Читать книгу The Tycoon's Virgin - Пенни Джордан, PENNY JORDAN - Страница 7

LEO grimaced as he ran a hand over his newly shaven jaw. There was no way he felt like going out to dinner, but when Graham Johnson, the chief planning officer for the area, had rung to invite him to his home Leo had not felt he could refuse.

It made good business sense to establish an amicable arrangement with the local authority. Leo had already met Graham and liked him, and when Graham had explained that there was someone he would find it interesting to meet on an informal basis Leo had sensed that Graham would not be very impressed were he to turn him down. And besides, at least if he went out it would stop him from thinking about last night, and that wretched, unforgettably sexy woman who had got so dangerously under his skin.

As yet, Jeremy Driscoll had made no attempt to contact him, and Leo was hoping that he had the sense to recognise that Leo was not to be coerced—in any way—but somehow he doubted that Jeremy had actually given up. He wasn’t that type, and, since he had gone as far as paying his accomplice to play her part, Leo suspected that he was going to want value for his money.

Did Driscoll avail himself of Leo’s tousle-haired tormentor’s sexual skills? It shocked Leo to discover just how unpalatable he found that thought! Was he crazy, feeling possessive about a woman like that, a woman any man could have? Unwantedly Leo found himself remembering the way her body had claimed him, tightening around him almost as though it had known no other man. Now he was going crazy, he told himself angrily as he peered at the approaching signpost to check that he was driving in the right direction.

‘Jodi, you aren’t listening to me.’

Jodi gave her cousin an apologetic look as he brought his car to a halt outside his boss’s house.

‘Come to think of it, you’re not exactly looking your normal, chirpy self.’ He gave her a concerned look. ‘Worrying about that school of yours, I expect?’

Ignoring his question, Jodi drew a deep breath, determined to tackle him about an issue that had been weighing very heavily on her mind.

‘Nigel, what on earth possessed you to order that cocktail for me last night? You know I don’t drink, and because it never occurred to me that it was alcoholic…well, there was so much fruit in it…’

‘Hey, hang on a minute,’ Nigel protested in bewilderment. ‘I never ordered you anything alcoholic.’

‘Well, whatever the waiter brought to Leo Jefferson’s suite definitely was,’ Jodi informed him grittily.

‘They must have misunderstood me,’ Nigel told her. ‘I asked them to send you up a fruit cocktail. I thought it seemed expensive—what a waste; I bet you didn’t touch it after the first swallow, did you?’

Fortunately, before she was obliged to lie to him, he took hold of Jodi’s arm and walked her firmly towards the front door, which opened as they reached it to reveal their host, Graham Johnson, a tall grey-haired man with a warm smile.

‘You must be Jodi.’ He shook Jodi’s hand, and introduced himself. ‘I’ve heard an awful lot about you!’

When Jodi gave Nigel a wry look their host shook his head and laughed.

‘No, not from Nigel, although he has mentioned you. I was referring to our grandson, Henry. He’s one of your pupils and an ardent admirer. With just reason, too, according to his parents. Our daughter, Charlotte, is most impressed with the dramatic improvement the school has achieved in Henry’s reading skills.’

Jodi smiled her appreciation of his compliments and a little of the tension started to leave her body as they followed Graham into the house.

Mary Johnson was as welcoming as her husband, informing Jodi that she had trained as a teacher herself, although it had been many years since she had last taught.