you still love him?’
‘No!’ Lara’s answer was swift and fierce.
Bryce crooked a dark brow. ‘It seems to me that you’re not letting yourself forget him. He’s there all the time, haunting your thoughts. You need a friend, someone to take you out of yourself, someone to confide in, laugh with, and enjoy the real pleasures of life.’
‘And you’re proposing that you should be my friend?’ she said with derision. It was laughable. Bryce Kellerman didn’t want to be her friend. Her lover perhaps. It was there in the way he looked at her, the way his eyes devoured her body. Were they the pleasures he was talking about? Friend? Huh! Who was he trying to kid?
‘I am,’ he said, his tone serious, ‘if you’d let me.’
But it would be hellishly hard. How could he be a platonic friend to a woman as sexy and desirable as Lara Lennox? It would be well-nigh impossible. He’d spent the last few days in some kind of hell. Should he see her again or shouldn’t he? He’d been let down so many times that he was almost afraid to let himself care for anyone else. It was an odd feeling to be afraid when he’d made such a success of his business life. But for Lara’s sake he was prepared to give it a go. She needed her faith restored in mankind.
At least that’s what he kept telling himself.
She looked at him long and hard, her blue eyes probing his. ‘I’ve never had a male friend. I didn’t think it possible. I always thought that sex would rear its ugly head somewhere along the line.’
Ugly? Sex? It was the most wonderful and natural thing in the world. Obviously her husband had screwed her up on that score as well. He drew in a steadying breath, hiding the anger he felt, the questions he still wanted to ask.
‘That’s where you’re wrong,’ he said. ‘Lots of women have male friends.’
‘I don’t know any.’
‘You don’t have to know them, Lara. Simply take my word for it. So what’s your answer?’ He held his hand out across the table. ‘Friends?’
He thought she was going to refuse, had virtually resigned himself to never getting to know this stunning woman any better, decided he’d be better off for it, when slowly, and with obvious reluctance, and a great deal of courage, she slid her hand into his.
‘Friends,’ she agreed huskily. ‘Nothing more.’
‘It’s a deal.’ He enclosed her hand in both of his, feeling a desperate need to lean across the table and kiss her, seal their pact properly. Instead he looked deeply into her troubled eyes. What a beautiful shade of blue they were, cobalt perhaps, rich and unconsciously sultry, beckoning him without her knowledge.
His male hormones wreaked havoc. What had he done? How could he go through with this? And how could he not? This woman had captivated him from the word go.
It was with great difficulty that he released Lara’s hand. He could feel her stiffening, getting ready to pull away, perhaps even regretting her decision. He smiled, a wide, friendly safe smile. ‘You won’t be sorry.’
‘I hope not.’ She fired the words at him, a warning glitter in her eyes. ‘Because I have no intention of letting another man mess me around. If you hurt me, Bryce Kellerman, if you go back on your word, you’ll find me a very dangerous lady. I wasn’t brought up with four brothers for nothing.’
He pulled a face, pretending alarm, loving her fiery nature. ‘I will never do anything to hurt you, Lara. I give you my word.’ He lifted his glass. ‘To us, to a true friendship.’
Lara clinked hers against it. ‘To friendship.’ And she allowed a slow smile to wipe the worry from her face.
She was beautiful, he thought, absolutely ravishingly beautiful. He loved everything about her: her silken hair; her delectable blue eyes; the wide, sexy mouth that absolutely begged to be kissed; her slender body that he wanted to urge against him; high, firm breasts that tempted him through the thin cotton of her dress. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to keep his hands off her.
‘How long are you planning to stay?’ He didn’t realise how harsh his voice was until he saw her sudden frown.
‘I don’t know. Aunt Helen says for as long as I like.’
‘Until you’ve got over your disastrous marriage? Is that it?’
‘I guess so,’ she agreed.
‘Whereabouts in England do you live?’ There was still so much he wanted to know.
‘In the Midlands, near Birmingham. I share a flat with a friend.’
She shared! From choice or necessity? ‘Did you get a settlement from your husband?’ The second he’d asked he realised it was a very personal question, too personal considering they hardly knew each other. Fortunately Lara didn’t seem to mind.
‘I wanted nothing from him,’ she announced bitterly. ‘I walked into marriage with nothing, I left it with nothing. He didn’t offer anything, I didn’t ask. I was glad to be free of him.’
‘Strong sentiments,’ he agreed, ‘but not very practical ones. He owed you something for the three years you gave him. Do you still work for him?’
‘Goodness, no!’ she exclaimed hotly. ‘He made me give up my job when we got married.’
‘What sort of a man is he, for God’s sake?’ Bryce was finding it difficult to contain his anger. ‘He doesn’t sound human. Didn’t your feelings, your needs, your rights, enter into the equation at all?’
‘Do we have to talk about this?’ she asked, her eyes shooting dangerous sparks of fire.
Bryce cursed his too-ready tongue and was grateful when the waiter appeared with their entrée.
Lara’s baby octopus tart served with a Kakadu plum and chilli sauce had been served at exactly the right moment. She wished Bryce wouldn’t keep questioning her. It was only friendly interest, she knew, but some things were best kept private, and her catastrophic marriage was one of them.
She ought never to have said anything, and she was definitely beginning to doubt the wisdom of agreeing to become friends. Bryce Kellerman was a dangerously sexy man; it might be impossible to hide the attraction she felt. It wasn’t love, could never be love, but she couldn’t rule out the possibility that she would enjoy him making love to her. In fact her body went warm at the very thought and she kept her head bent over her food so that he shouldn’t see the sudden surge of colour in her cheeks.
But—so long as he stuck to his side of the bargain—there shouldn’t be a problem. The trouble was, would he? Or would he fall at the first hurdle? Would they both fall? Would the temptations of the flesh be too much for them?
What had happened to the grim determination that had carried her through the dark days of her separation and divorce? She had vowed to let no other man near, not for a very long time, if ever. And now here she was, only months into her freedom, agreeing to be Bryce Kellerman’s friend. What sort of a friend, for heaven’s sake? A man as sexy as he couldn’t possibly entertain the idea of a platonic relationship.
‘You’ve
