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СКАЧАТЬ he be a little considerate of her sensibilities? What if she had really been in love with him? His treatment would crush her. It was just as well she was a working woman, and could give as good as she got.

      She placed her napkin on the table and stood. “That’s okay, Alex. I’ve got a couple of business calls to make myself.” She started to leave the room.

      “Olivia?”

      She stopped to look at him. “Yes?”

      “The study’s the fourth door on the right.”

      Was that a gleam of humor in his eyes? Had his mouth just twitched? She inclined her head. “I’ll find it.”

      Once in the study she sat down at the desk, feeling quite proud of herself. Even if he had found her little protest silently amusing, she’d still scored a point.

      Then she picked up the telephone, but felt rather silly when she realized she had no one to call. Having cleared the decks at work for the week, and with Lianne insisting she only call under dire circumstances, who else was there to phone?

      Her mother.

      Felicia wouldn’t think it strange for her daughter to call and see how she was. Only, when she called the Valente estate in Sydney, the housekeeper said her mother had gone out for the day with Alex’s parents.

      Sigh. There was no one else she dared call. She knew a lot of people in the States, but they’d think her mad checking in on the day after her marriage.

      “Finished your calls yet?”

      She looked up to see Alex standing in the study doorway. For a moment she suspected he was being sarcastic, but then she saw that he was serious.

      Okay, so he may well have been amused by her antics when she’d left him in the sunroom, but he hadn’t actually been disparaging of her work ethic.

      “Yes, I have.”

      “Then let’s go for a walk down to the beach.”

      All at once she realized he’d changed from trousers and a polo shirt into something much more informal. Her eyes slowly slid down the length of his lean body, now clothed in a white T-shirt and tan-colored board shorts, with leather sandals on his feet. He looked like a sun-worshipping surfer ready to tackle the waves.

      “Where’s your surfboard?” she quipped, not really meaning to be funny.

      He grinned. “It dumped me years ago.”

      Olivia couldn’t help but chuckle even as she gathered her breath. Lord, that grin made him look young and carefree, and she had trouble associating this man with the same CEO she’d married.

      Quickly, for something to do, she glanced down at the slacks she was wearing. “Give me five minutes to change into something more casual.”

      “Like some help?”

      Her heart bumped against her ribs. “No, thanks. I’ve been dressing myself a long time now,” she said, walking toward the door, trying to appear nonchalant.

      “It was the undressing I was more interested in,” he teased, moving aside from the doorway, allowing her to pass him.

      She hid a smile, otherwise he might think she was encouraging him to come up to the bedroom and make love to her.

      She wasn’t.

      No, definitely not.

      “I’ll meet you on the front veranda in five minutes,” she heard him say as she headed for the stairs.

      “Fine.”

      Olivia deliberately took ten minutes to change into Bermuda shorts and a sleeveless top. Then she applied sunscreen to her exposed areas, and grabbed her sunglasses from her purse and put them on.

      “That was a long five minutes,” Alex said, his own sunglasses not hiding his scowl as she pushed open the front screen door and stepped out onto the veranda.

      “I didn’t know we were clock-watching.”

      “We’re not.” He glanced at his Rolex, then grimaced. “Habit.” Taking off the watch, he placed it on the table behind him. “Now, let’s go get some fresh air.” He held out his hand.

      For some reason she found herself hesitating.

      “Harriet’s watching from the window,” he drawled.

      “She is?” She went to turn around but didn’t get a chance to look before he stepped forward and slipped his hand around hers, tugging her down the front steps and through the short grass to the side of the house. Hand in hand they started walking along a dirt path leading to the beach.

      He slanted her a mocking smile. “See, we actually look like lovers now.”

      “Oh, but—”

      “What? We’re not lovers?” He stopped and faced her. “Then who was that gorgeous woman in my arms last night?” Suddenly his smile disappeared, his dark glasses hiding his eyes but not the huskiness in his voice.

      She could feel her cheeks warm. “Maybe she was a dream?”

      “Oh yeah,” he murmured. “She was that.”

      Her heart flipped over. “Alex, I—” All at once the ocean breeze picked up and swirled around them like a small whirlwind, snapping her out of the moment. “Um…that breeze is pretty strong,” she said quickly, then turned and continued to walk, surprised when he let her drop her hand from his. She half expected he would tug her back around to face him, pull her up close and…

      He fell into step beside her, not touching her now. “Yes, that breeze is good for clearing out the cobwebs,” was all he said.

      She ignored a stab of disappointment, but it was her own fault. She could have chosen to stay where she was and let him kiss her. Yet she knew why she hadn’t. Despite them being lovers, she wasn’t in love with him. For her to initiate making love with him would be the equivalent of walking down the main street of Sydney naked. She’d feel totally exposed.

      Ahead, the path looped over a small sand dune and down to a sun-kissed beach, scattered with couples lying on towels or parents playing in the shallows with their children. An older man jogged along the water’s edge. A couple of surfboard riders bobbed out in the sea, their wait for larger waves appearing to be in vain today.

      She sighed in appreciation. “It’s beautiful.”

      “Yes.”

      She kicked off her sandals, enjoying the feel of soft sand trickling through her toes. “It’s been ages since I walked along a beach.”

      He stepped out of his own sandals. “Then what are we waiting for?” When she went to pick up her sandals, he instructed, “Leave them. We’ll get them on our way back.”

      She blinked in surprise. “But won’t someone steal them?”

      He СКАЧАТЬ