Free The Spanish Tycoon's Temptress by Elizabeth Lennox Page A

“Perhaps too much.”
    She shook her head.  “That’s calling the kettle black,” she countered.  “What time did you finish working last night?” she asked, knowing that he was just as much of a workaholic as she was. 
    “About midnight.”
    “So?” she replied, her hands flat in the air as if to say, “Don’t you see the similarities?”
    “There’s a difference,” he countered.
    “What’s that?” she asked as she stood up and let him lead her out of the restaurant with a hand on the small of her back, feeling the heat of his hand but it didn’t feel horribly threatening at the moment.
    “I didn’t forget to eat,” he explained plainly. 
    Elana opened her mouth to argue with him, but then she stopped, thought back to the previous night and tried to remember what she’d eaten for dinner.  When she couldn’t think of anything, she simply closed her mouth once again and walked out into the sunshine again, ignoring his smug satisfaction. 
    Her shivering didn’t start up again until she was standing by the curb and the limousine rolled up, his driver jumping out to open the car door for them.  “I don’t mind catching a cab back to the lab,” she said, taking an involuntary step back from the dark interior of the vehicle.
    “Nonsense,” he replied, putting a hand to the small of her back and almost pushing her into the car.  “We’re both going to the same place.  It makes no sense to drive separately.”
    She disagreed with him, but she wasn’t sure she could convince him of her need to stay away from him.  With a sigh of resignation, she ducked into the car, taking the seat opposite him again. 
    She blushed when she saw the expression on his face, a look that told her that, if he wanted her in his arms, he knew he could get her there despite her distance.  The problem was, she was pretty sure that was true.  Which was why she was sitting on the opposite side and crossed her legs and arms, as if she could form a physical barrier from the man and his allure. 
    “What are you doing this weekend?” he asked as the driver pulled away from the curb. 
    Elana’s mind went over her plans for the next couple of days and she drew a blank.  She could clean her apartment, she thought.  She didn’t have much work to do because she needed to grow her bacteria and it took a while before the next batch would be viable enough for her to implement into the experiment. 
    His eyebrows went up in question as he waited for her answer. 
    “I have plans,” she said somewhat defensively. 
    “What are they?”
    She crossed her arms over her chest and glared back at him.  It wasn’t really any of his business what she was doing, but he was looking at her as if he knew she was afraid to be alone with him.  “Since my slides are growing,” she said with a tinge of unease, “I’ll clean up my apartment and get things organized for the next phase of my experiments.”  Her eyes lit up at that, eager to prove that she wasn’t so pathetic.
    He immediately shook his head, thi nking about hiring an organizational expert to do all of that work for her.  Her apartment wasn’t dirty, just disorganized.  “No, you’re coming to the investor’s meeting with me tomorrow night and then I think I should probably take you to my lake house just to make sure that you eat over the weekend.”
    Elana didn’t like the sound of that at all.  She couldn’t spend even an evening in his presence if her behavior before lunch was any indication, not even considering the possibility of an entire weekend.  “I don’t think that’s going to happen,” she replied and looked out the window of the vehicle.  She focused her attention on the various people milling about on the sidewalk as the limousine waited for the light to change. 
    He smiled at her resistance, ready to take on the challenge.  “First of all, I need you at the board of director’s dinner tomorrow night.  You’re a big investment