Married Lovers by Jackie Collins

said, incensed that he was treating her as if she was merely there to do his bidding.
    “It’s not my deal to have anybody around on a permanent basis.”
    “Then I suppose a wife is out the question?” she drawled sarcastically.
    “Why?” he said with a sly grin. “You applying for the job?”
    “Some job,” she murmured scornfully.
    “Jeez, you’re difficult,” he grumbled.
    “No,” she said, answering quickly. “I’m merely professional, and you should be too.”
    “Okay, okay,” he said, holding up his hand. “Stop lecturing me. I’ll put on the coffee, then I’ll get into my work-out clothes and we’ll do fifteen minutes.”
    “Fifteen minutes?” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. “You’re paying me for an hour.”
    “You’ve got money on the mind, lady. I said I’ll pay you. Do I look like a welsher?”
    “I hate wasting my time and your money.”
    “And she’s thoughtful too,” he teased.
    “I try to be.”
    They exchanged a long look.
    “How about dinner tonight?” he said, tired of wasting time.
    “Excuse me?”
    “Dinner. Tonight,” he said patiently. “Two people sitting at a table eating food. It’s a local custom. Very popular.”
    “No.”
    “No what?”
    “No thank you.”
    He threw her a quizzical look. “Are you gay?”
    “What?” she said, outraged.
    “Into women?”
    “Oh, I see,” she said. “I don’t want to go out with you, so automatically you assume I’m gay.”
    “Not that there’s anything wrong with it–I mean if you were gay,” he said, studying her beautiful face. “Although, I have to say, it’d be a terrible waste. However—”
    “I am not gay,” she said firmly. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
    “Married? Engaged?” he pushed.
    “What is this–an inquisition?”
    “Kinda. I’d like to take you to dinner and you keep on saying no. There has to be a reason.”
    “How about you’re not my type.”
    “Now you’re kidding, right?”
    “I don’t date actors.”
    “I’m not an actor.”
    “You’re on TV. Same thing.”
    “I host my own talk show. Totally different.”
    “I don’t date celebrities.”
    “Who do you date?”
    “You know what– I’ll make the coffee,” she said, deciding to put an end to a conversation that was becoming far too personal and going nowhere. “Go put on your work-out clothes and we’ll get in half an hour of weight training.”
    “And so she changes the subject,” he drawled.
    “Go!” she ordered.
    “Yes, ma’am ,” he said, mock-saluting.
    He couldn’t help smiling as he made his way into his dressing room and grabbed trackpants and a T-shirt. This one was so different from the women he was used to. She was beautiful–but they all were. She had a great body–but they all did. Cameron had something else going for her; she struck him as not only stunningly beautiful, but honest, self-confident and unimpressed with his fame. Very refreshing. And best of all she was notprepared to succumb to his considerable charms, and that was most unusual.
    But she didn’t want to go out with him, and he had to find out why. It was in his nature to get to the bottom of things. It wasn’t as if he was some crazy pervert she’d met on the Internet or picked up in a club. He was Don Verona, and most women creamed at the thought of any interaction with him.
    So what was wrong with her?
    By the time he got back to the kitchen the coffee was bubbling in the pot and she was busy chopping fruit.
    “What are you doing?” he asked.
    “You can’t work out on an empty stomach,” she said crisply. “It’s not the right way to start the day.”
    “I never eat in the mornings.”
    “You do now,” she said, pushing back a lock of blonde hair that kept on drifting into her very appealing green eyes. “It’ll give you more energy.”
    “Are you always this bossy?” he asked, picking up a slice of mango with his fingers.
    “Only when I need to be.”
    “And that would be