Lee Wilkinson - Unwordly Secretary, Gorgeous Boss

It was as though a cyclone had swept through the room and left her stunned and dazed. It had appeared out of nowhere without warning … After such a shocking visit, the room and herself would never be the same again. In contrast, Fabian radiated extreme calm—the absolute antithesis of her own wild tumult.

‘I can hardly take it in … Are you being serious?’

The plastic wallet of papers slid out of her grip and onto her lap. She grabbed it just in time before it fell onto the floor.

‘Do you think I am making a joke?’ He scowled. ‘I know my proposition may come as something of a surprise, even a shock, but trust me … I do not come to such decisions lightly or without giving them the proper consideration and thought.’

‘But if you are in earnest about such a proposal … why pick me?’

The tanned skin between Fabian’s golden brows tightened perceptibly. ‘I have just told you why.’

‘Have you? All I heard was a list of my supposed attributes, as though I was some useful household object you were thinking of acquiring! You haven’t begun to explain your reasons as to why you would want such a strange arrangement!’

‘It may seem strange to you, but it is entirely practical in my view. I have told you that I want a family, like any other man in my position, but what I do not want or need is emotional entanglement. I have no illusions about love affairs … none at all! And something as important as marriage should be entered into with a clear head, in my view. Letting emotions dictate your future life with someone, when those very same emotions are merely transient states, only ensures that the outcome will probably be the divorce court! That is why I have proposed what I have proposed.’

Laura shivered. ‘Transient states? You don’t believe that two people can fall in love? That that love might last a lifetime?’

‘That is just a foolish hope perpetuated by dreamers. I do not mean to distress you, Laura, but look at your own situation.’

‘Just because things turned out the way they did with Mark, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t have hopes once upon a time that we would have a marriage that lasted the test of time!’

‘That is just what I mean!’

Her face fell.

‘You were still in love with him at the end? Despite his ill treatment of you?’

‘No, I wasn’t in love with him … But that doesn’t mean I’d stopped caring about him! My feelings were confused … Mostly I felt pity for the tormented, disappointed man he’d become … for the reasons he’d let drink get such a hold on him. But that wasn’t my point!’

Those wide shoulders of his lifted in a shrug. ‘Be honest with yourself … Under the circumstances, it was not very likely that your marriage would have lasted the test of time. And I am a pragmatist … a realist about life. In my situation I have to be.’

‘And does your pragmatism extend to the bedroom? Because presumably you have realised that having a child together would involve some kind of intimacy? Or am I supposed to visit a clinic and be impregnated from a sample in a test tube?’

His answering expletive was short and sharp. ‘Do not insult me! Of course I know what is required, and I do not foresee any difficulty in that area of our marriage. We are young and healthy, and when we are alone together nature will no doubt take its course.’

‘Well …’ Staring at him as though seeing him for the first time, and hardly able to contain the contradiction of feelings and emotions that coursed through her, Laura rose slowly to her feet. ‘You seem to have it all sorted out nicely. I have a question for you, Fabian … Did you think of asking me to enter into this marriage with you because you think a man couldn’t fall in love with a woman like me? A woman with a difficult marriage in her past, that literally ended in disaster, as well as a disfiguring scar?’

‘Your scar does not make you any less attractive! Surely you must know that? And as for your marriage—you are right. It is in the past! It does not mean that you cannot make better choices in the present! Choices that will enhance your life and not impede it. I would not treat you cruelly, Laura … you have my word on that. And I would give you the children we both desire! Is that really so abhorrent?’

She felt so torn. It was becoming extremely clear to Laura that the more time she spent with Fabian, the more attached to him she would become. But he had as good as told her she could never hope for him to love her. Yet the idea of bearing his children—children she already knew she would love and protect with everything that was in her—was anything but abhorrent!

Could she really compromise her own need for love to enter into a marriage of convenience with this man? But then she’d married Mark because she’d believed he loved her and would never willingly hurt her. See where that mistaken thinking had got her!

Her breath was exhaled in the longest sigh. ‘I will think about your proposal. That’s all I can say about it right now. But just to let you know … even though my first marriage failed—rightly or wrongly—I still have the idea that marriage should involve a lot more than clear-headed logic! Perhaps I am one of those foolish dreamers that you so disdain? Excuse me. I should get back to work now. The opera company are coming this evening and I—’

‘I am pleased that you are prepared to think over my offer. I really believe that when you have considered all the facts you will see the sense and opportunity in it, Laura. And, if you accept, it will bring more benefits to you than you realise.’

Suddenly he was in front of her, his spicy cologne, blazing blue eyes and the heat emanating from his body crowding her senses and knocking down every one of her poorly equipped defences against him. Laura clung onto the sheaf of papers she held against her chest as though it was some kind of lifeline, thrown to her in the midst of a choppy ocean where she was under dire threat of drowning. He moved, and suddenly his long cool palms were enclosing the tops of her arms. She fought with everything she had to try and desensitise herself against his touch, but that was an outcome that was doomed to failure from the moment he’d stepped close.

Her lower lip quivered helplessly. ‘Please … let me go. I can’t afford to waste any more time this afternoon.’

When Laura thought Fabian was going to release her, he shockingly outwitted her. Almost before she realised what was happening his hands had locked tight around her arms, his chest pressed against hers—and he kissed her. Scorching heat spread over the tender skin of her mouth and consumed her in a sensual conflagration. If she were a forest, she would be charred wood and ashes by now. Making a small husky sound of need in her throat, she let his tongue invade her, and willingly drowned in a sea of hot masculine demand that drove away every ounce of caution and doubt completely.

Seconds ticked by in languorous slow motion, and Laura entered a world of the senses she’d only guessed existed before now. Somehow his fingers were sliding over her scalp, pushing through the tousled strands of her yellow hair with destroying erotic ease and the mercenary kiss—because she didn’t doubt that was what it was—deepened and made her shake. The wallet of papers slid unheeded to the floor, and she held on to his lean hard torso so that she wouldn’t lose her balance. Having no head for heights, she knew of the debilitating effects of vertigo, but this feeling of utter disorientation was even more terrifying.

‘You see?’ Fabian drawled, provocatively disengaging his sensual lips from hers, his clear blue gaze slightly amused. ‘There is nothing to fear about intimacy between us. We will do very well in that regard, as I already knew we would. Now, as delightfully distracting as this is, we do—as you so rightly said—need to get back to work. I think we will talk about this matter again after the concert … agreed?’