British Bachelors: Delicious and Dangerous: The Tycoon's Delicious Distraction / The Woman Sent to Tame Him / Once a Playboy...

‘No.’

‘Come on. I dare you. I want to try an experiment.’

She wanted to say something...anything. But forming words seemed impossible when her mouth had suddenly gone dry as sand and her tongue didn’t respond in tandem with her brain. Hal Treverne had put her in a dizzying spin and it wasn’t a state she was familiar with. She’d frequently anguished about her mother not having any common sense when it came to men, but where was hers now, when she needed it? Perhaps more than she’d ever needed it before?

Moistening her suddenly dry lips with her tongue, she made herself ask, ‘What kind of experiment are you talking about?’

Hal’s glance was unwaveringly direct.

‘I want to kiss you, Katherine with a K. Properly this time. And I want you to kiss me back. If neither of us enjoy the experience then there’s no harm done. We’ll simply carry on as before. I want to reassure you that there’s no danger of your job being jeopardised. I give you my word on that. You’ll stay until our arrangement naturally comes to an end—when I’m completely mobile again. Agreed?’

The silence that followed this inflammatory statement was deafening.

Hal was gesturing for Kit to move closer, and when she gazed back into his eyes the sight was akin to gazing into a mirage of mesmerising crystal waters after she’d stumbled through a burning hot desert without hope of ever having a drink again.

How could she possibly ignore the chance that her mirage might turn out to be a genuine vision and that it would save her life if she drank from it?

She reached out her hand to slide it over Hal’s. His skin was silkily smooth and warm, as it always was. But this time she had permission to actively enjoy the experience—not just tend to his practical needs as she normally did.

With a heated, lazy smile he tugged her hand to bring her close into his side. Before Kit even had time to gasp he’d pushed aside the heavy fall of her hair and laid his palm against her nape. Everything tingled. Then he hungrily drew her head towards his. Any opportunity or desire for further conversation disappeared abruptly the instant he touched his lips to hers. The texture of them was like the most seductive velvet and they tasted like nectar.

When Hal’s tongue dived into her mouth and duelled with hers pleasure such as she’d never known before suffused her—a delight so intensely hot and sensual that it was like a tropical storm descending out of a summer sky. Its sudden surprising appearance gave her no chance to find shelter. The only thing she could do was surrender, give herself up to its fierce elemental nature with no thought or concern of where the experience might lead her. Was she brave enough to do that? The more Hal kissed her, the more she wanted to fly into the face of her fear and challenge it.

Then he cupped her breast through her sweater, evoking a ravenous need in her blood that made her feel as if she was losing her mind with no hope of ever thinking straight again...like someone standing too close to a crumbling cliff-edge and dangerously being compelled to jump. Why did she suddenly feel that she would willingly sacrifice her dream of a safe place, a bolthole she could call her own, to travel into the unknown with him?

With a helpless whimper Kit anchored her hands round Hal’s iron-hard biceps, her fingers gripping hard, wishing she had the courage to lift up his sweater so that she might touch him more intimately and press her body into his.

Hal’s head and heart were reeling. He knew what it was like occasionally to drink more than one generous glass of intoxicating red wine at dinner, to have his head spin and his limbs turn to water, but never before had he experienced sensations as dizzyingly seductive and addictive as this! Kit’s ravishing mouth and silken tongue were so sinfully delicious that he knew he could willingly be a slave to her kisses for a very long time indeed, whilst her body... Her body and her scent aroused him more than any other woman’s had ever aroused him before.

The need to take this so-called experiment further was growing more and more demanding. He was so hot and hard that he had to tear his lips away from Kit’s to take a steadying breath and try to calm his escalating need. As he moved his hands up to cup her face Hal’s breath felt no less steady as he stared hungrily down into the incandescent blue eyes that gazed back at him. They looked as stunned and as intoxicated as he was.

‘I want to take you to bed, Kit.’ With a wry smile he added, ‘Let me rephrase that. I need to take you to bed. Our little experiment was more...much more successful than I’d hoped it would be.’

To his surprise, Kit responded with a troubled sigh.

‘We can’t always have what we want or—or need, Hal...and perhaps giving in to our base desires isn’t the best thing to do for either of us. I won’t deny that I find you attractive, but if you seriously think about this you’ll know it isn’t a good idea to take things any further. We’ve already crossed a boundary I vowed never to cross with a client. You’ve been hurt in an accident and forced to take a much slower pace than you’re used to while you recuperate, and I’ve been hired to help you.’

Reaching up, she gently freed his hands from round her face and sat back against the couch’s sumptuous leather upholstery, a shapely leg tucked beneath her.

‘It’s understandable that you’re feeling frustrated and lonely, but I’m not the cure for either of those states—even though you might think I am.’ Visibly blushing she added, ‘Your kiss was lovely, and so are you. But I’d rather you remembered me as a reliable and competent help when you most needed it than some convenient woman you took to bed simply because you were feeling horny.’

As shocked surprise eddied through him Hal hardly knew what to say. Kit had told him he was ‘lovely’ and yet she clearly didn’t trust his motives. A thought that might explain why she was so uneasy about taking things further suddenly struck him.

‘You think I’m just the same as one of those low-lifes who used your mother then abandoned her. That’s it, isn’t it?’ He cursed out loud because he knew it was true.

‘No. Of course I don’t think that!’ Her mouth shaping a painful grimace, Kit folded her arms over her chest and dipped her head. The sudden movement caused her glorious hair to tumble forward onto her shoulders in a riot of silken burnished waves.

Hal sucked in a breath. The sight was so beautiful...

‘I know you’re not like them,’ she declared. ‘But I have to protect myself. There’s no one else looking out for me but me. I’ve got a reputation for being competent and reliable at the agency and I need a good reference when I leave you if I’m to get another job as good as this. Don’t you understand?’

Starting to feel a little calmer, Hal was thoughtful. ‘I’ve given you my word that you won’t lose this job, and if you see it through to the end of course I’ll give you a good reference...the best. I want to reassure you about that. But I can’t pretend it’s going to make me want you any less, Kit, or that you’ll stop thinking about that kiss we just shared.’

‘Okay.’ She smiled, but it was plain to see her expression was still guarded. ‘I’m flattered that you want me—I really am. I know that you could probably just pick up the phone and have any woman that you want. And I’m sorry if I offended you with what I said about you being—’

‘Horny?’ he finished helpfully.

‘Sometimes I’m a little too quick to speak my mind.’

‘Do you think I don’t know that by now?’

‘Anyway...’ Uncurling her leg from beneath her, Kit ran her hand over her hair, as if to tidy it, then positioned herself more comfortably against the cushions. ‘Why don’t we just finish watching the film? I was really starting to enjoy it.’

Hal’s strongly defined jaw clenched ruefully. ‘There’s something else I’d much rather do, but seeing as I’m a gentleman this time I’ll give you the prerogative of choosing the evening’s entertainment. Next time it will be my turn.’

‘If you’re no longer so keen on watching the film perhaps you might like a game of chess instead?’ The look she gave him was innocence personified. ‘But if we play I warn you I’m no push-over. I don’t take any prisoners. I play to win!’

His blood heated again, painfully reminding him of what he’d given up in deference to reassuring Kit that he was no ruthless playboy who believed it was his God-given right to take what he wanted. Lowering his voice, he remarked, ‘So do I, sweetheart. I don’t see the point of playing a game if I don’t come out on top. After all, being on top is what I do best.’

Hal couldn’t deny the sense of satisfaction that pulsed through him when her pretty cheeks turned revealingly pink...

* * *

Over the next few days Hal played the part of the gentleman he professed to be to the max. Gone was the teasing, provocative banter that Kit had come to love and expect, that suggested he was more bad boy than gentleman. A much more sedate, thoughtful man took his place. In fact he’d become so quiet that she fretted his leg wasn’t healing as well as it should be and that it was seriously bothering him. When she checked with him he always immediately denied anything was amiss and returned to the book he was reading, or to his study to work, with an expression that told her friendly conversation was off the agenda and he would prefer not to be disturbed.

There was no more talk of him choosing their nightly entertainment either. Kit couldn’t deny she wasn’t upset about that. Her nightly dreams were all about Hal. So much so that she sometimes woke up in a sweat, with her heart racing dizzyingly. Her visions of him and her together were so real that she was crushed when she woke up and realised they were just nocturnal fantasies. She might get to the end of this job with her self-enforced celibacy intact, but that didn’t mean she would be remotely happy about it—not when her heart already ached at the mere idea of parting from Hal for good.

When the nurse paid her next visit to examine his injured leg and with a cheerful smile declared it to be ‘healing nicely’, adding that it was just a matter of time before he would return to full strength, to Kit’s mind Hal didn’t seem entirely convinced. When the nurse went on to say that he should take advantage of some regular physiotherapy before seeing his consultant again, and that Kit should make sure to keep up the RICE treatment, he gave a brief nod of agreement, thanked her for the advice and saw her to the door in his wheelchair.

He still wasn’t in the mood for conversation, it seemed...

The night after the nurse’s visit Kit lay in bed, staring up at the shadowed ceiling in her bedroom for what seemed like hours, because she’d been alternately teased and tormented by the memory of Hal’s taste in her mouth and his hands on her body and as a result sleep evaded her. But eventually she fell into a fitful doze.

A loud shout woke her up. Immediately responding, she hurriedly pushed aside the sheets and counterpane and scrambled to her feet. Without even pausing to grab the striped cotton robe she’d draped over the back of a slipper chair, she ran outside into the corridor and pushed opened Hal’s bedroom door.

The soft light in the hallway more than adequately illuminated the room. Wearing navy silk boxers, Hal was positioned half in and half out of the voluminous bed, gripping onto the oyster-coloured silk sheets for grim death as his cast-covered leg precariously slid towards the floor.

Kit grabbed hold of him to prevent him from falling just in the nick of time. His broad, hard-muscled back was slippery with sweat and it was no easy feat to lift and push his heavy masculine frame safely back onto the bed, because he was clearly still half asleep and in no position to help her. Thankfully her reaction had been lightning-quick and had saved the day. A heavy fall onto that broken bone of his would have set him back several months at least, she was sure.

As he fell back against the pillows and stared dazedly up at her she gently ran her hand over his forehead, pushing back the rebellious dark curls that brushed against it.

‘Are you okay? You gave me an almighty shock when I heard you cry out like that.’

‘I’m fine.’ Although Hal’s smile was definitely on the drowsy side, his mercurial hazel eyes still managed a mischievous twinkle. ‘Thanks to you. You really are my guardian angel, aren’t you, Kit? Quite apt that you should rescue me when I was dreaming that you were in my arms.’

Still leaning over him, Kit turned as still as a statue. The remark had sent her own temperature skyrocketing and she was suddenly aware that the only thing separating them was the flimsy chemise she wore, which she’d impulsively bought from a vintage market stall in the Portobello Road. In truth, it was totally impractical, but she loved it. With its spaghetti shoulder straps, and a scooped neckline that just about covered her breasts, it was probably the most feminine item of clothing she possessed. And beneath the hyacinth-coloured material, apart from her panties, she was as bare as the day she was born.

‘It must have been quite a dream if it nearly made you fall out of bed,’ she replied huskily.