Chapter Nine
ALEX WAS HORRIFIED at the thought, plus the image of Harry waddling into the office at some future date with a huge baby bump. He could see it now. Her desk would be littered with magazines that told you everything you needed to know about pregnancy and motherhood—plus everything you didn’t need to know. She and Audrey would talk babies ad infinitum, spending every lunch hour buying baby clothes, not to mention oodles of those hideous stuffed toys. And, yes, there would be a bag packed and sitting in the corner, ready for the emergency of her suddenly going into labour.
‘That won’t be happening,’ he ground out. ‘Audrey can take you in a taxi.’
Harriet laughed. ‘You should see your face. What’s the problem, Alex? You’re not afraid of babies, are you?’
‘Immensely. They’re noisy and messy and have no concept of doing what they’re told.’ He’d visited Sarah once or twice when she’d had newborns and had hardly slept a wink, what with the crying all night. It certainly wasn’t something he craved for himself.
‘No wonder you’ve stayed a bachelor if that’s what you think.’
‘It’s what I think. Now, tell me what you think.’
‘About what? Babies or bachelors?’
‘No. About your surrounds. We’re here.’ And he pulled over to the side of the road and turned off the engine.
* * *
They were on the crest of a hill. Harriet’s head swivelled round as she took in the land which would one day be an eighteen-hole golf course surrounded by privately owned homes and some holiday apartments. There would be a well-appointed club house, of course, as well as a small chapel with a lovely garden where weddings could be held. Big money in weddings, Alex had told her during the planning stage.
The land, she knew, had once been a banana plantation that had gone bust when the trees had developed some kind of fungus. A would-be entrepreneur had snapped it up for a bargain price, clearing the land before he himself had gone broke when his financing had fallen through and the stock market had crashed. Alex had stepped in, and here they were today.
She climbed out so that she could have a better look, standing on the grass verge with her hands on her hips whilst assembling her thoughts. The golf course itself looked nearly finished, but the buildings were still at the foundation stage, the rain obviously having held up that part of the project.
‘Well?’ Alex said as he came to stand beside her.
‘It’s going to be great. I love the artificial lakes. And the trees. But it’s never going to be finished by Christmas,’ she added.
Alex frowned. ‘You’re probably right. God, but I hate it when the weather works against me.’
‘You can’t control the weather, Alex.’
‘I don’t seem to be able to control anything much these days,’ he muttered.
And then it happened. He turned towards her and she saw it in his eyes—the very thing that she thought she’d imagined this morning. But she wasn’t imagining this. The desire—no, the hunger—glittering in his sky-blue eyes was very real. Her hands slipped from her hips as she stared back at him, her heartbeat quickening.
Part of her didn’t want him to want her like this. It would make Alex like all the other too-tall, too-handsome, too-successful men she’d slept with in the past. But there was no denying what he wanted, his hot gaze coveting her the way the big, bad wolf had coveted those three plump little pigs.
Unfortunately, Harriet knew she wouldn’t prove to be the sensible pig who’d built his house out of bricks. She was the silly pig who’d built his house out of straw. One puff and it had fallen down.
Or one kiss, as it turned out.
He didn’t say a word as he strode over and pulled her into his arms, all her defences dissolving well before his lips met hers. Her eyes closed as she lifted her mouth and her arms, sliding them up around his neck, pulling him close, her breasts flattening against his chest. Harriet could not recall a kiss affecting her as much as this kiss from Alex. Her head swirled as passion erupted within her like a volcano, her mouth gasping open. His arms tightened around her and his tongue delved deep.
Harriet had been kissed many times before—and by men who were good kissers. But Alex kissing her was something else entirely. His tongue moved back and forth in her mouth, then up, rubbing over the sensitive surface of her palate. She moaned with pleasure and excitement. She didn’t want him ever to stop. She loved the way his hands started roaming over her back, sliding up and down her spine. One hand finally settled like a collar around the nape of her neck whilst the other splayed over her bottom, pressing her firmly against his erection. It blew her mind, just how hard he was.