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CHAPTER 6
He stared at her. It took all of her strength not to let her eyes fall away but Audrey was determined not to be the one to look away first. Antony began to say something into the taut silence which had fallen but in the next instant, James was on his feet, glancing at the other two.
“I think Miss Seymour and I need to talk privately for a few minutes. If you’ll excuse us? We won’t be long.”
“Addie?” Anthony glanced at her, his face concerned.
“It’s perfectly alright, Uncle Tony.”
Audrey had risen to her feet and now she smiled at the lawyer and Amy.
“Order for us if the waitress returns, would you? You already know what I usually order here.”
She didn’t think she’d be able to eat a thing but it would be
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Audrey was trying to maintain her calm, but the man in front of her and his awful accusations was rubbing her the wrong way. So being cool, calm, and collected went all down the drain.“If you must know, Mr. Mayer, my mother was a wonderful woman, the best, if I may say so. And never, in a million years, would she have married my father simply because he was going to inherit a business and a big house. She wasn’t like that.” Her fury strangely seemed to calm James. His voice was now lower than it had been a moment ago and without the growl to it.“Calm yourself, woman,” he said but without using a mocking tone. “You’re overreacting right now.” She didn’t think about what she did next… It was pure instinct. The sound of the slap echoe
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“Miss Seymour… I…” James stopped and expected until she faced him again. And Audrey did face him again. She was conscious of the dark shadow of his chest hair under the thin cotton shirt he was wearing. Her mouth went dry. Ridiculous, but somehow her body kept insisting that she acknowledge her sexual awareness of this man when it was the last thing she wanted to do.“I don’t want to argue with you, Miss Seymour,” he said flatly. “I really mean that. But I’m not prepared to let Seymour House go now when my father has expressed an interest in acquiring the property. For that reason, I will buy the house, with or without you on board. If it helps your ultimate decision, most of my time will be spent seeing to our business in the States.” Audrey flushed in spite of herself. She liked pla
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“He said what?” Amy stared at Audrey, shaking her head.“Look, it wasn’t like that, Addie. I promise you.”“You know about it, then?” Audrey was beginning to feel very confused. Nothing was as it seemed. They were sitting in the living room at Seymour House with a tray of coffee in front of them, but she had succumbed to pressure from Amy and related all that had passed between her and James before she’d even had a sip of coffee. Now she reached forward and took a hefty gulp of the scalding-hot liquid before asking again.“Amy, am I the only person in the world who doesn’t know about George Mayer and my mother?”“It was all so long ago, Addie. Of course, I knew George, having been born in the
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The intimacy of the dark, quiet garden was like a different world and, as she began to tremble, his lips moved over her face with swift burning kisses before returning to her half-open mouth. James plundered the undefended territory with ruthless expertise and Audrey heard herself moan as he triggered the desire for more. Her arms had wound around his neck and her fingers tangled themselves in the dark crisp hair at the base of his neck. He groaned in his throat and at the same time, she felt the unmistakable proof of his arousal against the soft swell of her stomach. It was all she needed to bring her back to reality and the enormity of what she was doing. This was James Mayer, the most arrogant Don Juan she ever knew. The same man who had caused her such ang
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Again, she supposed this was reasonable. Audrey took a deep breath. She didn’t quite know how they’d got on to this and she certainly hadn’t meant to show her heart to James Mayer of all people. But it was too late now to back off.“I like children… very much,” she replied flatly. “Some areas of this job can need extra-special training, particularly with children with congenital handicaps for instance, and I was thinking I’d like to specialize in this if possible.” Audrey raised her head and looked at him as the silence grew. His eyes were narrowed on her face and she couldn’t quite read his expression but he wasn’t pleased, that was for sure.“Of course, this might not be possible now, I see that,” she continued in a defensive tone this time.
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Audrey saw and heard nothing of James in the short while before she left London for good, and she was grateful for the break. The evening she’d spent in his company and particularly the last minutes of it, had unsettled her far more than she liked. She’d found she couldn’t get him out of her mind for more than a few minutes at a time and it unnerved her. His touch… his kiss had unnerved her. James Mayer unnerved her. She had dealt with James more easily when he was being obnoxious, she admitted to herself a day or two after their dinner together. Audrey hadn’t wanted to enjoy being in his company but she had found herself doing just that. And his kiss… Why was it this man only had to touch her for bells to ring? It was humiliating, the response he triggered in her body
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