How To Host a Seduction by Jeanie London

Author:Jeanie London
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2003-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

8

The Dining Room

CHRISTOPHER GRABBED the breadbasket under the pretense of taking another dinner roll, although one already sat untouched on his plate. The breadbasket put him within range of Ellen, who was currently engaged in a whispering session with Lennon.

“What’s Susanna doing?” He heard her ask. “Is she looking for something?”

“She’s moon-pieing at Olaf,” Lennon said, and Christopher had to strain to hear her because she was seated on Ellen’s right.

“She’ll be lying in her plate if she leans over any more.”

“At least she’ll get his attention. You should have seen her during the introduction last night. Olaf walked into the room and she hasn’t been right since. She thinks he’s cute.”

“Olaf?” Ellen shook her head, her disbelieving gaze riveted on the head of the table, where the host in question had paused in his address to accommodate the arrival of the sommelier. “He’s a very striking man, I’ll grant you, just not what I’d have envisioned Susanna going for. You know her heroes. They’re all medieval knights with manes of tawny hair.”

Lennon nodded. “I think this is another side effect of Joey going off to college. Mom has just realized that less laundry means more time to have fun.”

Christopher sat back, placed the roll on his plate and reached for his wineglass. Casting his gaze around the table, he noted how the guests settled into conversation to fill the sudden quiet. Tracy was whispering excitedly to Susanna, while casting not-so-covert glances Olaf’s way. Miss Q sat at the opposite end of the table with a smile on her face, not missing a thing with her big blue eyes. Even Mac and Harley seemed to be communicating without strife—or kissing—for the moment.

Only Josh, who, like himself, had been excluded from the analysis of Susanna’s romantic interest, directed his attention to his plate.

Christopher wasn’t interested in speculating on a potential romance between Olaf and Susanna, although Ellen and Lennon seemed fascinated with the subject. He’d rather expend his energy assessing his own progress with Ellen.

And it needed major assessment, because their encounter in the library had taken a wrong turn. He hadn’t meant to push her into doing something she found uncomfortable. She’d simply been so relaxed and so irresistible that he couldn’t keep his hands off her.

This wasn’t the first time that Ellen had had this crazy effect on him. She aroused him, made him feel excited by everything around him. She accused him of being a daredevil, but Christopher had never before wanted to make love to a woman so much he’d been willing to risk being caught in the act. He’d been tempted often with Ellen. He’d wanted her to want him so much that she’d lose herself in the moment, forget all her rules and trust him to keep her safe.

He’d overplayed his hand—again.

She’d retreated. A subtle retreat, nothing more than a contemplative silence when they’d returned to their suite to change for dinner and a withdrawal into the bathroom for privacy, but like any distance between them, one closed door had effectively shut him out.

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