Carole Mortimer - The Virgin Secretary's Impossible Boss

‘That’s because the other object of the game is for the opposing team to stop their opponents from scoring those tries.’

Andi gave a disdainful snort. ‘I’m not convinced, Linus.’

‘I’m not trying to convince you!’ He stood up to pace impatiently. ‘You’re obviously a complete philistine when it comes to the magnificent game of rugby.’

‘Magnificent!’ She sniffed inelegantly. ‘I suppose you know all about it?’

He gave a cool nod. ‘As it happens, I do. I was record holder for the most tries and conversions scored my last year at school.’

‘That explains a lot.’

Linus’s gaze narrowed warningly. ‘Would you care to explain?’

‘No, I don’t think I will.’ Andi stood up in one fluid movement, relieved as she did so to find that her limbs had completely thawed out now. ‘“Sassenach”…?’ she prompted scathingly.

Linus gave a dismissive shrug. ‘Someone from England.’

Andi continued to look at him suspiciously for several seconds, sure there was more to that word than he was telling her; it had certainly sounded derogatory.

‘I’m going to ask the landlord if he has a bathroom where I can freshen up,’ she said abruptly. ‘If you’re serious about our staying here tonight.’

‘Oh, I am, Andi,’ he murmured huskily.

‘Then our bags are still outside in the Range Rover,’ she told him pointedly, her expression turning to one of quiet satisfaction as Linus’s face creased into a pained grimace. He turned to look out of the window and realized he would have to go back out into the still heavily falling snow to retrieve those bags. ‘Have fun!’ Andi added tauntingly as she went through the doorway marked ‘private’ .

Her smile faded, however, as soon as she was alone in the hallway, and she paused to lean back weakly against the wall.

She couldn’t share a bedroom with Linus tonight. Possibly tomorrow night too, if the weather didn’t let up. In fact, she trembled just at the thought of it.

Linus’s complete dismissal of the significance of the two of them sharing a bedroom wasn’t flattering, either.

Andi had been traumatized for months after her father and David had died. She hadn’t so much as looked at another man, let alone been attracted to one. But slowly that insidious awareness of Linus had crept into her battered emotions. How could any healthy, red-blooded woman work with him on a day-to-day basis and not be aware of the hard vitality of his body and the rugged handsomeness of his chiselled features?

Andi certainly couldn’t.

Which wasn’t going to help the situation at all when Andi found herself alone in a bedroom with Linus later this evening!

‘THERE’S only one bed!’

‘And your point is…?’ Linus came back dryly as he carried their bags into the small but comfortable bedroom that had been assigned to them for the night. A warming fire already burned in the small hearth; the only furniture in the room was a bed, a chair and a desk.

He had taken advantage of Andi’s absence to pull his jacket back on and go back outside for their bags. The snow was still falling as heavily, and the wind just as remorseless and icy cold. Linus had been relieved just to make it back to the inn.

‘You didn’t say anything about there being only one bed,’ Andi persisted, her cheeks flushed as she continued to stare at that bed.

Whether with temper or something else, Linus wasn’t sure.

‘Jim and Jennie have one daughter, hence there’s only one bed.’ He dropped their bags onto the carpeted floor, completely ignoring Andi’s pained wince as they landed with a thud.

Her gaze was accusing. ‘You knew there was only one bed?’

Linus shrugged. ‘I guessed that might be the case, yes. Stop being such a damned prude, Andi.’ He scowled as she continued to look at him wide-eyed.

The heated emotions Linus aroused in Andi were totally new to her, and all the more disturbing. Because, although Andi had been engaged to marry David, she had never been so completely physically aware of him as she was Linus. She was so aware of him that she trembled just at the thought of having to share that bed with him.

If Andi had learnt anything about Linus the last year, it was that he had absolutely no interest in a permanent relationship. That the moment any of the women who flitted in and out of his bed on a regular basis showed any signs of expecting a commitment from him, they were quietly and discreetly excluded from his life.

Linus had informed her only yesterday that such exclusion had also included any of his previous PAs who had shown an interest in a personal relationship with him.

‘Maybe you’re worried, sharing a bed, you might be driven mad with lust for me ?’ Linus mocked softly.

‘Hardly,’ Andi snapped.

‘Then there’s no problem, is there?’ He dismissed her unconcerned.

Andi drew in a sharp breath. ‘Have you shared a bed with any woman in the last twenty years or so and not made love with her?’

‘Of course I—’ Linus broke off his instant rebuttal to give the question careful consideration instead. ‘No, I never have,’ he finally conceded. ‘But I’m sure there has to be a first time for everything.’

‘Does there?’

‘You know, you’re really starting to irritate me now, Andi,’ he rasped harshly. ‘Okay, so you’re beautiful and you have a fantastic body—especially in those tight denims and that body-hugging green sweater you’re currently wearing—but that doesn’t mean I’m going to attempt to make love to you the moment I have you alone in a bed!’

Andi’s thoughts were in turmoil. Linus thought she was beautiful and had a fantastic body…

The knowledge almost made her want to groan out loud. It certainly made her completely aware of the tight denims and body-hugging green sweater she was currently wearing.

‘Well, that’s really helped to clarify the situation,’ she muttered disgustedly. ‘I’ll sleep in the chair.’

Linus arched dark brows. ‘Trying to make me feel bad, Andi?’

‘Am I succeeding?’

‘No.’ He grimaced.

‘That’s what I thought.’ She gave a rueful nod.

Andi looked at him searchingly, noting as she did so the lines of tiredness beside his eyes and mouth. Those sculptured lips that had surely been designed to drive a woman wild…

Stop it, Andi , she instantly instructed herself firmly. Imagining what it would be like to be kissed by Linus, to feel his lips and hands on her body, really wasn’t helping this already fraught situation.

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