Hotbed of Scandal: Mistress: At What Price? / Red Wine and Her Sexy Ex / Bedded by Blackmail. Kate Hardy

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СКАЧАТЬ made him wonder: what the hell was it?

      For one insane moment a couple of years back he’d even thought himself in love, but it hadn’t lasted. It never lasted. The ability to love simply wasn’t in his genes.

      He drifted a hand over her hair, breathed her scent of sex and warm skin. He squeezed her nape so that she looked up at him with over-bright eyes.

      ‘Wow,’ she breathed. ‘I’m good. I mean, I’m really, really good.’

      The laugh that bubbled up from his throat was a mix of amusement and affection. ‘Here I was, thinking it was me.’

      Amusement and affection. He should have known with Mariel it would be that simple.

      And that complicated.

      His humour faded. ‘I have to go in to work tomorrow.’ He smoothed a thumb over Mariel’s jaw.

      ‘I thought you were on leave?’

      ‘I was. But there’s a problem with a computer system we installed a few weeks ago. Which means a quick trip to Mount Gambier.’

      A day trip. ‘And Justin can’t go?’

      ‘Jus and Cass are busy trying to make a baby, and it’s Cass’s fertile time, apparently. According to Cass’s calculations tomorrow morning’s the charm.’

      Her eyes widened, incredulous. ‘She’s pinpointed it down to the hour? Are you for real?’

      ‘That’s what Jus told me.’ The thought made him smile. ‘What could I say?’

      She grinned, too. ‘Nothing but yes, I guess.’ Her mouth softened, her eyes took on a sparkle, dew on spring leaves. ‘Making a baby…’

      Without warning the cunning image stole through his mind. Mariel, round with a child. With his child. He clenched his jaw against an unfamiliar crushing sensation in his upper chest.

      He shook his head to clear the unsettling thoughts that struck too close, too deep, and somehow messed with his perception that he had this situation with Mariel under control.

      ‘That’s convenient, then,’ she went on, as if she hadn’t noticed his silence. ‘I want to work on some ideas, sketch a few designs. Acquire a tailor…I might even get some work done with you out of harm’s way and unable to distract me.’

      His brows rose. ‘Me? Distract you? After what just happened here?’

      ‘You only have to be in the same room to distract me, Dane. It’s always been that way. But now I’ve discovered I do the same to you.’

      His gaze drifted over her naked perfection. Already his body stirred with desire again. Fighting the irrational emotion that there was more to it, he shrugged and said, ‘I guess we’ll get it out of our systems eventually.’

      Her delicate shoulders tensed. A weighty silence seemed to thicken the air. ‘I darn well hope so.’ Her voice was clipped as she climbed off him. She swiped her panties from the desk, shrugged into the remnants of his T-shirt and breezed towards the door.

      He wished she’d turn so he could see her expression. ‘I’ll join you in a few moments.’

      ‘Not a good idea.’ She paused at the door. Only then did she face him, and her eyes were unreadable. Her compressed lips, however, told a story. She forced them into something approaching a smile when she saw him looking at them and said, ‘We’d spend all night keeping each other awake and I’m totally knackered. Goodnight, Dane.’

      He sat for a long time, staring at the darkened doorway. He could hear her moving about in her room, could still smell her fragrance on the air. How the hell was he going to get back to normal without her when this was over?

      Chapter Nine

      MARIEL plopped face down onto her bed. She deserved an Academy Award for that performance, but she was pretty sure he’d bought it. Except for the fatal way she’d nibbled her lips. He’d seen it. Damn, he knew her too well.

      Holding her pillow to her chest, she rolled over and stared up at the darkness. She’d managed to keep her tone as blasé as his. That was what it was all about, after all.

      Her mouth twisted with grim humour. So she’d downplayed the intensity she knew they both felt by purposely bringing it up in conversation. He’d bought it, hadn’t he? She needed to keep up the façade because that was what they’d agreed on.

      Besides, she tried to tell herself, they’d never make it as a couple. They’d never see eye-to-eye on any damn thing—from personal appearance and TV shows to family and kids. Or commitment.

      She also needed to make it clear they weren’t going to do overnighters. If he saw her before she was wide awake she’d be vulnerable, and he’d see through her as easy as glass. It would be far too dangerous, because she was falling. Out-of-control falling.

      Her heart seemed to curl in on itself; her fingers clenched against her pillow. Time for honesty, she decided. She’d already fallen. Head over heels. Big-time. All the way. She was in love with Dane. Always had been.

      Now she knew every intimate inch of his body, knew the sounds he made in passion, the feel of him deep inside her. Friends would never be enough, and ‘lovers’ was a temporary arrangement.

      She sent her pillow sailing through the air, heard it slump heavily against the dark antique wardrobe.

      But it was done now. And it was vital that she keep up the charade, that he never knew what she felt deep in her soul, because that would put him in an impossible situation. He didn’t want permanency. He’d want to get back to his free lifestyle and bosomy blondes.

      The bastard.

      So she’d keep it light and easy. She’d make the most of the time they had and then…and then she’d walk away with the memories even if she walked away without her heart.

      The following morning she kept to her plan. It wasn’t as hard as she’d anticipated because Dane was in a hurry. He didn’t stop for breakfast, grabbing a coffee on the run. But he did kiss her goodbye at the front door. A toe-curling kiss that went on and on and on, until the driver of the chauffeured limo waiting at the kerb to take Dane to the airport coughed discreetly.

      Dane lifted his head and searched her face for a long moment. The early-morning sun struck his hair with gold, and heat blazed in his eyes, searing her cheeks. ‘Tonight,’ he promised.

      She shook her head. ‘You’ll miss your flight.’ It occurred to her then that they were saying goodbye as if they were a married couple, and she backed away, unsettled. ‘Have a safe trip.’

      ‘I’ll call you.’

      Blowing him a breezy kiss, she turned and walked back inside. Already she couldn’t wait to see him again. To hear his voice again. To feel his body against hers again.

      It felt odd, walking through his house alone. A reminder that she was here only because they’d agreed it was the best way. It was vital she keep those impatient wants in perspective, because she couldn’t afford to want him this much.

      If СКАЧАТЬ