Outback With The Boss

‘You’ll help me check out the locations, of course.’

‘Oh, no. I can’t. I—I can’t possibly,’ she stammered.

‘Why not?’ He’d set his mind on having her with him. Her knowledge, the research she’d already undertaken, was invaluable.

‘I have so much to do.’ Her hands were twisting nervously in her lap. She looked so frightened, Mitch wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her. What kind of a man did she think he was?

‘I’m the boss, Grace. I know exactly what you have to do. And I know you can spare the time for this trip.’

What had he done wrong to upset her so badly? How could she be so keen one minute and then suddenly back off as if he’d turned into a ghoulish monster? Mitch paced the length of her fashionable hand-woven rug. Caught up with the positive tone of her report, he had come tonight with the expectation that Grace would see it as her professional duty to accompany him—no matter what her personal hang-ups were. And now he was prepared to be as stubborn as was necessary.

He wasn’t leaving until she said yes.

CHAPTER FOUR

‘GRACE, I’m offering you a chance to get out of the office—to get away in the outback and to really explore this project with me. How could you refuse?’

‘By saying no!’ she snapped, and leapt to her feet. She was incensed by Mitch’s arrogant assumption that she’d give her eye-teeth to slip away with him. ‘I realise that’s probably a new experience for you, Mr Wentworth.’

He shot her a startled glance, before throwing his head back and releasing a quiet chuckle. ‘Of course I’ve had my share of rejections, Ms Robbins.’

Mitch eyed her shrewdly while he paced her floor and Grace felt like a witness in the dock about to be cross-examined. There was a long, awkward silence before he spoke again. ‘Would we be talking about relationships here? The man-woman kind? Or are we talking about business and the world at large?’

She didn’t answer, but when he retaliated by crossing the short strip of matting towards her Grace held her breath, desperately willing her heart to stay calm and wishing that she could think of a smart retort that would stop him in his tracks. In spite of all the warnings her mind issued, her body started overreacting whenever this man got close. He must know the effect he had on women. He should be considerate and keep his distance.

‘Which Grace Robbins is rejecting my request?’ Mitch drawled softly, while he shook her report in her face. ‘The Grace who wrote this report wouldn’t hesitate to help check out these locations.’

Suddenly she was very unsure of her ground.

‘Is there something deeper going down here?’ Mitch frowned and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps I was wrong to throw that magazine with your artwork in the bin and assume we could start afresh? Do you dislike me so much that you can’t bear to make this journey in my company?’

She shook her head, trying to convince herself that her protests were well-founded, but for the life of her Grace couldn’t articulate her objections. Surely she had good, solid, professional reasons to offer him beyond the pitiful fact that he was so sexy that her clear thinking, precise mind turned to candy floss when he was around? And now he expected her to go away with him!

Just the two of them!

Until now she had always been prepared to cooperate wholeheartedly with her employer. But her previous boss, George Hervey, had been a thoughtful and considerate, elderly gentleman. Working for him, she had always felt safe and sure of her role.

Now, trying to come up with a plausible explanation for her refusal, she couldn’t get her head past Mitch’s suggestion that her objections were more to do with how she felt about him than how she felt about her work.

Mitch was still spearing her with his dark gaze. ‘Would it make a difference if I promised Henry Aspinall not to lay a finger on you for the duration of the journey?’ he asked.

‘Henry?’ Her cheeks flamed. Why did he keep mentioning Henry? ‘Henry has nothing to do with this. He’s mistaken if he thinks we’re still…friends.’

‘Indeed?’ He considered her response for another uncomfortably long moment. ‘You look terrified. What is there to be afraid of?’

Mitch stepped forward and, with an assurance she was sure came from years of experience, reached out his hand to rest it lightly at the nape of her neck. Her skin grew hot beneath his touch and she fully intended to pull away. But, with the same ease that a bright flower attracts a giddy butterfly, he slowly drew her towards him and her good intentions melted. Her lips hovered just below his. ‘Is this what you’re frightened of, Grace?’

Her heart fluttered frantically.

There was no doubt he intended to kiss her.

And Grace also sensed at that moment, that if she cried out, or tried to beat Mitch Wentworth off with her fists, he would certainly let her go. She might have asked him to stop if she hadn’t been having such difficulty with her breathing, but instead she allowed him to close that last short gap.

As Mitch’s warm mouth settled over hers, a tiny sob escaped her and she felt him pull away slightly.

But she was already under his spell.

Her eyes were already closed and her face was tilted at a shamefully helpful angle. And, after that one brief touch of his lips, she was mentally begging him to taste her, to explore her mouth with his own. And when he did Grace sank against him as if she needed his strength.

There was nothing arrogant or pigheaded about the way Mitch’s hands tenderly cradled her face, or the way his mouth lazily investigated hers. It was a journey of discovery beyond her wildest dreams. Wherever he touched her, her skin seemed to flare with delicious sensitivity. The way his mouth moved, slowly and seductively against hers, felt so-o-o good. Utterly spellbound, Grace’s lips opened, pleading for more. Mitch’s kiss deepened and, as if they had a mind of their own, her arms rose shyly to link themselves around his neck.

There was nothing threatening about being in his embrace. Never before had she felt so womanly, so desirable, so eager for a man to explore more than her lips. When Mitch finally broke away, it took all her strength of will not to moan in soft protest.

He looked down at her, his gaze smoky with emotion. ‘Another question answered,’ he murmured softly.

And the spell was broken.

Shocked, Grace staggered backwards, her hand at her mouth as if she couldn’t quite believe she’d allowed such a thing to happen.

‘What do you think you’re doing? You can’t just get your way by trying to seduce me,’ she cried, her voice shrill with self-recrimination.

‘Of course not,’ Mitch responded quickly. ‘I wasn’t using a kiss as a persuasive device. It was just—how shall I put it? An experiment. I needed to discover something.’

Incensed, Grace grabbed a sofa cushion and hurled it at him. ‘How dare you? How could you experiment with me?’

Mitch caught the cushion neatly and stood holding it in both hands. Hands which only minutes earlier had been caressing her. ‘I don’t know, Grace,’ he replied, a tiny smile playing at the corners of his mouth. ‘Can you explain how we seem to be such a great team when it comes to kissing?’

Of course she couldn’t! It was the stupidest thing she’d ever done. Well, almost, she corrected as her memory replayed two other occasions this week when she’d made a first-class fool of herself in front of this man.

‘Don’t think a little kiss will make me want to go off travelling in the outback alone with you,’ she hissed.

‘What if I promise never to kiss you again?’

‘Oh?’ Grace gasped. Never? She hoped her reply held no echo of the ridiculous wave of regret that flooded right through her.

‘Boy scout’s honour,’ Mitch replied, tossing her a grin and a two fingered salute. Then he shot her a cheeky sideways glance and added, ‘Of course, I’d be prepared to build in an escape clause.’

‘Escape?’ she echoed faintly.

‘I’ll only kiss you if you want me to. The next time I take you in my arms will be when you ask me to, Ms Robbins.’

That brought her to her senses. ‘In your dreams, Wentworth.’

‘I’m afraid I can’t promise what might happen in them.’

Grace glared at him as she folded her arms across her chest and took several deep, fortifying breaths. The impact of that kiss was still reverberating through her body. Her heartbeats weren’t just racing, they were stampeding. Anybody would think she’d never been kissed before. She suppressed the recognition that she had never been kissed like that before. Roger the Rat had been nowhere near as good.

To think she’d joked the other day about playing with the big boys. Clearly, Mitch’s kisses were in a league of their own.