CHASING TROUBLE

She knew Nicholas had kissed her as if he’d wanted to devour her. As if he’d wanted to taste and touch every part of her. As if he’d wanted to bury himself deep inside her and- She knew nothing positive about the man!

Nicholas had arrived in the middle of the night. He had used her laptop, somehow without even bothering to check who it belonged to. He had totally dismissed the need to contact his girlfriend. Worst of all, he was mysterious about his past, and obviously had no intention of sharing any important details about himself with her. Well, that was okay, because she didn’t want to share any details about herself with him.

Caroline hadn’t just been stupid when she had responded so wantonly to Nicholas, she had behaved totally recklessly. And reckless was something that she never was where a man was concerned. Let alone a man who had so told her so plainly that he wanted no permanent ties in his life…

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“Glass of red wine?” Nicholas indicated the glass he held.

“Caroline?” he prompted with a frown as she made no effort to move away from the doorway of the drawing room.

But for the moment Caroline couldn’t move. In fact, she had been rooted to the spot from the moment she had first entered the room and seen Nicholas..

Nicholas who looked so handsome this evening he literally took her breath away!

Over the last hours she had become accustomed to seeing him in the black clothing and boots he habitually wore, and which somehow seemed to suit the aura of danger that always surrounded him. Tonight he wore a silk shirt the color of freshly brewed espresso coffee that hinted at the muscled chest beneath rather than emphasized it, and a pair of expertly tailored trousers in the same dark coffee color. With his long hair brushed back from that intelligent brow, and those dark, enigmatic eyes, Nicholas appeared every bit as threatening, if not more so, as he had in the black clothing he preferred.

“Caroline,” Nicholas pressed again impatiently; what on earth was wrong with the woman?

After her earlier comments concerning the clothes he wore, he had decided to change before dinner. But as the time to eat had drawn nearer, with no sign of her, he had been starting to wonder if she was going to join him after all. If he hadn’t frightened her off completely earlier this afternoon after almost taken her on top of his father’s desk!

Only to turn a few seconds ago and see her standing in the doorway. Unmoving, and warily silent. So far in their acquaintance Caroline had seemed to have plenty to say about everything. Including himself.

Not that it was any chore to just look at her. Her auburn hair was arranged in its usual perky style, those sooty lashes perfectly framed the deep blue of her eyes, and she had brushed a peach gloss onto the fullness of her lips. In a fitted knee-length sleeveless dress of midnight-blue silk, Caroline was certainly easy on the eye.

Who would ever have guessed that, beneath those unflattering cotton pajamas and the tailored trousers he’d seen her wear, Caroline had the most gloriously sexy legs Nicholas had ever seen? Lightly tanned, they were slender and shapely, the ankles appearing delicate above the two-inch heels of the strappy dark blue sandals she wore.

Caroline Anderson wasn’t just beautiful; she was hot!

“No red wine for me, thank you.” The snappy anger in the deep blue of her eyes as she walked further into the room told Nicholas that she had noted his admiring gaze and didn’t appreciate it.

Well, that was just too bad. If she didn’t want anyone to look-didn’t want him to look-then she should have stayed in the safe businesslike black trousers and blouse!

Nicholas looked amused. “Is that because you would prefer white wine, or would you like something else instead?”

“No, thank you. I don’t drink alcohol,” Caroline answered abruptly as she sat down in one of the armchairs. “At all,” she added, just so that there should be no more confusion.

“Good for you,” he drawled, before moving to sit in the armchair opposite hers, that dark gaze narrow and enigmatic. “Do you smoke?”

“No.”

“Take drugs?”

Her mouth thinned in distaste. “Certainly not!”

“Sleep with married men?”

Her gaze narrowed impatiently. “Nicholas-”

“Just kidding!” He grinned, even as he held up his hand in apology. “So, you’re a woman without vices…”

It was a statement rather than a question, and Caroline didn’t bother to answer. How could she when this afternoon she had literally melted in this man’s arms?

“How about you, Nicholas? Obviously you drink alcohol.”

“In moderation,” he put in softly, and he raised his glass in a silent toast to her before taking a sip of the ruby-red wine.

“Smoke?”

“Not for years.”

“Take drugs?”

“Never,” he answered, as flatly as she had earlier.

Caroline raised auburn brows. “Sleep with married women?”

“Again, never,” he stated.

Her mouth twisted humorlessly. “How about unmarried women?”

“I’m thirty six years old, Caroline; what do you think?” he taunted with a hard grin.

Caroline thought she should never have joined in this ridiculous conversation! “I think, as you pointed out earlier-” oh-so-succinctly! “-that it’s none of my business!”

Nicholas grin widened, his teeth very white and even against that bronzed skin. “My guess is you didn’t mean to ask that last question.”

No, she hadn’t. Of course Nicholas Connelly slept with unmarried women-although ‘slept with’ was probably a complete misnomer for what he did when he was in bed with a woman!

Caroline wasn’t happy about the way his dark gaze followed the movement as she nervously crossed one bare knee over the other… She instantly uncrossed them. “Perhaps we should go through to dinner?”

“You seem a little…tense this evening, Caroline,” He met her gaze with steady intensity.

Her eyes widened. “I’m not in the least tense.”

“No?”

“No!” Caroline denied vehemently, knowing that her tone, and the way she stood up so suddenly, instantly gave the lie to her claim. What was it about this man that made her so uncomfortable? So on edge? So totally removed from her normally composed and efficient self? Whatever it was, she had better put a stop to it. “I believe it’s time we went in to dinner,” she reminded him again, more evenly this time.