Taming the Tycoon by Amy Andrews Page A

grinned at her. “You were right.”
    “Goodness,” she said, grinning back. “I feel like I should get that in writing.”
    He chuckled. Bringing her hadn’t been the disaster he’d been expecting. In fact, he was enjoying himself. Hell, he couldn’t even recall thinking about work much at all today. And that was pretty much all down to this woman.
    “You seemed to be enjoying yourself tonight,” he said.
    She nodded. “Eunice and Delphine have interesting friends.”
    “Apart from Bill and his effluent.”
    Addie’s laugh was high and he noticed she’d already drunk a hefty amount of her wine. She took another gulp as he watched. She seemed suddenly nervous.
    “Everything okay?” he asked.
    Addie nodded. “Yes. No.” She stared into the bottom of her glass. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something. But I think I need some more Dutch courage—can you top me up?”
    “Thought you got flirty after two?” he asked as he reached for the bottle he’d left on the ledge and filled her glass.
    “I won’t drink it all,” she said, and then took a decent slug.
    Nathaniel waited for a few moments as Addie fidgeted with the wine glass and consumed half more.
    “I want to thank you for not…taking advantage of the situation this morning. I seriously do not know what came over me.”
    Nathaniel took a decent slug of wine himself as his body took a walk down memory lane. “I don’t take advantage of women who are half asleep, Addie. I’m assuming you were half asleep?”
    Addie nodded vigorously. “Yes…of course.”
    He hid his smile behind his own glass as Addie took another swig of her wine. She’d been awake as he had. “Okay then. No harm, no foul.”
    She seemed to sag a little at his words. “Thank you,” she said, and the relief in her smile was palpable. “Now, do you think we could never talk of it again?”
    Nathaniel laughed. “Sure. Although I should give you fair warning. I can’t promise to be so gentlemanly again should you get horny at five a.m. tomorrow morning.”
    Nathaniel watched the bob of her throat as she threw back the last of her second glass.

Chapter Seven
    Two hours later, with the last guest gone and the cleaning-up taken care of, Addie collapsed back on the bed fully clothed. The room spun pleasantly and she shut her eyes on a happy sigh. “That was a bloody great party,” she announced.
    Nathaniel’s chuckle settled around her and she opened her eyes to his, “I think you had too much elderberry wine.”
    “That’s some bloody great wine,” she said pointing at him. “No wonder it wins the blue ribbon every year.”
    He laughed again and she joined him. “And you have a great laugh,” she said. “You should do it more often.”
    “I’m too—”
    “Yeah, yeah, I know,” Addie interrupted, propping herself up onto her elbows to locate him. He was standing by one of the wing chairs, his foot up on the arm, undoing his shoelaces. “You’re too busy”— she bugged her eyes at him—“to laugh.”
    Nathaniel laughed again as he kicked off his shoes, and it went straight to internal muscles that were really getting a workout this weekend.
    Who needed Pilates?
    “I was going to say—”
    “Important?” she suggested as he reached for the buttons of his very sexy open necked shirt that he’d rolled up to his elbow. “Rich?”
    He grinned. “No.”
    “Jaded?”
    He made deft work of the buttons as he said, “You’re not very good for my ego, are you?”
    Addie watched as he shrugged out of the shirt and his broad shoulders and magnificent chest came into view. She figured his ego could stand a little heat.
    She dropped back to the mattress as Nathaniel reached for his belt buckle, shutting her eyes again. Some things were better off left unseen after three glasses of elderberry wine had loosened her tongue and hijacked her inhibitions.
    She listened to his rustling as he got changed. The bed was soft and snug around her and seemed to rock