The Reluctant Duke. Кэрол Мортимер

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СКАЧАТЬ ‘ Lexie stared at him uncomprehendingly.

      ‘Yes—together,’ Lucan drawled mockingly. ‘Perhaps we can come to some sort of truce while we eat?’

      To say Lexie was stunned by the suggestion would be an understatement. Unless Lucan meant it as an ultimatum rather than a suggestion? An implication that the two of them either come to that truce or he would immediately go ahead with his threat to have her replaced, and in doing so damage the reputation of Premier Personnel?

      Personally, Lexie would be more than happy to go. She had already done what she’d come here to do, and that was to meet Lucan St Claire and have all her preconceived ideas of him confirmed. As well as some unpreconceived ones—namely, he was dangerously attractive.

      Unfortunately, the repercussions for Premier Personnel if that were to happen were less acceptable.

      Something Lexie should definitely have thought about before acting so impulsively in coming anywhere near a single member of the St Claire family!

      Although, Lexie acknowledged grudgingly, she hadn’t found the blond and handsome Gideon St Claire quite so disagreeable as Lucan.

      Gideon was supposed to share the same reputation for coldness and arrogance as his haughty older brother, and as such Lexie had fully expected him to ignore her altogether during this morning’s meeting. Instead, Gideon had been effortlessly charming to her, and the warm interest in his gaze unmistakable…

      ‘Does it usually take you this long to respond to an invitation to lunch? ‘ Lucan rasped impatiently.

      ‘No, of course not,’ Lexie snapped resentfully, her cheeks heating at the taunting mockery she could see in those coal-black eyes. ‘But it was hardly an invitation, was it?’ she dismissed scathingly. ‘’More like, it’s lunchtime, so let’s eat!’

      Lucan frowned his irritation; did this woman have to argue about everything? ‘I see nothing wrong with that statement,’ he bit out impatiently. ‘It is lunchtime, and we both have to eat.’

      ‘But not necessarily together,’ she came back decisively.

      Lucan’s eyes narrowed to dark and dangerous slits. ‘Tell me—is this dislike personal, or do you treat all your employers with the same contempt?’

      Lexie stiffened warily. It was one thing for her to treat Lucan St Claire with the disdain she felt he deserved—quite another for him to become overly curious as to why she treated him that way. For him to ever suspect, realise, exactly who she was…

      Lexie shook her head. ‘It isn’t personal, Mr St Claire—’

      ‘Lucan.’

      She blinked up at him. ‘I beg your pardon…?’

      ‘I invited you to call me Lucan, Lexie,’ he drawled ruefully. ‘Don’t tell me you have a problem with that, too?’ He frowned again as she continued to stare up at him.

      Of course Lexie had a problem with that! The last thing she wanted—positively the last thing—was to be on a firstname basis with any of the arrogant St Claire family! ‘I would prefer to keep our relationship on a completely business footing,’ she said stiffly.

      ‘And calling each other by our first names isn’t doing that?’ he prompted.

      ‘You know it isn’t.’ She frowned. ‘Any more than my having lunch with you is,’ she added coolly.

      Lucan scowled his impatience. ‘I fail to see why not.’

      Lexie eyed him frustratedly. ‘That could be because you’re being deliberately obtuse—’ She broke off abruptly as he gave a wry chuckle.

      A phenomenon that completely changed the austerity of those grimly handsome features, giving warmth to those dark, dark eyes, a softening to the hard rigidity of his cheek and jawline, and revealing an endearing cleft in his left cheek.

      All things that Lexie did not want to be aware of where this particular man was concerned.

      She gave him a reproving look. ‘I fail to see what’s so funny.’

      He gave a rueful shake of his head. ‘It seems that even when you try to be polite you can’t help but be rude.’

      She bristled. ‘And you find that amusing?’

      ‘Not really.’ He gave a slow shake of his head. ‘I’ve just never met anyone quite like you before,’ he said.

      Lexie wasn’t sure she was altogether comfortable with the softening of his tone. Or the speculation she could see in the warmth of those dark eyes as he looked at her. It was too male an assessment. The assessment of a handsome man looking at a woman he found attractive…

      No way!

      Absolutely no way!

      Lucan St Claire and his two brothers had all but disowned their own father after he and their mother were divorced. Had totally rejected so much as even meeting the woman their father had loved and spent the rest of his life with.

      Lexie accepted that their parents’ divorce must have been tough on three young boys such as Lucan and his two brothers would have been twenty-five years ago. But they had been only boys, and as such couldn’t possibly have been aware of all the details of the situation.

      Any more than Lexie, who hadn’t even been born at the time, could really know…

      No, she wasn’t even going there.

      The whole of the St Claire family had treated Grandpa Alex and her grandmother abominably as far as she was concerned. As such, they were all beneath contempt. It was better for Lexie if she continued to think that way.

      Except, as she had realised this morning, Lucan St Claire was lethally and heart-poundingly handsome.

      Lucan had seen some of the emotions flickering across Lexie’s expressive, beautiful face. Seen them, but not understood them. Which wasn’t so unusual; so far there was very little about this woman that he did understand.

      Except that for some inexplicable reason he was attracted to her.

      Her outward beauty was undeniable, but it was the things Lucan didn’t know about her, the things he didn’t yet understand, that intrigued him.

      And that, if Lucan were completely honest with himself, was also the reason he had been so annoyed at Andrew Proctor’s flirting with her earlier.

      He straightened abruptly. ‘I take it from your earlier remarks that you would prefer to give lunch a miss?’

      She frowned. ‘Not completely, no…’

      ‘Just lunch with me? ‘ Lucan guessed easily.

      Her mouth tightened. ‘Yes.’

      It was all Lucan could do to stop himself from laughing again. No woman had ever before given him the blunt put-downs that Lexie did so effortlessly!

      Put-downs he found more arousing СКАЧАТЬ