AMANDA BROWNING - The Playboy's Proposal

It was late when she finally closed down the computer and pushed back the chair with a groan as her body protested at having been fixed in one position so long. Yawning, she stretched, easing out the kinks.

‘Well, what’s the verdict?’ A soft voice posed the question from the other side of the room, and she very nearly jumped out of her skin.

Her arms dropped, and, turning startled eyes in the direction the voice had come from, she discovered Joel sitting at his desk, a sheaf of papers in his hand. ‘Have you been there all the time?’ she charged in amazement, and he nodded.

‘Pretty much. I went out for coffee once. Yours will be stone-cold by now,’ he told her with some amusement, and Kathryn blinked, only now seeing the cup which had been set at her elbow.

‘I didn’t hear you,’ she confessed, and he laughed softly.

‘A herd of elephants could have stampeded through here and you wouldn’t have heard them,’ he retorted with wry humour.

Her grin was rueful because it was all too possible. ‘I do tend to get a little wrapped up in my work.’

‘Just a little,’ he agreed.

They exchanged smiles, and in the blink of an eye the air seemed to thicken. Kathryn saw the look in his eyes change until its intensity scorched her and her eyes widened, her lips parting on a tiny gasp.

‘Are you going to come over here, or am I going to have to come over there?’ he asked her in a voice laden with so much passion she shivered.

Her body quickened, her senses silently screaming that either option would do. But there was still a sensible, sane portion of her brain in control, and she shook her head, albeit without any great deal of conviction.

‘I think…’ she began, only to stop when Joel set his papers down and rose to his feet.

‘Don’t think,’ he ordered huskily, rounding the desk and coming towards her. ‘I’ve been sitting here watching you chew on those luscious lips of yours for the past two hours and it’s been driving me crazy,’ he added with a groan.

Reaching out, he took her by the shoulders and lifted her to her feet. Kathryn tried to protest, but her heart wasn’t in it. Her hands rose to his chest to hold him off, but that was as far as they got. Instead of pushing him away, her fingers registered the heat of him and spread out like tiny fans to claim all of him they could. Swallowing hard, she stared up at him. Do something, her brain urged, and she did. Her eyelids closed as if weighted and his head descended. When his mouth claimed hers, a wave of such intense pleasure swept through her that her bones seemed to melt. At the brush of his tongue her lips parted, welcoming his possession.

In an instant the world spun away. There was only sensation. Somehow her arms were around his neck, her fingers gliding into silky hair and clinging tightly. From a long way off she heard Joel groan, felt his arms tighten, drawing her to his hard male body, and then his tongue was plundering her mouth with a devastating passion, and she met each thrust with her own, stoking a desire that set her blood sizzling in her veins and started up a throbbing ache deep within her.

It could have been one kiss; it could have been a dozen. Only the need for air finally forced them apart, and they stared at each other, hearts thumping, dragging gasping breaths through kiss-bruised lips.

Joel’s eyes had darkened to a deep stormy blue. ‘I think I got more than I bargained for,’ he confessed thickly.

Kathryn knew that she certainly had. She had always known that this man could make her feel with more intensity than any other man she had ever met, but with that kiss she had entered a whole new realm of experience. Her response had been so quick, so intense, so all-encompassing. Nothing would ever compare to it. Nothing would ever come close.

‘You shouldn’t have done that.’ She made the token protest in a whisper.

‘You didn’t stop me. You didn’t want to,’ Joel pointed out unnecessarily, for she knew how foolish she had been. It was too late to take back knowledge. From this point on she would always know what she was missing.

Kathryn pushed herself away from him with very shaky hands. ‘Maybe so, but we both know it was a mistake,’ she said as forcefully as she was able.

‘If that was a mistake, I hope to make more of them,’ Joel responded seductively, and the words trickled over her nerve-endings, setting them fluttering.

‘Don’t,’ she protested, then closed her eyes and sighed heavily. ‘OK, I admit I enjoyed it. But I’m here to work, not indulge in a…a…a liaison with you!’ she continued, with more insistence this time, as her system began to settle down to something approximating normal.

His brows rose quizzically. ‘Can’t you do both?’

‘I don’t want to do both!’ she lied, and they both knew it.

‘Sure you do,’ he countered chidingly, and she groaned, realising she was in a hole that would soon be too deep to get herself out of.

‘I don’t intend to get involved with you, Joel,’ she insisted, notwithstanding.

‘You can say that when not five minutes ago you went up in flames in my arms?’ he charged, and she didn’t thank him for reminding her.

Kathryn crossed her arms and raised her chin to a defiant tilt. ‘I am saying it.’

Much to her dismay, he merely smiled. ‘Now that, in my book, constitutes a challenge. It will give me great satisfaction—and you, too—to make you eat your words.’

Kathryn never had been a woman who knuckled under to attempted male domination—as her brothers could testify. She had a strength of will equal to any man, and if she said no, then no it had to be. ‘I wouldn’t attempt it if I were you,’ she warned frostily, and Joel folded his own arms, mimicking her, and smiled again.

‘What will you do to stop me? We’ve already established that when we get into clinches you fight on my side,’ he taunted her, and her eyes narrowed.

‘That won’t be happening again.’

‘You wish!’ he shot back with a laugh, and she was very nearly tempted to stamp her foot in frustration. She resisted it, however.

‘This is serving no purpose,’ she returned, very much on her dignity. ‘You do what you feel you have to do, but you won’t be getting any co-operation from me.’

‘Well, we’ll just have to see about that, won’t we? Now, why don’t you slip off to bed? The rest will do you a power of good,’ Joel suggested, and she took umbrage at his tone.

‘Don’t order me about. I’m not a child.’

The glint in his eye deepened. ‘Don’t I know it! You’re very much a woman, Kathryn Templeton.’

How did he manage to turn the tables on her so easily? ‘You are the most… Oh, I’m going to bed!’ she exclaimed in frustration, needing to put some space between them so she could regain her equilibrium. ‘Goodnight,’ she said as she headed for the door.

‘Goodnight, Kathryn,’ he called after her, and the sound of her name on his lips was a seduction in itself. ‘Sweet dreams.’

Her response to that was to close the door firmly behind her and head for the stairs. She was pretty certain she would dream, but no way would it be sweet. Oh, no. The way things were going, her dreams were more than likely going to be hot and steamy in the extreme. As she mounted the stairs she was very much aware that, for a woman who had no intention of getting involved with a man, the prospect didn’t disturb her the way it ought.

KATHRYN breakfasted alone the following morning, which suited her mood just fine. She had slept, but her dreams had been every bit as erotic as she had suspected they would be. It had been a frustrating night in every sense of the word, and as a consequence she felt less than at her best.

Drew had departed first thing to catch his flight to Germany, and that didn’t help cheer her up any, but when Agnes informed her that Joel had insisted on driving him to the airport she breathed a sigh of relief. Putting off the moment of seeing him again seemed like a good idea with a man as perceptive as Joel Kendrick.

She was sipping at a second cup of coffee when she finally heard the car return, and instinctively braced herself. He came in not long afterwards, and, as before, she felt his presence like a charge in the air. She didn’t turn around, though, and therefore jumped like a scalded cat when his hands descended on her shoulders and he bent to press a tingling kiss to the tender skin of her neck just below her ear.

‘Good morning, Kathryn,’ he greeted warmly, and released her before she could have the satisfaction of pulling away.

Annoyed that she hadn’t anticipated the manoeuvre, she glowered at him as he poured himself some coffee, then pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down.

‘Good morning,’ she returned frostily, and his brows shot up above dancing eyes.

‘Didn’t you sleep well?’ he asked, sounding concerned, but she knew that wasn’t what he was thinking at all. He knew. Don’t ask her how, but he knew.

‘I never sleep well in strange beds,’ she countered, not giving him the satisfaction of confirming that dreaming of him had made her so restless. ‘But as it’s only for two nights, I think I’ll survive it.’

‘Actually, it could turn out to be more. There’s a weather front moving in, and they’re promising us strong winds and some serious snowfall,’ Joel enlightened her, resting his elbows on the table and sipping his coffee as if he hadn’t a care in the world and hadn’t just dropped a potential bombshell. Kathryn frowned sharply.

‘What does that mean, exactly?’ Surely she would be able to leave tomorrow? She had to. She was counting on it, she thought, a shade too desperately for comfort.

Joel disabused her in no uncertain terms. ‘It means we could wake tomorrow to find ourselves snowed in for the duration. Something we’ve become used to up here.’

‘You’re not serious!’ Kathryn gasped in dismay, only to see him nod.

‘It was already beginning to snow as I drove home. But don’t worry. If it does happen, you’ll be perfectly safe here.’

Kathryn was not comforted. The definition of ‘safe’ depended on your point of view. It would not be safe being snowed in here with him, yet she couldn’t leave until she had done the work she had promised. Whichever way you looked at it, she was trapped. She just had to hope and pray the snow held off long enough for her to get the work done and leave on time.

She sipped at her coffee, her free hand absently rubbing over the spot his lips had touched. Her skin still tingled with the charge which had ripped along her nervous system. It was incredibly stimulating, but it wasn’t going to change her mind. She wouldn’t get involved with him. Sighing, she glanced up, right into a pair of twinkling blue eyes.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.