Bride for Hire. Jessica Hart

going to have to do better than that, Daisy,’ he snorted. ‘I’m not going to pay you to stand around being all English and repressed. Pretend that you don’t know anyone else is watching if that makes it any easier!’

      ‘Oh, all right!’ Grumbling, Daisy walked over to where he was still sitting on the arm of the sofa. It was easier without him towering over her, but when she got close to him her nerve failed her. She stopped. Seth folded his arms and looked blandly back at her.

      ‘Well?’

      She was going to have to do something. Daisy edged a little closer and reached out a hand to touch his face. His skin was warm and brown, slightly rough, and her fingers tingled so much at the feel of it that she withdrew her hand sharply.

      ‘Is that it?’ Seth’s acid question jerked her back to herself and she was conscious of a spurt of anger. He was making this deliberately difficult so that she would give up the whole idea! Well, she wasn’t gong to! She was going to go out to the Caribbean and she was going to find Tom, and if it meant kissing Seth Carrington then that’s what she would do!

      With an abrupt movement, Daisy placed herself firmly between his knees and put her hands on Seth’s shoulders. She could feel the strength of his muscles and the warmth of his skin through the fine cotton of his shirt. Propped against the sofa arm as he was, his head was almost on a level with hers. For a long moment blue eyes looked into inscrutable grey and then, before her courage failed her again, she leant slowly forward and touched her lips to the pulse that beat at the angle of his jaw and throat.

      CHAPTER TWO

      DAISY’S lips were soft against the firmness of Seth’s jaw and she could smell the clean, masculine scent of his skin with its faintly expensive tang of aftershave. Without intending to, Daisy found her mouth lingering against him. There was something irresistibly solid about him—something magnetising, something tantalising—something that made her drift her lips in feather-light kisses below his ear.

      Seth’s arms were still folded in front of him and he stayed utterly still beneath her touch, his very lack of response a provocation. Piqued, Daisy began to press slow, enticing kisses along his jaw instead. She had forgotten her intention to withdraw after that first token touch to his throat. She had forgotten that she hardly knew this man; forgotten that what she did know she didn’t like; forgotten everything but the feel of his skin like tempered steel beneath her lips and her determination to make him acknowledge the simmering awareness in her kisses.

      Slowly, slowly, she worked her way along his jaw, but it wasn’t until she reached the tantalising corner of his mouth that she felt his lips begin to curl upwards in an equally slow smile. ‘Go on,’ he said, but the steadiness in his voice made Daisy pause. She made as if to withdraw but he had unfolded his arms at last and his hands were at her waist, drawing her back against him, and suddenly it seemed the most natural thing in the world to melt into him and feel his lips part beneath hers.

      They fitted against each other perfectly. Somehow she had expected Seth’s mouth to feel as cold and calculating as it looked, but it wasn’t. It was warm, warmer than Daisy would have believed possible as they kissed and then kissed again. A gathering excitement looped around them, tightening its coils around them until the only thing to do was to relax into it and slide her arms from his shoulders around his neck to stop herself being swept away altogether.

      She was bewitched, intoxicated by the sweet persuasion of his lips and the unyielding hardness of his body as he held her against him, and when his hands slid beneath her T-shirt to spread possessively over her skin Daisy’s only response was to murmur low in her throat and arch her back into his touch. His fingers were searing, making her gasp as they explored her slenderness and drifted insistently upwards to curve around her breast.

      It was that sharp intake of breath at the jolt of electric excitement that broke the kiss. Daisy found herself staring down into unreadable grey eyes, her own dazed and very blue, and then Seth slid his hands back to her waist to put her from him with something which might have been reluctance.

      ‘That was very good, Daisy Deare,’ he said, his breathing still slightly ragged. ‘That was really very good indeed. It seems that you can act, after all.’

      Daisy was so shaken that she could hardly stand. Her legs felt insubstantial, as if she were held up by no more than the frantic flutter of a thousand butterfly wings. She couldn’t believe what she had done. Had that really been she, arching beneath the touch of a perfect stranger; sinking into his kiss; abandoning herself to the shivery thrill of his lips and his hands? Appalled at herself, she swallowed hard and fought to steady her own voice.

      ‘It’s amazing what you have to do to get a job now, isn’t it?’ It was barely more than a croak but at least she managed to get a whole sentence out, which was a miracle under the circumstances.

      Seth’s cool gaze rested for a moment on the huge blue eyes before dropping to her mouth which was still burning from his touch. ‘I think I can say that you’ve passed your audition with flying colours—if you still want the job, that is?’

      She wasn’t going to go through that to give up the job now! Daisy’s chin lifted a fraction. ‘Yes.’ Her voice wasn’t quite steady yet, but with every moment she was getting a better grip on herself. ‘Why else would I have kissed you?’

      ‘Why, indeed?’ Seth got up from the sofa, his grey eyes sardonic. ‘I just hope poor old Robert is as understanding as you say he is. Does he know just how well you “act”, Daisy?’

      ‘Does Astra Bentingger know how thoroughly you audition?’

      Seth’s expression was flinty as he took Daisy’s chin in one strong brown hand. ‘I’ve warned you before about that tongue of yours, Daisy,’ he said and, although she met his eyes bravely, inwardly Daisy quailed at his tone. ‘Do you want to learn what I’m like when I’m pushed too far?’

      One look into his eyes was enough to give her the answer to that. Daisy moistened her lips. ‘No.’

      ‘In that case. I suggest that you learn to keep your tongue firmly between your teeth.’ He released her face and Daisy stepped back, resisting the urge to rub her chin where he had held her. It was impossible to imagine that only minutes ago she had twined her arms around this formidable man’s neck and quivered with excitement at his kisses. ‘Astra is none of your business,’ Seth went on coldly. ‘As far as I’m concerned, you’re going to be working for me just like any other employee. That means you get paid to do as you’re told, not to be smart. Is that understood?’

      ‘Perfectly.’

      He gave her a hard look then moved away, suddenly brisk. ‘All right, let’s get down to business. The deal is that you agree to act as my girlfriend until Astra’s divorce comes through or until such time as I decide that there’s no need to keep up the pretence any longer. It means you’ll have to spend at least the next few weeks with me, but in return I’m prepared to pay you a considerable sum of money—in cash—to ensure your discretion.’

      Daisy’s jaw dropped when Seth told her just how much he would pay her. ‘Is that acceptable?’ he asked, turning to frown at her gaping expression.

      Acceptable? Daisy had never even contemplated having such a large sum of money before! It would at least take the immediate burden of financial worries off her mother’s shoulders, she calculated quickly. ‘I think so,’ she said, pursing up her lips and trying to look as if she discussed sums like that every day of the week. ‘That sounds fine.’

      ‘You’ll get paid at the end,’ Seth warned her, ‘when you’ve shown me that you can behave.’

      Daisy was still trembling inside from the effect of his kiss, but she managed to move away quite coolly. ‘We will go to the Caribbean?’

      ‘Yes, I’ve invited a number of guests to my island as a cover for meeting Astra there.’

      ‘Your island?’

      He raised an eyebrow. ‘Is there