Fortune's Secret Heir by Allison Leigh

Author:Allison Leigh
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3, pdf
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-09-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

She felt him go rigid, and for a long moment, Ella feared she’d gone too far.

Then the sudden storm clouds faded from Ben’s eyes and his voice turned smooth again. “I am like my father. Always have been. Something a nice girl like you would do well to remember.”

Even through her mittens and his overcoat, she could feel the tension in his muscles. “That sounds like a warning.”

“I said you were intelligent from the get-go.”

She moistened her lips, even though doing so just made them colder. “I felt a lot safer with Randy’s flirting than I do right now.” She could not fathom the insanity that made her admit it aloud. Maybe it was the way she couldn’t drag her eyes away from his.

“Much as I disliked seeing him flirt with you, you were definitely safer.”

Her chest felt so tight it was hard to breathe. She imagined she could see her own reflection inside his eyes. “Ben—”

He took a step back and pulled her hand once more through his crooked arm. “It’s getting cold standing here, and Bonita’s chocolates are waiting.”

She figured that the famed street would be spectacularly beautiful during warmer months. And it wasn’t without charm now, with snowflakes drifting around them, dusting the buildings and the snow-plowed street with a fresh coat of white.

Maybe someday she’d visit Boston while the trees were green and the flowers were in bloom.

But now she was here with Ben.

She exhaled and fell into step with him again.

They eventually reached the chocolatier’s shop, which was set down a short staircase from the street level and was smaller inside than she’d envisioned. But the very air was sinfully redolent of chocolate confections and she couldn’t help but admire the beautiful displays behind the glass-fronted cases. “I’m gaining weight just looking.”

A woman wearing a pristine white apron and a black bow tie appeared and Ben gestured at one of the larger boxes on display. “Give me one of that size and fill it with anything chocolate that has a nut in it. It’s for my secretary and she doesn’t touch chocolate without nuts. Nothing fruity, either.”

The clerk plucked an empty box from under her counter and tucked shimmery white tissue paper in it before deftly beginning to fill it with chocolates of every size and shape.

“Your secretary is a lucky woman,” Ella said drily, because she’d noticed the tastefully discreet prices listed under the confections.

“Indeed, she is,” the clerk agreed. She stopped near Ella to select several glossy rounds topped with walnut halves. “Would you like a sample of anything?”

“Oh.” Ella shook her head. “I couldn’t.”

“Sure, she could.” Ben stepped next to her, touching her shoulder as he leaned over to examine the displays.

“Your husband is right.” The clerk’s hand hovered over the trays of precisely arranged chocolates. “Perhaps a white ganache or an almond praline?”

Ella opened her mouth to correct the clerk, but Ben’s hand moved to the back of her neck, scorching even through the scarf, and the words caught in her throat.

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