His Secrtary Mistress
Mills & Boon Modern Romance
March 2006
ISBN: 0263847993
Harlequin Presents
June 2006
ISBN: 0373233086
Mills & Boon Special Release (3-in-1)
May 2009
ISBN: 026387530X
At the boss’s bidding…
Jenna Deane is thrilled when she lands a fabulous new and well-paid job. Life hasn’t been easy since her unfaithful husband deserted her and their little daughter.
But her new boss presents her with a challenge. Top barrister Alex Morrell is darkly handsome and known for his tough tactics. Soon he’s made it clear to Jenna that he expects his secretary to be available whenever he needs her. How can she tell him that she’s actually a single mother?
When Alex whisks Jenna away on a magical business trip to Paris, and takes her to bed, she realises that she’s fallen hard and fast for him. But what will she do about having kept mum – about being a mum?
She couldn’t understand why Alex looked so grim-faced. She had been aware of glowering looks from him all evening, when he hadn’t been flirting with a variety of beautiful women. It was lucky she had been able to rely on Seb for company; Alex was in such demand that she could very easily have spent the evening as a wallflower.
‘I don’t know what’s the matter with you,’ she said, staring dismally at the glass of iced water he handed her. ‘We’re supposed to be cheering Seb up.’
‘You seem to be doing that all by yourself - although I’m not sure Madame Roussel meant for you to get blind drunk and ravish her grandson on the dance floor.’
‘I am not drunk.’ Somehow Alex had steered her out onto a large balcony, the blast of cold air making Jenna’s head spin so that she grabbed hold of the balustrade. ‘How dare you suggest that I was making a play for Seb? I was being friendly, that’s all.’
‘It looked a lot more than friendly from where I was standing. Your behaviour is the talk of the party. If you’re determined to commit adultery, then do it with me. Seb has enough problems. The last thing Ellisa needs right now is to hear rumours that her husband had to fight off the attentions of a red-haired bimbo at his grandmother’s party.’
Behind the sarcasm lurked blind fury, Jenna realised, and her own temper was instantly at boiling point; the crack of her hand against his cheek sounding like gunfire as it ricocheted around the balcony.
‘I don’t intend to commit adultery with anyone - least of all you,’ she bit out, but beneath her bravado she felt horribly sick. She despised physical violence, but she had never felt so angry or humiliated in her life.
‘Is that so? Then why have you been throwing out signals ever since we arrived in Paris? Don’t try and deny it,’ he said coldly. Every time I turn around I find those big grey eyes on me, inviting me, inciting me.’
‘Inciting you to what? You’re the one who keeps staring at me, but tries to hide the fact whenever I look at you.’
‘And you find that unsettling, do you? Maybe even embarrassing? Do you want to run home and tell Chris that your boss wants you in his bed?’
‘No.’ She stared at him miserably, tears burning behind her eyelids as she studied the livid handprint that stained his cheek. Her anger quickly dissipated to be replaced with shame. ‘I want us to go back to being… friends.’
‘We can never be friends,’ he told her bluntly and suddenly he was too close, his hands resting on the balustrade on either side of her body, caging her in although he did not touch her. ‘And you know why.’
He lowered his head, his lips hovering millimetres above hers, so close that she could feel his warm breath on her skin, could count his eyelashes. His face was a sculpted mask, the skin drawn tight over prominent cheekbones, his eyes no longer cold, hard sapphires but burning with an intensity that caused an answering hunger to unfurl in the pit of her stomach. She had wanted this since the first time he had kissed her after Charles Metcalf’s party, and suddenly her job, Lee, everything, faded into insignificance as she faced up to the fact that she wanted him.
With helpless fascination she waited as his head lowered still further, until his mouth closed over hers, and with a stifled murmur of surrender she closed her eyes, giving herself up to pure sensation.
‘Open your eyes,’ he demanded. ‘I want you to know it’s me you’re kissing.’
His mouth was hard, demanding her response, his tongue forcing entry between her lips with barely leashed savagery, as if determined to crush any sign of resistance. He need not have worried; she was powerless to prevent her response, her lips parting willingly under the pressure of his as the kiss went on and on, stoking a fire that was in danger of blazing out of control.
Still he did not touch her, his hands clenched so tightly around the balustrade that his knuckles were white, his face rigid with the effort of holding back, until with a groan he relaxed against her and she felt the glorious, rock hard proof of his arousal. The effect was like pouring petrol onto a bonfire. She ran her hands over his chest with unashamed hunger, feeling the frantic thud of his heartbeat beneath her fingertips before winding her arms around his neck as if afraid that he might draw back.
‘This is utter madness, but I can’t fight it anymore,’ Alex muttered rawly. ‘These past weeks I’ve been going mad watching you, wanting you, knowing that your husband is waiting for you at home.’ His hands gripped her shoulders with bruising intensity as he fought an inward battle with himself, wanting to pull her close but knowing that for sanity’s sake he should push her away.
‘He’s not…’ Jenna whispered. ‘My husband… He’s not at home…’
‘You mean you’ve rowed? He’s walked out on you? So what am I? The consolation prize?’
His fingers marked her skin and she was sure her shoulders would break under the force of his grip. Her hands fell to her sides as she quailed beneath his contempt.
He stepped back from her and shook his head, sanity returning with a vengeance. ‘I will not take responsibility for problems within your marriage, Jenna, and I will not act as a sop for your bruised ego. If Chris has walked out on you then quite frankly I don’t blame him. You flirt with anything in trousers - look at your behaviour tonight with Seb. But if you’re on the look out for a rich meal ticket you can count me out.’
Jenna was incandescent with fury. To think she had felt guilty for slapping him, she raged silently. Right now she would happily beat him senseless. ‘My husband hasn’t left me… At least he did, but… Oh, it’s all a muddle. How dare you accuse me of looking for a meal ticket? You kissed me; you made all the running.’
‘And you were my poor, defenceless victim?’ he mocked. ‘Why don’t we both be honest and admit that we fancy each other? Although a quick screw with my secretary has suddenly lost its appeal - you’ve got too much baggage.’ He had swung away from her, but as he pushed open the door to re-enter the party he paused. ‘One other thing - keep away from Seb. His life is enough of a mess as it is. He needs you like a hole in the head.’…