Hers For A Night. Kate Walker

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СКАЧАТЬ a brief moment, gripped by blind fury, she was strongly tempted to declare that she had changed her mind. Let someone else put up with this man’s arrogant assumption that any female must be putty in his hands!

      But then common sense reasserted itself. After all, he was perfect, and once she had handed over her money he would be hers for the twenty-four hours that she needed him. After that, she would be only too pleased to see the back of him.

      She was at the treasurer’s table, signing her cheque with a firm, decisive hand, when some change in the atmosphere around her, an intuitive shiver of awareness over her skin, alerted her. She just had time to draw a deep, calming breath before the man who had come up behind her spoke.

      ‘Miss Harding?’

      It was a very attractive voice, low and pleasant. There was nothing in it to disturb her, but all the same she felt the tiny hairs at the nape of her neck lift in nervous response. Slowly she turned to face him, switching on a smile that was pure politeness, with no real warmth in it at all.

      ‘Yes?’

      Those eyes weren’t actually black, she realised, seeing them properly for the first time. Instead, they were the deepest grey she had ever seen, dark and spectacular, like the rest of him. Her mind registered his impressive height and powerful build with an almost shocking force that rocked her mental balance, driving away the stern warnings Kelly had given her when she had told her friend what she had planned.

      ‘I’m Lucas Mallory.’

      Close up, the impact of that smile was even more lethal than it had been earlier. Then, its dazzling brilliance had been diluted by the distance between her seat and his position on the catwalk, but now there was no such safety device to weaken its power.

      The hand he held out to her was lean and brown, its grip around her fingers disturbingly warm and strong.

      Dear God, she was beginning to understand just how Kelly had felt, Georgia thought. Her head was swimming as she fought against the stunning sensual response that seared through her whole body. It was as if she had put her hand onto a live electric wire and been badly burned as a result.

      She had to get a grip on herself! This was not at all how she had planned things would go.

      ‘I know exactly who you are, Mr Mallory.’

      The struggle to regain control of her wayward emotions made her voice even colder than she had planned, and she had to force herself to ease her hand gently from his grasp, fighting the impulse to snatch it away in panic.

      ‘After all, I have just bought you.’

      The dark eyes followed her gesture towards the cheque that now lay, fully signed, on the table beside a receipt for her donation. But when they swung back to her face she caught a disturbing gleam in their darkness.

      ‘So the deal’s been finalised—signed and sealed. I’m at your mercy. Yours to do with as you please.’

      ‘Oh, really, Mr Mallory! Don’t you think that’s something of an exaggeration?’

      Georgia’s voice came and went embarrassingly, affected by the sudden, shockingly vivid image that slid into her mind. The thought of this powerful, intensely virile man at her mercy sent a shiver of reaction nmning down her spine.

      ‘Not at all. When I agreed to take part in this auction, I knew that I’d end up as someone’s “slave” at the end of it. I was well aware of the fact that once you’d paid there would be no getting out of it’

      ‘And would you want to get out of it? Is that what you’re trying to say?’

      ‘No way!’

      All amusement had faded from those amazing eyes. Their dark intensity held her gaze transfixed, as if he was a powerful magnet and she the finest of needles, inevitably drawn to him.

      ‘That thought never crossed my mind. I agreed to help, and I have no intention of going back on my word.’

      His apparent sincerity was unexpected, making her wonder just why this particular charity was so important to him. Somehow she didn’t connect Lucas Mallory, former Grand Prix champion and now wealthy businessman, with a fund to help premature babies. She might have expected he would give a donation, perhaps, but not this active participation.

      But she didn’t get a chance to question him about it, because the next moment that surprising seriousness had vanished from his eyes and the vivid smile was switched on once more.

      ‘So now it’s up to you. All you have to do is to tell me what you want from me, and I’m at your service. Believe me, it will be nothing but a pleasure to fulfil the desires of such a lovely lady.’

      The man flirted as instinctively as he breathed! And in a way he had just given her some sort of explanation for his apparently charitable actions. After all, the whole point of this evening was that only the women present were allowed to bid for the male ‘slaves’.

      There was little doubt in Georgia’s mind that Lucas,

      whose sobriquet ‘the fastest man on the track’ didn’t just refer to his racing exploits, had seen that he could turn this auction to his own advantage if the opportunity arose. And if it didn’t arise naturally, then he would make sure it happened otherwise.

      But not with this particular woman! If he thought that that amazing smile would have her melting helplessly at his feet, then he couldn’t have been more wrong. If anything, it had the opposite effect, stiffening her spine and making her lift her chin in determined challenge. Kelly’s face was clear in her mind, like some sort of mental shield with which to deflect the force of his practised charrn.

      ‘What I want is for you to stop flirting with me! This is a strictly business arrangement, and I’d prefer it if you kept it that way.’

      Now she’d disconcerted him. She could see it in the way his face changed, all warmth fading from it. She could almost sense the swift adjustment in his thoughts as, mentally at least, he took a couple of steps away from her.

      He hadn’t expected that response, and it was obvious that he didn’t like it. Clearly it rocked his macho pride to come up against a woman who was immune to his formerly infallible technique.

      Tell me,’ Lucas Mallory murmured, in a tone that was so soft, so deceptively warm that for a moment she missed the warning in the tightness of the muscles around the strong jaw, ‘are you usually this prickly with everyone or is this strictly personal?’

      ‘I am not prickly!’

      ‘No? Well, in that case I’d hate to meet you when you’re in a bad mood.’

      ‘My mood is my own business! And if it’s not exactly welcoming, then perhaps you should remember that

      you’re the one who imposed his company on me. I didn’t invite you to join me!’

      ‘Look, lady, I simply came over to introduce myself and find out what you wanted from me in return for your generous donation. I didn’t know I had to wait for a formal introduction. After all, you’re the one who made the first move by bidding for me. I had no intention of imposing on you in any way.’

      Georgia СКАЧАТЬ