Someone Irresistible by Adele Ashworth Page A

proud, but to him was strictly a matter of arrangement. He didn’t want to appear as if he’d bow to Mimi’s wishes, but he didn’t want to keep her waiting, either. She was a demanding woman—an enticing, demanding woman. A combination he had trouble reconciling.
    He was surprised by how anxious he’d been to get started in her home today as well, especially after his rushed departure of the afternoon before. Sir Harold’s unexpected appearance had shaken him up, though. He hadn’t anticipated leaving her side so early, at least not before luncheon, but he just couldn’t let an awkward moment pass without action. And he couldn’t, right now, look Sir Harold in the eye without betraying his bitter emotions. He wasn’t ready for that. Soon, yes—but not now.
    It was Mimi the woman, however, who stirred his blood this morning. Her individual scent had drifted his way the minute he’d walked into her workshop. Such a base initial reaction to being in the same room with her again had made him practically snort with shame.
    He was no better than an animal, which would no doubt give credence to the obscure theory that man and apes were somehow related. Apes were affected by scent, sniffed each other of habit. Right now, sitting in her warm studio, on her softly cushioned settee, staring at her gently sloping backside, Nathan felt the overpowering urge to rise, walk toward her, grab her around the waist—from the back, so he could press himself against her bottom—place his face in the crook of her neck, and sniff her. He squirmed in his seat from his libidinous thoughts. He’d never noticed the way a woman smelled before, at least not in a positive way. Mimi made him think unusually, and he didn’t like it. His constant musings of her were appalling because they were just so totally,
    unexpectedly arousing.
    “So what did your father say about your new sculpting project?” he asked to break the quiet, and further, to turn his mind to more practical matters.
    She smiled vaguely, though she didn’t look at him as she concentrated on the materials in front of her, placing instruments in order on the ugly brown table. “I only told him what was necessary. Not everything.”
    “Meaning?”
    She raised her shoulders negligibly. “Meaning that he now knows you’ve hired me to sculpt, in his name—”
    “What?” he chimed in, incredulous and sitting forward.
    She ignored his outburst as if she expected it, still looking away from him as she tacked two of the Megalosaurus drawings of yesterday onto an easel.
    “I told him you’d learned somewhere in the field that I sculpted and you have a function to attend for which you need a sculpture.” She paused and glanced at him, her gaze roving briefly down, then up his body before she looked away again. “I didn’t think it was necessary to tell him you’re blackmailing me, Nathan.”
    That hit him right in the stomach. He really shouldn’t be so swayed by her words, though, and it annoyed him that he felt such sympathy for the woman he’d put in a particularly tight spot both with family and professionals. He really couldn’t understand her reaction, either. He’d expected her anger, pure outrage, maybe even hatred for attacking her father’s name in an attempt to prove the man was responsible for his failing. But she wasn’t angry at all, and that, Nathan had to admit, confused him. Then again, she’d said she felt sorry for him when he’d lost his social and professional status. She was thoroughly confident in her sculpting ability, and perhaps that confidence extended to her desire to prove him wrong. This in itself would account for her rather relaxed demeanor around him. Feeling suddenly agitated by his wandering thoughts that explained nothing, Nathan stood again and moved closer to her.
    “Tell me what you intend to do here,” he said, crossing his arms over the front of his white woolen shirt.
    She smiled again. “Well, let’s see. First, after