Tall, Dark & Rich: His Christmas Virgin / Married by Christmas / A Yuletide Seduction. Carole Mortimer

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СКАЧАТЬ she said finally. ‘I—no.’

      Jonas eyed her speculatively. ‘That’s a definite no, is it?’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Yes, that’s a definite no? Or yes, I’ve changed my mind and would love to have dinner with you this evening, Jonas?’ he drawled.

      He was teasing her! It was so unexpected from this normally forcefully arrogant man that Mac couldn’t stop herself from laughing softly as she gave a slight shake of her head. ‘You aren’t making this easy for me, are you?’

      Jonas had no idea what had possessed him to make the invitation in the first place, let alone try to cajole her into accepting it. Especially when he knew that spending any more time with this woman was the very last thing he should do.

      He had been telling himself exactly that for the past three days. To no avail, obviously, when the first time he set eyes on her again he was pressing her to have dinner with him!

      Even now Jonas couldn’t bring himself to retract the invitation. ‘It can’t be that difficult, Mac,’ he cajoled. ‘The answer is either yes or no.’

      Mac looked up at Jonas quizzically, wondering why he had invited her out to dinner when he was so obviously as reluctant to spend time alone with her again as she was with him.

      Except the two of them were alone right now…

      Alone, and with the sexual tension between them rising just as obviously. The very air that surrounded them seemed to crackle with that awareness; she was so aware of it now that her heart raced and her palms felt damp.

      She drew in a sharp breath. ‘I think that has to be a definite no.’

      ‘“I think” is surely contradictory to “definite”?’ Jonas pressed.

      Because Mac was having a problem thinking at all in Jonas’s company!

      Because she really wanted to say yes?

      Maybe. No, definitely! But the part of her that could still reason logically—a very small part of her, admittedly!—knew it really wasn’t a sensible thing for her to spend any more time in his highly disturbing company.

      ‘I don’t want to go out to dinner with you, Jonas,’ she stated very firmly—at the same time aware of a sinking disappointment in the pit of her stomach. An ache. A hollowness that instantly made her want to retract her refusal. She bit her bottom lip, hard, to stop herself from doing exactly that.

      Jonas looked down at Mac through narrowed lids, physically aware of everything about her; the slender and sexy elegance of her body, the long silky length of her ebony hair, the warm grey of her eyes, her tiny up tilted nose, the satiny smoothness of her cheeks, those full and sensuous lips—the bottom one firmly gripped between her tiny white teeth. Could that be in an effort to stop Mac from retracting her own refusal?

      Implying she didn’t really want to say no to his dinner invitation…

      Jonas straightened. ‘I’m not asking you out so that you can dress up and be a trophy on my arm, Mac,’ he assured her gently. ‘How about we eat here instead of going out? I’ll come back at eight o’clock with a bottle of wine and a takeaway. Would you prefer Chinese or Indian?’

      Mac’s eyes widened. ‘But I just said—’

      ‘That you didn’t want to go out to dinner,’ he cut in. ‘So we’ll eat dinner here instead.’

      She frowned. ‘That wasn’t quite what I meant.’

      ‘I know that, Mac.’ Jonas smiled.

      ‘Then—’

      ‘Look, we both know that we would actually prefer not to spend any more time together,’ Jonas said neutrally. ‘The problem with that is I can’t seem to stay away from you. How about you?’ he asked, eyes suddenly fierce with emotion in his otherwise calm face.

      Mac realised from his careful tone and fierce expression that he disliked intensely even having to make that admission. That he was still as disturbed by their physical attraction to each other as she was. A physical attraction that was going precisely nowhere when he distrusted her sexual inexperience and she distrusted her own ability to resist him. To see him any more than was absolutely necessary would be absolute madness.

      She drew herself up determinedly. ‘I said no, Jonas, and I meant no!’

      His mouth tightened, jaw clenched. ‘Fine,’ he said tersely. ‘I’ll wish you a pleasant evening, then.’ He nodded abruptly before crossing to the door, closing it softly behind him as he left.

      That hollow feeling deepened in Mac’s stomach as she watched him go. She knew absolutely that the last thing she was going to have was a pleasant evening in any shape or form.

      CHAPTER NINE

      ‘I HAVE Miss McGuire for you on line one, Mr Buchanan,’ Mandy informed Jonas lightly down the telephone line when he responded to her buzz.

      ‘Miss McGuire?’ Jonas frowned as he suddenly realised Mandy was referring to Mac; he had ceased thinking of her as ‘the irritating Miss McGuire’ days ago!

      He and Mac had only parted a few hours ago, and not exactly harmoniously, so why was she calling him at his office now? Had something else happened at her home?

      Jonas put his hand over the mouthpiece to look across at Yvonne as she sat on the other side of his desk, the two of them having been going through some paperwork. ‘Would you come back in fifteen minutes so we can finish up here?’

      ‘Of course, Jonas.’ She stood up smoothly. ‘Are you having better luck persuading Miss McGuire into selling?’ she paused to ask ruefully.

      Jonas gave her an irritated look. ‘It hasn’t come into our conversation for some time,’ he answered honestly. Part of him had forgotten why he had ever met Mac in the first place. Part of him wished that he never had.

      ‘Oh.’ Yvonne looked surprised. ‘I thought that was the whole point of your—acquaintance?’

      ‘Did you?’ Jonas returned unhelpfully. Yvonne was a good PA, a damned good one, but even so that didn’t give her the right to question any of his actions. ‘If you wouldn’t mind, this is a private call…?’ he prompted pointedly, regretting the embarrassed colour that entered Yvonne’s cheeks, but making no attempt at an apology as he waited for her to leave his office before taking Mac’s call. ‘Yes?’ he said tersely, not sure who he was annoyed with, only knowing that he was.

      Mac had been aware of each second she’d been kept waiting to be put through to Jonas—perhaps because he was unsure about taking her call?—and she could hear the displeasure in his voice now as she held her mobile to her ear with one hand and poured two mugs of coffee with the other. ‘Have I called at a bad time?’

      ‘No.’

      Mac begged to differ, considering that long wait, and the impatience she could hear in Jonas’s tone. She knew she shouldn’t have telephoned him. Had tried to talk herself out of it. Wished now that she had heeded her own advice! ‘I realised СКАЧАТЬ