Free Passion's Dream (The Doms of Passion Lake Book 1) by Julie Shelton Page B

actually believe all that nonsense about past lives and such.”
    “Nonsense, huh?”  He fought a smile.  He wanted to laugh, wanted even more to pull her against him and really kiss her.  “So you’re denying that you find me attractive?”
    “Fishing, Mr. Knight?”
    “Clay.”
    She slanted him an amused glance and he had the grace to look abashed.  “I’m sure you’re well aware of the fact you’re a very good-looking man.  You don’t need me to tell you that.  I imagine most women are attracted to you—” unless they’re dead.
    “Most women?”  He moved a step closer and she felt a brief flutter of panic, but she managed not to move.  “But not you.  Is that what you’re saying?  That you’re somehow immune to my considerable charms?”
    He was deliberately crowding her, his nearness stealing her breath, robbing her of her ability to think.  She drew a steadying breath and inclined her head with regal coolness, a gesture she had learned well as Richard’s society wife.  A gesture she’d used often to mask her utter boredom with his corporate clients, or to conceal the confusion and turmoil of her true feelings.  “What I am saying,” she said with firm patience, “is that I don’t hop into bed with every handsome man I meet, just because I might—and I said might —find him attractive.”
    He just smiled, a maddeningly arrogant smile and moved even closer, stepping around her side.  “Funny, I must’ve missed that part.”
    “What part?”
    “The part where I asked you to hop into bed with me.”
    Her shoulders jerked as his hands descended on them from behind, but she managed not to move.  The whisky-roughness of his voice was a caress against her ear.  “However,” he went on, his lips brushing across the sensitive skin of her nape, “the question is academic.  When the time comes, I won’t have to ask.  You’ll be begging me to take you to bed with me.”
    Anger stiffened her spine, enabling her to pull free from his grip.  Really, the man’s arrogance was unbelievable!  Clenching her hands, she turned to face him, drawing herself up and wrapping herself in frost.  “Mr. Knight, I find you and this entire conversation completely absurd.  You’ve fulfilled your obligation to Julio Rodriguez—you picked me up at the airport.  Thank you very much.  Now I would appreciate it if you would leave my room so I can get some rest before dinner.”
    Clay gave her a slow, pulse-pounding smile and shook his head, a slight negative gesture.  “It won’t work, you know.”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “Pretending nothing’s there.  Pretending you don’t react to me on a deep, visceral level.  It just won’t work.”
    “Why do you persist in this?” she demanded angrily.  “If you’re looking for a bedmate for the summer then go find one, for God’s sake!  But leave me alone!”
    “I can’t.”  The melancholy of his expression nearly incinerated her shaky resolve, but she steeled herself against it.  “I don’t know why, but I can’t.”
    “Well, you are simply going to have to.”  Gathering herself together, she swept past him in regal hauteur.  “Because it just so happens that I am not available.”   Oh, my God, why did I say that?  Her heart started racing.
    “Not available?”  His eyes narrowed.  “What does that mean, exactly?”
    “It means,” she began, pausing dramatically while she cast about wildly in her mind for something to say, “it means,” she repeated, seizing on the first thought that came to mind, “that I am engaged to be married!”

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    She licked her lips nervously, unable to look away from his steady, unreadable gaze.  Engaged!  My God!  Whatever had possessed her to say such a crazy thing?  She must be out of her mind!
    Clay’s eyes blazed, but his lips were twitching.  He clearly didn’t know whether to be angry that she’d lied to him, or amused by her attempt to keep him at bay.