Tessa Radley: Millionaire Under The Mistletoe

This second-thoughts stuff must be normal. Wedding-ring fright. But he wouldn’t run away. He’d deal with it the same way he did every other problem he met: head-on. Confront this inconvenient lust, the need to indulge in one last chase. Get Miranda out his system. Then marry Petra exactly as he’d planned.

Simple.

Closing the door behind the last of his guests, Callum went to find Miranda. Anticipation lent lightness to his step. He peered into the library-his favorite haunt-but it was empty. Not that he’d expected to discover her there.

He finally tracked her down in the scullery tucked away at the far end of the kitchen. Miranda was busy stacking the dirty dishes into the drawers of the state-of-the-art dishwasher.

She’d donned an apron, an absurd white bit of cotton with a ruffle along the hem below a bib that barely covered her front. It lent the black dress she wore the naughty severity of a French maid costume.

Callum breathed deeply. “What are you doing?”

She kept her eyes down. “Cleaning up.”

Given the boiling heat that simmered in him, her lack of interest irritated. He marched forward and said more stridently than he intended, “Where’s the help I hired?”

“The help you hired?” She straightened, affront glittering in her eyes. “They have names. Emily and Jane. They’re people. Emily was tired-she’s been up since dawn and she has a long way to go to get home.”

“So where’s the other one?”

One finely arched eyebrow rose. “You mean Jane?”

He nodded impatiently. “Yes, Jane.”

“Her brother picked her up.”

“And even though you’ve been at work preparing food long before they arrived, they left you with all the mess?”

“They cleared most of it.” She gestured to the adjoining kitchen. “And the leftover food has been itemized and frozen. I’m just packing in the coffee cups and dessert dishes, Emily and Jane-” she used their names pointedly “-have already run the dishwasher twice, and unpacked it.”

She strode past him into the kitchen and looked around. “All nice and tidy, see?”

Callum followed and leaned back against the center island. Folding his arms across his chest, he said, “And what about you? Don’t you have to hurry home?”

“Of course.” She stalked across to a row of hooks and picked off her bag and a black woolen coat. Dropping the bag and coat on the center island, she unzipped a side pocket and retrieved her cell phone. “But I’ve been paid an astronomical amount for tonight’s dinner-I’m making sure you get your money’s worth.”

His money’s worth?

The words taunted, especially from a woman wearing such a starkly erotic outfit. With an effort he focused his attention back on her face. “It’s what I always pay.”

Her eyes went round. He could see her thoughts buzzing as she calculated. “And you entertain often?”

“Yes, but it’s work.” As well as being part of the rationale for courting Petra. He needed a wife.

And Petra would be perfect.

He only needed to propose…

Yet he couldn’t imagine Petra looking so innocently erotic in the black-and-white getup that Miranda was wearing. Or having this effect on him. His erection throbbed painfully behind the concealing fabric of his pants.

Callum shut his eyes.

And opened them to find Miranda staring at him. The silence in the kitchen pounded in his ears. Her mouth was lush, her eyes meltingly seductive. Driven by an urge he couldn’t resist, he took a step forward.

His hands settled on her upper arms, the flesh soft and giving under his fingers. Hoarsely, he asked, “I’ve been wanting to taste you all night. Are you as sweet as the crème caramel?”

Callum gave her a moment to object. Time stopped. She didn’t move. Or say anything. His hands slid around her and he pulled her to him. The warm scent of vanilla enfolded him, so feminine, so seductive.

He took the phone out of her unresisting hand and set it down on the island.

Her lips remained closed as he kissed her, not accepting, but not rejecting him, either.

Callum raised his head, and looked down into her face. There was a startled awareness in her eyes. His mouth slanted as he said, “Not as sweet as I’d expected.”

She started to say something, and in a flash he bent his head and took advantage of her parted lips.

His tongue sank in, and he plundered the warm, private cave. He’d lied. She tasted sweeter than sin. Of rich red wine, spicy cinnamon and seductive woman.

When her tongue swirled around his, Callum gave a moan of satisfaction.

Instantly Miranda’s body softened against his, melting into him. Heat swept over him. His hands pressed into the small of her back, drawing her against the blatant evidence of his arousal.

She didn’t pull away as he’d half expected.

His fingers played with the bow that fastened her apron behind her back and it came loose. “Do you know how sexy this outfit is?” he murmured against her mouth.

“An apron is sexy?”

“Oh, God… yes .”

She laughed, a lilting sound that drove him wild. He put his mouth over hers, tasting the musical notes. Ah, but she was delicious.

Her hands came up between them and pushed against his chest. “I shouldn’t be doing this.”

Callum let her back away. “Why not?”

“Because.”

He started to smile. “Because why?”

“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?”

His smile faded and he tensed, bracing himself for the accusations, ready to argue that actions had consequences, that wrongdoing couldn’t escape unpunished, that she had to let it go.

Her eyes warred with his. “I don’t like you.”

Relief surged through him. They weren’t about to discuss the circumstances of her father’s death while desire raged through him and blood pounded in his head. He wanted her back in his arms. It was insane. “Liking me has nothing to do with this .”

He whirled Miranda round and pinned her against the island, his thigh between hers. Miranda gasped at the pressure against a sensitive area, her fingers digging into his upper arms.

This time Callum gave no quarter, kissing her until they were both breathless. By the time he’d finished, she was clinging to him.

“You love that, don’t you?” Some demon within him demanded a concession from her.

But she remained mute, her eyes sparkling with defiance, her cheeks flushed with high wild color.

He hoisted her up onto the silver countertop, ignoring her squawk of protest. One of her pumps clattered to the tiled floor.

“My shoe.”

“Never mind your shoe.” He stepped between her parted thighs, forcing her dress’s hemline higher, and bending his head he placed open-mouthed kisses against the too-tempting smooth skin of her neck.

Her head lolled back, granting him unrestricted access. Lower down his hands ran along her nylon-clad thighs, he ruched her dress up farther, and when she didn’t stop him, Callum moved in for the kill.

Stroking her thigh, his fingers encountered a lacy stocking edge…then soft, satiny bare skin. He groaned as he realized she wasn’t wearing panty hose.

“Grief, woman, you know how to fuel a man’s fantasies,” he growled close to her ear as he caressed the tender flesh of her inner thigh.

Miranda only moaned, her hands knotting in his shirt.

Callum was past coherent thought. He stripped off first his dinner jacket, then ripping the snaps of his dinner shirt apart, let it fall on the stainless steel slab behind her.

“Oh.”

The sound of wonder that escaped her as she gazed boldly at his bare chest made him feel like a god. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her mouth with slow, deliberate intent, outlining the shape with the tip of his tongue. Miranda responded with hunger, and what had started out as a leisurely kiss erupted into no-holds-barred ardor.