by Nicola Marsh
‘You made this happen, you know,’ she said, snuggling into her husband’s arms further as a cold gust of wind blew up Brunswick Street.
‘We both did,’ Cooper murmured against her ear, hugging her tight as his hands skimmed the sensitive underside of her breasts and made her shiver more than any old southerly wind.
She turned in the circle of his arms and looked up, amazed that the man staring down with so much love was her husband.
‘Barb would’ve been so proud.’
He stroked her cheek with slow gentleness. ‘She would’ve been proud of you.’
Ariel blinked back the sudden tears, remembering a morning years earlier when a compassionate woman had taken pity on a down-and-out street kid.
‘She took a chance on me when no one else would. Barb saw something in me I never knew existed. I owe her so much.’
A flicker of remorse shot through Cooper’s eyes. ‘I had no idea about your past and how much the gallery meant to you or how hard I must’ve seemed, pushing you relentlessly, forcing you to sell—’
‘Shh…’ She placed a finger on his lips, a shiver of delight skittling down her spine when he nibbled it. ‘Old news. Look how far we’ve come.’
He glanced around them, noticed the absent crowd and pulled her further into the shade of an old oak. ‘Tell me, Mrs Vance. Exactly how far have we come?’
He kissed his way from her finger to her wrist and slid his lips up her arm till her head fell back in abandon, yearning for his masterful touch on the sensitive spot between neck and collar-bone.
‘Oh…’ she murmured, melting into his arms, knowing she’d never felt so safe, so treasured, as she did in his embrace.
A tooting horn disrupted their erotic encounter and Ariel chuckled at the mortified expression on Cooper’s face as he straightened. ‘What? Doesn’t Mr Big-Shot get caught out necking with his wife?’
‘I have a reputation in the business world to uphold,’ he said, aiming for a haughty look, which fell flat considering the smug smile on his face.
‘Yeah, you’re a real toughie,’ she said, gesturing towards the art school over her shoulder with her thumb. ‘Not only do you throw yourself wholeheartedly behind the new and improved Colour by Dreams, you find this delightful row of old terrace houses, pay the owners ten times what they’re worth and develop them into an art school for underprivileged kids in the area.’
Cooper smiled, a warm, tender smile that never failed to set her pulse racing.
‘Hey, it wasn’t all me. My dad’s a toughie too. After all, it was his idea to get Vance Corporation’s employees volunteering down here once a week as part of their better-employee-relations policy.’
Ariel noted the pride in Cooper’s voice when he mentioned Eric and she couldn’t be happier. She’d watched the two of them re-establish a strong father-son bond over the last few months and had been touched when Eric had included her in a boys’ weekend away where the three of them had sat around and she’d learned more about her amazing husband from a man proud to tell a lifetime of anecdotes.
‘What are you thinking?’
Cooper slid his hands around her waist and locked them behind her back, bringing their lower halves into tantalising contact and making her wonder how soon till they could escape to the cosy confines of her studio, one of their favourite places for making love.
It had all started there and, thankfully, Cooper had agreed to pose for her again, completely naked this time, though she never quite got around to painting him.
He had a way of distracting her that made every colour she’d ever imagined coalesce into brilliant, startling clarity as he took her to the stars and back every time.
Smiling at her adorable husband, she said, ‘I’m thinking you and I are one heck of a team, Mr Big-Shot.’
‘I love it when you call me names,’ he growled, and proceeded to show her exactly how much.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-1373-3
MISTRESS TO THE TYCOON
First North American Publication 2008.
Previously published in the UK under the title BIG-SHOT BACHELOR.
Copyright © 2007 by Natalie Anderson.
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