Boardroom To Bedroom: His Darling Valentine / The Boss's Marriage Arrangement. PENNY JORDAN

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      Harriet glared at him. ‘If you think I’m going to have dinner with you now—’

      She gasped as Matt tugged on her wrist and closed the space between them.

      ‘If you think that you aren’t…’ he retorted softly.

      It must be the fact that she was not wearing a coat, coupled with the evening air, that was making her tremble so much, Harriet decided dizzily. But the truth was that it was the musky male scent of Matt’s skin playing havoc with her senses, making her want to bury her face against him and breathe it and him into her. She wanted to burrow against his warmth, she wanted…

      A shudder ripped through her, causing Matt to curse under his breath and drag her into his arms, holding her hard against his body as he lifted his hand to cup her face and take possession of her mouth.

      Right now, more than anything else, he wanted to take her back into the house, carry her upstairs and remove every piece of clothing from her body so that he could show her just what a fool she was for wasting her time wanting Ben when she could have him. That scent she was wearing was driving him crazy, making him feel so damned horny…

      Harriet moaned excitedly beneath the hot, thrilling thrust of his tongue. Her fingers dug into the hardness of his shoulders as pleasure exploded inside her like a firework, showering her with golden starbusts of erotic sensation. She could feel his hand in the thick softness of her hair, his thumb massaging the delicate over-sensitive spot just behind her ear and sending a hot zigzag of female arousal jolting right through her.

      Just his touch was enough to activate the kind of ache inside her that she already knew would lead to a sleepless, wanting night.

      She might, thanks to Ben’s determined and sometimes unwanted protection, be the oldest virgin in the whole city, but that did not mean that her body didn’t already know how to respond to the sweet hotness of the pleasure that could possess and convulse it.

      These last months working for Matt had shown her how easy it was for just the thought of him to activate that pleasure, and right now her over-stimulated senses were clamouring hungrily for the real thing.

      ‘Why don’t we forget dinner?’

      Harriet blinked. How had that happened? How had she said the very words she had just been thinking but in Matt’s voice?

      Matt groaned inwardly as he realised how out of control he was getting. ‘Forget I said that!’ he told her tersely.

      Forget he had said it?

      ‘I suppose you thought I was someone else?’ Harriet challenged him angrily.

      ‘Just as you wish that I was someone else?’ Matt demanded.

      Whilst Harriet struggled to regain her composure Matt hurried them both out of her front door and locked it, handing her the keys before he guided her to his parked car.

      Harriet was too engrossed in her own thoughts to object to his cavalier control of the situation, along with her door keys. She had wanted Matt to take her to bed! No, Harriet corrected herself. She had wanted to drag Matt upstairs and take him to bed, and she had nearly told him so!

      ‘Look, there’s no point in you giving me the silent disapproving treatment because I’m not Ben. Try facing up to reality!’

      Harriet didn’t trust herself to reply. She just shook her head in silent frustration.

      ‘Good evening, sir, madam. Would you care for a drink in the bar first? Or would you prefer to go straight to your table?’

      Matt looked questioningly at Harriet.

      ‘Straight to the table, please,’ she answered, ruefully aware that despite everything she was extremely hungry. And she was also extremely aware of the fact that they were being shown to what had to be one of the restaurant’s very best tables, with a little almost private area all to itself. They could see out through the windows over the river and also around the restaurant, if they wished, and yet at the same time retain their own privacy.

      Grimly she wondered how many other women Matt had brought here. An awful lot if the way the head waiter had recognised him was anything to go by, surely?

      She had barely completed her chain of thought when Matt suddenly announced, ‘I’m surprised that Henri remembered me—it’s ages since I last ate here.’

      Harriet almost choked on the delicious walnut roll she was eating.

      ‘There wasn’t really any need for you to do this, you know,’ she said later, when they had given their order and been served with their food. ‘After all, Ben isn’t going to see us here!’

      ‘Do you wish he could? Do you think it would make him jealous?’

      Harriet exhaled fiercely down her nose and put down the glass of wine she had just picked up.

      ‘For the last time, I am not in love with Ben. And having him around when I am out on a date is normally the last thing I would want.’ When Matt frowned she told him fiercely, ‘This may come as a shock to you, but the only way I love Ben is as a brother, and it’s as a brother that he behaves when I date anyone—a very over-protective brother at times, and that isn’t always what I want!’ she added darkly.

      She stopped as she realised how much the wine had loosened her tongue and just what she was in danger of saying and to whom!

      ‘In answer to your question, I brought you here to save you from the temptation of going to see Ben,’ Matt said curtly, before continuing, ‘I don’t need to ask why you don’t want Ben treating you like a brother. You obviously want him to think of you as a potential lover, not a sister, and because he doesn’t, you—’

      ‘You are just misinterpreting what I said to suit your own ends,’ Harriet objected angrily. ‘That is not what I meant at all.’

      They were glaring at one another like two opponents, their argument only brought to an end by the waiter coming to remove their plates for the next course.

      CHAPTER THREE

      HARRIET stiffened as she saw the look of appreciation and invitation the pretty girl behind the reception desk gave Matt as they left the restaurant. Yet another reason for keeping clear of him, she decided grimly. What woman in possession of all her senses wanted a man who attracted and encouraged the interest of virtually every female he came into contact with?

      Not that Matt had encouraged the girl’s acquisitive hungry look, Harriet was forced to concede as Matt strode past her obliviously. But that did not alter the fact that if he had done the girl would have leapt to seize the opportunity, Harriet acknowledged.

      Courteously Matt placed his hand beneath her elbow to escort her across the car park, rather in the manner that her father adopted towards elderly female members of the family, she reflected darkly.

      Her attention was momentarily distracted by the sight of a couple several yards away, wrapped in each other’s arms and exchanging the most passionate of kisses as the woman fumbled to unlock the door of the car.

      The pounding of Harriet’s heart inside her chest was followed by an ache of longing that СКАЧАТЬ