gun.
‘Not at all.’ He bent close enough for her to scent his male warmth as he said softly but perfectly seriously, ‘The pleasure will be all mine.’ And he allowed just a long enough pause before he added, ‘As we both know.’
This time Georgie couldn’t think of a single thing to say, and so she stood meekly at his side as he called to Robert and informed him he would see them all at the White Knight after he had taken Georgie back to the office. Her eyes moved to the red Lamborghini crouching at the side of the road. She had never ridden in a Lamborghini before; in fact she hadn’t seen one this close up before either. Perhaps at a different time with a different driver the experience would be one to be savoured, but the car was too like its master to be anything else but acutely disturbing.
It was even more overwhelming when she found herself in the passenger seat and Matt shut the door gently behind her. She felt as though she was cocooned in leather and metal—which she supposed she was—and the car was so low she felt she was sitting on a level with the ground. However, those sensations were nothing to the ones which seized her senses once Matt slid in beside her.
The riot in her stomach was flushing her face, she just knew it was, but she couldn’t do a thing about it, and when Matt turned to her and said quietly, but with a throb of amusement in his voice, ‘Would you like to take those off?’ as he nodded at her boots which were almost reaching her chin she stiffened tensely. How like him to point out she looked ridiculous, she told herself silently. He couldn’t have made it more clear he found her totally unattractive. But that was fine; in fact it was great. Really great. Because that was exactly how she viewed him.
‘No.’ She forced herself to glance haughtily his way and then wished with all her heart she hadn’t. He was much, much too close.
‘I can come round and slip them off for you if it’s difficult with that tight skirt?’ he offered helpfully.
Georgie felt more trapped than ever. ‘No, I’m fine,’ she said tightly, staring resolutely out of the windscreen.
‘Georgie, it is the middle of the day and I am giving you a lift back to the office,’ he said evenly. ‘Can’t you let yourself relax in my company for just a minute or two? I promise you I have no intention of diverting to a deserted lane somewhere and having my wicked way with you, even if you do view me as a cross between the Marquis de Sade and Adolf Hitler.’
Shocked into looking at him again, she said quickly, ‘I didn’t think you were and of course I don’t think you’re like either of those two men!’
‘No?’ It reeked of disbelief.
‘No.’ This was awful, terrible. She should never have got into this car.
He raised his eyebrows at her but then to her intense relief he turned, starting the engine, which purred into life with instant obedience.
She turned back to the windscreen, but not before she had noticed the lingering amusement curling the hard mouth. He was obviously enjoying her discomfiture and, more to show him she was completely in control of herself than anything else, Georgie said primly, ‘This is a very nice car.’
‘Nice?’ He reacted as though she had said something unforgivable. ‘Georgie, family saloons are nice, along with sweet old maiden aunts and visits to the zoo and a whole host of other unremarkable things in this world of ours. A Lamborghini—’ he paused just long enough to make his point ‘—is not in that category.’
She’d annoyed him. Good. It felt great to have got under that inch-thick skin. ‘Well, that’s how I see it,’ she said sweetly. ‘A car is just a car, after all, a lump of metal to get you quickly from A to B. A functional necessity.’
‘I’m not even going to reply to that.’
She saw him glance down at the leather steering wheel and the beautiful dashboard as though to reassure himself that his pride and joy was still as fabulous as he thought it was, and she repressed a smile. Okay, she was probably being mean but, as he’d said earlier, he was a big boy; he could take it. ‘I’m sorry if I’ve offended you,’ she lied quietly.
‘Sure you are.’ The husky, smoky voice caught at her nerve-ends and she allowed herself another brief peek at the hard profile. He had rolled the sleeves of his shirt up at some point during the morning and his muscled arms, liberally covered with a dusting of black silky hair, swam into view. His shirt collar was open and several buttons undone and his shoulders were very broad. His body had an aggressive, top-heavy maleness that was impossible for any female to ignore.
The incredible car, the man driving it so effortlessly, the bright May sunshine slanting through the trees lining the road down which they were travelling—it was all the stuff dreams were made of, Georgie thought to herself a touch hysterically. He was altogether larger than life, Matt de Capistrano, and he was totally unaware of it.
‘Are both the Mercedes and this car yours?’ she asked carefully after a full minute had crept by in a screaming silence that had become more uncomfortable second by second.
‘Would that be a further nail in my coffin?’
The very English phrase, spoken in the dark accented voice and without a glance at her, caused Georgie to stiffen slightly. ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she said flatly.
‘I think you do,’ he returned just as flatly.
‘Now, look—’ Whatever she had been about to say ended in a squeak as he pulled the car into the side of the road and cut the engine. ‘What are you doing?’ she asked nervously.
‘I want to look at you while I talk to you,’ he said softly, ‘that is all, so do not panic, little English mouse.’
‘Mouse?’ He couldn’t have said anything worse, and then, as she jerked to face him and saw the smile twisting the firm lips, she knew he was teasing her.
And then the smile faded as he said, ‘I think we need to get a few things out into the open, Georgie.’
‘Do we?’ She didn’t think so. She really didn’t think so. And certainly not here, in this sumptuous car with him about an inch away and with nowhere to run to. She should never have antagonised him, she acknowledged much too late.
‘You look on me as the enemy and this is not the case at all,’ Matt said softly. ‘If your brother fails, I fail. If he makes good, it’s good news for me too.’
The hostility which had flared into life the minute she had set eyes on him, and which showed no signs of abating, was nothing to do with Robert and all to do with her, Georgie thought as she stared into the metallic grey eyes narrowed against the sunlight. But she could hardly say that, could she? So instead she managed fairly calmly, ‘I think that’s stretching credulity a little far. This business is everything Robert has; your interest here is just a tiny drop in the vast ocean of your business empire. It would hardly dent your coffers if this whole project went belly up.’
‘I have never had a business venture go “belly up”, as you so charmingly put it, and I do not intend for your brother’s to be the first,’ Matt returned smoothly. ‘Besides which…’
He paused, and Georgie said, ‘Yes?’
‘Besides which, you underestimate his assets,’ Matt said quietly.
‘I
