Red-Hot Affairs: The Crown Affair / Craving Her Enemy's Touch / A Lone Star Love Affair. Lucy King

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СКАЧАТЬ and turned the most desperate of companies around. Now he was running a country with every problem going.

      Yet he’d never understand women. They were completely unfathomable.

      Even Alicia, who’d been so transparent and straightforward, had eventually become incomprehensible. Matt’s jaw tightened as the memory of his ex-fiancée filtered into his head. Her lack of guile had been one of the reasons he’d asked her to marry him. She hadn’t tried to wrap him up in complex emotional games. Their relationship had been easy, light and fun.

      Until he’d started to get more caught up with his business. As it had grown he’d had to devote more and more time to it and less to her.

      At first she’d been remarkably stoical, supportive even, but even the most understanding fiancée would have got fed up eventually.

      Matt had been torn, and while the relationship limped on for a while it hadn’t survived. The end had been messy and painful. Hurtful accusations had flown all over the place. Guilt and blame had built and built, until things had finally erupted. The only thing that had kept him sane during and after their break-up had been his work.

      Now he avoided relationships like the plague. They were perplexing, unpredictable and ultimately emotionally destructive, and he never wanted to go through all that again.

      Matt set his jaw and put everything back into the hamper. Laura was perplexing, unpredictable and he had a horrible suspicion she could be pretty emotionally destructive.

      So there’d be no more seeking her out, he thought, getting to his feet and heading back to the palace. No more lunches. No more conversation. And definitely no more wanting her in his bed.

      When their paths crossed he’d be cool and distant. Because he was far better off alone. Always had been, always would be.

      Staff, thought Laura for the billionth time that afternoon. Huh.

      Disappointment and hurt scythed through her all over again and she threw down her chisel before she could do any permanent damage to the frieze she was working on.

      God. How stupid could she be? If only she were wearing steel-capped boots she could have given herself the kicking she deserved. Because she was such an idiot.

      She closed her eyes for a second and felt her cheeks burn as her mind hurtled back to the rose garden. There she’d been, going all soft and squidgy and mellowing with the wine and the sun and the heat of Matt’s gaze. Bizarrely she’d found herself enjoying the conversation despite it dredging up things she’d rather not think about. It had actually been a relief to talk about the old her, and she’d discovered she rather liked the person she was beginning to become.

      Unfortunately there hadn’t been a hint of arrogance, nor a patronising glance in sight. And while Matt had been annoyingly persistent he hadn’t interrupted her and he hadn’t dismissed anything she’d said. In fact the way his body had tensed and his eyes had blazed when she’d told him about her ex had had her heart leaping with something she wasn’t sure she wanted to identify and desire whipping through her so fiercely that she’d begun to wonder why exactly business and pleasure shouldn’t mix.

      And all the time he’d just been interrogating her as he would any employee.

      Agh. Laura opened her eyes and scowled. The fact that she was still smarting over it two hours later was infuriating. And what was making things worse was the knowledge that she didn’t have any real reason to smart. Which irritated her even further.

      Because Matt was right. She was staff.

      So what was she getting so het up about?

      Laura plonked herself on the floor and chewed her lip. Was it really the fact that he’d wangled so much personal information out of her without divulging even his age, which was what she’d been telling herself for the past hour or so?

      Or was it actually the fact that she’d spent the entire conversation on the point of combusting while Matt had sat there, ice cool and controlled and totally indifferent?

      As the heat and desire that were never far away flared to life and started zooming around her body, Laura swallowed. Well, that cleared that up, she thought, hauling herself out of denial and sticking her chin in her hands.

      She might as well admit it. For all the decisions she’d made, all the self-analysis she’d done, all the stern talking-tos she’d given herself, she was finding it increasingly difficult to remember exactly why she wasn’t leaping into Matt’s arms and tumbling him into bed.

      Whereas he, on the other hand, appeared to have forgotten that that mad passionate afternoon in his house had ever taken place.

      Huh. Talk about unflattering.

      Laura frowned and her mind raced. She’d had enough of constantly flailing around for control while Matt remained the epitome of cool. Wasn’t it about time she redressed the balance? Wouldn’t it be interesting to see if she couldn’t shake him up a bit and get him on the wrong foot for a change?

      Her heart began to hammer and her stomach buzzed with adrenalin. Yes. Why the hell not? And tonight, at the party she’d heard Matt was hosting, would be the ideal occasion.

      She hadn’t been invited. He wouldn’t be expecting her. She had a killer dress and shoes that made her feel a million dollars.

      What could be more perfect?

       CHAPTER EIGHT

      MATT had had the event this evening arranged to evaluate the country’s entrepreneurial spirit and ascertain the existing barriers to business. He’d had invitations sent out to five hundred of Sassania’s most innovative and exciting entrepreneurs and the ballroom was now filled with a buzz that gave him more satisfaction than he’d have ever imagined.

      So far the evening had been going splendidly. He’d had a number of extremely worthwhile conversations, and had gained a valuable insight into the way to kick-start the economy and stimulate growth.

      After all the political problems he’d had to deal with recently, not to mention the unsettling effect Laura had on him, spending an evening within his comfort zone made a nice change.

      As did the way he now felt, or rather didn’t feel, about Laura. After she’d left him in the rose garden, he’d gone back to his office, summoned up some of that famed ruthlessness and had simply told himself to get a grip and not to feel anything.

      So he didn’t. When she crossed his mind, he felt absolutely nothing. Not a flicker of desire. Not a hammer of his pulse. Not a twitch of his body. The abrupt way in which she’d left him after lunch? Hah. Didn’t bother him one jot.

      Laura, metaphorically speaking, was history, and he hadn’t been so relaxed in weeks.

      Striding over to the podium and adjusting the microphone, Matt felt an exquisite sense of calm settle over him. Oh, yes. He was back on track and back in control. And nothing, but nothing, could upset it.

      Laura hovered at the pair of giant doors that opened into the ballroom, her gaze zooming in on the man standing on the podium speaking to the assembled throng, and her breath caught.

      Matt СКАЧАТЬ