The Irresistible Tycoon by Helen Brooks Read Free Book Online Page B

little man on the corner who comes every morning in his mobile and does a roaring trade, apparently. Bacon sandwiches are his speciality.’
    â€˜Then I’d like six rounds from your little man,’ Lucas said promptly, ‘with lashings of brown sauce.’
    She inclined her head, as she imagined the estimable June would have done in the same circumstances, and forced herself to turn and walk towards the door. ‘I’ll be ten minutes or so,’ she said evenly over her shoulder and she didn’t look back.
    She was fifteen minutes, and when she knocked for the second time that morning on Lucas’s door and walked intohis office, her boss had transformed himself—courtesy of the small bathroom and dressing room, which were part of his executive suite—into his usual cool and impeccable self. But in spite of the fresh charcoal suit and pale blue shirt with matching tie, all Kim could see was a mental picture of acres and acres of finely honed muscled flesh and it was disconcerting, to say the least.
    It didn’t help that his hair was still slightly damp from the shower and his freshly shaved face more relaxed than usual, either, and the hot prickle of overt sexual awareness that had hit her so forcefully earlier didn’t seem to want to die the death she was willing on it.
    â€˜Six rounds of doorsteps with what looks like a pound of bacon in them,’ she said as expressionlessly as she could. ‘Eat them while they’re hot.’ She handed him the plate as she spoke.
    â€˜You sound like my mother.’
    His mother ? She narrowed her eyes and smiled sweetly. ‘Don’t tell me you are one of those men who have a mother fixation,’ she said coolly before she thought too much about it and didn’t dare voice the tart retort which had sprung to mind.
    â€˜I don’t think so.’ He was eyeing her with what could only be termed a glint, but a glint of what Kim wasn’t sure. ‘My mother is a wonderful woman and ideally suited to my father, but…no, I don’t think so.’ He took a bite of one of the sandwiches and closed his eyes in ecstasy.
    â€˜How come I haven’t had bacon sandwiches from your little man before?’ he asked almost petulantly.
    â€˜Because you didn’t ask?’ she suggested daringly.
    The silver eyes fastened on her, pinning her to the spot, and Lucas smiled slowly. ‘I only have to ask?’ he drawled lazily.
    She might have known she had no chance of winning in a war of words with him! Kim was disturbingly aware thatsomething had shifted in the last few minutes, something that had been bubbling away under the surface from the first moment she had laid eyes on Lucas Kane—something that couldn’t, mustn’t, have expression. ‘I’ll get you another cup of coffee.’ She had turned and swept out of the room before he had time to take another bite.
    Lucas smiled faintly to himself. There was more, much more, to his efficient, beautiful new secretary than met the eye; he had known that from the beginning. And was that why he had been tempted to choose Kim above other more qualified, experienced candidates?
    The thought didn’t sit well with him and the smile turned into a frown. He had chosen Kim Allen because she was the most suitable applicant—qualifications and experience weren’t necessarily the be-all and end-all of a working relationship, he told himself sharply. There had to be a spark, a cutting edge, a quality that was undefinable but which told you any association would be healthy and productive without becoming dull or boring. He had never wanted a mindless android who wouldn’t say boo to a goose. That was why he had chosen Kim. And her qualifications were pretty good too, as was her experience.
    June had had it—they had enjoyed some very real altercations in their time, he assured himself firmly, ignoring the little voice of honesty which