The Bridal Bargain by Emma Darcy Read Free Book Online Page A

tomorrow.”
    “I’ll be there on the dot. Probably earlier just to be sure. You can count on it,” she assured him.
    “Good!” He nodded but his head was the only part of him that moved. He seemed stuck there in the doorway, his gaze still locked on her, like he was trying to burn his way into her mind to see if she could be trusted.
    “I’ll keep everything here spick-and-span. You don’t have to worry I’ll make a mess of it.”
    “I’m not worried,” he asserted, frowning over her supposition. “I’d better give you my card so you can contact me if you run into any problems. The mobile phone number can always reach me.”
    He started forward, taking his wallet out of his back pocket and opening it to extract a business card. Hannah also moved forward to meet him halfway, anxious not to hold him up since it was clear he wanted to get away. He was looking at the card, stuffing his wallet back in his pocket and walking so fast he almost collided with her.
    Shock on his face.
    His hands instinctively grabbed her upper arms to steady her as she rocked back from him.
    “Sorry...” The word rushed out of her mouth, just before her throat completely choked up as shock hit her, as well.
    His face was so close his eyes seemed to blaze into hers, and the fingers pressing into the soft flesh of her arms...they seemed to burn, too. She felt invaded by an electric current that was playing total havoc with her entire body.
    Heat was swarming through her like a giant tidal wave, making her senses swim, filling them with a huge awareness of the man holding her, the overwhelming maleness of him tugging at her own sexuality, the strength he emanated, the power, even the masculine scent of him was flooding through her nostrils, an intoxicant that jammed all thought.
    She stared back at him, her mouth still half open though incapable of emitting sound. Her ears seemed to be roaring with other messages...a million bells exultantly ringing that he wanted to do far more than hold her arms, far more than tunnel into her brain to find out who and what she was. There was no reason at all in what sizzled from him but its sheer physical blast held Hannah totally captivated.
    His gaze dropped to her parted lips and the certainty he was going to kiss her clutched her heart. His head started lowering towards hers, then unaccountably jerked up. For one shattering moment she saw horror in his eyes. The hands on her arms sprang open, releasing all contact. He shook his head, stepped away, bent and scooped up the card that had fallen on the floor.
    Hannah was too dazed to move a muscle. He lifted one of her hands and pressed the card onto her palm, actually curling her fingers around it. “There!” he said on a heavy expulsion of breath. “Must go now. Must go. Number’s on the card if you need me.”
    His fingers brushed her cheek as though driven to draw her out of what had happened between them and into the immediate now. “Okay?” he asked, the horror in his eyes replaced by anxious alarm and a need to paste something else in place.
    She nodded, still unable to get her throat to work.
    “Okay,” he repeated, backing off, swivelling around, heading straight for the way out.
    He was gone with the door closed behind him before Hannah could even blink. She found herself touching her cheek as though his fingers had left some imprint there.
    She’d never felt anything like this before.
    Not even with Flynn, whom she’d loved.
    Tony...Tony King.
     

CHAPTER FIVE
    She hadn’t called.
    Tony brooded over this absence of any contact with Hannah O’Neill as he drove to the marina on Saturday morning. For the past two days and three nights he had been more conscious of having his mobile phone on hand than he’d ever been, waiting for Hannah to test his response to her, anticipating her voice almost every time it rang. Part of him had wanted it to be her voice. At least then he could have dealt with a real problem instead of being