The First Time We Met: The Oxford Blue Series #1 by Pippa Croft Page A

print on the wall. ‘Possibly.’
    ‘That was work saying I had to leave that evening. I didn’t know when I’d be back.’
    I hardly trust myself to speak anyhow, because I know I’m still a little high on the champagne and a lot high on Alexander’s sheer physical presence and the intriguing prospect of finding out more about him. Not, of course, that I want him to know that I’m remotely interested in any aspect of him.
    ‘So do you have to go off on these jaunts often?’ I ask, trying to keep my voice on the polite side of bored.
    ‘I never go on “jaunts”,’ he says, imbuing the word with thinly disguised contempt. ‘As for having to disappear off in the middle of my course, that shouldn’t happen at all. We should be keeping term, of course, according to the college rules.’ He hesitates and his mouth tilts in a maddening smile. ‘But I don’t like to play by the rules, as you’ve probably worked out by now.’
    ‘Ah ha. I get it now. You’re a rebel. That explains everything.’
    ‘A rebel?’ He gives a soft laugh. ‘I hardly think so, but if that’s the way you like to imagine me then I can live with it.’
    The way I like to imagine him? I almost hate the guy, but I want to wipe the smile off his smug, gorgeous face with my mouth even more. And I swear he opened those long legs even wider, leaving me in no doubt that he’s as turned on as I am.
    ‘So, you have a sabbatical for a year?’ I ask in what I hope is an aloof kind of way.
    ‘Of sorts, and hopefully I won’t have to go off too often from now on.’
    ‘How long have you been in the army?’
    ‘Since I left Oxford the first time. I did my first degree here after I left Eton and then I went to Sandhurst.’
    ‘Ah. Sandhurst. Of
course
. The officer training college.’
    ‘Well done.’
    ‘I’m not entirely ignorant of British history and culture, whatever you may think.’
    He shakes his head. ‘On the contrary, I’d never make that mistake. I suspect your knowledge extends to some very esoteric fields.’
    Actually, I have the feeling that compared to Alexander, in some fields I’m a complete novice, and does he
have
to look at me in that ‘scorch your panties off’ way? ‘But military academy … that sounds tough,’ I murmur, saying anything to cover the rogue blush that’s started at my chest and is rapidly rising up my neck
    He gives a wry smile. ‘It wasn’t a holiday camp and at times I’d have given everything I owned to be anywhere else, but I survived, as you see, and now I love my job.’
    His row of medals draws my attention. No, I can’t tease him about those, because I know they don’t hand them out like candy to just anyone. I’d love to know what he’s done to get them, but I’d rather rip out my fingernails than ask him. He’d only give some flippant reply anyhow.
    ‘So,
what
are you? You turned up in the uniform tonight, after all. Can you tell me or will you have to kill me?’
    He regards me levelly, only for a second, but it seems a hell of a lot longer. I feel as if he’s weighing up his opponent and deciding on a course of action. My blush heats my face, but to my relief he glances down at his chest with a sigh of resignation. ‘I’ve been to a mess dinner with some colleagues, straight from, well, from where I was earlier today.’
    ‘And these?’
    Before I realize what I’m doing, I reach up and touch one of the tiny airplanes on his lapel with my fingertip.
    ‘The Paras. I’m a captain in the Parachute Regiment.’ Pride adds a richer texture to his voice as he says this and he can’t help lifting his chin a little. So I’ve found his true passion. Not his degree, not his estate, but the army. For some reason, I’m shivering inside, but I still can’t resist teasing him.
    ‘So, no guarding Buckingham Palace in a bearskin? I thought you might have been in some kind of Guards regiment.’
    His tone turns icy. ‘I’m sorry to disappoint you.’
    I drop my fingers from