Mediterranean Nights: The Mistress Purchase / The Demetrios Virgin / Marco's Convenient Wife. PENNY JORDAN

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СКАЧАТЬ face flared hot pink as for an instant she thought he had somehow read her mind, but then she realised he was waiting for her to respond to his invitation. She ought to turn it down, her own sense of self-preservation told her that, but instead of doing so she heard herself saying huskily, ‘Thank you, yes. I… I’d love to join you.’ To join him. To join with him… to…!

      ‘Good!’

      The look he gave her sent a thrill of dangerous pleasure zinging right through her. Helplessly she clenched her muscles against it, against the betraying sexual shudder she could feel gripping her.

      Leon was smiling at her, his mouth curling up at the corners in the way that made her long to throw her arms around him and kiss every delicious centimetre of those tempting warm male lips. Especially where they curled so fascinatingly into the smile that made her heart somersault and sent a dizzying rush of pleasure showering through her.

      Hastily Sadie averted her gaze from his mouth and tried instead to focus on a point somewhere beyond his left shoulder. But she was still excruciatingly conscious of him, and of her own longing for him. Where had it come from, this savage, clawing, aching, longing that had hit her out of nowhere, left her drugged, doped, dependent on the proximity of him?

      When she had contemplated the prospect of falling in love in the past her mental meanderings had never come anywhere near encompassing anything like this! And they had certainly never allowed her to imagine anyone like Leon!

      ‘Hell, Sadie, will you please stop looking at me like that?’ Leon demanded savagely. ‘Because if you don’t I’m going to have to kiss you, and I warn you that if I do I’m not going to want to stop at just kissing you…’ he continued fiercely.

      Her face bright red, Sadie asked him quickly, ‘I… what time shall I meet you in the morning?’ She held her breath, not sure if she wanted Leon to stop speaking so erotically to her or not.

      ‘Well, from my point of view it will probably facilitate matters if we have breakfast together,’ Leon began.

      ‘Together?’ Sadie could hear the squeak of panic in her voice.

      ‘I meant in the dining room, of course,’ Leon assured her blandly. ‘Unless…’

      ‘Oh, the dining room. Yes, of course. Yes… er… what time? I…’

      Listening to herself gabbling, Sadie wondered if Leon knew just how much she was longing to have the courage to simply reach out and wrap her arms around him, to stand on tiptoe and press her body the entire length of his whilst she kissed him in a way that would leave him in no doubt whatsoever about where she most wanted to have breakfast with him tomorrow morning!

      Before he could guess what she was thinking she opened her handbag and searched for her key.

      Ten minutes later, safely inside her room on her own, with the door locked, she told herself that it was relief she was feeling that Leon hadn’t pushed or pressed to be allowed to come in with her—and not disappointment.

      Still, she would be seeing him in the morning. Blissfully she hugged that thought to her, lost in a dreamy fantasy of sensual blue skies and an even more sensual man.

      CHAPTER FIVE

      ‘THAT’S what I like to see—a woman who enjoys her food.’

      Sadie’s toes curled into her shoes as Leon’s warmly approving gaze embraced her.

      He had telephoned her at seven o’clock, the ringing bringing her out of the shower, to ask her if she was awake and suggest that they meet up in the restaurant at eight.

      ‘Awake—of course I’m awake,’ she had responded indignantly, adding without thinking, ‘I was actually in the shower.’

      There was a small silence, and then Leon’s voice, like warm honey melting down the telephone line, as he’d said thickly, ‘I wish you hadn’t told me that, Sadie!’

      He hadn’t said anything else, but Sadie had known immediately that he was picturing her naked—and what was more she had been doing some pretty sensual visualisation of the two of them together herself!

      Just the thought of Leon naked in the shower with her was enough to make her skin prickle in sensual hunger.

      She had dressed at top speed, donning a clean white tee shirt and a pair of beige linen cut-offs, and some white and beige trainers for comfort. A beige raffia bag embroidered with white daisies and her sunglasses had completed her preparations.

      Leon had been waiting for her in the foyer of the hotel. Like her, he was casually dressed, his tee shirt revealing warmly tanned and strongly muscled arms.

      ‘Good.’ He smiled approvingly at her. ‘I’m glad you’ve dressed casually. The mas is in a fairly remote place, and although it has its own swimming pool, and overlooks the sea itself, I’ve picked it because of its country location.’

      Now, as she finished her fruit and reached for the delicious croissant she had selected from the lavish buffet table, Sadie turned to Leon and mentioned hesitantly, ‘Raoul told me that your company will be acquiring the house in Grasse as well as the business attached to it.’

      She couldn’t help thinking how much this would have upset her grandmother. She had often told Sadie whilst she was growing up how much she missed her childhood home. Sadie had been too young then to suggest that her grandmother lower her pride and make contact with her brother, with a view to visiting Grasse and the house.

      ‘You should see it, Sadie,’ she had told her vehemently. ‘It is as much a part of your heritage as your “nose”.’ When your grandfather saved me from the Germans and brought me to England I had no idea that I would never return to Grasse. My father would have been so angry and hurt if he had known what my brother did.’

      Sadie had tried to find words to comfort her, but she had seen how much her grandmother had missed her home.

      ‘Yes, that is part of the deal,’ Leon agreed, picking up the coffee pot and refilling her empty cup for her.

      ‘What will you do with it? Will you keep it or sell it?’ Sadie asked him, wondering what it was about seeing such a strong sexy man performing this small domestic chore that made her insides melt.

      ‘I don’t know yet, and anyway the decision won’t be entirely mine to make. Why?’ Leon questioned, giving her a keen look.

      ‘No reason,’ Sadie answered him hesitantly. Despite the physical intimacy they had shared she didn’t feel mentally close enough to him to talk more about her grandmother.

      Her reticence owed more to her own loyalty to her grandmother than a reluctance to confide in Leon. She was well aware that an outsider who had not known her grandmother might question her stubbornness in refusing to have anything to do with her estranged brother. And, for reasons she was not prepared to delve deeply into, it was becoming increasingly important to Sadie that Leon felt warmly and sympathetically towards the grandmother she had loved so much. After all, how could she give her love completely to a man who did not understand and accept Grandmère’s little foibles?

      Leon was still looking at her, with one dark eyebrow raised and an expression in his eyes that told her he knew she was being evasive.

      Ruefully, СКАЧАТЬ