Caroline couldn’t imagine what had ever prompted her grandmother to hire him—and at a highly generous salary, too—except that Nick Valkov was considered one of the foremost chemists anywhere on the planet. Deep down inside Caroline knew that no matter how he behaved, Fortune Cosmetics was extremely lucky to have him. Still, that didn’t give him the right to manhandle and insult her!
“I assure you that you would find me more bitter than a cup of the strongest black coffee, Dr. Valkov,” she insisted, attempting without success to free her trembling body from his steely grip, while he continued to hold her so near that she could feel his heart beating steadily in his chest—and knew he must be equally able to feel the erratic hammering of her own.
“Oh, I’m willing to wager there’s more sugar and cream to you than you let on, Ms. Fortune.” To her utter mortification and outrage, she felt one of Nick’s hands slide insidiously up her back and nape to her luxuriant mass of sable hair, done up in a stylish French twist.
“You know so much about fashion,” he murmured, eyeing her assessingly, pointedly ignoring her indignation and efforts to escape from him. “So why do you always wear your hair like this . . . so tightly wrapped and severe? I’ve never seen it down. Still, that’s the way it needs to be worn, you know...soft, loose, tangled about your face. As it is, your hair fairly cries out for a man to take the pins from it, so he can see how long it is. Does it fall past your shoulders?” He quirked one eyebrow inquisitively, a mocking half-smile still twisting his lips, letting her know he was enjoying her obvious discomfiture. “You aren’t going to tell me, are you? What a pity. Because my guess is that it does—and I’d like to know if I’m right. And these glasses.” He indicated the large, square, tortoiseshell frames perched on her slender, classic nose. “I think you use them to hide behind more than you do to see. I’ll bet you don’t actually even need them at all.”
Caroline felt the blush that had yet to leave her cheeks deepen, its heat seeming to spread throughout her entire quivering body. Damn the man! Why must he be so infuriatingly perceptive?
Because everything that Nick suspected was true.
To read more, don’t miss
HIRED HUSBAND
by Rebecca Brandewyne,
Book One in the new
FORTUNE’S CHILDREN series,
beginning this monlh and available only from
Silhouette Books!
ISBN : 978-1-4592-7946-9
BORROWED BRIDE
Copyright © 1996 by Patricia Madden Coughlin
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