Kate Hardy – Temporary Boss, Permanent Mistress (страница 6)

Jake had followed Nils into the kitchen from the door at the other end of the room, and stood there in silence, watching Lydia as she sketched; she looked completely at home, chatting to Elisabet and stopping what she was doing every so often to help one of the children.

He could imagine her like that with children of her own, kind and patient and supportive, and the hollow in his stomach filled with bile. Yet another reason why he had no right to start any kind of relationship with Lydia: children were absolutely not on his agenda, not any more.

And how hard it was, to smile and be polite and pretend that everything was just fine. Still, he ought to be used to it, by now. He’d managed it before. He’d manage it tonight. He forced himself to walk casually over towards Lydia and glanced over her shoulder.

He’d thought her cloud pictures on the plane were good, but these were fabulous. With a few deft strokes of her pencil, she’d really captured both children: Kristin, concentrating on her butterfly, and Morten’s expression as it changed from effort to triumph as he realised he’d managed to draw a cat just the way she’d taught him.

‘You’re very talented.’

‘Thank you.’

Though Jake noticed that she kept a tight hold of her sketchbook as she removed the pages with the sketches of the children, then stuffed it back in her handbag without offering to let anyone look through it. So she was as unconfident about her talent as she was about her work as a lawyer? Someone must really have done a number on her, in the past.

Nils and Elisabet were both delighted with the sketches. Nils took the children up to bed and read them a story, while Elisabeth ushered them into the dining room and brought the first course in.

Dinner was fine: good food and good conversation, with Nils and Elisabet suggesting places in Oslo that Lydia really ought to see before she returned to England. The opera house, a night-time walk along the Akerselva river, the sculptures in Vigeland park and the Viking ships in the museum.

Lydia seemed to blossom in their company, opening up about her favourite places to sketch in London. And Jake realised just how pretty she was: her dark eyes sparkled, her face was animated, and the candlelight brought out the copper and gold lights in her hair.

He had to force himself to stop staring at her mouth.

And every so often he caught her eye and saw the colour bloom on her cheeks.

She worked for him, he reminded himself. And he wasn’t in a position to offer her anything more than a fling. He needed to get himself back under control.

And yet…he’d noticed that she was looking at him, too.

So he wasn’t alone in this crazy attraction. Maybe she was wondering the same thing as he was. What it would be like to touch her skin; how it would feel to kiss her.

At the end of the evening, he thanked Nils and Elisabet for their hospitality, but when he climbed into the taxi beside Lydia he fell silent.

It would be so easy to ask her…

But that would be taking unfair advantage of the situation. Plus, if he’d misread the signs, it would be way too awkward at work tomorrow. This deal was too important to jeopardise.

And for the life of him he couldn’t think of a neutral topic of conversation. All he could think of was how much he wanted to cradle that beautiful heart-shaped face in his hands and touch his mouth to hers, coax her into responding. A sweet, slow kiss that would deepen and deepen and end up with his body driving into hers.

He could hardly say that, could he?

‘Did I do something wrong?’ Lydia asked eventually.

‘Wrong?’ He didn’t follow.

‘You’re a bit, um, quiet.’ She dragged in a breath. ‘Look, if I made a faux pas tonight, I’d appreciate knowing what it was, so I don’t repeat it.’

‘No, you’re fine—it’s not you.’ It was definitely him. Not that he intended to tell her what was in his head. ‘I guess I’m a bit tired.’ He lifted one shoulder. ‘Every time my mother sees me, she nags me about working too hard.’

‘Maybe she has a point,’ Lydia said.

‘I’m fine.’ To his relief, the taxi arrived at the hotel. He paid the fare, then walked in to the hotel foyer with her. ‘I was planning to go for a swim tomorrow morning before breakfast in my room. We’re due in the office at eight, so I’ll call for you at quarter to.’

He didn’t quite catch her expression before she masked it, and after he’d seen her safely to her room and opened his own door, he was still thinking about it. Had it been relief that he didn’t expect her to spend every waking minute of the day with him?

Or had it been disappointment?

‘Get a grip,’ he told himself crossly, and headed for a cold shower. Hopefully the temperature would knock some sense back into his head.

CHAPTER THREE

AFTER two days of working closely with Lydia, Jake was going quietly crazy. He managed to keep his mind focused on work in the office; but when they were back at the hotel nothing could get her out of his mind. Cold showers, long swims, workouts in the hotel gym…Nothing worked.

It was even worse when Lydia was sitting next to him at the table in the sitting room of his suite, working her way through the contract they were hammering out with Nils. All he could think about was leaning across to kiss her—and the fact that his bedroom was only a few steps away.

On the Friday night, Lydia was talking him through the document. Jake was hardly aware of what she was saying; he couldn’t take his eyes off her mouth. And because she wore hardly any make-up, her lips were their natural shape and colour: a soft blush rose, with a natural pout.

All he could think about was how much he wanted to taste her.

How much he wanted to plunder.

How much he wanted that gorgeous mouth kissing him back, demanding everything he was prepared to give and offering just as much back.

‘Jake? Is that OK with you?’

‘Uh. Yeah. You’re absolutely right.’ Actually, he didn’t have a clue what Lydia had just said, but he’d seen her work first-hand over the last couple of days. She was meticulous, so he had absolute confidence in her judgement.

And he went back to watching her mouth. Keeping himself in check—just—but still wondering.

Until the moment he let his gaze flicker up to her eyes and realised that she was staring at him, too. That she was looking at his mouth.

Was she wondering what it would feel like if…?

No. He had to be sensible about this.

He dragged his attention back to the contract. Managed to discuss it with her as if he were totally focused on business.

But then they both reached for the same piece of paper at the same time, and their fingers brushed by accident. It felt as if he’d been hit by lightning. Jake’s whole body quivered, and his control finally snapped; he twisted round to face Lydia, slid his hands into her hair, and brushed his mouth against hers.

The lightest, sweetest, gentlest kiss.

His lips tingled where they’d touched hers, and he was about to kiss her again more thoroughly when his common sense kicked in.

What the hell was he doing? Apart from the fact that he was setting himself up for being sued for sexual harassment, he’d promised himself that he wouldn’t give in to his body’s urging. He’d promised himself that he’d be sensible about this, that he’d ignore the attraction.

He was about to loosen his hands, move away and apologise, when he felt a soft kiss pressed against his mouth.

Lydia was kissing him back.

Jake’s control splintered again, and he responded, nibbling her lower lip until her mouth opened, letting him deepen the kiss and explore her mouth more intimately. His hands glided down her back to her waist; right now, he needed to touch as well as taste. He untucked her shirt from the waistband of her skirt and slid his fingers underneath the cotton so he could splay his palms against her back. Her skin was warm and smooth and soft, and it made him want to explore further. He moved his fingertips in tiny circles against her skin, and she murmured something against his mouth.

The tiny sound broke the spell and he stopped, pulling away from her and staring at her, aghast. Lydia—the cool, calm lawyer he’d worked with all week—looked completely dishevelled. And it was all his fault.

Ah, hell. What had he been thinking?

‘I’m sorry, Lydia,’ he said. ‘I shouldn’t have done that.’

Her eyes were wide and worried as she looked back at him, but she didn’t say a word.

He raked a hand through his hair and stared at the table. ‘I apologise. I can assure you that I don’t normally leap on my colleagues like that—and it certainly wasn’t the reason why I brought you to Norway.’

‘I know.’

There was the tiniest, tiniest quiver in her voice, which made him look at her. Her mouth was lush and reddened with his kisses; he just about managed to drag his gaze to her eyes, and then he realised that she was staring at his mouth again, too.

So it really wasn’t just him. She wanted this, too.

He needed to talk to her about this. To do the honourable thing—explain that he couldn’t offer her any more than a fling.

But then she reached up with a shy smile. Pressed the flat of her palm to his cheek, and rubbed the pad of her thumb along his lower lip. Automatically, his mouth opened; he drew her thumb into his mouth and sucked. Hard. Her pupils grew huge and her mouth parted, and Jake was lost.