Trish Wylie – The Millionaire's Proposal (страница 2)

She searched his face to see if she could figure it out. And even that was disconcerting. It was the proximity, she supposed. There was a certain intimacy to being seated beside someone on a plane. So the fact she was so aware of his breathing, the musky male undertone of his scent, the dark hint of stubble on his jaw, and each flicker of his thick lashes, was a completely natural reaction.

When she studied him a little longer than was probably considered polite, he turned his upper body in the seat and folded his arms across his broad chest.

‘So how would you change it to make it more useful to you, then?’

What? Oh, yes, they’d been making polite conversation about the book, hadn’t they? Kerry took a deep breath and looked back down at it, shaking her head a little at her uncharacteristic lack of being able to think straight. ‘I dunno. Graded the chapters, maybe?’

‘What way?’

‘Length of stay? If you have two days you shouldn’t miss this and that, a week you should try and see—that kind of thing.’

When she didn’t get a reply she looked back up at him to discover a view of his profile, dark brows creased downwards in thought. He really was fascinating to look at, wasn’t he? Not shaving-commercial good-looking, but certainly rugged enough to advertise outdoor wear or heavy duty Jeeps or maybe even activity holidays. He looked like a man’s man and that meant he was automatically a woman’s man too, didn’t it? After all, there was something about a very male man that tugged at something deep inside a woman.

She was studying the short cropped dark chocolate of his hair when he snapped her out of her reverie…

‘A list of things to pack for each length of trip might be useful too. Maybe a small section at the end of each chapter for whether you’re a classical sightseer type or an adventurer or a party-goer or if you have kids along…that kind of thing…’

Kerry smiled indulgently as he mumbled to the back of the seat in front of him. ‘Planning on rewriting the book now, are we?’

When he turned to look at her a smile danced in his eyes and she found herself mesmerized all over again before he hummed beneath his breath and answered with a softly spoken, ‘Maybe.’

Unfolding his arms, he extended a large hand towards her. ‘Ronan O’Keefe. And whatever you want to drink should really be on me to say thanks for buying a copy of my book. But as drinks are included I’ll just have to promise not to make you spill anything.’

Kerry gaped, swiftly checked the name on the cover of the book, and then, rolling her eyes before shaking his hand, ‘Just as well I didn’t say anything too insulting about it, really, isn’t it?’

And it explained the something she’d felt too. It’d been a forewarning of sorts, hadn’t it?

Her hand enfolded firmly in the warmth of his long fingers, he held on just a little too long while fixing her gaze with his as he answered with a rumbling, ‘Yes, it is.’

The warmth transferred to her smaller hand. He had the kind of firm handshake her father would have approved of and respected. But it wasn’t quite respect Kerry was feeling. She even had to clear her throat before speaking.

‘Would you have let on who you were if I had?’

‘After a while.’

And the continuing sparkle in his eyes told her he’d have had fun with it too. ‘Happened before, I take it?’

‘Occupational hazard when travelling.’ He inclined his head, ‘I’m also incredibly good at recommending them to people in airport bookstores when I see them pick one up.’

When he added a lazy wink, Kerry couldn’t help but laugh. Oh, he was a bit of a charmer, this one, wasn’t he? Full of good old-fashioned Blarney, her nana would say with a throaty chuckle. He probably spent half his life chatting up women on planes, she wasn’t anything special, which reminded her—it really was time she let go of his hand.

Gently extricating it, and immediately feeling the loss of warmth in contrast to the cool air from the plane’s air-conditioning, she lifted her chin and challenged him with an upward arch of one brow,

‘And how do I know you are who you say you are?’

‘You could take my word for it?’

She turned her hand palm up and waggled her fingers, ‘I might need to see your passport to be sure.’

‘I might have a pen name.’

‘Do you?’

‘No.’

Her fingers waggled again.

‘Not very trusting, are you?’ He shook his head, working hard at keeping the smile twitching his mouth in check. ‘Lesson one, by the way, would be: never give up your passport to a stranger when travelling alone.’

Her eyes narrowed. ‘How do you know I’m travelling alone?’

‘In my experience, people who travel together tend to sit together on planes.’

Good point. ‘Well, it’s not like I can grab your passport, climb over you and escape with it at twenty-seven thousand feet up, is it?’

‘True—’ he leaned a little closer and lowered his voice to a deliciously deep rumble ‘—though the climbing-over-me part might be fun to watch. No one’s ever tried that before—brings a whole new meaning to the term “in-flight entertainment”.’

When she heard the click of his seat belt and he leaned closer still, she automatically leaned back towards the window to make room for him. Not that it wasn’t tempting to just stay where she was and ‘sit’ her ground, but this kind of dalliance was obviously something he was well practised at—and, Kerry being Kerry, she called him on it.

‘Do you flirt with every woman you meet on a plane?’

Shooting her a challenging quirk of his brows as he reached behind him, he replied with, ‘Would make for lots of short relationships, don’t you think?’

‘Another occupational hazard, perchance?’

‘Possibly.’

The contortions eventually wielded a well-worn passport he waved back in front of her face as he got comfy again. ‘I need this back. So be warned—I’ll wrestle you for it if I have to.’

‘Duly noted.’ She reached for it, but Ronan moved it just out of her reach.

‘Let’s make a fair exchange.’

‘Oh-h-h,’ Kerry laughed throatily, ‘I don’t think so.’

‘Picture that bad?’

‘Are you suggesting I don’t photograph well?’

He examined her face for a moment, the same low intimacy returning to his voice. ‘I doubt it.’

Kerry felt warmth building on her cheeks, which she’d always thought for a woman her age was just plain old sad. That very thought then bringing her in a straight line to her excuse.

‘Didn’t anyone tell you not to ask a lady her age?’

He frowned in amused confusion, tapping his passport off the knuckles of his hand. ‘And when did I do that?’

‘My date of birth is in my passport.’

‘Ah…’

‘And anyway, you have an aisle seat—you could make a faster getaway. Someone told me recently that giving your passport to a stranger is a bad idea when travelling alone.’

There was a low chuckle of very male laughter, the sound making her smile at him again. Should she have to hazard a guess, Kerry would say that the ‘flirting with women on planes’ thing was pretty successful for him. Maybe the short relationships suited his lifestyle?

‘Do I get a name?’

She spoke slowly, ‘You already have a name, Ronan.’

‘Your name.’

‘We’ll see…’ She waggled her fingers again.

His stunning eyes narrowed briefly, the passport still tapping against his large hand. ‘I’ll swap you a look at my passport for your name.’

‘Once I’ve confirmed you are who you say you are, I’ll reveal my secret identity—how does that sound?’

‘That—’ he smiled again, forcing another smile from her in response before he added ‘—is a deal.’

When her fingers closed around the end of the proffered passport he held on, waiting for her lashes to lift before adding, ‘And I’m not the only one capable of a little flirting on a plane, am I?’

Tugging it free, she informed him with a haughty lift of her nose, ‘You obviously bring out my dark side.’

‘Not sure I’d agree with that.’

Kerry shook her head, dropping her chin to flip through the passport and discovering page after page of stamps from varying countries around the globe. ‘Have you really been to all these places?’

‘Nah, I make my own stamps—it’s a hobby of mine.’ He chuckled again when she glared at him. ‘It’s easier to write a travel guide for a country if you’ve been there, I find. I tried it from home but no one ever came to visit my kitchen after I wrote the guide for there—which is a shame really,’ cos I had some great package deals going.’