Royal Seduction. Donna Clayton

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      “I wish Dr. Richie would show his face,” Faye muttered. “Sure would make my life easier.”

      “Everything’s going to be okay,” he assured her. “Go on over to the hospital and I’ll get to the meeting just as soon as I can.”

      Alone in his office, he stared at the plain manila file in his hand and stifled a sigh.

      Definitely upper crust.

      Great. Just what he needed. A pretentious little rich girl.

      He knew the type. Women who thought they were above people like him. What made it all the worse was that he knew it was true.

      Faye had been adamant that this woman was friendly, but that wouldn’t keep him from feeling second-rate. His mouth cocked cynically and he snatched up his lab coat.

      Well, better to get the session over with, he thought, pulling the door of his office closed behind him and making his way down the hall.

      The door of the conference room was open, but the shapely blonde had her back to the door so Riley tapped to get her attention. She swung around to greet him, her shoulder-length hair swinging, her lush, shiny lips smiling to reveal two rows of perfect, pearly teeth. Her flawless skin glowed. And he imagined the silky feel of it beneath his fingertips.

      Something strange twanged in his gut. The muscles there went tight as a knot. And his throat… It went so dry he felt as if he’d swallowed a mouthful of powder. The greeting he’d formed in his head refused to roll off his tongue.

      Immediately, mild confusion knitted the woman’s smooth brow.

      “Is everything all right?” she asked.

      Her voice had an exotic, Mediterranean lilt that triggered a reaction stemming from the most primitive part of his brain. The skin on the back of his neck quivered, and the urge to ask her to repeat herself welled up in him fiercely. Not because he hadn’t heard her question. No, it wasn’t that at all.

      She blinked, thick, tawny lashes brushing against milky skin. “Dr. Lassen set me up with Sally Henderson, the nutritionist. Dr. Lassen said she’d try to stop by, too.”

      “Sally’s out sick.” Riley moved to the oak table and set the file on it. “And Dr. Lassen was called to a meeting. It was unavoidable. Have a seat and we can go over this information.”

      As greetings went, his had probably been too abrupt and not nearly friendly enough, but he seemed to be fighting his way out of a strange fog at the moment.

      When she remained by the window on the far side of the room, Riley asked, “You are Catherine Houston?”

      “Yes.” She tucked a strand of wavy hair behind her ear, but only advanced a step or two closer to the table.

      Her hesitation surprised him. Usually, women of her ilk were confident and assertive. He waited for her to finally reach him, and then he pulled out a chair for himself, hoping she’d follow suit. Opening the file Faye had given him, Riley found the booklet and thrust it toward her.

      “Read this over,” he instructed. “And I’ll answer any questions you have.”

      She turned the booklet over in her hand, looked at the front and back cover. Then she flipped through the pages. A quick, unexpected grin played at the corners of her mouth, and Riley felt his belly go taut once again.

      “I have to read this?” Her cute nose wrinkled.

      “There is only one good—knowledge—and one evil—ignorance.”

      “Socrates.”

      “That’s right,” Riley said. “He was a smart man.”

      “Yes, but even Socrates would balk at swallowing all this in one sitting. Eighty-six pages?” she observed, glancing down at the last page. When she looked up at him, her eyes gleamed mischievously. “I don’t mind reading. I’m just surprised you’ve got that kind of time on your hands to sit there while I do.”

      If she’d felt at all uncertain before, she’d certainly made a rapid recovery.

      Good and truly put in his place, Riley said, “Yes, well…I didn’t realize… Maybe we should just touch on the high points.”

      She laughed, and he felt the enticing notes slowly tumble down each vertebra of his backbone. His spine arched slightly, and he rested his elbow on the top of the conference table, liking the unexpected calmness that washed over him.

      “There in the introduction—” he indicated the booklet in front of her and she flipped to the appropriate page “—you’ll see that there are four basic nutrients: water, carbohydrates, proteins and fats. They’re referred to as the building blocks of a good diet.”

      Her head was bent, her attention directed at the printed words. Riley couldn’t help but notice how the sunlight streaming through the window glinted off her hair, igniting it like golden fire. She looked like an entrancing goddess.

      “Good nutrition,” he espoused verbatim from what he’d memorized since taking over as director, “is the foundation of good health.”

      He let his gaze rove over her profile, along her high cheekbone, down her pert nose and the curve of her jaw-line.

      “Choosing the healthiest forms of those four basic nutrients,” he continued, “and consuming them in the correct balance—” he took an instant to inhale the soft flowery scent of her “—will enable your body to function at its optimal level.”

      Catherine Houston roused something in him. Something deep. Something basic. It was almost as if she were luring him—in a way he hadn’t been lured in a very long time.

      Like a blaring horn, the dangerous thought snapped Riley out of the bizarre trance that had nearly ensnared him. He sat up straight, and with conscious effort, folded his hands into his lap.

      Obviously he found the woman attractive. There was really nothing he could do about that. She was a beautiful woman. He was a red-blooded man. Physiologically, that was all it took.

      She chose that moment to tip her head to the side and glance up at him. The smile she flashed beaned him like a two-by-four between the eyes, and his breath left him in a rush.

      “Food is necessary,” he blurted.

      Her smile magnified, and so did his internal reaction.

      “What I meant to say is that good nutrition is necessary.” He slid his chair several inches from the table. “Look,” he told her, his tone sharper than he intended, “the information you have there in that booklet is self-explanatory. It’ll provide you with everything you need to know about nutrition and how what you eat affects your health. Read it at your convenience. If you have any questions, I’m sure Dr. Lassen would be happy to schedule another session with you.”

      What poor business practice! Faye would be upset with him, for sure. But he needed to get away from Catherine Houston. She was short-circuiting his brainwaves and turning him into a blubbering idiot.

      Her sexy mouth СКАЧАТЬ