The Prospective Wife by Kim Lawrence Page A

he announced firmly as she began to surge purposefully to her feet. A strong hand stopped her mid-surge.
    He might have been having a problem with his leg, but the fingers clamped around her upper arm made it pretty clear the weakness didn’t extend to his upper limbs; she couldn’t have budged if she’d wanted to, and since he’d touched her things had got a bit ambivalent on the escape front. She subsided weakly.
    ‘Would it make things less… improper —’ God, but he loved the sound of that word ‘—if I sack you?’
    Was he trying to be funny? ‘I’ve just told you, improper has nothing to do with it; and you can’t sack me, I’ve already resigned.’ She sighed and tried to act as if the touch of his hand on her arm wasn’t making her ridiculously susceptible body get all hot and very bothered!
    ‘The way I see it, the problem is you don’t look at me and think patient…?’
    ‘I’ve told you!’ Kat was very conscious of her aching breasts as they chafed against the restrictions of the imprisoning Lycra.
    ‘I know, I know, I got it all wrong…’ Impatiently he brushed aside her heated response.
    ‘Don’t humour me,’ she gritted. ‘I’m serious.’ If she said it often enough, she might start believing it herself.
    ‘Do you think I look at you and think clinical practitioner?’ he asked abruptly.
    Kat felt pretty certain he was working up to a major insult. ‘I’m not sure I want to know what sort of things your head is cluttered with,’ she replied, sounding seriously priggish.
    ‘Shall we leave the sordid state of my subconscious out of this?’ It sounded like an afterthought when he added, ‘Are you trying to tell me that your thoughts are as pure as the driven snow?’
    ‘Of course I’m not,’ she responded crossly. Heaven help her if he asked her what she did mean, because she didn’t have the faintest idea.
    ‘For the sake of argument, let’s take the worst case scenario—you are consumed by lust every time you look at me.’
    Kat could hear the strained note of uneasiness in her scornful laughter; she just hoped he couldn’t too.
    ‘Why are you getting so het up about this? You’re not my doctor; you’re not misusing a position of power. Look at me!’ he instructed her, cupping her chin so she didn’t have much option. ‘Do I look like someone who’s going to be sexually abused unless he wants to be?’
    Did that mean he wanted to be? Kat’s eyes flickered wildly around the room but there was no way she could avoid his eyes for more than a few seconds; only she knew that once she’d made eye contact with those startling blue eyes she’d only be able to escape when he decided she could. It was bizarre, but she was acting like the sort of weak helpless female she detested. She had never encountered a man who made her feel impotent and out of control. Was this what being in love was about? If so, God knew how it had ever caught on!
    ‘We’re not talking medical malpractice here, Kathleen,’ he continued in a softer, more persuasive tone. He could be more persuasive without exerting himself than any man had a right to be! ‘We’re not talking sordid, unnatural practices…’ One dark, strongly delineated brow rose to a satirical slant. ‘At least, I’m not.’ He waited politely for Kat to recover from her choking fit before continuing, ‘We’re talking about nothing more sinister than bit of good old-fashioned chemistry.’

    ‘This sort of talk is…is…inappropriate.’ She carefully avoided all mention of wildly exciting.
    She had a deliciously quaint turn of phrase.
    Her hand came up to remove his from her face; she was going to be firm and calm about this. While she was being firm and calm, her fingers mysteriously became inextricably tangled with his… The chain of thought led to her picturing other parts of them tangled in more intimate ways. She gave a little gasp, shocked rigid by her own depravity.
    ‘Why don’t you let me decide what’s