Wife in Public by Emma Darcy Read Free Book Online Page B

to know. Decision made.
    Her mind moved on to working out how she should handle this new situation. It was hard to be cool and objective in these circumstances, having just shared such incredible intimacy with the man. Her nervous system was still buzzing. It seemed best simply to follow his lead. Unless his lead struck wrong chords, which wasn’tlikely with his well-practised charm. He’d done this with umpteen women. Though on the trunk of a car might have been a first, given his comment of disbelief. It was certainly a first for her.
    All her inner muscles contracted with the memory of such intense pleasure. If Jordan could give it to her again…was she wicked to be wanting it? So what if she was! Did it matter just for once? Heather would undoubtedly say go for it . It wasn’t as if she’d be hurting anyone. She was free to do as she liked.
    Her gaze dropped to the hand still firmly linked to hers—a hand that knew how to touch, how to arouse overwhelming sensations, a tempting hand, a winning hand. But she was winning, too, wasn’t she, being the object of its expert attention? She might never get to feel like this with any other man.
    His fingers caressed her palm, making her skin tingle. ‘Are you okay with this, Ivy?’ he asked caringly, his deep rich voice washing over her thoughts.
    ‘Yes, thank you,’ she answered, wincing at sounding like a prim schoolgirl. The plain truth was she was not a player , not like him, and she didn’t have any experience of acting like one. ‘You can show me your paintings,’ she quickly added, flashing him a smile to show she could be sophisticated about spending the night with him.
    He laughed and squeezed her hand again. ‘Your pleasure will be my pleasure.’
    Which surely meant she should have a marvellous time with him. Just relax and let it happen, Ivy told herself.
    He drove into a large paved courtyard fronting a very large white house with a double garage on the left and another double garage below an extended wing on theright. ‘You have four cars?’ Ivy asked as he parked hers adjacent to the very elegant portico framing the double front doors.
    ‘Three,’ he answered. ‘The fourth space is taken up by Margaret’s.’
    ‘Who is Margaret?’
    ‘My housekeeper. She lives in the apartment above the garage on the right, and Ray, my handyman and chauffeur, lives in the apartment above the garage on the left.’
    Naturally he would need people to maintain such a luxurious property, as well as cater to his needs. ‘How long have you had this place?’ she asked, wondering if he really considered it his home or whether it was simply one of a string of residences.
    ‘About five years. I like it here.’ He flashed her a smile before alighting from the driver’s side. ‘I hope you’ll like it, too.’
    It didn’t matter if she liked it or not, Ivy told herself, watching him round the bonnet to the passenger side, his mouth still curved in pleasure at having achieved his aim with her. She had her own aim, which was simply to satisfy her curiosity. And then leave. It would be really stupid to be seduced into staying more than one night with him, by what he had in his house or anything else. But when he opened her door and she stood up beside him she found her body still shaken to the core by his physical impact on her. It took gritty determination to keep her wits.
    ‘My car keys,’ she said, holding out her hand.
    He gave them to her as he closed the door. She locked the car with the remote-control button and put the keys in her handbag. ‘Lead on,’ she invited, trying to adopt a nonchalant air, desperately hoping her jelly-like legswould firm up enough to allow her to walk with dignity in the perilous high-fashion shoes.
    They didn’t. She took one wobbly try and sat down on the steps leading up to the portico. ‘I’m taking off these killer shoes right now,’ she declared, bending over to unbuckle the straps.
    ‘Let me help.’
    In an instant he