The Playboy's Proposal

by Amanda Browning

  ‘How does it look?’ Joel asked seriously, and she folded her arms.

  ‘It looks as if she was seriously miffed with you!’ Kathryn exclaimed sardonically. From her very brief perusal it was hard to say just how extensive the damage was, but one thing had swiftly become apparent. Magda was no novice when it came to computers. She had known what she was doing.

  ‘We’ll take that as read, shall we?’ Joel suggested tersely, and Kathryn obligingly subdued her amusement.

  ‘OK, seriously. Have you any idea what’s missing?’

  ‘All the work I’ve been doing on several new projects.’

  ‘Did you keep back-up files on disk?’ One look at his face told her the answer to that.

  ‘I made back-up files in the system, but I couldn’t find them. I presume she deleted them, too.’

  Kathryn sighed heavily. ‘In future I suggest you copy sensitive material on disk and put them somewhere safe. At a guess, I’d say all your files are gone. The question is, was she mad enough to wipe them entirely, or did she just trash them? Which means we can retrieve them with a bit of work. Now, if she really wanted to be mean, she could have infected you with a virus.’

  ‘I keep the anti-virus constantly updated,’ Joel informed her, and she was relieved, because they could be darned tricky devils.

  ‘Thank goodness for that. Still, I’ll check that she didn’t set a booby-trap before continuing. You realise there’s every probability she wasn’t actually physically here, don’t you? She would have logged into your database from her own computer. At a guess, I’d say behind her undoubted feminine attractions dear Magda is a dedicated computer hacker,’ she declared, looking up to find Joel frowning ferociously.

  Catching her eye, he grimaced. ‘I had no idea,’ he admitted reluctantly.

  The confession brought a mocking smile to her lips. ‘Yes, well, her brain wasn’t what you were interested in, was it?’ she pointed out dulcetly.

  Give him his due, Joel smiled ruefully, acknowledging the hit. ‘We didn’t do a lot of talking,’ he confirmed, and she shook her head.

  ‘Perhaps you ought to start vetting your women a little more closely. This is the twenty-first century. Women are not merely sex objects any longer. They have brains, and have even been known to use them.’

  Straightening, he moved round her and propped a hip against the desk, folding his arms as if prepared to stay there for ever. ‘I’m fully aware of that. I employ a good percentage of women in high-profile positions within my organisation.’

  He rose a notch in her estimation. ‘I’m glad to hear it.’

  Joel tutted. ‘Can we keep to the point? What I want to know from you is, can you repair the damage?’

  Reproved, she folded her hands in her lap. ‘Yes, I can. But it’s going to take longer than I expected.’

  His relief was palpable. ‘Take all the time you need. It goes without saying I will pay you whatever you ask. I’m not going to quibble over the bill, because I need those files, and I need them yesterday.’

  Kathryn smiled sweetly and pushed up her sleeves. ‘Then you’d better let me get on with it. As soon as I’ve checked that there will be no nasty surprises, I’ll be able to move along more quickly. Would you have Drew get my box of tricks for me?’ she asked as she reached for the keypad once more.

  ‘I’ll get it. What does it look like?’

  ‘It’s a small black case. I left it on the dresser in my room,’ she responded absently, her mind already running through the checks she would have to make. She didn’t hear Joel leave the room, or come back a little later with the case, which he set on the desk beside her.

  It was late when she finally closed down the computer and pushed back the chair with a groan as her body protested at having been fixed in one position so long. Yawning, she stretched, easing out the kinks.

  ‘Well, what’s the verdict?’ A soft voice posed the question from the other side of the room, and she very nearly jumped out of her skin.

  Her arms dropped, and, turning startled eyes in the direction the voice had come from, she discovered Joel sitting at his desk, a sheaf of papers in his hand. ‘Have you been there all the time?’ she charged in amazement, and he nodded.

  ‘Pretty much. I went out for coffee once. Yours will be stone-cold by now,’ he told her with some amusement, and Kathryn blinked, only now seeing the cup which had been set at her elbow.

  ‘I didn’t hear you,’ she confessed, and he laughed softly.

  ‘A herd of elephants could have stampeded through here and you wouldn’t have heard them,’ he retorted with wry humour.

  Her grin was rueful because it was all too possible. ‘I do tend to get a little wrapped up in my work.’

  ‘Just a little,’ he agreed.

  They exchanged smiles, and in the blink of an eye the air seemed to thicken. Kathryn saw the look in his eyes change until its intensity scorched her and her eyes widened, her lips parting on a tiny gasp.

  ‘Are you going to come over here, or am I going to have to come over there?’ he asked her in a voice laden with so much passion she shivered.

  Her body quickened, her senses silently screaming that either option would do. But there was still a sensible, sane portion of her brain in control, and she shook her head, albeit without any great deal of conviction.

  ‘I think…’ she began, only to stop when Joel set his papers down and rose to his feet.

  ‘Don’t think,’ he ordered huskily, rounding the desk and coming towards her. ‘I’ve been sitting here watching you chew on those luscious lips of yours for the past two hours and it’s been driving me crazy,’ he added with a groan.

  Reaching out, he took her by the shoulders and lifted her to her feet. Kathryn tried to protest, but her heart wasn’t in it. Her hands rose to his chest to hold him off, but that was as far as they got. Instead of pushing him away, her fingers registered the heat of him and spread out like tiny fans to claim all of him they could. Swallowing hard, she stared up at him. Do something, her brain urged, and she did. Her eyelids closed as if weighted and his head descended. When his mouth claimed hers, a wave of such intense pleasure swept through her that her bones seemed to melt. At the brush of his tongue her lips parted, welcoming his possession.

  In an instant the world spun away. There was only sensation. Somehow her arms were around his neck, her fingers gliding into silky hair and clinging tightly. From a long way off she heard Joel groan, felt his arms tighten, drawing her to his hard male body, and then his tongue was plundering her mouth with a devastating passion, and she met each thrust with her own, stoking a desire that set her blood sizzling in her veins and started up a throbbing ache deep within her.

  It could have been one kiss; it could have been a dozen. Only the need for air finally forced them apart, and they stared at each other, hearts thumping, dragging gasping breaths through kiss-bruised lips.

  Joel’s eyes had darkened to a deep stormy blue. ‘I think I got more than I bargained for,’ he confessed thickly.

  Kathryn knew that she certainly had. She had always known that this man could make her feel with more intensity than any other man she had ever met, but with that kiss she had entered a whole new realm of experience. Her response had been so quick, so intense, so all-encompassing. Nothing would ever compare to it. Nothing would ever come close.

  ‘You shouldn’t have done that.’ She made the token protest in a whisper.

  ‘You didn’t stop me. You didn’t want to,’ Joel pointed out unnecessarily, for she knew how foolish she had been. It was too late to take back knowledge. From this point on she would always know what she was missing.

  Kathryn pushed herself away from him with very shaky hands. ‘Maybe so, but we both know it was a mistake,’ she said as forcefully as she was able.

  ‘If that was a mistake, I hope to make more of them,’ Joel responded seductively, and the words trickled over her nerve-endings, setting them fluttering.

  ‘Don’t,’ she protested,
then closed her eyes and sighed heavily. ‘OK, I admit I enjoyed it. But I’m here to work, not indulge in a…a…a liaison with you!’ she continued, with more insistence this time, as her system began to settle down to something approximating normal.

  His brows rose quizzically. ‘Can’t you do both?’

  ‘I don’t want to do both!’ she lied, and they both knew it.

  ‘Sure you do,’ he countered chidingly, and she groaned, realising she was in a hole that would soon be too deep to get herself out of.

  ‘I don’t intend to get involved with you, Joel,’ she insisted, notwithstanding.

  ‘You can say that when not five minutes ago you went up in flames in my arms?’ he charged, and she didn’t thank him for reminding her.

  Kathryn crossed her arms and raised her chin to a defiant tilt. ‘I am saying it.’

  Much to her dismay, he merely smiled. ‘Now that, in my book, constitutes a challenge. It will give me great satisfaction—and you, too—to make you eat your words.’

  Kathryn never had been a woman who knuckled under to attempted male domination—as her brothers could testify. She had a strength of will equal to any man, and if she said no, then no it had to be. ‘I wouldn’t attempt it if I were you,’ she warned frostily, and Joel folded his own arms, mimicking her, and smiled again.

  ‘What will you do to stop me? We’ve already established that when we get into clinches you fight on my side,’ he taunted her, and her eyes narrowed.

  ‘That won’t be happening again.’

  ‘You wish!’ he shot back with a laugh, and she was very nearly tempted to stamp her foot in frustration. She resisted it, however.

  ‘This is serving no purpose,’ she returned, very much on her dignity. ‘You do what you feel you have to do, but you won’t be getting any co-operation from me.’

  ‘Well, we’ll just have to see about that, won’t we? Now, why don’t you slip off to bed? The rest will do you a power of good,’ Joel suggested, and she took umbrage at his tone.

  ‘Don’t order me about. I’m not a child.’

  The glint in his eye deepened. ‘Don’t I know it! You’re very much a woman, Kathryn Templeton.’

  How did he manage to turn the tables on her so easily? ‘You are the most… Oh, I’m going to bed!’ she exclaimed in frustration, needing to put some space between them so she could regain her equilibrium. ‘Goodnight,’ she said as she headed for the door.

  ‘Goodnight, Kathryn,’ he called after her, and the sound of her name on his lips was a seduction in itself. ‘Sweet dreams.’

  Her response to that was to close the door firmly behind her and head for the stairs. She was pretty certain she would dream, but no way would it be sweet. Oh, no. The way things were going, her dreams were more than likely going to be hot and steamy in the extreme. As she mounted the stairs she was very much aware that, for a woman who had no intention of getting involved with a man, the prospect didn’t disturb her the way it ought.

  CHAPTER THREE

  KATHRYN breakfasted alone the following morning, which suited her mood just fine. She had slept, but her dreams had been every bit as erotic as she had suspected they would be. It had been a frustrating night in every sense of the word, and as a consequence she felt less than at her best.

  Drew had departed first thing to catch his flight to Germany, and that didn’t help cheer her up any, but when Agnes informed her that Joel had insisted on driving him to the airport she breathed a sigh of relief. Putting off the moment of seeing him again seemed like a good idea with a man as perceptive as Joel Kendrick.

  She was sipping at a second cup of coffee when she finally heard the car return, and instinctively braced herself. He came in not long afterwards, and, as before, she felt his presence like a charge in the air. She didn’t turn around, though, and therefore jumped like a scalded cat when his hands descended on her shoulders and he bent to press a tingling kiss to the tender skin of her neck just below her ear.

  ‘Good morning, Kathryn,’ he greeted warmly, and released her before she could have the satisfaction of pulling away.

  Annoyed that she hadn’t anticipated the manoeuvre, she glowered at him as he poured himself some coffee, then pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down.

  ‘Good morning,’ she returned frostily, and his brows shot up above dancing eyes.

  ‘Didn’t you sleep well?’ he asked, sounding concerned, but she knew that wasn’t what he was thinking at all. He knew. Don’t ask her how, but he knew.

  ‘I never sleep well in strange beds,’ she countered, not giving him the satisfaction of confirming that dreaming of him had made her so restless. ‘But as it’s only for two nights, I think I’ll survive it.’

  ‘Actually, it could turn out to be more. There’s a weather front moving in, and they’re promising us strong winds and some serious snowfall,’ Joel enlightened her, resting his elbows on the table and sipping his coffee as if he hadn’t a care in the world and hadn’t just dropped a potential bombshell. Kathryn frowned sharply.

  ‘What does that mean, exactly?’ Surely she would be able to leave tomorrow? She had to. She was counting on it, she thought, a shade too desperately for comfort.

  Joel disabused her in no uncertain terms. ‘It means we could wake tomorrow to find ourselves snowed in for the duration. Something we’ve become used to up here.’

  ‘You’re not serious!’ Kathryn gasped in dismay, only to see him nod.

  ‘It was already beginning to snow as I drove home. But don’t worry. If it does happen, you’ll be perfectly safe here.’

  Kathryn was not comforted. The definition of ‘safe’ depended on your point of view. It would not be safe being snowed in here with him, yet she couldn’t leave until she had done the work she had promised. Whichever way you looked at it, she was trapped. She just had to hope and pray the snow held off long enough for her to get the work done and leave on time.

  She sipped at her coffee, her free hand absently rubbing over the spot his lips had touched. Her skin still tingled with the charge which had ripped along her nervous system. It was incredibly stimulating, but it wasn’t going to change her mind. She wouldn’t get involved with him. Sighing, she glanced up, right into a pair of twinkling blue eyes.

  ‘Incredible, isn’t it?’ Joel remarked as she jerked her hand away. ‘I found it difficult to sleep last night myself, and I’m used to sleeping here. I kept remembering how it felt to have you in my arms. I wanted to feel it again. I had this fantasy of seeing you in my bed, your glorious hair spread out around you like a halo. It was incredibly erotic,’ he added with husky sensuality, and with no effort at all Kathryn could imagine it, too.

  Her body responded without conscious volition, her nipples hardening into highly sensitive nubs that cried out to be touched. The hardest part was knowing that she could have that, just for walking round the table and going to him. Making love with him would be an experience never to be forgotten. Yet, though she might remember it always, she doubted very much that he would. She would soon be replaced, and it was that knowledge which kept her in her seat.

  ‘So, you believe in fantasies but not fairy tales?’ she retorted, in an effort to alter the course of the conversation.

  His smile acknowledged her hit. ‘With a subtle difference. You can make your fantasies come true, but fairy stories will always be pure fiction.’

  ‘Are you scared of commitment? Is that what it is?’ she couldn’t help asking curiously, but Joel shook his head.

  ‘If and when I marry, the relationship will have my full commitment, but I won’t be dressing it up in the gloss of love and romance.’

  ‘So you do intend to get married?’ Kathryn asked at his unexpected response. She had imagined him as a confirmed bachelor.

  ‘Of course. It is possible to have a good marriage based on mutual respect, Kathryn. People do it all the time.’

  Which was true enough, but it sounded so…cold. Physical passion, however strong, could never replac
e love. True love survived long after passion was spent.

  ‘I suppose so,’ she agreed reluctantly. ‘It just wouldn’t be enough for me. But as it’s a subject we are hardly likely ever to agree on, I’ll take myself off to the study. There’s a lot of work to do, and I want to get as much done as I can today,’ she declared, setting her cup down and rising to her feet.

  ‘I’ll be along shortly,’ Joel responded, which wasn’t at all what she wanted.

  ‘There’s no need,’ she countered hastily. ‘If there’s anything I need to talk to you about, I can come and find you.’ The last thing she needed was to be shut up in the same room with him all day.

  Joel smiled faintly, as if he guessed her reasoning. ‘I’m sure you would, but I happen to have some work to do myself. I might as well get on with it, and at least I’ll be on hand should the need arise,’ he added sardonically, and she knew she was beaten.

  ‘I’ll see you in a bit, then,’ she managed to say graciously, before quickly leaving the room.

  Damn, she thought to herself, she didn’t need this. Yet there was nothing she could do about it. It was his house and his study. She could hardly forbid him entry, however much she would have liked to. She would just have to grin and bear it.

  Once in Joel’s study, she made herself comfortable at the keypad and was quickly engrossed in her work. Retrieving the files was simple enough, but it was time-consuming. Fortunately the deleted files were dated, so it was easy enough to know which were the relevant files, and which had been Joel’s intentional deletions. By midday, everything with a corresponding date was back in the main system.

  With a feeling of satisfaction, Kathryn turned to where Joel sat at his desk, studying a batch of papers. She had been aware of his presence ever since he had come in, but he had said nothing to her, merely crossed to his desk and got down to business. Which had been a great relief. Now, though, she had to gain his attention.