Passionate Winter. Carole Mortimer

car works, that doesn’t mean everyone has to. I might be quite knowledgeable on some subjects you know very little about.’

      ‘I’m sure you are. Now tell me how we get to your car, I don’t remember seeing it as I drove along.’

      Leigh almost missed seeing her car herself, having pushed it to the side of the road out of the way of other traffic. Thank goodness it hadn’t been a big car or she would have just had to leave it standing on the road.

      Piers Sinclair got swiftly out of the car, putting his hand out wordlessly for the car keys, before lifting up the bonnet of her old battered Mini. After a few minutes he slammed the bonnet back down and climbed into the car. Leigh stifled a chuckle at his imposing figure sitting so incongruously in her tiny car. It still wouldn’t start and she tried hard to hide her smug smile at his inability to find the trouble. That would teach him to be so sure of himself all the time!

      He got out of her car without a word and began looking through the boot of his own car. A second later he came back, a large petrol container in his hand. ‘Didn’t you bother to check the petrol gauge, or are you in the habit of letting it run dry?’

      Leigh blushed a fiery red. ‘I … er … I didn’t think. I’m so used to it breaking down that I didn’t think about checking the petrol.’ She moved nervously from one foot to the other. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said dully.

      ‘Don’t apologise to me.’ He wiped his oily hands un-caringly down his dark trousers. ‘I’m not the one who walked two miles for nothing.’

      ‘No. I am.’ She felt so embarrassed. And she had thought him sure of himself! She shouldn’t have been so smug. ‘Please … please don’t make your clothes dirty because of my stupidity. Here,’ she handed him a clean handkerchief from the pocket of her jeans.

      ‘What’s the matter?’ he asked softly. ‘Are you frightened I might send you the cleaning bill?’

      ‘You can if you like,’ she smiled at him cheekily. ‘Although whether or not I can pay it is a different matter.’

      She saw a flash of white teeth as he smiled in the darkness. ‘Another broke student, huh?’

      ‘I’d hardly call Gavin that,’ she scoffed.

      ‘Is that why you went out with him? Because he has money?’ His voice had hardened to anger.

      Leigh stiffened. ‘I didn’t know your son had money. I went out with him because I liked him. I don’t have to take your insults, Mr Sinclair. Yesterday you accused me of being …’ she hesitated. ‘Well, you know what you accused me of. And now you as much as call me a gold-digger. Have you quite finished insulting me, or do you have something else to say?’

      ‘Nothing else for the moment.’ He handed back her car keys. ‘It should be all right now, but I should have it checked over all the same, just to be on the safe side.’

      ‘Is the car worth it?’

      ‘Not really.’

      ‘Thanks very much!’ She marched over to her own car. ‘We can’t all afford flashy cars.’

      Piers Sinclair moved with a speed that surprised her, gripping her arms so tightly it made her wince with pain. He swung her roughly round to face him, towering darkly above her. ‘You asked my opinion, Miss Stanton, and I gave it. It’s hardly my fault if you didn’t like that opinion. And I was not being patronising when I said that about your car. I genuinely don’t think you should be driving it.’

      ‘I’ll bear your opinion in mind. Thank you,’ she said in a stilted voice, shaking off his restraining hand. ‘Mr Sinclair, you’re hurting my arm.’

      Instantly she was set free, overbalancing slightly at the suddenness of it. ‘Goodnight, Miss Stanton,’ he said curtly.

      Leigh didn’t know if she was relieved or disappointed that the car started the first time she tried it. Trust that man to be right! She found her dislike of him increasing, although she couldn’t deny that her heart began beating erratically at his slightest touch, and she was always very much aware of him as a man.

      No man had the right to be so blatantly sexually attractive, his deep husky voice affecting her senses in a way she didn’t care to admit, not even to herself. Not that he deliberately drew attention to himself, but Leigh knew that no matter where he was he would instantly demand attention and command respect.

      But she hated him! Hated him as she had never hated anyone or anything before in her life. How dared he think such things about her morals when he didn’t know the first thing about her!

      ‘What happened to you? As if I need to ask,’ joked Karen when Leigh finally let herself into the flat. ‘Car break down again?’ she asked sympathetically.

      ‘As usual,’ grumbled Leigh. ‘I’m sorry I’m so late,’ she glanced at her watch. ‘Give me ten minutes and I’ll be ready.’

      ‘Don’t worry, Leigh. Keith said he’d call for us on his way and you have another half an hour yet, no need to hurry. How did you get the car started this time? Call a mechanic?’

      Leigh grimaced. Piers Sinclair could hardly be called a mechanic. She’d been expecting this question and didn’t like to admit that she had had to accept that man’s help yet again. Why did it have to be him anyway? What had he been doing driving in that area—it was in completely the opposite direction to his home. Perhaps he had been visiting one of the numerous women she felt sure he must have in his life. A man of his obvious masculinity wouldn’t be able to live without some woman to satisfy his bodily needs.

      She sighed. Now who was making snap judgments? For all she knew Piers Sinclair might have a steady girl-friend, but she knew there had to be at least one woman in his life. Maybe it was that other racing driver’s wife—or ex-wife, as she was now divorced from her husband. It didn’t say a lot for Piers Sinclair’s morals if that were the case, but then from what Gavin had said about his father he didn’t seem to have any.

      ‘You’re never going to believe this, Karen, I’m not sure I do myself, but I received an offer of help that I just wasn’t able to refuse. Much as I would have liked to.’

      ‘You mean—you mean some man forced you to accept his help?’

      ‘Not just any man—Piers Sinclair.’ The last was said with a grimace.

      ‘What, again!’

      Leigh began stripping off her clothes in preparation for her shower, throwing her discarded clothes on her own single bed. ‘Yes, again. You can imagine how embarrassed I felt, especially when he discovered that all the trouble was that I’d run out of petrol. Just my luck.’

      ‘Oh no!’ chuckled Karen.

      ‘Oh yes! You should have seen the smug look on his face. He made me feel positively violent!’

      ‘You certainly don’t seem to like him very much. I think he sounds absolutely fascinating, from what you’ve said about him.’

      ‘Mmm.’ Leigh grabbed a towel from the linen cupboard and pushed her hair under her flowered shower cap. ‘Like a panther. Sleek, powerful, and utterly lethal.’

      ‘Really? That sounds even more interesting.’ Karen gave a satisfied smile to herself.

      ‘Don’t you believe it. He probably eats little girls like us for breakfast.’

      ‘What clothes are you wearing this evening?’ Karen decided it was time to change the subject. ‘I’ll get them out for you if you like.’

      ‘Don’t make yourself late because of me. I can always call a taxi to take me later.’

      ‘It’s all right, I only have to change now and I’ll be ready. It won’t take me two minutes and it’ll save you time.’

      ‘Okay, thanks. My velvet trousers and the cream smock top. I don’t feel like wearing anything