The Tycoon and the Wedding Planner by Kandy Shepherd

Author:Kandy Shepherd
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-08-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

SAM HAD ALWAYS scorned the concept of love at first sight. In his book, instant attraction was all about sex, not love. The proof had been his parents’ disastrous ‘marry in haste, repent at leisure’ marriage. And yet, although he wanted to kiss her, hold her, make love to her, he felt more than physical attraction for Kate—something that had been there from the first time they’d met. A feeling that was so strong, it made any further pretence at a business-only relationship seem farcical.

He was surprised and pleased, after the way she had pushed him away from their kiss the previous day, that she had actually sought his touch. He held her close to him, her bright head nestled on his shoulder, the folds of her blue dress brushing his legs, her hand resting lightly on his knee. He breathed in her heady, already so familiar scent. And he didn’t want to let her go.

But this was no simple boy-meets-girl scenario.

Beneath that open, vivacious exterior Kate seemed to be a seething mass of insecurities, far from the straightforward person he’d thought she was. She’d been hiding secrets for years. Were there more? Could he deal with them?

With every fibre of his being he wanted to help her. But he didn’t know how he could, other than being supportive. Nothing in his life experience had prepared him for this.

She shifted back from him, not so that she eluded the protective curve of his arm but so he could see her face.

‘Can I tell you how good it is to talk to you like this?’ she said.

Shadows from the overhanging trees flickered across her face. It made it difficult to read her eyes.

‘If it helps, I’m glad.’ He wasn’t sure what else he could say. He risked dropping a kiss on her bare, smooth shoulder. She didn’t flinch from him—that was progress.

‘Are you sure you want to hear more? The second incident wasn’t such a big deal. Not nearly as traumatic. I mightn’t even mention it if I wasn’t trying to find what triggered my aversion to leaving the city limits.’

‘Bring it on. Did something happen while you were on tour with the dance troupe?’

Her hair was pulled back in a tie and he could see every nuance of her expression. She pulled a puzzled ‘Kate’ face. ‘How did you know that?’

‘Lucky guess,’ he said, not adding that as soon as she’d started to talk about it her stilted words had become a dead giveaway.

‘The injured ankle wasn’t how my career as a cabaret dancer ended,’ she said. ‘Though I did hurt my ankle in a triple pirouette that collapsed in a less-than-graceful stumble.’

After the story of her abuse at the hands of her university lover, he wasn’t at all certain he wanted to hear this double whammy, but he asked anyway. ‘So how did it end?’

‘After the injury healed, I joined the troupe again. They were about to go to Spain. I was so looking forward to it.

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