Read Online His Convenient Mistress by Cathy Williams - Free Book Online

English ‘…fall-out.’
    James’s eyes were brooding and uncooperative. He had known full well what the so-called fall-out of his actions would be, had known it even as he had lowered his headtowards her. The possibility of him , the most prominent man in the area, probably in the whole of Scotland for that matter, going unnoticed was zilch.
    But he had been compelled to. He had looked into those fiery green eyes, looked lower to the angrily parted lips, perfectly defined petal-pink lips, and he had been unable to resist tasting them. Only the knowledge that they were in public and her son was staring up at them wide-eyed and curiously accepting, had made him pull back from her. Or he would have carried on kissing her and he had wanted more. Much more. Just thinking about it now made his body react in a pleasurable but utterly inappropriate way.
    â€˜Because there are too many idle women in this place,’ he said irritably, ‘with nothing better to do than talk about other people.’
    â€˜So,’ Maria said briskly, ‘is it tomorrow that you are off? Or Wednesday? I had planned a meeting with the girls for tomorrow to discuss this summer fête at the manor, but of course I can easily cancel that and we can maybe go somewhere for lunch.’
    â€˜No need.’ He sat frowning and thinking, cursing himself for having given in to his ridiculous male impulse to kiss the damned woman and expose her unwittingly to gossip. ‘I’ve decided to stay until at least the weekend.’ He refocused on his mother and added drily, ‘I at least have some duty to escort Sara King to the local ball, having sullied her image in the first place.’ He imagined her standing hesitantly on her own by the door of the village hall, having been forced to attend an event she clearly had not wanted to, while everyone stopped what they had been doing to look covertly at her. ‘Which reminds me, I told her that you’ll babysit her son, Simon. I hope you don’t mind.’
    â€˜Mind? I will enjoy every minute of it. You know how much I love children.’
    â€˜And don’t even think it, Mama,’ James said wryly, toying with the slender stem of his wine glass, watching the remnants of his white wine swirl around. ‘I’m not about to get involved with her. She’s as elusive as a shadow and you know I have only ever been attracted to the straightforward type.’ But even as the words had been uttered, he had a compelling vision of a tall, slender creature, with creamy white skin, breasts pushing forward like ripe fruit to be tasted. He drained his wine and stood up, ready to take his leave.
    And Maria Dalgleish was more than happy to let him. She couldn’t think while he hovered there, and thinking was what she felt like doing tonight.
    â€˜I shall show him your father’s train set, shall I?’ she asked with a smile and he nodded with a little shrug.
    â€˜Why not? He’s bound to love it. I did.’ Now that he had decided not to leave, just yet, he had business to see to. Thank God for computers, faxes, e-mails and all the technology that would enable him to run his empire away from his offices, if only for a while.
    He would stay at home, he thought, and work. His visits to the estate were so short that no one would question the fact that he was no longer around in the town and he would not risk bumping into Sara again.
    He had frightened her with his questions, appeared to have utterly panicked her with his ill-thought-out kiss. He would give her time to recover and build up her defences.
    But the mere thought of those defences going up was enough to fire him up at the thought of breaking them down.
    But go back up they would. Less than a mile away, Sara was feverishly thinking the same thing. She had spent theday in a state of charged confusion. Done her shopping and hurried back to the Rectory with Simon. Normally, being with him was always