Lee Wilkinson - The Tycoon's Trophy Mistress

“Stay at your place?” Charlotte echoed, knowing she should be pleased, but was momentarily horrified, and sounded it.

“Rather than book you into a hotel, I thought you could stay. Unless, of course, you have any serious objections to living under my roof for a short time?”

“W-well…no.”

“I thought the press might have managed to convince you that no woman is safe when I’m around.”

She didn't need convincing, Charlotte thought bitterly—she already knew that he was a ruthless womanizer.

LEE WILKINSON lives with her husband in a three-hundred-year-old stone cottage in a Derbyshire village in England, which most winters gets cut off by snow. They both enjoy traveling and recently, joining forces with their daughter and son-in-law, spent a year going ’round the world “on a shoestring,” while their son looked after Kelly, their much loved German shepherd. Her hobbies are reading and gardening, and holding impromptu barbecues for her long-suffering family and friends.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

IN THE London headquarters of Wolfe International the man with the cool grey eyes paced the luxurious private office kept solely for his use, restless as a tiger in a cage.

What would he do if she didn’t show, if she’d changed her mind?

Above the muted but ever-present background roar of Piccadilly’s traffic he heard the high-pitched whine of the lift.

A moment later, pausing by the long narrow horizontal window between the two offices, he saw the door of the outer office open.

Screened by the cream vertical-slatted blind, he watched her walk into the empty outer office and stand by Telford’s large, imposing desk.

A natural redhead, he judged—long-legged, slender and graceful, with an oval face, a straight nose, high cheekbones, a determined chin and a mouth like a young Sophia Loren’s.

Her hair was taken up into a smooth coil which served to emphasize her pure bone-structure, and from his vantage point he could see that her eyes slanted up a little at the outer corners. Disappointingly, he couldn’t make out their colour.

She was so exactly like his dream of a perfect woman that she could have been built to his specification.

Though this woman was far from being a plastic, mass-produced, empty-headed doll type.

A special something—the alignment of her features maybe—made hers a fascinating face rather than merely beautiful. And, judging by the job she did and what he had already found out about her, she had brains and character.

Assets most of the others had lacked.

But until now, avoiding any risk of involvement or emotional blood-letting, he hadn’t been looking for brains or character, merely a beautiful companion to decorate his arm at public functions and a beautiful body to take to bed at night. In short, his physical needs satisfied while his emotions remained placid, undisturbed.

This time, however, his emotions were anything but placid and undisturbed. He had wanted her fiercely, passionately, since the first moment he had set eyes on her some three months previously.

Then he had caught sight of her briefly just as he was about to leave for the airport and, knocked for six, had asked his Managing Director who she was.

‘That’s Tim Hunt’s sister.’

The answer had shaken Daniel Wolfe badly and it was a moment before he said evenly, ‘I wasn’t aware he had a sister.’

‘So far as I know it isn’t common knowledge.’

‘Personnel had no other Hunt listed.’

‘Her name’s Charlotte Michaels,’ Telford told him as the two men took the lift down.

With a sudden stab of alarm Daniel demanded, ‘Is she married?’ He had always avoided married women like the plague.

‘No, she’s single.’

‘Then why the different surnames?’

‘I suppose, to be exact, I should have said she’s Tim Hunt’s stepsister.’

Daniel let his breath out slowly. ‘That would certainly have made things clearer.’ Then, thoughtfully, ‘Have you any idea if she was close to her stepbrother?’

‘I gather they were extremely close.’

‘She wasn’t at the funeral.’

‘Charlotte was away when it happened. Not having had a holiday the previous year she’d taken five weeks off and, by the time she heard the news and flew home, it was all over.’

‘How old is Miss Michaels?’ Daniel pursued as they left the lift and made their way across the sumptuous marble-floored lobby to the main entrance where a limousine was waiting.

‘I don’t remember precisely. Twenty-five or six.’

‘What exactly does she do?’

‘Charlotte works with our main research team, analyzing current market trends and helping to predict future ones.’

‘Been with the company long?’

‘She started at the beginning of last year. Some time in February, I believe.’

‘How about her private life? Any men friends? A live-in lover, for example?’

Telford’s bushy eyebrows drew together in a frown. ‘I really don’t know.’ It was obvious that the middle-aged MD disapproved of such a personal question.

‘How does she get on with the men she works with?’

‘Very well. Though she can appear a little aloof, she’s always polite and friendly.’

‘No office romance of any kind?’ Daniel persisted.

‘Not that I’m aware of. In fact, it’s rumoured that since her engagement broke up earlier this year she’s tended to avoid men.’

‘I see. Is she good at her job?’

‘Excellent. I’d say she has one of the best brains in the team. But as well as being clever she’s genuinely nice and caring. She was extremely distressed by her stepbrother’s death.’

Telford held open one of the heavy smoked-glass doors for his boss and, as though by way of warning, added, ‘After reading the reports in the press, and hearing the office gossip, she became very upset and angry. She seemed to think that you were largely to blame for what had happened…’

Someone passed them, coming in, and the MD lowered his voice. ‘She handed in her notice but I didn’t want to lose her, so I told her to take some time off and think things over. I must admit I was both surprised and pleased when she chose to come back.’

Daniel’s grey eyes narrowed.

Most of his previous women had been easy, almost boringly so. Discovering what he was up against told him that this one would be anything but easy. In fact, it might prove to be one of the biggest challenges he had ever taken on.

But it was typical of the man that he never for an instant thought of giving up. He had always been a man who knew precisely how to get what he wanted, and he wanted this woman. Wanted her more than he had wanted anything for a very long time.

And he intended to have her.

He wondered briefly whether to postpone his flight, go back and speak to her now, introduce himself.

If he could bring everything out into the open he would be able to start his campaign immediately, as he was itching to do, rather than wait.

But a sure instinct warned that if he made his move too soon he could spoil everything. It would pay to be patient, to allow more time to elapse. That way heated emotions would have a better chance to cool.

So, reining in his impatience, he handed the waiting chauffeur his small amount of luggage, shook hands with Telford and reluctantly climbed into the limousine to be driven through the sunny September streets to the airport.