Merger By Matrimony

She would not give Callum Ross another opportunity to sneer at her for being impossible—which really boiled down to unfeminine.

She wasn’t dressing for him, she insisted to herself, but neither was she going to be treated like someone whose lack of sophistication was an excuse for insults. She had no idea how long she would be in London—two weeks, three, maybe more—and while she was here she would damn well change her colours to match her surroundings. Animals did it and so could she.

CHAPTER FOUR

DESTINY felt a surge of disproportionate disappointment when she opened the door to Callum, bursting with smug satisfaction at the figure she presented, and was greeted merely with, ‘Oh, good. You’re ready. I can’t stand waiting around for a woman to get her act together.’

She slammed the door behind her and preceded him to the car. ‘Did you bring whatever paperwork you wanted me to have a look at?’ One minute he was full of scathing asides on her appearance and inability to cope with life in the fast track, and then, when she did make an effort, she noticed petulantly, he didn’t even have the good grace to comment on it!

‘In the car.’ His eyes flicked rapidly over her as she folded herself into the car seat and he added perfunctorily, ‘Had a successful day shopping, then, I take it?’

‘Very successful, thank you.’

He looked away, turned the key in the ignition and the powerful car roared into life.

‘And not too much useless tramping in and out of stores?’ he quizzed her with the ghost of a smile on his mouth.

Destiny, pressed against the car door, attempted to compose her features into a mask of unrevealing politeness. If he had the slightest idea how much his opinion meant to her, she had no doubt that he would ruthlessly use the knowledge to get what he wanted.

‘Quite a bit of useless tramping in and out of stores, actually.’ He was wearing a plain-coloured shirt with some logo almost invisibly embroidered on the front pocket, and dark trousers. She could feel herself going into an undignified trance as she feasted her eyes on him, and with a little twinge of guilt she dragged them away and stared out of the window. She was already beginning to get used to the fact that no part of London was free from crowds. Even at this hour of the evening there seemed to be no let-up from the hordes of people in search of open shops and entertainment. Did no one sleep here? she wondered.

‘Mmm. To be expected, considering you don’t know where to go. You should have listened to me and gone along with Steph.’

‘Does she always listen to you?’

‘Most people do,’ he said comfortably.

‘Would that be because you’re a bully?’

He frowned at her, and his brief lapse in concentration caused him to brake suddenly behind the black cab in front.

‘Could you try not to distract me when I’m driving? London is a bloody obstacle course. The last thing I need is for the two of us to land up in hospital.’

‘Which would be my fault because I’m trying to make polite conversation?’

‘Telling me that I’m a bully is your way of making polite conversation? I don’t run around yelling at people and telling them what to do and how to live their lives. I’m very reasonable and usually right.’

‘Oh.’

Next to her, Callum simmered silently, barely seeing the crowds overflowing the pavements as they drove through the busy theatre district. He dared not keep his foot on the accelerator and risk another glance at her without opening himself up to a possible crash, but he was itching to. He wasn’t idiotic or egotistical enough to imagine that she had put on that sexy little black number for his benefit, but it was having a roller-coaster effect on his senses. Dressed like that, she even smelt more womanly. The neckline was scooped and cut low enough to reveal the swelling roundness of her breasts. Not even the thought of Stephanie, with her childishly boyish figure, was enough to put a brake on his wandering imagination. It wasn’t disloyalty, he told himself sternly. It was a natural male response to look at a beautiful woman clad in precious little. In fact, he continued his inner dialogue, while his mind carried on its pleasurable games, it would be unnatural if the woman sitting next to him didn’t evoke a response. He was a red-blooded man of the world merely appreciating what nature had to offer. He was in the middle of reasoning to himself that in fact the desire to feast his eyes on her strikingly tall, voluptuous and entirely womanly body was very similar to a desire to feast his eyes on anything that was aesthetically pleasing, be it a piece of architecture, a stick of furniture or a houseplant in bloom for that matter, when he became aware that she was talking to him.