Give A Man A Bad Name. Roberta Leigh

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СКАЧАТЬ you can be remarkably frank.’

      ‘We see nothing wrong in talking honestly about our feelings.’

      ‘Only talking?’

      Deliberately she stared him full in the face. ‘I am a virgin, Mr Hamilton, if that is what you are asking.’

      ‘I—I—’ Flummoxed, he stopped, his heightened colour showing that again she had taken him by surprise.

      ‘When will you have time to discuss the software programs you want me to do?’ she asked before he could recover. ‘I’m bored doing nothing.’

      ‘If I’d known you were waiting for me,’ he replied, his wits returning, ‘I’d have seen you the instant I got back! Beats me why my secretary didn’t tell me Miss Bradshaw wasn’t able to come. I—’

      ‘I’d like to start earning my salary,’ Marly cut in, intent on showing him she was uninterested in further flattery. ‘I assume you’ll want the software in Thai as well as English?’

      ‘Yes, but concentrate on the English version first, so I can make sure it covers everything I want, before you start on the translation.’

      ‘I’ll bring in someone else to do that,’ she said quickly. ‘Your requirements will be complicated enough to require several programs, and a translator can start on one while I’m devising another.’ Suddenly aware she sounded too assured, Marly gave a nervous cough. ‘If that meets with your approval, of course?’

      ‘Everything you say meets with my approval, other than your refusal to use my first name.’ Spoon and fork poised to help himself to a succulent mix of chicken and baby aubergine, each one no bigger than a walnut, he gave her the full battery of his deep grey eyes. ‘Can’t you forget tradition and call me Alex? After all, I call you Marly.’

      ‘You’re my employer.’

      ‘Who wants to be your friend. Come on, say it,’ he cajoled.

      Fluttering her lashes at him, she whispered his name.

      ‘There,’ he said, satisfied. ‘That wasn’t too painful, was it?’

      ‘No, Mr Ha—Alex.’ She tilted her head towards him. ‘I’ve never met an Alex before.’

      ‘And I’ve never met a Marly.’ He began to eat. ‘That bodes well for us.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Because we don’t have any preconceived associations with each other’s names. If you’d been called Sandra, I’d have had a problem. She was the first girl I fell in love with—I was fourteen at the time—and she broke my heart.’

      ‘You mean she turned you down?’

      ‘Worse. She called me fat and spotty!’

      For the first time Marly’s laugh was genuine. ‘How long did it take you to recover?’

      ‘As long as it took me to become spotless and skinny!’ A well shaped hand, the fingers long and artistic, rubbed the side of his face. ‘I suppose that with your Thai passion for honesty you’d have said the same as she did?’

      ‘Never.’ Marly quickly slipped back into the role she was playing. ‘We are taught to be frank without being hurtful.’

      ‘Does that mean that when I ask to see you again you’ll turn me down politely?’

      ‘I’ll always be polite.’

      ‘And always turn me down?’

      ‘It depends how busy I am. I’m only contracted to work for you for two months, and we’ve already wasted ten days of it.’ Primly she regarded him. ‘Will you be going away again soon?’

      ‘Not as far as I know. I’m here for six months—until all the bugs are ironed out and the hotel is running smoothly. Then I move on to wherever I’m needed.’

      ‘Are you what they call a trouble-shot?’

      ‘A trouble-shooter,’ he corrected, his grin making him look younger than the thirty-four she knew him to be.

      ‘Do you normally travel a lot?’ she asked, hoping to lead him into discussing his stay in Singapore.

      ‘Yes. For the past two years I’ve moved between the Far East and Australia.’

      ‘Where were you before you came to Thailand?’

      ‘Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore—’

      ‘I’d love to go to Singapore,’ she interjected. ‘Did you like it?’

      ‘It isn’t my favourite place,’ he answered flatly. ‘I prefer Bali and—’

      ‘Why don’t you like it?’ she persisted.

      ‘I had an unpleasant experience there that left a rather sour taste.’

      What a hateful way of describing Andrea! A sour taste! ‘Is it anything you can discuss?’ she asked, oozing sympathy.

      ‘If I did, you’d find it extremely boring.’ He raked a hand through his tawny hair, as if trying to throw off the memory of it. ‘Anyway, why waste this lovely setting talking of unpleasant things when we could be talking about you?’ He leaned towards her, his chiselled features softened by desire. ‘Do you have a boyfriend, Marly?’

      ‘No,’ she replied truthfully.

      ‘It has to be from choice. I can’t believe no man has wanted you.’

      ‘I’ve never met one I wanted.’ Until I saw you walking across the lobby, she thought, though the feeling had died when she had discovered how heartless he was. But none of her thoughts was apparent on her face as she met his gaze. ‘I believe marriage is for life, Mr Hamilton, and I will have to be absolutely certain about a man before I commit myself to him.’

      ‘How young you sound,’ Alex stated, a long-fingered hand playing with the stem of his wine glass. ‘When you’re my age you’ll know nothing is certain in life.’

      Except for one thing, Marly knew: her determination to cut this man down to size.

      ‘I’m surprised to hear you say that,’ she said dulcetly, ‘because in the last hour I’ve become very certain of you.’

      Beautifully marked eyebrows arched above smoky grey eyes. ‘Now that’s an intriguing statement. Care to explain it?’

      She nodded. ‘I’m certain you have a strong sense of honour; that you never wittingly break your word, and that you respect the feelings and wishes of anyone you care for.’ Her lids lowered and thick black lashes, long and straight as a doll’s, fanned her cheeks as she prepared to deliver the final blow. ‘I’m also certain you will respect my wish to remain untouched until I marry. Only on that basis am I willing to see you again, should you do me the honour of asking me.’

      Alex leaned back in his chair, his СКАЧАТЬ