Ran From Him Read Free

angrily back to her elbows. “Which hotel is it? You could have dropped me at the front door. You don’t need to escort me inside.”
    “Ah, but I do.” He walked around the back of the four wheel drive and unloaded their luggage.
    “No.” Heavens knew what the gossips could do with a picture of Daniel Garren and Cate booking into a hotel together. “Don’t you have a home to go to?”
    He laughed.
    “So?” She pushed the sleeves of the jumper out of her way, and set her hands on her hips. “Go.”
    “Cate, we’re at my apartment.”
    Her eyes widened.
    “I decided it’s too late to try a hotel, and definitely too late to drive from hotel to hotel if they’re full. I have a spare bedroom, two in fact, which you can use. In the morning, you can sort out something for yourself.”
    “Rude, dictatorial—”
    “If you wanted a say in the decision-making, you shouldn’t have fallen asleep.”
    “You could have woken me.”
    “I thought I did.”
    The reminder, and his wicked glance at her mouth, silenced that protest.
    Then she recalled the lack of taxis courtesy of their drivers’ strike. She had no idea where his apartment building was situated, and she shrank from the idea of literally walking the streets searching for a hotel at this late hour.
    Fuming at him and her own impotence, she allowed herself to be herded towards a lift.
    He used a security card, then punched the button for the penthouse.
    The lift whooshed upwards. Cate stared stubbornly at the floor.
    “After you.” He ushered her out of the lift and pushed open the penthouse door. Subdued lighting lit a wide open space.
    Irresistibly, her attention was drawn to the floor length windows.
    “One hundred and eighty degree views. City, river and hills. The view is why I bought this place. That, and it’s easier to lock and leave an apartment than it is a house.”
    “No garden or pets.” She understood. She’d thought the same thing when she’d rented her small flat, the whole of which could have fitted in his lounge room.
    Through the windows she saw the city lights reflecting dreamily in the wide, still Swan River. She yawned.
    “You can have the full tour in the morning. For now, I’ll show you your room.”
    “Sleep sounds wonderful.” She rubbed at her eyes, the wool of her borrowed jumper soft against her face, and made a mental note to skip the tour. She had no intentions of becoming matey with Daniel—and heaven forbid that Rob and Amie marry, and she and Daniel become family!
    The guest room was elegantly decorated in cream and gold, with yet another stunning view from the window. Cate swayed just inside the doorway. All she needed was the bed. “I’m about to crash.”
    “Go for it.” Daniel put her backpack down just inside the door, offered a casual good night, and departed.
    Guiltily, she realised she was staring after him and snuggling into the jumper, enjoying the way it smelled of him. Hastily, she stripped it off, draping it over a chair. She contemplated a shower, then gave up the idea as too much effort. Stripping off the rest of her clothes, she crawled between crisp, lavender scented sheets and slept.
     
     
    Ten o’clock found Cate drowsily awake and contemplating the muddle she’d gotten herself into. How on earth had she let herself be reasoned and charmed into staying in Daniel Garren’s penthouse? Could anything be worse? And what had gone wrong with her brain and instincts of self-preservation that for even one second she had felt his attraction?
    “I must have been mad.”
    Renewed by her sleep and determined to set the world to rights, she threw back the covers and swung her legs out of bed.
    There was a brisk knock at the door before it opened.
    Cate yelped and dived back under the covers.
    Daniel watched. He wore jeans and a white T shirt which hugged his chest. His feet were bare. Yesterday, in his business suit, he’d been formidable. In casual dress, he was devastating. His appearance was a