The Billionaire Boss's Innocent Bride by Lindsay Armstrong Read Free Book Online

all expectations…
    But why against all expectations? he asked himself. She was drop-dead gorgeous, like a beautiful butterfly who’d emerged from her chrysalis. She was enough to make any man want to run his fingers through her hair and drink in the perfume of her skin, but she was also different from the usual glamorous, socialite types that caught his eye.
    He had no doubt she was a rather amazing mix of talent, intelligence, but also humour. She was independent and not above pointing out the error of his ways to him.
    All of which intrigued him as well as awakening a tremor of desire in him, the desire to take her by surprise and take her in his arms. The desire to stop any protests by kissing her, the desire to know how she’d react because he couldn’t predict it. An enigma, he mused as he pushed his hands into his pockets to be on the safe side. There was no way he could allow himself to touch her at this point in time. What was he even thinking? Sheer insanity?
    But what had upset her out of the blue moments ago? And why was she looking up at him now with her lips parted and a little pulse still beating rapidly at the base of her throat, those clear, lovely hazel eyes wide and startled and something else, almost as if she shared this highly unexpected attraction, almost as if it was a twoway thing sizzling between them—
    There was a soft rap on the door and Margaret put her head around it.
    ‘Mr Goodwin,’ she said, ‘a rather urgent matter has come up.’
    Alex came to life and said hastily, ‘I’ll go.’
    ‘No,’ he said decisively. ‘Finish your drink and in the meantime we’ll organize a lift for you. Lead on, Margaret.’ He went out and closed the door behind him. Alex breathed heavily in relief, then she did blush as she sank back onto the settee. She could feel the amazing heat of it as she put a hand to her cheek and she touched her glass to both cheeks to cool them down.
    What had got into her? she wondered chaotically.
    She’d never mentally undressed a man in her life before! It was enough to make you blush hectically, just the thought of it—and she swallowed nearly two thirds of a glass of champagne in one long mouthful as she thought of it again. Then she breathed deeply, put the empty glass down and laid her head back. Max Goodwin got to her, she acknowledged. He sent her senses reeling in a very physical way and he destabilized her peace of mind.
    She lifted her head suddenly. She could not afford to let this get out of control, she reflected. On one hand, could a man who’d regarded her legs as a cause for annoyance be attracted to her?
    But on the other hand, what had been going through his mind while he’d stared at her so intently? Almost as if they’d both been caught in a sensual little moment that had blotted out the rest of the world—or had it been her imagination?
    She stared unseeingly across the room for a long moment, then shook herself. Most likely, she decided, but with a frown of confusion. Then it occurred to her to ask herself whether, even if she couldn’t be sure it hadn’t been a mutual sensual little moment, it made any difference to the fact that she was basically a loner?
    She looked down at her hands and thought of her parents, whom she hadn’t even had the opportunity to farewell. She also thought of her father’s cousin, her Mother Superior, and how that stern, prickly but lovable woman had also been taken from her, and felt tears on her lashes.
    She thought of the few occasions she’d got to know men she’d admired, men it might have been possible to fall in love with—only to withdraw. She thought suddenly of Paul O’Hara, the intern, who had looked rather nice and had displayed consternation in his expression at the thought of her with Max Goodwin…Why? she wondered.
    She closed her eyes and wondered what was happening to her lift. It was definitely time for her to go home.
    Perhaps it was the champagne she’d drunk so quickly on an empty