of Michael was as Jake Matthews bundled her across the room and out of the house. She had never been treated so high-handedly in her life before, and was literally speechless as the passenger door of the Ferrari was opened for her, Jake walking around the back of the car to get in behind the wheel, his presence at once overwhelming.
‘Did I bore you that much?’ he asked once they had been driving in silence for several minutes.
Juliet blinked dazedly, her lashes long and silky. ‘Bore me?’ she repeated.
‘Mm,’ he nodded. ‘So much so that you escaped the first opportunity you could.’
‘I didn’t escape!’ Her eyes flashed like a sparkling red wine. ‘I was simply talking to Michael. We were at a dinner party, Mr Matthews, it’s usual to converse with one’s host.’
‘You would have come back to me?’
‘No, I wouldn’t! We didn’t go there together, I saw no reason to stay at your side,’ she scowled.
‘But I saw every reason for staying at yours,’ he smiled that infuriating smile. ‘I like the way you look, Juliet. And I like your spirit. Will you have dinner with me tomorrow?’
‘Certainly not,’ she replied irritably. ‘You see, I don’t like anything about you.’
‘Nothing?’ he quirked one dark eyebrow questioningly.
‘Nothing,’ she told him rebelliously.
He slowed the car right down, turning off into a side-road before stopping the car completely. He left the engine running as he turned in his seat to look at her. ‘You have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen,’ he said almost incredulously, his hand at her nape pulling her slowly towards him. ‘The colour of sherry,’ he murmured throatily.
She watched him almost as if in a dream, was conscious of his movements and yet unable to stop him. She knew he was going to kiss her seconds before his mouth claimed hers, knew it and yet didn’t fight him. Let him take his kiss, it was easier than fighting him, and she would never see him again after tonight anyway. She waited resignedly, wishing it over.
But the second his lips touched hers she knew this was no ordinary kiss. Jake held her face between his hands as his mouth discovered hers, as his lips probed and parted hers with throbbing urgency, their ragged breathing the only sound in the car, the air between them charged with electricity.
When Jake finally moved back they were both pale, Juliet’s eyes, the eyes that had apparently prompted the kiss, wide with bewilderment. She had been kissed by other men, quite a few in fact, and yet her senses still swam from the impact of this one.
‘Dinner tomorrow?’ he repeated persuasively.
Her hand resting on his chest told her his heart was beating as erratically as her own. ‘What time?’ she heard herself ask breathlessly.
‘Eight-thirty?’
‘Fine,’ she nodded.
‘Juliet …’ he groaned before his lips once more claimed hers.
It was just like before, that same liquid fire in her veins, that same dizzy feeling, as if she had drunk too much champagne. And yet she had only had a couple of glasses of wine, so it wasn’t that. No, it was this man making her feel drunk, with passion.
‘No, Jake!’ She managed to gain enough strength to wrench away, coming slowly to her senses. ‘Please, we’re on view here!’ She straightened her hair.
Jake still held her, his lips nuzzling her throat. ‘Your place or mine?’
‘Neither.’ She moved completely out of his arms, her voice edged with the shock she couldn’t hide. ‘You like to work fast, Mr Matthews,’ she said tautly.
He shrugged. ‘I usually know what I want, and how to get it.’
As he had known exactly how to get her to agree to seeing him tomorrow! She had acted like the besotted fool he had made her feel. ‘Not tonight,’ she told him coldly.
‘Too soon?’
Her blood boiled at his arrogance. ‘Much too soon.’ It would always be too soon for them! ‘My home is the other way,’ she pointed to distantly as she realised where they were parked.
‘Okay, direct me,’ he accepted her refusal resignedly, and turned in his seat to accelerate the car back out into the flow of traffic.
Juliet silently fumed at him as they travelled to her home. Arrogant fool! And she was even more of a fool for letting him affect her in this way.
‘Are you going to invite me in for coffee?’ he asked once they were parked outside her home.
‘Not tonight. I—I’m a little tired,’ she feigned weariness.
One of those long artistic hands came out and touched her pale cheek. ‘All right, Juliet.’ That attractively curved mouth was once more coming her way. ‘God, I want you badly,’ he told her before kissing her with a savagery designed to take her breath away.
But it didn’t. This time she was ready for him, her anger stopping her from responding, the sheer audacity of the man making her furious. He wanted her! And no doubt he thought it would be easy to get her into bed with him. He was in for a surprise if he really thought that. She wouldn’t be taken unawares again.
He moved back, shrugging at her lack of response. ‘As you say, you’re tired. So I’ll say goodbye until tomorrow.’
Juliet hastily left the intimacy of the car, forcing herself to turn and wave to Jake before he drove off. She had been wrong about him, he was a typical male chauvinistic pig if ever she had met one! And she had met plenty of them in the past, although Jake Matthews came a definite first for chauvinism.
He was the type of man she most despised, after all, the sort of man who didn’t think women had a brain, that they were only there to cook and provide sexual pleasure for men. She always liked to be an equal partner in her relationships with men, in fact she insisted on it, and as far as Jake Matthews was concerned she hadn’t been allowed to make one decision for herself. She didn’t know what sort of women he was usually attracted to, but she certainly wasn’t one of those women who were just grateful to be thought worthy of sharing the television personality’s bed.
The telephone was ringing when she entered her flat, and she didn’t need two guesses who it was. ‘Hello, Melanie,’ she greeted dryly, sitting down in the chair next to the telephone, knowing from experience how long Melanie’s telephone calls usually were.
‘Hello.’ Her friend wasn’t in the least abashed that she had known it was her. ‘I just called to see how Jake enjoyed kissing that dried-up old spinster Caroline Miles. He did kiss you, didn’t he?’ Melanie asked excitedly.
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