“I cared,” she said huskily. “I cared too much.”
The words were like a pebble dropped into a still pond. It took a moment for the ripples to appear, but once started, they would go on forever.
Jarrett’s hands cupped her face, and for a long moment he stared into her eyes. Then with a little groan he caught her close. His kiss was fire, welding her heart to his, and Kit wanted it never to end. Everything was all right, now that they were together.
Except...
Eventually, she drew away from him. “You still have to take Nancy to the Caribbean,” she reminded him.
Jarrett sighed. “Yes, that is a bit of a complication. Do you mind?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He smiled at her, and his arms tightened. “I love you, Kit.”
Kit thought she was going to explode with happiness. “I love you, too,” she whispered, and once more his mouth took hers.
When she could breathe again, she asked, “Did you just wander into the store this afternoon?”
Jarrett relaxed his hold a fraction and complained, “Kitten, you have a very inconvenient habit of letting your mind wander when I’m doing my best to kiss you senseless.”
“Then it’s obvious you’ll have to practice.”
He smiled and drew her closer once more. “My pleasure.”
Kit put both hands on his chest. “But in the meantime, you haven’t answered my question. Did you just happen to come in?”
“Of course not. The manager called to tell me you were here.”
“Really? Does she personally report all customers or just ones who have been spotted with you on previous occasions?”
“She thought I might be especially interested in this case, so she arranged for you to look at everything in the store till I got here.”
“I’m disappointed if that means not every customer gets the sort of attention and service I did.”
“We do the best we can in that regard, but I’d say you got the VIP treatment.” He released her and stepped to the door, beckoning to someone in the back room. “That reminds me—I’d like to formally introduce you. Kitten, you do remember Nancy?”
The gorgeous redhead came into the drawing room, and Jarrett slipped an arm around her shoulders.
Kit gasped. “Nancy’s the manager of this place?”
“And she’s my sister,” Jarrett said.
Nancy smiled—it was very like Jarrett’s smile—and held out a hand. “Spending two weeks on the island would be fine,” she said. “But there’s no way I want this guy taking up space next to my deck chair, so I’m glad you’ve worked it out.”
Kit’s head was spinning. She’d suspected that the story of a home in Europe might be a cover-up. But she’d never have expected Jarrett’s sister to work for him. And yet, what a perfect hiding place it would be. And she could understand why Nancy had chosen it, as well, for there was pride in her face and in the way she stood. She wasn’t a woman who could be offered a handout, that was certain. It was incredible for a woman who had been battered to have brought her self-esteem to such a level.
“She’s fantastic,” she said, after Nancy had gone to her office.
“In lots of ways.” He tipped his head as he looked at Kit. “Including braving her fears of being spotted by Chicago society just to buy me. You don’t think I’d have left something so important to chance, do you?”
“No. But Susannah was bidding, too, and I thought—”
“That I’d set her up to do it? Oh, no. She’s too good a friend of yours, and I knew if you told her to cut it out, she would. And of course she did.”
“But wait a minute. Then who’s Colette? You said something about family when Heather offered to rig the auction, so I thought she might be your sister.”
“Second cousin. Unfortunately, that’s not quite close enough for me to turn her daughter over my knee.”
“Too bad.”
“Isn’t it, though? We’ll have to talk about Heather sometime. But just now we have far more interesting things to think about.”
“Yes.” Kit’s voice trailed off, and then with sudden firmness she said, “I have a confession to make, Jarrett. I didn’t expect you to cooperate with the auction.”
Jarrett shook his head chidingly. “That was foolish of you. By then I was far too intrigued not to.” He settled her more comfortably in his arms and gently rested his chin against her hair. “I think the reason I was so angry in the first place was because I was attracted to you from the very beginning.”
“Must have been the harem outfit.”
“That didn’t hurt. Then I thought for a while that an affair would do it, that I could get you out of my system that way. Now I know it’ll take a lifelong affair. So—” He tipped her face up to his. “Marry me, Kit?”
“Are you serious?”
“Never more so. There’s nothing I won’t do for a good cause—even get married.”
Kit frowned.
He went on happily. “Just think—a wedding coming out of this year’s auction will make an enormous splash to promote the next one.”
“You mean there’s going to be another one?”
“Why not? It was a great show. And next year we can play up the romance angle.”
“You won’t be available.”
“True. But perhaps it will happen to someone else. And as long as they have the dream of finding happiness like this...” He kissed her once more, a long and lingering caress that set Kit’s nerves aflame. She ran her fingers through his hair, exulting in the freedom to touch him.
“No,” he said. His voice was a little shaky. “Definitely you’re no competition for the Lingerie Ladies. They can’t begin to measure up.”
“Are you certain you’re not just besotted?”
“Maybe—but if so, I don’t expect to get over it. And when you wear white lace, it’s going to be just for me, on our wedding night. How about it, Kitten? Will you be my very own personal Lingerie Lady—forever?” Kit smiled slowly at him and drew his lips to hers.
ISBN: 9781472067371
THE BILLIONAIRE DATE
© Leigh Michaels 2013
First Published in Great Britain in 2013
Harlequin (UK) Limited
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