Amanda Browning - A Daring Deception

Nathan’s lips curved mockingly. “No, but you couldn’t seriously expect me to. I’m one of the few people who know from experience that there’s more to you than meets the eye.”

Rachel laughed out of sheer disbelief. “You truly believe that you know me that well?” She shook her head helplessly. “You’re wrong, you know.”

His brows rose skeptically. “Are you asking me to believe that you’re a reformed character? Sorry, darling, but as felines go, you’re as sleek as they come”

“You’re very sure of yourself, aren’t you?” she asked through gritted teeth.

He looked at her, blue eyes glittering sardonically. “Very sure. Remember that if you’re ever tempted to take me on.”

Oh, she was tempted, all right, and when the time was right, she would act.

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AMANDA BROWNING still lives in the Essex house where she was born. The third of four children—her sister being her twin—she enjoyed the rough and tumble of life with two brothers as much as she did reading books. Writing came naturally as an outlet for a fertile imagination. The love of books led her to a career in libraries, and being single allowed her to take the leap into writing for a living. Success is still something of a wonder, but allows her to indulge in hobbies as varied as embroidery and bird-watching.

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CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

RACHEL SHAW gritted her teeth together in silent annoyance and paced back along the corridor. It was hot today, and the silk of her white blouse and black skirt clung uncomfortably to her skin, emphasising her hourglass figure. Her long legs, encased in sheer nylon, carried her back to the other end in seconds. As she eyed the lift, and the mute testimony of its closed door, her strikingly beautiful face, with its large green eyes and generous mouth, lost its customary serenity and took on a sternness that only one man could produce. Nathan Wade. This was typical of him. Absolutely typical. The only time the damned man was punctual was for a date with some beautiful woman or other.

Immediately she winced, knowing that was unfair. Nathan was good at his job, managing the merchant bank her great-great-grandfather had set up in the last century, and he took it extremely seriously. It was simply that when it came to answering a summons from her grandfather he could be counted upon to turn up only when he was ready and not a moment before. It was her own ridiculous jealousy talking.

What a joke that was. She, who, after her parent’s disastrous marriage and messy divorce, had declared she would never fall in love, and had never dated any man for more than a few weeks, had fallen like a ton of bricks for a man with the same attitude, and was now green with jealousy. She hated the thought of him with those other women, but there was nothing she could do about it. Not even if she knew how. Because, for reasons she had yet to fathom, Nathan Wade had taken an instant dislike to her. Nothing in the past two years had changed that.

She refused to allow it to worry her, even though his attitude had at first angered, then hurt her. An emotion she most certainly did not like. She had her fair share of pride, and refused to let him catch even a glimpse of her true feelings. Which was easy when they rarely came into contact with each other. By day she ran a catering business with her cousin, ranging from private parties to small functions. They were both cordon bleu trained, and because no job was too small business was booming. By night, when she wasn’t working, she had an extremely full social life, being seen at all the in places, though never with the same escort for long. That aspect of her lifestyle hadn’t changed.

Recently, though, she had had to juggle two jobs. Her grandfather Linus Shaw’s private personal assistant had had a serious accident and was recovering slowly. By rights he should have brought in a temporary assistant, but, being Linus, he hated change. Therefore he had turned to Rachel, his favourite granddaughter, for help. She, as he had known full well, had been unable to refuse him, so for the past few months she had been helping him with his not inconsiderable correspondence, and aiding him in the writing of his memoirs. He had been, she was discovering, every bit as flamboyant as Nathan Wade, which was probably why they fought so often. Notwithstanding that, there was genuine respect and affection between the two men, and they would probably get along much better if Linus was less fond of issuing orders that Nathan generally ignored.

As a rule, Rachel could sympathise with the younger man, but there was something about this latest summons which was different from the others. Linus was worried, and that was why she was pacing the floor outside the spacious flat overlooking Kensington Gardens that Linus Shaw had called home since his retirement from the world of high finance.

She took yet another glance at her wristwatch, and even as she did so the lift doors slid silently open, revealing the single male occupant. Her head came up and her heart did its customary flip-flop at the sight of him, although it hadn’t taken her long to learn what a waste of time it was to be attracted to this particular man. He had the attention span of a goldfish when it came to women, and changed them as often as he changed his socks. That was the irony of it. Of all the men she could have fallen for, she had had to pick one with an aversion to commitment just as she had.

In those circumstances it shouldn’t have bothered her that he didn’t like her, but it did. She didn’t know what she had done to offend him. Ordinarily she would have taken the bull by the horns and demanded to know the reason for his disdain, only her newly sensitive heart had quailed. Did she really want to know? Would it change anything? The answer to both questions having been no, she had kept her feelings well and truly hidden behind a disdainful contempt of her own for what she termed his alley-cat proclivities.

However, that didn’t stop her being pleased to see him, though she would rather eat worms than let him know it. Which was why right now her forehead creased into a frown of disapproval.

‘You’re late,’ she informed the man who had pushed himself away from the wall and stepped out into the expensively carpeted hallway.

Nathan Wade’s right eyebrow lifted quizzically. ‘Miss me, sweetheart? I didn’t know you cared.’

Rachel snorted, wondering for the trillionth time why he alone had to have a voice which crept along her spine like the softest of soft caresses. Instinctively she stiffened her backbone an extra notch. ‘I don’t. For myself. If you never turned up again I wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep.’ Great Rachel another lie to add to an already long list! To think of never seeing him again made her feel strangely queasy inside. ‘However, my grandfather seems to think highly of you. Why escapes me, but these things happen. I put up with you for his sake.’