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‘Help you with the girls.’
For a moment Christian just stared at her, wondering if he’d heard her correctly. ‘You already work as a nurse in the busiest emergency department in the capital, and on the side you’re a fairy. How many jobs does one woman need?’
‘I could do it, no problem. I’d just move in with you and then I’d be here in the mornings and the evenings.’
Move in?
Christian froze, his tension levels soaring. He was about to utter a curt rejection of her idea when she looked up at him and smiled. He felt himself instantly drawn into the warmth of that smile, even though the cynical side of him—the side that was experienced with women—was shouting a loud warning.
She was like a siren, he thought, drawing a man onto the rocks.
But even that knowledge didn’t stop him noticing that her eyes were actually more violet than blue and that her blonde hair was still flicking up slightly at the ends, giving her appearance an elfin quality that was astonishingly appealing.
‘Christian?’She looking at him with amusement in her eyes and he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be responding to her proposal.
‘No.’ He didn’t need a sexy woman living in his house. ‘Definitely not.’
‘It would only be over the Christmas period. Why would you say no?’ She looked slightly baffled, as if the possibility of rejection hadn’t occurred to her. ‘I’m the answer to your prayers.’
He gritted his teeth and reined in his libido. ‘Lara, you’re not the answer to my prayers.’
Her merry smile faltered and the dimple threatened to disappear. ‘You don’t trust me with your children?’
‘This has nothing to do with the children.’
‘Well, of course it does!’ She stared at him in astonishment. ‘It has everything to do with the children. That’s why I’m offering. What else are we talking about here?’
He lifted an eyebrow. Did she need him to spell it out?
She stared at him for a moment and then her eyes narrowed. ‘Ah. I see. You think I’ve just made an indecent proposition. I’ve noticed that women seem to do that when they’re around you. It must get pretty awkward.’
‘Occasionally.’ He ran a hand over the back of his neck, struggling to be tactful. ‘Thanks for your offer, but—’
‘Christian.’ She lifted a hand to interrupt him. ‘Stop now, before you say something that will make this embarrassing. Firstly, I wasn’t making an indecent proposal. It was a genuine offer to help with the children. Secondly, although you are indecently handsome, I don’t have designs on you. You’re quite safe.’
‘Safe?’
‘Yes.’ Her eyes sparkled with humour. ‘I admit that I find you very attractive. And I like you. A lot.’
‘Lara!’
‘What’s the matter now?’
He inhaled sharply and took a step back to prevent himself from reaching for her. ‘I’m not in a position to indulge in a relationship,’ he said tersely, deciding that, if she was going to be honest, then he may as well be, too.
‘Neither am I. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I’m hopeless at relationships. Useless. Ask my mother if you don’t believe me. For the past four years, my longest relationship has been three dates.’ She held up her fingers to emphasise her point. ‘Three. Not impressive, by anyone’s standards.’
‘Three dates?’ He studied her pretty face with something approaching disbelief. ‘I find that hard to believe.’
‘So does my mother. She can’t believe that I haven’t managed to find Mr Right when I’m living in a city with a huge population of single men. I’m obviously doing something horribly wrong. But, anyway, what I’m trying to say is that, if you don’t want a relationship, then I’m your woman.’
‘That sounds like something of a contradiction.’
‘Yes, you’re right. It does.’ Her eyes brimmed with laughter and the dimple was back in the corner of her mouth. ‘But you know what I mean.’
Christian refused to allow himself to look at the dimple. ‘I’m not sure that I do. Lara, it’s impossible.’ He didn’t trust himself. ‘No.’
‘If you say no, you’ll regret it.’
