The Best Of The Year - Modern Romance 2016. Кейт Хьюит
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she had pulled him towards her in the restaurant and kissed him... Hell, he knew enough about women to know that loathing and dislike hadn’t been behind that kiss. She might not want to admit it, but he had felt an urgency there and it intrigued him.
Why wouldn’t it?
‘Those are the people I enjoy being around,’ she carried on, pausing as his driver cruised up alongside them and stopped.
When had he summoned a driver? But of course that would suit him far better than a normal taxi, because there was the option of sliding up that partition so that their conversation could not be overheard. He was always one step ahead.
‘Is that your not so subtle way of telling me that those are the sort of men you enjoy being around?’ He slid into the seat alongside her and predictably slid up the partition, locking them into complete privacy.
Work hard, play hard. Alexa was beginning to understand that, for Theo, the priority was business and after that came sex. He didn’t do love and emotion but he did do sex. It was why he could be so cool about the situation they were in. He could detach.
‘Yes.’
She took a deep breath and thought she had been gifted a golden opportunity to make it perfectly clear to him that those were just the sort of guys she was attracted to. And by attraction she knew that she meant a lot more than just a passing physical tug.
‘Their priorities are all in the right places...’
‘Heart-warming,’ Theo drawled. ‘Not the most aggressive of men, though, are they...? One had his hair in a ponytail. I’m thinking that he might be the type to strum a guitar and sing a haunting ballad by way of entertaining a woman...’
‘Jorge is absolutely wonderful! Hugely caring! Besides, I don’t like aggressive men!’
‘And yet your father didn’t get where he is by being the sort of man who gets walked over...’
‘He’s not ruthless...’
‘He bartered you in marriage so that he could get me as a bonus prize...’ Theo pointed out flatly, because he didn’t do well when it came to accepting unfavourable comparisons.
‘He did it for Mum,’ she contradicted. ‘I admit he saw an opportunity and seized it, but are you telling me that you wouldn’t do the same thing? He’s been desperately worried about my mother and he was convinced that her health and her spirits would improve if...if she had this to focus on. And that’s why I agreed to...to go along with the pretence.’
‘And when the pretence comes to its inevitable crashing halt?’
‘A year is a long time,’ she mumbled, because that thought had occurred to her as well. ‘My mother’s health will be in a better place and she’ll be able to accept that the marriage didn’t work out. She’ll no longer spend her days thinking that she’s on her way out and will die before she sees me settled down.’
‘That’s very optimistic projecting,’ Theo declared, in just the sort of arrogantly self-assured voice that got on her nerves. ‘She might have a nervous breakdown when we tell her that, sadly, we’re joining the statistics of the happily divorced...’
‘That’s a risk my father was prepared to take and so am I,’ Alexa told him sharply. ‘Wouldn’t you have done the same if it had been your mother?’
Theo’s face closed down. ‘I don’t deal in pointless hypotheses.’
But it was just the sort of solution his father would have hit upon. Deal with today and let tomorrow be a bridge yet to be crossed. And, yes, Theo would have gone along for the ride. He would have done anything for his mother. He and Daniel both.
‘All that’s beside the point,’ he said, and shrugged elegantly. ‘Now, our little detour has eaten a chunk of my time. I’m going to get my driver to deliver you to your house and you can pack your bags for our trip to the States. And no protest-packing please...’ he added, for good measure. ‘During the day you can amuse yourself, but the evenings will be formal occasions. I expect we will be entertained on a fairly lavish scale.’
‘Fine—but I insist that we check in to separate rooms,’ Alexa told him.
‘Already done,’ Theo returned smoothly. ‘My person in New York has booked us a penthouse suite. Adjoining rooms...’
‘But...’
‘But what...? Do you think I might try and break down the door between us so that I can ravish you?’
Alexa felt hot colour rush into her cheeks. She had been so intent on laying down her ground rules that she hadn’t even considered the obvious—which was that he didn’t even fancy her.
‘You’re getting a little ahead of yourself,’ he said kindly. ‘Aren’t you?’
‘I was just...just...making sure... Of course I don’t think that!’ She thought of the stunning blonde and the nuisance she had eventually turned into and mortification made her skin tingle.
‘Then I’ll text you our timings and get my driver to collect you...’
They were pulling up outside her house and Alexa felt physically and emotionally drained. She was gripping the door handle before the car had even pulled to a stop.
‘Till tomorrow...’ he directed at her as she flipped open the door to step out.
Alexa turned and watched helplessly as the car pulled away. A week in New York, where thankfully their time together would be limited, but then would come their engagement party, and then, in short order, a wedding.
By then she would have to make sure that she...
That she was in control...
ALEXA KNEW WHAT to expect in New York. She had been there several times before and had always loved the buzz of the city that literally never slept.
She met Theo at the check-in desk at the airport, where he was waiting for her, chatting to the woman who had checked him in, who was trying to ignore the fact that there were two other people impatiently waiting in the queue behind him.
‘Is that all you’ve brought with you?’ were his opening words as he strolled towards Alexa, who had joined the back of the queue.
Unlike every other woman he had ever travelled with, Alexa had made absolutely no concession to the fact that they would be travelling first class and he liked that. She was in a pair of loose culottes and a T-shirt, with a cardigan lightly draped over her shoulders and flat ballet shoes. There wasn’t a scrap of colour in her outfit, and she had braided her long, untamed hair into a neat French plait which hung over one shoulder.
‘I have enough for a week—although you haven’t mentioned just how long I will be expected to stay.’
In response to that incendiary way of phrasing her question, Theo slung his arm over her shoulder and felt her tense.
‘What are you doing?’ Alexa squeaked as the line shuffled forward.
‘I’m getting you in the mood.’
‘In the mood for what?’
‘For being my adoring fiancée... And in answer to your question about how long we will be staying...my plans are fluid.’
‘What do you mean...?’ she asked, hopeful that his ‘fluid’ plans might entail a reduction in the time they would end up spending in the city. ‘Might we be there for less than a week...?’
Alexa looked up at him, eyes wide, and he shot her a half-smile before lowering his head and kissing her—a delicate kiss that feathered over her lips with just the lightest touch from his tongue. He pulled back and turned to the woman who had checked him in.
‘Newly