Someone Irresistible (14 page)

In that instant she decided something was different about him.

Maybe it was just his relaxed stance, the thoughtful assessment in his countenance, the fresh, intimate surroundings of her flower garden that seemed to intensify the intimate feel of his presence. Maybe it was just the deeply soft, lovely way he’d said her name. However unclear, there was a marked change about him, to be sure, and she felt so strongly

attracted to him suddenly, she clasped her fingers tightly at her thighs to keep from standing and going to him. She refused to be embarrassed by feelings not returned.

“Are you ready to work?” she asked pleasantly, deciding to get to the heart of his visit before she disgraced herself by voicing her thoughts.

He chuckled softly and finally looked away from her, to his feet, hands clasped behind his back as he slowly strode to her side. “In a moment,” he said. “I thought I’d join you here for a few minutes first.”

Mimi blinked, startled by the casualness about him. From the second he’d come back into her life just a little more than a week ago, he’d been driven, intense in his purpose, barely noticing her as an individual of interest. Now, for all practicality, he was relaxed and good-natured and desirous of her company. Perhaps even more so than the Nathan Price she remembered of years ago. This entire unforeseen alteration of their situation made her nervous, but she would never let him know that.

“Of course, Nathan.” She scooted to her side a little to make room for him on the bench, pulling her skirts against her leg so that he could sit as comfortably as one could on marble. “I adore it out here on sunny mornings.”

“Do you? Even when it’s cold?”

She felt the heavy weight of his body as he settled in beside her.

“One can always wear a mantle.”

“Indeed, one can.”

She laughed softly at that. “What a silly conversation.”

He didn’t respond to that but sat back casually to gaze at her, amused, one foot crossed over the other. She fought the urge to lean against him, which seemed the natural thing to do under the circumstances.

“Did Carter often sit with you here?” he asked presently.

Again, mention of Carter by Nathan made her skin prickle and her pulse speed up. She didn’t understand why he continued to wonder about her relationship with her late husband, but considering that she was daring by nature, she could no longer let such comments pass without answers from him regarding his interest.

Smiling confidently, she maintained, “Carter came here on occasion, I suppose, but I don’t recall him ever staying long. His concern with it was nearly always just to find me.”

Staring at her, he vaguely smiled. “I’ve no doubt.”

She wasn’t certain what he meant by that exactly, so she waited for more. When it wasn’t forthcoming, she pressed, “Why do you ask me so

frequently about Carter?”

The mood quickly shifted with her personal question; it wasn’t so much an uncomfortable shift, though she felt him tense beside her, his expression going flat.

After a long moment he turned his attention to the fountain. “I didn’t realize I was doing that.”

His response made her pause. Discussing Carter with Nathan Price seemed almost insensitive to her, as if she were speaking ill of her late husband with a professional rival who knew his comments might or might not be challenged. She didn’t want to open old wounds, especially wounds among the three of them. She had cared for Carter and she respected his memory. But, even so, she still desired at least a fair answer from the professor.

“Every time you and I are together, you ask me about him,” she acknowledged evenly, smoothing her palms down her skirt to steady them. “I admit I’m curious why.”

She noticed the corners of his lips lift minutely again.

“I suppose you are.” Seconds later he turned his gaze back in her direction, his dark eyes intense. “I do wonder, however infrequently, how you and Carter were together, Mimi.”

Heat suffused her neck and cheeks, their heightened color something she was certain he noticed, and her hands began to tingle in her lap. But she never looked away.

“How we were together?” she repeated. “In—in what way?”

His grin widened as his eyelids narrowed. “In every way,” he clarified softly.

His simple statement told her nothing of fact, but his mesmerizing deep voice that trailed off into the quiet, private surroundings implied something profoundly intimate. Her heart pounded in her ears and her body began to perspire beneath layers, even in the morning chill.

Yet perhaps he didn’t mean what she thought he meant. Perhaps she was jumping to conclusions. He wouldn’t, as a proper gentleman, expect her to think anything else.

Smiling, glancing to the fountain, she said wistfully, “Carter was a very decent man, and I do miss him. He provided for me financially, as a good husband should; was honest in business dealings, to my knowledge; was dedicated to his work—”

“And dedicated to your needs as well?” he interjected.

What needs
? she wanted to ask, but thankfully held her tongue. His expression remained impartial, though his tone resonated with deep

meaning that made her uneasy in a totally dissolving manner. She tilted her head and gazed back into his candid eyes, their recesses hiding messages she could only begin to measure.

Boldly, gripping her satin skirt tightly with her fingers, she answered, “All my needs, Nathan.” After several long seconds without reply on his part, distracted by his warmth and strength beside her, she added, “I’m certain, though, that another man could have done just as well.”

He stared at her levelly. “Maybe better.”

“Better?” she repeated, daring him.

Shrugging, just above a whisper, he explained, “Perhaps you’ll experience that… satisfaction again. You’re a young woman, Mimi, and quite appealing.”

That made her cheeks burn, and her stomach muscles tighten. “Are you speaking of marriage, Nathan, or something else?”

He said nothing for so long she grew physically discomfited, waiting, refusing to break eye contact. At last he was the one to do so by glancing briefly to her breasts. The visual touch, so obvious on his part, made her shiver.

He noticed, and lifted his hand to her. “It’s cold. We should probably go inside.”

“Ready to work?” she asked, peeking up from the corner of her eye.

He gave her a slight, wry grin. “That’s what I’m here for, Mimi.”

Bravely, she put her palm in his, and it was just like the week before, when she’d met him in the boarding house and had taken his hand in their agreement. The shock of his skin against hers was overwhelming, exciting, and numbing all at the same time. Just feeling his fingers against hers enthralled her even now, and with that she realized if she did place her lips on his face—anywhere—she would likely faint. Not wise, in her predicament.

Slowly he stood and she raised herself to stand beside him. But he didn’t let go of her hand immediately. Exactly as he’d done it the week before, he ran his thumb along her knuckles, just once, gently, lingering long enough for her to know he meant to do it.

A bird fluttered overhead, landing on a nearby trellis, squawking once before it flew off again. But he ignored the sound—the intrusion—

entirely.

He watched her for reaction to his simple caress, and in a moment of burning irritation at herself, she realized she was giving him what he wanted to see. Heat and total captivation. For the smallest second,

staring into the dark depths of Nathan Price’s eyes, standing inches away from the man in her cool, secluded garden, Mimi was certain he would kiss her.

Kiss me, Nathan…

Suddenly he released her hand, stepped back a foot, and casually gestured toward the house.

Mimi blinked quickly and stood erect, then drew her gaze away first.

Without word, she lifted her skirts and walked past him, listening to his footsteps on the brick path as he followed.

He couldn’t help but stare at her rigid spine as he stepped behind her into her studio, at her perfectly molded backside as it gently swayed in her too-tight gown, feeling smugly amused at this turn of events. And hard of course, which seemed to be his body’s natural response whenever he was in Mimi Sinclair’s presence. Just touching her fingers with his made him stand at attention, which he rather hoped she might have noticed. Or maybe not. Her knowledge of his state of arousal might make her a bit more cautious in her approach, and he was beginning to enjoy the idea that she wanted him. If he scared her away by becoming open about his need they would get nowhere. He’d seen desire for him in her eyes, even if she wasn’t experienced enough to recognize it herself. Still, as Justin had implied, she was a widow. She knew what to expect from intimate relations, and had probably been taking the time since yesterday to consider what she’d been missing from a man for more than two years.

He’d done some thinking after he’d left the pub yesterday, too. On the whole, he rationally knew getting involved with Mimi to any degree was dangerous. Of course he found her difficult to resist when she so obviously desired him, but over and over again, during a restless night’s sleep, he kept returning to the fact that he couldn’t in any way trust her.

It was entirely possible she intended to use him for reasons unclear, to exercise her female charms to lure him into thinking with his cock, thereby controlling him. She wouldn’t be the first woman to do that to an unsuspecting man.

Yet Nathan knew himself, and his motives were stronger than mere biological urges. After weighing everything, he’d decided he would take what she gave as she gave it, if it suited his purpose, never for a moment letting his guard down about his real mission and reason for returning to London. She was a widow in need of a man, and he’d be more than happy to satisfy certain needs of hers without emotional involvement; he could manage that. He had his own agenda and plans for his future and they certainly didn’t include Sir Harold’s daughter. He suspected

the man of so much ill against him that Nathan knew it would only be a matter of time before Mimi would be swayed to side with family.

Nathan remained quiet, watching her as she pulled chairs out for both of them, then moved to a counter in the comer, uncovering the sculpture work she’d apparently done the day before, after he’d left. He shifted from one foot to the other, leaning his right hand on the ugly brown table, inexplicably annoyed that she’d been so unaffected by the sexual awareness between them yesterday that she’d managed to make a very good lower jawbone likeness after his departure.

She moved to his side, carrying the model in both hands, stretched out for his view.

“What do you think?” she asked with an air of pride, smiling.

“It’s perfectly… adequate,” he said. “I’m sure it will all come together when you’ve completed it.”

Her face fell, making him feel like a cad. Wiping a palm across the back of his neck, he amended, “I would not have expected anything less than perfection from Sir Harold’s daughter, Mimi.”

“Which is the sole reason you’re here?”

She’d asked that as an inviting question, making him smirk before he answered exactly as she expected. “Of course.”

She tried to hide a widening grin of pleasure. She felt his underlying interest in her, but didn’t actually respond to it, which aroused him all the more,

“Thank you, Nathan,” she remarked politely, placing the jawbone on the table at his fingertips where they would begin working. “You can help with the teeth today, if you’d like.”

“As you wish.” He pulled her chair out for her first and she sat daintily, pushing her thick skirts to the side of her legs. When she appeared settled, he lowered his body into his chair and scooted in.

Concentrating on the clay in front of her, as she did yesterday, she began by leaning to her side, toward him, to lift a water bowl. Again, he got a lovely look at her cleavage, that he was now certain she intended for him to see, and he smiled in satisfaction. Of course this gown was far too tight to allow him a view of her breasts worth gawking over, but he could see a hint of black lace. Lovely and enticing. What a marvelous game she played with him.

After sprinkling her clay with water she began to knead it, and he watched the movement of her hands and fingers, mesmerized by the massaging action, clearly imagining those hands on his chest, her hair down and caressing his neck and face while she lay on top of him. He

leaned forward and placed his elbow on the table, his chin in his palm, watching her.

“Do you enjoy this kind of work?” he asked, attempting to bring into discussion something that was
not
erotic.

She didn’t hesitate in her response. “Very much. It keeps me… sane.

Gives me purpose.” Glancing up to him, she added, “I think I’m very good at what I do.”

“I think you are, too,” he replied without prevarication. It made her smile again.

“What do you think about when you work, Mimi?”

Seeing the lift of her brows, he knew the question surprised her.

“I’ve never considered that before. Why do you ask?”

He shook his head a bit as it relaxed in his hand. “Just curious.”

She drew a long breath and exhaled loudly, tipping her chin to the side as she examined her mold. “Well, I suppose I think of household matters more than anything, chores that must be done, family situations that must be addressed. Sometimes I think about the parties I’m missing.”

That cursory declaration brought another smile to her lips, but Nathan knew she meant it. “What else do you miss?”

Lifting a small knife, she sliced off a portion of the gray material in her hands. “I miss being social, I suppose, but that will come back eventually. I miss the theater, especially the opera. I miss picnics in the park.”

He grinned. “If there’s one thing I can imagine you doing, Mimi, it’s socializing. I’m sure you do so to make the best of London society proud.”

Her eyes sparkled in delight. “But I am also a very practical person, not at all frivolous.”

“Indeed,” he said, his tone revealing surprise. Dryly he added, “I never would have thought so. I suppose you learned such total…