Read Online Boot Camp Bride by Lizzie Lamb - Free Book Online Page B

Then she clammed up. Five minutes ago, she’d thought she was heading for the Job Centre and here she was with Mr Award-Winning Author, about to throw her second chance away. ‘Sorry. What I meant to say was -’
    ‘No. Hold onto that thought, and that expression. I rather suspect that being penitent isn’t exactly your bag.’ Closing the distance between them, he grasped her by the shoulders. Charlee took a step backwards and turned her head to the side, thinking he meant to kiss her after all. He surprised her by turning her to face the mirror on the wall. Left with little choice, Charlee raised her head and stared back at herself - with Ffinch standing at her right shoulder.
    She was hardly the picture of glowing health. Her blonde, asymmetrically cut hair was sticking up like she’d had her fingers in an electrical socket. After a troubled weekend, her winter pale skin was blotchy and she looked in dire need of a facial. And - although her bright blue eyes stared back at Ffinch defiantly - her cheeks were flushed, making her look flummoxed and out of her depth.
    However - to her credit - she also looked angry and not in the least bit mushy.
    She was about to wriggle free but hesitated, became aware that some part of her actually relished the feel of his chest lightly pressed against her shoulder blades. The touch of warm hands on knotted shoulders; the way his lime-scented aftershave fused harmoniously with her perfume as the temperature rose and they radiated body heat. A frisson travelled her length and reminded her that over six months had passed since she and her boyfriend had parted amicably after their finals. Six months since she’d shared her bed and her body with a man.
    The thought was enough to cool her ardour. Wriggling free, she shrugged off his hands, hoping her lowering expression made it plain that she found the physical contact unwelcome. She put some space between them and leaned against Sam Walker’s desk, something she would never have done under normal circumstances. But needs must, because her legs felt strangely boneless and her heart was racing.
    ‘Okay, what’s the assignment?’ She straightened her clothes and tried to look hard-bitten, like she’d just come back from a war zone and had copy to file for tomorrow’s headlines. Not a rookie with too much attitude and too little experience to warrant it.
    ‘I don’t know how much you know about me,’ he began. She was about to make polite noises when he cut her off. ‘That doesn’t matter. All you need to know about this assignment is that it’s one last favour for Sam. He gave me my big break when no one could see past my name and my antecedents - my parents, my background,’ he amended.
    ‘I know what antecedents are, thanks,’ she bit out. ‘A first in languages does tend to build up one’s vocabulary.’
    ‘Of course. Sorry. It’s just that I’m used to -’ then he pulled himself up short. ‘Never mind what I’m used to. It’s you I want.’ A shiver ran up her spine and this time she tried to pass it off as a shiver of distaste. ‘I hope to God I haven’t made a colossal blunder.’ For a moment, his face took on a bleak expression and remembrance seemed to swamp him. He rocked back on his heels and Charlee was reminded of the night at the gallery when she thought he looked ill and his eyes were dark-circled beneath his tropical tan.
    ‘Why me?’ she demanded suspiciously, looking the gift horse firmly between the eyes.
    ‘You’re ballsy, opinionated - and clearly not too enamoured of me.’ He held his hand up when she began to protest, feeling it was incumbent upon her. ‘That’s okay. That’s how I want it to be. At the end of this assignment we’ll dissolve our partnership,’ he pulled a wry face at the word, ‘and go our separate ways.’
    ‘No moon in June. No roses round the door. No happily ever after. Got it.’ Charlee summed up the terms of engagement succinctly and he nodded. That being