Princes of the Outback. Bronwyn Jameson

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СКАЧАТЬ amusement twitched at the corners of his mouth as he straightened. His nose twitched at the scent of her per-

      fume…or perhaps that was the bunch flowers shoved higgledy-piggledy into a red glass jar. She had a framed collage of pictures, too. One of her parents smiling into each other’s eyes on their wedding day, a more recent picture of her father gaunt with the illness that took his life, and a candid shot of the three Mori kids goofing off at the Kameruka Downs waterhole.

      He’d probably been there that day—for all he knew, he could have taken the picture. There’d been so many days like that back then.

      But what about now?

      Tomas put the frame back, next to the coffee mug, amid the chaos that was Angie’s workspace. She’d taken a convenient job here with Rafe, but how long did she intend staying? Was she ready to settle down? Enough to raise a baby?

      His mood had turned grim long before his thumb brushed over the rim of the mug, smudging the glossy imprint of her lipstick.

      This was the Angie of now, the woman he didn’t know.

      The one who stained her lips the color of mocha, whose lips had imprinted his with the fleeting taste of temptation. The one whose velvet-brown eyes spoke of another wildness, a different type of passion to the laughing girl in the waterhole picture. This was the woman who’d stood on the steps of the plane and calmly suggested that sex between them could be fun.

      With a silent oath he jerked away from the desk, his action so abrupt he almost upset the mug. He righted it quickly, pushing aside papers to make some space. And that’s when he found the book.

       Babies Made Easy.

      He was still staring at the cover, bemused by her choice of reading material and the irony of that title, when Angie returned.

      He heard the quick approach of footsteps in the corridor and sensed her hesitation in the doorway, her presence licking through him like the memory of her kiss—a sweet suggestion of heat and anticipation, chased away by instant hostility. Not toward Angie herself, but toward the unwanted response of his body. He didn’t know how to handle this new awareness, the strange tug in his gut, the tight dryness in his throat.

      Because she was standing there watching him, eating him up with those big brown eyes.

      “I didn’t expect to find you here.” She came into the room then, smiling with a warmth that made him think she didn’t mind the surprise. “How did the meeting go?”

      Of course she knew they’d been meeting with the lawyer. Rafe would have told her. They talked a lot, after all. “A waste of everyone’s time,” he said curtly, irritated that the thought of her and Rafe doing anything together completely wiped away the effect of her smile.

      “There’s no way out of the clause?”

      “None we’re prepared to take.”

      “So, you have to make a baby.” Not a question but a matter-of-fact statement as she leaned her hips against the desk at his side. She looked like a candidate for Ms. Hotel Management, in her crisp white shirt and knee-length black skirt, her hair sleek and neat, her only jewelry a fine gold neck-chain bearing the letter A.

      At least she was smiling her usual Angie smile, warm and relaxed and spiced with a dash of wryness.

      Then she noticed the book in his hand and her smile faltered. His appreciation of that smile nosedived right alongside. He tapped a finger against the book’s cover, right under the title. “Interesting choice of reading, Angie.”

      “I thought I’d research the topic, in case I needed to help any friends out.”

      “Friends like Rafe?”

      “Like Rafe or Alex or Tomas,” she corrected without hesitation. “It’s fascinating reading…although I have to say the title is very misleading.”

      No kidding.

      “Did you know there’s only a seventeen percent chance of conceiving each month? With odds like that, you need to get started. You all do!”

      “That’s why I’m here.”

      Their eyes met and held for a second, and he sensed a stillness in her, a new intensity beneath her aura of casual confidence, as if he’d surprised the breath right out of her. Hell, he’d surprised himself even though the words had come out of his mouth!

      “Have you changed your mind?” she asked.

      “Have you?” he countered.

      “About making a baby in some sterile clinic?” With a glancing brush of fingers, she took the book from him and tossed it onto the desk. “Absolutely not.”

      “I meant about helping me.”

      “Does it matter? Since we don’t see eye to eye on the method, my offer of help is moot.”

      “Maybe we can compromise. About the method.”

      “Really?” Eyebrows arched, she regarded him steadily for a drawn-out second. “How would that work, do you suppose?”

      Tomas shifted uncomfortably. He didn’t have an answer. Until this last minute he hadn’t fixed on what he’d hoped to achieve by coming up here. Making sure she didn’t get tangled with his hound of a brother, yeah, but as for how—

      “Yeesh, Tomas.” She interrupted his thoughts with obvious irritation. “You don’t know why you’re here, do you? Nothing’s changed from last week.”

      “You don’t know that.”

      “I know that you couldn’t even stand me kissing you, so why chance anything more intimate?” She blew out a short, impatient breath, and when she started to turn away Tomas reacted instinctively, stopping her retreat with a hand on her arm. For a long moment she just stood there gazing up at him, her eyes widened with surprise.

      Good.

      He’d caught her on the back foot for a change, and with subtle emphasis he shifted his grip on her arm, not exactly tightening but…adjusting. Just so she knew he meant to keep her there until he was done. Whatever he had to say, whyever he’d changed his mind and come upstairs, he had to put into words. Now. “You caught me by surprise last week.”

      “So—” she lifted her chin “—if I’d given you more notice you wouldn’t have minded me kissing you?”

      “I don’t know.”

      “You don’t know,” she repeated softly, her gaze narrowing and darkening. “Do you want to find out? Or do you want to let go of my arm so I can get back to work?”

      The challenge gleamed hot in her eyes, daring him to make that choice. It’s only a kiss, he told himself, but that phrasing didn’t help. Not when her words from last week twined sinuously through his consciousness.

       It’s only sex.

      And this was a test. If he could kiss her, if he could just bend his СКАЧАТЬ