Iâm not your mistress. You maythink Iâm bought and paid for.But Iâm not.â
She babbled to a stop. He was looking at her as if sheâd taken leave of her senses. âYou donât own me,â she soldiered on regardless. âAnd I wonât be treated as if you do.â
He shrugged. âRight enough,â he said, then pulled down his zipper. The crackle of the metal teeth unlocking drew her gaze down. âMove over. Iâve a mind to join you in the tub.â
âI most certainly willââ But her indignant reply backed up in her throat as his trousers and boxers dropped to the floor and her eyes fixed on his groin. Unfortunately that hadnât got any less beautiful, any less magnificent, than the last time sheâd seen it. Her whole body began to shake.
She gulped, her mouth bone-dry, and forced her eyes back to his face as he stepped into the tub. The sensual smile made it obvious he was very well aware of the effect his nakedness had on her.
He settled beside her, his big body making the water and her temperature rise. âNow, where were we?â he said.
She lay transfixed by her raging hormones as he reached behind him for the soap.
Heidi Rice was born and bred and still lives in London, England. She has two boys who love to bicker, a wonderful husband who, luckily for everyone, has loads of patience, and a supportive and ever-growing British/ French/Irish/American family. As much as Heidi adores âthe Big Smokeâ, she also loves America, and every two years or so she and her best friend leave hubby and kids behind and Thelma and Louise it across the States for a couple of weeks (although they always leave out the driving off a cliff bit). Sheâs been a film buff since her early teens, and a romance junkie for almost as long. She indulged her first love by being a film reviewer for ten years. Then two years ago she decided to spice up her life by writing romance. Discovering the fantastic sisterhood of romance writers (both published and unpublished) in Britain and America made it a wild and wonderful journey to her first Mills & Boon>® novel, and sheâs looking forward to many more to come.
Recent books by the same author:
PLEASURE, PREGNANCY AND A PROPOSITION
THE TYCOONâS VERY PERSONAL ASSISTANT
To Bryony, for knowing when the Elvis impersonator
needs to be kicked out of the manuscript.
With special thanks to Eilis, who made sure Connor
didnât sound like an extra from The Quiet Man.
CHAPTER ONE
âYOU canât do this. What if you get caught? He could have you arrested.â
Daisy Dean paused in the process of scoping out her neighbourâs ludicrously high garden wall and slanted her best friend, Juno, a long-suffering look.
âHe wonât catch me,â Daisy replied in the same hushed tones. âIâm practically invisible with all this gear on.â
She looked down at the clothes sheâd borrowed from her fellow tenants at the Bedsit Co-op next door. Goodness, she looked like Tinkerbell the Terminator decked out in fourteen-year-old Calâs sagging black Leviâs, his tiny mother Jacieâs navy blue polo neck and Junoâs two-sizes-too-small bovver boots.
Sheâd never been this invisible in her entire life. The one thing Daisy had inherited from her reckless and irresponsible mother was Lily Deanâs in-your-face dress sense. Daisy didnât do monotonesâand she didnât believe in hiding her light under a bushel.
She frowned. Except when she was on a mission to find her landladyâs missing cat.
âStop worrying, Juno, and give me the beanie.â She held out her hand and stared back up at the wall, which seemed to have grown several feet since sheâd last looked at it. âYouâll have to give me a boost.â
Juno groaned, slapping the black woollen cap into Daisyâs outstretched palm. âThis better not make me an accessory after the fact or something.â She bent over and looped her fingers together in a sling.
âDonât be silly.â Daisy shoved her curls under the cap and tugged it over her ears. âItâs not a crime. Not really.â
âOf course itâs a crime.â Juno straightened from her crouch, her round, pretty face looking like the good fairy in a strop. âItâs called trespassing.â
âThese are extenuating circumstances,â Daisy whispered as a picture of their landlady Mrs Valdermeyerâs distraught face popped into her mind. âMr Pootles has been missing for well over a fortnight. And our antisocial new neighbourâs the only one within a mile radius who hasnât had the decency to search his back garden.â She propped her hands on her hips. âMr Pootles could be starving to death and itâs up to us to rescue him.â
âMaybe he looked and didnât find anything?â Juno said, her voice rising in desperation.
âI doubt that. Believe me, heâs not the type to lose sleep over a missing cat.â
âHow do you know? Youâve never even met the guy,â Juno murmured, wedging the tiniest slither of doubt into Daisyâs crusading zeal.