‘In that case the ones on the model should fit you. Wait here. I’ll go get them.’
The shoes were produced, with Sharni having to sit down to put them on. They were cripplingly high and sinfully sexy, each having a narrow strap across the front, with two more straps attached at the back which wound round her ankles and tied in a bow. She’d never in her life worn anything like them.
Sharni teetered at first when she stood up, having to keep her steps small as she made her way very slowly out to where Adrian was waiting, leaning against a counter in the middle of the boutique.
He straightened on seeing her, his blue eyes narrowing as they raked over her from top to toe.
Never had any man looked at her in quite that way before, not even Ray. The intensity of his gaze overwhelmed her, making her knees go to jelly.
‘Walk up and down a few times,’ Adrian commanded in that masterful way that made Sharni’s stomach flutter wildly.
Not a totally unknown state for her these days. But her nervous tummy was usually due to anxiety, not excitement.
Once she found her balance, her hips surprised her by developing a decidedly sexy sway. The effect on her psyche was amazing. Suddenly, she was a femme fatale; a temptress who commanded all male eyes be upon her.
But there was only one male Sharni wanted looking at her at that moment. And he very definitely was, with glittering blue eyes that evoked a heat in her that felt both shameful and shameless.
‘I told you you’d look great in that,’ he said, his voice low and sexy.
Sharni’s heart quickened its beat.
‘She’ll take it,’ he told the salesgirl before Sharni had a chance to come to a decision.
‘The shoes as well?’ the girl asked Adrian.
‘Absolutely,’ came his crisp reply.
‘You…you do realise I’ll probably never ever wear these shoes again,’ she said, even as she admired them.
‘Of course you will,’ he countered. ‘Every time you wear that fantastic outfit. Now go get changed, like a good girl, while I fix up the bill.’
Sharni flushed with the weirdest mixture of pleasure and embarrassment. ‘I can’t possibly let you pay for my clothes, Adrian,’ she protested. ‘It’s not right.’
‘What’s not right about it? I can well afford a few hundred dollars.’
‘That’s not the point!’
He smiled, then reached out to stroke a tender fingertip down her nose. ‘All right, sweet Sharni,’ he said, his eyes soft on hers. ‘You can pay for your own clothes. But this is the last time you get to pay for anything when you’re with me. Off you go and change now. But don’t be too long. Now that you have something suitable to wear tonight, you don’t have to waste the afternoon shopping. We can spend it together, doing something more interesting.’
He was like a steamroller, Sharni thought as she changed back into her trousers and jumper.
But it was exciting, being swept along like this.
What did he have in mind for this afternoon? she wondered momentarily before deciding she wouldn’t wonder. Or worry. About anything. Not even what it was about her that interested him.
After all, a man like Adrian would have no shortage of women—more beautiful than herself—throwing themselves at him.
This last thought did give Sharni something to worry about. Surely Adrian must have a girlfriend. Surely!
Should she ask him and risk bringing an abrupt ending to their time together today? Or avoid the question altogether?
Sharni was still dithering over this dilemma when she emerged from the dressing room.
Adrian’s satisfaction at the way things were going was temporarily derailed when he saw the expression on Sharni’s face.
He didn’t like whatever was going on in her mind, but didn’t say a word whilst she paid for her purchases. Experience had taught him never to tamper with a woman’s mind. They were minefields that could blow up in your face when least expected.
‘Let me take a couple of those,’ she said when they left the shop with him carrying all her parcels.
‘If you insist,’ he returned, thinking he would need a hand free to extract his key-card for the lifts.
‘I insist,’ she said, and took the two bags from the boutique.
They walked in silence over to the main entrance to the tower.
‘This way,’ Adrian said, the automatic doors opening when he stepped forward onto the entry mat.
Their reflection in the glass, however, showed that Sharni had ground to a halt behind him, that worried look still on her face.
Gritting his teeth against a flash of irritation, he turned and rejoined her on the pavement. ‘What is it?’ he asked. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘I…I have to ask you something.’
‘What?’
‘Is there anyone in your life who would be upset with you taking me out tonight?’
‘A girlfriend, you mean.’
‘Yes,’ she said, her eyes fixed unswervingly on his.
Man, but she would be a difficult person to lie to. Not that he had to, thank God. Felicity was definitely no longer his girlfriend.
‘Absolutely not.’
If anything, her frown increased with his answer. ‘I…I do find that hard to believe.’
Adrian’s frustration was tempered by the flattery within her statement. ‘There was someone till recently,’ he said, but refrained from saying how recently. ‘Let me assure you that there’s no one who could object to my taking you out tonight.’
Her sigh showed genuine relief. ‘That’s good, then.’
‘And if I’d said there was someone?’ he couldn’t resist asking.
Adrian empathised with the flash of indecision that crossed her face, because it echoed his feelings for her. Never in his life had he felt this strongly about a woman within hours of meeting her. He’d been attracted at first sight in the past. But this was more than that.
If there’d been some new man in Sharni’s life, he would still have pursued her.
‘No need to answer that,’ he went on before she could put her obviously muddled thoughts into words. ‘It was a silly question. Come on. I want to get you upstairs while the sun’s still shining.’
CHAPTER
