the worse. Phil was less thoughtful, and although nothing had been said Davina sensed he was still annoyed that she hadn’t inherited everything. It was as though he was blaming her, which was utterly ridiculous. It was also disconcerting to realise how much he’d counted on her owning the estate one day.
    ‘I’m not sure I’m in the mood,’ she murmured.
    ‘Of course you are,’ said Phil, his left hand gripping her right breast and giving her nipple a perfunctory tweak before he slid his body on top of hers. ‘Couldn’t you get a shorter night-dress?’ he complained, as the material caught beneath him.
    Davina struggled to remove it and by the time she’d thrown it to the floor Phil was inside her, pumping rhythmically, his hands heavy on her breasts. She noticed that he no longer bothered to kiss her when they were having sex; instead he gazed at the wall ahead of him, concentrating solely on his own pleasure.
    Just as the first tiny flicker of arousal began deep within Davina, Phil shuddered and gasped then rolled off her. ‘Did you manage to come too?’ he asked.
    Davina felt both used and angry. ‘Of course I didn’t. It takes me more than four-and-a-half minutes you know’
    ‘I didn’t realise I was being timed.’ Phil sounded equally angry.
    Suddenly Davina couldn’t bear to stay in the bed with him a