Love on Trial

Love on Trial by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online Page A

Book: Love on Trial by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online
Authors: Diana Palmer
her at the touch that was openly seductive. His eyes dropped to the inviting young softness of her mouth.
    Before either of them could move, or speak, the cab pulled up in front of the hotel and stopped. The moment of intimacy shattered into a thousand shimmering pieces, and was lost amid the subsequent routine of gathering possessions and getting settled into new lodgings.
    Â 
    Hawke’s secretary had booked them a suite with bedrooms leading off opposite sides of a huge sitting room. It was practical, but knowing Gessie’s diabolicaltrain of thought, Siri took offense at the insinuation of it. Gessie knew that Hawke wouldn’t think of taking advantage of his partner’s daughter. But she also knew how compromising the arrangement would look to all concerned, especially to Mark Holland. Siri flushed with anger as she studied the suite.

Four
    â€œD on’t be such a damned little prude!” Hawke groaned irritably, reading the expression on her face. “I imagine your door has a lock, if you’re that unnerved about sharing a suite with me.”
    â€œI didn’t say a word,” she countered, following him into the plush bedroom with its double bed where he set her case on the floor.
    â€œYou were thinking it,” he said flatly. He studied her through narrowed eyelids.
    â€œI was thinking what a trouble-making busybody your secretary is,” she threw at him, eyes blazing. “How is this going to look if Mark finds out—and I’ll bet you she’ll find a way to make sure he’s told!”
    â€œI don’t give a damn what he thinks,” he said calmly.
    â€œI do!”
    He drew a deep, angry breath. “I came down here to work, Siri, not to have a running battle with you. Get your bathing suit on and we’ll go down to the beach. Maybe the cold water will douse some of that hot temper before it triggers mine,” he added roughly.
    She shook back her hair. “I’m not trying to start an argument,” she said apologetically. “Please, let’s not quarrel.”
    â€œWhy? Are you admitting that you’re outgunned?” he asked.
    Her eyes blazed. “Never!”
    A wisp of a smile touched his hardmouth. “I play to win, Siri,” he said as he went out the door.
    â€œIf it’s going to be war, you’ll have to fly me to Fort Sumter,” she called after him.
    â€œSo you can fire off the cannon?” he replied. He chuckled softly. “I think I’ll take you to Charleston one day, and let you see the size of those old cannons.”
    â€œGessie wouldn’t like that,” she said cattily.
    He looked back at her from the doorway. “Push a little harder,” he invited softly, “and I’ll put you on the first charter flight leaving for Atlanta.”
    She glared at him. “We just got here!”
    â€œThen behave, if you want to stay,” he threatened, his eyes glittering.
    She dropped her eyes to the carpet. “I’m not a child,” she muttered.
    â€œThat,” he replied heavily, “is the problem. Get your bathing suit on.” And he left her standing there as he closed the door firmly.
    Â 
    It was her first bikini, although not her first two-piece bathing suit. But the thought of Hawke seeing her in the wispy, aqua bits of string-tied fabric made her uneasy. It would have been different with Mark, she thought, as she gathered her towel and started into the sitting room. Mark had a habit of never noticing what she wore. But Hawke’s dark eyes spoke volumes when he saw her in anything particularly feminine. She wondered for an instant why she’d packed the bikini in the first place. It had been a last-minute whim, one that she regretted as she opened the door and walked into the sitting room.
    Hawke was wearing a green, and blue patterned shirt unbuttoned over his bronzed chest, with a pair of white swimming trunks that left his powerful thighs

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