The Aristocrat and the Single Mom by Michelle Douglas Read Free Book Online Page B

chop-chop.’ She clapped her hands. ‘The sooner we’re home, the sooner you can have a shower and start feeling like a normal human being again.’
    Her enthusiasm—her essence—wrapped around him and he found himself smiling back at her. He couldn’t help it. The woman was a witch. She was irresistible.
    She had a child. His smile disappeared.
    ‘And wait until you see the view from my back garden,’ shesaid as he started the car. ‘It’s to die for. Turn right up here at the roundabout.’
    He followed her directions.
    ‘I promise it will pep you up like nothing else. A shower, then a beer in the back garden—how does that sound?’
    ‘Pretty good.’ It did.
    Except—where did her kid fit into that scenario? He tried to tell himself it didn’t matter, but he knew he was lying.
    ‘Left and then a quick right,’ she said when they reached a T-junction. ‘And…here it is. Home.’
    She pointed to the right. Ramshackle was the first word that came to Simon’s mind. He swung the Mercedes into the drive and pulled it to a halt beneath a carport attached to the double garage. Only Kate’s house wasn’t rundown ramshackle—it was more sprawling ramshackle. It was white weatherboard and its shape didn’t conform to any style of architecture Simon had ever heard about.
    Two architect-designed double-storey, cement-rendered monstrosities sat at either side—one in shades of apricot and pink, the other in blues and greys. They should’ve dwarfed Kate’s house, but they didn’t. Their windows were firmly closed to maintain air-conditioned perfection. Kate’s house wasn’t shut up. In fact, all the windows Simon could see were open, revealing sheer white curtains that stirred on the slightest movement of the air. In a breeze those curtains would probably flutter right out of the windows to fly like flags.
    Kate grinned at him as if she could read his thoughts. The dolphin charm she wore on a silver chain around her neck glittered in the afternoon sunlight. ‘It was just a tiny two-bedroom weekender with a sleep-out veranda when my father bought it. He added to it over the years.’
    ‘It’s created an…interesting effect.’
    The dolphin charm suited her perfectly—graceful, strong, with just a hint of mischief. He wanted to reach out and touch the spot where it nestled in the creamy hollow of her throat.
    ‘C’mon, I’ll show you something that will really blow your mind.’
    She blew his mind. And, suddenly, he didn’t want her to. She had a child. He didn’t want his skin tightening up whenever she smiled at him. He didn’t want to notice how she walked with fluid grace as if the air were water.
    And he had no business imagining what she’d look like naked. No business at all.
    He grabbed her arm before she reached the front door. ‘Are you married? Is there a…a father for this child of yours?’
    She stared at him for a moment. Finally, she smiled. It threw him. ‘Of course this child of mine has a father. It wasn’t an immaculate conception, Simon. But no, I’m not married. I’m single.’
    That spot between her eyes crinkled up again. ‘Do you really think I would’ve kissed you if I was involved with someone else? Agreed to go out on a date with you? I’m aware your social circles are probably far more sophisticated than mine, but I don’t appreciate what you’re suggesting.’
    She glanced down at the hand that encircled her arm and he hastily released her. ‘No, of course not.’
    She rubbed her arm at the spot where his fingers had curved around her flesh and he wondered just how tightly he’d held her. Shame hit him. ‘I’m sorry.’ She had been nothing but kind to him today. She didn’t deserve this. ‘I just…’
    ‘Panicked?’
    He thought about that, then nodded. ‘Yes.’
    She smiled at him again. ‘Crazy.’
    The whole day had been crazy. Thoughts of him and this woman together the craziest of all. But they did have a fortnight. And, if she was