The Prospective Wife (15 page)

‘I’m fine.’ Kat wasn’t sure if this was true. She felt strange…very strange. It couldn’t be concussion because that didn’t extend beyond your head, and her strange feeling involved her toes too, and for that matter all points in between the two!

Using the powerful muscles of his right leg, Matt heaved himself to his feet in one fluid motion. The abrupt movement left Kat draped up against him.

‘Be careful,’ she scolded a little belatedly as he drew up to his full height. The surging movement had drawn her pliant body upwards too, until her face was pressed against the strong manly curve of his thigh. The words ‘compromising position’ popped into her head. ‘If anyone walked in now…’

‘What would they think, Kathleen?’ he asked, his tone imperative. His fingers closed firmly around her jaw and tilted her face up to him.

Mutely she stared into the charismatic glow of his eyes and shook her head.

That unique, exciting, combustible quality of his had never been more apparent. His eyes held more
life
than she’d thought it possible for one person to contain. His vitality was almost a living force in its own right…she was drawn to it as inexorably as a moth to a flame.

God, but he takes my breath away!

His fingers came slowly up to her mouth and very carefully he began to trace the curve of her slightly parted lips. She didn’t consciously open her mouth and invite a deeper, more intimate exploration—it just happened.

Reading the longing in her wide eyes, Matt slid the tip of his forefinger just inside the cushiony softness of her upper lip; he felt her catch her breath. An abbreviated grunt escaped the confines of his deep chest when Kat’s tongue darted out to touch his finger.

From that moment the exploration escalated rapidly to the point where she had hold of his wrist and was alternately suckling greedily on his fingers and pressing hard damp kisses to his wrist and the palm of his hand.

Up to that moment in her life, compulsion had just been a word like any other to Kat; now she was consumed by it.

She let out a tiny cry of annoyance when Matt’s free hand slid into her hair and jerked her head backwards.

Kat’s eyes swept hungrily over his starkly handsome face. The intriguing planes and sharp angles of his face were enhanced by the fine sheen of sweat that had broken out over his skin. He really did have a bone structure that was to die for, she thought, storing away the image of his strong slashing cheekbones and wide sensual mouth in her memory. She didn’t want to forget a single detail of how he looked at that moment!

His burning eyes lifted with difficulty from the heaving outline of her bosom as it strained against the modestly cut bodice of her dress. Her face didn’t offer any respite from the explosive sexual excitement that was building up inside him. He dwelt for a long moment on her succulent parted, trembling lips and passion-glazed eyes; the wild, wanton expression on her beautiful flushed face was the sort of thing male fantasies were made of. That expression screamed out bold, unambiguous surrender.

When he spoke, his voice was thick. ‘Do you have any idea of what you’re doing to me?’ he demanded hoarsely.

Matt had always prided himself on being a considerate, controlled lover, who always put his partner’s pleasure before his own. So what went wrong, man? he asked himself, struggling with a primitive urge to push her onto the table and…

Anyhow, as daft questions went, this was up there with the best of them.
Did she know…?
Hell, from where she was kneeling it would have been hard to miss! He firmly closed the door on that line of thought. He was having enough trouble getting his more basic impulses under control without dwelling on the erotic possibilities of her position.

The sly, clever, circular movement of her slim fingers in an upwards direction tended to confirm his suspicions. Attack and retreat, attack and retreat, the tormenting cycle went on and on… Her passion-glazed eyes never left his all the time her busy fingers were at work.

Kat’s lips curved in a satisfied sultry smile; she felt as if she were burning up from the inside out.

‘Don’t you want me to…?’ she wondered dreamily. If he said no, she’d just have to persuade him to change his mind. At that moment, she had complete faith in her powers of persuasion… Surrender was an unexpectedly empowering experience.

Her breath was coming in short, frantic little gasps. The anticipation levels inside her were building to unimaginable levels, but she still pushed it, impelled by something she didn’t understand to test the limits of his control and her own. She discovered Matt’s limit at about the same time her fingers discovered the hard ridge that pushed against the restrictions of his well-cut pants. Experimentally, her hand closed over him; intense excitement bubbled up inside her as the throbbing erection pushed back against her cupped hand.

She hardly registered the pain in her scalp as his fingers tightened convulsively. She began to be alarmed when his head fell backwards. She watched as the corded sinews of his strong neck stood out sharply against his heated skin. He looked like a man in agony. Oh, God, what have I done?

‘Sorry!’ she gasped pulling her hand away. ‘Did I hurt you?’ she asked miserably.

Mortification washed over her in a great tide. How could I…? she wondered, reviewing her wanton behaviour with a sense of disbelief. But even while she was considering her disgraceful behaviour, the ache in her treacherous body intensified. The pain involved her entire body, but it was concentrated in specific areas; the worst affected were her tender swollen breasts and the apex between her thighs.

‘Hurt!’ he echoed, his voice warmly incredulous.

Kat gave a startled little cry as one strong hand curled around her waist and lifted her bodily to her feet. The other was equally firm about replacing her own hand against his glorious arousal.

‘I can take quite a bit of that kind of hurt.’ He thrust his hips forward to seal their lower bodies together, trapping her hand firmly between them.

‘Really!’

Something inside Matt moved; the unidentifiable feeling couldn’t be classified as lust alone. Matt worked on instinct… He wasn’t into navel-gazing and self-analysis, so he didn’t pause to wonder about the cause of the new feeling.

The sense of wonder in her voice, the blush on her smooth cheeks; they both sent his thoughts—his brain was still functioning at a
basic
level—in an unexpected direction. He dismissed the fleeting notion out of hand; it just wasn’t possible, he reasoned.

His mouth was just inches from her own. Kat waited for his kiss with eager, breathless anticipation. Even breathing was an irritating distraction, all her senses were tuned into what was going to come next. On tiptoes, she stretched upwards eagerly as his dark head bent forward.

‘Oh, God…
yes
…!’ Kat moaned deeply as his lips found hers.

It only took a few moments for the initial voluptuous leisurely exploration to be transformed into a fevered contest to increase the intimacy of the contact. Teeth grazing, tongues exploring, the erotic duel continued until both combatants broke off, panting for breath.

Kat wondered if she looked as stunned and shaken as Matt did as he looked down into her face; she suspected she did.

‘You said you wouldn’t kiss me,’ she reminded him in a voice that sounded unfamiliar to her own ears.

‘What can I say? I lied. I suppose I might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.’

Kat closed her eyes and gave a rapturous sigh of anticipation as his dark head swooped downwards to capture his target.

When he lifted his head, Kat was having trouble standing upright.

‘There only seems one thing left for me to say.’ His expression didn’t quite match the flippancy of his husky tone. ‘Your place or mine…?’

This was the moment she ought to deliver some stinging retort and make a fast escape. Instead, Kat asked herself if the transitory pleasure of sleeping with this man was worth losing her job and facing a financially insecure future. She looked deep into his heart-stopping blue orbs…
You bet it was!

‘You don’t give up.’ The man was relentless…
thank heaven!

‘Do you want me to?’ he asked, without the suggestion of a smile; the smile came when she shook her head in fervent denial.

To hell with etiquette, references, or job security! There was no way Kat was going to reject what he was offering her. How could she when there was every chance that she’d never feel this way again in her life? In fact, if anyone had tried to stop her accepting what he was offering, the ensuing tussle would have involved a lot of kicking and screaming.

‘Yours seems the more sensible choice.’ Anxious not to come over as gauche and naïve, Kat tried to act as if she had discussions like this every day of the week. ‘I’m on the second floor,’ she reminded him.

‘I love it when you’re practical.’

‘Talking of practical,’ she replied, regarding the elaborate table with misgivings, ‘won’t it cause a few raised eyebrows if we leave in the middle of the meal?’

‘It’ll cause a whole lot more than a few raised eyebrows if I don’t get you somewhere private fast,’ he growled. ‘Get the picture…?’

Kat brushed a strand of sweat-dampened hair from her eyes. When she moved, her dress clung damply to her skin—she did get the picture.

‘Don’t forget your cane.’ A deep-seated protective instinct took over at this point and made her lower her eyes from his. She knew what she was feeling was reflected on her face.

‘What do I need a cane for when I have you?’ He slipped one arm lightly over her shoulders. She was startled to hear him say, ‘See how I need you…’

It could be she was reading something into his words that wasn’t there… On the other hand… Kat’s gaze moved from his fingertips all the way up his arm and then naturally to his face. There was nothing to confirm or deny her speculation in his taut expression. She found she couldn’t—didn’t want to—run away from his scrutiny this time.

One dark brow rose. ‘Ready, Kathleen…?’ he asked softly.

Unconsciously she straightened her shoulders. She slid her arm around his narrow waist. She took a fortifying lungful of air. ‘It’s now or never!’ she declared courageously.

Matt blinked, his lip curled in a self-derisive smile. He couldn’t recall anyone ever acting as though sharing his bed was on par with root canal work. Matt wondered why he still expected this girl to say what he expected; he felt his ire dissolve as she raised her questioning eyes to his face… She was so damned beautiful.

THE moment the bedroom door closed behind them Kat withdrew her support and slid sinuously from under his arm. After their unexpected and painfully embarrassing encounter with Elizabeth Nichols in the hallway, her caring disposition was in tatters. She wouldn’t have shed a tear at that particular moment if Matt had fallen on his beautiful, lying face—in fact it would have been a plus-point!

He did nothing so inelegant of course.

‘How could you?’ she breathed, pressing her hands to her burning cheeks.

‘How could I what?’

His aggravating pretence of ignorance made her grind her even white teeth; the sound was audible enough to make Matt wince.

‘Don’t come the blue-eyed innocent with me, Matthew Devlin.’ She planted her hands firmly on her hips and impatiently shook a stray hank of heavy blonde hair from her eyes.

‘Don’t come the nanny from hell with me, Kathleen Wray.’ The warning note in his deep voice was the final straw for Kat. ‘I’m an easy-going man…’ Whilst he paused to allow her shrill incredulous laughter to die away, Matt demonstrated his easy-going nature by glaring at her with smouldering disapproval.

‘Some blokes would have cut up rough when you sent in a substitute kisser. Just try and remember there are limits to my tolerance.’

But not, it seemed to his brass-faced gall!

“‘Don’t worry, Mrs Nichols,’” she trilled in a sing-song voice. “‘
Kathleen
knows exactly what I need.’” Actually, Kathleen had been worried to death at that point she wasn’t adequate to the task, but she wasn’t about to explain that to him.

‘Actually, I like to think I’m more of a bass baritone than a soprano,’ he drawled provocatively.

Kat let out a subdued wail. He seemed determined to treat this as a joke. ‘Why didn’t you just draw her a diagram?’

‘Which part did you have a problem with? The bit where I admitted I was in pain…’

Kat clutched her head in her hands. ‘Don’t remind me!’ she pleaded.

‘Or the part where I explained I was in need of urgent treatment? It would seem,’ he murmured, adopting an aggravating, much ill-used tone, ‘that I can’t do right as far as you’re concerned. You were the one who told me I should admit it when I’m in pain,’ he pointed out in a voice that suggested she was being unreasonable.

‘You know full well that when I said that I was referring to your stupid macho posturing, not
that
sort of pain.’

‘Only you and I, angel, know what sort of pain I was talking about.’ His eyes were openly caressing as they ran over her face, and lower, over the womanly curves of her splendid body.

‘It shows a lack of respect for someone who has known you since you were a child!’ she ranted self-righteously. ‘You were laughing at her.’

Annoyance flickered over his face. ‘Actually, I was laughing at you.’ It was hard to miss the fact he wasn’t any longer. ‘I think we’ve already established I’m a callous, selfish bastard, Kathleen. So if you’re looking for a reason to walk through that door, you’ve got an excuse on tap. There’s no need for all this drama.’ He gestured towards the closed door. ‘If you want to walk, be my guest.’ He extracted the key and held it out towards her.

It was matter of self-respect that he didn’t show how much he didn’t want her to take him up on his offer. Despite this, he held his breath during the painful pause that followed.

‘I want to stay here.’ Her wide eyes flickered almost fearfully to his uncompromising face. ‘With you.’