Читать книгу Australia: Bundles of Joy: Impossibly Pregnant / Top-Notch Surgeon, Pregnant Nurse / Caring For His Babies - Lilian Darcy - Страница 9

‘A man will halt your climb up the corporate ladder quicker than his exit at the first hint of the L word.’

Raquel Wilson, all-round cynic and closet man-hater.

‘WHAT’S Keely’s Collection doing out of mothballs?’ Emma picked up the scrapbook from Keely’s desk and started flipping through it.

‘Lucy asked me to bring it in. We’re working on a quiz format for Flirt, and she asked if I kept any of that stuff.’ Keely didn’t look up from her PC screen, eager to put the finishing touches to the athletic company’s web page before shifting her attention to her latest, and most distracting, client.

‘This is amazing. I can’t believe you call this a scrapbook. It should be a girl’s handbook on surviving the dating scene.’ Emma continued to flick pages. ‘You’ve collected quotes and quizzes like most people collect stamps or postcards.’

Keely didn’t look up, her concentration not wavering. Pity she couldn’t do the same when it came to the Brant account. ‘It’s a hobby.’

Suddenly Emma let out a squeal. ‘Oh, my God, you’ve even got stuff I’ve said about guys written in here.’

‘Nobody’s safe,’ Keely muttered. ‘Now, shut up and let me finish this.’

Emma peered over Keely’s shoulder. ‘Why are you hell-bent on finishing this today anyway? I thought it wasn’t due till next week? I’m nowhere near completion with the animation yet.’

‘Too much work,’ Keely said, her fingers flying over the keyboard as she typed the last subtitles on to the site.

‘Looks good,’ Emma said. ‘Though you being in such a hurry to finish this wouldn’t have anything to do with a spunky new client, would it?’

‘Don’t be silly. I give all my clients equal billing.’

‘Is that why you went to the Swing Room with Lachlan Brant last night? Intending to add some musical accompaniment to his website, huh?’

To her annoyance, Keely felt heat creep into her cheeks. ‘How did you know?’

‘A certain young woman whose lips are as loose as her morals told me.’

‘Chrystal was there?’

Oh, great. Now the whole office would know about her and Lachlan and would want to know details.

‘The hottest new spot in town, according to our resident man-eater.’ Emma perched on the edge of her desk. ‘So, how was it?’

‘It was just part of this whole stupid assignment business,’ Keely said, trying not to remember the way Lachlan had stared at her during the latter part of the evening, the look in his eyes spelling danger for her peace of mind.

‘Sure thing. In that case, you won’t be interested in this.’ Emma waved a piece of paper under her nose.

‘What’s that?’ Keely tried to snatch it out of her hand and Emma raised it higher.

‘Mmm … let me see. It’s titled “My Perfect Man” and it fell out of your scrapbook.’

‘Give me that!’

‘Uh-uh, not so fast.’ Emma leaped off the desk, held the paper at arm’s length and started reading. ‘Looks like a checklist. I wonder how many criteria the wonderful Mr Brant fits.’

Keely groaned and shook her head. ‘I wrote that when I was nineteen. Can’t you leave a girl in peace?’

Emma ignored her and continued. ‘According to this, your perfect man would be over six feet tall, have dark hair, blue eyes, a nice smile, a sense of humour, a professional job, a great body, be adventurous, love jazz, appreciate food—read doughnuts—and be a skilled kisser.’ She paused for a second, exhaled and rolled her eyes. ‘Phew! Not asking for much, are you?’

‘It’s just a dumb list,’ Keely said, remembering the exact day she’d written it.

She’d finally got her life back on track after losing all that weight and collapsing, and the first guy she’d dated, Ray the Rat, had ditched her after three months for a seventeen-year-old. The list had encapsulated every quality that Ray didn’t have at the time and, hence, everything she wanted in a man.

Emma smiled. ‘That’s where you’re wrong. I think this list details quite specifically your perfect man and, if I’m not mistaken, it seems you’ve already found him.’

Heat flooded Keely’s cheeks. Strangely enough, she’d been thinking along similar lines as Emma read the list out. It seemed as if Lachlan met every one of her criteria, though she didn’t know about the adventurous stuff yet, and she couldn’t imagine him pigging out on doughnuts, not with his buffed body. As for his skill in the kissing department, she’d prefer not to go there—not with their near miss still fresh in her mind.

‘I don’t have time for this,’ Keely said, knowing that the more Emma interrogated her about Lachlan, the more she’d want to dissect every look, word and touch from last night. And she didn’t want to do that. He was business, attraction or not.

‘Pity.’ Emma shrugged, slid the checklist back into the scrapbook and placed it on Keely’s desk. ‘To be that clear on what you want in a guy and then turn your back on him when he walks into your life. Seems a shame to me.’

‘Don’t you have work to do?’ Keely picked up the scrapbook and shoved it into her top drawer, hoping that the old adage ‘out of sight, out of mind’ might work in this case.

‘Sure. See you after work at Pilates class?’

Keely nodded and waited till her friend had left the room before staring at the closed top drawer as if it contained a poisonous snake.

‘Perfect man, my butt,’ she muttered, returning her attention to the screen in front of her and wishing Lachlan Brant was anything but.

‘Can I help you, Mr Brant?’

Lachlan managed to maintain eye contact with the voluptuous receptionist of WWW Designs, whose name eluded him, which was no mean feat considering she had enough cleavage on show to tempt a saint.

‘Is Keely free at the moment? I’d like to have a word with her.’

In fact, he wanted to have more than a word with her, but the rest would have to wait. Ever since that almost-kiss last night, his mind had been plagued by images of her—the way she’d looked with her eyes locked on his, how she’d swayed towards him, how she’d sighed softly as she pulled away. Frankly, he’d been able to think of little else, and the only way to gain some peace of mind was to tackle the ‘problem’ head-on.

The woman had got under his skin in one day, a record when it came to a man who played his emotions close to his chest. He never fell for a female that quickly, even one as spectacular as Keely Rhodes. Thankfully, they’d got past that little ‘moment’ after his shift had ended quite quickly, and had moved into an easygoing camaraderie over coffee at the Swing Room, leaving him wondering if he’d imagined her angst.

Either way, he’d put his niggling doubts behind him for now and was eager to see where they went from here.

‘I’ll check if Keely’s free.’ The receptionist punched a few buttons on a console and spoke discreetly into a headset.

She’d better be free, in all senses of the word. The fact that Keely might have a significant other in her life hadn’t crossed his mind and, though she didn’t seem the type to encourage him while involved with another man, one never knew. Look at his mum.

‘Keely will see you in her office now. Would you like one of these?’ The receptionist held up a plate of cinnamon doughnuts that smelled delicious, somehow making the innocuous question sound as if she was offering more.

He’d had his fair share of women throw themselves at him, yet he’d always preferred the more subtle charms of a woman who acted as if she didn’t possess any compared with her overtly voracious counterparts.

However, that didn’t mean he had to be rude. He smiled and took one of the doughnuts. ‘Thanks. Let’s hope it doesn’t go straight to my hips.’

‘Nothing wrong with your hips from where I’m sitting,’ he heard the receptionist mutter before she plastered a professional smile on her expertly made-up face and turned away to answer an incoming call.

Let’s hope the beautiful Miss Rhodes thinks so, he thought as he half demolished the doughnut before knocking on her door.

‘Come in.’

He pushed the door open, wondering how Keely would act after last night. Would she pretend nothing had happened between them or would she make a joke of it? Personally, he hoped she’d had as good a time as he had and would want to repeat the experience.

‘Hope you’re not too busy. Thought I might run a few ideas past you for the website …’ He trailed off at the stunned look on her face. ‘What’s wrong?’

Keely tried not to stare, but the sight of Lachlan eating a cinnamon doughnut, one of the few criteria for the perfect man she’d assumed he wouldn’t possess, floored her.

As if it wasn’t bad enough he had to match every other quality on her checklist!

Pulling herself together, she managed to say, ‘You like doughnuts?’

A sheepish smile spread across his handsome face. ‘It’s a weakness.’ He shrugged, looking like a cheeky schoolboy rather than a renowned psychologist. ‘What can I say?’

You can say something rude or obnoxious again, something designed to push me away.

However, she knew it was useless. Falling for a guy like Lachlan—the perfect man, according to her stupid checklist—seemed inevitable.

So much for being a realist.

When it came to her heart, it was ironic that she could be as gullible as Emma, a true romantic.

‘Do I have sugar covering my lips or something?’

She bit back her first retort of or something; preferably me. ‘Sorry if I appeared distracted. I was in the middle of all this.’

‘And here I was, hoping that I was the distraction.’ He smiled, the simple action illuminating his face. She’d never known a guy to smile like that, his eyes lighting up as if the world was a great place to be. If she was truly delusional, she’d like to think that she had that effect on him.

‘You are.’ The words popped out and his grin broadened. ‘I mean, I was putting the finishing touches on another client’s site, and now I need to switch my thinking to you.’

Lame, even by her standards, and by the amused look on his face he didn’t buy it for a minute.

‘Did you enjoy last night?’

Oh, heck. Was he referring to the radio station, the jazz club or the physical attraction that had zinged between them?

Rather than come up with more pathetic excuses, she decided to keep her answer simple. ‘Yes, I did.’

‘Good. It makes what I have to suggest now all the more appropriate.’

Oh-oh. The only suggestions he could possibly make that sprang to mind were highly inappropriate and she could only wish.

‘Sounds interesting,’ she said, resisting the urge to swing on her chair. Knowing her luck around him, she’d lean back too far and fall off it.

‘It is. How would you like to gain real insight into the man behind the voice and put a few masterful touches on my website in the process?’

‘I thought that was what last night was about?’

‘It was only the start. What I had in mind was you spending time with me in various aspects of my life, watching me interact in different situations, getting a feel for what I want on my website. Look at it as a way to gain firsthand knowledge of what makes Lachlan Brant tick.’

Keely struggled to maintain a calm façade while she composed her thoughts. Funnily enough, she had been about to suggest something similar, though hadn’t quite come up with the right words to approach him. This assignment was important to her and she’d make it the best work she’d done if it killed her—though with a guy like Lachlan by her side 24/7, what a way to go.

‘Let me get this straight. I get to spend time with you away from work to gain insight into your personality? What situations did you have in mind?’

He crossed his arms, drawing her attention to his broad shoulders and the way his pale blue business shirt stretched across them. ‘I like to surf, bushwalk and barbecue to chill out and de-stress, so I thought you could hang out with me, ask some in-depth questions, make a few notes.’

He strode across the room, closing the distance between them in an instant, and crouched down next to her. ‘All strictly professional, of course.’

She inhaled deeply, trying to get oxygen to her befuddled brain in a hurry. Instead, his aftershave tempted her to lean closer to him and savour the crisp, clean smell that blended with his pheromones to entice her further.

To make matters worse, he stared at her with an intensity that took her breath away.

‘Call it research.’ He rested his hand on the back of her chair.

She cleared her throat, wishing he’d stop looking at her like that. How was a girl supposed to think with the bluest eyes she’d ever seen glued to her? ‘Sounds good. Do you have any of that adventurous stuff planned for this weekend?’

He laughed, and the spell that enveloped them cleared in a second. ‘Not into the outdoors, huh?’

Not unless it involved cuddling under a blanket on a windswept beach with the man of her dreams. As if that was going to happen in a hurry! ‘What gave it away?’

‘The frown, the way you wrinkled up your nose. Didn’t I tell you I’m an expert on body language?’

Girl, don’t go there! A host of wicked responses sprang to mind about exactly how he could read her body—by touch, being the primary choice—and she bit back every one of them.

What had got into her? Her hormones were clouding her judgement. She wasn’t supposed to like the man, remember? He professed the same textbook psychobabble as the rest of his profession; he had dished out his baloney to that overweight teenager as if he knew how the poor girl felt.

Yeah, right. Since when had a guy who looked like him ever sought solace in food, gorging on sweet things to fill the empty void in his life? Try never. He wouldn’t have a clue about being unpopular because of one’s size, or the accompanying feelings of embarrassment, worthlessness and soul-destroying loneliness.

His caller that night had been reaching out to him, probably plucking up what meagre supply of courage she possessed to ring him, and what had he done? He had given the girl a two-minute quick fix, incorporating the standard line about joining a gym, exercising more, eating less and making new friends.

Keely’s heart had bled for the girl. She’d been there, done that and burnt the T-shirt a long time ago. Hearing Lachlan’s trite advice, no matter how good his intentions, had sparked her into reaching for her mobile and giving him the verbal spray he’d deserved.

As for her reaction to his diet comment last night, guys with buffed bods who looked as if they’d stepped off the cover of a magazine shouldn’t go there. Ever.

Logically, she shouldn’t be attracted to him. She’d never measure up. Physically, she wanted to get as close as she could and stay there for the remainder of her assignment.

‘Hey, I won’t make you jump off any cliffs or anything. You can just sit back and watch.’ Concern had replaced interest in his eyes and she wrenched her attention back to the present, slamming the door on her self-esteem issues, wishing she could lock it and throw away the key for ever.

‘Fine. I’ll be in touch. Now, I really have to get back to it.’

Though she wasn’t fine. Not by a long shot.

And she had a feeling that the more time she spent in Lachlan’s company, the more the protective wall she’d built around her heart could crumble, one brick at a time.