Too Charming (10 page)

Chapter Ten

Running a concerned hand over Sally’s burning forehead, Megan shook her head. ‘I’m going to phone Scott and cancel.’

But as she reached for the phone, her mother got there first, snatching it from her. ‘Don’t be silly. She’s running a temperature, that’s all. Your father and I are here to keep an eye on her. We’ll phone you if there’s any change. Besides, any minute now the paracetamol will start to kick in and she’ll sleep it off.’

Megan was torn. Though she really didn’t want to leave Sally, she knew perfectly well her daughter was in good hands. If she was honest, the real issue here wasn’t Sally at all. It was her cowardly desire to find a legitimate way out of tonight.
A genuine excuse to break off her date with Scott. For there was no denying that this time it
was
a date. Somehow he’d railroaded her into going out with him. Simply cancelling on him wasn’t an option. It would look like she was running scared, and she wasn’t. No way. Cool, steady, Megan Taylor wasn’t terrified to death of the way her heart seemed to flutter at the mere mention of his name. Of course she wasn’t. Still, cancelling their date because she didn’t want to be away from her poorly daughter was surely a reasonable move.

‘I’m fine, Mummy,’ Sally piped up, her pale face smiling at her. ‘You have to eat with Scott, like you said you would. A person should keep their promises.’

Patting her daughter’s silky hair, Megan gave a rueful laugh. So much for her handy excuse. ‘Okay, darling. But you need to promise me that you’ll go straight to bed when you’ve said hello to him.’

Just then she heard the purr of a car engine, the crunch of gravel, and then, a moment later, a knock on the door.
Here comes the devil
, she muttered to herself as she walked across the hallway to let him in, doing her best to ignore the scramble of her pulse and the thump of her heart against her ribs.

When she opened the door she immediately felt his eyes slowly assessing her, making no
apology as he looked her up and down.

‘You’re a sight for sore eyes, DS Taylor,’ he murmured, smiling as his eyes continued their slow rake over her body.

She wanted to be insulted. The way he was staring at her was impolite, to the say the least. It should have felt degrading. But as she registered the unmistakable heat in his eyes, the obvious appreciation, it was hard to take offense. Pretty hypocritical too, as she found her body melting in response. ‘Come in for a minute,’ she replied quickly, discreetly giving him a quick once-over as she moved to let him in. Dressed in a white shirt, dark navy blazer and faded jeans, he looked strikingly handsome. Far too handsome for her.

‘Hey, Sally,’ he exclaimed as his eyes found Megan’s daughter. ‘How are you doing, kid?’

‘I’ve got a temperature, but I’m okay.’

He frowned and bent down to be on her level, running his hand over her forehead, just as Megan had done. ‘You do feel a bit hot.’ He turned to Megan. ‘Are you sure you want to go out? We can take a rain check.’

There it was. Handed to her on a silver plate. The excuse she needed to break this date. All she had to do now was agree she’d rather stay at home. So why was her tongue stuck firmly to the roof of her mouth?

‘Nonsense.’ Her mother came into the hallway, replying for her. ‘Sally has her grandparents with her. She’ll be fine. You two go out and enjoy yourselves.’

To his credit, Scott looked over to her for confirmation. She found herself nodding. So much for mother of the year.

Rummaging into the pocket of his jacket, Scott pulled out a large, expensive-looking tin of artists’ crayons. ‘Here you go, Sally. Something to
practise with tomorrow, when you’re feeling better.’

A faint flush of pleasure crept over her otherwise far too pale face. ‘Cool. Thank you.’

‘My pleasure.’ Straightening up, Scott found Megan staring at him with an expression that was far from pleased. Whether that was to do with his gift, her daughter feeling unwell, or the prospect of an evening with him, he wasn’t sure. ‘Right then, we’ll get on our way.’ He bent to kiss Dot. ‘We won’t go far, and I’ll have her back early, I promise.’

Tutting
gently, Dot shook her head. ‘Don’t you let Megan fret. Sally will be just fine with us. You go and show her a good time.’

That made him chuckle. ‘I will, Dot. You don’t need to worry about that.’

He waited until they were in the car and driving towards the restaurant before he asked the question. ‘Go on. Shoot. Tell me what’s on your mind.’

Obviously surprised by his question, she glanced over at him. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Come on, Megan. Back there, in the hallway, you had a face like thunder. Something upset you and I have a feeling it was more than just worry about Sally.’

She turned and stared out of the front window. ‘Buying my daughter presents to worm your way into my good books won’t work, you know.’

He jerked a look at her, swore under his breath, and quickly pulled up by the side of the road. ‘I think you’d better explain what you mean,’ he ground out, trying to keep a lid on the temper now bubbling inside him. She didn’t mean what he thought she did, did she?

Jutting her chin out and straightening her spine, she regarded him coolly. ‘You know perfectly well what I mean, but I’ll spell it out anyway, so there’s no confusion. Getting into my daughter’s good books won’t automatically get you into my good books. It certainly won’t get you into my bed.’

Filling the air with several choice profanities, he clenched the steering wheel.  ‘If you think, for one moment,’ he told her in a voice that was as controlled as he could make it, ‘that I’m trying to befriend your daughter for the sole purpose of getting you into bed, then we might as well turn round now and go back.’

Megan turned and studied him. Then she gave him a small nod. ‘I just wanted to be sure. It wouldn’t have been the first time a man has bought her presents and tried to charm her with a view of getting to me.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘I’ve never had to resort to bribing a child in order to get a woman into my bed.’

She slid him a look and a small smile. ‘No, I don’t suppose you have.’

Her reply took some of the heat out of his anger, but he still felt insulted. Deep, down to the marrow, offended.  ‘And, just so we’re clear, I won’t be compared to any other bastards that have let you down before,’ he continued with barely concealed annoyance. ‘Yell at me if I cock up, sure, but don’t simply assume that I’m going to, based on what other men have done before me.’

She nodded. ‘Message received.’

They continued the rest of the journey in an uneasy silence. Not exactly the way Scott had imagined it in his head earlier. In fact when she’d opened the door to him, downright sexy in a midnight-blue satin shirt and skin-tight black jeans, he’d reckoned on having to interrupt the journey for an entirely different reason. A much more pleasurable one.

As he slickly
manoeuvred into the car park and turned off the engine, Megan studied the man next to her. Tense, angry, brooding, he was clearly affronted. She broke the silence. ‘I’m sorry, Scott. I’ve been thinking about how I worded it and, well, I could have been more tactful. And, anyway, Sally is a better judge of character than I am. She wouldn’t have taken to you quite so quickly if she didn’t think you were genuine.’

He turned to look at her. ‘For a smart, sexy lady you sure seem to have chosen some
tossers to go out with.’

‘Present company excepted, I suppose?’

At last the trademark grin slid back across his face. She was surprised at how much she’d missed it. How much it was growing on her. Just like he was.

‘But of course,’ he was saying. ‘I may be many things, but I’m not a
tosser.’

‘What are you then, Scott?’

‘Good question.’ Sitting back against his seat, he eyed her steadily. ‘Based on feedback, I can say for certain that I’m a decent lawyer.’ Light eyes burned into hers. ‘And a first-rate lover.’

Incredulous laughter bubbled out of her. ‘Jesus, Scott.’ She shook her head. ‘Just when I’m starting to think you’re okay, you come out with a cheesy, arrogant line like that and reinforce what I originally thought about you.’

He shrugged and opened the car door. ‘Hey, I can’t help it if that’s what I’ve been told. Maybe one day you’ll be brave enough to find out for yourself if it’s true.’

‘Brave enough or foolish enough,’ she mumbled in reply but he wasn’t listening. He was walking around the bonnet to open her door. As he calmly took her hand and helped her out of the car, she found herself bristling slightly. Manners, like too much charm, made her uneasy. If a fellow officer held the door open for her at the station, her first thought wasn’t,
how kind
, but,
what does he want now
?

‘Calm down,’ he whispered to her as he kept hold of her struggling hand. ‘Taking my hand won’t automatically turn you into a simpering female, ready to succumb to my every wish.’

‘You bet it won’t.’

As she walked rigidly by his side into the restaurant, he turned to study her. ‘You know I used to think it was just me you had an issue with, but I’m starting to wonder if it isn’t all men.’

Megan took a moment to look down at the strong hand that held hers and then up at the handsome profile of the man it belonged to. What the bloody hell was wrong with her? Why was she continuing to fight this man when every cell in her body was crying out for his touch? If she carried on like this, she was going to chase him away. Was that what she wanted? Really and truly? So he was a charmer, and she had to take all his flattery with a giant pinch of salt, but it didn’t make him a monster. Far from it. He was good company. She had no doubt she would enjoy the meal tonight, just as she enjoyed their verbal sparring. Even if that fell flat, an evening simply looking at him across the table had its merits.

It was time to stop fighting the attraction that was so plainly obvious between them. It made her feel like a shrew and she didn’t want to be thought of like that. She wanted him to see her as he had when she’d opened the door to him this evening.
With lust in his eyes. Because, truthfully, it was enormously flattering that such a gorgeous man was attracted to
her
. So what if he only wanted to take her to bed? Why couldn’t that be enough? She had no room in her life for a relationship, anyway. But the occasional dinner date could be fun. So could sex. At least from what she could remember of it. So long as things went no further than that, what was there to be so afraid of?

‘I don’t have an issue with you or with men in general,’ she told him as they were shown to their table. ‘I’m sorry if I gave you that impression.’ She paused for the waiter to finish fussing around them. ‘I’ve been hurt in the past and I’m afraid it’s made me cynical. It doesn’t help that I work in an environment full of men, so I know exactly what they think of women.’

‘Oh no you don’t.’ He shook his head. ‘What men say in the company of other men,’ he smiled, ‘or honorary men, isn’t necessarily what they mean. It’s just what they think other men want to hear.’

‘And men think women are complicated?’ Giving a despairing laugh, she picked up the menu and began to study it, all the while her mind drifting back to her earlier thoughts.
Those of sex. Hot writhing bodies. Scott proclaiming his skills as a lover. The more she thought, the harder it was to work out what on earth she wanted to eat. Steamed sea bass or steamy sex? She made the mistake of looking over at Scott. Thank God he was studying the menu, holding it lightly with his tanned, long fingers. How would they feel holding on to her? Running smoothly over her naked skin? With a groan of frustration she thrust the menu down on the table.

‘Perhaps you’re right,’ she said into the silence, avoiding his eyes. ‘I shouldn’t let past experiences put me off what can, at times, be a mutually satisfying, healthy connection between two consenting individuals.’ She hesitated for a fraction, then plunged straight in. ‘I’m seriously considering giving it another go. Sex I mean.’ Finally she dared to look up and directly into his startled eyes. ‘With you.’

Scott had never felt so utterly thrown off balance in his life. He knew shock must be etched all over his face but was too damned flabbergasted to wipe it off. Finally, the result he’d been angling for. One he was certain he’d blown all chance of achieving during the car journey here. But there was something in the way she’d worded it that left him feeling far from thrilled. In fact it had him confused and not a little put out.
I’m seriously considering giving it another go
wasn’t exactly the same as
Scott I want you. I have to have you
. No, it was more an admission that she needed to get back into dating again and was thinking of using him to test the waters. Hell, she was making him feel like a flipping gigolo. Irked, he rubbed at his freshly shaven chin. A stark reminder that getting her into bed with him had been exactly what he’d wanted as he’d dressed tonight. He’d be a fool to jeopardise the chance by being too sensitive.

Clearing his throat he reached for his glass and took a long gulp of water. ‘Well, if I can help in any way, with your serious considering, let me know.’

‘I will.’ Looking down at the menu, she smiled, her dimples almost winking at him in the candlelight. ‘Of course I’ll be remembering your claim from earlier.’ She peeked at him from under her lashes. ‘You know, the part about you being a first-rate lover.’