Annie and the Red-Hot Italian by Carole Mortimer

Author:Carole Mortimer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

LUC was disgusted with himself as he kept his back firmly turned towards Annie.

It had been his intention to kiss her, to touch her, in order to show her they were still physically attracted to each other, if nothing else.

Instead Luc had only succeeded in proving that Anna Balfour was a danger to the rigid self-control he had exerted over his emotions—all his emotions—for the past four years.

If he needed food, then he ate. If he required liquid, then he drank. And if he needed physical release, then he took a woman to his bed. Coldly. Calculatedly.

The pleasure he had just received in kissing and touching Annie, in having her kiss and touch him in return, had not been in the least cold or calculated. Instead she had reached him, pierced the armour he kept about his emotions, driven him to an excess of physical pleasure, in a way no other woman had for years. Since Luc had last made love to her, in fact!

He drew in several harsh, controlling breaths before turning to face her, his jaw tightening as he took in the evidence of their lovemaking in the tousled wildness of her hair and the swollen fullness of her lips. Lips that minutes ago had been wrapped around—

‘Do you still dismiss those “compensations" so hastily?’ he asked as he picked up his polo shirt and pulled it back over the nakedness of his torso.

Annie was glad she had taken advantage of Luc’s few minutes of distraction to straighten her own clothing as she saw the hardness of his expression and those dark, uncompromising eyes.

‘What can I say, Luc—you’re still an accomplished lover.’ She shrugged. ‘No doubt you’ve had plenty of opportunities to practise your technique over the years.’

His jaw tightened at the deliberate insult. ‘As have you,’ he pointed out coldly.

Annie almost laughed at the ridiculousness of that accusation when she hadn’t so much as thought about a man in that way since Luc. Except there was nothing in the least funny about this situation.

To say that she was stunned by her response to him was an understatement!

Just as the way she had touched him, caressed him, had been purely instinctive. Annie had no other experience on which to draw except that time with him more than four years ago.

Luc frowned fiercely. ‘Do you have someone in your life at the moment?’

Only Luc himself! ‘Do you?’ She evaded the question by slamming it straight back at him.

‘I have…the occasional woman in my bed,’ he revealed slowly. ‘But not recently,’ he added tightly.

‘OK, comparing past or present lovers isn’t conducive to this conversation.’ Not when Annie had felt a shaft of jealousy course through her at Luc’s admission.

‘There will be no other lovers for either of us once you are my wife—’

‘Are you hearing impaired, Luc?’ Annie cut in sharply as she stood. ‘I’ve told you numerous times now that I’m not going to be your wife.’

‘You have another solution to this situation?’

Her solution was that Luc disappear

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