It Started With... Collection. Miranda Lee

wanted this woman, and he was going to have her, whether she was good for him or not.

      ‘But you won’t really be working for me,’ he replied smoothly. ‘You’ll be working for Harry Wilde. I’m just the caretaker manager till Christmas, which is less than two weeks away now. After that, any boss-employee relationship between us is over.’

      She still stared at him with wary eyes and he wondered why. Damn it all, she fancied him. He knew she did. She’d been with him all the way on Friday night, till she’d gone to the ladies’.

      He’d been stunned when she hadn’t showed up again.

      ‘So what did happen on Friday night?’ he asked, his teeth clenched firmly in his jaw. ‘Did you just change your mind? Was that it?’

      ‘I…I…’

      Her fluster was telling. And quite enchanting. Maybe she wasn’t the tease he’d been thinking she might be. Or a serial good-time girl, the kind who cruised bars at night looking for some cheap fun and excitement.

      ‘It’s not a crime to change your mind, Jessie,’ he said gently. Though it had felt like it at the time. He’d been furious.

      ‘I didn’t change my mind,’ she said, which totally confused him.

      ‘What, then?’

      Jessie felt she had to come up with some explanation, or look a right fool.

      ‘A girl in the ladies’ told me you were married,’ she blurted out. ‘I…I don’t sleep with married men.’

      There was no doubt her excuse startled him. His head jerked back and he blinked a couple of times. But then he did the strangest thing.

      He smiled.

      ‘Married,’ he said with a low chuckle. ‘How come I didn’t think of that? Married!’ And he laughed again.

      ‘I don’t think it’s funny,’ she snapped. She knew a lot of modern people didn’t take marital vows seriously. But she did.

      ‘Aah, but it is funny. Because I’m not married,’ came his astonishing announcement. ‘My brother is, however. My twin brother. My identical twin brother. He’s been frequenting that particular bar every Friday night for a while, so it’s understandable that someone made a mistake, thinking I was him.’

      Jessie opened her mouth, then closed it again. The man she’d flirted with, and wanted so badly on Friday night, hadn’t been her target at all. It had been this man, Kane Marshall, Curtis Marshall’s twin brother!

      As amazing as this revelation was, it did explain the small differences between the target’s photograph and the man in front of her. His hairstyle. The colour of his eyes. And his whole personality. The man in the photograph had seemed softer.

      There was nothing soft about Kane Marshall.

      A second realisation hit Jessie with even more force. Kane Marshall was single. And available. There was absolutely no reason why she couldn’t say yes if he ever asked her out.

      Which he would. She could see it in his eyes.

      A thrill—or was it a chill?—rippled down her spine. So much for her decision not to have a man in her life.

      Of course, she hadn’t anticipated at the time that she could possibly have this man. He was a whole different ballgame.

      ‘You’re definitely not married?’ she asked.

      ‘Definitely not. My divorce came through a few months ago.’

      This added news didn’t thrill her. She wasn’t sure why. Perhaps because most of the recently divorced guys she’d met were always on the make. It was as though after casting aside their wives, sex was the only thing on their minds. They were always on the hunt for new prey. She’d met quite a few newly divorced men at the restaurant and they usually gave her the creeps, the way they looked at her, and the way they assumed she’d be easy meat.

      Was that what Kane Marshall had thought of her on Friday night, that she was easy meat? She’d gone into that bar alone, after all. Why would a girl go into a bar alone on a Friday night, if not to pick up some guy? The only excuse she’d given him for not going to a hotel room with him was that someone had told her he was married.

      Now that he knew she knew he wasn’t, he had to be assuming she’d fall into bed with him next time without a qualm.

      As much as the idea of falling into bed with him was incredibly exciting, Jessie knew that the reality might not be wise.

      ‘No wife,’ he stated firmly. ‘No children. And no current girlfriend. Just so we don’t have any more misunderstandings.’

      Jessie blinked. That was sure laying his cards on the table. Next thing he’d be telling her if he had any communicable diseases!

      ‘So are you quite happy to work here now?’ he went on.

      ‘Are you offering me the job?’

      ‘Absolutely.’

      ‘But you haven’t even looked at my portfolio!’

      ‘No need. I trust Karen’s judgement regarding your creative talents. She has much more experience in this field than I do. I just wanted to see you in the flesh, to make sure you had the presence and style that Harry requires in his executives.’

      Jessie frowned over his words, ‘in the flesh’. Maybe his offering her this job had nothing to do with her talents and everything to do with his wanting to see more of her in the flesh, so to speak.

      Still, if she was strictly honest with herself, she wanted the same thing. Whenever his eyes were upon her—which was all the time—she could think of nothing but being in his arms once more.

      Hadn’t she come to the conclusion at one stage over the weekend that she needed a man in her life? A boyfriend? A lover? Why not Kane Marshall? He wasn’t married. Clearly, he fancied her as much as she fancied him. Crazy to fight an attraction as strong as this was. She would only lose.

      ‘Even if I wasn’t comparing you to the last applicant,’ he went on suavely, ‘I would be suitably impressed, and very happy to offer you the job. If you’re still interested, that is.’

      Jessie suspected he was asking her if she was still interested in him, as well as the job.

      ‘Yes, of course I am,’ she said, deciding it would be hypocritical to say anything else.

      ‘Good,’ he said, then delivered another of those dazzling smiles of his.

      He was smooth! And incredibly confident.

      He both excited and rattled her. A strange combination. She’d always been attracted to physically strong men, but Kane Marshall represented more than just physical strength. His persona carried exceptional charisma. A magnetism which perturbed her. His steely gaze had the capacity to sap her will-power. But it was his sexy smile that could do the most damage. She suspected that if they became lovers, he could make her do things. Wild things. Wicked things.

      Her thoughts sent an erotically charged quiver rippling down her spine. Suddenly, her knees felt like jelly.

      ‘I…I think I’d better sit down,’ she said, reefing her eyes away from his and pulling up one of the upright wooden chairs adjacent to the desk. She sank down onto its solid surface, grateful not to have to look at him for a while. But eventually, she had to face him once more. When she did, her shoulders were rammed back against the chair-back, her back was as stiff as a board and her legs were tightly crossed.

      Her rigid body language was wasted, however. He wasn’t looking at her. His handsome face was down, and he was going through what looked like her résumé.

      ‘I see here that you’re a single mother,’ he remarked before finally glancing back up at her.

      Jessie’s chin lifted defiantly. ‘Is that