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She held his look without answering, her blue-green eyes sparkling with determination.
‘Damn it,’ he said with a rueful grimace. ‘You are serious.’
‘Take it or leave it,’ she said. ‘If you can hold out for a month I won’t ask for half your assets at the end of our marriage. How’s that for a deal?’
‘It’s like a lot of deals I’ve seen,’ he remarked wryly. ‘They look good on paper but when it comes to putting them in action it’s often an entirely different ball game.’
‘If you want Crickglades, then surely this is a small sacrifice to pay?’ she said. ‘After all, you’re asking me to give up a month of my life, so I don’t see why you shouldn’t give up a month of yours too.’
He studied her for a moment, his dark eyes probing hers. ‘You’re doing this deliberately, aren’t you?’ he asked.
She fought back a smile. ‘Think of it as long-service leave,’ she said, blushing slightly. ‘God knows you’ve been hard at it for years if what’s written in the press is to be believed.’
‘Yeah well, I guess you could say this is one time you can believe what you read in the press,’ he said with a smug smile.
She shifted her eyes from his. ‘Not that I read everything that’s written about you or anything.’
‘Of course not.’
She tossed her long hair behind one shoulder. ‘I have much better things to do with my time than keep track of your sex life.’
‘Of course you do,’ Jasper said, still smiling. God, she was so damned cute when she blushed like that. Why hadn’t he noticed that before? And the way her teeth bit into the soft cushion of her bottom lip, making him want to press his mouth to hers to see if it really was as soft as it looked. He could feel his blood surging in his groin just thinking about sliding his tongue through those pouting lips to taste her sweetness …
‘I live a full life,’ she went on, still trying to avoid his dark gaze. ‘A very full life.’
‘With no sex.’
Her eyes flew to his, her face on fire. ‘That’s not true!’
One dark eyebrow lifted in a perfect arc. ‘But not with Myles, right?’
She lowered her eyes. ‘I’m not a virgin, if that’s what you’re thinking,’ she said, chewing her bottom lip for a second or two.
‘I was beginning to wonder,’ he said. ‘But then I reminded myself you’re twenty-eight years old. You must have done the deed with someone or several someones even if it wasn’t with Myles.’
‘It’s really none of your business.’
‘I guess not.’
Hayley wished she had a long list of lovers to brandish in his face, but the truth was there had only been the one and the experience had not exactly been one she’d been keen to repeat. She had felt immensely sorry for Warren Porter, who had fumbled his way through the encounter with too little finesse and far too much haste when they were both nineteen. He had apologised profusely when it was over, his face showing his shame at not being able to pleasure her sufficiently. She had patted his arm reassuringly, and, feeling more like his mother than his girlfriend, had told him she wasn’t really ready for a serious relationship and that it wasn’t his fault at all.
Somehow Hayley couldn’t imagine Jasper Caulfield leaving any one of his lovers high and dry. He positively oozed sexual potency through every pore of his olive skin. His dark come-to-bed eyes were an incredible temptation, not to mention his sensual mouth that would surely make mincemeat of any woman’s resolve to resist him. Just sitting opposite him sharing a meal had pushed her way out of her comfort zone. She could feel her skin reacting to his proximity, all the fine hairs on the back of her neck lifting every time those were-they-black-were-they-brown eyes connected with hers.
Her gaze dipped to his mouth and she swallowed as she saw his tongue snake out to taste the last of his wine off his lips. She could almost sense what his mouth would feel like on hers: it wouldn’t be fumbling and awkward like Warren’s, neither would it be the quick peck of greeting and farewell Myles had drifted into the habit of giving her lately. Jasper’s mouth would be sensually commanding, his tongue determined as it mated intimately with hers.
‘Would you like another glass of wine?’ he asked into the stretching silence.
‘Um … no … I think I’ve had more than enough,’ she said pushing her glass away.
‘You do look a little flushed,’ he observed. ‘What about dessert? Do you still have a sweet tooth? I seem to remember you had a bit of a thing for chocolate in the past.’
She grimaced in memory of her teenage binges. ‘Only when I’m feeling a bit depressed.’
‘So what about now?’
‘What about now?’ she asked.
He gave her a quizzical look. ‘You’re not feeling depressed?’
