Irresistible Temptation by Sara Craven Read Free Book Online

was carrying Humph, who was licking his face frantically.
    He looked at Olivia, his mouth tightening inimically.
    'Miss Butler,' he said expressionlessly. 'Now why am I not surprised? If you're here looking for Jeremy, he's not back yet'
    'I'm not,' Olivia said stiffly, silently cursing the day she was born.
    He was wearing chinos, she noticed, and a white shirt, with the sleeves turned back to reveal tanned forearms, and his feet were bare. His hair was damp, as if he'd just got out of the shower, and she found herself wondering if last night's lady was still around somewhere.
    Not, she reminded herself hastily, that it had anything to do with her.
    She mounted the last few steps and took the little dog from him. 'I didn't mean to disturb you. Humph was chasing a cat. I—just followed him through the bushes.'
    'You seem to have brought a fair bit of them with you.' Declan reached out and removed a twig and some leaves from her hair. It was the last thing she'd expected him to do, and an odd shiver ran through her at his touch.
    He said abruptly, 'The rules of the garden state that dogs must be kept on leads at all times. Did Sasha not tell you?'
    Olivia bit her lip, recalling the typewritten sheet she hadn't bothered to read 'Yes—I mean, I think so.'
    He said silkily, 'But then rules don't mean much to you, do they, Miss Butler?'
    'And you seem to invent yours as you go along, Mr Malone,' she returned icily. 'But I'll make sure I remember in the future.'
    'You do that,' he said with a certain grimness.
    'Before I go,' she said, 'there's something I'd like to say. You implied I was a home-wrecker. But it's not true. Jeremy's marriage was finished long before I met him again.'
    'You've known him for a while?'
    'It seems like all my life. Perhaps like you—and Maria.'
    'I doubt that.'
    She said, 'Sasha told me she was your cousin—that you were close. So you must have known that things were— going wrong.'
    'I've never had many illusions about the state of her marriage.' His tone was short. 'But that doesn't mean I'd choose to connive at its breakdown.'
    'Nor I.' Olivia lifted her chin. 'But—these things happen.'
    'Indeed they do,' he drawled. 'I've read the statistics.' He gave her a level look. 'Have you anything else to say in mitigation?'
    'No,' she said. 'Actually, I didn't have to explain to you at all. But I felt I owed it to myself.' She paused. 'Do you have no other comment?'
    'Nothing you'd particularly want to hear. Just a repetition of advice already given. Which is: go back to—' his brows lifted enquiringly '—where was it?'
    'Bristol,' she said stonily. 'And I'm staying here.' She clipped Humph's lead to his collar. 'I'd better take him home.' She hesitated. 'And I apologise for letting him chase the cat. Is it all right?'
    'Fighting fit. It was the Fosters' Maximilian.' He put out a hand and scratched the top of the little dog's head. 'If he ever turned on Humph he'd have him on toast. So take care, Miss Butler.'
    'Of Humph?' Her voice was saccharine-sweet 'Of course I will.'
    'Of everything.' he said. 'And I'm sure you won't.'
    She turned and descended the steps, aware of his eyes boring into her spine. As she leached the path she looked back at him.
    'When Jeremy does come back, will you ask him to call me, please, on my mobile? He has my number.'
    His mouth twisted. 'I'll refrain from the cheap retort. And, yes, I'll tell him to make contact—if that's really what you want.'
    'Yes,' she said lifting her chin. 'It is.'
    He gave her one last cool look, then walked back into the house and closed the French windows behind him.
    This, Olivia told an unresponsive pane of glass, is getting to be a habit. But at least this time she'd had the last word. Or had she? With Declan Malone it was difficult to be certain.
    But she could ensure it was the last word in another sense, she thought as she walked away, Humph prancing beside her.
    She could take immense care never to set eyes on Declan Malone again.
    In a