The Price of a Wife

'Exactly.' His eyes narrowed still more. 'In my albeit humble opinion. I take it high-flying women executives still allow others, even men, to have an opinion?'

'Of course.' There was an aching, painful feeling in her heart region. It was so easy for him, wasn't it? she thought savagely. He assumed, as the vast majority of the population assumed, that when he was ready to procreate it would happen like clockwork. And mostly it did…for other people.

'Well, that, at least, is somewhat reassuring,' he drawled, with a heavy dose of mockery that grated on her raw nerves like a fingernail scratching down a blackboard.

'Well, now I've restored your confidence in the magnanimity of the female race I'll just go and get my briefcase from the hall.' Her voice was cool but her cheeks were flaming as she moved past him and walked swiftly into the dining room. 'I need to get some accurate measurements—'

'Just a moment.' She was halfway across the room when he spoke. Her chin went up, but the tenor of his voice halted her in her tracks and her eyes were veiled and wary when s

he turned to face him.

'Yes?' She met the lethal glare head-on.

'Your briefcase, along with the rest of your luggage, is now in your room,' he said coldly. 'I will show you where that is so you can change into a swimming costume.'

'I didn't bring one.' It was the easy way out but it was also the truth. She hadn't intended this to be a holiday in even the mildest sense of the word. 'And I really do need to work this afternoon,' she continued carefully. 'I have worked out a very tight schedule—'

'Damn your schedule.' She'd been right; the indulgence hadn't lasted long. 'I've told you what I expect you to do this afternoon.'

For a moment the sheer arrogance in both his voice and stance took her breath away, but then she straightened rigidly, her own eyes flashing sparks and her small chin stuck out at an impossible angle as she faced him. 'Whatever you expect, my actual employer is still Top Promotions,' she said stiffly. 'I have never yet wasted company time, and I don't intend to start now.'

'Wasted?' If the word had been a gross obscenity he couldn't have reacted more violently.

'Yes, wasted,' she repeated bravely, willing herself not to wilt beneath his rage. 'You said yourself we have to see the caterers and the builders tomorrow, as well as—'

'You don't need to remind me what I said,' he blazed tightly. 'There is nothing wrong with my memory.'

'Well, then…' She took a deep breath and prayed that the intimidation she was experiencing didn't show. 'There are only so many hours in a day—'

'Spare me the platitudes.' He had crossed the room and passed her in three strides. 'Well?' He turned at the door and inclined his head, his eyes icy. 'Are you coming to your room for that damn briefcase or not?'

She'd won? She followed him out into the vast hall and up the long, winding staircase to the first-floor bedrooms with a feeling of disbelief tempering the awe that the beautiful house inspired in her. She had the distinct feeling that very few people had ever won a battle of wills with Luke Hawkton, and she didn't trust him.

'Your room.' He stopped outside a pale oak door halfway down the landing and glanced down at her, his eyes hooded now and distant. 'I'll come back for you in ten minutes, when you've got your stuff together.'

'There's no need,' she said quickly. 'You go down to the pool as you'd planned. I can find my way about and—'

'Ten minutes.' He opened the door and stood aside for her to enter, and after one glance at his set face she scurried inside with a little nod and a muttered 'Thank you'.

Her 'room' turned out to be a suite, with a small sitting room, complete with large desk in one corner, a generous-sized bedroom dominated by a huge four-poster bed, and an extremely luxurious bathroom with every mod con, including a Jacuzzi. The colour scheme was one of delicate yellows and soft bluey-greens throughout, the butter-cream walls and high sculptured ceilings adding to the general impression of light and airiness.

'Oh, wow…' She stood for a full minute just gazing about her, totally overwhelmed, before moving to the far wall in the sitting room where three narrow full-length windows allowed the bright sunlight outside to stream into the room. The view beyond was one of rolling lawns and landscaped gardens down to a huge swimming pool some distance from the house, beyond which the lawns stretched again, encompassing three good-sized tennis courts before petering out into snowy white sand and small curling waves as the sea lapped gently up the Hawkton private beach.

'And double, triple wow,' she muttered faintly. Luke had told her, in the details he had sent to the office about the house and grounds, that there were twelve bedrooms in all, and if they were all like this… She shook her head weakly before turning from the window and fetching her briefcase from the desk where it had been placed. 'You're way, way out of your depth, girl.'

She was ready and waiting for Luke's knock, but utterly unprepared for the sight of him as she opened the door. He was naked, almost, a brief pair of midnight-blue swimming trunks his only clothing, leaving his powerfully muscled torso, wide, broad shoulders and sinewy arms and legs bare except for the light covering of dark body hair that curled more thickly on his chest, the tight little corkscrews drawing her eyes in helpless fascination.

He was overwhelmingly, thrustingly, blatantly male, and for a moment the impulse to slam the door shut and run for coyer was paramount, before she pulled herself together, dragging her eyes away with an effort as she reached down for the large folder at her feet.

'I'll take the briefcase and portfolio.' His deep voice held a thread of amusement and she knew, she just knew, that he had noticed and planned for her discomfiture. He had a dark blue towelling robe slung casually over one arm that he could quite easily have worn, but it had been a shock tactic, she realised suddenly. He was forcing her to acknowledge the attraction between them.

The thought galvanised her legs in a way nothing else could have done and enabled her to lift her head and give him a hard glare, her eyes focusing directly and only on his face. Out of her depth? like hell she was, she thought defiantly.

'Thank you,' she said with polite, unsmiling formality.

'My pleasure,' he answered in exactly the same tone.

The rest of the afternoon was an exercise in remaining calm under enemy fire as far as Josie was concerned. He stood by her side, at ease with himself and the world about him, while she measured the proposed site for the fair and the ice rink, the sunlight turning his lean body into shadowed silk and his eyes hidden behind a pair of black sunglasses.