Hired: The Boss's Bride. Элли Блейк

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СКАЧАТЬ nodded. ‘I get your drift.’

      ‘Good. Now your turn. Do you find our boss yummy?’

      Veronica waved a nonchalant hand in the air. ‘Irrelevant.’

      Kristin laughed. ‘God, you’re transparent. Just take my advice and don’t let the tall, dark and handsome man-about-town thing fool you, okay? There are more deep, gloomy chasms in that man’s world than you or I would ever be likely to plumb in this lifetime.’

      Before Veronica had the chance to find out more, Mitch’s deep resonant voice echoed in her left ear. ‘Good evening, ladies.’

      She flinched so hard a glob of tomato pulp spilled out of her drink. She placed her glass carefully on the round table and looked up at Mitch with her most professional smile. ‘Good evening, boss.’

      He nodded her way, no hint of a smile, and she was sure that was all the acknowledgement she was going to get. Until his gaze lingered. For just a moment. But it was a moment in which she felt the sharp tang of electricity hit the back of her throat until she had to swallow in order to catch her breath. It was enough to make her wonder just what indulging in a little fun with the likes of straight-on-the-outside, mysterious-on-the-inside Mitch Hanover might be like.

      Mitch finally blinked and turned his attentions to Kristin, and Veronica felt her whole body slump as though she’d been holding herself upright by nothing more than the strength of his piercing gaze.

      ‘The gang have pushed a few tables together at the back of the bar,’ he said, ‘and ordered a round of some cocktail whose name I dare not repeat in polite company. Are you ready to join us?’

      ‘You betcha,’ Kristin said, pushing her chair back and toddling off in the direction of drinks paid for by someone else, leaving Veronica to deal with Mitch alone.

      She rose more slowly, waiting until her loose black off-the-shoulder dress settled back around her knees before stepping out from behind the table.

      Mitch stood politely by until she was up and walking before falling into step beside her. And while the bar was alive with the noise of happy-hour chatter, discreet music and the pleasant clink of ice on glass, a strange silence stretched taut between them.

      Veronica took it upon herself to break it. ‘So who’s the blonde?’

      Okay, so she had a big mouth. She couldn’t help herself. Her mother had always claimed it was that quality that meant she could sell sea water to sailors. She worried it was that quality that made those same sailors read innocent flirtation as an invitation for so much more.

      Mitch’s expression barely changed. But it did change. She saw a twitch in his cheek. It was the kind of twitch she was infamous for producing.

      And just when she thought he was going to refrain from answering, he said, ‘She’s a friend.’

      ‘Really? Where’d you find her? A campus social?’

      The twitch morphed into a smile, which turned all too quickly into deep rumbling laughter that slithered sensually down Veronica’s arms.

      ‘I was wondering if I’d seen the most bumptious side of you in your interview,’ he said.

      ‘Heck, no. I was on my best behaviour.’

      She thought that might be the end of the conversation until he glanced her way and explained, ‘She works in the coffee shop at the bottom of my office building. As I left tonight she mentioned she’d heard we were going to be here so I asked her to join us.’

      ‘Score one for Blondie,’ she said. ‘Though, do you think I hurt my apartment super’s feelings when I didn’t make the same offer after he asked where I was heading to tonight?’

      At that he turned. The twitch twitched again, drawing the corner of his mouth into a truly intimate smile, one that came with a fierce twinkle in his eye.

      She never should have willed the twinkle. It was far more potent than she possibly could have imagined. She had to scrunch her toes into her shoes to stop from tripping over her high, pointy size eights, which suddenly felt a size too small.

      ‘Her name isn’t Blondie, it’s Stacy,’ he said.

      ‘Of course it is,’ she muttered.

      ‘With a y, no e, which for some reason she seems to think it important to remind me every few minutes.’

      ‘Ha! Classic.’

      He slowed so that she had no choice but to do the same or look as if she was running away from him. He blinked into her eyes for long enough she felt breathless all over, and she wished she hadn’t opened her big mouth in the first place.

      ‘Do you have a problem with my date?’ he asked.

      ‘Not at all,’ she spluttered. ‘It’s not… It’s just…’

      ‘It’s just?’ he encouraged.

      ‘She’s just so…’

      Young? Blonde? One-dimensional? Naff? Not good enough? Top-heavy?

      In the end Veronica went with, ‘She’s just so very lovely.’

      ‘Are you insinuating you didn’t think I had it in me to pull someone so…very lovely?’

      At his unexpectedly zesty choice of words Veronica barked out a laugh loud enough Kristin looked up from the table with far too smug an expression.

      ‘No, not at all. I gather you’re extremely…rich. And…and your vocabulary seems extensive. And you have a very nice array of suits. I’m sure there is all sorts of lovely out there just dying to be yours.’

      Okay, so now she really wished she’d never opened her big mouth. The room suddenly felt very hot, especially in the region of her cheeks.

      He came to a complete stop, a good three metres from the table where the Hanover House and Hanover Enterprises gangs, bar Boris who’d begged off as it was past his bedtime, were introducing themselves to one another.

      Veronica again had no choice but to do the same. She turned to him, finding herself face to face. Close enough she could once again sense his signature aftershave. Could see the faint regrowth of his morning shave. Could decipher the million colours in his eyes, which ranged from smoky grey to shimmering quicksilver.

      He held her eye contact as he told her, ‘Stacy is in no way mine, Ms Bing.’

      ‘Well, no, she’s her own woman, I’m sure. As are we all.’ She punched the air in a move that would have made Gloria Steinem proud.

      A high-pitched giggle split the air and they both turned in the direction of the blonde, buxom, surely-below-the-age-of-twenty Stacy, with a y no e, who was in hysterics over something one of the drinks waiters had said. The waiter was concurrently mightily interested in her chest region, which didn’t seem to bother her in the least.

      ‘It was your vocabulary that put you over the line with that one, right?’ Veronica asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

      He СКАЧАТЬ