Free The Tycoon's Delicious Distraction by Maggie Cox Page A

bemused look, Kit sighed. ‘At any rate, don’t you think I have anything better to do than spend my time dwelling on what you look like naked?’
    ‘No doubt you do. But don’t bruise my already fragile ego by denying me the very healthy male fantasy of you lusting after my body in your spare time.’
    ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake...you’re impossible!’
    ‘I’ve been called worse things in my time.’
    ‘I think we should just call a halt to this inane conversation right now and concentrate on having our breakfast, don’t you?’
    Once again Hal lifted a sardonic brow. ‘You just told me that you don’t eat breakfast.’
    With a frustrated groan, Kit pushed back the tendril of auburn hair that had drifted onto her forehead and exasperatedly rolled her eyes. ‘Well, I might just be driven to it to help me keep up my strength if you persist in trying to wind me up all day!’
    It was perverse, but Hal privately admitted to a strange delight in knowing he could get to her—even if her reaction wasn’t the usual smitten one he’d grown used to receiving from women.
    Taking a couple of satisfying sips of his coffee, he gave her a disarming grin. ‘I’ll do my best not to aggravate you, sweetheart, really I will. But you surely can’t deny a poor invalid these only too brief opportunities to brighten up his day? That is not unless you have a heart of stone?’
    ‘So it’s a “poor invalid” you are now, is it?’
    ‘What else could I be when I’m stuck here in this wheelchair?’ Suddenly, out of the blue, his mood turning on a sixpence, Hal’s frustration at his immobility got the better of him. ‘Trust me, angel. If I wasn’t so incapacitated by this blasted broken leg I’d be chasing you round the room until I caught you and stole a long, satisfying kiss!’ The very idea at being able to carry out such a threat instantly restored his good humour. ‘Although I know one could never possibly be enough.’
    ‘Don’t you remember you already stole one yesterday?’
    ‘You told me you’d forgotten about that. Maybe it left more of an impression than you admitted? Perhaps I should take a chance and steal another one to remind you how good it was?’
    ‘I don’t agree. Although I won’t deny you your harmless little fantasy if it helps to keep your spirits up. Anything that aids your recovery is fine by me, because once you’re up and about again, and you can get back to your busy life and the no doubt infinite number of women who find you so irresistible, you’ll be a lot happier and my job here will be done.’
    Just before she turned away to slot some bread into the toaster Hal saw her lips wrestle with the most maddening grin and he couldn’t help scowling because—unbelievably—she had bettered him by finally getting the last word...
    * * *
    Having pronounced him better than she’d hoped, the cheerful nurse from the private hospital Hal attended departed, promising to see him again in a week’s time and instructing him to call if he needed to see her sooner. When she’d gone he told Kit that he intended to work in his study until lunchtime and that she could please herself what she did until then.
    Cutting him down to size with the comments she’d made in the kitchen before the nurse arrived had made her regret being so outspoken, because since then he’d fallen worryingly silent and there had been no more provocative banter between them. Even though her blood had throbbed like honey heated over a slow-burning flame when Hal had confessed he wished he could chase her round the room and steal another kiss...
    Kit knew she shouldn’t encourage any more flirtatious comments because it would only make it harder not to see him again when her job came to an end. Besides, she knew he couldn’t possibly be serious about wanting to kiss her for a second time.She was certain that the brief but delicious kiss he’d delivered yesterday had only come about because the circumstances had been so