A REASON FOR MARRIAGE

Sara didn’t know whether to admire him for his audacity or lambast him for his arrogance. Either way, she couldn’t work for a man she didn’t even like… Lying to herself wasn’t going to make this situation any easier, Sara immediately chastised herself. The problem was not that she didn’t like Simon Hamilton, but that a single kiss had shown her that physically she liked him too much. Sara had been convinced she would never-could never-feel again. She was determined not to feel physical desire for any man when she knew it would ultimately lead to more pain and disillusionment.

“What are you thinking about…?”

Simon had watched Sara’s expressions during the last few minutes of silence between them. Had seen the dismay. The confusion. Followed by the doubt. And then what had looked like pained anguish. All of them emotions he would never previously have associated with the prickly and confident Sara.

She shook herself out of that mood of despondency with obvious effort. “I was just… perhaps we could reschedule another meeting for later in the week?” She gave a tight smile as she saw his skeptical expression. “I promise not to cancel this time.”

Simon regarded her through narrowed lids. “You never did say what the emergency was last Monday.”

Her smile turned to a look of exasperation. “A client was having hysterics when the curtain material I had ordered, which I duly took round for her to approve before the curtains were made up, turned out not to be exactly the same color as her husband’s eyes after all.”

Simon’s eyes widened. “People really do things like that?” She laughed softly. “You would be surprised. I had a client a couple of years ago who matched the color of her carpet to her Golden Labrador.”

“Must have made it difficult to find him when it came time to go for a walk!” Simon murmured-only to watch in satisfaction as Sara’s laughter deepened, causing her eyes to glow. “Have dinner with me tomorrow evening, Sara,” he prompted abruptly.

“To discuss the changes you’d like in your apartment?” she asked.

“To discuss any damn thing you please.”

“I was trying to tell you earlier…” Sara frowned. “I make a point of never mixing my professional life with my personal one.”

“So it’s one or the other?”

Sara instantly added stubborn determination to the list of things she was rapidly discovering about Simon Hamilton. “I believe I’ve already taken you on as a client by agreeing to look at your apartment.”

“And if I would prefer to have dinner with you tomorrow evening instead?”

Sara’s breath caught in her throat as her eyes widened. “Would you…?”

He frowned darkly. “Why don’t we compromise and make our next appointment in my apartment tomorrow evening at seven-thirty? That way I can arrange for us to have dinner together immediately afterwards, so that we can discuss any suggestions you might have.”

Manipulative determination. Sara wryly corrected that earlier addition to her ever-growing list of Simon’s character attributes. “I’m starting to see how you gave your Aunt Ann gray hair!”Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

Simon gave a grin. “Does that mean you accept my invitation?”

Did it? There were so many reasons why Sara shouldn’t have dinner with Simon tomorrow evening or any other time. She straightened briskly. “I don’t think so, but thank you for asking.”

Simon eyed her frustratedly, knowing it wasn’t just the desire to have Sara in his bed that made him so determined. He also enjoyed her company. He appreciated the spirited way she stood up to him. The way her dry sense of humor was more than a match for his own. And he couldn’t help feeling curious as to what Sara had been thinking about earlier when she’d looked so wistful.

He raised dark brows. “And if I intend to keep on asking…?”

She shrugged. “Then I’ll just have to keep on refusing.”

“And if I manage to wear you down…?”

“You won’t.” She smiled.

“You sound very sure,” Simon said knowingly.

“I am.” She nodded.

Had any woman turned him down so emphatically before? Simon wondered with a frown. Not that he could ever remember, no. And, again, that wasn’t arrogance talking-it was just a fact. Nor did he believe it was only Sara’s reluctance to see him again that made her so attractive to him. Everything about her intrigued him. Even her obvious boredom on that Saturday evening with the other guests at the cocktail party-including him-as if she had attended one too many parties just like it and met one too many arrogant men to be impressed by yet another one.

That behavior had been completely nullified by her heated response to him at his office-before she had shut down that response with the finality of a steel trap door closing about her emotions.

And what had seemed like an expression of sadness, even anguish, only added to the mystery and contradiction that was fast becoming Sara McCall.

Simon sensed Sara had secrets hidden behind those beautiful brown eyes.

Several of them. Secrets he was longing for her to share with him.

“Okay.” He straightened and stepped closer again, bringing himself too close for her comfort. “I’m busy tomorrow and Wednesday, but six o’clock on Thursday evening looks good.” He stared down at her enquiringly, wondering if it was wishful thinking on his part or if that really was a look of disappointment on her face because he was seeming to back off. And he was only seeming to back off. Simon had no intention of giving up where Sara was concerned.

“Thursday at six is fine with me too,” Sara accepted abruptly, pretty sure that if she designed a color scheme of pink and white, and ultra-feminine, it would ensure that Simon no longer wished to employ her. It would do absolutely nothing for her professional reputation, of course, but it might be worth it just to see the look on his face when she presented the sketches to him!

“I’m learning to be wary of that particular look of amusement…” He eyed her suspiciously.

Sara laughed softly. “Just a private joke.”

“Design-wise, you should know that a harem theme or an explosion of pink ruffles is definitely out,” he commented dryly.

How had he guessed what she was thinking? “Now you’re ruining all my fun!”

“When I would so love to be the cause of it…” he came back huskily.

Sara gave an exasperated sigh. “Do you ever give up?”

“Where you’re concerned? No.”