Out of Hours...Her Ruthless Boss: Ruthless Boss, Hired Wife / Unworldly Secretary, Untamed Greek / Her Ruthless Italian Boss. Кейт Хьюит

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СКАЧАТЬ or enjoy her? Somehow she had the feeling he wanted her to wonder.

      ‘There must be a hundred women in Edinburgh who you could have asked to do this,’ she said. ‘They would have been glad to. Why me?’

      He paused, eyeing her thoughtfully. ‘I thought it would be simpler.’

      ‘Simpler!’ Lizzie gave a bark of laughter. Nothing about this weekend felt simple. ‘How?’

      ‘Because we haven’t slept together,’ Cormac explained with a little smile. ‘Yet.’

      Lizzie was left staring, gaping at him, the breath robbed from her lungs, her brain…

      ‘Close your mouth, Chandler,’ Cormac said, laughter lacing his voice. ‘There are flies in the Caribbean. Big ones.’

      ‘We’re not…’

      ‘No,’ he agreed, the laughter replaced with a thoughtful smile, ‘we’re not.’

      Yet. Did Cormac actually want to sleep with her? Have an affair…Flirting was one thing, but this…

      This was dangerous. This was scary.

      Lizzie knew she was innocent—more innocent than Cormac even realised. What she didn’t know was how to handle this situation. How to handle Cormac. She laughed tonelessly. Cormac wasn’t the kind of man to be handled.

      If anyone was going to be handled, it was her. She was so out of her depth, she was drowning.

      And Cormac was the only one who could save her.

      He watched her now, smiling faintly, and Lizzie hated the way he seemed to know what she was thinking, as if her thoughts and fears—not to mention her desires—flashed across her face in neon lights.

      Maybe they did.

      She rose from the bed, unzipped her suitcase and began to hang up the clothes Cormac had bought her. She needed to be busy. She needed to stop thinking so much. Imagining so much. Cormac. Her and Cormac.

      Stop.

      ‘You can always do that later,’ Cormac said mildly, and Lizzie shook her head.

      ‘The clothes will get wrinkled.’

      ‘There are servants here, you know.’ His voice was lazy, low and rumbling. Lizzie shook her head again; she felt like a marionette.

      ‘I don’t want to make a fuss.’

      ‘No,’ he murmured, ‘you never do.’

      A flash of agonised awareness jolted her, made her realise afresh just how expertly Cormac had judged her. Played her.

      ‘Do you use everybody?’ she asked, trying to keep her voice conversational. ‘Or just me?’

      Cormac was silent for a moment; she concentrated on the clothes. ‘Everybody,’ he said after a moment. ‘So don’t take it personally.’

      She gritted her teeth, guarded herself against the little stab of hurt. ‘Oh, I won’t.’

      Cormac strode towards her, plucked the garment she’d balled uselessly in her hand. ‘Talk about wrinkles.’ He smoothed it out; it was a filmy silk negligee.

      Lizzie snatched it back. ‘I’m not wearing that,’ she warned him. ‘I only brought it because you told me to.’

      ‘Good girl.’ His smile was so mocking it made her want to scream. To slap his face.

      Then she noticed he had no shirt on. His chest was smooth and brown, taut with muscle. Just a glimpse of the flat plane of his stomach had Lizzie swallowing and gulping and desperate for air.

      ‘Where is your shirt?’ she demanded shrilly.

      ‘On the floor.’ He raised one eyebrow. ‘We’ve been flying all night and I’m tired. I’m going to sleep. You should, too.’

      She shook her head. ‘Cormac, don’t…don’t try to intimidate me.’

      ‘I thought I was trying to undress.’

      They amounted to the same thing, but she wasn’t going to say it. He knew, anyway. Somehow she found the strength to drag her gaze to his face which, even though it was sardonic and knowing, was safer. ‘We need to lay some ground rules.’

      ‘Such as?’

      ‘You wear clothes in my presence,’ Lizzie snapped, ‘for starters.’

      ‘Wouldn’t it be easier,’ Cormac countered, ‘to just get used to each other’s bodies? People are bound to notice if we blush and stammer every time we catch a little glimpse of skin.’

      Lizzie knew only one of them would be blushing or stammering. She ran her hands through her hair and let out a frustrated sigh that half turned into a yelp. ‘I wish I’d never agreed to this!’

      ‘But you did,’ Cormac replied, unruffled, taking off his belt, ‘and now you’re just getting cold feet.’ He tossed the belt onto a chair and began to unbutton his trousers.

      Lizzie flung out a hand. ‘Don’t.’

      ‘Chandler, you’re being ridiculous.’ He sounded annoyed. ‘Stop being a prude and get undressed. Didn’t you realise it would be like this when you agreed?’

      ‘I thought you’d be a gentleman!’

      His voice turned hard. ‘Then I suppose you were mistaken.’

      Lizzie’s eyes were squeezed shut but she heard the whisper of sliding fabric and knew he’d undressed. She heard him move to the bed, and opened one eye to glimpse a broad, muscled back tapering to narrow hips and, fortunately, a pair of boxers.

      He was wearing underwear. Thank God.

      ‘You can stand there all afternoon if you’d like,’ Cormac informed her, ‘but I’m going to sleep.’

      It only took Lizzie a few seconds to realise how ridiculous she really was being. Every shocked gasp and prudish look gave Cormac more weapons to use against her. More power.

      She took in a shuddering breath, not caring if he heard, and resumed unpacking. Despite her resolve, she wasn’t quite ready to get into that bed.

      Cormac’s breathing was deep and even before she finally decided to change into her own pyjamas—ones she’d brought from home—faded, comfortable and baggy. She glanced at him one last time to make sure he was asleep before she quickly slipped out of her clothes, grateful for the soft, cool cotton against her skin.

      Lizzie moved to the bed and lifted the sheet. She glimpsed Cormac’s midriff, a whorl of hair leading to the waistband of his boxers, and jerked her glance away.

      The sheets were cool and smooth, but Lizzie felt as if she were on fire. She lay there, stiff and straight, painfully, achingly aware of Cormac’s relaxed body next to hers.

      She СКАЧАТЬ