Greek Mavericks: His Christmas Conquest. Cathy Williams

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СКАЧАТЬ edged imperceptibly towards the kitchen door. ‘Are you sure you don’t mean cavemen?’ she asked caustically. ‘These days women like men who share everything, from household duties to bringing up the kids. They like men who aren’t afraid to cry and who are willing to admit when they’ve made a mistake…’

      Theo struggled not to laugh. ‘Not all women…’he pointed out, moving towards her. He knew that he was flirting outrageously and it felt good. Reality was happening somewhere else but, here and now, there was just this. Feeling like a human being after months spent in a wilderness. He wasn’t about to forget that the wilderness was still there, waiting for him, but he could snatch this feeling of normality and enjoy it for a short while.

      This woman was nothing to him and never could be. She was too forthright, too abrasive and too damned unpredictable. In the blink of an eye she went from being erotically feminine to aggressively unappealing.

      Right now, one of the plaits was coming undone, which he had to admit looked quite cute.

      Spotting his eyes on her hair, Sophie dragged the elastic bands off and ran her fingers through the blunt blonde mane. Plaits were no good. Not when she was trying hard to hold on to her sang-froid.

      ‘Maybe not the ones you mix with…’ Sophie retorted. She wondered what sort of women he mixed with and came up with an assortment of choices, all stunningly beautiful and probably very tall. A drop dead gorgeous man in a glamorous field of work and with a good bank balance, if his ability to meet the rent was anything to go by, would want a woman who could match him for style and looks.

      ‘Can you truthfully tell me that you prefer a sensitive man who gets excited at cooking the evening meal and weeps during sad movies?’

      Sophie felt her mouth twitch and she stared down at her feet.

      ‘Maybe,’ Theo murmured slowly, ‘it works if you want a man who can sit with you in the evenings and do some cross stitch in between gossiping about the latest reality show on TV…’

      Sophie was not going to give in to the temptation to laugh. She reminded herself of his ability to be as arrogant as hell, not to mention targeting her personal life and asking questions that were way out of line. Because he also had a wicked sense of humour when he chose, it just made him all the more infuriating.

      She schooled her expression into one of thoughtful agreement. ‘Yes, companionship is always wonderful…’ she mused. ‘Obviously the cross stitching is taking it a bit too far, but a man who can cook—well, actually, I don’t think you’ll find too many women who would run screaming in the opposite direction from that…’

      ‘Maybe you’re right,’ Theo drawled lazily. ‘Maybe it’s the women I’ve mixed with. They have fed me the illusion that what turned them on was strength of character…’

      He flicked the tea towel in his hand over one shoulder and began to walk in her direction. Sophie very nearly yelped in sudden alarm.

      She spun round on her heel, before her legs could let her down by turning to lead, and headed straight for the front door. She spoke with her back to him, rambling on about strength of character having nothing to do with whether a man was sensitive or not. She knew that he was right behind her, would be seeing her to the door so that he could lock it behind her. She reached the door and grasped the door knob just as Theo drew even with her.

      There was a lingering scent of some light floral perfume on her. Theo could smell it very faintly. And her hair, no longer in plaits, was a mass of tiny waves falling softly around her face.

      Typically, she was gabbling on in an argumentative manner about something or other, like an irate little terrier snapping angrily at nothing in particular. Theo grinned down at her just as she raised her eyes and she glared, on the verge of continuing her running disgruntled monologue.

      ‘If women want the sensitive, culinary type of man, then can I give you some advice…? Men want women who don’t rant all the time…’

      Theo thought she might explode on the spot. This time he couldn’t help himself. He flung back his head and laughed and, God, did it feel good.

      Sophie, rendered speechless, stared at him open-mouthed and was still staring at him when he finally sobered up.

      ‘Course,’ he murmured in a dangerously soft voice, ‘there is one foolproof way to stop a woman in mid-tirade…’

      She should have sensed it but, even when he leant against the doorframe and lowered his head to hers, the feel of his mouth against hers was shockingly unexpected. She gasped and was driven back as he kissed her deeper, harder, with the urgency of a man denied physical contact for too long.

      His body was pressed against hers and she was mindlessly aware of his erection. Her breasts were crushed against his chest, painful and sensitive and yearning for him to pull up her jumper and lave them with his tongue.

      The full inappropriate horror of the situation hit her seconds after it hit him and Theo was the first to pull back, enraged with himself and filled with sudden savage self-disgust.

      Worse than the lapse in his self-control was the knowledge that he had enjoyed every minute of that kiss, had wanted to do more.

      ‘Go…’ he rasped and Sophie frantically yanked open the door, shaking like a leaf.

      He was aware of her leaving and knew that he had locked the door behind her. Somehow he found himself in his bedroom where, for once, his drift off to sleep was not preceded by a couple of hours on his laptop computer.

      Events, whatever you wanted to call it, had taken him by surprise and now he would need to figure out what to do. Because if there was one thing Theo did not welcome in his life it was surprise. With surprises, in his experience, always came an element of the nasty and nasty was something he would ruthlessly excise from his life, whatever the cost…

       Chapter Four

      SOPHIE thought that it was a sad reminder of her man-less existence that the memory of that fleeting kiss haunted her over the next three days. She couldn’t understand how it had happened. She barely knew the man and disliked a fair bit of what she did know, and yet she couldn’t remember ever being more turned on by a kiss. Just thinking about it afterwards made her feel giddy.

      Of course it wouldn’t take long for that ridiculous sensation to fade away and she had planned on keeping out of his way as much as she could to ensure that the fading process took as little time as possible. Besides, seeing him again would be embarrassing for both of them. She might have been shocked at what had happened but his reaction had been a lot more extreme. He had looked angry and disgusted with himself and had hustled her out of the cottage with such speed that she was surprised she had made it out of the door in one piece. She didn’t know what that had been about but she was sharp enough to realise that he would probably be even happier than her not to be reminded of the brief physical encounter.

      Which was why she found herself staring at the note on her desk with such dismay.

      ‘They can’t do this!’ she protested to Robert, who was tackling a stack of papers with the aid of a chocolate bar. Moira and Claire had both left for the evening, Christmas shopping before the crowds descended, and, Sophie suspected, the temptation to do something a little less relentless СКАЧАТЬ