The Boss's Marriage Arrangement. PENNY JORDAN
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worker, Harriet had brought a passion and flair to her role in the team that had infused the project she was working on with a new dynamism.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried to overcome his feelings for her; he had! In the past few months he had dated more women than he had done in the past few years. But none of them had so much as dragged his thoughts away from Harriet for as long as five seconds.
Her Matt-aware antennae for once not working efficiently, Harriet was oblivious to the fact that Matt could overhear her as she shook her head and told Ben firmly, ‘We can’t talk about this here.’ Giving his hand another squeeze, she suggested, ‘Why don’t we have dinner together tonight? I’ve got loads to tell you about what’s going on at home.’
Watching her, Matt felt as though someone was ripping his heart, muscle from muscle. He wanted to stride over to them, to take hold of Harriet and ask her if she realised what she was doing. And then what? Force her to back off and allow Ben and Cindi to get on with their lives—and their love?
He had no right to interfere, he warned himself harshly. But if he didn’t then who would? And besides, a dangerously reasonable little voice inside him argued, didn’t he have the right as an employer to want a workplace free of any emotional entanglements and dramas that would take his employees’ attention away from their work?
Oblivious to what Matt was thinking, Harriet watched Ben. He looked so dejected that she felt desperately sorry for him, and wanted to do whatever she could to help. Cindi obviously loved Ben, and Harriet knew that Ben loved Cindi. She was amazed that Ben had even needed to ask her if she was secretly in love with him! How could she be when…? When what? When she was desperately afraid that she had fallen in love with Matt?
Matt! Automatically she lifted her head and looked towards the corridor which led to his office, her body stiffening and hot colour staining her skin as she saw him standing watching them.
Ben was a good looking young man, but he was just that—a young man. In no way did he compare in sheer male presence to Matthew Cole, who was pure lethal adult, and so fully charged with testosterone that no woman living could fail to be aware of him. Not that she didn’t do her bit for her own sex by fiercely pretending that she was not. She was aware of him. All the time! But some days, sometimes—like right now—something went wrong and her protective shield failed to work properly. Sometimes just the sight of Matt was enough to set up a chain of reaction inside her body that resulted in butterflies in her tummy and a weakness in her legs. But that weakness was nowhere near as dangerous as the weakness in her emotions.
Because the truth was that Matt epitomised everything Harriet had ever dreamed about in a man. He was her childhood prince come to life; her knight in shining armour. He was her darkly disturbing, secret sensual-fan-tasymade man. He made her ache with feverish longing—and, far more dangerously, he made her dream impossible daydreams about love and happy ever afters, and at least four little Matts or Matildas calling her Mummy!
And no way was that ever going to happen! Matt didn’t even like her, never mind love her. In fact sometimes when he was looking at her the way he was right now, his slate-grey eyes iced with permafrost and freezing her with the most intimidating glare of fury she had ever seen, she felt that he actively disliked her.
Her heart might be sinking, Harriet acknowledged, but her chin wasn’t going to. Bravely she tilted it, and met his slicing scrutiny.
What was it about the thickness of his close-cropped dark hair that made her want to slide her fingers into it, to mould them against the curve of his well-shaped head, whilst one of his strong hands cupped her own, and that hard mouth softened with desire and…?
‘Harriet, I’d like to see you in my office.’
The cold, clinical words brought her back to earth.
‘You mean now?’ she queried. She needed to keep her distance from him right now, not get even closer to him. Harriet had her pride—the same pride that had led to her refusing to give in to her first love’s demand that she go to bed with him—and she was not going to join the ranks of Matt’s lovelorn adorers.
‘I mean now!’ he agreed, in a clipped voice that made Ben give her a small shove.
‘See you tonight, then,’ he said.
Matt had already disappeared down the corridor, and as she followed him Harriet wondered feverishly what he wanted.
There had never been any open clashes between them. How could there be when he was not just her immediate boss but the owner of the company as well? But there had been plenty of subtle indirect ones.
It wasn’t so much Matt’s antagonism towards her that sparked off the fiery pride that led to her spirited defiance but her own shocked stark inner awareness of just how vulnerable to him she was.
Apart from the brief catastrophe of her first foray into love Harriet had remained heart-whole, and that was the way she had intended to remain until she was well into her thirties and ready to settle down. And then she had seen Matt and her sensible plans had self-ignited after one incredulous look at him. Nor had it made any difference telling herself that no sensible and right-thinking woman would be so idiotic as to fall crazily in love with a man who obviously was never going to feel the same way about her.
Abruptly Harriet realised that she had reached Matt’s office.
An inimical biting grey glance impaled her where she stood, leaving her feeling as though her every thought had been dissected and then rejected.
‘Come in and close the door.’
Her heart was going crazy inside her chest. But it wasn’t her erratic heartbeat that bothered her as she mentally cursed herself for leaving her jacket on her chair.
The state-of-the-art office had a climatically controlled temperature that made it totally unnecessary for her nipples to do some temperature-awareness testing of their own. But that was exactly what they were doing—pressing themselves against her clothes for the entire world to see, as though she was standing in an arctic wind.
Or sexually aroused. Well, she certainly knew which it was, and she could only hope that Matt did not!
Her nipples tightened so fiercely that she almost cried out in protest.
‘Sit down.’
Woodenly, Harriet did so.
For once Matt had no carefully thought out plan of action mentally organised. He only knew that for her own sake Harriet needed to distance herself from Ben—both in her own emotions and in other people’s eyes.
The intensity of his grim expression as he battled with his own private devils increased Harriet’s apprehension. What on earth had she done?
‘It’s come to my attention that your…feelings for Ben are the subject of a great deal of office criticism and gossip.’
Harriet could feel the tips of her ears starting to burn hotly in mortified shock. Matt had swung his chair around so that she could only see his profile, but she was miserably and humiliating aware that he could still see how his words were affecting her.
Her whole face was burning now, with both anger and humiliation, as the full ramifications of his accusatory and demeaning statement sank in.
Immediately she rushed to defend herself, and to reject what he was saying. ‘If you are referring to Cindi’s ridiculous suggestion that I am secretly in love with Ben—’
‘Secretly?’ Matt stopped her sharply, turning to face her. ‘There was nothing secret about the touching little scene I just witnessed. Touching, that is, unless one happens to know the truth! And the entire company knows the truth, Harriet.’ The look Matt gave her made her want to disappear!
Through stiff, shock-numbed lips Harriet managed to demand, ‘And that truth is…?’
There was a look in her eyes that made Matt want to go to her and hold her, tell her that nothing and no one was going to be allowed to hurt her whilst he was there