His Convenient Mistress by Cathy Williams

another, though,’ Sara returned quickly, ‘so I’m allowed.’ Courtship? James Dalgleish? Had he ever courted a woman in his life? She very much doubted it, and then hard on the heels of that thought came another—what would it be like? What would it be like to have this big, powerful, self-confident, sexy man go weak at the knees at the thought of a woman? To find himself unable to function unless she was around? The thought of it made her blush and she hustled towards the sitting room, acutely conscious of him following closely behind her.
    â€˜You can’t hide away forever.’ Those were his first words the minute she had sat down and he had moved across to the bay window so that he could perch against the ledge and stare down at her.
    â€˜Because I didn’t jump into the sack with you doesn’t mean that I’m hiding away from anything!’ Sara lied, but there was no vigour in her voice. He was staring at her inthe same probing way that she would have shied away from a day ago, but which now made her want to just…just let him in. She had no idea where the urge was coming from but her helplessness to fight it off frightened her.
    â€˜Of course you are.’ James sauntered towards the sofa and sat down next to her, depressing it with his weight. It was small enough for his thigh to rest lightly against hers and all those crazy, racing pulses leapt into life as he turned to look at her, stretching out his arm along the back of the sofa so that it was resting loosely behind her shoulders. ‘Why else would you have run out here, to the back of beyond?’
    â€˜You know why. Simon…Simon has had these recurrent chest infections for years; he needed to get out of London. This house, coming when it did, just seemed like the hand of fate.’
    â€˜You could have moved to the country and still been within commuting distance of your job in London.’
    â€˜Why are you pinning me against the wall with your questions?’
    â€˜Because you said you wanted to talk and talk you will. What’s the relationship with Simon’s father?’
    â€˜What’s that got to do with anything?’ She began to look away and he caught her chin in one hand and forced her to look at him instead.
    â€˜Just about everything,’ he grated. ‘I want to sleep with you, but I have no intention of sleeping with a woman who’s still involved with her ex.’ It shocked him just how much he hated the thought of someone else having a claim to her body, to her mind.
    â€˜And here I was, thinking that you were one of those typical, unscrupulous high-fliers,’ Sara mocked in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. It didn’t work. He continued to look at her with such unsmiling concentration that she felt giddy and the curling feeling in her stomach began to spread to other places in her body.
    â€˜You still haven’t answered my question.’
    â€˜I don’t have any kind of relationship with Phillip,’ Sara said in a rush. Her cheeks were pink with colour. ‘No, I’m lying. I have got a relationship with Phillip, but it’s more along the lines of loathing.’ She gave a bitter laugh. ‘You could say we didn’t part on the best of terms.’
    â€˜You mean before you came up here?’
    â€˜I mean when he discovered I was pregnant. There. Satisfied?’
    â€˜I’ll tell you when I’m satisfied,’ James murmured. ‘And I’m not. I take it he didn’t like the thought of becoming a daddy?’
    â€˜What’s the point in talking about this?’ Sara squirmed.
    â€˜The point is that you can’t live your life if you’re still attached to your past.’
    â€˜That’s psychobabble.’
    â€˜Is it? I bet you haven’t had a relationship with any man since Simon’s been on the scene,’ he said astutely. ‘Have all the men in your life over the past five