Free Falling For His Proper Mistress by Tessa Radley Page A

come off the high of a lifetime to feed.”
    Â 
    Guy was right. It was hectic.
    After the balloonists landed the pilots shepherded them together for a celebration ceremony. Avery was conscious of the wonder on the faces of the new initiates, but there was no time to watch the ceremony as Guy and members of the Jarrod Ridge catering crew whipped up a scrumptious gourmet breakfast.
    Mimosas—the orange juice and champagne fizzing in tall glasses, slices of melon, eggs Benedict, and bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese were among the delicacies spread out on the tables that had been set up and laid with white linen and gleaming silver cutlery.
    â€œHow artistic it looks.” Avery stood back to admire the effect. “I don’t know why you think the menu needs overhauling. It’s perfect.”
    â€œDelicious, too, I hope.”
    She laughed at Guy’s droll comment. “That’s a given. Food always tastes better outdoors.”
    â€œThat so?”
    She nodded emphatically. “Definitely so.”
    â€œWe’ll have to test that theory out sometime.”
    The first of the balloonists arrived at the tables, their faces glowing with excitement and their hair windblown.
    â€œBut not now,” Guy added, as he moved to stand behind where the serving tables were set up.
    A tall Canadian loaded up his plate and paused beside Avery. “Where are you sitting?”
    Avery smiled at him. He’d greeted her back in the lobby. He had a friendly grin and appeared popular with the group. “I’m only—”
    Before she could complete the sentence and tell him she was part of the resort’s crew, Guy spoke from behind her, “Avery is with me.”
    The heavy-handed male warning was enough to make Avery see red.

Six
    A very stalked away from Guy, and found herself saying, “Is there space at your table?”
    The Canadian, whose name turned out to be Todd, introduced her to his group of friends and they all started to rave about how awesome the flight had been. But Avery found it hard to concentrate.
    All she was aware of was Guy’s smoldering presence at the next table.
    Why did she care? He had no right to behave like a complete idiot over Todd. She and Guy weren’t even a couple, darn it. He’d been the one who’d always made sure she tendered no hopes in that direction.
    She had a job to do and she would do it. She wasn’t about to let Uncle Art down. Nor was she going to put up with Guy’s arrogance.
    Avery speared a piece of melon and chewed.
    At the back of her mind she was conscious that she wasn’tbeing totally fair on Guy. She’d allowed him to provoke her into saying and doing utterly stupid things—because he infuriated her.
    You’re so honest in bed, he’d said on their way here, there’s none of the pretence women often play at.
    If only he knew…
    Instead of grasping the opportunity to admit how she’d misled him about Jeff, she’d chickened out.
    Maybe she was the ‘fraidy cat Guy had called her. It was impossible to explain what had driven her to imply that she’d slept with Jeff. It had been such a stupid thing to do—heck, she didn’t even understand the foolish impulse herself.
    Draining the hot, aromatic coffee, she set the empty cup down on the table.
    All she knew was that she’d wanted to hurt him as he’d hurt her with his belief that she was an easy little gold digger. But that was no excuse. When she’d discovered he’d never pimped her to Jeff she should have cleared up the misunderstanding then and there. Instead, she’d discovered a deep yearning for him to trust her unreservedly. When Guy had eyed her with disgust, she’d lost all sense.
    And the damage had been done.
    Oh, what a tangled web.
    Now he had her back up with his dog-in-the-manger attitude about Todd. Again she’d instantly reacted, rebelling against his dark,