In the Australian's Bed: The Passion Price / The Australian's Convenient Bride / The Australian's Marriage Demand

She went.

‘Sydney really is a beautiful city,’ Angelina said as they walked, hand in hand, through Hyde Park.

Jake glanced across at her, thinking how beautiful she looked today. Beautiful and sexy. Those jeans hugged her curvy body like a second skin. Too bad about that loose white shirt she was wearing over them. Though perhaps it was as well she wasn’t wearing anything too revealing on top. Jake’s possessiveness of her had increased overnight, along with his desire. He only had to touch her and he wanted to make love to her again.

Jake thought of what was in the plastic shopping bag he was holding. The sexiest black corset he’d ever seen. Angelina had refused to try it on in the shop, but he knew there would be no such objections once he got her home.

‘Sydney always looks great in the summer,’ he agreed, very pleased with the way things were going.

‘I guess the good weather is one of the reasons the expo has gone so well,’ she remarked.

‘Perhaps. But it always pays to have a good product. Your wines are going to be a big hit down here in Sydney, by the sound of things. Wayne was over the moon with the orders they’d already taken and the interest shown.’

‘Men like Wayne are exaggerators,’ Angelina said drily. ‘But it does look promising.’

Jake had to admire the way Angelina’s feet were firmly on the ground when it came to her business. She was no pushover, in lots of ways.

Sexually, however, she was putty in his hands. Jake couldn’t wait to get her alone again.

‘I work not far from here,’ he pointed out. ‘My office is in that tall bluish building over there. If the sun’s out, I come over to the park and eat my lunch here. Right here, in fact.’ And he pulled her down onto a seat under a huge tree that provided almost an acre of shade.

His arm wound round her shoulders and his lips pressed into her hair. ‘Want to make out?’ he whispered.

‘Jake Winters, behave yourself. I don’t think we need to make out in public, do you? We’ve been at it like rabbits. A breather is definitely called for.’

‘Not rabbits,’ he said. ‘Lovers. Once is never enough for lovers.’

‘Once! How about one times twenty? I didn’t know it was possible to have so much sex in one weekend.’

‘Amazing, isn’t it?’

Angelina glanced up into Jake’s grinning face and took a mental photo of it for her memory bank. He looked so handsome today. And so happy.

She doubted he’d look quite so happy once he found out about Alex.

‘What?’ he said, his grin fading.

It constantly surprised Angelina, the way he seemed to pick up on her inner feelings, without her having to say a word. It was almost as though he could read her mind sometimes. He certainly knew whenever she wanted him again.

Unfortunately, this was almost continuously. She simply could not get enough of him. Even now, she wanted him to take her home. She wanted him to strip her off and lace her into that decadent-looking corset and do whatever it was he had in mind to do to her whilst she was wearing it.

Hopefully, he couldn’t read her thoughts. She seriously needed this breather so she could think.

‘What is it?’ he repeated. ‘Tell me true.’

‘Nothing much. I was thinking how handsome you were. And how much I like you with short hair.’

‘And I like you with long.’

She flushed as she thought of what he had done with her hair on one occasion last night. He really was a wicked man.

No, not truly wicked, Angelina conceded. But seriously naughty. A very good lover, though. Very knowledgeable about women’s bodies, and totally uninhibited when it came to using that knowledge. How on earth was she going to find the strength to tell Jake about Alex, when it meant she would have to give up his lovemaking?

Because it was all going to end once the truth came out. If there was one thing the last twenty-four hours had proved to Angelina, it was that Jake only had one need for a woman, and that was as his sexual partner. His plaything. Even his calling her his lover just now was telling. Why not girlfriend? Lover had that for-sex-only connotation about it.

No, Jake hadn’t changed in that regard. His aim had been to sleep with her. And now that he had, any complications would have him running a mile.

And Alex, let’s face it, she thought, was one big complication.

‘What a shame today has to end,’ she said with a sigh.

‘Does it have to?’

‘Time marches on. Nothing can change that.’

‘You could always stay the night with me, go home tomorrow.’

She was seriously tempted. If she’d been in bed with him at this moment, with his hands on her naked body, she probably would have said yes.

‘Sorry,’ she said crisply. ‘No can do. I have to get back home tonight. Work tomorrow.’

‘Yeah. Same here. I’m due in court first thing in the morning.’

‘On that case you told me about?’ Angelina asked, grateful for the opportunity to get her mind off sex. ‘The lady who’s dying of lung cancer?’

‘That’s the one. I have to deliver my closing address.’

‘Are you ready?’

‘I should hope so. I’ve been living and breathing that case for months.’

‘Do you memorise your speeches?’

‘Not really. I do write my ideas down. But I never try to remember them word for word. That’s the sure way to go blank and stuff it up. No, I prepare well and then I talk from the heart. You do make the occasional stumble over words that way, but the jury never minds that, if they know you’re being sincere.’

‘I hope you win,’ she said with feeling.

‘Don’t worry,’ Jake returned with a little squeeze of her shoulders. ‘We will.’

Angelina abruptly jumped to her feet. ‘Come on, let’s walk some more. I want to go see St Mary’s Cathedral.’ And she yanked a groaning Jake to his feet.

‘More walking? Can’t we just sit here and cuddle?’

‘You’ve had more than enough cuddling for one weekend. Up!’

‘Wow. I like it when you’re bossy. Would you like to be on top when we get back to my place?’

‘Get that bag and come on!’ She was already off, walking in the direction of the cathedral, not giving him the opportunity to take her hand again.