to take her down, fighting and resisting. All the more fun.
He let his eyes play on her breasts, as they pushed prominently through the gauze of cashmere. ‘Are you wearing a bra under that?’
If he’d shocked her with his direct question she didn’t let on. She hesitated, but only for a second. Playing for time, perhaps?
‘That’s for me to know and you to find out.’
Nice reply. Batted straight back. That was good. He bit his lip hard, to distract himself from the fact that in his head his teeth were already grazing those nipples. He watched her brush away a stray curl. She had him fixed with her violet eyes now, her head inclined slightly. Weighing him up? Perhaps. Challenging him? Definitely.
Nothing he liked more than a challenge.
‘So I take it you’ll be sleeping with me tonight.’ Two firm rules going out of the window there, but what the hell, if it brought this to a close. He slid it out casually, then waited for the reaction. He couldn’t hold in a last jibe. ‘It’s what you’re here for, after all, isn’t it?’
The purple of her eyes darkened to indigo.
‘That’s what you think.’
Her tone was defiant, but her amused smile took him aback. She almost sounded dismissive. Not bothered. He’d see about that!
‘Going to all this trouble to try for the position of my wife? Surely the try-out has to start in the bedroom? No time like the present, so why not now?’
She gave a light shrug. ‘Maybe I prefer to know more about a man before I sleep with him, even if he does own a whopping, country house!’
He let out a snort of surprise.
Was this a brush-off she was giving here, or was she simply playing hard to get? He couldn’t be sure. The way he usually operated, involved him eyeballing a woman he wanted, and she was his. He played, and he caught. End of. Afterwards he discarded.
That was the way it was for him. He’d never known it any other way. Not since … he throttled that thought, fast. Enough to say that as far the last decade went, he’d surfed the double aphrodisiac of wealth and power to the max. This reluctance, this rebuff was new, and he baulked momentarily, before his confidence kicked back into play.
‘You’ll soon change your mind.’ He narrowed his eyes and looked up and down every last explosive inch of her, his testosterone-fuelled growl low and husky. ‘Give you a day or two, and I guarantee you’ll be begging.’ Let’s face it, they usually would.
He flashed her an arrogant grin, and tried to ignore the fact that right now he was the one who felt like doing the begging. She’d thrown him off balance here, and he needed to regroup. Damn the woman, damn her soft inviting thighs, and those breasts he ached to bury himself in. What the hell was he thinking? He didn’t do soft in any shape or form, either in his life, or in the women he chose. And he definitely didn’t do begging. Dammit! It was so long since he’d been with a woman, he’d made himself vulnerable. He was heading for a long hard cold shower. Time to take himself in hand, in more ways than one. And then he’d have an endorphin-blasting rip over the rooftops.
‘Begging? You think I’d beg?’ Her voice, high with incredulity, scythed into his thoughts. She hit him with a polar stare, and her voice dropped to a derisory hiss. ‘Don’t count on it, mate. If you’re thinking I’ll beg, you’re liable to have a long, lonely wait. Now if you’ll please excuse me, I’d like to get back to my room!’
So that was his dismissal, for this evening at least. He was ready to go with that. He slid aside, flung the door open, and soaked up the view of her bum cheeks wiggling beneath his sweater, as she marched on past him, and across the corridor.
Just before she disappeared, she whipped around to face him, arching her back against her door, and sticking out her chest in a way that finally flashed his smouldering groin into pure naked flames. Somewhere beneath the curtain of chestnut hair, he caught a rosy flush in her cheeks. She shot him a dimpled yet defiant grin, then, with a jut of her chin, added one resonant, parting thought.
‘I’m not even sure you’re my type!’
And then she was gone.
Brando gave another choke of derision.
Hah! This coming from a woman who’d happily thrown herself at an unknown guy to bag a stately home and a loaded husband. Successful billionaire, with a manor house and an estate was exactly her type.
Never a man to forgo the last word, he waited. Long enough for her to be was sure he was finished. Only then did he put his mouth to her keyhole, and shout.
‘Not your type, eh? I think we both know me and my bank balance are exactly what you’re looking for.’
And then he stormed back to his sitting room, and slammed the door hard enough to make the chandelier jangle.
Damn. Had he just committed to the long game? What the hell had happened to his plans to leave?
* * *
Shea spread a large dollop of home-made raspberry jam on her toast next morning, and pinched herself one more time to make damn sure this was really happening as she sipped her coffee in front of the fire. Waking up this morning she was surprised at the sense of relief she felt that she’d finally got away. It was strange to think she’d almost missed it altogether. If she hadn’t come home early that Sunday evening she wouldn’t be here, and she probably wouldn’t even have known about the existence of Edgerton Manor. So like her zany housemates to be obsessed with some weekend TV show about country piles, so like them to be ridiculous enough to get out the glue and scissors and start making postcards of themselves in various states of wedding dress – and undress – just because the presenter they loved to hate suggested some guy on TV needed a wife. And how weird it was to think that guy was Brando Marshall. It was all very well throwing herself into her work, but there were times when she knew she missed out. And although this trip was work related she was pleased she’d dared to come, even though she’d seemed the least likely candidate out of all of her friends to be chosen. To her mind even Guy was more suitable than her. At least his card made claims to him having a pert bum, a frilly apron, and superb washing up prowess, and at the time she assumed the disclaimer she’d scrawled on hers would put her out of the running completely. Whereas in fact when Bryony from the TV company had contacted Shea, she hadn’t seemed particularly bothered about the ‘wife’ part at all.
Rule one: never believe what Bryony says … Brando’s words from last night echoed round her head. Brando Marshall. She sighed, rolled her eyes at the way he’d wormed his way back into her thoughts despite her best efforts to keep him out, then glanced at her watch. White mice! Eight o’clock, and still in her pyjamas? Nothing to be proud of there. Okay, her excuse was she hadn’t had the best night’s sleep, but as far as getting her professional head into order and putting Brando Marshall back in the feel-no-attraction-whatsoever camp where he belonged, she was doing well. Last night she’d even managed to walk through the man’s bedroom without a qualm. Dashing through, hurtling back.
Doing every action incredibly fast around Brando had worked.
She’d felt nothing. Who was she kidding here? Well, not quite nothing. But she had plans to work on that today. The point was, she was firmly back in control, of herself and the situation, which was exactly where Shea Summers always needed
