Margaret Mayo - Bedded At His Convenience

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

‘I CAN’T GO to a party!’ declared Keisha firmly, glaring at her friend. ‘I have nothing to wear. Nor do I have any money. And I’m about to be thrown out of my house. Why are you asking me?’

‘Because it’s exactly what you need,’ insisted Gillian, her voice firm. ‘You’ve been out of the social circle for far too long.’

‘And I’m in no position to enter it again,’ countered Keisha, green eyes flashing her irritation that Gillian had even thought about asking her.

But Gillian ignored her friend’s denial. ‘You can borrow one of my dresses.’

At one time the other woman’s clothes wouldn’t have fitted her, but the pounds had dropped off Keisha during the last three years. Gone were her voluptuous curves, and instead she was painfully thin. With her pale complexion and long ash-blonde hair, Keisha sometimes thought that she looked like a wraith. ‘I still don’t want to go,’ she maintained, her lips pressed firmly together.

‘I’m relying on you,’ retorted Gillian. ‘No way am I going to sit in alone when there’s a party to go to. Come on, we haven’t been out together for ages. Please? Do it for me?’

Keisha smiled weakly, beginning to feel selfish. Gillian had been a good friend, and she had been looking forward to this party. Would it really hurt her to make the effort?

‘OK, I’ll go. But just for you!’

Arriving at the party later that evening, Keisha felt good for the first time in ages. Gillian had worked wonders with her appearance, styling her long blonde hair into a sophisticated chignon, and applying just the right amount of make-up to highlight Keisha’s amazing eyes. Gillian had also made sure that Keisha wore something that flattered her thin frame, instead of drawing attention to her weight loss.

Slowly Keisha began to relax, and to enjoy herself. The last three years had been hard, and this party was exactly what she needed—time to have a bit of fun!

But as Keisha stood assessing the many glamorous people present at the party she quickly realised she had made a huge mistake. Standing on the other side of the room was Hunter Donahue. The blood drained from Keisha’s face and she wanted to turn tail and run. But already it was too late. Narrowed eyes were fixed in her direction, and a frown was furrowing an already darkened brow. Keisha’s stomach curled into a tight knot.

She turned to her friend, but Gillian was talking to someone else. When Keisha looked back in Hunter’s direction she discovered, much to her relief, that he had disappeared.

Until a hand touched her shoulder!

She shivered, goosebumps standing out on her bare arms like corn stubble in a freshly harvested field.

‘What are you doing here?’

Oh, that voice! That beautiful deep voice! Why did it still have the power to send shivers of a very different kind through her? So many pleasures they had shared, so much excitement. But things had gone drastically wrong and she had fled their marriage three years ago. She hadn’t seen him since.

She tried not to think about the great sex they’d shared—which was hard with someone as physically gorgeous as Hunter—lifting her chin instead, and looking coolly into the blue depths of his eyes.

Still beautiful eyes, she couldn’t help thinking. Come-to-bed eyes. Eyes that had been used very much to his advantage! Oh, hell, why was she thinking like this when they were divorced?

‘Who are you with?’

He didn’t look too pleased to see her either, thought Keisha, although she couldn’t help wondering whether he felt any of the old sparks—or whether she was the only one who remembered how fantastic those first months of marriage had been.

‘Who is he?’ Hunter’s eyes scanned the crowded room as he persisted in finding out who her companion was.

The party was being held in one of London’s top hotels. Keisha remembered Gillian telling her what it was in aid of, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember why all these businessmen were gathered together.

‘It isn’t a he, it’s a she,’ Keisha answered. ‘Do you have a problem with me being here?’ She let her wide green eyes rest on his cool blue ones, her chin tilted as she looked up at him. He certainly didn’t look pleased. In fact he looked as though she was the last person on earth he wanted to see again.

And she could hardly blame him when she was the one who’d done the walking.

‘No, I don’t have a problem,’ he answered. ‘I’m shocked, I guess. You’ve changed, Keisha. You’ve lost weight. I hardly recognised you.’

She lifted her too-thin shoulders and let them drop again. ‘I’m sure it’s no concern of yours.’

Hunter, on the other hand, had put on a few pounds. Not too much, possibly all muscle—as though he still worked out on a daily basis. He looked good. Far too arresting for her peace of mind!

‘On the contrary,’ he said, much to her surprise, ‘it is very much my concern. I’m interested in what you’ve been doing since you—deserted me.’ He lifted her hand and made a show of studying it. ‘No ring, I see. So you haven’t married again?’

Keisha shook her head, snatching her hand free, alarmed at the flurry of feelings that his touch had triggered. Feelings that she had thought were dead. And had now learned were very much alive. Hunter, she was discovering, was not a man who could be dismissed easily.

If ever!

Keisha told herself that she was being ridiculous. Why couldn’t she dismiss him? Their marriage had failed. They were divorced. He meant nothing to her any more.

‘I don’t suppose I can flatter myself that your loss of weight has anything to do with me?’

His devastating blue eyes looked deeply into hers and her throat tightened, pulses beginning to pound. She had run away because he’d neglected her, because he’d worked too hard and she’d rarely seen him—and because he had been seeing another woman.

Not because she had fallen out of love.

Three years was a long time. She ought to be over him. She had thought she was. And now she was shattered to discover that some of those feelings were still alive.

Keisha couldn’t help wondering whether Hunter was experiencing any similar feelings. Lord help her if he was, because if he turned his fatal charm on her she wouldn’t be able to resist. It had taken her but a few seconds to discover that.

Her only consolation was that she was older and wiser. She tossed her head and flashed her green eyes magnificently. ‘As if!’ And she took a step backwards.

Over Hunter’s shoulder she saw Gillian glance in her direction. What she wouldn’t give to call her friend over and suggest that they leave. But to do so would alert him to her unease, and that was the last thing she wanted. She needed to remain cool and aloof, and not let him see by even the flicker of an eyelash that he could still stir her senses.

Even though she’d always sworn as a young girl that she would never get married—her father had come and gone, finally disappearing into the ether when she was only nine, so her lasting impression of men was that they were never there when they were needed—she’d been totally bowled over by this man, by his softly spoken words and his eyes full of promise.

Keisha had left school at eighteen—there had been no money for university or higher education; she’d needed to earn a living. Her mother had suffered from bouts of depression ever since her husband had left and had never worked. Therefore Keisha had felt it her duty to get a job—even though she would have liked nothing better than to join her friends at university.