Read Online A Convenient Husband by Kim Lawrence - Free Book Online Page B

I like a bit of response from the women I sleep with,’ he teased.
    â€˜Ben!’ Tess protested, her eyes belatedly going to the child who was happily immersing a toy car in the congealing remains of his cooked breakfast.
    â€˜Is not interested in what we’re saying, and if I lower my voice much more I’ll be whispering. I’ll tell you something for nothing…’
    Tess planted her hands on her slim hips and tossed her head. ‘Since when was anything you said worth more?’
    â€˜You know,’ he observed, eyeing her through narrowed, unfriendly eyes, ‘you never used to be such an uptight bundle of repressions. Sex with me last night would have done you more good than half a bottle of vintage elderberry wine! For that matter,’ he added grimly, ‘it would have done me more good too.’ If she tried to deny it he could always provide the proof…somehow he didn’t think he’d find the task too tedious.
    Total mind-blowing shock swept over Tess. She focused hard on the shock and outrage and turned a deaf ear to the pulsing excitement that all but deafened her.
    â€˜Have sex…with you!’ she yelped, abandoning the hushed undertone they’d automatically adopted during their heated interchange in favour of strangled squeak.
    â€˜You make it sound as if the thought had never occurred to you!’
    â€˜It hasn’t!’ she responded, horrified.
    â€˜Like hell!’ he thundered scornfully. ‘You know perfectly well we’ve both been tiptoeing around it all morning.’
    It was at this point Tess stopped pretending there was anything controlled about her panic. ‘And I suppose you’re going to tell me now what a great lover you are,’ she sneered.
    His eyes narrowed as he sucked in his breath sharply. ‘Modesty forbids,’ he drawled, ‘but I can guarantee you wouldn’t be this uptight this morning if we had had sex last night, and I might have actually got some sleep!’
    â€˜You think it would have been that boring…’ She nodded and gave a twisted smile. ‘You’re probably right. I may have been happy playing the surrogate sister for you when we were kids but I’m not about to play the surrogate lover now!’
    The idea of him closing his eyes and pretending she was the woman he loved filled her with an intense repugnance. ‘I’m sure there are less…less drastic cures for insomnia,’ she choked.
    â€˜A pill isn’t going to solve my problem. Or yours.’
    â€˜And…’ she cast a worried look in Ben’s direction and lowered her voice to a hushed whisper ‘…sex is…?’
    â€˜No,’ he conceded through gritted teeth, ‘but it might make us both forget for a little while.’
    The bleakness in his deep voice penetrated her anger and inconveniently touched her soft heart. She’d been too wrapped up in her own problems to think much about his.
    â€˜Is it really that bad for you, Rafe?’ she asked sadly. Without being aware of what she was doing, she reached out and touched his face.
    Eyes dark as night moved from the compassion shining in her eyes to her slim arm. His own hand came up to cover hers where it lay. She felt the controlled strength in the grip of his long fingers and shivered.
    â€˜Bad enough for me to think about sleeping with you, Tess?’ He gave a harsh laugh. ‘You really do take this modesty thing way too far. You’re a lovely woman.’
    â€˜Not beautiful?’ She didn’t lay awake at night contemplating cosmetic surgery to correct her deficiencies, but right now making a joke about it was surprisingly hard.
    â€˜Beauty fades. You’ve got good bones,’ he announced firmly.
    â€˜How poetic!’
    â€˜One of these days you’re going to make one wisecrack too many,’ he predicted darkly. ‘As I was saying, when a man’s in bed with an