Alex's Angel by Natasha Blackthorne

her all morning. It was a complete failure. Her throat tightened up.
    He raised his brows and cocked his head slightly. His impatience was a palpable thing.
    She laughed, the disjointed sound hanging in the air between them. “I want to say I am—” Her voice crackled and she placed a hand to her collarbone and tried several times to clear it. “I want to say I am sorry about last night and that I’d like a second chance.”
    Her voice sped up on the last words and then she stood there, holding her breath, resisting a sudden urge to cover her nose.
    Something flared in his eyes, only briefly, but it made her heart leap with hope. Maybe he still wanted her.
    She dared to release her breath.
    “A second chance?” His tone told her nothing.
    “Yes, a second chance—that is if you still wish to…” Her ability to transfer words from her brain to her lips died as he approached her. The scent of his sandalwood shaving soap intoxicated her; his blue-grey eyes transfixed her.

    As Emily trailed off, Alex didn’t know what to make of her sudden change of heart. She was behaving very skittishly for a seasoned harlot. But he recalled her from the night before. No untried girl could move with such sensual grace. She’d told him that she liked to see herself as hard to attain. Perhaps she’d simply wanted to whet his interest. Well, she’d certainly done that. At the sight of her, his cock had gone iron hard. All of his misgivings had vaporised as if his mind no longer held voting rights. How ridiculous her question was. Of course he still wanted to fuck her. He grinned at her. “Well now, darling, you make me wish I had no business today. But I am late as it is.”
    “Oh.”
    “Shall I drop you by my rooms and you can wait for me there? I’ll have my man fetch you bathing water, some dinner—anything you wish.”
    “That would be lovely.” She frowned. “But…”
    “Yes?” He could hold himself back no longer. He crossed the distance between them, then put his fingers under her chin and tipped it up. His gaze swept over her face, as if he’d been starved of the sight of her for a long time. Elation filled him.
    Christ, he was already that infatuated with her.
    That’s all it was—an infatuation. He was wise enough to realise that. He knew himself too well.
    And it wouldn’t last.
    But never before had he become infatuated with a woman so intensely, so quickly. He intended to enjoy it while it lasted.
    She studied him with her large, sherry-brown eyes, her expression grave, almost as if she was intimidated by him. He had a hard time equating her current demeanour with the hardened harlot who had bargained him up to one hundred and fifty dollars. The same girl who had so cagily run from him only to whet his appetite for her.
    With no way to be sure if she was acting now, to reassure her of her position with him, he wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her closer, allowing her to feel his arousal.
    “Emily, you may ask for anything, within reason, and I shall see you are provided with it.”
    Her frown deepened. She looked down and chewed her lip. That luscious, full bottom lip. His erection seemed to grow larger and harder—so much so that he feared he’d burst his seams. He slid his hand down to her arse, finding it, as last night, surprisingly rounded for such a thin girl.
    “What is it?”
    She raised eyes full of chagrin. “I have a bit of a problem.”
    “I am listening, but sweetheart, I don’t have much time to spare at the moment.”
    As it was he was precariously close to tossing the whole business aside and spending the afternoon tucked into bed with her.
    But he couldn’t let James down. The cause was an important one. Important enough that he’d agreed to stay in Philadelphia until the business was done. This afternoon’s meeting was imperative.
    Yet her arse fitted his hand so well. He pressed more firmly, bringing their bodies into closer contact.
    “I have to buy my belongings back