Free A Prize Beyond Jewels by Carole Mortimer Page A

looking at him now, with that overlong dark hair tousled about that perfect, chiselled face, his black evening suit perfectly tailored to the broadness of his shoulders and muscled chest, his waist slender, and hips narrow above long legs, was enough to send a shiver of that same aching longing coursing through her own body.
    He quirked one dark, mocking brow. ‘Are you usually this indecisive?’
    Nina’s cheeks warmed with colour as she heard the rebuke beneath that mockery—implying, no doubt, that indecision was responsible for her father having taken over her life so completely.
    ‘Perhaps I just don’t think it a good idea to mix business with pleasure?’
    Neither did Rafe, but he didn’t seem to have any choice in the matter this time, not when it came to Nina Palitov. She was who she was, and he was determined to spend an evening alone with her. Bodyguards or no bodyguards! ‘Yes or no, Nina?’ he challenged between gritted teeth.
    ‘Oh, okay—yes, I’ll have dinner with you tomorrow evening!’ She glared up at him impatiently.
    Rafe held back his smile of triumph, merely nodding his satisfaction instead. ‘I’ll make the arrangements and call for you here tomorrow, at seven-thirty?’
    She winced, and a frown appeared between those moss-green eyes. ‘I’ll need to know beforehand exactly where we’re going.’
    ‘Small rebellion over— Hey, it’s okay, Nina,’ he assured her gently as she instantly began to chew worriedly on her bottom lip. Lips that were still temptingly plumped from the kisses they had just shared. ‘It really isn’t a problem.’
    ‘No?’ Her eyes looked huge in the pallor of her face.
    ‘No.’ Rafe had already decided not to make life any more difficult for her than her father’s stranglehold of security already made it for her. It was enough for Rafe, for now, that she had agreed to go out to dinner with him tomorrow evening. ‘I’ll let you know at the gallery tomorrow where we’re going—I take it that Andy and Rich, or someone very like them, is going to check the place out before we arrive?’
    ‘You make it sound so cloak and dagger.’ She frowned.
    Rafe shrugged. ‘It lacks a certain spontaneity,’ he acknowledged ruefully. ‘But don’t worry about it. We’ll make it workable.’
    ‘Thank you,’ she breathed.
    He looked at her curiously. ‘For what?’
    ‘For not—well, for not being difficult. A lot of men would be.’
    ‘I’d hope I’m not like a lot of men, Nina—or even a random one,’ Rafe added teasingly, in an effort to lighten the subject for her.
    ‘Stop worrying.’ He reached up to smooth the frown from between her brows before bending his head and lightly brushing his lips across hers before straightening. ‘I’ll see you at the gallery tomorrow?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Smile, Nina, it might never happen,’ he cajoled, as she still looked less than happy.
    It was already happening as far as Nina was concerned; she was far too attracted to Rafe D’Angelo. Attracted enough that she had allowed him to make love to her.
    Attracted enough that she was rebelling against some of the constraints imposed on her life by her father—something that had never happened before.
    Attracted enough that she would have to keep reminding herself that no woman had ever succeeded in capturing and holding the long-term interest of the elusive Raphael D’Angelo. That there had only ever been a series of tall, leggy, blonde and sophisticated women, who apparently drifted in and out of his life—and his bed!—with sickening regularity.
    And Nina knew herself to be only two of those things—tall and leggy!
    Which didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy this for exactly what it was: a flirtation on Rafe’s part that might or might not eventually lead to them going to bed together.
    She smiled as she straightened determinedly. ‘I’m really fine, Rafe. And yes, I’ll be at the gallery tomorrow.’
    ‘Good.’ He nodded his satisfaction with her answer.