Boardroom To Bedroom: His Darling Valentine / The Boss's Marriage Arrangement

Harriet gave a nervous look over her shoulder as Ben came up to her at the water cooler.

‘What…what do you mean?’ she hedged.

‘What did Matt want? You were in there for ages, and when you came out you looked…’

For a moment she was tempted to tell him, but before she could say anything she heard Matt saying smoothly behind her, ‘Have you told Ben about us yet, darling?’

Harriet almost dropped the cup of water she was holding, but she suspected that the shock on her face was nothing to the stupefaction on Ben’s as Matt came between them.

‘Harry?’ Ben questioned incredulously.

‘You’re trembling. I hope that’s because of me,’ Matt was murmuring against her ear as he relieved her of the paper cup she had all but crushed by sliding one hand around her waist to turn her towards him and removing the cup with the other.

Ben was positively goggling at them, his mouth half open and a look of total shock on his face.

‘You mean, you two are…?’ He shook his head.

‘We certainly are,’ Matt assured him calmly. ‘In fact we very much are—aren’t we, Harriet?’

The look he was giving her was practically a physical caress in itself, Harriet recognised weakly, and her wretched body was certainly responding to it as though it were.

Ben obviously hadn’t missed the high octane sensuality of the smoky look Matt was giving her, because suddenly he started to frown—an expression that Harriet recognised all too well.

Ben was her friend, but he was also male, and as such he had always taken a very brotherly and protective attitude towards Harriet where other men were concerned. And right now he was looking at Matt as though he was a suspicious father about to demand to know Matt’s intentions!

‘You never said anything to me!’ he accused Harriet sternly.

‘I asked her not to,’ Matt answered promptly for her.

Somehow the hand which had relieved her of the paper cup was now holding her own, his fingers sliding between hers in a manner so intimate that Harriet was having trouble breathing properly. Her skin tingled, and liquid pleasure shot up her arm like an injection of some kind of sensual drug that locked into her heart.

She had the strongest need not just to move closer to Matt’s body, but also to press herself against him with wanton abandonment.

Wicked images of the two of them alone together somewhere very private filled her head in a dangerously explicit slide show. Matt perching on the edge of a desk, his legs open as he drew her to him to kiss her passionately, whilst her fingers explored the hard muscles of his thigh, her touch making him growl in protest and take her hand and place it on the swollen bulge of his erection. Whilst he was kissing her he would slowly unfasten her top and remove it. His hands would cup her breasts and savour their shape and feel as her tight, erect nipples flaunted their eager hunger for his touch… Abruptly Harriet called her thoughts to order as she heard, ‘But now that things are serious between us it’s different. I don’t care who knows how I feel about Harriet!’

‘Things are serious between you?’ Ben’s frown cleared, leaving him looking both relieved and happy.

CHAPTER TWO

‘HARRIET, I don’t understand you! There’s Matt telling me that things are serious between the two of you and you haven’t said a word! Why not?’

‘Er…well, until he called me into his office I didn’t know that things were serious,’ Harriet explained, mentally justifying her statement by reminding herself that it was the truth after all—if not in the way that Ben would interpret it.

‘Well, once Cindi knows this she’s going to—’

‘Be very relieved,’ Harriet finished firmly for him, adding, ‘If you love her as much as I think you do, Ben, you won’t make an issue of this silly mistake about me. After all, if she didn’t love you she wouldn’t care about my relationship with you, would she?’

‘No… But…’ He gave a small sigh. ‘She had a few days’ holiday to use and she’s gone to see her parents—cooling off time, she called it.’

‘Well, if I were you I’d be waiting for her when she comes back with something very romantic planned.’

‘Yes. I’ll do that.’ He paused, and then said worriedly, ‘Harry, this thing between you and Matt… Don’t rush into…anything, will you? I mean, you haven’t… He hasn’t… And Matt is…’

Oh, yes! Matt most certainly was, Harriet agreed mentally as she told Ben lightly, ‘You worry about your own love life, Ben, and leave me to worry about mine.’

Smiling at him, she leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

Within seconds the phone on her desk rang, and when Harriet picked up the receiver she heard Matt saying coldly, ‘I’ve booked a table for us at the Riverside for nine p.m. I’ll pick you up. And by the way, I thought I’d made it clear there’s only one man you kiss from now on and it isn’t Ben!’

Harriet wanted to tell him that there was no way she intended to have dinner with him, but he had already ended the call. Silently she replaced the receiver. Her head was whirling and her heart was pounding at the thought of what had happened.

Matt had asked her if she wanted people to believe that she was secretly in love with Ben, and of course she didn’t. But the cure he was offering her was far, far more dangerous than the supposed disease!

And how ridiculous it was for him to go to the lengths of taking her out to dinner just to stop her seeing Ben, as she had planned. Her heart gave a funny little jerk as it threw itself against her ribcage. She acknowledged that there was a certain dangerous pleasure in the thought of Matt having the kind of feelings about her that would cause him to feel jealous of her being with another man. Not that he was ever likely to!

The Riverside was the area’s most exclusive hotel, and was run by an ex-TV chef and his model wife. What on earth was she going to wear? And what on earth was she doing worrying about what she was going to wear when she had so much that was far more important to worry about?

Displacement therapy, that was what it was! And nothing whatsoever to do with any wild and totally idiotic desire to have Matt take one look at her and wish that he was serious about her for real!

Matt stared out of the large window of his penthouse suite above the office block. He had bought the suite because it saved time to live and work in the same building, and he’d hired a turnkey designer to sort out the décor for him. The result was a state-of-the-art modern living space in which he constantly felt as though he was somehow a jarring and unnecessary presence, breaking up the place’s austere and sterile symmetry of grey on grey, chrome, glass and granite.

Harriet would, of course, be fiercely contemptuous of it—and no doubt of him for living in it. He just somehow knew that she was an Aga and comfortable country house kind of woman. And somewhere deep down Matt suspected that a part of him was dangerously close to being an Aga and country house kind of man, with four children, who chose to work at home so that he could be with them…

Because of Harriet? Matt started to frown. Why the hell had he fallen in love with her? How the hell had he fallen in love with her? He’d only had to look at her to know what that red hair and passionate energy were going to mean! And that was without the complication of her blinkered fixation on a man who didn’t want her. If he had any sense he would… He would what? Turn his back and walk away from her?

So why the hell was he sitting here reliving the feel of that thick silky waterfall of hair running through his fingers and the effect of those awesome green eyes looking up into his?

If he hadn’t had the presence of mind to push her away there was no knowing what might have happened. No knowing? Matt derided himself savagely— he knew damn well what would have happened: what he had wanted to happen and where he had wanted to have it happen!

It had stunned Matt when a male business associate had commented enviously on his ‘playboy’ reputation, remarking on the number of women Matt was known to have dated. It had never occurred to him that the method he had chosen of trying to eliminate his feelings for Harriet would result in him gaining the reputation of a would-be stud! The truth about his supposed ‘reputation’ was that it was largely unfounded.

His recent succession of dinner dates had been just that—dinner dates! And by his choice! In fact he couldn’t remember the last time…

Restlessly he got up and walked over to the large window with its view of the city.

Liar, he goaded himself mentally. Of course he could damn well remember. And he could remember too that halfway through dinner he had suddenly looked at his elegant blonde-haired companion and realised with a savage stab of anger that he was both totally unaroused by her and totally bored with her.

That had been the evening after he had interviewed Harriet for the job. His date had been none too pleased to be returned home instead of being taken to bed, and she had let him know it!

Matt frowned as he heard his intercom buzz.

Striding over to it, he flipped it on.

‘Matt, it’s Ben. I need to talk with you.’

Matt hesitated briefly before answering, ‘Fine— come up, Ben.’

As he opened the door to him Matt could see the way Ben looked admiringly around the apartment.